Ma Shao was not too surprised by the news. After all, this was his purpose.
He was so active in the UK just to get the opportunity to get close to the top leaders and the British king, and then gain Britain's support and help.
Now that the plan was going smoothly, Victoria planned to meet the Indian scientist who had come from afar.
So, a few days later, Ma Shao went to Buckingham Palace to meet Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert.
Since Victoria ascended the throne, the royal family moved from St. James's Palace to Buckingham Palace, which has become the official residence of the King of England. Of course, in name, St. James's Palace is still the most important royal palace.
The Buckingham Palace at that time was not what it is today and was relatively simple. However, from Ma Shao's aesthetic point of view, even the one that was rebuilt and expanded several times in later generations was not very grand.
The building he longs for is a space station operating in the universe, or a supernatural creation built entirely by imagination in the virtual world. At the very least, it must be a complex and sturdy skyscraper made of reinforced concrete and CAD software.
Compared to these truly great buildings, although Buckingham Palace may be the most prosperous building he has ever seen in his life, it can only be described as "rustic" at best.
The interior decoration of Buckingham Palace is quite worth seeing, with various gold and silver objects, sculptures and paintings.
Ma Shao, dressed in a suit and tie, walked through the palace led by royal servants.
"Indian, when you meet Her Majesty the Queen, don't forget the etiquette I told you." The butler in charge of leading the way turned around and said.
"Of course." Ma Shao nodded. He didn't need anyone to remind him, as he had already studied the court etiquette in advance.
"The palace is like this, full of red tape." The butler obviously didn't like the many etiquettes he had repeatedly emphasized, and complained, "The salary here is not satisfactory... To be honest, I want to quit."
Ma Shao smiled and said nothing, but he was a little surprised. The salary of royal servants didn't seem to be very high.
Soon, the servant led him to the butler, who then took him to the room where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were.
"Your Majesty, the Indian scientist you wanted to meet is here," said the butler.
"Your Majesty the Queen, Your Highness the Prince." Ma Shao saluted and glanced at Victoria and Albert secretly.
At this moment, sitting in front of him were the Queen and the King of England, a young couple.
Unlike the cautious glance with Ma Shao, this couple at the pinnacle of world power were sitting at a higher place, wearing gorgeous robes, calmly looking at Ma Shao, who was full of exotic temperament.
"Hello, Indian." The queen smiled. "Please take a seat. We are very interested in your story and your amazing scientific achievements."
"Thank you." Ma Shao sat down immediately.
Prince Albert asked, "As I understand it, you are from a tribe called the Apache, is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Where is the Apache tribe?" Queen Victoria asked curiously.
"The Apaches are widely distributed in the southwestern part of North America," Ma Shao said slowly. "But in recent years, many people have moved to Sleeping Bear City to live together. In fact, we plan to build a city."
"Really?" The Queen was a little surprised.
Ma Shao took out some photos: "I brought some photos of Sleeping Bear City, Your Majesty."
"Oh, these buildings look so interesting, and so are the clothes people wear." The Queen flipped through the photos and couldn't help but be attracted by the various scenes in Sleeping Bear City.
"As far as America is concerned, this is a pretty good city." Prince Albert also looked at the photo and said, "I have to say I am a little surprised. I want to ask, when was it built?"
With a topic to talk about, Ma Shao began to talk freely, narrating the development process of slepping bear city with exaggeration.
The so-called exaggeration, of course, is to create a glorious image of the Apache, omitting all the flaws, embarrassment, cruelty and even ugliness, and emphasizing all kinds of beautiful, inspirational and enterprising things.
This is a common tactic used by all human beings, but some people make things up and call a horse a zebra, while others retain some bottom line, or are reserved, and only dare to quote out of context.
What Ma Shao is doing now is taking things out of context. What he said is not false, but there must be some difference between it and the truth.
All in all, he portrayed the story of Sleeping Bear City like a moving epic.
However, compared with other similar stories, this is actually not outrageous. After all, all of this was created by him as a time traveler, and it must be closer to epic than history.
With photos as evidence, his story seemed more credible. In less than an hour, Queen Victoria was deeply attracted by Sleeping Bear City.
"The story of the Apache is so incredible. If Sleeping Bear City wasn't too far away, I really want to go there and see it in person!" The queen couldn't help but say, like a girl longing for a fairy tale.
Prince Albert was somewhat skeptical. He kept looking through the photos Ma Shao gave him and asked questions from time to time.
"Is this your school?" he pointed to the building in the photo.
"Yes, Your Highness," Ma Shao replied, "I remember I was in math class when I took the photo."
Albert asked again: "What kind of mathematics do you teach your people?"
Ma Shao: "There are classes at all levels, from addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to Geometry Elements, and even some calculus. At the beginning, I was the only one teaching, but now there are more than one teacher."
Prince Albert groaned for a moment. "Of course I know you are an outstanding scientist. Mr. Faraday praised you highly. In fact, I have read your papers. But I still have some questions. Where did you get all this knowledge? You seemed to have said just now that you lived in a tribe since you were a child."
"Of course, reading," Ma Shao said. "I have learned many languages, including those of indigenous tribes and those of non-indigenous peoples. With the help of these languages, I read various books and newspapers."
"Oh? So, besides English, what other foreign languages are you proficient in?" Prince Albert's expression changed.
Ma Shao: "Well... like Spanish, and Chinese."
"You also know Chinese?" For Westerners, Chinese is undoubtedly the most difficult mainstream language in the world to understand. And it sounds so interesting to see an Indian who knows Chinese in the UK.
"I know a little bit." Ma Shao said modestly, and made up a story, "There are Chinese in America too. I met one by chance and learned some Chinese from him."
There were indeed Chinese people in America. In fact, as early as a hundred years ago or even earlier, Chinese people from coastal areas and Southeast Asia came to America to join European fleets.
However, to date, the number of Chinese in America is still very small. Ma Shao has never seen one with his own eyes and has only heard of it occasionally in books and newspapers.
When Queen Victoria heard this, she immediately called her butler and ordered, "Go and get my Chinese translator."