1900, June 5. Sunny.
When Li Qiwei got up that morning, he noticed that Hong'er looked a little off.
When he asked what was wrong, the young girl only fidgeted and said nothing.
Li San had just gone out to mail a letter back home.
Li Qiwei didn't think much of it. As usual, he let Hong'er help him wash and eat breakfast, then hurried to school.
By then, there were no students idly chatting around Cambridge University's campus.
Every study room and the library were packed to the rafters.
The reason was simple: final exams were right around the corner!
When the time came, the strong would survive their tribulation, while the weak would be reduced to ash.
As one of the world's top universities, earning credits at Cambridge was no easy feat.
Fail an exam, and you wouldn't earn enough credits to graduate; without a degree, you couldn't find a good job or marry a good wife.
As a result, the sprawling campus had become much quieter.
Li Qiwei had more than a dozen courses to take exams in, covering every field of physics.
Mechanics, optics, thermodynamics, various laboratory courses, and electives on cutting-edge theory.
He even had two math courses.
As everyone knew, mathematics was the skeleton of physics. Without mathematics, physics could never become a systematic science.
Don't underestimate the level of mathematics at the time. More than thirty years had passed since the great Riemann's death.
Riemannian Geometry, complex analysis—just thinking about them gave him a headache.
Still, for Li Qiwei, all of this wasn't exactly child's play, but it was hardly difficult either.
Having been an outstanding student who'd survived the sea of exercises in his previous life, Li Qiwei looked down on the questions of this era.
Besides, he didn't even need to take Wilson's course; he already had a perfect score.
At that moment, Li Qiwei wanted to tell everyone: "Go ahead and study all you like. I'll do whatever I want."
After wandering around campus for a while, Li Qiwei found a sparsely occupied classroom and sat down.
He wasn't there to review his coursework; he began drafting textbooks instead.
The Spark Plan required far too much material. He had to start now, writing a little each day, accumulating it bit by bit until he could compile it all into books.
Li Qiwei tentatively decided to write three textbooks: physics, mathematics, and chemistry.
Physics was the core, and it was crucial to the future research into the atomic bomb. It was of the utmost importance, and there could be no mistakes.
Mathematics was meant to raise Huaxia's overall scientific literacy. It was the foundation of all the natural sciences.
As for chemistry, it touched on every aspect of industrialization and was closely tied to the people's livelihoods.
Li Qiwei had also wanted to add biology, but trying to swallow too much at once would leave him choking. Biology could come later.
Suddenly, he thought of another thorny problem.
Where would the students in this first batch of the Spark Plan study together?
Cambridge University was out of the question, and the place he'd rented couldn't hold many people either.
He estimated that the first batch would have around three or four students. Any more, and he wouldn't be able to manage them.
As Li Qiwei worked on the textbooks and considered the details of the Spark Plan, a voice suddenly interrupted him.
"Hey, senior Bruce! I've finally found you."
"You head straight to the lab as soon as class ends these days, so I didn't dare disturb you." Chris came over, looking excited.
Li Qiwei smiled at him. "Oh, it's Chris. What is it?"
Chris rubbed his hands together and said awkwardly, "Well, senior Bruce, I wanted to ask you a favor. Could you tutor me in my courses?"
Seeing the hopeful look on his face, Li Qiwei smiled. "Sure. Bring me the problems now, and I'll teach you."
Chris hurriedly thanked him, then added, "Thank you so much, senior Bruce. But I have one more small request."
He explained the reason. Chris had put together a small group called the Physics Society, with four or five members.
They were all first-year physics students at Trinity College, and often gathered to study and discuss things together.
With study spaces on campus now in short supply, Chris had suggested they review at his home in the countryside.
Chris's hometown was in a village not far beyond the outskirts of Cambridgeshire, with beautiful pastoral scenery.
He wanted to invite Li Qiwei to his home to tutor the Physics Society members as a group.
At that, Li Qiwei suddenly had an idea for where to hold the Spark Plan.
They could simply use Chris's home. It was not far from Cambridge University, and the students could still make use of the university library—a win-win.
So he readily replied, "No problem, Chris. I was just thinking I'd like to breathe some fresh country air."
Chris hadn't expected Li Qiwei to agree so readily, and was overjoyed.
"Thank you so much, senior Bruce. You're a true gentleman."
"How about I take you to my home tomorrow? I'll notify the Physics Society members today."
"All right," Li Qiwei said. "We'll leave from the university tomorrow morning."
Chris agreed enthusiastically, then jogged off to share the news with the others.
Li Qiwei smiled and continued writing his textbooks.
Early the next morning, Chris showed up as promised, accompanied by four other young men.
As for why there were no female students, Cambridge University remained an all-male university until the middle of the twentieth century.
Even if women had the right to attend Cambridge, they couldn't receive degrees; the university wouldn't grant them.
What's more, Cambridge didn't admit women at all at the time.
By the standards of later generations, this was simply unimaginable.
So although Europe prided itself on being civilized, it was hardly any better.
If science hadn't happened to emerge here, the shape of the world might have been very different.
The women's education movement in Britain had been developing for decades, but so far it still hadn't managed to crack Cambridge's hard shell.
As a result, the university was full of hormonal young men.
No wonder there were problem students like Raymond and Cecil. They were probably driven to it.
Li Qiwei was certainly against this sort of thing, but since he was in Britain, he didn't care.
The group chatted and laughed along the way, and soon got to know one another.
The four young men were named Jeni, Habi, Luo Lun, and Ruika De.
Like Chris, they all admired Li Qiwei and felt deeply honored by his arrival.
In fact, all five members of the Physics Society came from commoner families in Britain at the time. Their families had spent a great deal of their savings to get them into Cambridge University.
To avoid letting themselves and their families down, they naturally had to study hard.
And to avoid being bullied at school, the five had naturally banded together and formed the so-called Physics Society.
Li Qiwei had no information on any of those names in his mind. Like Chris, they were all nobodies.
That was only natural, though. There were only so many giants in physics; he couldn't just happen upon one at every turn.
More than an hour later, they finally arrived at the village where Chris lived.
Li Qiwei was instantly captivated by the scene before him.
As far as the eye could see, endless fields of lavender swayed in the breeze, like a purple ocean.
The air was filled with the fragrance of flowers and the rich scent of earth. It was practically a heavenly paradise.
Around the sea of flowers stood quaint English country cottages. They looked shabby, but they were spacious, each standing on its own.
Chris's parents warmly welcomed Li Qiwei and the others.
Amid such intoxicating scenery, Chris and the other four were subjected to intense mental torment at Li Qiwei's hands.
"This is a small block of wood that can be treated as a point mass."
"A smooth surface means there's no friction."
"First, analyze the forces acting on this pulley separately."
"Watch closely. I'm going to transform it."
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