Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 15 15 Invitation from Bei University

What Chen Muwu held in his hand was a vertical Chinese-style envelope that is very common today, with the five characters "Mr. Chen Hanchen" written in a red frame with a brush.

How can I describe the writing skills of this letter writer?It has nothing to do with "Yan Jin, Liu Gu, Ou Jin, and Zhao Rou". If you try to make it far-fetched, you can barely see a little shadow of Layman Dongpo.

It can only be said that the writing is very neat stroke by stroke, so that people can clearly recognize what words are written.

The left side of his name is the address of the Lianglu Railway Administration, and the right side is the address of the sender: Beijing Songgong Mansion Hanhua Garden Beijing University First College.

Bei Da?

What did Bei Da write me for?
Chen Muwu was shocked.

Could it be that some people in Bei University saw the report in "Shen Bao" and reacted like Big Brother, inviting me to be their teacher?

He couldn't wait to take out the compasses used for drawing in the pen container, use a stitch to pick a hole in the front end of the envelope, take out the letter paper inside and read silently.

Sure enough, the content of the letter was similar to what Chen Muwu had guessed, except that it did not promise him a teaching position at Bei University, but invited him to go north to give lectures on relativity for two weeks, and the reward was five hundred yuan.

This price tag is very generous. The Ministry of Communications, which holds the two pillar industries of railway and post and telecommunications, is very rich. The salary paid to Chen Muwu, an engineer, is only 220 yuan per month.

Lectures are paid 1000 yuan for two weeks, and [-] yuan for a month, which is more than four times his salary.

When did Bei Da become so generous?

Didn't the newspapers say that Beida couldn't pay wages, and teachers and professors didn't attend classes for three days, and ran from the red building to the education department to ask for money?
The Zhili and Fengli fought a big battle in the spring and summer of last year, causing the entire North China region to become a mess.

"As soon as the cannon fires, ten thousand taels of gold come out", military expenditures are like running water, and they can't stop, which makes the finances of the Beiyang government, which is not rich already, even worse.

The Ministry of Education was originally the Qingshui Yamen, and the Ministry of Finance suspended the appropriation, which cut off the Ministry of Education's source of income at once.

For example, Mr. Lu Xun wrote in his diary on January 50 this year: "Lately received [-] yuan in the second half of September last year."

In other words, he only got his salary for September last year in January this year, and he didn't get it all at once.

Even this dignified minister of the Ministry of Education cannot escape the fate of delaying the payment of wages for three or four months.

As Bei University directly under the Ministry of Education, how could it have such a large sum of money to invite Chen Muwu to give lectures?

How can he be?
In addition, there is another point in this letter that makes Chen Muwu very strange: at the end of the letter, there are three big characters "Hu Shishang".

It turned out that it was Dr. Hu who drank too much foreign ink, so the calligraphy level of this letter is still acceptable.

Why was it not Cai Yuanpei, the president of Bei University, or Yan Renguang, the head of the Department of Physics, who invited him to give lectures at Peking University, but this professor of philosophy, Hu Shi, who ranks No. 12 in the list of Chinese big figures?
He, Chen Muwu, has become so famous that Dr. Hu, who is now in great glory, is humiliating himself and writing a personal letter to invite him to go north?

……

When something goes wrong, there must be a demon. Let us slightly turn back the hands of the clock a few days in "Chen Yuyu".

As mentioned earlier, Einstein originally planned to come to Bei University to give lectures. Bei University made sufficient preparations, not only spending a large page in the school newspaper to warmly welcome Einstein's arrival, but also listing the relevant bibliography of the theory of relativity, and Lectures on seven themes were held, and there were six public speeches to people from all walks of life.

Cai Yuanpei also ran around in person, collected signatures from all walks of life in Beijing, and sent them together with a welcome letter to Einstein, who was lecturing here, on December [-] to show his sincerity for his lecture in China.

Principal Cai, together with Bei University’s colleagues and classmates, are still eagerly looking forward to Einstein’s arrival, but who knows that because of various reasons, Einstein feels that Bei University does not want to invite him to give lectures, and there are other things, so He ended up canceling this trip.

On the 22nd, Einstein received a letter from Bei Da, and he knew that he had a misunderstanding with the other party. However, it was hard to get over it. The follow-up tickets had already been bought, and there was absolutely no possibility of changing the itinerary.

He could only write a letter of apology, informing Cai Yuanpei of the regrettable news that he could no longer give lectures.

While Einstein’s letter of apology was still drifting at sea, a piece of news titled “Dr. Arrived in Shanghai on the 28st, and set off for Jerusalem again after a three-day rest.

A few days later, Cai Yuanpei was quite shocked when he read the news in Shenbao. When he received a letter from Einstein during the New Year’s Day holiday, he was disappointed when he confirmed that the cancellation of the lecture was a certainty.

So he angrily wrote in the "Journal of Beijing University" on January [-] this year: "We already have organizations such as relativity theory lectures and research associations. I hope that within a year or two, Chinese scholars will be more interested in this important theory. How many contributions can attract the attention of world-renowned scholars; some of us know that the presence of such scholars is hundreds of times more important than famous politicians and military strategists, and they are willing to spend two dollars a month. We paid a price of more than a thousand pounds to welcome him; I think Dr. Anstein is not necessarily unwilling to come to our country once. We don’t need to be depressed, let’s encourage each other!"

Two thousand pounds a month is the remuneration offered to Einstein for his lectures.

However, the price that Bei offered at the beginning was 1000 yuan for two weeks. After being rejected by Einstein, Cai Yuanpei had to go to Liang Qichao in the ice room in Tianyi to borrow money, and changed it to two. At the price of one thousand dollars a week, Einstein reluctantly agreed to give lectures at Bei University after going to Ben.

Today, the afterglow of the British Empire is still there, and the pound is still the strongest currency in the world, with an exchange rate of about one to four to ten to the US dollar and the ocean.

Therefore, the initial price of Bei's freshman year was [-] pounds per month, which was one-tenth of the price offered by this side, and it was no wonder that Einstein refused.

When Cai Yuanpei found a large water hose and raised the price several times, it was still only a quarter of the original price.

You know, Bei University has not paid teachers and professors salaries for several months, but it is Cai Yuanpei's greatest sincerity to save such a sum of money from his teeth.

He specifically mentioned money in the school newspaper article, presumably because he was very dissatisfied with Einstein's behavior of leaving without saying goodbye.

But the weak national power is looked down upon by others, and it is normal to think that Beida has neither the ability nor the credibility to pay the full amount of remuneration. Cai Yuanpei has nowhere to vent his dissatisfaction and can only do nothing about it.

　It’s the first time I’ve written such a long book, but I didn’t grasp the rhythm well from here, and gradually deviated from the main line, and started to write about going north to give lectures and protecting national treasures, and I have been scolded by old readers.

　　Fortunately, it has been repaired, turned in time, and finally controlled the direction, making it return to the main line.

　　I promise that I will never do this kind of superfluous mistake again. If readers who are new to the follow-up plot feel bored, you can skip directly to the end.

　　I'm really sorry, thank you for your support and understanding.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)