A simple courtyard house, this is where Gu Hongming lived in his later years.
The French doctor took off the needle of the syringe, carefully put it into the iron box, and said regretfully: "Mr. Gu, there is really nothing I can do. This is the last injection."
"Doctor, what's wrong with my father?" Gu Shouyong asked worriedly.
The French doctor said: "It was just a common cold at first, but now it has turned into pneumonia."
Gu Shouyong was immediately furious and asked: "What kind of quack are you? After taking your medicine and taking your injection, not only did the person not get better, but his condition became worse and worse!"
"Mr. Gu is too old and his body functions have deteriorated. Even if he didn't catch this cold, I'm afraid..." The French doctor didn't finish his words, but his meaning was clearly expressed.
Gu Shouyong seemed to have lost all his strength and whispered: "Is there really nothing I can do?"
"Cough cough cough..."
Gu Hongming coughed repeatedly on the bed, opened his eyes and said: "Everyone will die sooner or later, why bother with a sad face? Come on, my dear, give your father a smile!"
Gu Shouyong grinned and wanted to smile, but the smile was uglier than crying.
"You're worthless," Gu Hongming scolded, "Go away and do whatever you have to do. I won't die for a while!"
How could Gu Shouyong dare to leave even half a step? His father scolded him a few more times before he said, "I'm going to send a telegram and call Neng Yi and Wen Jin back."
Gu Hongming immediately stopped: "Don't go, they all have their own things to do. I will die when I die, don't delay my children and grandchildren."
"Then I'll help you boil the Chinese medicine."
Gu Shouyong found an excuse and immediately ran to the telegraph office to inform his children, asking them to come to Peiping to express their last smile.
When Gu Shouyong came back from outside, he saw his father lying on the bed struggling to read. He called the servant and yelled: "The master is so sick, and you still let him read? Who took the book?"
"Yes... he is a professor at Peking University." The servant replied.
"Ahem," Gu Hongming said weakly, "Shouyong, come here and help me read it. I'm dizzy and can't see clearly."
Gu Shouyong was almost crying and advised: "Father, just rest in peace and recover from your illness. You can read again when you are cured."
Gu Hongming said: "For me, books are good medicine. Read quickly!"
Gu Shouyong wiped his tears and took the book from his father. He saw that the book was called "Guns, Bacteria and Steel". He immediately opened it and read aloud: "Introduction to Mr. Gu's question. Regarding various countries in different parts of the world,
As a nation..."
Gu Hongming had been having a fever and his head was dizzy. But at this moment, he suddenly regained his clarity. He closed his eyes and listened carefully to his son's reading. He didn't cough for several hours in a row.
Gu Shouyong read until his throat went dry. He looked at the sky outside and said, "Father, let's eat first. I'll help you fill a bowl of porridge."
"Well, let's go. Cough cough cough cough..."
Gu Hongming coughed loudly again, coughing endlessly, spitting out several mouthfuls of blood-tinged phlegm from time to time.
The father and son just listened to it and read it, reading some key parts over and over again.
Three full days passed. When Gu Shouyong finished reading the book, Gu Hongming suddenly laughed loudly: "Hahaha, good book, good book! Ahem..."
He coughed and coughed, but suddenly there was no sound.
…
Liang Qichao is also in poor health. He has suffered from uremia for many years and has to go to Union Medical College Hospital several times a month.
In the Tianjin Concession, a later Italian-style street, there was a small white western-style building. Liang Qichao gave this building a nice name: Drinking Ice Room.
Liang Qichao had already resigned from his professorship at Tsinghua University because his health could not bear it, so he simply retreated to Tianjin to recuperate while writing the last book of his life, "Chronology of Xin Jiaxuan".
Another morning, Liang Qichao took a train to Peiping. After a routine check-up at Union Hospital, he leisurely headed to Tsinghua University to meet old friends.
"Mr. Ren, you came very early today!" Wang Guowei clasped his fists and smiled.
Wang Guowei should have committed suicide by diving last year, but the appearance of Zhou Hexuan brought changes. His son did not die of illness, his daughter-in-law was not picked up by his in-laws, and Wang Guowei did not completely fall out with his in-laws, Luo Zhenyu.
So, he was still alive and well, without any thoughts of suicide.
Liang Qichao sat down and drank tea: "Yesterday I finished reading Mingcheng's new work, and I was quite enlightened."
Wang Guowei shook his head and smiled bitterly: "That book "Guns, Germs and Steel" is even more bizarre than "The Rise of the Great Powers". It actually talks about the evolution of human society. It sounds like history but not history. I don't understand it."
"It's not that you don't understand, it's that you're not interested," Liang Qichao said with a smile. "The beauty of Mingcheng's professional treatises lies in the fact that he stands in a high place and overlooks the earth from the sky. The books written by you and me are a glimpse of the leopard. His
The book controls the overall situation. Mingcheng's talent is rare in this world and must be admired."
Wang Guowei waved his hand and said: "Anyway, I read Yunshan Mist Cover, which contains all kinds of foreign names, names of people, places, countries, clans... and each one looks so long that it makes my head spin."
"Hahaha, I never saw you getting dizzy when I was studying oracle bone inscriptions before," Liang Qichao said with a smile. "What I admire most about Mingcheng's book is his description of the highly complex civilization that humans have evolved in Eurasia.
He gives a long chain explanation from geography, ecology, production, medicine, to system, culture and technology. In the last chapter of the book, he analyzes and predicts China’s future.”
"Oh?" Wang Guowei said in surprise, "I didn't see the end. What did he write?"
Liang Qichao said: "He talked freely about China's future system, one-party dictatorship, and democratic centralism. He said that China is too big, has too many people, and its economy, military, science and technology, and education are too backward. If China wants to develop rapidly, it must have a
A strong centralized government. But centralization does not mean dictatorship, but there must be a...how to say, a power center like the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty."
Wang Guowei frowned and said: "Why can't it be a multi-party republic like the United States?"
Liang Qichao said: "In his book, he analyzed the current situation in the United States and said that the United States is actually a deformed oligarchy. No matter how many political parties there are, they only serve a small number of capitalists. If China implements a multi-party system, there will inevitably be endless disputes and serious internal friction.
As for the specific argument, you can read the book yourself, you can’t explain it in just a few words.”
"It sounds like he is trying to protect the Kuomintang in the south. Will it not cause Zhang Zuolin's dissatisfaction?" Wang Guowei worriedly asked.
"That's not a purely academic point of view," Liang Qichao said with a smile. "It includes not only the political system, but also the economic aspects. He proposed state capitalism, said that European and American liberal capitalism had serious loopholes, and also said that the Soviet Union
The model will eventually collapse, and taking the best of both worlds is the best option...Haha, anyway, the ridiculous words throughout this article are absolutely impossible to realize given the current situation."
"This book will probably cause a lot of controversy," Wang Guowei said.
Not only was it controversial, as soon as "Guns, Germs and Steel" was published, Zhou Hexuan was criticized by countless scholars because of the last chapter about China's future.