Zhou Hexuan entered the city in a truck borrowed from the airport carrying 2,000 pens and 2,000 notebooks.

You can't come empty-handed, when Zhou Hexuan got on the plane in Chongqing, he brought a pen and a notebook with him.

Truck drivers are estimated to rarely go into the city, and they can't find their way. Zhou Hexuan could only get out of the car and wear a passer-by and asked: "Hello fellow, how to get to the general office of the Southwest Associated University?" ”

"Over there on Chongren Street," the passer-by said, gesturing forward, "the one in front of him is a teacher from Southwest Associated University in a suit and glasses, you let him take you there." ”

Zhou Hexuan turned around and looked, and sure enough, he saw a middle-aged man in a suit.

This gentleman ******, with a high hairline, is hovering around a cigarette vendor. He took out the money several times, but always put the money back in his pocket, made up his mind to leave, but turned back, and asked, "Can you sell your cigarettes at all?" ”

The cigarette seller was an old woman with a flat wooden box hanging from her chest, and the box was open to all kinds of cigarettes. She replied, "Which one do you want?" ”

The middle-aged man with glasses swallowed and said: "The cheapest one, only two." ”

"Two dimes, sir." The old woman handed it over and said.

The middle-aged man with glasses is like a hungry ghost seeing food, striking a match as fast as he can, standing in place and sucking it up. In less than 20 seconds, there was only a small section of the cigarette left, and he finally stopped, holding the cigarette butt and sighing: "Alas! ”

The old woman who sold cigarettes also sighed: "Poor, pitiful." ”

Zhou Hexuan looked a little sad, and waited for the other party to throw away the cigarette butt before he stepped forward and said, "Hello sir, can you take me to the general office of the Southwest Associated University?" ”

"Mr. Zhou," the middle-aged man in glasses suddenly recognized Zhou Hexuan, shook hands happily and said, "Hello, hello, contemptible Huang Ziqing." ”

Huang Ziqing, whose name is Bifan, Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a physical chemist, chemistry educator, and one of the founders of physical chemistry in China.

Zhou Hexuan had no understanding of the field of physical chemistry and did not know Huang Ziqing, so he asked, "Mr. Huang is a professor at Southwest Associated University?" ”

Huang Ziqing said: "Well, it used to be Tsinghua, but now it's called Southwest Associated University." Mr. Zhou wants to go to the main office? It's close, I'll take you there. ”

When Zhou Hexuan entered the city, he sat in the passenger seat, and the bodyguards were in the body. Now that there is one more Huang Ziqing, Zhou Hexuan simply sat on the car body, opened a pack of cigarettes and handed it over.

Huang Ziqing's eyes suddenly lit up, put the cigarette between his mouth and nose and sniffed, and laughed happily: "American camel smoke, that's the smell, I really miss it." ”

Zhou Hexuan handed over the remaining half of the package: "Someone else sent it, I'm not used to smoking camels." If Professor Huang likes it, then I will borrow flowers to offer Buddha. ”

Huang Ziqing laughed and took the cigarette case happily: "Mr. Zhou, you don't have to be afraid of me losing face." I don't have any other hobbies, so I like to take a few puffs, thank you for your kindness. ”

Zhou Hexuan took out a lighter to help Huang Ziqing light it, and asked, "The teachers of Southwest Associated University are in a difficult situation?" ”

Huang Ziqing said truthfully: "When I was in Changsha, I barely made ends meet, but after moving to Kunming, it was difficult. All of them dragged their families with them, and their wages were only 70%, and my savings were exhausted anyway. Brother Dai Sun (Chen Daisun, director of the Department of Economics of Southwest Associated University) gave up smoking ruthlessly, but I couldn't quit, and I could only buy local cigarettes to relieve my addiction. Today, I'm really hungry, like a big smoker, and I've lost all my face. ”

Of course, Zhou Hexuan knew that the teachers of Southwest Associated University were very difficult, but he didn't expect that he would start living in embarrassment in 1939. Seventy percent of the salary was paid voluntarily to save money for the war of resistance, but this year's prices have risen so fiercely that it is difficult for teachers to support their families by working alone.

The Southwest Associated University is very awesome to say, and all kinds of romances have been mentioned in later generations, but the real situation is very bad. Not to mention the contradictions between the three schools, teachers shout salaries every year, and in order to make extra money, many well-known professors have to write articles for lace tabloids.

Now it's actually okay, at least the teachers and their families can fill their stomachs, but after 1941, it will be even worse, and prices have risen to outer space. In 1943, there were even rumors that the professors of Southwest Associated University went on a collective hunger strike to ask for a salary increase, and Jiang Menglin was so frightened in Chongqing that he hurriedly called to stop it, and the Ministry of Education added 400 yuan to 700 yuan to each teacher.

At the beginning of 1943, the salary of a teaching assistant at Southwest Associated University was more than 100 yuan, and the highest salary of a full-time professor was only 600 yuan. That's not enough money, and if it weren't for the various subsidies, the teachers would all starve to death as a family - the subsidies are often one or two times higher than the regular salary.

By 1945, the price of goods was even more terrifying, and in April of that year alone, the Southwest Associated Congress needed to pay salaries and subsidies as high as more than 40 million yuan......

Zhou Hexuan and Huang Ziqing chatted for a while, and soon arrived at the main office of the Southwest Associated University.

When the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Mei Yiqi, and the Chief of General Affairs, Shen Lu, heard the news, and immediately came out to greet them, and pulled Zhou Hexuan in for tea and chatting.

What is the most dazzling thing about Southwest Associated University?

At the time of the national crisis, teachers and students put aside their contradictions and worked together to maintain the construction of the school. Originally, it was agreed that after the merger of the three schools, the presidents of the three universities would take turns to serve as the presidents of the United Nations University, but Jiang Menglin and Zhang Boling took the initiative to give up power and went to Chongqing to take up other public positions, so that Mei Yiqi could manage the Southwest Associated University with peace of mind.

Mei Yiqi later resigned as principal, and Zheng Tianting, who served as the director of general affairs, worked hard to keep him. Because other managers, including Zheng Tianting, are all from Peking University, as soon as Mei Yiqi from Tsinghua University leaves, Southwest Associated University will become the dominant university in Peking University.

In order to ensure the democracy of the school and avoid a word, Zheng Tianting not only persuaded Mei Yiqi to stay, but also implored teachers from Nankai and Yunda to join the school council.

Since the middle term, Southwest Associated University has been jointly governed by Tsinghua University, Peking University, Nankai University and Yunnan University, and of course, Yunnan University is an auxiliary university. Because the United Nations University and Yunnan University are only separated by one road, the strength of Yun University is insufficient, so many professors of the United Nations University have been invited to serve as part-timers. Yunda was barely a member of the Southwest Associated University at that time, but it was only administratively and financially independent.

Everyone chatted about the situation of the school for a while, and Mei Yiqi personally took Zhou Hexuan out of the city, while Shen Lu stayed to continue working.

The real manager of Southwest Associated University is not President Mei Yiqi, but General Affairs Director Shen Lu. However, the school is really difficult, Shen Lu will soon have to pick a son and quit, and the successor is Zheng Tianting, and the Southwest Associated University relies on Zheng Tianting's hard work to persist until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.

By the way, Shen Lu is the cousin-in-law of Qian Zhongshu's wife, Mr. Yang Jiang, and has a double master's degree from Wisconsin and Columbia University.

The truck soon drove out of Kunming's West Gate, and Mei Yiqi pointed to the distance and said: "When I first came to Kunming, the United Nations University rented the school building of Kunhua Agricultural School for teaching, and although the new school building has been built, some teachers and students still remain in Kunhua Agricultural School. The new school site is over there! ”

The site of Southwest Associated University is in the later Yunnan Normal University, which is said to be a school building, but in fact, it looks like a rural house.

The school building was designed by Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin, and the first version of the design was several Western-style buildings, which had to be modified to a three-story brick and wood structure due to financial difficulties. The third floor soon became the second floor, and when it was completed, it became an earthen wall bungalow.

The only positive thing is probably that the school building has a lot of natural light. There is no glass, so dig a large hole in the earthen wall as a window, and then make a few wooden strips to support it as a window lattice.

The roof is made of tin sheets, and it will not be long before it is replaced with thatch, which can be sold to raise money.