Barroom Brawl

The Eagle Bar, beside the Cavendish Laboratory, was the most famous bar at Cambridge University.

Many students and faculty from the university, as well as people from outside, often came here to drink.

Decades later, Watson and Crick would announce their discovery of the Double Helix Structure of DNA right here.

Its rich academic atmosphere lent the bar an air of mystery.

Around seven in the evening, Li Qiwei and Wilson arrived at the bar.

The antique decor made Li Qiwei think he had stepped into a teahouse in Huaxia.

Groups of three or five were already seated throughout the bar.

Some people were holding forth, while others sat with their heads bowed in thought.

The soothing music, the soft yellow lighting, and the aroma of liquor in the air all helped people relax their taut nerves.

As Li Qiwei casually looked over the crowd, he spotted Raymond in a corner not far away.

The fellow was sitting with several other well-dressed young men.

From where he was sitting, he looked more like an accessory.

Raymond spotted Li Qiwei too. His whole body shuddered, and he hurriedly lowered his head.

He remembered the fear of being at Li San's mercy yesterday.

Now, whenever he saw Li Qiwei, he was like a mouse spotting a cat, his legs trembling.

The young gentlemen around Raymond noticed his strange behavior and looked toward Li Qiwei, their expressions turning hostile.

After meeting their eyes for a few seconds, Li Qiwei simply found a seat and sat down, unconcerned.

He and Wilson each ordered their preferred drinks.

After a few swigs, the two began chatting away.

Wilson was the first to remark:

"Bruce, you really surprised me."

"That problem I gave you—I never would've imagined you could solve it on the spot."

"And you're already about to publish a paper."

Li Qiwei bluffed, making it up as he went: "I've always been interested in physics, so I like studying it."

Then he changed the subject and asked:

"Dr. Wilson, what's your research project?"

"I hope I can be of some small help in the laboratory later on."

Wilson swallowed a mouthful of liquor, then spoke proudly, his face alight:

"You know my mentor, Professor Thomson, is currently studying the internal structure of the Atom."

"It's an extremely cutting-edge field."

"Though the professor has already proved the existence of electrons, we're still missing an instrument that can record the paths of these microscopic particles."

"My goal is to design such an instrument, one that can show us how Atoms and electrons move."

When talking about his specialty, Wilson was supremely confident, speaking at length with the air of a master.

Li Qiwei knew that this instrument would later be called the Cloud Chamber.

It was an instrument that produced a mist of gas, allowing microscopic particles to leave trails as they passed through it.

Wilson would later win the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the Cloud Chamber.

Li Qiwei praised him:

"That's a terrific research project. I believe discoveries within the Atom will surely open up a new future for physics."

If the Theory of Relativity governed the macroscopic world, then Quantum Mechanics governed the microscopic one.

And the Atom, with its complex internal structure, lay at the heart of the microscopic world, shaping a century of physics research to come.

Hearing Li Qiwei's praise, Wilson was delighted. He downed another mouthful of liquor, then teased him:

"You're always so grand in your claims. Everything's about changing the future. Ah, to be young and think the world beneath you!"

Li Qiwei smiled faintly and took a small sip of his drink, offering no explanation.

Wilson continued:

"Honestly, Bruce, you're the smartest Qing Dynasty man I've ever met."

"You're nothing like the way the government describes you." Wilson couldn't hold his liquor, and he was no longer watching what he said.

Li Qiwei didn't take offense at his rudeness. Instead, he smiled and said:

"That's nothing. Huaxia has a huge population, and plenty of people are smarter than me."

"I just happen to be passionate about physics."

Wilson was about to respond when a jarring voice suddenly rang out across the bar.

"Oh? If the Qing Dynasty is so full of talent, how did we in the British Empire defeat you, take your land and make you pay reparations? Your emperor even ran away!"

"Hahaha!"

The scornful words drew laughter from the people around them.

Decades earlier, the Anglo-French allied forces had broken through the Qing Dynasty's capital and destroyed the Old Summer Palace.

That had also torn away the veil concealing the great Eastern power's weakness.

From then on, Westerners had thrown their weight around in Huaxia.

That humiliating history had now become ammunition for their enemies' mockery.

Li Qiwei furrowed his brow and looked toward the voice. The speaker was at Raymond's table.

A fastidiously dressed young gentleman sat there with one leg crossed over the other, sipping red wine as he looked at Li Qiwei and his companion with contempt.

Wilson turned toward the speaker too. His face instantly tensed, and he sobered up considerably.

He leaned close to Li Qiwei and whispered, "He's William Cecil, the grandson of the current British prime minister."

"He's an undergraduate at Cambridge University too, studying international politics."

So he was the prime minister's grandson. No wonder he was so arrogant.

Though Li Qiwei was angered, he didn't want to invite trouble, so he continued drinking and ignored Cecil's taunts.

But this super-nepo baby refused to let it go.

Cecil slowly rose to his feet. He was about 1.7 meters tall, and sauntered over to Li Qiwei.

Raymond looked deeply conflicted, but he and the others hurried after him all the same.

Cecil looked Li Qiwei up and down as if he were inspecting an object, then sneered:

"You look perfectly ordinary. And yet you dare to talk so big about science."

"Don't think that solving a few lousy problems means you can forget how high the sky is and fail to recognize what you are."

As he finished, he glanced at Wilson too, clearly not taking him seriously.

Wilson didn't answer. He was just an ordinary university lecturer, a man of little influence. With students like Cecil, all he could do was keep his distance.

If his mentor, Professor Thomson, or Professor Planck had been there, of course they wouldn't have needed to humor him.

This made Wilson clench his fists in secret and swear to himself that he would make something of himself.

Li Qiwei, on the other hand, had no such qualms. He sprang to his feet and looked down at Cecil.

"What, got a problem?"

"Trash like you can only hide behind your ancestors' protection and scrape together a degree."

From the original owner's fragmentary memories, Li Qiwei knew Cecil was here to polish his credentials.

As a descendant of one of Britain's leading political families, he didn't need to study hard. The university would let him graduate, perhaps even as an honors graduate.

After all, even the most sacred things in the eyes of ordinary people were just commodities to be traded among the elite.

As a result, Cecil ran rampant around campus, bullying men and women alike and acting like he owned the place. Everyone knew it.

Someone like Raymond was only fit to be his lackey.

So, with no one daring to defy him, he had always stood high above everyone else, surrounded by flattery and never having to swallow an insult.

Sure enough, when Cecil heard Li Qiwei's abuse, his face instantly turned livid.

No one had ever dared speak to him like that, least of all a Qing Dynasty man.

"Shut up! You damn yellow monkey. Your country should've been wiped off the map."

"A foolish lowlife from a backward land, capable only of spewing filthy insults."

Cecil roared. Li Qiwei's very presence infuriated him.

He had once gone to the Qing Dynasty with his father. The people there had all seemed numb and unfeeling, like walking corpses.

They knew nothing of lofty subjects like physics—not even the most basic common sense.

That was what people from the Qing Dynasty were supposed to be like, in his mind.

But Li Qiwei's appearance had shattered his assumptions.

Not only could he solve difficult physics problems, he had dared to wager against Lord Kelvin and proclaim that he would open up the future of physics.

What outrageous arrogance.

It would have been one thing if he were British, but Li Qiwei was a Qing Dynasty man.

Cecil could never accept that.

In his mind, Westerners were the superior race, destined to rule the world.

The lowly Easterners were fit only to be slaves.

Li Qiwei was like a thorn, digging painfully into his heart.

As Cecil flew into a rage, Li Qiwei remained calm. He was just about to continue taunting him when—

Cecil suddenly seemed to think of something amusing and started laughing to himself.

Li Qiwei didn't understand. He stared at Cecil as if he were an idiot.

He had no idea what was going through the man's head.