In a darkened corner at the end of the street, a young man carrying a light green canvas document bag was scuffling with a knife-wielding homeless man on the ground.

"Let go, if you don't let go, Lao Tzu will give you two beats! Don't blame me for not reminding you, my knife was just sharpened this morning! ”

"I can give you a little money, but you don't want to snatch my bag!"

When the homeless man saw that the young man did not compromise in any way, he was immediately angry in his heart.

He held the hilt of his knife aloft, ready to stab the young man twice in the stomach.

However, before he could do anything, a hand as powerful as iron pincers grabbed his wrist.

Arthur made a simple effort, and the homeless man suddenly felt that his arm was sore, and the knife in his hand could not be held and fell to the ground.

Arthur stomped the knife under his feet, stuck his head in the homeless man's ear and said, "You should be glad I didn't go to work today, or you would have been beaten lightly." Get out, before I regret it, get out of here! ”

As soon as he let go of his hand, the homeless man grabbed his aching wrist and glared at him fiercely before leaving with his back bent.

Arthur reached out to the dusty young man and pulled him up from the ground.

"When night comes, the foraging time for crows and vultures begins, and it's easy to bump into them when you go to a place where there are no lights."

The young man dusted himself off, and he looked up to reply, but hesitated when he saw the outline of Arthur's face.

He took a closer look, and then he was pleasantly surprised: "Officer Arthur, I didn't expect to meet you here!" ”

Arthur also recognized the other: "Charles? ”

The other party was none other than Arthur's new friend, court clerk Charles Dickens.

Arthur touched his neck and shook his head, "If you have any accident here, it will be a huge loss to the whole of British literature and even world literature." You must cherish your life and stay away from dangerous places as much as possible. ”

Dickens smiled and said, "Officer Arthur, you're here again." I'm just a court clerk and newspaper interviewer, not a great writer in your mouth. ”

"Even if you are an ordinary person, you should not come to St. Giles at this point! You should know what this place is, right? This has the highest crime rate in the entire West End, even compared to a few of the famous slums in the East End. I'm glad you ran into me today, otherwise you'd have had to answer for your life here. ”

Dickens was also a little afraid: "In fact, if he just wants money, I will give him all the coins and banknotes on his body." But if he has to snatch the bag in my hand, then I can't give it to him even if I die, or I will be in vain today. ”

Arthur asked, "Is there anything important in the bag?" ”

Dickens nodded, and with an excited look on his face, he pulled out an interview transcript from his bag and handed it to Arthur.

He said: "Thanks to you, I have gained some fame because of the article that wrote about you, so many newspapers have been asking me for an appointment recently.

Even a committee of the House of Commons privately commissioned me to conduct an investigation on their behalf, and I came to St Giles to complete the interview.

I took the commission in a hurry, but when I got there, I realized that I was thinking too simply.

Because I've never been here, my impression of St Giles' Parish is still in the 1814 London Beer Flood, when the beer tanks of the Mux Distillery burst en masse and destroyed two nearby houses and a pub.

I thought I'd be able to finish my research in the middle of the day, but then I realized I was thinking too much.

Most of the people who live here are engaged in lower-level heavy jobs in nearby markets, factories, business districts, or government departments, and they are not available for my interviews.

Even homeless people and pickpockets who sleep on the streets know that there is no oil or water to be fished in the area, so they go out to other areas during the day to find targets.

So I can only wait here until the evening when they go home to sleep, and then I have a chance to interview one or two energetic ones.

You see, the one I've given you is an interview that I just finished. I've been working on this manuscript for a day, and no one wants to snatch it from me. ”

Arthur glanced at the manuscript, and although the content was short, every word written on it was so heavy that it was like a thousand pounds of stone pressing down on the palm of his hand.

Interviewer: Elizabeth Bentley

Reporter: Charles Dickens

ED: What is your profession?

Yi: I'm a female weaver working in a nearby factory.

ED: When did you start this job?

Yi: It was about 1815, when I was six years old.

ED: What kind of work do you do in the factory?

Yi: I'm in charge of doffing.

ED: Can you briefly describe what you do?

Yi: When the thread on the spinning is full, stop the spinning machine, remove the counting key and all the spools, take them to the spool, replace them with empty spools, and start the spinning machine again

ED: How long do you work in the factory every day?

Yi: From 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

ED: Has it been like this since you were six years old?

Yi: Yes, but I'm used to it.

Di: With such a heavy workload, you must be very busy from morning to night, right? Is it okay to do it slower or a little later?

Yi: No, they'll whip me with a belt.

ED: Have you ever had a physical deformity due to long hours of work?

Yi: Yes, since I was thirteen years old, my chest is a little sunken, my back is not straight, and I often feel out of breath. Sir, can you end the interview? I just got off work and now I just want to get a good night's sleep, I'm really tired, I can't lift my hands, my feet are almost moving, I don't want to say anything right now.

ED: I'm sorry, ma'am, but take the shilling, it's your payment for the interview.

Yi: You are such a generous gentleman, this is worth a day's salary of mine, thank you for your kindness, I hope God bless you.

Seeing this, Arthur looked at Dickens and said nothing, but his expression said it all.

He only felt that there was a breath in his chest, and he had to roar towards the sky to let out this suffocating sullen breath.

He was silent for a moment before speaking, "Charles, you're right. No one can take this thing away from you. ”

Dickens just smiled, he took a box of tobacco from his pocket, opened the lid and asked Arthur.

"Would you like to do it a little more? Truth be told, I have the same feelings with you now, and I need a little bit of this. ”

In the dim moonlight, the glowing red dots changed from one to two.

Arthur spat out a smoke ring and asked, "Which committee of the House of Commons commissioned you to investigate?" ”

"Not the House of Commons, to be precise," Dickens said, "but a committee initiated by Whig MPs who wanted to investigate the poor living conditions of the local population in St. Giles, and then initiate the impeachment of the current Tory government."

But that's not all, they also commissioned other investigators to go to rural areas. You should know, right? In the past two years, there has been a rural famine in several agricultural counties, because of the grain tax and high land rent, and the fact that the annual income is not good, many hired farmers have planted the land but do not have enough to eat.

I have heard that in the most serious areas, the income level of the hired peasants has fallen to two or three shillings a week, and even if the level of consumption in the countryside is not as high as in London, it is still too difficult to feed a family on a salary of two or three shillings a week. ”

When Arthur heard this, he held back for a long time, and finally couldn't help scolding.

"The Whigs investigate the Tories, how do you listen to it and think it's. Behind the Whigs were the big factory owners, the big bankers, the barristers, and so on, and the diocese of St. Giles had to ask themselves why it was like this.

As for the Tories, behind them were the aristocracy, the clergy, the soldiers, and the large and small landowners who profited from the enclosure movement, and I need not say who the grain tax which was used to protect the prices of domestic agricultural products and the rent that could not be paid if it was raised.

These bastards really have the face to investigate each other? I admit that there may be some good people in both parties, but in terms of average quality, it's only half a pound! ”