One street north from the Forbidden City, in the Royal Academy of Sciences, in a garden near Xihaizi, there are two rows of east-west bungalows, which are the dormitories of the foreign members of the Royal Academy of Sciences. In front of these two rows of bungalows, there is a row of old acacia with white flowers, which looks very quiet.

Deng Yuhan and Jinnige happened to live in one east and one west, and although these bungalows were connected, each household had a yard surrounded by pruned shrubs. Deng Yuhan, who Zhu Youzhen went to see first, compared with the flowers and plants planted by others, there were more novel plants in the yard in front of his house, and it seemed that there were some medicinal herbs.

The two young men who were decocting medicine in the courtyard immediately got up to greet him when they saw the emperor coming. Zhu Youzhen waved his hand at them and said, "Don't panic, you can come to visit Mr. Deng with me at will, and the other will go and watch the fire, don't fry the medicine." ”

After the two young men glanced at each other, the older young man with a darker face said to the young man next to him: "Senior Brother Fu has not been in the house for a long time, or I have come to see the medicine furnace, you can accompany Your Majesty to go in and see Your Majesty." ”

Zhu Youzhen turned his head and let his entourage stay outside the door, only letting Lu Qi follow him into the door, and before approaching the door, he couldn't help but stop again, and asked the young man who was bending down to salute him, "What's your name?" ”

"Student Zheng Yuanzang." The young man replied honestly.

"Well, you decoct the medicine well, and take good care of Mr. Deng these days." Zhu Youzhen said this to him, then turned his head and walked into the room.

When the emperor came in, Deng Yuhan was half-leaning on the soft pillow to read, his body at the moment could neither stand nor lie down, only such a half-leaning and half-lying could make him feel better. When Zhu Youzhen saw him, he knew that Deng Yuhan's time was not long, after all, a white man who was originally physically strong was now almost skinny.

Zhu Youzhen stopped Deng Yuhan from wanting to get up and salute, held Deng Yuhan's hands and said: "I've been busy with trivial matters these days, but it's too late, I can't imagine that Mr. Deng's body has..."

Seeing Zhu Youzhen's sad expression, Deng Yuhan explained for Chongzhen: "Your Majesty the Emperor doesn't need to worry too much, for us believers in the Lord, death is just a return to the Lord's arms, which is not a bad thing."

I knew exactly how far my illness had got, and I wasn't afraid of death, but I couldn't let go of the work I was doing. I originally wanted to learn the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, and before I died, I wanted to send a suicide note to His Majesty to explain the work in hand.

However, His Majesty also knows that although I have learned Chinese, I am not able to write in Chinese. Therefore, I could only write a suicide note in Latin, and Your Majesty came today, and I just handed it over to Your Majesty, hoping that it would be helpful to Your Majesty. ”

Zhu Youzhen took the brocade box that Deng Yuhan asked the disciples around him to take, and handed it to Lu Qi behind him, and then he continued to Deng Yuhan: "What Mr. Deng wrote, I will definitely study it well after I return to the palace, and I will not disappoint Mr. Deng's heart." I don't know if Mr. Deng has any requirements for what happened after his death? Or do you have any relatives in your hometown to take care of? Although the Ming Dynasty is thousands of miles away from Europe, I can still send people..."

Deng Yuhan stopped Chongzhen from continuing, and after a while of coughing, he said to Chongzhen: "Since I joined the church, I have dedicated everything I have to God, and naturally there are Jesuit brothers who take care of these mundane affairs for me, so Your Majesty does not have to bother with this." However, there are still two things that I have been relieved of, and I hope that Your Majesty will be able to fulfill them. ”

Zhu Youzhen immediately replied: "Mr. Deng will say what he wants, as long as I can do it, I will definitely do it for Mr." ”

Deng Yuhan looked at the emperor and said slowly: "The first thing is that I was funded by His Majesty to devote myself to the study of human anatomy, and finally wrote a volume of "Anatomy Supplements" for several years. I hope that Your Majesty will be able to proclaim it to the world in the coming day, and not let it sink. ”

Zhu Youzhen agreed: "This is a matter of course, for medical research, Daming will not stop." Today, some people in China and the West regard the new medicine as a beast, but I can guarantee that future generations will remember his contribution to the creation of the new medicine. ”

Deng Yuhan listened to the emperor's words, immediately smiled, and said with a yearning expression: "If what Your Majesty said is true, I really want to take a look at that era." ”

After a pause, Deng Yuhan spoke again: "This second thing is the Royal Medical University and the Xuanwumen New Hospital, which I founded with Mr. Wu Youxing on the orders of His Majesty the Emperor.

Mr. Wu was instructed to go to Wuhan to establish a medical school to study and treat various infectious diseases in the south, although this was also an important matter. But Your Majesty, at present, the only person who is qualified to lead the Royal Medical University and the new hospital forward is Mr. Wu.

Without an enlightened and knowledgeable scholar, the new style of medicine could go down the wrong path and become a witch doctor combining occultism and superstition. This is what I do not want to see, and for the sake of the healthy growth of new medicine, I hope that His Majesty the Emperor will recall Mr. Wu and let him take over these two medical institutions..."

After talking with Deng Yuhan for more than half an hour, after watching him cough violently again, Zhu Youzhen had to get up and say goodbye, and let Deng Yuhan take medicine and rest. When Zhu Youzhen left Deng Yuhan's house, he couldn't help but ask the young man beside him who was calmly behaved: "Your senior brother's name is Zheng Yuanzang, so what is your name?" Listen to your accent like a Shanxi person? ”

After the young man bowed, he respectfully replied to Chongzhen: "The minister Fu Dingchen is a native of Yangqu, Shanxi, and he has been under the disciple of his teacher for less than half a year. ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded at him and said, "Okay, you and your senior brother serve Mr. Deng well, if you have any requirements, or what is the news, you will pass it on to the steward here and let them inform Yu I..."

At the door of Jinnige's house, Zhu Youzhen happened to meet the imperial doctor who had examined Jinnige's body, and he immediately asked the imperial doctor about Jinnige's condition.

The imperial doctor replied to Chongzhen with an embarrassed face: "Your Majesty, please forgive the ministers and others for their incompetence, although this Jin missionary is not yet over sixty years old, but he has traveled to and from the ocean several times before, and his body is too empty, and now he has reached the state of running out of oil and running out, and I am afraid that the return period will be in these days." ”

Zhu Youzhen hesitated for a moment, then asked again: "So, if I go in now, can he talk to me normally?" ”

The imperial doctor nodded and said, "Your Majesty wants to talk to him, there is no problem, the minister has just checked, and now his mind is still very clear." ”

Zhu Youzhen sighed and said, "That's okay, you can go about your own business." ”

After entering the room of the Jinni Pavilion, Zhu Youzhen found that there were two other Jesuit priests who were also accompanying the Jinnige in the room. After the two saw Chongzhen coming, they hurriedly stepped forward to salute him.

Zhu Youzhen and the two exchanged a few words of greeting, then sat down in front of the bed of Jinnige, and started talking with Jinnige who was lying on the bed. Jinnige, who had no spirit, regained some spirit after seeing Chongzhen enter the door, and he asked his Jesuit colleagues to help him up, and then half leaned on the side of the bed and talked to the emperor.

Unlike Deng Yuhan, Jinnige was still thinking about the missionary cause of the Jesuits, and he also knew that his time was running out, so he couldn't wait to mention to Chongzhen again: "Your Majesty the Emperor, in the past few years, the Jesuit China Branch has been protected by Your Majesty, and finally able to enter the capital of China.

In return for His Majesty's favor, the ministers followed His Majesty's instructions, and all the Jesuit priests in China worked hard to translate the books they had brought from Europe. If it weren't for the minister's health problems, he would have been willing to wait for the day when His Majesty would allow me to preach openly in China.

However, the current physical condition of the foreign minister is obviously not able to wait any longer. Therefore, before returning to the bosom of the Lord, the ministers hope to obtain His Majesty's permission to allow us Jesuits to preach freely within the limits of His Majesty's rule. My colleagues in the Jesuit China Branch are willing to dedicate themselves to the glorious cause of His Majesty. ”

Zhu Youzhen didn't answer immediately, but first glanced around the room and said to the others: "You guys go out first, I hope to talk to Mr. Jinnige alone." ”

After the two Jesuit missionaries and Lu Qi and others exited the room, Zhu Youzhen got up and bowed respectfully to Jinnige, and when Jinnige was surprised why Chongzhen saluted him, Zhu Youzhen sat down again and said apologetically to him.

"Mr. Kinnige and the missionaries of the Jesuit China Branch brought thousands of books to my Daming, and also organized people to translate them into Chinese, making outstanding contributions to the cultural exchanges between Europe and my Daming. At this point, I would like to express my gratitude to you and to the missionaries for this kind of gift.

But I can only regret to refuse your last request, because I think the time has not yet come to open the mission. ”

Jinnige was very disappointed with the emperor's answer, but he still asked Chongzhen unwillingly: "From the contact between the foreign ministers and His Majesty during this time, His Majesty the Emperor is not so resistant to my Catholic teachings, and Your Majesty has also said that the people should have the freedom to believe in religion. And there are more than one or two religions in the Ming Dynasty now, why can't Your Majesty open up to my Catholic network? ”

Zhu Youzhen patted Jinnige's arm and calmed down his emotions before he said sincerely: "What Mr. Jinnige said is right, I did say that the people should have freedom of religious belief, but there should be a premise here, the people should have the ability to distinguish between what is faith and what is superstition..."