Chapter 40: Subjugation

In the following period, students of the London University Alliance took pride in questioning "Guns, Germs, and Steel." This phenomenon sparked a significant collision of ideas, leading to an explosion of scholars in the fields of history and sociology. They shared two common characteristics: claiming to be disciples of Lu Shi and self-proclaimed followers of modern historiography. Lu Shi was thus hailed as the "father of modern historiography," becoming a figure revered by future historians.

Of course, these are stories for another time.

At this moment, Lu Shi was besieged by a group of young men, especially a Spanish student named Nicatini Nikolaich, who held a piece of paper and asked questions one by one, a total of nineteen questions, each with considerable depth. Lu Shi either couldn't answer these questions or found them troublesome because "Guns, Germs, and Steel" contained too many new concepts, and explaining them could easily trigger a chain reaction, leading to endless discussions.

Lu Shi pressed his hands down, signaling the students to quiet down. Then he said, "Remember what I said earlier. Don't take the conclusions of my articles as absolute truth. What's important is the interdisciplinary research method. It's much better for you to think for yourselves than for me to forcefully instill ideas."

Solomon pulled Nicatini Nikolaich, saying, "That's right, stop asking."

But Nicatini Nikolaich was still not satisfied. "But..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a voice rang out from nearby, "Professor Lu, you mentioned Zhu Yuanzhang just now. What are your true thoughts about him? Do you really think he could have become a ruler inclined towards maritime trade?"

Everyone was astonished, not because of any objection to the question, but because the voice of the questioner sounded quite high-pitched, like that of a girl.

Looking in the direction of the voice, they saw a person wrapped tightly in a scarf, even wearing earmuffs, despite it only being early December in London, which shouldn't be that cold.

The students whispered to each other, "A girl?" "Hmm... seems like a girl..." "Which college is she from?"

They were surprised because in 1900, the colleges of the London University Alliance were not open to female students.

Lu Shi stared at the girl, carefully observing her. Soon, he recognized her. It was Margarita!

Unexpectedly, the Queen did send the princess to study at university.

"Uh..."

Lu Shi swallowed and asked, "Which college are you from?"

Margarita said, "London School of Political Economy. I chose this university because I heard of Professor Lu's reputation."

Although her mouth was muffled by the scarf, her voice was still audible, albeit muffled.

This confirmed the students' suspicions—it really was a girl!

All eyes were now on Margarita.

Lu Shi cleared his throat. "Everyone... Everyone!"

The students snapped out of it, and their gazes returned to Lu Shi.

He continued, "Behave yourselves, gentlemen, don't act like you've never seen a woman before."

This sentence provoked laughter from the crowd.

Everyone felt more at ease.

Lu Shi said, "So, what? Don't you support women coming to university?"

This question would be a joke in modern times, but in 1900, it was indeed a topic of intense debate in society, especially in conservative Britain, where both parties were engaged in a struggle for women's suffrage and the right to stand for election at all levels.

Someone whispered, "Professor Lu, do you support it?"

Lu Shi had gained a certain degree of acceptance among London's elite, allowing him to express his views appropriately. However, on particularly sensitive topics, he still needed to be cautious.

After a moment of contemplation, Lu Shi said, "I believe many of you are aware of the enrollment of female students at the University of Paris. But what you may not know is that there is already a precedent for female lecturers in Paris."

Neither the students nor Shaw knew about this, so he asked curiously, "Which school?"

Lu Shi replied, "Just last March, the Sévigné Women's College in southwest Paris established a course in the sciences—physics. The lecturer is a Polish woman named Marie Skłodowska Curie."

It was normal for women's colleges to have female teachers, but if the subject was physics, it wasn't just for fun.

There was silence among the crowd.

Most of them were humanities students and didn't have much concept of radioactivity or radium.

But the Nobel Prize was different.

"A woman winning the Nobel Prize?"

"Professor Lu is really far-fetched..."

"Maybe it's true?"

"No way!"

...

The students generally disagreed with Lu Shi's statement.

Lu Shi waved his hand. "It's okay. Let's just reserve our opinions and wait and see."

Then he continued the topic, "I used Madame Curie as an example to convey a simple idea. If something can develop productivity, then whether we support it or oppose it is irrelevant."

Someone asked, "Does Professor Lu mean that women attending university can liberate productivity?"

Lu Shi laughed heartily. "That's what you said, not me."

Slick!

The students couldn't help but label Lu Shi as such.

But strangely, they didn't mind Lu Shi's apparent slickness. Instead, they thought it was a display of wit.

As the saying goes, "Love someone, love all of them." They were already won over by Lu Shi.