May 10, 1924.

At noon, the sun shines in the sky.

Ah Jian's rowing results are not ideal.

After losing to Cambridge University last year, the Oxford rowing team was humiliated and courageous, and spent the day trying to get married, practicing in the winter and in the summer.

Finally, in the race at noon on the 10th, Oxford's side was more than half a berth ahead and passed the finish mark first.

The crowd in the stadium supporting the Oxford side naturally cheered.

Some people are happy and some are sad, and those who support Cambridge are depressed.

The fact that they are so vocal in their support for the rowing teams of both schools is not to say that these spectators are alumni of both schools.

Just because, these onlookers who came to the scene to watch the excitement more or less added a little color to this game.

Although gambling is still an industry banned by the British government, it shouldn't be illegal to bet between friends worth a few pennies, a few shillings, or one or two thousand pounds, right?

"Haha, Bertie, you're losing this time! Obediently pay for it! ”

After the dust settled on the results of the race, in the pergola spectator seats near the finish line, in the pergola with the best view, Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, an alumnus of Oxford University who came to watch the race, mercilessly laughed at his brother sitting next to him.

King George V of the United Kingdom, in order to show a gesture of being close to the people, occasionally participated in large-scale events in which a large number of citizens participated.

He had promised to attend the Cambridge-Oxford Boat Race this year, but he couldn't attend the appointment because of other things, so he had to let his two sons do it for him.

The two princes, of course, also made a bet on the race to support their respective schools, betting on a Rolls-Royce car.

Unlike his proud brother, Prince Albert, Duke of York, blushed.

It wasn't that he had lost two thousand pounds, a small amount of money, which was nothing to His Royal Highness, but that he felt a little embarrassed by the loss of Cambridge to Oxford.

If you lose, you don't lose, and Albert can't care about his not too clever speech, but argues with his brother with some excitement: "Big, David, don't be proud, tomorrow, next year, we will definitely win and win back!" ”

"Next year's business, next year, let's go Bertie, let's get out of here and go to lunch."

Prince Edward got up and was about to leave, when the unwilling Prince Albert overheard someone driving a boat on the Thames River and arranging the next track.

"And what is that doing?"

Prince Albert pointed to the river and asked the royal servant standing beside him.

"They're dividing the track for the next races, Your Highness."

"What's next? Or is it a contest between two universities, Cambridge and Oxford? ”

"Yes, Your Highness, when the track is divided, there will be a swimming competition here."

Although Prince Albert did not attend a few days of classes at Cambridge University, he still had a sense of Cambridge pride.

And this sense of honor became even stronger after Oxford won Cambridge and his brother won the bet.

Prince Albert whispered to his servant, who had taught him a whole year at Trinity College and knew Cambridge better than he did: "Which of the two schools is better at swimming?" ”

"Last year it was Oxford that won the championship, Your Highness."

With this, the servant made what might have been considered a faux pas, and he leaned his head close to the prince's ear, and continued in a very soft voice: "But I have heard that Cambridge University seems to have produced a swimming genius this year, and it seems that he is much faster than Oxford's champion last year. ”

The servant's revelation of this gossip regained Prince Albert's confidence.

He turned to his brother with a smile on his face: "David, it's okay to let the servants deliver the food, I still want to stay and see it again, and wait for the swimming competition." ”

"What, are you not convinced, and you still want to gamble again?"

"Of course!" Prince Albert could hear a little contempt in his brother's tone, so he pretended to be even more excited and said, "I have a hunch that it won't be next year, as long as this afternoon, Cambridge will be able to kill the Oxford Athletics in the swimming event." ”

"You're really not dead on the Thames, well, what's the stake?"

"Four thousand pounds, if Cambridge wins, you give me back one car, and if you lose, in addition to the one just now, I will compensate you for two more cars!"

……

Chen Muwu followed the people of the swimming club, and under the leadership of Best, came to London from Cambridge University a day early.

They don't have to pay for the travel and accommodation of their trip, and too many Cambridge alumni are willing to pay for it.

So much so that they also created a foundation to support the competition of athletes from their alma mater.

Chen Muwu changed into a light-colored suit in Cambridge blue, which is what Best said before, as long as he can represent Cambridge University to participate in the competition, then he will automatically win the blue honor set up for athletes in the school.

Originally, Chen Muwu's collar should have been pinned with a badge symbolizing half-blues honor.

But Best is even more determined than Chen Muwu himself to win the championship in the Games.

This is because during the two days of warm-up in Kanghe, Best asked Chen Muwu to test the distance of 100 yards several times.

He hadn't been in the water for nearly half a year, and Chen Muwu was a little uncertain about whether his speed had dropped.

So he used about eighty percent of his strength in that test match, and he swam to within fifty-seven seconds, knocking Best's jaw off again.

Why hasn't he seen him for more than half a year, but Chen Muwu's speed has not only not decreased, but has increased by more than a second?

With this result, it's no problem to win the championship!

In this way, Best did not apply for a badge for Chen Muwu for the time being, he wanted to wait until Chen Muwu successfully won the championship in this sports meeting, and then directly apply to the athletes' club for a higher blue honor than Banlan.

……

After a good night's sleep, Chen Muwu, full of energy, followed the swimming team to the Thames River, specially prepared for the athletes' lounge.

It is said to be a lounge, but in fact it is just a small temporary shed, which will be demolished after the game.

He sat on a stool here, and together with the rest of the club, watched the Cambridge University rowing team lose the race.

Seeing this result, Best, who had originally thought of a set of encouraging words, had to temporarily change to another set.

He advised everyone not to take the team's defeat to heart, and although rowing was the benchmark sport for all Cambridge University athletes, just because they lost did not mean that everyone in the swimming club would lose too.

After Best's beating of chicken blood without knowing how effective it was, someone brought them lunch at noon.

Chen Muwu refused the one that was delivered to him, and he took out a few pieces of chocolate and candy that he had brought with him and put them in his mouth.

After eating and drinking, the athletes who were about to participate in the competition left their seats one after another and did the standard warm-up exercises.

This set of warm-up movements was also brought to the Cambridge University swimming team by Chen Muwu.

Before that, before everyone swam, they were just taking off their clothes and walking to the Kang River, and then a fierce man plunged into the water.

From the moment they walked into the lounge, some spectators who were closer to the shed had already seen an athlete with black hair, yellow skin, black eyes, and a one-piece swimsuit coming out of the Cambridge University team.

Chen Muwu originally wanted to get a silk swimming shorts to wear, but recently he was either doing experiments, writing papers, and following Rutherford to Belgium on a business trip, so he could only wear this wool one-piece swimsuit specially prepared by Best for athletes and dyed "Cambridge Blue".

The reason why the swimsuit was made in this color was deliberately made so that it could distinguish it from the athletes of Oxford University in the water.

Corresponding to "Cambridge Blue", the University of Oxford also has their own exclusive color "Oxford Blue", which is light and dark, which is quite easy to distinguish.

Now, Chen Muwu walked directly out of the shed and came to the Thames to stretch his body, and he could hear the discussion of himself more clearly in the audience outside the venue.

"Say, where did that yellow man come from? Malaya? ”

"Probably not, according to my neighbor who used to sit in Xingjiapo and worked, because the local people are close to the tropics, the local people have dark skin."

"Ben, then?"

"No, I would never have been that high. Their crown prince, the one called Hirohito, had been seen once from afar when I came to England the year before.

"Although he was sitting in the carriage, I could still sense that he was very short and probably not as tall as a full-grown English mastiff when he stood up."

……

Hearing the two of them in a serious tone, talking about questions and answers as if they were talking about each other, Chen Muwu, who was doing side waist exercises, couldn't hold back at all, and laughed out loud.

His smile naturally attracted the attention of the two talkers.

As the subjects of the Great Empire, they did not feel that it was a very rude act to talk about a person's country and nation casually as they had just done.

Seeing that the man they were talking about seemed to have reacted to the conversation, one of them went further and asked curiously, "Sir, are you a Tatar from Russia or an Indian from the United States?" ”

"Excuse me, sir, I am neither a Tatar nor an Indian;

"Neither from Malaya nor from Ben. Actually, I'm a Chinese.

"However, I like your analogy very much, and I beg your pardon for taking the liberty of teaching you a way to distinguish a Chinese from a Chinese here: that is, a tall Chinese is a Chinese person, and as you said, it must be me who is not as tall as an English mastiff."

This is not Chen Muwu's slander of Xiaoben, but there are statistics behind it.

According to records, the average height of adult males in the last years of the Qing Dynasty was 1.7 meters in the northern region, 1.65 to 1.67 meters in the Jiangnan region, and the height of these southeastern coastal provinces in the eastern coastal provinces of Kudong could also reach 1.62 meters.

The Qing Dynasty had already fallen in 1912 at the latest, and nearly 20 years later, in 1930, the average height of young men between the ages of 20 and 40 in China was only 1.6 meters.

In fact, Chen Muwu also wanted to add a clause at the back, and when he greeted them, he nodded, groveled, and flattered to the extreme.

But he thought about it again, and most of the Chinese people who are now abroad are the same.

The audience who can watch the game in the heart of the Thames River cannot be said to be rich, but it still has some status.

Hearing this tall, good-looking athlete say that he himself is Chinese, coupled with a Cambridge background, is easily reminiscent of ......

"Sir, do you know a man named Chen Muwu? I heard that he is also from China and also studied at Cambridge University. ”

"I know there is such a person, but unfortunately I have never met him."

Although he was a little happy to hear others mention his name, Chen Muwu still tried his best to put a regretful expression on his face.

What's the use of trembling in front of these people at this time?

Hide your merit and fame and you're done!

"Chen, it's time for us to go to the competition!"

“…… Okay, I'll do it! ”

It's a pity that Best's call mercilessly untied Chen Muwu's vest, so that he had to pretend to be forced in front of these two Britons today.

Even after following the team a few steps forward, he could still hear the comments of the two "cross talk actors" coming from behind him.

"Did you hear that guy calling him something? Chen！ How many Chinese can there be at Cambridge? How many Chinese people can there be, and they happen to be called Chen? ”

"When you say that, I think about it, like the discovery of a new planet earlier this year, I saw this photo of Chen Muwu taken at the Greenwich Observatory in the newspaper. It's just that he is still wearing clothes in that photo, and I can't tell if the Chen just now is this Chen Muwu. ”

……

Soon after.

"Hahahaha, David, you lost this time!"

In the heavily guarded royal pergola, the one who laughed this time was replaced by Prince Albert, who was still depressed just now.

That light blue color rode in the water, a few positions above the people behind him, which made him make a lot of money.

With a bet of 4,000 pounds, not only does he not have to give his brother a Chen Muwu Rolls-Royce that he lost just now, but he can also win one upside down.

Prince Edward was depressed and strange.

He had read the news in the newspaper last year and knew that there was a very fast Kiwi at Oxford, so why couldn't he do it this year?

Prince Edward gritted his teeth and said, "Bertie, in the next four-hundred-yard game, do you dare to place another bet?" ”

"As long as you're okay, I'm happy to accompany you. What is the stake? ”

"Or four thousand pounds, how? But your Cambridge guy is swimming too fast, and I'm asking for a change in the odds. If he wins, I'll give you four thousand pounds, and if Oxford wins, you'll give me ten thousand pounds. ”

"Too little David, if Oxford wins, I'll give you thirty thousand pounds; If Cambridge wins, then you only need to give me £10,000. How about it, dare not? “

"Who's afraid of whom, deal!"

Prince Albert, Duke of York, who later became King George VI, was a speech impediment.

In order to avoid being suspected of being called the number of water words, after Prince Albert reappears, if there are no special circumstances, there will not be many pauses in his words, please make up for it yourself.

(End of chapter)