He didn't return to China for seven years, he didn't go home for more than ten years, and Hu Shi's heart was surging when he thought that he was about to return to China, and he returned to his apartment and worked for a long time without knowing what to do.

The next day, he went to the house of the president, Professor Dewey, to say goodbye, and for the past two years he had often come to Mrs. Dewey's family tea party, and he had become very fond of it, and finally went to Qisejia to say goodbye to his classmates and the American silly girl. Ten days later, Hu Shih, who had traversed the 3,200-mile American continent, finally arrived in Vancouver, where he would take the Japanese cruise ship Empress Japan to Yokohama and then to Shanghai.

On the afternoon of December 5, 1916, Hu Shih arrived in Yokohama.

"Appropriate!" Hu Shi, who was alone all the way, just wanted to go ashore and walk, and didn't want Pan Gongbi, Guo Yushang, and Yu Songhua from Jiading on the dock to call him. They and Hu Shi are both students of Shanghai Chengxin Middle School, the difference is that Hu Shi stayed in the United States, and they stayed in Japan.

"Ahh It's you!! "There's nothing more gratifying than being in a foreign country. Hu Shi shouted and became excited again, and said, "Why are you here?" ”

"Ren Shuyong (Hong Jun) sent us a telegram, so we knew." Pan Gongbi also smiled, and Guo Yushang next to him took out the telegram, "Look, in order to save money, Shu Yong gave us the six words 'suitable for the return of the Japanese queen', which made us think about it all the time, and thought that you were really ...... with the Japanese queen."

Yu Songhua, a Taicang native who was more mature in "Yu Shang ......", saw Guo Yu Xiangyan and the Japanese queen, and immediately stopped him. China and Japan have been loving and loving each other for the past two years, and this year they have also made a quirky and funny initiative. It is enough to ask the Chinese not to insult the emperor; He even demanded that Japan not be allowed to call China a China. From this, it can be seen that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Beijing Division is really a group of uneducated rice buckets, and the branch is originally Sanskrit. This is where the English word China comes from, and the revolutionary students who opposed the Qing in previous years called themselves the Zhina people rather than the Qing people.

Now he actually asks not to say China. I really don't know if the books read by the princes of the court have been thrown into the dog's stomach. In this way, people had no choice but to give the honorific title of 'Great Chinese Empire' according to the template of the 'Great Japanese Empire', and Britain and France also followed suit and agreed, and now, China, which is not an empire, has also become an empire.

"Shizhi, I remember that you haven't been to Tokyo, you can stay in Tokyo for a few days this time......" Pan Gongbi didn't care about Yu Songhua, but happily invited Hu Shi to live in Tokyo.

"It's okay to go to Tokyo, but you don't want to stay. The ship is going to leave in the middle of the night. Hu Shi hurriedly refused, although he could meet his old friend on the way, he still had to go home, especially now that he was affected by the European War, the ticket was extremely expensive, and he didn't want to pay for a ticket back to China again.

"Huh..., that's a bad word!" Pan Gongbi smiled, "This boat is much slower than the train, and you can stay in Tokyo for two days." It is not too late to board the ship after arriving in Nagasaki in three days. ”

"Ah, that's okay too?" Hu Shi was surprised, but he thought that the train was indeed much faster than the ship, so he happily took his luggage and entered Tokyo with everyone. But at this moment. Another ship docked, and Japanese officials and military bands in costumes suddenly appeared on the dock, and a gun salute rang out. Hu Shi didn't count how many rings. I only looked back and saw that the people who came down from the boat seemed to be dressed in Han costumes, and then I asked, "Who is this?" ”

The newspaper said. It seems to say that Yang Huizi, the president of the Institute of Suspicion, visited Japan. In the majestic national anthem of the Yellow River, Yu Songhua replied. He is the one who cares most about current affairs. As soon as he saw that the person who came down was wearing a red first-class official robe, he guessed that it was Yang Huizi, the speaker of the House of Doubts, who was here. Seeing that Hu Shi was puzzled, he said again: "The Germans' unrestricted submarine warfare is very powerful, and the British have sunk 700,000 tons of merchant ships last month alone, and the British can't stand it anymore. China and Japan have the largest number of merchant ships in the world, each with 2.6 million tons, tied for the second largest number in the world......

"Then this has something to do with Yang Huizi?" Although Hu Shi doesn't understand practice, he has always paid attention to rationality, and he only feels that this logic does not make sense.

"Hehe, isn't it appropriate for the United States to pay attention to the war situation?" Yu Songhua said with a smile, "Now the British merchant ships have suffered serious losses, but their annual output of merchant ships is only 500,000 tons [Note:], so they have to turn to other countries, of which the merchant ships are China and Japan at most, but a few years ago, the merchant ships of China and Japan were jointly operated, Japan is an ally of the United Kingdom, but our country is not; In addition, all the docks and slipways in all shipyards in Japan are built by our ships, and the docks and slipways under construction are also our ships. And engaging in shipping can be profitable......"

Before Yu Songhua finished speaking, Guo Yushang next to him smiled and said: "So now the Japanese feel that they have suffered a loss in the joint venture with our country, and they have suffered even more in signing a shipbuilding contract with our country, and they are extremely dissatisfied." The major newspapers demanded that the government take back its rights and powers, and also scolded the Japanese officials who signed the shipbuilding agreement for betraying the country. Therefore, the Japanese government had to invite our country to negotiate under the pretext that its allies needed merchant ships for war, but in fact they wanted to change the Sino-Japanese shipbuilding contract and share more profits, so they invited Yang Huizi over. ”

"Isn't this the right to save rights what we shouted before?" Hu Shi was suddenly a little dazed, has this world really changed?

"It's poisonous." Today's Chinese people call King Min as Jinshang, and Yang Rui as the dynasty. Guo Yushang said again, "Europe built a large dockyard before the war, repaired the iron factory, and got a contract that seemed to be a loss but was actually a big profit, and the Japanese were trapped, so that they were dumb and couldn't say what they were suffering from." ”

"This matter ......" Hu Shih only knew that on the way back to China, the German submarine sank the British cruise ship again, and several Americans died, and President Wilson did not rest on his laurels this time, and in order to show that the right of passage through the sea is the right of every country, he has petitioned Congress to send naval ships to escort ships in the Atlantic. Although this did not declare war on Germany, the Navy's order to sink enemy submarines that threatened the safety of the merchant fleet was tantamount to a declaration of war on Germany. Relations between the United States and Germany are so tense that China and Japan do not know anything about Hu Shishi. He only thought of the Japanese navy, and said worriedly: "But this merchant ship is at sea after all, and the Japanese navy is ...... than ours."

"So what?" Guo Yushang obviously read the domestic newspaper in the mail. I believe that the newspaper said, "Japan's shipbuilding steel plates are all supplied by our country." Once our country does not export steel plates, his ship will not be able to be built. Iron sand and pig iron are all purchased from our country, and if the supply is really cut off, then Japan will not even be able to make guns; Besides, Japan has warships, but Japan has submarines. I only learned today that German submarines were actually designed and built in cooperation with our country, and it is reported that our country has more than 150 such ocean-going submarines, and if there is a war, these submarines will be enough to ......."

Guo Yushang is indeed a little open-mouthed, and now he is among the Japanese. actually talked about the war between China and Japan, and Yu Songhua stopped him again, and he also said unexpectedly: "Saiong lost his horse, how do you know if it's a blessing." If the government really took advantage of the European war to earn hundreds of thousands of silver, it would not necessarily be a blessing for the people, and it would be a blessing for the people, and they would know after returning to China. ”

Yu Songhua's language is unknown, but Hu Shi did not delve into it, because he can stay in Tokyo for a few days. His first thought was to visit Mr. Chen Zhongfu, the editor-in-chief of Youth Magazine, who lived in refuge, to find out what he planned to do after the ban on Youth Magazine.

Hu Shi thought about Chen Zhongfu, in the 3-chome Iidacho, Kojimachi District, Tokyo, and used to be the editorial office of the 20th Century China and the Confederacy Minbao. Chen Zhongfu, Su Manshu, Yang Yongtai, and Deng Qingchu were glaring angrily at the sudden arrival of the Japanese policeman, who did not understand Chinese, and he was holding a youth magazine. In Japanese, he said, "I warn you until you have obtained a legal license from our government. Please don't sell your magazines. ”

"But we only sell to the Chinese." Yang Yongtai stopped Chen Zhongfu, who was about to get angry, and argued.

"It's not enough to sell only to the Chinese." The Japanese police don't talk about China, which is awkward. He shook his head vigorously, "This time is just a warning, if there is a next time, then you will be deported by my government." The policeman spoke in a tough tone, but he bowed politely and walked away with the people.

"Oops...... you can't do it in Shanghai, you can't do it in Tokyo, Zhang Taiyan's old thing is going to drive us to death!" Su Manshu, a revolutionary monk named by Sun Wen, complained that after the Shanghai magazine could not be sold, the remaining thousands of copies were brought to Tokyo by everyone, intending to set up a magazine here for the sake of studying students in Japan.

"China and Japan now wear the same pants." Deng Qingchu had long opposed the plan to run a magazine in Japan, but Chen Zhongfu insisted on saying that there were thousands of students studying in Japan here, and because foreign ships could freely pass through China's inland river ports, he avoided the government-controlled postal routes.

"If Japan can't do it, then go to Annam, Nanyang, and Honolulu." Chen Zhongfu was angry enough, the youth magazine was blocked for no reason the month before, and at that time he also asked his old friend Zhang Shizhao to inquire about the situation, but he didn't want Zhang Shizhao to reply to the letter, but he said that the pool was very deep, saying that there were several articles in the youth magazine written by Dai Jitao, a chaotic party, accusing the government of land reform as forcibly seizing people's property and opposing land reform, and it was not tolerated by a certain factory......

"Then you have to go to the accounts of the various selling points to recover them, and then sell them out and then leave." Deng Qingchu reminded, and after he finished speaking, he said very mysteriously, "Actually, this place is also evil, and in the past ten years, four or five newspapers and magazines have been opened, and they have either been closed or closed down......

"Don't be so superstitious!" Chen Zhongfu was displeased, the purpose of the youth magazine is to sweep away superstition and advocate science, and Deng Qingchu's statement is obviously not in line with the purpose. "Let's clean up this place, and then ask who will take over the magazine."

The thought of moving out of Tokyo made them feel tired, but in the end, they endured it. The magazine was packing up, but Hu Shi, who had put down his luggage, arrived, and the apartment rented by Pan Gongbi was not far from here.

Seeing that the sign of the Youth Magazine was taken down, Hu Shi, as well as Yu Songhua and Pan Gongbi, who came with him, were very surprised, Hu Shi asked Deng Qingchu, who was holding the sign of the Youth Magazine, and said, "Sir, is this the Youth Magazine?" ”

"This is the Youth Magazine, who are you looking for?" Deng Qingchu looked at these people and thought they were ordinary international students.

"I'm looking for Mr. Chen Zhongfu." Hu Shi asked, "Is he there?" ”

Even if he stayed in the United States for several years, Hu Shi's Chinese still has a Jixi accent, and Deng Qingchu, who is also from Anhui, said with a smile, "Zhongfu is here, may I ask who you are?" ”

"Oh, I'm Hu Shizhi, I was in ......" Before Hu Shi finished speaking, Deng Qingchu's voice suddenly rose and said, "It turned out to be Mr. Shizhi, you." Aren't you in the United States? ”

"Oh, I've graduated. Before returning to Japan, I received a letter from Mr. Nakafu and learned that Youth Magazine had moved to Tokyo. So I came to visit. "Hu Shihui contributed to the Youth Magazine because of the introduction of Wang Mengzou of Oriental Books; And Chen Zhongfu will run a youth magazine, which is also supported by Wang Mengjiao. Wang Mengjiao and Hu Shi are both from Jixi, and he and Chen Zhongfu cooperated twelve years ago when Chen Zhongfu ran the Anhui Folk Newspaper.

"Good!" Deng Qingchu said yes, and at the same time deliberately looked at Hu Shi, who was dressed in a suit and full of foreign flavor, and then happily brought him to the editor-in-chief's room, and said loudly to Chen Zhongfu: "Zhongfu, guess who is coming?" After that, I couldn't help but ask myself. "It's Dr. Hu!" He had graduated from the United States and had heard that we were here, so he came to visit. ”

"Appropriate!" Chen Zhongfu was worried about where to run a magazine, and when he heard that Hu Shi was coming, he was suddenly sad, and immediately stepped forward to hold Hu Shi's hand and said, "I finally saw you!" ”

The hand was held by Chen Zhongfu, and Hu Shi was also happy, he said, "Mr. Zhongfu." It's such a pleasure to meet you. Hehe, I thought I was going to do something to you when I returned home. ”

"What are you doing?" Chen Zhongfu also smiled, "This kind of old antique should have gone into the garbage heap of history a long time ago, and people should have a Western-style handshake when they meet." In this way, friendships can be increased. Come, come, please be seated. And these friends, please be seated. ”

Chen Zhongfu hopes that everything in China is new. All of them should be modern, and all the traditions of the past seemed to him to imprison and fool people. It should be discarded completely. After meeting Hu Shi and shaking hands with Yu Songhua and others, he talked about the situation of the Youth Magazine.

"The magazine has been running for exactly one year, from the beginning of the monthly sales of 300 copies, to the current more than 2,000 copies, it is not easy, but the magazine has just improved, but it has been banned, and now, the Japanese government does not know why it does not approve the launch of this magazine......

"Brother Zhongfu, may I ask why the Ministry of Rites wants to ban the magazine, isn't it Mr. Zhang because we advocate new literature on purpose?" I read all the youth magazines, but I didn't see anything illegal and rebellious.

"This ......," Chen Zhongfu lowered his head and muttered, "Now the government is extremely strict in supervising publications, in addition to the deposit review system, there are also new gadgets such as sensitive words......"

"Mr. Zhongfu, what do you mean by a sensitive word?" Hu Shi has not been in China for several years, and he has never heard sensitive words, so he interjected and inquired.

"Sensitive words are those words that are not allowed to be arranged by the Ministry of Rites of the Revival Society, similar to the avoidance of feudal dynasties. For example, 'Yanzhou Purge', 'Dictatorship', 'Yang Killing', 'Zhu Mazi', 'Zhang Maniac', 'Xiao Yinfeng'......, if the author has to write these words, then the printing office can only replace them with the '*' sign, and the reader sees a few asterisks. ”

Chen Zhongfu has been running magazines for a long time, and he has long been accustomed to sensitive words, and he is not angry when he says it, but Hu Shi, who returned from the United States just now, is very angry, he seems to have his hair on end, and said loudly: "How can this be!" Is there still a constitution? Is there still freedom of speech? Is this still a democracy? This is simply a feudal dictatorship! ”

Sea turtles returning from overseas always have to adapt to their return to China, and Chen Zhongfu is used to this. He smiled, "According to Yang Jingcheng, China has never advertised itself as a democratic country. In fact, it is okay to avoid sensitive words, as long as they are not intended to attack the government, and they can be replaced by other words. The Youth Magazine was closed because it contained articles by Dai Tianqiu, a revolutionary, and those people in Dongchang also knew the circulation of our magazine, and after they calculated it, they found that the magazine had been operating at a loss, and since the magazine had articles by revolutionaries, they concluded that the magazine had been bought by the revolutionaries, so they ......."

The reason for the ban was actually this, Hu Shi suddenly realized, he couldn't ask Chen Zhongfu Magazine if he really accepted the gift of the revolutionary party, and only asked, "How do they know if the magazine is losing money or making money?" It's an internal affair! ”

This time, without waiting for Chen Zhongfu to speak, Deng Qingchu replied first, "I don't know if it's appropriate." According to the Private Enterprise Law and the Company Law, the magazine is also a company and has the status of a legal person, so it is not only necessary to register with the Industrial and Commercial Administration, but also to open an account with the registered capital in a designated bank, and to hire a part-time accountant or go to the National Taxation Bureau to learn the half-year bookkeeping examination, so as to have the qualification to start a business; After establishment, invoices must be issued to do business with the outside world, and cash transactions are prohibited for large sums of money, and only bank accounts or checks can be used; In addition, the monthly salary of us editors and handymen has to go to the IRS to file tax returns in order to pay personal income tax.

Although the magazine is located in the concession, foreigners in the concession have also allowed the IRS to collect taxes on Chinese companies and nationals in the concession since this year. Therefore, the IRS checked and found that the magazine with a price tag of two dimes and a dime actually sold only 2,000 copies a month. According to the thickness of the magazine, the printing cost is calculated, and then the rent and salary are calculated. Immediately know if you lost or earned. This revival will do all these things that torment people. In order to collect taxes, I went to the IRS to take the accounting certificate, and I barely passed the exam after three exams, which is really ......"

Speaking of taking the accounting certificate, Deng Qingchu was resentful, this is not a four-column accounting method at all, but a double-entry accounting method that is more complicated than a foreigner commercial bank. IRS personnel also check accounts from time to time, and if there is a small problem, it will be corrected, and if there is a big problem, it will be fined. It's really full.

"The IRS only collects taxes, no matter whether you steal or rob the money, as long as you have income, you have to pay taxes, in Yang Jingcheng's words, only death and taxes are inevitable in a person's life." Chen Zhongfu said. "It's just that the government so arbitrarily thinks that the magazine is funded by the revolutionary party, and I don't admit guilt, and besides, I have friends with them. These people used to be friends of the Revival Society, and they really fought against each other! ”

"Mr. Zhongfu, what will the magazine do next?" Deng Qingchu resented the IRS. Hu Shi couldn't say that the IRS of the United States was not necessarily like this, but he never said that the United States was bad in front of the Chinese people, and he was also very secretive about the tragic situation of the European war, for fear that the Chinese people would be hostile to and reject the advanced Western culture because of this. If this is the case, how can comprehensive westernization be carried out?

"I don't know where to go now!" Chen Zhongfu said that he wanted to go to Nanyang and Annam, but that was just angry talk. There were Cantonese and Fujianese people in that place, and the people of both places were very superstitious. They won't buy more youth magazines.

Chen Zhongfu was worried, and Su Manshu seemed to be talking to someone outside the door. After a while, he quickly ran in with a letter and said, "Zhongfu! Xingyan said that we should go to the capital! ”

"What?" Chen Zhongfu, who didn't know where to go, looked at the fake monk with a smile in front of him, and wondered, "What are you doing in the capital?" ”

"Xingyan said that he had told Mr. Xiao Min about us, and Mr. Xiao Min had also read the youth magazine we ran and said that since the magazine was banned, then we should run the magazine at Peking University." Sumanshu said.

"It's not the same as being banned at Peking University." Although Chen Zhongfu was worried, he snatched Zhang Shizhao's letter from Su Manshu's hand. Before he could see it, Yang Yongtai next to him said: "Zhongfu, I remember that because the school magazine in the university hall is an internal publication, it is only distributed internally, and it is not under the control of the Ministry of Rites. ”

Yang Yongtai said this, and Hu Shi also said: "This is really good. When I return to China, I will teach at Peking University, and everyone will be in Beijing at that time, and we will be able to get together every Sunday. ”

As soon as Hu Shiyi said on Sunday, everyone laughed. Like a foreigner, he did not know that there were no Sundays in the country, so some religious government officials and churches protested one after another, hoping that believers who had become civil servants would be given a holiday: that is, two days off on the first day of the lunar month and two days on the fifteenth day of each month, a total of four days off to each Sunday in the Jesus calendar.

However, in order to hold scientific examinations and appoint officials every three years in the future, government agencies are extremely streamlined, each post has a job description, and each operation has a SOP document. The screws are absent from work for four days a month, and it is not good for the screws to exercise for four days when the machine does not turn, especially now that more and more policies of the central government have to implement: land reform, revitalization of agriculture, new rural construction, water conservancy, late marriage and childbearing, industrial and commercial surveys, five-year universal education, and the promotion of the Ding Tax Act. If you go to church, go home and pray.

The job description and SOP text have already dismantled the grassroots administrative affairs to a Ford-style assembly line, even the disabled can operate it, and there are more people outside to take the civil service examination than the locusts in the Yellow Flood Area, why give you four days off, just because God is the real God?

So the end result of the matter is that either these people don't pray and concentrate on being officials; Or quit your job and go home to serve God. There are only a few high-ranking positions, such as Comrade Pei Yili, the American pastor of the Ministry of Soil, whose work and life are very concerned about his work and life, and specially authorize him to go to the church every Sunday to report to God; As for the officials and believers in the provinces, prefectures, counties, and townships below, it is better to make a choice between the official position and God. (To be continued......)

PS: Note: British merchant ship production was 688,000 tons in 1915 and 538,000 tons in 1916 - "Blue Sea Wolves: The Complete History of German U-Boats in World War II" p58-60