The lecture took place in an auditorium in Cambridge, which was probably not too large and could accommodate more than 300 people. In fact, in the era of no speakers, places that are too large have limited meaning unless the acoustic design is reasonable. It is said that some generals with a naturally loud voice were able to make pre-battle speeches in the wilderness in front of tens of thousands of troops, and they could be heard by everyone. But this kind of innate high-power human meat speaker is hard to come by, at least, Scrooge does not have such high-end equipment, and most of the scholars who give lectures do not bring their own such equipment.

In addition, compared to the agitative speeches before the war, the lectures were very long, often lasting several hours (with breaks in between), and there was basically no teacher-student interaction in between. Basically, it is a scholar who lectures and talks about it in a word, such a way, if you are still in the wilderness, facing tens of thousands of people, even if you call those guys who are born with high-power human meat speakers, and it lasts for several hours, it is estimated that it will not be able to hold it.

Today, however, the auditorium, which could only accommodate 300 people, was crowded with at least 600 people, not only on the chairs, but also in the aisles. In order to avoid heat stroke, all the large floor-to-ceiling windows and doors in the auditorium decorated with stained glass were also open, and as a result, the windows and doors were also crowded. Among these people was a real fan of Scrooge's "Some Ideas for the Hospital of the Future" (Scrooge was a slacker, and since Prince Albert asked him to help develop a standardized hospital structure, he simply used it as part of his lecture at Cambridge. I was interested; There are also those who are just interested in visiting the zoo to see what the so-called genius looks like; There are also plans to find an opportunity to give this annoying Yankee a problem, stump him, and use it to become famous.

Roy had arrived at the Great Hall early, not only him, but also his father, Mr. Odd. Mr. Odd didn't know much about science, but when he knew that today's speech might include how to avoid and defeat puerperal fever, and include infectious diseases such as scarlet fever, the old gentleman couldn't sit still. You must know that Mr. Odd's wife, Roy and Dorothea's mother, died of puerperal fever after giving birth to Dorothea's younger brother. Dorothea's younger brother also died of scarlet fever just two months after his mother's death. So, as soon as he heard such a topic, the old gentleman couldn't sit still.

Cambridge is a university town, Cambridge Town is Cambridge University, and Cambridge University is Cambridge Town. So, there are shops and hotels in Cambridge University. There is a theater, and there is even a Ji Yuan (of course, the university side will say that the Ji Yuan Shenma belongs to the town of Cambridge and has absolutely nothing to do with the university, although many of their customers are Cambridge students and teachers. Moreover, Oxford also has this thing! ）。 The university does not have walls, so there are many cases of some activities of the university, local residents, and even foreign tourists mixing in to participate in it. No one will care about it. So the old gentleman came with his son, and they could not have left Dorothea alone in the hotel as a child (although there was a wet nurse, everyone knew that the wet nurse could not control Dorothea at all). But, well, sexism in Cambridge is still very strict, and in activities like lectures, no one cares if outsiders come in to observe, but women come in to observe, and at that time, it will be considered intolerable. So Roy had an idea, and simply dressed Dorothea as a boy. Anyway, Dorothea is so cute, she is still young, and her secondary sexual characteristics have not yet been expressed, and it is not so easy to see if she pretends to be a boy.

So Roy bought Dorothea a set of little boy's clothes in the ready-to-wear store and asked her to wear them. What the? Do you mean Dorothea's long hair that hung down to her waist, shining like gold in the sun and smooth and silky like a waterfall? There are many ways to cover this up. For example...... Nonsense! How can it be cut? How could you come up with such an idea? You must be jealous! Don't waste your efforts, even if you cut off Dorothea's hair, the mirror in your house won't say that you are the cutest little Lori! The solution to the problem was as simple as bundling Dorothea's hair and buttoning it up with a top hat.

"Brother, am I dressed like this?" Dorothea, who had changed into men's clothes, asked timidly. Wearing long pants for the first time made her feel uncomfortable.

"Well, yes, it's so cute, it's a boy at first glance!" Seeing his daughter dressed as a little boy, old Mr. Odd also laughed, "Dorothea, I didn't expect you to be so cute dressed as a boy...... Oh, by the way, now we can't call Dorothea Dorothea anymore, we're going to give her a boy's name, well, what's the name......"

"Let's call it Toto." Roy interjected on the side.

"You bad brother!" Dorothea jumped up at once and raised her little fist high at Roy, as "Toto" was the name of one of their border collies.

Because they arrived early, the Roy family was able to find a few chairs in the front row and sit down. When they sat down, after a while, there were more and more people, and after a while, the seats around them were full, and the aisles next to them began to fill up. Roy sat in the chair in the aisle, while his father sat a little there, sandwiching Dorothea in between.

They had waited for a long time, and the noise around them, and the heat from the crowd of people, made Dorothea feel like she was about to faint, but just then, a man in a black dress walked up to the podium, picked up a small hammer and struck the small bell hanging next to the podium.

As the bell rang, the entire auditorium quickly fell silent. At that time, the students of Cambridge University were quite high in terms of etiquette. Well, at least, there won't be anything to throw away leather shoes.

"Isn't this Scrooge's brother?" Dorothea's eyes widened with a beautiful gap.

"Next, let us welcome our guest with applause, the discoverer of bacterial pathogenesis and the conqueror of disease, Mr. Scrooge 61 MacDonald for a speech entitled "Some Ideas for the Hospital of the Future." When the man in the black dress had said this, he stepped aside and took the lead in applauding, which was echoed by the audience.

Dorothea saw her brother Scrooge walk out of the back stage and walk all the way to the podium amid applause. He nodded to everyone, then stretched out his hands and pressed down, and the applause quickly stopped.

"Brother Scrooge looks so handsome now! Even my brother doesn't seem to be as good as him, and the others are even more ......" Little Lori thought so, and she didn't feel a little hot on her face, thinking that her cheeks must be red. So she looked in all directions with a weak heart, but fortunately, everyone was staring at Brother Scrooge, and no one noticed her. However, little Lori still lowered her head a little shyly. It took a while to raise his head.

Although she lowered her head, little Lori was still listening to what Scrooge's brother had to say as carefully as possible. Still, just like when she was on the boat, when Scrooge's brother told him about the math problems, she still couldn't understand anything. But strictly speaking, there is still a difference, when they were on the ship, Scrooge and Roy talked about those things, and little Lori couldn't even understand a word, but here, most of the words Scrooge said, what high temperature, what increased pressure, fixed procedures, what strict disinfection, what care, and what she could understand, but when these words were connected, she didn't understand them at all. But this does not prevent little Lori from proudly thinking in her heart, "Brother Scrooge is amazing", nor does it prevent one little star after another from constantly flashing out of her big eyes looking up at Scrooge.

The whole lecture lasted for nearly three hours, and Dorothea did not understand it, in the face of such a lengthy speech, and she could not understand what was being said at all, but she could still listen to it with great interest, and she did not doze off or feel impatient at all. The last time my father took him to the opera, there were still people singing on the stage, but I only lasted less than an hour, and I slept like a piglet.

After the presentation, about half an hour was set aside for the audience to ask questions. The originally peaceful auditorium suddenly became lively. Some people kept whispering to each other, not knowing what they were saying; Others began to raise their hands high.

"This speech is thoughtful and meticulous about the construction of the future hospital, and this speech alone can be regarded as very good." At this time, little Lori heard that in the front row of her, several people were whispering and discussing with each other.

"Well, it seems that everyone thinks Brother Scrooge is very powerful." Little Lori thought happily, and at the same time felt that the guys in the front row who had been blocking his vision just now didn't seem to be so annoying. However, then she heard these words:

"Yes, if only he were an Englishman, but unfortunately he's a vulgar Yankee!" ("What's wrong with the Yankees?") Unlike you British, who are thieves and robbers! Little Lori scolded the guy in front of her viciously in her heart, and glared at the back of his head. If the Brit had a pair of eyes on the back of his head, he would probably faint directly from the eye attack, but the Brit didn't have eyes on the back of his head. So this eye attack of little Lori was completely ineffective. ）

"Why don't we just ask him about the rumors in the tabloids?" The guy who ignored Lori's "Eye of Death" attack continued.

"Isn't that okay? It's too ungraceful. The other guy replied.

However, at this time, when several successive questioners failed to stump Scrooge, someone really took out the rumors in the tabloids.

"May I ask Mr. MacDonald, there is a newspaper saying that you use black slaves for human realization, is this true? And what do you think about the backward and barbaric slavery in the United States? ”

"You're just behind the barbaric!" Little Lori was furious.

"It's complete nonsense." Scrooge replied, "I have always been opposed to slavery, believing it to be a barbaric and backward system. Although the existence of this system in the United States is a problem left over from history, it is indeed a shame for the United States. But I believe that the American people will wake up and consciously abandon this inhumane system. In addition, we think that slavery is barbaric and cruel, which is the conclusion of comparing the situation of slaves with that of our workers. It is well known that we workers in the United States are in a much better position than in Europe. In my business, they've even started to enjoy an 8-hour workday. Compared to them, the situation of the slaves was indeed heartbreaking. It is true that there is no slavery in Europe anymore, but are the men, women, and even children who do the work in sweatshops that they simply cannot bear, not the slaves of modern freedom? Isn't the system of having the workers spin around the machine like donkeys for sixteen hours or more every day, and making these men, women, and children eat worse than slaves, sleep less than slaves, and die earlier than slaves, is not the modernized, but in fact more barbaric and cruel slavery? ”

Scrooge's answer silenced everyone present, but Dorothea, whose eyes were full of little stars, couldn't help but slap desperately and shouted: "Brother Scrooge, well said!" Then the whole auditorium erupted with people shouting, "Damn the reds! Others shouted, "Well said! You are such a good businessman with a conscience! ”

Scrooge also heard the first shout of support, and he looked over there and forgot about it, but saw nothing. Because many people were already standing up excitedly, the petite Dorothea had been completely blocked by them. Moreover, the little Lori's current love is very bad, she sat in her chair in a daze, her head bowed, and her face was pale.

"Brother Scrooge said he was most against slavery! He said that slavery was inhumane, barbaric and cruel, but, but...... Dorothea's family seems to have a lot of black slaves! ”

At this time, a hand reached over and took Dorothea's trembling little hand. Dorothea looked up and saw her father's loving face.

"Son, your brother Scrooge is right, and he is indeed qualified to blame slavery. In fact, your father and your brother have long had the idea of giving our slaves freedom, but they are worried about the opinions of other neighbors. I decided that when we returned from Europe this time, we would give all the slaves freedom. ”

"Is this true?" Little Lori looked at her father, and then at her brother.

Roy smiled at her and nodded.