Dirt Dirt –

The train's whistle sounded, reminding people on the platform to get out of the station.

An old man picked up his suitcase and walked slowly outside.

The old man was dressed simply, wearing a black trench coat with a beard, which hung down to the opening of the front of the trench coat, and miraculously, his beard was white, and his hair was gray and black, which looked a little strange.

Because the suitcase was heavy, he looked limping,

A flight attendant leaned over,

"Sir, do you need help?"

The old man raised his head,

"Oh, no, no. I would like to ask, is there a place to send telegrams around here? ”

The flight attendant looked confused,

"You...... Forehead...... What do you say? ”

He could hear that the other party was speaking French, but the accent was so strong that the big tongue was so strong that it was difficult to understand.

The old man couldn't help but be embarrassed, lowered his speed of speech, and repeated: "I want to ask, is there a place to send telegrams near here?" ”

The flight attendant listened to it this time.

"Telegram? Go to the telegraph office...... Uh, go to the post office. ”

After the World Expo, Paris outlawed the specialized telegraph operation and merged with the post office.

The old man nodded,

He opened the box he was carrying, rummaged through it for a while, pulled out a map of the city of Paris, and handed it to the other party.

This time, the flight attendants didn't even need to communicate with each other.

He looked for the location of the post office on the map, but he couldn't find it, so he looked at the lower left corner of the map and realized that the map turned out to be the 1878 version, or the commemorative edition of the Paris World's Fair that year.

The flight attendant couldn't help but be speechless,

"This ......"

The old man asked, "What's wrong?" ”

The conductor sighed, drew a circle next to the train station from memory, and said, "Sir, this is where the post office is." But I must remind you that this map is outdated, and you would better buy another copy at the post office. ”

The old man nodded,

"Thank you."

After solemnly thanking him, he slowly left the train station with his box in his hands.

As soon as you leave the station, the liveliness and vitality of Paris will come to you.

The square in front of the station was full of people in a hurry, relatives and friends were busy picking up or dropping off the station, and the newspaper driver shuttled through the crowd, shouting advertisements: "! Recommended by Mr. Verne! ”

The old man couldn't help but hesitate,

Everywhere he went, he would buy books in large quantities, so bookstores and university libraries were his most frequented places.

But now, there is more important work to be done.

He forced his curiosity and followed the map in the direction of the post office.

Soon, an unusually busy building appeared in front of me.

The old man went in and said to the clerk in (self-right) French: "Hello, I want to send a telegram." Where do I get it? ”

The clerk looked him up and down for a while,

"Sir, is it a long message? Or a short message? ”

The old man was amazed,

"Is there any difference?"

A hint of pride flashed across the clerk's face, and he replied: "Sir, in France, the charge for short messages is fixed, and a message costs only seven francs. Only long messages are charged per word. ”

Seven francs is not a small number,

But compared to the previous telegrams that were charged by the number of words, this price is certainly very cheap.

The clerk added:

"Globally, as long as France is like that."

The old man is curious,

"Why so?"

The clerk explained with a smile: "Because of last year's World Expo, the government spent a lot of effort on people's livelihood reform. ”

When the old man heard this, his heart was slightly gloomy,

It would be nice when Russia will become like this.

He sorted out his mood and said, "What I'm going to send is a long message." ”

The clerk was surprised, looked at the old man again, and then said, "Sir, the long message is charged by the word, and the price is very high. So, try to be as concise as possible. ”

The old man smiled and shook his head,

"It's okay, I'll just pay. Taking a step back, even if I send a short message, you will have to charge per word. Because I'm going to Stockholm. ”

This time, the clerk couldn't persuade him anymore.

At the beginning of the 20th century, telegraph operations were relatively primitive and rudimentary,

Both the sender and receiver have a codebook, on which Arabic numerals are used instead of horizontal and vertical, and the letters at the horizontal and vertical intersections are ciphertext.

Although civil telegraphs use clear code transmission, due to various reasons such as political demands, economic needs, or different languages, there are still great differences in the clear code codes in different regions, resulting in the need for multiple transshipment of transnational telegrams.

Therefore, even if the short message fee in France is small, the Swedish side still charges by the word, and the telegraph fee will not be low.

The clerk coughed lightly,

"Sir, the number of words in a long telegram is limited to 140 words, and the fee is one franc per word. Do you bring enough money? ”

The old man said, "No problem. ”

With such a large sum of money, the clerk couldn't help but be more curious about the identity of the other party.

"Say it, then."

He picked up a pen and paper and prepared to take notes.

The old man said: "The telegram is as follows: 'Dear colleagues of the Nonotist Committee and the Swedish Academy, I ...... it.'"

Clerk:???

Confused!

What is the Noc, he has no concept,

But he still knew about the Swedish Academy.

Because I was so shocked, I stopped recording the pen in my hand, and I didn't hear the words clearly.

The old man also noticed that the other party was in a daze, coughed lightly, and asked, "That...... Is my accent too strong, don't you understand? ”

The clerk "exhaled~" and breathed a sigh of relief,

"It turned out to be a heavy accent."

Only then did he realize that he had misheard,

The other party must not have said anything about the "Swedish Academy", nor did he say anything about the "Nosdish Committee".

The clerk handed the pen and paper,

"Can you write? You're fine with your French, right? ”

The old man's first language is Russian, but he is also good at French, German, and English, but he can't speak well, and he has no problem listening, reading, and writing.

He took the pen and paper, wrote the message with a few strokes, and handed it to the other party.

Because of the charging mode of telegram, the number of words must be counted, and there is no such thing as privacy.

The clerk began to read.

——

Dear colleagues of the Nonotist Committee and the Swedish Academy,

Thank you very much for nominating me for the first Nobel Prize in Literature.

Allow me, however, to decline this nomination.

As I've said before, there are a lot of talented people in European literature, and my works are just "old-fashioned games", and there is no merit in them.

Please leave this precious opportunity to others.

Your faithful Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy.

——

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy?

Clerk:???

I feel like I've drunk too much, and I'm going crazy in broad daylight.

An eerie silence lies between the two,

“……”

“……”

“……”

Finally, Tolstoy spoke, asking, "Friend, have you finished counting the words?" How many francs should I pay? ”

"Goo......

The clerk swallowed and looked up with difficulty,

"Mr. Tolstoy, do you want to ...... Forehead...... Going to the Russian consulate? Or go to the Swedish consulate? There are special transmitters there, which do not need to be turned around several times, and the efficiency is much higher than that of the post office. And it doesn't cost anything. ”

Tolstoy sighed,

He thought to himself that it would be nice if the people in the Russian consulate were so good at talking,

Because of the "Resurrection", the Tsar threatened to exile Tolstoy to Siberia.

Of course, this kind of thing must not be said explicitly.

Tolstoy waved his hand,

"This is my private matter, and it will not occupy the resources of the state."

A private affair......

The clerk could not understand it, so he could only praise it in secret, and then said: "The number of words is just right, a total of 135 francs." ”

Tolstoy smiled and counted the cash and handed it to the other party,

At the same time, he asked, "Is there a bookstore around here?" ”

The clerk showed Tolstoy the way,

"Two streets past here, there is a large bookstore around the corner, which has a telegraph business with the post office, and many busy businessmen go to the bookstore regularly every day to see if they have a new telegram."

Tolstoy hastened to thank him.

It's been a tiring journey, and the books I brought with me have been read, and I need to "replenish the stock" quickly.

He carried the box and followed the clerk's instructions to the bookstore.

As a result, as soon as he entered the door, he had the illusion that he was in a restaurant with a good business, and it was unusually crowded.

I saw dozens of people pestle in front of the outermost bookshelf, three layers inside and three layers outside, surrounding the bookshelves.

The people on the outer layer are all on tiptoe, looking inward.

From time to time, there is a chatter,

"Nima! What a cow X! ”

"Is there really such a powerful weapon that can smash the sun with a single shot?"

"Who do I ask?"

"This man is so well written. Hahaha! ”

……

Tolstoy never imagined that a bookstore would be so noisy.

He walked to the boss,

"Sir, do you have any new books to look at lately?"

As he asked, his gaze stayed on the pile of people.

The boss didn't understand anything, and replied with a smile: "It's a Chinese writer's science fiction called "Country Teacher". ”

Chinese writer,

science fiction

"Rural Teacher",

When these three words are taken out, there is a sense of incongruity everywhere.

Tolstoy had a flash of inspiration,

"Professor Lu of London Economics and Political Science? Professor Lu Shilu? ”

The boss touched his chin and said, "It seems to be called that." On the title page, there is a biograph of the author, who said that he was a student sent to London by China, but became a visiting professor because of his fame for "Guns, Germs, and Steel". ”

Tolstoy nodded,

"Sure enough."

The boss said again: "I see that you are quite familiar with the author?" ”

Tolstoy chuckled,

"It's been a god's friendship for a long time."

The boss said, "Then you should buy a copy of "The Country Teacher", alas...... Those people are really, they only know how to take advantage. ”

Tolstoy was curious,

"How can this 'take advantage' be explained?"

The boss spreads his hands,

"You'll find out when you go buy a book."

Tolstoy nodded, squeezed through the crowd, and reached for The Village Teacher on the shelf.

As a result, the person next to him immediately said: "Old man, this is a short story, you don't need to buy it!" Just read it in a bookstore and forget it. ”

Tolstoy: "......"

He understands now, people are blatantly prostituting for nothing~

But because there are only a few books to open the book cover, these white prostitutes need to line up to read, so they are surrounded by three layers inside and three layers outside.

Tolstoy thought of this, and couldn't help but become more and more curious,

How dare a short story sell like this?

Lu Shi must be very confident in himself.

Thinking so,

"Smack-"

With the sound of closing the book, one member of the crowd had just finished reading.

Immediately after that, there was a humane: "Change me!" It's my turn! ”

Unexpectedly, the person who finished reading the book had a distracted expression, as if he hadn't heard it.

The people on the outer layer shouted, "Hey! ”

Then the man came to his senses,

"Whew~"

He let out a sigh of relief, silently handed out the unsealed "Village Teacher" in his hand, then pulled out a brand new one from the shelf, slowly squeezed through the crowd, and went to the bookstore owner to settle the bill.

For a moment, the people around were quiet.

Then, there was another chatter,

"He's going to buy it? Haven't you already read it all? What else are you going to buy? ”

"Alas...... I don't know. In the past two days, there have been a lot of people with this symptom, and there must be eight out of ten, and they will buy it home after reading it. Obviously a flat-headed common man, do you still want to learn from the vassal elegance of the councilor to engage in collection? ”

"Is there any magic about this book?"

"What magic can it be?! I also read a few words, and I have to admit that the writing is really good. But the book was published in France, but it was in English and French, and the English content was not purely used to make up the word count? ”

"Looking at it this way, the number of words is for the number of pages, and it's really not worth buying."

……

Obviously, no one else could understand the person's act of buying the book.

The person who bought the book turned back,

He opened his mouth, as if to justify something, but when the words reached his lips, he turned into a sigh, and then said, "You guys, after reading it, you will understand. This "Country Teacher" is really different. ”

After speaking, he took out the money to settle the bill, and then left with the book in his hand.

Leaving everyone looking at each other.

Tolstoy couldn't help but be curious,

He picked up the book, pinched the edges of the book, and found that it was pitifully thin, and it was a short story.

This kind of book can be sold, which shows that Lu Shi's skills are indeed extraordinary.

That being the case, then I had to buy it.

Tolstoy put the book away, and then continued to wander between the shelves,

Since you are in France, you should buy more.

He carefully selected and took Verne's "Facing the Tricolor",

In the eyes of later generations, this book is not a classic, because as science fiction, the things in it are really not very passable.

But in the eyes of humanist and pacifist writers at the beginning of the 20th century, this book is even better than "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and "The Mysterious Island".

created a famous French chemist named Thomas Roche,

He invented an attack missile called the Rosh Lightning, but the asking price was too high to block around Europe.

As a result, he was bribed by the pirates, who got the "Rosh Lightning",

When warships from various countries came to encircle and suppress the pirates, the pirates sent missiles and blew the warships to pieces.

Finally, when a French warship hoisted the tricolor, Thomas Roche's soul was suddenly shaken, and he realized his crime and blew up the pirate island.

This book is a classic of canons,

But Tolstoy just loved it.

He put the book away and continued to look for it on the shelves.

Just then, there was a quarrel near the entrance of the bookstore.

Someone shouted loudly: "If you buy a book, buy it, why take away this book that has been opened?" It's all the same price anyway, why don't you buy a new book? You don't want us to read it, do you? ”

The reprimanded retorted loudly: "That's right! I just won't let you read it! This book should be honestly paid for! It's worth it! ”

Tolstoy:???

He stepped out between the bookshelves and looked towards the source of the quarrel.

I saw that the people who wanted to buy books were one to many, but they were not afraid at all, but glared angrily.

Tolstoy looked at the "Country Teacher" in his hand,

What kind of magic is this book?

(End of chapter)