British writer

The next day, noon.

Dirty dirty——

The train's whistle sounded and it drove out of the tunnel with a "bang, bang, bang, bang" sound.

Light returned to the carriage.

Goodman looked at the time;

"Almost to Cambridge."

Cambridge here refers to the city of Cambridge around Boston.

Because of its colonial history, a large number of place names in the United States overlap with those in the United Kingdom. Because they have formed an inertia of use, they were not modified after the Declaration of Independence.

Lu Shi stretched himself.

"Okay, let's get ready, it's time to get off..."

Before the words fell,

"No!"×2

The other two people held his hands down at the same time.

Wodehouse chuckled and said, "Professor Lu, what are you doing with your hands? Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

Goodman on the other side also said: "Yes, at least finish this round."

Three people are fighting against the landlord,

Lu Shi looked at the phone number in his hand depressedly.

The double king lacked the big one, 3456 was short of 7, and 10JQK was missing the A. He couldn't help but have black lines all over his head.

￣□￣｜｜

I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to throw away my hand card when I arrived at the station, but I failed.

Lu Shi complained: "Sir, didn't you say before that bridge must be more interesting than Landlords? Why did you suddenly become so obsessed with it?"

Wodehouse glared,

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up."

Lu Shi had no choice but to give it a try.

"Call the landlord."

He picked up three cards and found that they happened to be 7, A, and King. He raised the corner of his mouth and said, "Just wait."

After saying that, throw out the smallest straight.

The other two people looked at each other and noticed something was wrong.

"Ahem..."

Wodehouse cleared his throat and changed the subject: "Lu, have you and Principal Butler concluded the matter?"

Lu Shi curled his lips,

"You play first."

Wodehouse had no choice;

"I can't afford it."

He glanced furtively at Goodman,

Goodman understood and immediately said: "Admit defeat. We admit defeat."

Wodehouse:? ? ?

"Hey! Why do you admit defeat!?"

Goodman was surprised: "Sir, don't you mean to ask me to give up on my own initiative?"

"..."

"..."

The two stared at each other.

Lu Shi laughed loudly and said, "You two have such a tacit understanding, don't even think about cheating with your winks."

He threw away the cards and said as he packed the box, "Yes, I have signed a contract with Mr. Butler. Saul looked it over for me. I will never suffer any loss."

Goodman echoed,

"Yes."

Wodehouse was certainly not worried about this;

Lu Shi has never suffered a loss in business.

He said: "I just think it would be difficult for you to come up with 100,000 pounds, even in three-year installments. I have considered it, and the royalties from your novels and plays, your salary, and the "Mirror" dividends may not be able to cover it." So much money."

Lu Shi was surprised,

"With the Mirror here, why worry about not making money?"

Wodehouse said: "I know the Mirror makes money and will become more and more profitable. But the unit price... ugh..."

Lu Shi smiled,

"Sir, the money you should make from running a newspaper is advertising money."

With the sales volume of "Mirror", as long as you are willing to sell advertising space, your profits can increase instantly.

Wodehouse had known this for a long time, but he still felt a little disappointed.

Yesterday, they had just discussed the stars and sea of ​​journalism with Pulitzer and Butler, and now they had to face the most practical problem——

How to make a profit.

He asked: "Like Le Figaro?"

Lu Shi shook his head repeatedly.

"Le Figaro? That won't work! They almost oversold the advertising space, which led to poor advertising effect. They had to lower the price and sell it again, making small profits but quick turnover. The result was that the advertising space was oversold, creating a vicious situation. cycle."

Wodehouse said "hmm\

,""You really have to control the quantity."

Lu Shi corrected: "No, no, we don't sell advertising space, we sell layout."

Wodehouse: "..."

Goodman: "..."

An entire page full of ads?

Are there any newspapers that do this now?

Neither of them knew whether Lu Shi was crazy or whether they were crazy.

Wodehouse said: "What...what do you want to do?"

Lu Shi smiled and said,

"The mountain man has his own clever plan."

In fact, he was thinking about soft advertising, advertising by writing soft articles, and even inserting them quietly into comic pages to advertise.

This effect must be very good.

Of course, the final decision is how to land and return to London.

Seeing Lu Shi being mysterious in front of him, Wodehouse murmured dissatisfiedly, and then said: "Let's get down to business. Have you taken care of Columbia University? Regarding the global university rankings, is President Butler willing to... "

Before he finished speaking, the train began to slow down,

The rails rubbed against each other due to deceleration, and the slightly harsh sound stung the eardrums.

The three of them grabbed their luggage and rushed out of the carriage.

They headed outside the station.

Amidst the sound of the whistle "Dirty...", Lu Shi raised his voice and said, "Yes, Brother will cooperate."

"Tsk..."

Wodehouse was speechless.

He always felt that the word "cooperate" had a hint of reluctance.

Lu Shi continued: "Mr. Butler promised not to take the initiative or refuse. When we asked the Columbia Academic Affairs Office about data that affects rankings, such as the number of international students, they were willing to tell the truth."

Wodehouse nodded,

"That's good. Finally got a university."

Lu Shi spread his hands,

"Who told me that I was about to become a director of Columbia University? I still have some shortcomings."

Wodehouse: (ˉ▽￣~)Cut~~

The three of them left the station.

The atmosphere of Cambridge in the United States is very similar to that of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Because there are Harvard University and MIT, it seems very bookish.

There is little factory smell in the air.

"While industry brings convenience, it's nice to get away from the smokestacks once in a while," Wodehouse said.

As soon as he finished speaking, a strange roar came from not far away.

The three of them looked away.

They saw a four-wheeled machine similar to an open carriage slowly driving towards them, but without horses.

Sitting in the groom's seat was a slightly fat middle-aged man.

He wears glasses, but is dressed in a cowboy outfit, even with a cowboy scarf, and a relatively thick handlebar mustache. His hair is parted from the cowboy hat. It is combed meticulously, but his scalp can be vaguely seen.

It was none other than Theodore Roosevelt.

Wodehouse was a little surprised;

"Car? Are cars mass-produced in the United States?"

squeak--

The car stopped in front of him.

Theodore said: "This is a concept car from Ford, and it has not been mass-produced. They are considering whether to make the car a four-seater or a two-seater. A three-seater car like mine will definitely not be seen on the road in the future."

He jumped out of the car,

"Professor Lu. Earl Kimberly. I am Theodore Roosevelt, currently on leave."

Shake hands with both of them in turn.

"Gu..."

Goodman on the side swallowed his saliva.

But Theodore simply ignored him, patted the back seat, and said to Lu Shi and Wodehouse: "You two, please get in the car. I will take you to Harvard."

Lu Shi patted Goodman on the shoulder.

it is more than words.

Goodman is depressed;

"Understood, I'll go there by myself in a carriage."

Later, Lu Shi and Wodehouse squeezed into the back seat, which was not spacious.

Theodore whistled and drove off.

The power of cars in the early 20th century was very weak, and there were no supporting roads in the United States, so the speed of cars was very slow.

Theodore was even able to look back and chat while he was driving ahead,

"Professor Lu, I heard that you were pestered by a drunk man a few days ago?"

When he said this, his face was full of amusement.

Lu Shi chuckled and said: "I didn't expect that the public security in the United States is so bad, and the Vice President has to personally take action to maintain public security. I can only say that after staying in London for a long time, I didn't expect... um... look at the road. !Look at the road!”

Theodore quickly turned back and straightened the steering wheel.

Then he laughed out loud,

"What I maintain is not public order, but the face of the United States."

Let this matter be over.

Wodehouse wondered,

"Mr. Vice President, are you from Washington?"

Theodore nodded,

"Speaking of which, if you hadn't delayed a day in New York, I wouldn't have been able to pick you up today. What? Have you talked about Columbia University? Ah... Don't get me wrong, I know what happened to you was purely accidental. In my position, There’s always information coming to me one way or another.”

Come to think of it,

The NYPD and Customs Department must always keep an eye on Lu Shi and Wodehouse.

There was no way that Theodore wouldn't know what was going on.

"Mr. Butler is very generous," Lu Shi said.

Theodore looked back at Lu Shi and joked: "I'm really curious about how you persuaded him. Unfortunately, it's impossible for me to know whether a dark room conversation came out of your mouth or into his ears."

Although he said it was "impossible to know", what he said was that when Dian Lu,

Lu Shi thought of that sentence——

A big stick in hand, gentle words in mouth.

This is the famous quote of Theodore Roosevelt.

In the United States before him, foreign policy was almost "avoidance". Just live your life well.

When he takes the stage...

"It's time to show the world what Americans are capable of!"

As a result, the United States began to officially compete for the position of world leader.

And this motto of "keep a big stick in hand and speak softly" has been practiced by Americans for hundreds of years and continues to modern times.

Lu Shi chuckled,

"Just a little cooperation."

Theodore repeated: "Cooperation?"

He didn't look back this time, so his expression couldn't be seen from the back seat.

Lu Shi did not go into details and instead said: "Mr. Vice President, I am also a little curious. Why are you so interested in global university rankings? I think Sir Wodehouse and I can make the trip this time. You must have put in a lot of effort, right?”

Theodore chuckled,

"This invitation was sent by Harvard University. I only sent that telegram to show the sincerity of my alma mater because I am a graduate of Harvard University. You should also know that the position of vice president is very idle. If I don't find it myself, If you do something, I might be able to fade away."

Really?

Of course Lu Shi didn't believe it.

But there is no need to ask further questions about this kind of guessing based on feelings, because even if you ask, you won't get the real answer.

He said, "So, what does Mr. Vice President think about this matter?"

Theodore was silent for a while and said, "I support it."

Wodehouse took the opportunity to say: "This is very different from the isolationism that the United States has always pursued."

Theodore didn't answer.

According to history, the macho man who was carved on the Presidential Hill disdained isolationism, otherwise he would not have been able to say "a big stick in his hand and a gentle word in his mouth."

He is an advocate and practitioner of power politics,

Previous U.S. presidents did not interfere as deeply into the internal affairs of other countries, especially Latin American countries, as he did.

During his tenure, the United States built a powerful navy and completed circumnavigations to demonstrate its military power.

Of course, this all happened after he became president.

The current Vice President can only keep a low profile.

Lu Shi said: "Mr. Vice President, I heard that there is a Monroe Doctrine in the United States?"

Theodore turned around,

"Professor Lu, it seems you have done enough homework..."

Monroe Doctrine,

Monroe Doctrine,

Published in 1823, this doctrine expressed the attitude of the United States at that time, believing that European powers should no longer colonize the Americas or get involved in matters related to the sovereignty of the United States and Latin American countries.

As for disputes between European countries, or wars between countries and their American colonies, the United States remained neutral.

If the relevant war occurs in the Americas, the United States will regard it as a hostile act.

As a result, when Theodore arrived,

This guy just lost his face and said that the Monroe Doctrine can infer that the United States has the right to intervene in Latin America.

Well, quite outrageous.

Theodore said: "Professor Lu wants to talk to me about politics?"

This sounds very much like a temptation.

Lu Shi shook his head and said, "No, what I want to say is actually about university rankings. Since Mr. Vice President believes that Europe should not get involved in American affairs, then isn't the expansion of influence through culture within this scope? "

Theodore took off his cowboy hat and fanned himself,

"What Professor Lu means is that when people see Oxford and Cambridge ranking high, they will flock to them?"

Lu Shi replied: "That's right."

Theodore thought for a while, pretending to think,

Later, he said: "This is indeed something to worry about. Fortunately, from a geographical point of view, the United States is on an isolated continent, and studying in Europe from here does not seem so attractive."

This seems like nonsense.

Because the road from the United States to Europe is long and difficult, and the same is true for traveling from Europe to the United States.

The two are mutual.

But Lu Shi agreed with this statement,

"Indeed, this is America's advantage. Geography, a unique and unique advantage."

Theodore said: "As expected of the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel". Professor Lu, your perspective on issues is much broader than that of ordinary scholars. Perhaps, you should not be a scholar, you are more suitable to be a politician, and you will be very successful. of."

When Wodehouse looked at Lu Shi, his lips moved slightly and he asked silently: "What's going on?"

Lu Shi explained: "The United States has a vast territory, large space, and rapid population growth. It is foreseeable that the scale of higher education in the United States will gradually expand, becoming 10 times, 20 times, or 30 times that of the United Kingdom, and the total investment in education will also increase. Come more and more.”

Theodore took advantage of the situation and said: "At that time, Ox and Sword may still be ranked very high, but the United States will be the biggest winner in the entire list. Of course, this requires those who rank universities to be objective and fair enough. At least, I think Harvard is no worse than an ox or a sword.”

It can be seen that Theodore does adhere to the Monroe Doctrine and believes that Europe should not interfere with the United States.

But if the reverse is true and the United States interferes in Europe...

He was more than happy to do so.

This product is a perfect double standard.