Chapter 57 Patient 1

Chu Wang slept through the next morning, experiencing the feeling of complete relaxation and laziness on her first day at the Ge Mansion. She shed her dinner clothes, showered, and found her usual dark red shirt and white shorts in the closet. She combed her hair back loosely and went downstairs.

She seemed to have gotten up late—the better maids at the Ge Mansion ironed the newspapers that had just been delivered that morning and went to the dining room. It seemed that Mrs. Ge had spread the news to everyone last night, and many unfamiliar maids smiled and said to her, "Are you up, young lady? Good morning, young lady."

Following the newspaper girl to the dining room, Mr. Henry had already cleared away the cutlery and plates that Mrs. Ge had used. When she saw her, Mrs. Ge held up her teacup and greeted her, "Did you sleep well? Come and have breakfast."

Chu Wang sat down and took two sips of black tea. "What's the news today?"

"A Japanese ship entered the harbor without sounding its horn and sank four ferries, committing a heinous crime. Guess how the government responded? They spoke well of Japan, saying it was unintentional and that the compensation they had to pay was substantial."

Chu Wang laughed and said, "I don't know how this piece of fat meat of compensation was divided up in the end. Some people pocketed it, while others sent it into exile."

"Hong Kong newspapers are much more objective than those in the mainland. It's really a sin." Mrs. Ge sighed.

Mr. Henry handed a few telegrams to Mrs. Ge, who frowned and quickly flipped through them. "You came to Hong Kong to see me? I haven't been seeing visitors on weekdays recently—"

Chu Wang hurriedly said in English, "If there are any social events, Auntie, please make the arrangements as usual."

Mrs. Ge shook her head. "I never change what I said." She then asked, "What are you going to do next?"

"To visit the teacher and his wife, as well as Mr. Saumur and Mrs. Ruan in Yau Ma Tei."

"It's the weekend, and you're still so busy," Mrs. Ge said. "Mi Qiu bought some snacks, green rice dumplings and other things. Take some with you when you go out."

Chu Wang smiled and agreed, "We almost lost all the etiquette and rules, but my aunt is so thoughtful."

"You're the only one who's so sweet-talking?" Mrs. Ge tapped her head, then changed her mind and said, "Your messy English accent really sounds strange to me. Auntie, don't bother with you anymore. When you have time, let Mr. Henry correct you."

Chu Wang smiled helplessly and said, "Isn't it enough if you can understand it?"

Mrs. Ge glared at her, called Mi Qiu over, and said, "Speak a few words of English to your master." Mi Qiu smiled and said a few words. Mrs. Ge looked at Chu Wang and said, "What's her accent? What about you? You can't be from the countryside in England, but your family has upper-class people, right?"

Chu Wang smiled and stuck out his tongue, "Okay, I'll correct it right away."

When Chu Wang stirred the cup, he was seen by Mr. Henry who came in with a plate. The latter frowned and his expression met Mrs. Ge's. Mrs. Ge smiled helplessly and said that she would not talk to her about this matter today.

After eating mushroom omelette and butter toast, she called the Xu residence from the corridor outside the restaurant. After confirming that Mrs. Xu and Xu Shaoqian were both home, Mi Qiu followed Mrs. Ge's instructions and packed the exquisitely packaged snacks into Chu Wang's bag.

While she was putting on her shoes at the door, Mrs. Ge seemed a little worried and leaned on the sofa to look at Chu Wang.

The fashionable length of white shorts nowadays is just above the knee, with the entire calf exposed from under the white pants. The skin is smooth and white, but a little thin - like the wood in the window.

She's a little shorter, but that's okay. She's in her prime, so I'll give her more milk and beef bone broth. She's a little too thin, with a bit of baby fat on her face, so she lacks a bit of femininity. That's even less of a problem—she has that guy's bloodline, and she'll be coming from my Ge Mansion. She'll definitely become someone at the top of the ivory tower… While Mrs. Ge was still thinking, Chu Wang had already put on his leather shoes, raised his eyes, smiled, and said goodbye to her.

Mrs. Ge added, "Shorts of this length look most fashionable and beautiful with a pair of knee-length stockings."

"Then I'll wear it like this from next time."

——

After a long absence, I returned to Hong Kong, and the weather was exceptionally brighter than in Shanghai. If Shanghai is a sleeveless, long cheongsam, a fair, voluptuous woman half-concealed by a lute, then Hong Kong is the straightforward, bold woman in a fine white linen blouse and a skirt embellished with banana-green and red flowers.

Chu Wang didn't get on the bus. All the way up and down the mountain, she was sweating profusely. When she called just now, she only asked if the husband and wife were home, but forgot to ask more details, which only caused her to have to make an extra trip to Lianhua Road.

After getting off the car at Lianhua Road, I saw from afar Mrs. Xu lying under the eaves and taking a nap to enjoy the cool air, while Xu Shaoqian stood beside her, fanning her with a folding fan and blowing a cool breeze on her. It was as if time had gone back five hundred years, and the person under the eaves was no longer Mrs. Xu, but the distinguished wife of the eldest son in the large courtyard; Xu Shaoqian was no longer a physics professor, but a young man from a noble family who enjoyed poetry and wine in his prime, rode a horse through Chang'an, and was full of pride and confidence.

Chu Wang couldn't bear to interrupt, so she tiptoed over. Suddenly, a flowery figure emerged from the dark bushes, followed by a figure. They chased each other until they reached her, startling her with a cry of surprise. Coming to her senses, she realized it was Xu Wenjun chasing a calico cat. Looking closer, the man and cat had scurried off.

Mrs. Xu and Mr. Xu were naturally alarmed. Chu Wang smiled apologetically and said from a distance, "How could Master Wenjun be willing to come here? And in such a good mood."

"Children are playful. They get bored when no one plays with them, and they always want to find some fun and playmates. Isn't it the same for you, Professor Xu?" Mrs. Xu looked up at Xu Shaoqian. "I thought you were definitely going to Europe. On the day of your departure, I wrote a letter and hid away, refusing to see you. I wonder where I went to cry." Then she smiled and waved to Chu Wang. "Come here, let me see you. I think you've lost a lot of weight these days."

Xu Shaoqian laughed and said, "Really? Maybe I really did cry."

"I'm back again, aren't I?" Chu Wang said with a smile, "Master's wife seems to be in much better spirits."

"You're just praising me with lies. I was sick a few days ago and was just released from the hospital yesterday. It's a coincidence that you called today."

"Hmm? Why is Master's Wife feeling unwell?"

"It's an old problem, let's not talk about it." Xu Shaoqian took up the topic for Mrs. Xu. "Isn't Europe good? Everyone wants to go to Europe. There are many people who sell their property to study abroad, and many who take seven or eight years of government-funded study abroad. With such a good opportunity, why don't you go?"

Chu Wang lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said, "I've been thinking about the letter my teacher gave me recently. 'How can a physicist serve the country?' I've thought about it for a long time, and I wanted to ask you what you think. Can science save the country right now?"

Xu Shaoqian laughed, "It's hard for an obese patient to even turn around, and his illness is too serious. I've prescribed all kinds of medicine, but none of them seem to be very effective."

He looked up, thought for a moment, and then added, "Civil war, corruption among officials, and the people's livelihood is miserable. Before returning home, who among the overseas students didn't want to save the country through science and industry? But how can a skyscraper be built on the beach?"

After thinking for a moment, Chu Wang said, "The bottom line is that the country doesn't value education, so there's not enough money."

Xu Shaoqian smiled and said, "You can say that."

Chu Wang breathed a sigh of relief.

"Professor Xu?"

"Um?"

"I have a request."

"What's so unkind about it?"

"I've been considering my future major lately, so I wanted to go to the library to collect some of your works and literature for study... Unfortunately, the library management is terrible, and I can't find them anywhere. So I had no choice but to come to you, the original author, to ask for them. Could you please help me?"

Xu Shaoqian was delighted. Mrs. Xu chimed in, "Sure, why not? I agreed on his behalf."

Xu Shaoqian asked seriously, "What do you want to study in the future? Applied physics, theoretical physics..."

"Theoretical physics." Chu Wang said without hesitation, "...the direction of nuclear physics."

"That's easy. I think there's a portion at home. I can give you some first, and I'll give you the rest when I get to school in two days."

——

She took the document and said goodbye to the Xu family. As soon as she got on the bus, she couldn't wait to open the page one by one. Chu Wang, who was sitting in the window seat of the bus, seemed to have turned into a high-speed reading machine. Lines of English letters quickly passed by her eyes. The words "uranium", "u", "decay heat", "decay chain", and "half-life" were infinitely magnified...

Most nuclear physicists in the 1930s were well versed in the academic theory of transuranium atoms of radioactive elements; and all they lacked to discover nuclear fission was an extremely accidental opportunity - Xu Shaoqian was one of them.

Finally confirming this, her heart was pounding.

She pondered for many days how to serve her country.

Because she was unfamiliar with modern history, this idea was only a small prototype at first. Although small and vague, it gave her a firm voice saying: You can't go to Europe.

In modern history, countless overseas students dreamed of saving the country through science and industry, but ultimately became a laughing stock.

Saving the nation through science is unfeasible. Countless attempts have failed—simply due to social unrest, a financially strained state, and an empty treasury. How could there be more money for education? As Xu Shaoqian put it: "How can a towering building be built in the desert?"—hence, later generations of scholars like Zhuge Liang often offered a remedy, concluding: In modern China, the only way, and only the only, approach to national salvation was through politics.

Since 1840, China has suffered repeated defeats in wars, and the national treasury has been used to pay indemnities to various countries. The refunds received during the Gengzi Year were a significant profit—coveted by countless corrupt officials and divided up several times. Most of the remaining refunds went to Tsinghua University's public scholarship fund for overseas students. The national treasury's funds, however, were almost entirely used to purchase military equipment and expand the army.

This is what Xu Shaoqian said in the letter - the country is deteriorating, wars are frequent, and education is not flourishing.

So how could a physicist serve his country? He certainly couldn't go to Europe.

China has no money to support education, let alone to build a nuclear physics laboratory. So, does the UK have it?

The founding of the University of Hong Kong stemmed from a period when Western powers were vying to establish universities in mainland China. Governor Luard proposed to Britain that a university be established in Hong Kong, both to compete with the other powers and to encourage the Chinese, especially those of Hong Kong, to identify with British values. The Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, along with the business community in Guangdong and Hong Kong, believed that establishing a university would help the Chinese learn Western technology and strengthen China, and so they provided financial support.

Therefore, all the educational funding supporting the University of Hong Kong comes from the British government and Hong Kong British capital such as HSBC.

If these funds are still insufficient, can we allow those scientific giants with large project funds to come to China?

If, if China could also produce a renowned scientist with sufficient qualifications and talent to form a brand new scientific research team, why wouldn't they want to come to China and bring their project funds?

The Manhattan Project cost a full two billion U.S. dollars from its inception to its official success.

Is all this money added together enough to support the research from practice to theory in ten years?

Since 1940, everyone, including the German Nazis, coveted nuclear weapons. Nuclear programs raced against the Manhattan Project. At the time, the largest known uranium deposits were in the Czech Republic, Canada, and Congo. China's first 10,000-ton uranium deposit, discovered in 2014, now lies in the Yili Basin in Xinjiang.

Therefore, Chu Wang was willing to try to deduce - if this 10,000-ton ore deposit was discovered earlier, would it make sense for China to also set its sights on the fat piece of nuclear chain reaction, making them willing to allocate a portion of the large amount of money reserved for military use to support this project?

"Why don't you study in China? Why do you travel across the ocean to come to our university? What's wrong with your education?"

If we have a theory that's ahead of yours, then why should we go there? Why can't you come here?

"Throughout the 1930s, no one could explain why experiments with uranium always failed." - There is a sentence in later textbooks on nuclear fission reactions that Chu Wang will always remember.

In 1927, far away in Europe, O. Heinz was probably giving a lecture on his doctoral thesis in quantum mechanics at the University of Göttingen.

Many scientists today were only 1% away from achieving a chain reaction in recent years, but it took more than ten years to succeed.

If the theoretical basis of nuclear fission had been developed 12 years earlier, the first nuclear explosion would not have occurred until 1945.

If the "Uranium Plan" had been successful in the Far East before 1937, would those nightmares in 1937 still have happened?

As a science student who will publish in many journals in the future, Chu Wang would probably not plagiarize published works based on his own moral values.

However, can she rely on her knowledge to become an "accident" in Xu Shaoqian's journey from the unattainable "transuranium atom" to the "nuclear fission" theory?

Could she have used the knowledge possessed by any physics student in the 21st century to give a little guidance to a Far Eastern scientist in the early 20th century who had a thorough understanding of the nuclear theory of uranium radioactive decay and was 80% complete in the theoretical foundation of nuclear fission and fusion, and "chain reaction", and only lacked the final 20% to promote this theory in China twelve years earlier?

Then the Manhattan Project would no longer be the Manhattan Project. Perhaps the office racing against Nazi Germany would be located in Hong Kong; the experimental field might be in Yili in the inland.

In the possible scenario where the deduction is successful, even the second war will not happen.