British writer

The automobile in the early 20th century was a torture device.

Lu Shi and Wodehouse were sitting with their buttocks almost split.

As a driver, Theodore was full of interest. He stepped on the accelerator whenever he had the chance, making the car as quiet as a virgin and as dynamic as a mad rabbit.

Wodehouse looked about to vomit.

finally,

"arrive!"

With the sound of brakes, the car stopped in an open area.

Theodore jumped out of the car, looked back and saw that Wodehouse's face was purple, so he joked: "Sir, you should take some exercise."

Wodehouse said: "I suppressed in South Africa... ugh..."

A bout of retching.

Theodore shook his head.

Lu Shi looked around and found that there were very few buildings within one kilometer of the surrounding area. There were large lawns, providing visitors with the opportunity to get close to nature.

Maybe it had just rained, so there was some mud among the lawns, which made the air fresh.

Looking to the east, you can see ancient buildings. Churches or libraries are witnesses of Cambridge's long history.

"This is it," said Theodore.

Lu Shi:? ? ?

"Harvard?"

Theodore smiled and nodded,

"Yes, Harvard is being expanded. Some colleges will move here."

He adjusts his cowboy hat,

"follow me."

After speaking, he took the lead and led Lu Shi forward, saying: "As Professor Lu said, the scale of American higher education will become very large, and it is beneficial and harmless for universities to participate in global rankings. However, American universities are like the current US government... …Hmph…”

At this time, Wodehouse also caught up and answered: "Isolationism."

Theodore nodded,

"I hate this very much. If I could be..."

The words are not finished yet,

But the other two could hear the underlying meaning.

Lu Shi laughed and said, "If I remember correctly, if the Vice President wants to 'inherit the throne,' the President will have to die unexpectedly."

Theodore shook his head;

"There are bound to be accidents, but it doesn't have to be death."

Lu Shi: "..."

I think Americans are really cold and careless.

He continued: "Mr. Vice President is really ambitious. But this is completely normal. Soldiers who don't want to be generals are not good soldiers."

Theodore chuckled,

"The second half of Napoleon's sentence is, 'A soldier who is not a good soldier will never be a good general'. Soldiers must be ambitious, ambitious, and ideal, but at the same time they must do their jobs seriously and not be too ambitious. Professor Lu This is mocking me~"

Lu Shi laughed.

The three of them were walking when the rustling of the lawn was heard not far away.

Looking around, you can see Goodman walking towards this direction with a white American in his forties.

The white man is quite tall. The skin on his neck is reddened by the sun. Some of his yellow hair has silver threads. His deep eyes reveal calmness and confidence.

He yelled, "Teddy! I knew it was you!"

Lu Shi subconsciously looked at Theodore and asked in a low voice: "Didn't you inform Harvard University that you came to pick me up?"

Theodore replied: "I remember I informed you, maybe the clerk forgot to convey it."

This is absolute nonsense!

Lu Shi was speechless.

The white man came over and accidentally stepped into a puddle on the road. His leather shoes were full of mud.

He glared at Theodore fiercely, then turned to Lu Shi and said: "Professor Lu, hello, I am Edward Channing, currently teaching at Harvard University. I was deeply shocked after reading your "Guns, Germs, and Steel" ."

Edward Channing, a famous American historian and expert on American colonial and revolutionary history,

His six-volume History of the United States won the Pulitzer Prize in 1926.

This set of historical works became the standard reference work for historical research in the United States for decades.

Lu Shi shook hands with the other party,

"Hello, Professor Qian Ning. You are a historian. It just so happened that I brought some manuscripts to the United States this time and wanted to find someone to study with me, so..."

Upon hearing this, Qian Ning's eyes lit up.

"What? What kind of manuscript is it?"

Lu Shi actually brought "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli\

,"The reason why it is this is because this book was originally written in the United States, and its original English version may be more in line with the country here.

He said: "Let's go to the college first and then talk..."

Before he finished speaking, Qian Ning interrupted directly: "Professor Lu, don't worry, I will definitely not scatter or mess up your manuscript."

The implication is that I want to watch it now.

Lu Shi scratched his head,

"I'm not worried about that, I'm just...well...okay."

It has reached the point where I have to agree, because the enthusiasm in the other person's eyes cannot be hidden at all.

Everyone returned to Theodore’s car first.

Lu Shi dug out the manuscript of "One Hundred Thousand Years of Wanli" in his suitcase and handed it to the other party.

Qian Ning read out the name slowly:

"1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline."

He couldn't help but frown,

"Tomorrow?"

To be honest, he knew very little about Chinese history, almost none at all. He couldn't help but worry: "Professor Lu, I can read it...well...I mean, people who are not deeply involved in Chinese history can also read it. ?"

Lu Shi thought for a while,

"It should be possible."

Qian Ning thought of the popularity of "Guns, Germs and Steel" and nodded silently.

He was a little curious,

"Why did Professor Lu use the word 'irrelevant'?"

No Significance=It doesn’t matter,

Therefore, the literal translation of the name of this book is "The Insignificant Year 1587". As a title of a historical book, it is very confusing.

Lu Shi replied: "You will understand after reading the full text."

Qian Ning didn't answer anymore and buried his head in reading.

The rest are helpless,

Theodore had to remind: "Edward, we have to go to school."

Qian Ning didn't even raise his head, and read the beginning of the whole book in his mouth:

"

"In 1587 AD, it was the fifteenth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty in China. According to the stems and branches, it was Dinghai, which was a pig..."

"

I couldn't understand a sentence.

"What is Wanli?"

"What are Ganzhi?"

"What is Dinghai?"

"What is a pig?"

…

One hundred thousand whys.

Theodore on the side couldn't help but complain: "I think you are a pig."

Qian Ning raised his head with dull eyes,

"Huh? So I'm a pig?"

Theodore sighed, winked at Lu Shi and said, "You have also seen that this is what happens when you read to him. So, I suggest you answer his questions and grab the manuscript back, otherwise we won't be able to go to Harvard."

Lu Shi didn't expect this, so he had to explain: "Professor Qian Ning, Wanli is the year name."

Qian Ning said "Ah\

,""What is a year number?"

Lu Shi: "..."

If this continues, it will definitely become endless.

He had no choice but to say: "Professor Qian Ning, just remember that the first sentence is about time."

In fact, it is not difficult to understand from the context,

Qian Ning could guess that things like "Stems and Branches" and "Ding Hai" are China's unique dating system, and even "Pig" is in this dating system.

So the first sentence says year.

But he was really curious,

"Professor Lu, can you tell me?"

Lu Shi touched his nose awkwardly and said, "Look, this is why I found an American scholar. Professor Qian Ning, I know very well that this book written in English will inevitably be difficult to understand in one way or another, so I need someone to help." Find it out and it will be easier for me to add notes later.”

Qian Ning understood,

"I understand. What's wrong with me? I'll remember it first."

Lu Shi nodded repeatedly,

"Yes, remember it first."

Qian Ning seemed to be very encouraged.

"That's it!"

After saying that, he lowered his head and continued to read carefully, his eyes motionless.

Theodore collapsed and said, "Edward, I think you'd better get in my car?"

Qian Ning immediately refused: "I don't want to take a car. I ate some cream stew for lunch today. If I spit it out, the taste will be too strong. If it was a salad, I might sit. Okay, you guys go ahead. I'll follow."

He is already like this, how can others refuse?

Theodore spread his hands,

"so be it."

He took the lead and took a few steps forward. When he turned around, he found that Qian Ning was following closely behind.

Everyone: "..."

They were all left speechless.

Lu Shi said: "This is the only way."

Theodore nodded and walked toward Harvard University at a controlled pace.

"Professor Lu, there will be an academic buffet tonight, and you may want to attend."

When Americans say "maybe," they mean "must."

Academic conferences are a specialty in the circle.

Its primary goal is academic exchange and its secondary goal is social interaction.

Of course, many modern academic conferences, both at home and abroad, are the other way around, with social interaction as the main focus and communication as a supplement (or even no one at all). This has resulted in a large number of powerful people and mountains, and doing academic work is equivalent to worshiping the dock, and evil spirits are rampant.

But at the beginning of the 20th century, this situation was not serious.

So Theodore said: "Professor Lu, it is inevitable that there will be social interaction at the buffet, but it should not be too utilitarian."

Of course Lu Shi knew these things,

"I understand. When it comes to socializing, you must first be clear about your purpose. If you keep promoting yourself or clinging to big names, it will offend people. Besides, I am a big name, so others should come to me if they want to promote themselves."

Theodore: "Ah this..."

He was a little confused,

"Professor Lu, are you serious?"

Lu Shi laughed loudly,

"Of course I'm not serious. My bad reputation is nothing in the United States, and I know it very well. In short, I understand what should be done in this situation."

Theodore then showed a relieved expression,

He didn't want something that he had contributed to to be told as a joke.

He continued: "As for the starting point of the topic, it can be the school, the city, or the latest news. Because the topic is too professional and cannot be discussed in depth, it would be rude to leave after only a few minutes..."

I haven’t finished speaking yet,

Boom——

There was a muffled sound behind him.

Everyone turned around,

I saw Qian Ning plunged to the ground, and the entire front was spread on the muddy lawn.

And his right hand was forward, half-holding the manuscript of "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli". The manuscript paper was not even wet at all.

It was obvious that he had tripped over something.

Theodore stepped forward;

"Edward! Quick! I'll help you up."

But Qian Ning didn’t move at all,

From the place where his face was in contact with the mud, a loud voice came out: "Get the manuscript first."

Theodore had no choice but to put away the manuscript first.

Qian Ning then stood up with his hands on the ground. His suit jacket was covered with mud spots, his sleeves, trouser legs, and collar were all streaked with yellow mud marks, and his black leather shoes had also turned khaki.

He didn't care,

"Where's the book?"

Theodore was completely shocked;

"You still want to watch?!"

Qian Ning said impatiently: "Of course I have to read it! Do you understand? What I read is not a book, but history!"

He snatched the manuscript from the opponent's hand,

"I just heard you introducing the academic conference to Professor Lu?"

Theodore muttered: "Can you still use distraction?"

Qian Ning didn't pay much attention to this joke and continued the topic just now,

"Professor Lu doesn't need to attend those boring meetings. Because he is a master himself, this book is very advanced, but anyone who is engaged in historical research will pay attention to him. In this case, going to the meeting is to let others hug you. thighs?"

Theodore said: "You have only read it for a while, but you think this book is ahead of its time?"

Qian Ning clicked his tongue.

"You know a lot about hammers! This is a popular history book!"

Theodore raised his eyebrows;

"So what?"

Qian Ning said: "There have not been many excellent popular science books in the social sciences. But what about science and engineering? Galileo can write, Newton can write, Leibniz can write, even "Guns, Germs and Steel" "It's also interdisciplinary,...sigh..."

A long sigh.

Theodore said: "Isn't it because the expressions in social sciences are too complicated?"

These words made Qian Ning lose his temper.

He was silent for a moment and said: "This book written by Professor Lu is very good. Even though it contains a lot of unique expressions of China, I can understand it with the context. The most important thing is that it is not boring at all, as long as it has an understanding of history." Anyone who is even remotely interested can read on.

Theodore asked again: "What else?"

"besides……"

Qian Ning took a deep breath, but her mouth was full of mud and she couldn't help but cough.

It took him a while to recover,

"I finally understand why Professor Lu chose "The Insignificant Year 1587" as the title of his book. Because only 'Insignificant' can show the unique historical view of this book. The first chapter of this book talks about Emperor Wanli, But he almost didn’t talk about any big things, instead he only looked at the big things from the small and started with the minutiae.”

Lu Shi was surprised,

"Have you finished reading the first chapter?"

Qian Ning shook his head,

"It's impossible to finish reading it. I just skip it temporarily when I encounter something I don't understand, so I've roughly finished reading the first chapter."

I see.

Lu Shi felt that although "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" was not a historical treatise, it would not be completed so quickly.

He said: "I didn't expect Professor Qian Ning to speak so highly of this book."

Qian Ning smiled bitterly in his heart,

I'm afraid I still underestimated this book.

Judging from the writing style of this book, I am afraid it can open up a new world for historical research and writing, and create a miracle of historical works and even liberal arts works.

He said: "Today I will go back and study it carefully and stay up all night. Then I will publish it in a Harvard magazine."

Theodore is a Harvard graduate and is very knowledgeable about school affairs.

He frowned and said, "The Crimson Newspaper?"

Channing smiled and replied: "No, it's Harvard Magazine."

"Harvard Magazine" is a magazine officially published by the school. It was founded in 1901.

The magazine covers a wide range of content, including academic research, campus culture, student life, alumni updates, etc. In addition, the magazine also publishes a series of columns to discuss various social and political topics.

In modern times, Harvard Magazine's subscriptions and influence are very large, and it is considered one of the leaders among American university magazines.

Theodore frowned;

"Copyright issues..."

He looked at Lu Shi cautiously.

Lu Shi said: "I have no objection to it being published in Harvard Magazine, but is it appropriate?"

Qian Ning chuckled and said, "Of course it's appropriate!"

Lu Shi opened his mouth and wanted to say more,

As a result, before he could speak, Qian Ning said first: "With an academic master like Professor Lu, the school will definitely pay high royalties."

Lu Shi never expected that he would become an academic master.