What Chen Muwu is holding in his hand is a Chinese-style vertical envelope that is very common nowadays, with five big characters written "Mr. Chen Hanchen" with a brush in the red frame.

What do you say about the level of writing with a brush in this letterwriter? It has nothing to do with "Yan tendon, willow bone, Ou Jin, and Zhao meat", and if you try to be far-fetched, you can barely see a little shadow of Dongpo laymen.

It can only be said that it is written neatly one stroke at a time, so that people can recognize what words are written.

On the left of his name is the address of the Lianglu Railway Administration, and on the right is the address of the sender: The First College of Shaojing University, Han Garden, Song Gongfu, Shaojing.

Big Big?

What did you write to me for?

Chen Muwu was shocked.

Could it be that someone from Shao University also saw the report in the "Declaration", and then reacted the same way as the eldest brother, and invited me to be a teacher with them?

He eagerly pulled out the compass he used for drawing in the pen holder, made a hole in the end of the envelope with a stitch, pulled out the letter inside and read it silently.

The content of the letter was really similar to Chen Muwu's guess, but it did not promise him a teaching position at the University of Shao, but invited him to go north to lecture on the theory of relativity for two weeks, and the reward was 500 yuan.

This price is very lucrative, and the Ministry of Communications, which holds the two pillar industries of railways and post and telecommunications, and is very rich, gives Chen Muwu, an engineer, only 220 yuan a month.

He was given five hundred for two weeks of lecturing, which was a thousand yuan a month, which was more than four times his salary.

When did Shao Da become so generous?

Didn't the newspaper say every now and then that Shao Da couldn't pay his salary, and the teachers and professors didn't go to class for three days and two days, and ran from the Red House to the door of the Ministry of Education to ask for money?

The direct line and the Feng family fought a big war in the spring and summer of last year, which turned the entire North China region into a pot of porridge.

"As soon as the cannon goes off, the gold is ten thousand taels", and the military expenditure is like flowing water, which cannot be stopped, which makes the finances of the Beiyang government, which is not rich, even worse.

The Ministry of Education was originally the Qingshui Yamen, but the Ministry of Finance suspended the appropriation of funds, cutting off the source of revenue for the Ministry of Education at once, and could only open up sources and reduce expenditures, and make a fuss about the salaries of its employees.

For example, Mr. Lu Xun wrote in his diary on January 19 this year: "The late harvest was 150 yuan in the second half of September last year. ”

In other words, he only got his salary in September last year in January this year, and he didn't get it all at once.

Even this dignified official of the Ministry of Education could not escape the fate of delaying the payment of wages for three or four months.

As a university directly under the Ministry of Education, how could there be such a large amount of funds to invite Chen Muwu to give lectures?

What can he do?

In addition, there is another thing in this letter that makes Chen Muwu very strange: at the end of the letter, there are three big characters written "Hu Shishang".

It turned out to be Dr. Hu who drank too much foreign ink, so the calligraphy level of this letter is quite reasonable.

Why did he not invite him to give a lecture at Peking University, it was not Cai Yuanpei, the president of Shao University, nor Yan Renguang, the head of the Department of Physics, but Hu Shi, a professor of philosophy who ranked 12th in the list of Chinese universities?

His Chen Muwu's fame has become so great that Dr. Hu, who is now in full glory, is so aggrieved that he writes a letter asking him to go north?

……

There must be a demon when things go wrong, so let's turn the hands of the clock back a few days in the "Chen Universe".

As mentioned earlier, Einstein originally planned to come to Shao University to give lectures, but Shao University made sufficient preparations, not only spending a large space to warmly welcome Einstein's arrival in the school newspaper, listing the relevant books of the theory of relativity, but also holding lectures on seven topics in a row, and six public lectures for people from all walks of life.

Cai Yuanpei also personally went from all over the world to collect signatures from all walks of life in Shaojing, and sent them to Albert Einstein, who was lecturing in Waben, together with a welcome letter on December 8, to show his sincerity in giving lectures in China this time.

President Cai, together with his colleagues and classmates, were still looking forward to Einstein's arrival, but who knew that for various reasons, Einstein felt that Shao University did not want to invite him to give lectures again, and there were other things, so he finally canceled this part of the trip.

On the 22nd, Einstein received a letter from Shao Da, only to know that there was a misunderstanding with the other party, but it was difficult to collect the water, and the follow-up tickets had been bought, so there was absolutely no possibility of changing the itinerary.

He could only write a letter of apology, informing Cai Yuanpei that he could no longer lecture on this regrettable news.

When Einstein's letter of apology was still adrift at sea, a news entitled "Dr. Enstein's Arrival in Shanghai" was already published in the "Declaration" on 28 July, which stated that Einstein would arrive in Shanghai on 31 July, and after a three-day stay, he would set off for Jerusalem again.

A few days later, Cai Yuanpei was quite shocked when he read this news in the "Declaration", and after he received a letter from Albert Einstein during the New Year's Day holiday, confirming that the cancellation of the lecture was a sure thing, he couldn't help but be disappointed.

Therefore, he wrote angrily in the "Journal of Shaojing University" on January 4 this year: "We already have organizations such as lectures and research societies on the theory of relativity, and I hope that in one or two years, how much contribution will Chinese scholars make to this important theory will attract the attention of world-famous scholars; Some of us, who know that the presence of such a scholar is a hundred times more important than a famous statesman or military strategist, are willing to welcome him at a cost of more than two thousand pounds a month; I don't think Dr. Anstein would have been reluctant to come to our country once. We don't have to be discouraged, let's encourage each other! ”

Two thousand pounds a month was an honorarium for Einstein's lectures.

The price provided by Shao Da at the beginning was two thousand yuan a week, but after Einstein rejected it because he was too little, Cai Yuanpei had to go to Liang Qichao in the Tianyu Ice Room to borrow money, and changed it to the price of two thousand dollars a week, and Einstein reluctantly agreed to go to Shao University to give lectures after going to Waben.

Today, the afterglow of the British Empire is still there, and the pound is still the strongest currency in the world, with an exchange rate of about 1:4 to 10 with the US dollar and the ocean.

Therefore, the initial price of Shao Da was converted into two hundred pounds per month, which was one-tenth of the price offered by the company, and it is no wonder that Einstein refused.

By the time Cai Yuanpei found the big water hose, he raised the price several times, but it was still only a quarter of the price.

You must know that Shao University has not paid salaries to teachers and professors for several months, but it is Cai Yuanpei's greatest sincerity to save such a sum of money from between his teeth.

He specifically mentioned the matter of money in the article in the school newspaper, thinking that he was very dissatisfied with Einstein's behavior of not saying goodbye.

But the weakness of the national strength is looked down upon, and it is normal to think that Shao Da has no ability or credibility to pay the full amount of remuneration, and Cai Yuanpei's dissatisfaction has nowhere to vent, so he can only be helpless.