Training the Heavens

Chapter 341: Winning the Award Again
After the Chinese New Year, Zhang Xingjiu returned to Peking University to teach again, and also invited A Zhang to teach the history of Chinese novels at Peking University. He is now a representative figure of vernacular literature and is very popular among students.

Sometimes when I give lectures, there are many more people coming to listen than those on Zhang Xingjiu's side. There is a certain threshold for listening to physics classes. If you don't have a good foundation, you can't understand it at all. Novels are better, and most people can understand a little bit.

Not long after the school started, a major event happened in the capital. News came that the victorious countries including Britain, the United States, France, Japan and Italy held a peace conference against Germany in Paris and decided that Japan would inherit Germany's privileges in Shandong, China.

Students in Beijing could not accept this reality and took action. Subsequently, students and workers in Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Jinan also expressed their support.

This incident had a profound impact, and everyone who has attended school in later generations knows it, so I will not go into details here.

Due to the first impact, Zhang Xingjiu's teaching rhythm this year was disrupted a lot, but most students studied very seriously as long as they entered the classroom. They learned a lesson from Zhang Xingjiu that if they want to make the country strong, they must learn physics. Now they have a world-renowned physicist teaching them, and they must cherish such an opportunity.

During the summer vacation, Zhang Xingjiu returned to Shanghai. Zhang Guoqiang had completed the preparations for working and studying in France this year and was about to leave Shanghai to study in France. He must come to see him off and tell him some things.

"When you go to France, if you need to spend money, go to Lang Zhiwan. I have entrusted him with a large sum of money for management. He will give you as much as you need without asking you how you will use it." Zhang Xingjiu knew the child's character very well. He would not use the money to enjoy himself. It was very likely that he would use it to help those in need. For such a purpose, Zhang Xingjiu was willing to spend any amount of money.

"Don't be embarrassed if something happens. Your father and I have a lot of friends in France." Ma Zongwen was also muttering to himself. A mother worries about her son even when he is far away. She was more reluctant to let Ma Zongwen leave than Zhang Xingjiu.

"I've remembered, Father and Mother, don't worry too much. I'm not going to France alone. I have so many friends. Besides, I know my limits. If I encounter any problems, I will definitely ask your friends for help." Zhang Guoqiang also knew that his parents were doing this for his own good, so he kept these words in mind.

On the day of his departure, Zhang Guoqiang only brought one suitcase, which contained a few sets of clothes, some books and change. It looked no different from others, but he also hid some francs in hidden places such as the compartments of the suitcase and the shoe compartments for emergency use.

When they arrived at the dock, many young people of the same age as Zhang Guoqiang were queuing up to board a cargo ship. Since they were working to pay for their studies, they did not have the same good conditions as Zhang Xingjiu had back then. They could take a passenger ship and even have the money to stay in a first-class cabin. The price of a cargo ship was much cheaper than that of a passenger ship, so these students could afford to take a ship. However, the accommodation conditions on the cargo ship were not as good as those on the passenger ship, and they also had to do some odd jobs on the ship in order to reach Marseille.

Despite this, these young people still looked optimistic. One young man with a Sichuan accent even leaned on the railing and loudly recited a new poem he had written on his way from Sichuan to Shanghai: "Traveling all over the world, crossing thousands of waves; smashing the old world, and seeing the blue sky through the clouds."

Zhang Xingjiu took a quick glance and felt that the face looked familiar. He quickly looked at it carefully and recognized the man's identity. It turned out to be 501. Calculating the time, he did indeed leave Shanghai for France at this time. Unexpectedly, he was on the same ship as Zhang Guoqiang.

Soon, a student recognized Zhang Xingjiu and hurried forward to greet him, "Mr. Zhang, are you going out too?"

"No, I heard you were going to France, so I came to see you off!" Zhang Xingjiu responded, knowing that Zhang Guoqiang didn't want the young men traveling with him to know his identity. "Thank you, Mr. Zhang! With your encouragement, our trip to France will be smooth sailing." The students were all excited. Those already on board wanted to come down and talk to Zhang Xingjiu, but were stopped by the crew. They could only look at the students below with envy.

"I also brought gifts for you. This is the first time for most of you to go on a long sea voyage. I'm afraid you don't know the troubles at sea. It's easy to get sick if you sit on a ship for a long time. Eating oranges occasionally can reduce a lot of illnesses." Zhang Xingjiu asked someone to send a large basket of oranges to them. The oranges were carefully selected and wrapped in horse manure paper so that they could be preserved for a long time.

Oranges are rich in vitamins and can prevent scurvy. With these oranges, these students will have an easier time on the road. When delivering the oranges, Zhang Xingjiu took a special look at No. 501. It was for this reason that he stayed in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology Hospital for more than two months after getting off the ship. He hoped that these oranges could help him.

"Mr. Zhang, you are so thoughtful." The young people were deeply moved, and then at the urging of the crew, they reluctantly said goodbye to Zhang Xingjiu and boarded the freighter.

The whistle soon sounded, and the cargo ship left the dock and gradually disappeared below the sea level. At this time, Zhang Xingjiu felt a little reluctant. He didn't know how long it would take before he could see his son again. Maybe it would be a few years after he graduated?

Unexpectedly, this day came earlier than Zhang Xingjiu had expected.

In the second half of this year, Zhang Xingjiu will continue to teach at Peking University. Thanks to his help and other teachers from Aurora University, the quality of science teaching at Peking University and even in the entire north has improved a lot in recent years. So Zhang Xingjiu and Cai Heqing discussed that he would return to Shanghai during the summer vacation.

Cai Heqing was reluctant to let him go, but thinking about the current environment in the capital and Zhang Xingjiu's personal situation, it was not good to separate him and his family for too long, so he could only agree with regret.

After teaching the last semester in 1920, Zhang Xingjiu bid farewell to Peking University students and returned to Shanghai to continue teaching at Aurora University. However, some teachers chose to stay at Peking University or other northern universities to continue teaching, and many students from the north also applied for undergraduate or even graduate studies at Aurora University.

This can be considered a good exchange between the education circles of the north and the south. Both sides have benefited from this exchange, so they agreed to hold similar exchange activities frequently in the future.

As soon as he returned to Shanghai, the young man he had met in the Peking University Library came to Zhang Xingjiu with a guilty look on his face, wanting to borrow money from him to raise travel expenses for Hu Lan, a student studying in France. Zhang Xingjiu gave him 50,000 yuan without saying a word, and made it clear that it was a donation and did not need to be returned. However, the young man insisted on writing an IOU.

In October, Zhang Xingjiu received good news. The Swedish Consul in Shanghai came to the Shanghai College in person and told Zhang Xingjiu the good news that he had won the Nobel Prize again and hoped that he could set off as soon as possible to Sweden to receive the award.

(End of this chapter)