A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 703: The Capitalist's Running Dog
Neishan Bookstore, Hongkou, Shanghai.

Recently, a sale of Li Yu's works was held here, which was divided into a collection of essays and science fiction novels in the Star Wars and Alien series. ——Well, it is true that Star Wars and Alien have a much larger purchasing group.

Li Yu went to the scene in person to sign books.

On the one hand, such actions can be used to dispel some of the hostility of the Japanese. At least, one should not appear too anti-Japanese on the surface, and one still has to work behind the scenes. On the other hand, Uchiyama Kanzo is a pacifist, not a Japanese right-winger.

Li Yu took a look at some of the books in the bookstore that had been translated into Japanese and was very surprised: "Another new Japanese version?"

Uchiyama Kanzo said: "I don't understand mathematics and science, but I heard that this collection of papers was reviewed and translated into Japanese by the Imperial University of Tokyo and the Imperial University of Kyoto."

The Japanese are pretty hardworking.

However, roughly speaking, Japan's golden generation of physics is about to graduate, such as Yukawa Hideki and Tomonaga Shin'ichirō, both of whom have won Nobel Prizes. They are of similar age and are currently in the Faculty of Science at Kyoto Imperial University. They must have participated in the compilation of the paper.

Uchiyama Kanzo added: "Mr. Academician, it seems that you haven't given a lecture in Japan for a long time. Your reputation in Japan is very high."

This is normal. The Japanese academic community has long regarded Li Yu as the God of Science.

Li Yu just smiled faintly: "Too busy."

He didn't want to help the Japanese, and would be happy to make things worse.

"Mr. Uchiyama, do you have any medical books?" Xu Zhimo suddenly came in and asked hurriedly.

"Yes," Uchiyama Kanzo took a few books from the bookshelf, "This is the latest family medicine guide published in the United States. It sells very well in the United States."

Xu Zhimo said gratefully: "That's great!"

Li Yu wondered, "You want to study medicine?"

Xu Zhimo said: "I don't know anything about medicine. I can't stand the sight of blood!"

Uchiyama Kanzo said, "Then why did you buy medical books?"

Xu Zhimo said: "Xiao Man complained of stomach pain every day, and cried out to the sky at every turn. I went everywhere to seek medical treatment and medicine, and went to many hospitals and consulted many doctors, but it was difficult to cure her."

Someone who was attending the book signing suddenly asked, "Have you ever tried massage?"

"Can massage relieve pain?" Xu Zhimo asked.

"Sure, I've done it several times and the results are good," the man said.

Xu Zhimo was desperate and tried all sorts of methods to find a cure. He grabbed the man and asked, "What is your name, sir?"

"My name is Jiang Xiaoyu, and I'm a Western painting teacher at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts," Jiang Xiaoyu said. "I know Mr. Xu and Mrs. Xiaoman."

"So you know us! That's even better!" Xu Zhimo was touched, "Xiao Man also likes Western paintings."

"I met Mrs. Xiaoman at the Tianma meeting last week," said Jiang Xiaoyu.

Xu Zhimo quickly asked: "Which famous massage master did you mention? Xiaoman had a blind massage once, but it didn't have much effect."

"There are so many things to pay attention to when it comes to massage, just like not every doctor is a famous doctor," Jiang Xiaoyu said. "The master I mentioned is called Weng Ruiwu. It is said that he has learned massage skills through hard practice. If you put a pile of bricks in front of him, he can break a certain brick with one palm. When he is massaging, true energy can be transmitted from his hands. He has a unique skill!"

This is really infuriating, it's too mysterious.

Xu Zhimo said excitedly: "He is indeed a famous artist! Please introduce him to me, sir."

Li Yu coughed lightly and said, "Brother Xu, don't you want to study medicine yourself?"

"Distant water cannot quench immediate thirst!" said Xu Zhimo.

"It seems that massage can only relieve the symptoms but is difficult to cure them," said Li Yu.

Uchiyama Kanzo also agreed: "Tui Na is very effective in relieving fatigue, relaxing limbs, and eliminating muscle and joint pain, but if you want to cure diseases, you still have to rely on herbal medicine and doctor's diagnosis."

Xu Zhimo said: "But the doctors are helpless now. I can't just watch her suffer like this, can I? If massage can relieve the pain, it will solve the big problem."

"We've solved the big problem... but I'm afraid there will be other problems," Li Yu said. "What if it can only be temporarily relieved? Wouldn't we need massage more often?"

"Anything will be good as long as Xiaoman gets rid of her pain!" said Xu Zhimo.

Li Yu sighed, not knowing what to say to this guy.

Xu Zhimo grabbed Jiang Xiaoyu's hand and said, "Please take me to see Mr. Weng, the famous massage master, right now."

Well! You can't wait.

To be honest, Xu Zhimo lived a miserable life after marrying Lu Xiaoman. Lu Xiaoman spent money lavishly, hired more than a dozen servants, and loved to attend various parties.

Xu Zhimo had to give lectures at three universities to earn money. ——The Xu family was indeed rich, but his father Xu Shenru had said long ago that he would not give them any money.

This Weng Ruiwu's massage skills must be really amazing. After that, he even lived in Xu Zhimo's house because Lu Xiaoman couldn't live without him.

There were naturally rumors among the people, but Xu Zhimo ignored them all and was instead very grateful to Weng Ruiwu.

Weird!
Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman were a good match; they were the same type of people - Xu Zhimo also had Lin Huiyin in his heart every day.

You really understand free love!
-

Lu Xun and Uchiyama Kanzo were very good friends, but they had not met each other yet because Lu Xun had not yet moved into the Mainland New Village.

But Brother Xun already wanted to move to Shanghai. He brought Xu Guangping to visit Li Yu and said bitterly: "Everyone says that the rent in Shanghai is expensive. I have seen it!"

Li Yu said: "Shanghai's real estate was ruined by those Jewish businessmen decades ago. They have been making money without doing anything. Haven't you noticed that most houses in Shanghai are only rented and not sold?"

Lu Xun said: "Now that you put it that way, it seems to be true."

Li Yu said: "Back then, Sassoon, Hardoon and others monopolized a large amount of land, but they did not spend money to develop it. Instead, they rented it to compradors for 30 years. The compradors could build buildings, but after 30 years, the foreign companies would take back the land and the buildings on it. Not only did they get the buildings for free, but they could also hide behind the scenes."

Lu Xun took a deep puff of his cigarette and said, "These people are really ruthless when it comes to making money!"

"Which place have you chosen to live?" Li Yu asked.

"It's Jingyunli in Hongkou. Many people from the literary and art circles live there," said Lu Xun.

"That place doesn't belong to the concession," said Li Yu.

"So it's a little cheaper," Lu Xun said, "but even so, you still have to pay a 55 yuan top-up fee."

"The top fee is due to Shanghai's peculiar real estate market. 55 yuan is not a big deal, but if it were in the concession, it would probably be at least several hundred dollars," said Li Yu.

During the Republic of China period, most houses in Shanghai could not be bought or sold because the land was controlled by a few large real estate developers. Houses could only be rented for a long time, and the cost of this long-term rental was called the top fee. After paying the top fee, the tenant obtained the right to use the house within the contract period, and could also sublet the house and become a sub-landlord. Or, the tenant could directly sublet the house to others and ask them to pay the top fee, so that the control of the house would be transferred to the person who paid the top fee again.

Lu Xun said: "I heard that the Continental Bank is going to develop a new housing estate in Hongkou. Doesn't Brother Shucai's Salt Bank have this idea?"

Li Yu said, "I am not interested in real estate, but Zhang Boju came from Beijing a few days ago and showed me a blueprint. He wanted to build a warehouse on the Suzhou River in the name of the four banks, namely, Jincheng Bank, Zhongnan Bank and Continental Bank. I asked them to make some modifications to increase the overall rigidity."

"The warehouse is an important place, and increasing its rigidity can indeed prevent theft," said Lu Xun.

"We're on guard against big thieves!" said Li Yu.

Lu Xun added: "Also, I heard from my brother and Mao Dun and others that the tap water and electricity supply in Hongkou is not as good as in the concessions. Do you have any solution?"

Li Yu said: "This is a good question. I will study and solve it after I return to the Industrial Association."

Lu Xun said happily: "It will be settled if you come forward. I have seen houses in Hongkou that use Huadian, and the light bulbs are not much brighter than candles, and the tap water is sometimes available."

Many places in the Hongkou area were enclosed after the concession built roads across the border, but in fact they still belong to the Chinese area.

The tap water and electricity supply in the concession was provided by the Municipal Council, and in the Chinese Concession by the Zhabei Water and Electricity Company. The water and electricity from the Municipal Council were of better quality and cheaper, so many residents in Hongkou would install water pipes and wires from the concession.

However, over time, the Municipal Council came to believe that since they were using our water and electricity, they should charge management fees.

The local government of Shanghai certainly would not agree, because if management fees were collected, it would really become a concession, so they firmly disagreed. From then on, all water and electricity in the Chinese area were provided by the Zhabei Hydropower Company.

Lu Xun arrived just in time for this transformation.

Li Yu said: "If you think the water and electricity in Jingyunli are not good enough, you can live in the Ramos Apartments built by the British."

Lu Xun immediately shook his head and said, "Ramos Apartment is too expensive. The roof fee is 500 yuan, and the monthly rent is as high as 50 yuan."

Li Yu said: "If you haven't decided where to live yet, you can stay at my place temporarily. There are many empty rooms and I have a lot of Song Dynasty books."

Lu Xun bowed his hands and thanked him, "Thank you for your trouble, sir!"

Li Yu smiled and said, "You're welcome."

A house with a monthly rent of 50 yuan is considered good in Shanghai.

Of course, the house rented by Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman was better, with a monthly rent of 150 yuan. After all, the location was much better, not far from Li Yu's Datong University, and belonged to the Jing'an area in the concession.

Both Lu Xun and Xu Zhimo were high-income earners, earning hundreds of dollars each month.

Many other people who had just arrived in Shanghai could only live in simple small compartments such as "pavilions", which gave rise to the "pavilion literature".

——Some people previously classified Lu Xun as a member of the Pavilion Literature, probably because Lu Xun wrote a book called “Miscellaneous Essays from Qiejieting”, which was taken from half of the word “concession”.

But Brother Xun actually lives much better in Shanghai than them...

Xun Ge has lived in Shanghai for the next ten years. He has moved to four different places, but they were all rented. These four houses are very close to each other, with an area of ​​no more than one square kilometer.

The first two houses were in Jingyunli, and then we moved into the third house, Ramos Apartment.

According to Xun Ge's own diary, he was not very satisfied with his living environment in Shanghai. He often complained that the winters in Shanghai were too cold and there were no stoves; there were many mosquitoes in the summer and he could not do anything. These aspects could not be compared with Beijing.

After Xun Ge’s son Zhou Haiying was born, he often caught colds in the winter. There was no choice but to move into his last house, Dalu New Village, in 1933, which was next to Neishan Bookstore.

The rent in Mainland New Village is more expensive, 63 yuan a month, but you can use a gas stove, which makes it warmer in winter.

Lu Xun stayed in Yu Garden temporarily and then moved out slowly.

He was also fond of Li Yu's collections, and often spent half a day in the library, which housed a large collection of Song Dynasty books, or just wrote something.

When Li Yu asked him to have dinner together, Lu Xun was busy writing.

"Today we are making a lion's head, so don't write yet." Li Yu called him.

After Lu Xun finished writing the last word, he stood up and said, "Here I come."

Li Yu casually asked, "Want to submit an article?"

Lu Xun said: "Refute an article by Liang Shiqiu."

"Why refute?" Li Yu said.

Lu Xun said: "He published Rousseau on Women's Education in the newspaper, which I couldn't stand."

"Women's education?" Lu Bicheng was setting the table.

Lu Xun smiled and said, "Madam, please don't read it."

In fact, this was the beginning of a years-long quarrel between the two.

The particularly classic phrases "losing family" and "useless lackey of the capitalists" were coined by Lu Xun.

But this happened two or three years later. And it was Feng Naichao who first called Liang Shiqiu a "capitalist running dog."

Liang Shiqiu responded: "(Feng) said I was a lackey of the capitalists. Which capitalist or all capitalists? I don't know who my master is yet. If I knew, I would definitely take a few magazines to show my merits to my master, or maybe I would get a few gold pounds or rubles as a reward."

So Lu Xun used the adjective "miserable" to refer to Liang Shiqiu's statement that he didn't know who his master was.

When it comes to written battles, Brother Xun is first-rate.

Lu Xun suddenly asked: "I was free and read some articles in Datong University's Science Magazine. It mentioned that there are disputes in the scientific community. I thought science was the purest, one is one, two is two."

Li Yu said: "The debate in the scientific community is different. It is about things that still have many unknown factors. For things that have been concluded, the scientific community basically has no objection."

"Not including those who believe that the earth is still flat?" Xu Guangping asked.

Li Yu said: "There is no need for the scientific community to refute these people. If you look at them, you lose."

Lu Xun had just eaten a whole lion's head, and breathing out hot air, he gave Li Yu a thumbs up: "The scientific community is still more elegant."

Li Yu smiled and said, "I will go to Europe again this year to participate in a top-level debate that will bring together dozens of the world's strongest physicists."

Lu Xun sighed: "It would be great if the literary and artistic circles could debate like the scientific community. Now everyone is always talking about human nature and politics. How can we explain these things clearly? We can only continue to engage in literary wars, which sometimes feels very boring."

"Sir, your fighting power is still very strong," Li Yu said. "Also, I have already written a letter of introduction in advance. This year, a Chinese person should win another Nobel Prize in Physics. I hope the authorities can arrange for an official Swedish envoy."

Lu Xun sighed, "The authorities? That's hard to say! But I think the chances of success in the south are better, because I just came from Guangzhou."

Li Yu said: "The awards will be presented at the end of the year, and I think we will know the results by then."