March 15, 1923.

The sea of.

South Manchuria Railway Co., Ltd. Huangpu Wharf.

Mantie is another term that contains a history of humiliation.

Whether it is the eldest brother, the second brother, or the old lady of the Chen family, they all came to the dock today to bid farewell to their younger brother and son who are about to study in the West, Chen Muwu.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the steamship Anri-Heridau, of the French Mercantile Mail Line, sounded its flute on time and slowly left the dock.

The people on deck and in the docks acted in surprisingly unison, grabbing their hats or handkerchiefs from their heads, and waving goodbye to their relatives and friends who were about to be separated.

The whistle has been broken, and the end of the world has been lonely since then.

The steamer moved slowly along the Huangpu River, sailed from Wusongkou into the Yangtze River, and from the Yangtze River into the sea.

Seeing the sea in front of him getting bluer and bluer, Chen Muwu closed his eyes in despair, and silently thought in his heart, "Let the storm come more violently."

Perhaps it was the old dragon king at the bottom of the East China Sea who had a kind heart, and during the three-day voyage from the sea to the port of Yinggang, the waves were calm.

Chen Muwu, who was ready to lie down on the bed, after lying for a day and finding that he had nothing to do, occasionally got up and went around the deck to pass the boring sea time.

The Ann Ri Hollidou sailed from Yokohama in Waben to Marseille in France, passing through the Strait of Malacca in Singapore and the Suez Canal, the dividing line between Asia and Africa.

Every few days, the ship would make a stop at the port cities along the way, where it would replenish the necessary coal, water and food on board.

Yinggang is the first supply point that Chen Muwu passed through on this trip.

The steamer will be resupplied here and will be disembarked by passengers who are destined for Hogato and passengers departing from Hatsuko for other places.

Chen Muwu also locked his cabin door and followed the flow of people to the land.

He first found a post and telecommunications office, took a telegram to his family to report his safety, and bought some fresh local fruits from the vendors, so that he could supplement vitamins at any time and avoid scurvy.

Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Penang, Colombo, Djibouti, Suez, Pothoffe, ......

Except for the eight-day and seven-night voyage in the Indian Ocean on the way from Colombo to Djibouti, the other voyages were basically replenished every three to four days.

These places are either British colonies or French colonies, and with visas from both countries, he can go all the way unhindered and go wherever he wants.

Every time the ship docked, Mr. Chen would repeat the previous steps over and over again, making telegrams, buying fruit, and occasionally buying local specialties such as Sri Lankan ivory cigarette holders and Saigon's iron boxing gloves (which were none).

The price of the telegram sent to Qihai is getting higher and higher every time, and the distance from home is getting farther and farther.

These days, Chen Muwu is sometimes faint, sometimes Zhaozhao, whether he is awake or not depends entirely on the mood of the wind in the sky and the dragon king in the sea.

……

In order not to let the passengers get bored during the more than a month of sailing, there are many ways for passengers to have fun on the huge ship.

Every day after dinner, there is always a special dining room that is cleaned up and used as a ballroom, where a jazz band of a few crew members makeshift to perform.

When the weather is nice, the deck is full of people coming out of the dimly lit cabins to bask in the sun.

Under the parasol, those who play Go on both sides of the board are basically Wa himself.

And the four people gathered around a square table, talking and laughing, sometimes high-pitched, sometimes low-pitched, there is no doubt that it was Chen Muwu's compatriots playing mahjong.

Chen Muwu did not go to the dance hall and did not participate in their entertainment.

He hadn't even said hello to his compatriots in so many days of sailing, let alone known each other.

Although on the surface, everyone is a gentleman, but in Chen Muwu's heart, he and them are not all the way.

When the wind is calm, Chen Muwu occasionally pulls out his stationery and writes a few strokes on the paper to prepare for his next paper.

The Remington typewriter, which was not very convenient to carry, was left by Chen Muwu in the sea, mainly because he never thought that he would still be awake on the ship.

……

From Pothoff out of the Suez Canal, the voyage on the sea comes to an end.

After another three days and four nights in the Mediterranean, at 8 a.m. on April 16, the steamship Henrahridou finally arrived at the final destination of the trip, the port of Marseille, France.

From the departure to the arrival in Marseille, the total period lasted 32 days.

As a first-class passenger, Chen Muwu enjoyed the treatment of being the first to get off the ship.

But Chen Muwu didn't have time to enjoy the beautiful scenery of southern France, because after passing the customs, he had to rush to the Marseille station to catch the train, all the way north to Calais, a port city in northern France.

That night, Chen Muwu boarded a ferry from Calais across the English Channel to Dover.

After arriving on the other side, he boarded the red-eye train from Dover Station, and the next morning, he finally arrived at Victoria Station in London, the capital of England.

As a foreigner with a remarkable appearance, Chen Muwu could only line up with Wa himself and the Malayans at the end of the line, and even the dark-skinned third brother could stand in front of him.

The customs officer, who had just been amiable in front of his own people, saw that all the yellow-skinned Far Easterners were left in the ranks, and immediately put on a different face: he raised his shoulders, drooped the corners of his mouth, and exuded an imperialist style through the counter.

Chen Muwu had both a certificate from the Ministry of Education and an invitation letter from Cambridge University, so he easily passed through the customs without the slightest trouble.

After the passport is checked, the next step is a medical examination.

The Spanish flu has caused people to panic about what kind of illness they will bring with them when they enter the UK.

Especially Chen Muwu, who is a black-haired and yellow-skinned East Asian, the doctor examined them very carefully.

A white-haired old man listened to Chen Muwu's chest and back with a stethoscope, and praised Chen Muwu for his good figure and tough enough body, and at the same time persuaded him to eat more beef, and his body could be better: In this European war, their British soldiers were able to beat the Germans because they ate beef every day.

After the physical examination, it is not finished, and the suitcase must be opened one by one to check whether there are any contraband.

A few catties of tea and a few pieces of Su embroidery brought from Qihai - these were the gifts that Chen Muqiao forced him to bring to the teachers, a ham and an ivory cigarette holder bought from Colombo, just for these few things, Chen Muwu handed over more than a dozen pounds in taxes, which is equivalent to spending a typewriter. 【1】

After all this, Chen Muwu finally walked out of the gate of Victoria Railway Station.

A haze with a very familiar smell came to my face.

*****

[1] Author's note: This description of the customs, especially the part where the doctor persuades Chen Muwu to eat beef, is borrowed from Mr. Lao She's novella "Two Horses".