In the history of China's modern development, Rong Hong is an inescapable figure. This Zhuhai native is known as the "father of Chinese students" by the historians. On November 17, 1828, on the eve of China's history preparing to enter modern times, Rong Hong was born in Nanping Village, in today's Zhuhai. In his early years, he studied abroad and became one of the first Orientals to systematically receive a new Western education and obtain a formal degree.

The descendants of the students brought by Rong Hong to the United States once wrote such a memorial to commemorate the life and exploits of this great sage: "The Tang and Song dynasties were in decline, and the Western instruments were in decline, born on the side of the Hao River, after Shagong; In the middle of the year, he received a bachelor's degree; As an educated person, he does not dare to be unique, and is determined to promote himself and others to enjoy the same interests, and strive to make China more civilized and prosperous; As a secretary, he was responsible for affairs, sideways foreign firms, visited Tianjing, purchased utensils, worked diligently, and searched up and down; Fortunately, in the year of the national domain, Shaoquan, and Renshen, the children went abroad, expanding the precedent of studying abroad in modern official schools, accumulating eighteen years of hardship, and the unprecedented thing was accomplished. ”

(Note: Yin Mid-1854; B.A. - Yale University, the first Chinese to graduate from a prestigious American university; Tongshi - Five-rank official; Instrument - industrial equipment; National Domain-Zeng Guofan; Shaoquan - Li Hongzhang; In 1872, the first year of the Chinese students studying in the United States, the earliest government-sent students in Chinese history. From 1872 to 1875, at the initiative of Rong Hong and with the support of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, the Qing government sent four batches of 120 students to study in the United States. The average age of these students was only 12 years old. Most of them entered first-class universities and became the mainstay of China's modern construction. For example, Zhan Tianyou, the father of China's railways; ）

In 1860, there was the Taiping Rebellion and the Second Opium War launched by Britain and other powers, and the Qing Dynasty was in turmoil. What is particularly frightening is that the people of the Manchu Qing Dynasty are invaders, and their dynasty is not right, and they are not accepted by the martial arts people in the Central Plains, and from time to time they stage a drama of assassinating the emperor from the deep palace, and they are not dispatched by the imperial court at all. To Zeng Guopan, Yi? Some members of the Manchu feudal ruling class represented by Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, and Zuo Zongtang were deeply aware of the exhaustion of manpower and the greatness of science, and strongly advocated the introduction and imitation of Western weapons and equipment, the study of Western science and technology, the establishment of modern enterprises, and the establishment of Westernization, which was known as the Westernization Movement in history. In order to better learn Western science and technology, it is necessary to send people to study overseas. At that time, Rong Hong, who had returned from studying in the United States for nearly six years, and his plan to study in the United States for young children entered the field of vision of the big shots. As a result, the Qing government successively sent four groups of 120 students with an average age of 12 to study in the United States. Over the past 18 years, more than 100 students have been no weaker than Westerners in culture, sports, and art, and they can be admitted to Citigroup's well-known universities at the age of admission. Each of them has the name of a prodigy in the United States, and the prestige of China is greatly promoted overseas. If they can all return to China, the atmosphere of China at the end of the Qing Dynasty will inevitably take on a new look.

Unfortunately, due to the stupidity of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, the promising program of young children in the United States was forced to be terminated, and most of the young children in the United States were recalled to China. Only a few people have completed their university studies, some have just entered Yale and Harvard, and some are still in high school.

Despite this, the program still cultivated a large number of qualified modern scientific and technological talents for the late Qing government. That's half the battle. The fact that his life's dream has not been fully fulfilled has always been the biggest regret of the old man who is now half-paralyzed on the recliner and let his grandson look through the photo album for himself. The present time is April 21, 1912, in the cottage where Ronghong lived in his later years in Hartford, Connecticut, United States (a parallel world where the will of the Great World was generated). The old man lying on the recliner is Rong Hong, the father of Chinese students.

After the miscarriage of the plan for a young child in the United States, the disheartened Rong Hong returned to this small city in the United States in his later years, and he lived a semi-secluded life in his foreign second hometown. This morning, he was still persuading his two sons to return to China and do their part for the salvation of the motherland. The sons did not understand their father's insistence, and they made a lot of trouble with each other.

At noon, he received a recent photo and a letter from a student who was still in the United States, and the old man asked his grandson to put the photo in the album and read the student's letter to himself. The little grandson read the letter written by Uncle Liang to his grandfather in Cantonese with a slight foreign accent. Although the old man could not accept that his grandson's English was better than that of his native speaker, he thought that he was almost the same, so he did not say anything, but sighed. The little grandson reads:

"Students can change clothes and cut braids, become American citizens, marry American wives, and there is no possibility of returning to China. Even if they return to China, they will also be regarded as alien by their relatives and neighbors. Students need scientific soil for what they are learning, but the country is really a barren desert in this regard, and if they return to China, students will be useless. However, recently, there is a student surnamed Chen Mingzongqi, who is 14 years old and studying in the United States, especially the scene when Yu and his brothers and friends were back then. The students want to follow the example of Mr. in this foreign country and cultivate a number of usable places for the motherland, and they do not work hard for Mr. ...... here."

The old man's thoughts were surging for a while, and he waved his hand to ask the little grandson not to read it, and instead motioned for the little grandson to help him flip through the photo album upside down. Time is frozen in a photo, and as the album is turned upside down, Rong Hong recalls the past years bit by bit.

After the completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, Zhan Tianyou, the first railway engineer in China to independently design and build a railway, looked ahead with a smile on his face, as if he was smiling at his husband;

The new mine of Kaiping Coal Mine was put into operation, and Wu Yangzeng, a mining and metallurgical engineer, was smiling at his husband;

Peiyang University was completed, and the first president of Peiyang University, Cai Shaoji, was smiling at his husband;

Tsinghua University is expanding, and Tang Guoan, president of Tsinghua University, is smiling at his husband;

The Republic of China was founded, and the first premier of the Republic of China, Tang Shaoyi, was smiling at his husband;

At the diplomatic table, Ouyang Geng, a diplomat who was forced to sign an unequal treaty, was smiling at his husband;

In front of the old ships of the Nanyang Naval Division, the young gunners Xue Youfu and Huang Jiliang were smiling at their husbands, which was their last smile, and then these two scholars who studied chemistry were sent to the bottom of the sea by the French giant ship together with a group of navy, and died in vain in their posts that could not play their actual value. Mr. Rong Hong was crying, and muddy tears slid down the 84-year-old's ravine-covered face;

The child who died of overwork at Yale because he studied too hard in his early years, and was known as a prodigy, was smiling at his husband; Mr. Rong Hong gradually remembered many faces who did not leave the last photo, the students on the Dingyuan ship that was about to sink in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle and crashed into the Neon Man ship without hesitation; Students who died in the Boxer riots. They were all smiling at their husbands. Those who are still alive seem to be saying that it shouldn't be like this, we can do better! The dead ones seem to be saying, sir, our death is still not exchanged for the strength of Huaxia, we are so uncomfortable! Lord Zeng Guofan, Lord Li Hongzhang, Yi? The prince was also smiling at him, an infinitely desolate smile.

Looking at the photos of his grandson, the number of people in the group photos gradually increased, and the people in the photos were getting younger, thinking that so many young lives had sacrificed their lives and forgot to die because of the empty blueprint they had promised them, and sought to survive for the country, thinking that many of them had died, and their deaths were almost worthless, just like the contract that was originally written: "I hereby have the son of God, I am willing to send him to the Constitutional Bureau to take him to Citi to learn the trade, and on the day of his return, he will obey the dispatch and shall not stay abroad." If there is a disease, life and death are mutually assured. "He wanted to protect every one of his students, but he couldn't.

"Things shouldn't be like this!" With this thought accumulated in his heart, Rong Hong's tears dried up, blood-colored tears gradually flowed out of his eyes, and his breathing became more and more rapid.

The little grandson was also addicted to his grandfather's photo album and did not notice his grandfather's abnormality. The album turned to the very beginning of the page, a young man in a suit and leather shoes, short hair and beard stood firmly in front of a beautiful Western-style building in Shanghai, so high-spirited, full of pride, it seems that the world is under his feet, and he dares to change the color of heaven and earth with a wave of his hand. It was the day when the young Rong Hong returned from studying in the United States. With three master's degrees, proficient in many Chinese, outstanding image and extraordinary temperament! Take a closer look at how he looks so much like Lu Ziqiao?

Looking at his young self, Rong Hong hissed with great remorse: "I regret it so much!" Sun Sun, go back, go back to China, and revitalize the Chinese ......." has not finished speaking, a generation of great men has passed away.

In a trance, Ronghong's soul floated out of his body and came to a pure white world. This is a chess room, Rong Hong has been sitting on one side of the chessboard since he regained consciousness, and there is a man in his twenties with strange glasses and new clothes, and a white-clothed strategist sits next to him. There was also a gray-white figure sitting on the side of the chess game, whose face was not clear, and it seemed that it was timing it.

The young man in fancy dress said, "You regret it? Do you want to start all over again when you were eight years old? ”

Rong Hong didn't react, and asked in surprise: "Are you immortals?" The other three shook their heads.

"Youkai?" Keep shaking your head.

"Angels?" ......

"God?" .......

Rong Hong, who didn't know what to say, had no choice but to say: "Thank you." ”

"Do you want to?"

"Yes." Rong Hong replied very simply.

"Play a game of chess with me. If you win, we'll make you live again. ”

Rong Hong looked at the chessboard and said embarrassedly: "I don't know how to play Go." Is chess OK? ”

"Yes." The cross-dressing man readily agreed.

And so the game began. This is a game of chess that concerns the fate of the world.