Lu Shi followed Natsume Soseki to the rented house on Blya Road.

The house has one bedroom and a living room, which is quite old, and on the east wall of the living room, two windows sealed with bricks are unusually striking and are so tightly blocked that the air in the house is extremely poor.

Natsume Soseki complained: "Don't dislike it, there are a lot of them in London." ”

Lu Shi nodded,

"Well, the aftermath of the window tax."

Natsume Soseki looked at him in surprise and asked curiously, "What is the window tax?" ”

Lu Shi did not rush to answer the other party, but walked to the window, groped for a while on the wedge-shaped brick, and finally found the buckle, and pulled hard,

Click, a small hole has opened in the lower right corner of the stone brick window.

Natsume Soseki looked confused: ???

"What are you doing?! We...... Hiss...... Broke the landlord's window. ”

Lu Shi waved his hand to signal the other party not to panic, and explained: "Didn't you talk about the window tax just now?" Prior to 1851, the English Act provided that a house with less than 10 windows was taxed 2 shillings; Those with windows from 10 to 20 are taxed at 6 shillings; If there are more than 20 windows, a tax of 10 shillings will be charged. Since this tax is levied only on the number of windows, it does not take into account the area and value of the house, nor does it take into account the taxpayer's ability to pay taxes, and the burden is unusually light and unreasonable. In order to avoid paying taxes, many taxpayers change the open window to the dark window, just like this. ”

He leaned on the little hole and looked left and right, and said, "This thing can be ventilated at most, and you don't have to think about expecting it to be lit." Whew~ Let me sober up first. ”

Natsume Soseki breathed a sigh of relief,

Just now, he was almost scared to death.

Unexpectedly, Lu Shi said again: "It's not a way to live like this, and one day I will smash the head on the window." ”

Natsume Soseki was depressed, and said in his heart how he invited an ancestor to come back and share a house,

He hesitated for a moment, but finally couldn't help but ask, "Lu, why do you share a house with someone?" ”

Lu Shi was speechless,

"Why else? No money~"

Natsume Soseki was a little surprised and asked, "Will you Chinese students also run out of money?" I took a boat all the way to London, and I stopped in Shanghai, Fuzhou and other places, where the port was bustling and full of magnificent buildings as far as the eye could see, and my hometown could not compare to it at all. I remember that in Shanghai, I went to the customs office to visit Masaki Tachibana, and even got lost once because of those Western buildings. ”

Lu Shi smacked his tongue,

"You also said that it is a Western building, a concession area."

Natsume Soseki was silent.

Prior to the signing of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and the United Kingdom, foreigners had the right to reside freely in certain treaty ports of Japan and enjoyed extraterritoriality.

In terms of external incompetence and loss of power and humiliation of the country, the Tokugawa shogunate was similar to the Qing court.

The atmosphere was a little weird.

Lu Shi carried a few suitcases and travel bags to his bedside, unpacked his bags, and arranged the furnishings.

Natsume Soseki turned on the light and read and wrote.

Relatively silent for a while, Lu Shi walked behind the other party, glanced at the desk, and found that it was full of various literary books, and even a few pre-1893 "Waterfront Magazine" (actually "Strand's Magazine"), a picture of a detective with a pipe in his mouth was vividly displayed on the cover.

"Sherlock Holmes?"

Lu Shi picked up one of them and flipped through it.

Natsume Soseki was still writing something, didn't look up, and said, "You like this?" Then you can read it, and give it back to me when you are done. This kind of fiction is useless for my studies. ”

He chose the Department of Chinese Literature at the University of London as his major major, studying under the famous scholar William Alexander Smith, and at the same time studied literature, philosophy, and sociology in depth.

Lu Shi asked: "You are a public faction, what are the requirements for your studies?" ”

Natsume Soseki smiled bitterly and replied, "Study English." However, I only found out after a few days that the so-called English literature is very different from the English I used to know, and being proficient in English is not enough to strengthen the country. ”

As he spoke, he pointed to what he was writing and continued, "But in any case, the homework assigned by the teacher still has to be completed. ”

Lu Shi leaned over and asked, "What homework?" ”

Natsume Soseki replied, "Not long after I arrived, the teacher wanted to examine how well I understood and grasped English literature. Since it's English literature, it's natural that popular reading like "Seaside Magazine" doesn't matter. ”

This thing happens to be within the professional range of land time,

He said, "Not necessarily." For example......"

As he spoke, he rummaged through the stacks of books, and finally found the first case of Sherlock Holmes, and asked, "Look at this title, how would you translate it?" ”

Natsume Soseki sighed helplessly,

"You don't know Japanese, so it's useless for me to tell you."

Lu Shi urged: "Just say it." ”

Natsume Soseki rubbed the corner of his mustache and replied while groaning, "A Study in Scarlet, it should be "A Study in Scarlet", it should be "A Study in Scarlet", what's so difficult about it? It's literal. ”

Lu Shi shook his head,

"Wrong."

This is the first time that Natsume Soseki has been criticized professionally, and he is a little unconvinced: "Then what do you say." ”

Lu Shi smiled and said in Japanese: "It should be "Scarlet Study". ”

Natsume Soseki listened to this translation, and immediately felt that Lu Shi's level was not enough, and he lost interest.

He lazily said: "'The three difficulties of translation: faith, attainment, and elegance. It is very difficult to ask for their faith! Gu Xinyi, if it is not reached, although it is translated, it is still not translated, and it is still up to Shangyan. "Xin, Da, and Ya were proposed by Mr. Yan Fu of your country, and you are good that you didn't care about it for the sake of expression......"

As he spoke, he finally discovered something, and his eyes widened,

"You know Japanese!?"

Lu Shi didn't pick up the stubble, but turned the topic back, pointed to the magazine and said: "You see what the original text of this paragraph says, 'How about we call it 'A Study in Scarlet'?'" In a little artistic jargon, I don't think it hurts. To be clear, A Study in Scarlet uses artistic terms, and in the field of art, what does study mean? ”

Natsume Soseki's mind was pulled back again,

After a long time, he gave the answer: "When painting, it refers to studying, trying, and trying; In music, it's an etude. ”

Lu Shi nodded,

"Moreover, the Sherlock Holmes series was created from the first perspective of Dr. Watson, and the author, Conan Doyle, also happens to be a doctor, considering that this is the first article in the series, it is most appropriate to put the author in it."

Even finding evidence in the original text is convincing enough.

Natsume Soseki showed a happy and sincere expression,

"Lu Jun, ...... you?"

Lu Shi interrupted: "Let's try to use English as much as possible." ”

Natsume Soseki coughed, stood up, took a step forward, his legs touched the ground, his buttocks were on his ankles, his upper body was straight, and his hands were placed on his knees.

afterwards

Knock –

He leaned over sharply,

"Sensational mud intimate Marseille!"

Land Hours: ???

He didn't want Natsume Soseki to knock one to himself, so he quickly avoided the other party's front and said, "Don't ...... Big brother, don't mess with me. ”

Natsume Soseki seemed to feel that enough time to apologize and stood up,

"Lu, I was wrong, I underestimated you in my heart just now."

His gaze turned to the "Seaside Magazine" again, and then he continued: "I also underestimated the hidden literary and artistic qualities in popular books. To make up for it, I decided to make it my homework to study the Sherlock Holmes series, and to read it thoroughly and thoroughly. ”

When the land is one head and two large,

"You don't have to do that, there are still a lot of unscientific things about Sherlock Holmes."

Natsume Soseki was stunned and curious: "Isn't it that Dr. Dore's writing style is very professional?" When I read it, I felt that the plot was very responsive and the reasoning was very rigorous. ”

Lu Shi shook his head,

"There's a lot of unscience. For example, in "The Speckled Tape Case", in the airtight safe, the snake will suffocate to death; In "The Man with the Yellow Face", blacks and whites give birth to a child with a darker skin color than a black father, which is also outrageous; There are many descriptions in "The Silver Horse" that do not conform to the official rules of horse racing......"

Natsume Soseki swallowed his mouth and picked up the pen to record silently,

He was pretty sure that his homework would be handed in tomorrow.