Chapter 20 Part Two: A Man of Faith and Feelings Meets Russell Again

In July 1925, Xu Zhimo, who came to Europe for the second time, went to England to meet Russell. Xu Zhimo went to Cornwall, the southernmost point of England, to see the Russells. They lived in a small village on the coast nine miles from Panjang City where the radio station was set up. Russell drove a broken car to Panrang City Station to pick up Xu Zhimo that day.He was wearing a flowered straw hat and a tattered gown, with a tie floating on his chest like straw.This countryman's attire made Xu Zhimo almost fail to recognize him.Still, there was a philosopher's wit in his sharp eyes.

It was Sunday, and Xu Zhimo arrived at his house in Russell's extremely slow car.Over there came a woman with bare "feet" and holding a bath cloth in her hand. Her skin color was so sun-tanned that it was more purple than Russell, she greeted Xu Zhimo with a smile.That's not Ms. Blank, now Mrs. Russell, if she doesn't smile or speak, Xu Zhimo won't be able to recognize her.After entering the door, they introduced their pair of babies, the older one is a 4-year-old boy with a Chinese name named Jinling, and the younger one is a girl named Kaidi.Xu Zhimo asked Russell why they came to this extreme south to be hermits.Russell said that firstly, he wanted to write the book quietly, and secondly (this is a more important reason) to take care of the moral education of their two children.

Xu Zhimo stayed at Russell's house for two nights.In Xu Zhimo's view, maintaining innocence in body (not only in mind and mood) is a big secret of the success of Western culture.Xu Zhimo couldn't help shivering when he thought of the Han nationality who was "an old man with a dead body; a young man with a delicate body". Xu Zhimo and the Russell family stood on the grass.Russell said to the older child, "Come on, let's practice." He grabbed the child's little hands, sang the nursery rhyme "Let's go to the mulberry garden, let's go to the mulberry garden", and then lifted the child's body, And swirl one high and one low.Kaidi, who was under 3 years old, went to find her mother, and she wanted to be like her brother.The next step is horseback riding. Dad makes the head of the horse, mother makes the tail of the horse, and the two children are sandwiched between them to make the body of the horse.Da Da ran, Da Da ran, ran around the grass, and ran until he was out of breath before stopping.Once, the brother and sister were vying to ride the wooden horse, and they had a quarrel.Russell went over and said that John (the boy's name) would come first, and let his sister ride after he had ridden, while Kaidi stood aside and waited for her to take her turn.But John wouldn't give it up to his sister after riding it.Brother Kai was so wronged that he was about to cry.The Russells told John, but he didn't listen.This time the old philosopher was annoyed, picked up John and ran into the house.John cried, and Xu Zhimo heard them go upstairs.But in less than five minutes, the father and son walked out holding hands and smiling, and John stopped making trouble.

But Xu Zhimo was most impressed by such a thing.Russell told Xu Zhimo that John was under 3 years old when the couple arrived here.Once, they went to the sea to bathe.It was the first time for John to see the sea, and he was very frightened, and he cried when he was let into the water.As a result, the philosopher was annoyed: "What, Russell's son can be afraid of anything! He can feel timid when he sees something! That's not possible!" The couple simply put their son under 2 years old, no matter how much he cries, always Push it into the sea.Come again and again, let him cry!After three or five days, if you don't let him go into the water to play, he won't let you go, so you must go!Now playing in the sea is like walking on flat ground, so it's not surprising.Parents in the East must not be willing to do such a thing.Xu Zhimo also understands, but the spirit of bravery, courage and fearlessness is the origin of all virtues and the foundation of character.There must be no ambiguity about this, and cowardice is the worst thing to do.Parents must let their children be brave, otherwise, they will harm their children for a lifetime.Every time Russell said the word "brave", his voice became very calm, and his eyes shone with a strange brilliance, as if this was the first tenet of his religion and the only proof of being a man!

In 1928, Xu Zhimo went to Europe for the third time and saw Russell for the last time.The two of them sat and talked for a long time, and before they knew it, it was two o'clock in the morning. On July 13, Xu Zhimo returned to London and planned to meet En Houzhi at his newlywed Dartington Manor. On the 14th, I received an urgent call from Lu Xiaoman urging him to return to China.Xu Zhimo didn't wait for Tagore, and didn't look for En Houzhi, and hurried across the sea to Paris to wait for the Soviet government's travel visa. On the 15th, Xu Zhimo set off from Paris to return to China, and arrived in Beijing at the end of the month.For love, Xu Zhimo had no choice but to travel far; for love again, Xu Zhimo hastily ended this five-month-long sad journey and returned to his beloved Lu Xiaoman.