British writer

Breya Road.

Night had fallen, and dim gas lamps were lit in the room.

Lu Shi was sitting behind the table, tapping with a small hammer and tinkering with something.

Next to him, Natsume Soseki complained: "Riku, you haven't given up yet? I advise you to give up. I'm so lazy that I'm hopeless."

Lu Shi didn't answer and continued to work hard.

Natsume Soseki asked: "What is the name of this thing you are making? Teasing...teasing..."

Lu Shi said: "Funny cat stick."

He has actually tried it three times, but the finished product has extremely poor results.

To be precise, the effect on us is extremely poor.

Lu Shi had done comparative experiments before,

He used other people's cats as the experimental group,

When the cats saw the cat teasing stick, their eyes were as big as copper bells, and they followed the rabbit fur claws on the front of the cat teasing stick and bit their mouths. They were very active;

It's better for me, seeing Lu Shi shaking the cat stick is like looking at a fool.

Lu Shi did not believe in evil;

"I think it's because of the material. Ordinary feathers and rabbit fur won't work, it has to be made of real fur. The trouble now is that there is no plastic... ahem... In short, I need to find a better material for the stick body to provide Flexible enough to allow the front end to move quickly and attract our attention.”

Natsume Soseki: "..."

I'm too lazy to complain anymore.

He picked up today's Mirror and read the article "Serials, Are They Really Not Suitable for Writing Long Novels?" for the fifth time. 》,

The article is very detailed and teaches a lot of real things.

Natsume Soseki held the newspaper with his left hand and the manuscript of "I Am a Cat" with his right hand, thinking about the possibility of further revision and improvement.

He said: "Lu, your article said that 'collage' can be used in writing?"

Lu Shi was concentrating on making the cat-making sticks and didn't hear clearly.

"What?"

Natsume Soseki repeated:

"'Collage'! I said 'collage'!"

Lu Shi heard it clearly this time,

"Oh, you said that... the collage writing method is too experimental and avant-garde, and it takes into account the author's imagination and non-linear thinking ability."

Natsume Soseki gets a headache when he hears the word "nonlinear".

This mathematical concept was the hardest for him to understand.

Lu Shi saw that he didn't understand and explained: "To put it simply, a story is cut into pieces and arranged in different orders, but the theme is still unified. The advantage of this non-linear method is that you don't have to worry too much about the coherence of the plot."

This method is suitable for serialization, because it is similar to writing wherever you think.

The best example is T.S. Eliot's long poem "The Waste Land\

,"The poem consists of five parts:

Funeral rites for the dead, games of chess, sermons of fire, death in water, words of thunder.

These five parts can hardly be said to tell a story. They are more like a set of five paintings with different themes but are vaguely related, cut and pasted together.

Natsume Soseki stared at the original manuscript of "I am a Cat" and fell into deep thought.

Lu Shi said, "You, don't think too much."

Natsume Soseki was puzzled.

"What's wrong?"

Lu Shi spread his hands,

"When Toon wrote "Anna Karenina", he revised the draft 12 times because he clearly knew what he wanted to express. And you want to revise the draft because you read my article and mastered the new ideas. Isn’t it putting the cart before the horse to revise writing techniques because of this kind of thing?”

Natsume Soseki scratched his head, a little convinced.

Lu Shi further said: "So, you might as well make a cat teaser stick with me."

He waved his hand,

"Here, give me a hand."

Natsume Soseki was completely speechless. He walked over and pressed the back end of the cat teaser that Lu Shi handed over.

Lu Shi picked up the hammer and struck it carefully.

The front end is finally secured.

Then, he picked up the cat teasing stick and waved it in front of me.

Of course it turned out to be useless.

We looked at the confusing behavior of human beings, showed a helpless expression, and slipped under the bed. Looking at the landing with our big eyes, we seemed to be saying silently: "If you move, I will lose."

Lu Shi complained: "Brother, you are almost as fat as a pig!"

Natsume Soseki said: "I also think it is getting fatter, but on the other hand, no matter how fat it is, it will not be able to get under the bed."

As expected of the Japanese, they really know how to comfort themselves.

Lu Shi threw the cat-teasing stick aside.

Seeing that he was finally willing to give up, Natsume Soseki said, "I can finally talk to you about business."

He shook the Mirror in his hand.

Lu Shi sighed,

"Actually, I didn't plan to publish this article in the Mirror. Because its content was too formal, too serious, and incompatible with the pedigree of the Mirror. But considering it was a counterattack... By the way, I don't know. How are the Daily Times selling today?"

Natsume Soseki said: "Mr. Cooper speculated that sales will not be bad."

Lu Shi asked, "What did he say?"

Natsume Soseki replied: "Because citizens like to have fun most, so when the two newspapers fight, no matter who is right or wrong, sales will not be low."

Previously, Lu Shi used a book review to reveal the secrets of "The Dancing Little Man".

As a result, sales of both The Manchester Guardian and The Strand Magazine soared.

Readers don’t want to know who is right or wrong;

They just want to see the river of blood.

Lu Shi can also understand,

Who isn’t a fun person at heart?

He stretched and said, "I didn't expect that Bucker's guy would get traffic."

Natsume Soseki chuckled,

"But no matter what, the Mirror will definitely benefit more. It exposed the sales fraud of The Times, and serious articles such as "Serials, are they really not suitable for writing novels?" are very popular in universities. popular."

Lu Shi waved his hand, preparing to say a few words of humility.

After all, you are picking apples by standing on the shoulders of giants, so there is nothing to be proud of.

At this time, there was a knock on the door outside.

Natsume Soseki looked at the sky and asked curiously: "Who will come to visit so late?"

He walked over and opened the door.

I saw an officer of the Queen's Guards in a red uniform standing outside the door. It was Sir Frederick von Stephenson, the commander of the Coldstream Guards, whom I had not seen for many days.

Stephenson slowly moved out of the way, and King Edward VII was revealed.

Natsume Soseki was surprised and said: "Your Majesty?"

Lu Shi also rushed over.

"Your Majesty, you are here."

King Edward VII took off his hat, nodded and said, "I'm sorry, I should have found time to come to visit a long time ago, but... alas... I have so many things to do, I am really too busy to get away. Please forgive me."

The king apologized upon meeting him;

If word of this got out, it would probably shock a lot of people's jaws.

Riku Toki and Natsume Soseki quickly opened the door.

Edward VII enters the room.

He is a king who is close to the people and has visited the homes of common people many times, but he still can't help but look around curiously.

As a result, he didn't pay attention to his feet and almost tripped.

Stephenson was fat but very dexterous. He quickly rushed forward, picked up the cat stick on the ground, showed a confused expression, and said, "What is this?"

Lu Shi explained: "Cat-catching stick."

You can know the function of this thing from the words.

Edward VII was curious, so he took the cat-teasing stick and waved it towards me under the bed.

My generation: "Meow~"

He looked at the king like a fool.

It was quiet inside the house,

"..."

"..."

"..."

A weird atmosphere called "embarrassment" spread.

Lu Shi tilted his head to one side and tried to hold back his laughter.

After a while, Edward VII adjusted his mentality, threw the cat stick on the ground, kicked it under the bed, and then said to Lu Shi: "Professor Lu, I only have one purpose for coming here this time, which is to thank you for fulfilling my mother's wish." .”

What I want is not what I portray.

What His Majesty the King wanted to talk about was definitely not a verbal thank you, but the promise the Queen made to Lu Shi before she died——

Knighted.

Lu Shi looked calm and waited quietly for the next chapter.

Edward VII knew that Lu Shi was not an ordinary person, but he did not expect that Lu Shi could be so calm.

That is the lifelong honor of the British Empire!

Who doesn’t want it! ?

His evaluation of Lu Shi couldn't help but rise to a higher level, and he said, "Professor Lu, what do you think?"

Lu Shi chuckled,

"Could it be that His Majesty is planning to award me the Order of the Garter?"

Edward VII was stunned for a moment, then laughed loudly,

"Professor Lu really loves to joke. Don't you know that the Order of the Garter can only be awarded to certain special people? Didn't you create "Yes! Prime Minister"? The protagonist in it is Baron Islington, a recipient of the Order of the Garter, and a member of the Privy Council. Mr. Harker."

Being able to know Huck's multiple identities so well shows that His Majesty the King really likes "Yes!" prime minister".

Lu Shi was somewhat surprised by this and didn't know what to say for a while.

Edward VII continued: "As you will be well aware, the Order of the Garter has a maximum of 25 living wearers."

The Order of the Garter, the full name should be the Order of the Supreme Order of the Garter,

It originated in the Middle Ages and is the oldest knightly order in the world and the highest level of the British honor system. The recipients are often monarchs, bishops or highly respected prime ministers.

Moreover, the Garter investiture ceremony is a completely private royal affair, and even the British Prime Minister, who is in charge of the actual power of the country, has no say.

Lu Shi said: "It's such a pity. I'm afraid the Royal Victoria Medal won't work either."

This medal is featured in Yes! It was also mentioned in "Prime Minister\

,"Humphrey was its wearer.

Unexpectedly, Edward VII did not speak, but frowned and fell into deep thought.

From the looks of it, it seems that the feasibility of the Royal Victoria Order is being considered.

Lu Shi:? ? ?

Natsume Soseki:? ? ?

Stephenson:? ? ?

The three of them were stunned.

However, Edward VII pondered: "The Royal Victoria Medal is mainly awarded to those who are recognized as serving the monarch, so the scope seems to be very large."

Stephenson quickly stopped this nonsense,

"Your Majesty, you must understand that there is no precedent for awarding our medals to foreigners!"

Edward VII frowned;

"Then you are wrong. Didn't the Queen establish the Order of the Indian Empire?"

The Order of the Empire of India was established by Victoria in 1877.

This medal is awarded to officials or local nobles who served in India during the British Empire's colonial period, and to British military personnel who served in the country.

Stephenson scratched his head,

He couldn't figure out the purpose of involving India.

Lu Shi understood, shook his head seriously, and said, "Your Majesty, I don't agree with this approach."

Edward VII couldn't help but sigh,

"I knew it."

This conversation sounds like a charade.

Stephenson and Natsume Soseki listened in confusion and were confused.

King Edward VII explained: "Freck, have you forgotten that we also have land under our control in China?"

Since the Qing Dynasty signed the first unequal treaty in 1842, a small number of people on the southeastern coast of China have belonged to the British Commonwealth and have British identity.

That's why there are people out there who can be called "Jazz."

Strict status has always been a restriction on British awards.

Take the equally great football coaches Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson as examples,

Although both were awarded the Order of the British Empire, only the latter can be called "Sir Ferguson" because Wenger was born in Strasbourg, France.

Edward VII said: "I feel that our existing medals have limitations and need to be replaced by new ones."

After saying this, everyone present was shocked.

Lu Shi said: "Your Majesty, actually you don't have to be so...well...although Her Majesty the Queen gave me a promise at that time, after all, she has...already..."

In front of the Queen's son, the words "The end is near" cannot be uttered.

Edward VII did not feel dissatisfied;

"How can there be any reason why the royal family's promises should not be fulfilled?"

Lu Shi muttered: "It's not necessary."

King Edward VII said firmly: "No, the promise must be fulfilled."

He returned to the previous topic: "We have medals awarded to senior military officers and public officials; there are medals awarded to diplomats; there are medals awarded to those who serve the British royal family... However, most of the honorees are officials, meritorious officials and soldiers. , covering too few people.”

It can be heard that the class of recipients of the new medal he wants to get must come from a wide enough range and be more popular in nature.

Lu Shi was surprised,

"Where's the Order of the British Empire?"

In his impression, Britain has this kind of medal, which is called the "Medal of the British Empire".

It can be awarded to all classes and professions.

People are familiar with the female singer Adele, the Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the director Hitchcock,

This medal can also be awarded to foreigners. In addition to the aforementioned Wenger, American director Spielberg is among them.

Edward VII couldn't help but slap his thigh,

"Medal of the British Empire? What a great name!"

Lu Shi was confused.

"..."

He now realized that the Order of the British Empire just proposed might not have appeared in 1901.

I only blame myself for not learning history well.

King Edward VII continued: "The matter of the medal has been settled, now it's time to deal with it..."

Before he finished speaking, Lu Shi hurriedly said: "Is this solved?"

Edward VII nodded,

"Of course. Britain really needs to establish a new medal."

Lu Shi was silent, not knowing what to say at all.

But this matter is actually not that advanced.

Because according to history, the Order of the British Empire was established by King George V on June 4, 1917, with the purpose of filling the gaps in the British honors and awards system.

King Edward VII continued: "The question now is, Professor Lu, on what grounds should I grant it to you?"

Lu Shi did not continue to fight,

If you say more, you will be wrong; if you say less, you will be wrong; if you don't say it, it will be right.

It's better to be honest and stop talking nonsense, so as not to change history inexplicably.

Unexpectedly, Edward VII dropped a big bomb when he opened his mouth: "How about entering the Privy Council? The Privy Council has a university committee, which is suitable for Professor Lu..."

Lu Shi couldn't help it anymore.

"Your Majesty, please be sensible!"