Chapter 496 - 239 Zhang Starting from Scratch: Life in Cambridge (Part 2) (5.2K)

In 2022, before Xu Yun’s time travel.

Speaking of the University of Cambridge.

Most people would instinctively think of ’ranked in the top ten globally’, ’produced Newton and Hawking’, ’rigorous scholarship’, ’on par with Oxford’, etc.

But in fact.

The University of Cambridge, while nurturing numerous renowned scientists, has also produced a multitude of writers and philosophers.

Such as Byron, Tennyson, William Wordsworth, John Fletcher, Francis Bacon, John Dryden, Charles Kingsley, and so on.

As for those involved in literature...

Everyone should somewhat know that their mentality tends to be rather eccentric... ahem, a bit unique.

They often do things that are quite out of the ordinary to showcase their individuality or express certain emotions.

This approach has been given a specific term in later generations:

Performance art.

Especially when they are young, performance art accompanies them almost like the question mark above Yasuo’s head, day and night.

The term ’artsy’ comes from this.

With Cambridge’s rich literary gene, naturally, there is no shortage of such people.

Take Edmund Spenser for example.

This gentleman was born in 1552 and is recognized as one of the great poets of the English Renaissance.

The Spenserian stanza he created is, in a sense, equivalent to the seven-character regulated verse or seven-character quatrain in England, becoming a famous poetic form.

This great poet is also one of the renowned alumni of the University of Cambridge, where he studied literature, philosophy, and some natural sciences.

At that time, the enrollment numbers of the University of Cambridge were even smaller than today, with around a hundred students each year.

But its status was almost unchanged from now.

Meanwhile, the University of Cambridge was an institution born with a theological background, featuring eight chapels alone, with the Bible being a necessary possession for everyone.

Against such a backdrop.

The students and staff of the University of Cambridge had extremely high demands on clothing and etiquette, with no room for slightest deviation in daily life.

Then one day, Edmund Spenser suddenly had a whimsical thought:

No way.

When the Saint Heir came down to the world, he was born in a manger and had few pleasures throughout his life, even until being crucified.

Throughout his life, the most he received was having his head anointed by a woman.

So, since...

As students of the Divinity School, what qualifies us to keep our bodies clean?

Thus.

Edmund Spenser found a few equally artsy friends, and they abstained from bathing or wearing clothes for an entire month, then covered in sheep blood, they sang hymns naked at the school gate.

Later, Edmund Spenser’s actions even led to a famous saying at Trinity College, engraved at the entrance of the Trinity College Library:

The body may be dirty, but the mind must be pure.

Afterward.

Cambridge suddenly sparked a tradition of ’competing for stinkiness’.

This activity initially started with underwear, but later another artsy type, John Milton, came in with a version update:

When the Saint Heir went to Golgotha to be crucified, he was barefoot, so let’s compare socks.

The stinkier the socks, the further they have walked on the ’Cross Road’.

Can become a ’Saint’.

This habit even carried over to 2022, with students constantly adhering to this selection.

However, Xu Yun was living in the Catered section of Partner Gardens at the University of Cambridge (120 Pounds per week T.T), so he never had the chance to witness this tradition.

Clearly, those students over there were engaged in the ’Saint’ selection, no wonder Aveline had told Xu Yun and Wheat not to be too shocked by what they might see.

Possibly because they were too engrossed.

These few people did not notice Aveline and her group’s presence, continuing to enthusiastically engage in their evaluation.

One could see a young man with an oily head styled like Snape holding a gray sock, taking a deep breath and exclaiming:

"8 points!"

Then another person took the sock, sniffed it indulgently:

"8.5!"

Followed by the third person... the fourth person....

"9 points!"

"8 points!"

Seeing this scene.

Wheat’s eyelids twitched a few times and he looked at Xu Yun, his meaning clear:

"Is there still time to drop out?"

Xu Yun innocently shrugged his shoulders at him:

"What do you think?"

Wheat sighed resignedly.

Meanwhile.

The group of boys not far away finally noticed the people standing at the corner.

Seeing Thompson among them.

The oily-headed Snape-styled young man’s eyes lit up and he ran over waving the sock:

"Senior Thompson, you finally came, it’s such a pity you didn’t compete this year!"

Hearing this.

Xu Yun and Wheat were first taken aback, then immediately shuffled a few steps toward Aveline.

Thompson: "...."

But Wheat quickly thought of something else, his neck stiffened, and he asked Aveline with a dry smile:

"Uh... Senior Sister Aveline, you wouldn’t also have participated...."

Aveline shook her head:

"I don’t participate in these things."

Only then did Wheat breathe a sigh of relief, as if a burden had been lifted, and he moved half a step closer to Aveline.

Thompson continued:

"..."

When the long-haired oily-headed youth reached his side.

Thompson declined the idea of hugging and nodded to him:

"Yes, just got back to school."

After speaking, he patted Wheat on the shoulder and introduced:

"This is Maxwell, a newly admitted undergraduate at Trinity College, enjoying graduate student treatment."

"This is Luo Feng, a first-year graduate student at Trinity College, also Maxwell’s roommate."