US Minister Harrison, Minister Matsuzo Nagai, and British Minister Sir Duff came to visit in turn, so that Chen Muwu could watch a good show when he attended the Nobel Prize dinner today.

Whether it is an American or himself, when he came up, he at least introduced himself and reported himself to Chen Muwu.

Only this British Sir Duff, who has a kind of arrogance peculiar to the British, seems to think that Chen Muwu, as a student trained by Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, should inquire about the situation in Sweden before coming to Sweden, which naturally includes the surname of the British minister in Sweden.

Especially as soon as they met, Chen Muwu directly addressed him as His Excellency the Minister, which made Sir Duff misunderstand this, making him feel that Chen Muwu should know who he was.

Therefore, Sir Duff did not introduce himself more, and directly asked Chen Muwu his question, that is, as mentioned in the Swedish newspaper, whether the newly established Prince College in the suburbs of Stockholm had sent Chen Muwu an invitation to take up the position of professor in the freezing Nordics.

Although Chen Muwu did not know that the British minister had raised this question to him, the real motive behind it was to spy on intelligence.

But he himself was reluctant to reveal too much about his trip to Stockholm, and tried to keep the construction of the cyclotron to the highest level of secrecy.

Therefore, Chen Muwu's answer was deliberately vague and ambiguous: "It's just that the newspapers and the news media are spreading falsehoods, and the real situation is that I attended the Solvay Conference attended by physicists in Belgium some time ago, and before I left for England, I received an invitation from my good friend, His Excellency the Crown Prince of Sweden, to take this opportunity to meet him in Stockholm by the way."

"So after the Solvay conference, I went to Sweden to meet up with friends I hadn't seen for a few years, and to help install a particle accelerator for microphysics at the university in Stockholm.

"I didn't come to Sweden to take up any teaching position, on the one hand, because of the personal relationship between friends, and on the other hand, it was related to business matters.

"Your Excellency, you may not know that the installation of particle accelerators is one of the key projects of our Cavendish laboratory this year, and it is also an important source of funding."

From a young age, diplomats were trained in politics, and they did not know enough about science, especially physics, which was the most popular topic of the era.

Just like the characters in the upper class society now, everyone can talk about the theory of relativity.

But if you continue to ask him what the theory of relativity is, then eight or nine out of ten people will not be able to say it any further, and the rest of the people will probably only be able to tell the boring paragraph of "Beauty and the Furnace" that has very little to do with the theory of relativity.

Chen Muwu was the same, he just briefly talked about what microscopic physics and what was a particle accelerator in the conversation, and Sir Duff had already heard it at a loss.

Especially at the end of the words, Chen Muwu also moved out of the Cavendish laboratory, since the officials of Cambridge University agree to this matter, it seems that the news said in the Swedish newspapers is indeed untrue, and there is no need to compile these hearsay news into intelligence and report it to his superior, the British Foreign Secretary.

Sir Duff nodded, feeling that he had received a satisfactory answer, and after asking him about his so-called serious business, the British minister began to congratulate Chen Muwu, congratulating him on winning this year's Nobel Prize in Physics in the project he supervised.

He also invited Chen Muwu to his table to attend the dinner together, and even said against his will that he wanted to ask Chen Muwu for more physics problems.

But Sir Duff's real intention was only to show that he and Chen Muwu were talking and laughing, and then let other colleagues from all over the world around him envy him.

So at the Nobel dinner table, Chen Muwu finally met the top bureaucrat of the Chinese Legation in Sweden, that is, the third secretary who served as the chargé d'affaires, Lei Bingyang.

Just as he didn't know who the Minister of the People's Republic of China was in Belgium and the name of the British Minister in Sweden, he also did not know who the highest Minister of the People's Republic of China was in Sweden.

Chen Muwu didn't want to have too much intersection with the domestic government, so he just nodded and said hello.

Another Chinese compatriot has won the highest award for academic research in the world today, and Lei Bingyang is happy, but the dismal business in Sweden has made him worry a lot.

There has always been a myth in the circle of diplomats, that is, as long as you can shoot Dr. Chen's ass well, then it is not a dream to be promoted to become rich.

You see, that Zhu Zhaoxin has been sitting in the position of British chargé d'affaires for several years, and the British minister who refused to perform his duties and was remotely received in China has been replaced one after another, and he can't go any further.

As a result, Zhu Zhaoxin picked up a Chen Muwu who fell from the sky in vain, just let the other party say a few nice words to China, and he successfully got the opportunity to be promoted, from the British chargé d'affaires with the rank of first secretary, directly to go to Italy as a minister, skipping the position of counselor, and the diplomatic rank was suddenly promoted by two levels.

These democratic diplomats in Europe are all blind to Zhu Zhaoxin's promotion speed, they only hate why Chen Muwu went to a country other than his own, and hate the local students, why they can only eat, drink and have fun as a son, and there can no longer be a ruthless person like Chen Muwu.

Everyone was desperately hoping to find a connection, preferably to the British Legation.

Or they hope that Chen Muwu can leave the UK and go to their country.

They must also be more able to pat on the back than Zhu Zhaoxin, so they must make Chen Muwu live comfortably in the local area, so that they can say a few good words to the domestic Ministry of Foreign Affairs for themselves.

Although Lei Bingyang is only a third-class secretary who is soft-spoken, he has heard a little about these myths in diplomatic circles.

Now, this Luxing Chen Muwu, who is rumored to be mysterious and mysterious, can make people promoted and make a fortune, appears in front of him, but Lei Bingyang has no intention of befriending him at all.

He felt that Zhu Zhaoxin was just catching up with the good time, and before the Shaojing government completely fell, he got acquainted with Chen Muwu.

Although he was promoted to the position of Italian minister, what was the result?

He was more energetic than anyone else in the construction of the salary group of the minister in Europe, and he also personally served as the head of this salary group.

At present, the domestic government can't even afford to pay the funds of foreign embassies and consulates, and the salaries of diplomats, even if he can get Chen Muwu to say a few beautiful words and let him serve as a minister to a certain country in Europe, or even take a step to the sky, directly serve as the foreign minister, what is the use of not paying salaries?

Didn't Zeng Zongjian, the former minister of Sweden, also be demoted from the post of vice minister of foreign affairs?

Although he has only served in Sweden for a few months, Lei Bingyang has heard the minister complain I don't know how many times, how unbearable the domestic diplomatic environment is, and every day foreigners come to the door because of all kinds of things, and their way of dealing with it can only be frustrated every time, and they never dare to make a big noise with foreigners, let alone be hard-hearted.

Lei Bingyang was born in a family of foreign teachers, and his father Lei Butong served as the right minister of foreign affairs in the Qing Dynasty, and also came to Europe to serve as the minister of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Lei Bingyang, who first entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was still happy that he could inherit his father's mantle and engage in the same profession as him.

But after seeing the corruption of the people's government and the real situation abroad, Lei Bingyang became more and more disheartened.

He even wanted to learn from Lu Zhengxiang, another senior in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so he simply quit the diplomatic profession and found a monastery in Europe at random, so as to escape into the empty door.

Lu Zhengxiang is a name that cannot be skipped in the modern history of China.

His name is generally associated with the 1919 Paris Peace Conference at the Palace of Versailles in Paris, France.

Although at that meeting, Gu Shaochuan said the very classic and eloquent sentence "China cannot lose Shandong, just as the West cannot lose Jerusalem", which made him famous at home and abroad, and even a hundred years later history textbooks printed this sentence.

However, in the delegation sent by the People's Republic of China to participate in the Paris Peace Conference, Gu Shaochuan was just a deputy in the delegation, and the head of the delegation was the senior Lei Bingyang had in mind, Lu Zhengxiang.

Under domestic pressure, he was the one who refused to sign the peace treaty.

Lu Zhengxiang's life is a legend among the diplomats in the People's Republic of China.

During the Qing Dynasty, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Netherlands and Russia, and later served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister of State, and Secretary of State.

He married a Belgian wife, led a delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, and served as minister to Switzerland.

has experienced various position changes, making Lu Zhengxiang also as disheartened as Lei Bingyang.

So in 1927, he announced his complete withdrawal from diplomacy and entered a Catholic monastery in Belgium, where he became an ascetic Catholic.

Lu Zhengxiang's career as a diplomat may not have gone smoothly, and his diplomatic activities have always been criticized, with many believing that he was to blame for the major diplomatic failures of the early years of the Minist state.

But his path as a monk in the second half of his life was quite smooth.

Eight years after becoming a monk, in 1935 he was promoted to the rank of priest, almost becoming the first cardinal in China after the Second World War.

In 1946, Lu Zhengxiang was also made honorary abbot of St. Peter's Abbey by the Holy See, a position he held for the rest of his life.

Regarding Lei Bingyang's pessimism and his desire to escape, Chen Muwu was completely unaware.

He just felt that the chargé d'affaires in the Chinese legation did not seem to be as sharp as others, and was a passive type who asked and answered.

Therefore, at the Nobel Prize dinner table, Chen Muwu basically interacted with the British Minister Sir Duff the whole time, listening to his "high-minded talk" about science.

When the dinner finally ended, saying goodbye to the familiar and unfamiliar ministers at the same table, Chen Muwu wanted to say hello to the Swedish crown prince, who also came to the dinner today, chat a few days, and explain what he had done at the prince's college in Stockholm during this time.

He felt that the Crown Prince of Sweden must be curious about what he was doing in Sweden, and if he didn't say it today, it would be a waste of time for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to visit him in person or invite him to the mansion as a guest.

However, as soon as Chen Muwu was about to leave, Lei Bingyang, who had not spoken much since the beginning, finally took this opportunity to speak.

"Dr. Chen, please, please stay."

"Charge d'affaires Lei, do you have any advice?"

Chen Muwu didn't think so at first, thinking that Lei Bingyang might be like Wang Jingqi in Belgium, who invited him to have time to attend a dinner at the legation.

But Wang Jingqi also gave him a precautionary shot that time, and if he couldn't distinguish the other party's political faction, Chen Muwu would definitely not rush there.

He didn't want to give the south side of the platform without knowing it—even if the north side wasn't a good thing.

Chen Muwu had already thought of the words of refusal in his heart, but he didn't expect Lei Bingyang to speak again, but he said something that surprised him:

"Dr. Chen, I just heard you say that you have a good relationship with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Sweden.

"I thought, could you please do us a favor and help our legation in Sweden to borrow a temporary loan from the Swedish government?

"Since the end of 1925, two years ago, the Legation has not received any funds from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, let alone the salaries of our staff, and it is now very difficult for the Legation to continue to operate."

It has always been Chen Muwu who has been turning into a fate for others everywhere, and now someone has turned into a fate on his head, which is the first time in the world.

It was not the first time he had heard of the fact that the legation had no funds.

Just like Lei Bingyang said, since the end of 1925, Zhu Zhaoxin has been complaining to him about this in London, England.

But Chen Muwu didn't expect that when Lei Bingyang met him for the first time, he began to cry poverty, and he also wanted to stretch out his hand to the Swedish government and borrow money from them to survive the financial crisis of the legation.

Even if Sweden is willing to borrow money, Chen Muwu still feels that this matter is quite embarrassing.

And if he did borrow money, it might be one of the reasons for the Swedish locals to attack him in the future.

Chen Muwu had the money to open a school in Stockholm and colonize culture.

His country's legation had no money to operate, so he had to borrow money from the Swedish government.

Chen Muwu didn't want to leave this truth for others, so after thinking about it, he asked Lei Bingyang: "How much money do you lack now?" If it's not much, I'll lend it to the legation, right? ”

(End of chapter)