"Professor Planck, my teacher, Sir Rutherford, gave me the price of the particle accelerator at nine pounds and fifteen pennies...... Phew, it's eight thousand pounds per machine.

"But that's just his suggested price, you have helped me so much before, and I'm not a person who doesn't miss the old feelings, I invented and built this machine, so I also have a certain say in pricing.

"Eight thousand pounds is definitely not needed, do you think six thousand pounds is okay? For just £6,000, we'll help the University of Berlin build a particle accelerator that can raise the voltage to at least one million volts. ”

Not only did he say the beautiful words, but the black-hearted businessman Chen Muwu also raised the price of 5,000 pounds he expected in his heart.

When the Cavendish Laboratory bought a vacuum pump from the United States, the price asked for was 2,000 pounds.

Chen Muwu felt that the price he made was just three vacuum pumps, which was already a very conscientious price.

Compared with the most outrageous period, the German economy has recovered at least eighty or ninety, but the exchange rate between the mark and the pound is still terrifyingly high, and one pound can be exchanged for more than twenty marks, so Chen Muwu sat on the ground and started to pay more than 120,000 marks for German banknotes.

If it were 1923, hearing 120,000 marks would not even blink an eye for Planck.

After all, with this little money, you can't even buy a piece of black bread.

But four years have passed, and now 120,000 marks is an astronomical number.

Even if the University of Berlin was very large, it would have to be discussed by the department and the school's senate for such an extra expense, and Planck would not have been able to make a decision on the train to Como.

"Uh, Dr. Chen, can't the price of this particle accelerator really be cheaper?"

Planck had a wry smile on his face, he planned to rely on the old and sell the old, and continue to play the emotional card with this Chinese who respects the old and loves the young.

"I'm sorry, Professor Planck, but that's all I have."

Chen Muwu no longer intends to make any further concessions, because the physicists attending the conference this time come from different universities and research institutes in different countries, and if this opening is opened in the first order, it will only attract more and more wronged leaders who want to buy machines to bargain with Chen Muwu.

"However, if you really want to make it cheaper, you should consult with my teacher, Sir Rutherford."

Thinking that Chen Muwu had a good idea for him, Planck hurriedly responded: "By the way, why don't you see Director Rutherford?" Didn't he come to Italy for this conference? ”

"It's a pity that Professor Planck, the old man left the United Kingdom after Christmas last year, and he has been in Europe and the United States for many years, and he is finally going back to New Zealand to visit his family."

After being tricked a little, Planck finally understood the meaning of Chen Muwu's words: if you want to sign a contract at this meeting and purchase particle accelerators, then the price of 6,000 pounds is the final bottom line, and there is no room for further decline.

"Ahem, Dr. Chen, if it's this price, I'll have to go back and think about it again. After all, as you know, I have stepped down from the position of head of the physics department, and I no longer have as much power in my hands as I once did. ”

"Well said, well said."

Chen Muwu didn't expect to sign contracts for the purchase of particle accelerators with wrongdoers from other universities during the Cumo meeting, let alone get on the train to his destination before he arrived in Como.

Rutherford and himself positioned the conference as an exhibition where they could showcase their products.

After the conference, the scientists from all over the world returned to their home countries, applied to their respective universities, waited for funding approvals, and finally obediently handed over the money to the Cavendish lab.

As the saying goes, "I can't eat hot tofu in a hurry"!

Planck and Chen Muwu chatted a few more words in the aisle of the carriage, which eased the awkward atmosphere just now.

Then the former parted from him for the time being on the grounds that he wanted to wash.

After a while, Chen Muwu, who had seen enough of the scenery outside the window, returned to the box he was in.

Because the train they are on is a special train for these physicists, and it does not exist in the Italian railway schedule.

Therefore, there is no accurate departure and arrival time, and it is impossible to know how many minutes this train was delayed.

Anyway, in the end, everyone finally arrived at the Como station without any danger, and there was no train derailment, and there were no bandits riding horses and guns, and with mahjong tiles on their faces, rushed down from the mountains and robbed their train.

This trip, compared with the previous train trip back to China, Chen Muwu was completely light.

The suitcase contained only a few changes of clothes, pen and notebook for the occasional inspiration, and copies of several papers that had been printed at Cambridge University and were intended to be distributed to other colleagues present at the conference.

Before leaving, Cockcroft suggested that since they were mainly going to sell particle accelerators this time, should they bring the model that Chen Muwu made with simple tin cans and silk more than a year ago in order to show Rutherford the principle of electric motors.

Chen Muwu has always maintained an elegant and easy-going style in Cavendish Laboratories, and has rarely spoken out loud to others.

This is because although he has achieved a lot of achievements, he is actually the youngest in the laboratory.

A few years passed, and the Cavendish lab recruited several new batches of students, which allowed him to say hello first without having to see anyone again.

But after hearing this suggestion put forward by Cockcroft, Chen Muwu couldn't help but raise his voice to stop this idea.

The people who were invited by the Italian side to this conference were all physicists.

You stupidly hold the model to show everyone, hoping to better sell your particle accelerator, but if it is through this move, others will see through the principle of the motor, won't it be worth the loss?

Although after selling the goods, the other party can quickly discover that the principle in the core of this particle accelerator worth five or six thousand pounds is so simple.

But the goods are sold, and they will not be returned, and it will be too late for them to regret it by then.

Chen Muwu felt that he was like a profiteer, but in order to live up to his teacher Rutherford's entrustment, he had no choice but to "endure humiliation".

Although the condition of the train along the way is not satisfactory, it has to be said that after arriving in Como, the Italian side has done a good job of reception.

Because it is a tourist city, many local Europeans have crossed the Alps to come to the city for holidays long before the opening of this conference.

There is a rumor that Einstein refused to attend the conference not only because he was personally resistant to Mussolini's policies in Italy, but also because he was afraid of seeing people when he came to Como.

At the beginning, after graduating from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Einstein has been in a state of unemployment after graduation.

He published a paper on capillary phenomena, attached it to his cover letter, and sent it to professors at almost all European universities, but it was all lost and not heard from.

Einstein, who couldn't find a job, had to become an old man, and he came to Milan, Italy, to live with his father.

What I do every day, in addition to continuing to repeat my job search, is to occasionally write letters to my long-distance girlfriend Mileva to talk about the pain of lovesickness.

Confucius had Chen Guo and Cai Guo, and Einstein had his Milan.

It was in this difficult situation that he finally got the position of patent examiner at the Bern Patent Office through a friend's connection.

Einstein was so excited about this that he was eager to share the good news with his lover, so he wrote to invite Mileva to come to Como, next to Milan, from her hometown of Serbia, which at that time belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

It was during this vacation that Einstein harvested the first child in his life.

There are very few records of this child named Lisel Einstein.

So much so that in 1986, when experts in the history of physics carefully studied the correspondence between Einstein and his ex-wife Mileva, they learned that there was such a child between the two of them.

It is unknown whether the end of the little girl Lisel was given to others because she was unable to raise her, or whether she died early, but Como, including Milan, is undoubtedly a sad place for Einstein.

Coming here is sure to be emotional, thinking of your first child and that failed marriage.

Although it is based on the suffering of others, this incident also says something else.

As early as 1901, when Einstein and Mileva were on vacation, Como and its surroundings were already well equipped with resort facilities.

After more than 20 years of development, the situation here will only be better than when Einstein arrived.

Sure enough, as soon as they got off the train, everyone was received by the Italian side, and they were sent by several cars from the train station to the most exclusive local resort hotel in Como, which is backed by the Alps and faces the waters of Lake Como.

The Italians have also taken care of the reception staff, and it is rare that they are not sending the kind of government officials who do not know anything about it, but young physicists drawn from various universities in the country.

Although everyone had already arrived at the meeting in the morning, there were no activities scheduled for the day in the schedule.

After putting your luggage in your room and settling in, everyone can move around freely.

It's a good idea to go to the lake, to the bottom of the mountain, or even to climb a few steps up the mountain to see the snow that hasn't melted yet.

When Dirac first arrived in Cambridge a few years ago, he was a country boy from Bristol who didn't quite fit in with the nobility of the school.

Outside of his studies, his only hobby in Cambridgeshire is walking the streets, which in a rather popular phrase should be called City Walk, oh no, Shire Walk.

Later, Capitsa gave Dirac the thrill of driving, which allowed Dirac to have a new hobby in addition to walking, drag racing.

In the tranquil resort environment of Como, no one is allowed to drag race in the lakeside tourist walk, and there are no cars for Dirac to use.

This reminded him of the kind of leisure he had a long time ago, and Dirac called Chen Muwu, who lived in the same room with him, and said that he had finally come here, and he had to walk around the hotel, and also enjoy the mountains and rivers like other tourists.

The reason why the two of them are in the same room is because they are about the same age and are good friends.

When he came, the two of them were in the box on the train, Dirac witnessed the whole process of Compton and Chen Muwu talking and laughing, and sighed in his heart that Robert was really the right person to follow Chen Muwu to do research, Chen is not only conscientious in academics, caring in life, and even in the work after graduation, he can help his students match.

As for why Chen Muwu didn't live with his other good friend, Kapitsa? Does this need to be justified?

Anyway, a very reasonable explanation given by Chen Muwu is that it is not that he doesn't want to sleep in the same room with his good buddies, but because Kapitsa is the eldest of their young people, and he must and can only let him accompany Professor Eddington, the closer they are, the more common topics they have.

After a few days on ships and trains, Chen Muwu, who didn't have much rest, originally wanted to make up for sleep in his bed first.

But Dirac's hospitality was difficult to resist, so he could only accept the invitation and sacrifice his life to accompany the gentleman.

I heard that Italian coffee is good, and there is an urban legend that it is the only country in the world that does not have Starbucks, although it was later confirmed to be a rumor.

It's a big deal to drink a few more cups of coffee and try it out by the way.

As a result, just as the railway station platform occasionally refreshes uninvited guests from time to time, Chen Muwu stays in the hotel and refreshes the roadblocks in the hotel lobby from time to time.

In Berlin before, it was Albert Einstein, but this time in Como, he was stopped by a host who spoke English with an Italian accent, and seemed to be about the same age as Dirac and himself.

"You must be Dr. Chen, and you are Dr. Dirac!"

The Italians enthusiastically reached out their hand to the front.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Enrico Fermi, and I am a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Rome.

"I have admired the names of the two gentlemen for a long time, and I want to discuss some questions with the two of you, I wonder if you have time?"

(End of chapter)