Chapter 2: University Life Begins

  The sweltering summer had passed, school had started, and Liu Zhenfeng also boarded the train to Shanghai with his luggage. In the early 1930s, trains were still quite old-fashioned, unlike modern trains with comfortable seats, soft and hard berths, and air conditioning. At that time, especially for short-distance trains like this one, there were only hard seats, and not much could be stored on the luggage rack. The train was also very slow, taking at least seven or eight hours to travel from Nanjing to Shanghai, but it was still faster than walking.

  The train slowly left Nanjing Railway Station and headed towards Shanghai. Looking at the scenery outside the window, Liu Zhenfeng, who was still young, felt a mix of emotions. The beautiful scenery brought him joy, but he knew that in just a few years, the picturesque Jiangnan region would suffer an unprecedented disaster, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction, with only one or two houses left standing out of every ten.

  After watching the scenery for a while, Liu Zhenfeng fell asleep unknowingly. When he woke up, the train had already entered Shanghai South Railway Station and finally arrived in Shanghai. At this time, it was late at night, Liu Zhenfeng walked out of the station, hailed a rickshaw, and headed to Fudan University.

  In the 1930s, Fudan University was a perfect blend of traditional Chinese architecture and European-style buildings. The beautiful university was devastated by Japanese bombers during the Battle of Shanghai in 1937 and reduced to rubble. The Fudan University people see today was rebuilt after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.

  Looking at the beautiful campus, Liu Zhenfeng leisurely carried his luggage and strolled in the moonlit Fudan University campus. Looking at the scenery, Liu Zhenfeng was extremely excited, he pointed to the sky and vowed: "I, Liu Zhenfeng, swear to heaven, will never let the Japanese slaves occupy an inch of Chinese land, whenever encountering aggression, I will only exercise my inherent right of self-defense in response. For China, I will shed my head, spill hot blood... No, I made a mistake, it's shed my head, spill blood, and exhaust every last drop of blood, but I will never be a slave to a lost country!"

  "Spoken well!" Just as Liu Zhenfeng finished speaking, a loud voice came from behind him. Liu Zhenfeng turned his head and saw a middle-aged man wearing glasses and a suit, looking at him with an appreciative gaze. Liu Zhenfeng chuckled foolishly and said to the man, "Sorry about that, sir."

  That middle-aged man smiled and said to Liu Zhenfeng: "You're a newcomer, right? I'm the vice president of Fudan University, my surname is Zhang, and my name is Xingguo. This classmate, your oath just now actually expressed the voices of many patriotic people. However, it's a pity that not many people in the country can see the wolf-like ambition of the Japanese. I didn't expect you to be able to see the Japanese plot to destroy China, it's really rare."

  "It turned out to be Teacher Zhang, haha, Teacher Zhang has praised me wrongly. My surname is Liu, and my name is Liu Zhenfeng, please take care of me from now on, Teacher Zhang." Liu Zhenfeng said politely.

  Vice President Zhang looked at Liu Zhenfeng and saw that he was still carrying a suitcase, apparently having just arrived in Shanghai and not having had time to rest. So, Zhang Xingguo took him to his own office, made a cup of tea, and let Liu Zhenfeng take a break.

  After a while, Zhang Xingguo and Liu Zhenfeng started chatting about everything under the sun. When it came to current events and politics, Liu Zhenfeng said to Zhang Xingguo with a gloomy expression: "Principal Zhang, I'm afraid it won't be long before the three northeastern provinces fall into the hands of the Japanese slaves. And Shanghai will also experience a fierce Sino-Japanese armed conflict." "What? Liu, you mustn't be joking! Our Chinese army has tens of thousands of troops in the Northeast, and the Northeast is General Zhang Xueliang's hometown. Those tens of thousands of Northeastern soldiers are all locals, so don't worry, they will fight to the end for their homeland. Even if there are some setbacks, there's still the League of Nations, they will uphold justice for us. As for Shanghai, I think you're worrying too much. Shanghai is known as the Paris of the East, it's an international metropolis with British and French concessions, even if the Japanese are bold, they wouldn't dare to drop bombs on Shanghai, at least Shanghai is still safe."

  Liu Zhenfeng sighed, "Yes, people in this era are still very superstitious about the power of Western powers. They subconsciously think that Japanese will only bully Asian countries and do not have the qualifications to challenge Western powers. However, they seem to have forgotten that the global economic crisis has made Britain, France, and the United States so busy with their own affairs that they won't come to interfere with Far Eastern matters.

  Moreover, the current international league is dominated by Britain and France, who are implementing a policy of appeasement, sacrificing the interests of weak countries to achieve their goals. China in the 1930s had almost no status internationally, and compared to Japan, they would definitely be more biased towards the Japanese. This can be seen from the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

  Unfortunately, many people have not realized this point. As for Japan's bombing of Shanghai, haha, as long as it doesn't hit the concession areas, Britain, America, and France won't care whether Shanghai is an international metropolis or not. But how could he say this to Principal Zhang in front of him?"

  After chatting with Principal Zhang for a while, he accompanied Liu Zhenfeng to arrange his dormitory so that he could have a place to rest.

  Lying in bed, with a thousand thoughts, I fell asleep unknowingly.

  The next day was a reporting day and the whole school seemed lively and bustling.

  "Excuse me, where is the news department's reporting point?" Just as Liu Zhenfeng was looking around, a sweet and beautiful voice came from behind him. He turned around to see a stunningly beautiful woman, about 1 meter 67 centimeters tall, standing behind him with a bright smile, asking.

  "Li Jiahui?" Liu Zhenfeng exclaimed in surprise. No wonder, this beautiful woman looked very much like Li Jiahui from the 1990s, but was even more beautiful than her. How to put it? It could be said that this girl should only exist in heaven, and is rarely seen on earth! A beauty, an absolute beauty!

  "Li Jiaxin? Who is this person? Hehe, I'm Xu Meiting, from Suzhou. Hello, classmate, what's your surname?" The beautiful woman stretched out a hand in a friendly manner, and Liu Zhenfeng also smiled and shook hands with her, saying: "I'm Liu Zhenfeng, from Nanjing. Sorry about that, you look so much like one of my friends, I was a bit rude, please forgive me!"

  "Oh, really? Hehe, it's okay. By the way, classmate, are you a freshman too?" Xu Meiting asked.

  "Yes, I just heard you ask me about the news department's reporting points, so it seems that you are also a freshman in the news department?" Liu Zhenfeng said.

  "Is it? Are you too?"

  "Haha, yes, I'm also a freshman in the journalism department." Liu Zhenfeng said.

  "That's great! I didn't expect that we would be classmates. Let's go find the registration point together." Xu Meiting said with a smile.

  "Alright, alright." Liu Zhenfeng said. It's really hard to imagine that a girl from the 1930s would be so generous and enthusiastic, not being reserved at all, without any of those "men and women should not be intimate" kind of situations.

  Liu Zhenfeng and Xu Meiting walked along the school path, chatting and laughing together. To outsiders, they seemed like a couple. In fact, from the moment Xu Meiting stepped into the school gate, many boys had been staring at her with wide eyes. Who made her so beautiful? Now, she was chatting and laughing with a boy she had just met, inevitably arousing jealousy in others.

  After arriving at the registration office, Liu Zhenfeng and Xu Meiting went through the formalities one after another, exchanged greetings, and then parted ways. Liu Zhenfeng returned to his dormitory, where seven other roommates had also arrived.

  Everyone reported their names and then lined up in order of age: Eldest Jiang Cheng, 20 years old, from Changsha, Hunan Province, about 1.80 meters tall, with a strong back and waist, not looking like a liberal arts student at all. Second eldest Xu Tangfei, 19 years old, from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, 1.68 meters tall, wearing glasses, gentle and refined, with the demeanor of a scholar. Third eldest Zheng Xiaoting, 19 years old, from Qingdao, Shandong Province, 1.84 meters tall, with a strong physique, muscles bulging everywhere, clearly a robust young man. Fourth eldest Li Shouxin, 19 years old, from Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, 1.78 meters tall, dark-skinned, with a decent build. Fifth eldest Zhang Fuming, 19 years old, from Yichang, Hubei Province, 1.65 meters tall, small in stature, with a baby face, looking like a child. Sixth eldest Lin Gang, from Shenyang, 1.90 meters tall, sturdy and robust, clearly a honest and kind-hearted Northeasterner. Seventh eldest Ma Chunfeng, from Shanghai, 1.75 meters tall, wearing a suit, with a middle parting in his hair, looking like a traitor. Eighth eldest is our protagonist, handsome and elegant, refined and dignified, a pear blossom overshadowing the sea of peach blossoms, captivating countless young girls, the embodiment of beauty and justice... (omitting 10,000 words) Liu Zhenfeng, from Nanjing, 1.73 meters tall (sigh, not much different from his past life), no need to describe how he looks, just look at his surname and you'll know.

  So Liu Zhenfeng read again in university, this time still in the Republic of China reading university, feeling how is it just not the same.

  The days went by, and Xu Meiting was indeed in the same class as him. With a beautiful girl like her, there were many suitors around her. Among them, there was a guy named Zhou Junsheng who launched wave after wave of romantic attacks on Xu Meiting. This Zhou Junsheng was a white knight in the eyes of girls! He was one year older than Liu Zhenfeng, majoring in physics, 1.85 meters tall, with a beautiful figure, standard model body, a star face, fair and tender skin, and a sunny smile that could captivate thousands of women. No wonder he was a womanizer! Especially his family background, it was said that his father held an important position in the National Government, as a high-ranking official. He himself was a prominent figure in school, serving as the president of the student union, with strong organizational leadership skills. Alas, he was not only good-looking (jealous, absolutely jealous), but also came from a good family and was well-educated, making him someone that every woman would want to associate with.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, it didn't take long for the school's heartthrob to be captured by this "scoundrel". What a heartbreaking thing! The entire male student body collectively went out to get drunk on September 17th, 1931, in order to forget about this goddess.

  The wheels of history, in the midst of people's intoxication and death, finally entered a moment that would change China's fate: On September 18, 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army bombed the Liutiaohu section of the South Manchurian Railway and attacked Dongjiang, creating the shocking September 18 Incident. Soon after, in just three short months, the three northeastern provinces fell, hundreds of millions of people were displaced, and became slaves to a lost nation.

  Lao Liu Lin had been anxious since he learned of Shenyang's fall, his relatives' whereabouts unknown, their lives hanging in the balance. He was restless every day until the end of December when he received a letter from home and learned that they had safely arrived in Beiping and were living at An's house, only then did he put down his worried heart.

  At this stage, the National Government repeatedly sought help from the international community, hoping that the League of Nations would intervene to resolve the dispute. The conclusion reached was that the League of Nations recognized Manchuria as part of China and Japan's invasion as illegal. However, nothing more than that was done, with no action taken to force Japanese troops out of Manchuria, rendering the conclusion meaningless.

  Japanese imperialism also became more and more arrogant, their evil claws finally stretched towards Shanghai, which was the largest city in Asia at that time.

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