Nothing was said all night.

The next day, Lu Shi got up late, because he had drunk yesterday and still had a hint of hangover.

He lay on the water dragon and rinsed his mouth, washed his face again, and then found that he was the only one in the room.

On the bed on Natsume Soseki's side, the quilt was curled up, and the person had already left, probably going to the University of London.

Because there is no window, the room is pitch black, and I don't know what time it is.

Lu Shi lit up the gas lamp and began to rummage through his luggage in order to find his identity.

Soon, he found some letters, and he could deduce his status as an international student, but he was born poor, his parents died, and he was raised by his uncles.

If it is put in modern times, the opportunity to study abroad at public expense will definitely make people squeeze their heads.

However, the Qing Dynasty at that time still insisted that overseas was a barbarian land, and foreigners were uncivilized barbarians, who would eat human flesh and drink human blood, which led to the reluctance of most wealthy families to let their children stay abroad.

And those who are relatively open-minded, have no prejudice against foreigners, and will only choose the United States to stay in the United States, which makes the opportunity to go to the UK cheaper than Lu Shi.

But even from a poor family like him, they were very puzzled by Liuyang, and the uncles were quite fierce in their letters, and even the living expenses were cut off.

He muttered to himself, "Tsk, no wonder there's no money." ”

Because the family didn't support it, there were only the three melons and two dates provided by the Qing court, and what was even more outrageous was that there was no school arranged, and the luggage was packed and put on the boat.

It's literally sending people over to play beggar simulators.

Lu Shi stretched his waist, put away the letters, and turned off the light,

"Well, I have to find a way to make money."

Muttering, he left the residence.

Nice sunshine.

On either side of Brya Road were drunks, half-lying sunbathing, occasionally patting the walls with their hands, muttering a few times, and then changing to a more comfortable position, their clothes dirty from the muddy water splashed by the wagons.

Lu Shi bypassed these people and walked in the direction of Main Street.

After a few steps, someone stopped him from behind: "Lu, wait for me!" ”

Lu Shi turned around and found Natsume Soseki walking towards him, followed by two white men with typical English beards,

One of them was about sixty years old, with a cane, and looked a little old.

Another person who had just seen a recent photo in Seaside Magazine last night was Arthur Conan Doyle.

Natsume Soseki approached quickly, and said excitedly, "This is my teacher, Mr. Smith, who has read my article and admires your profound insights into English literature; This is Dr. Doyle, the creator of the Sherlock Holmes series, who is a good friend of Mr. Smith and interested in you. ”

The two Englishmen shook hands amicably with Lu Shi in turn.

Doyle sent out an invitation: "Mr. Lu, I see a coffee shop nearby, I want you to take a break." ”

can sit at the same table with legendary writers, Lu Shi naturally has no reason to refuse.

The four of them came to the coffee shop and sat down by the glass window, bathed in the sun.

The shop is antique, and the wonderful combination of the vibrant sunlight and the logs makes Lu Shi feel calm, and he has an inexplicable affinity for the 1900 vintage.

Smith dusted off his cane, beckoned the clerk to serve four cups of coffee, and then quipped, "At this time, you should order a cup of fragrant coffee, and then watch the traffic outside in a daze, and spend the whole afternoon comfortably." ”

Doyle smiled,

"I thought you could read, but I didn't expect it to be in a daze."

Smith shook his head,

"Read your novels? Bored. ”

Lu Shi vaguely felt that the two were singing a double reed, so he shook his head at Natsume Soseki next to him, and then watched the two Britons continue to perform.

Sure enough, Doyle began to cut to the chase: "Noble Mr. Smith, I think that detective novels are boring because you can't do it aesthetically. You see, these two international students from the East love my work, right? ”

His face turned slightly to Lu Shi.

The two looked at each other.

Lu Shi replied: "Dr. Doyle is popular in England, and no one loves him. ”

Instead of saying "Sherlock Holmes is popular in England", it is "Dr. Doyle is popular in England", which makes Doyle very useful.

He was so disgusted that people only knew about Sherlock Holmes and not about Dr. Holmes, and even wrote in a letter to his mother: "I consider killing Sherlock Holmes...... Kill him, it's a hundred. He took up too much of my time. ”

Therefore, Lu Shi's tout is very appropriate,

The atmosphere suddenly rose.

Doyle happily fiddled with his beard and said, "Mr. Lu's level is very high. You know, only a handful of people have as much understanding of the title as you do. I have the impression that there is only Mr. Wilde. ”

Natsume Soseki was surprised,

"Is that Mr. Wilde? Oscar wilde? ”

Doyle nodded,

"That's right. Mr. Stoddart, the editor of the Lippincott Monthly, had hosted me and Oscar and asked us for a manuscript. That dinner eventually led to two books, one of my Four Signatures and the other of Oscar's The Picture of Dorian Gray. ”

Pride was written all over his face.

Natsume Soseki was a little confused, not understanding what this had to do with the previous topic.

Smith on the side shook his head and explained: "In that meeting, Oscar once commented that "Scarlet Study" was a 'rather artistic title', which coincided with Mr. Lu. ”

was robbed of the conversation, Doyle was slightly unhappy, and drank coffee to cover up.

Smith complained: "Okay, you've said that one hundred and seventy-five times, and I can memorize the recipes for the dinner." ”

After speaking, he turned to Lu Shi,

"Seriously, Monsieur Oscar would have wanted to meet you if he wasn't in Paris."

Lu Shi didn't squeak,

He knew that Wilde had died of meningitis in Paris in November 1900, and that there was not much time left.

Doyle coughed lightly and interjected into the topic: "However, Mr. Lu seems to have a lot of confusion about my work. ”

His gaze suddenly sharpened, like two sharp swords, tightly tied to Lu Shi's body.

Natsume Soseki writhed uneasily,

This incident started because of him, no wonder he was embarrassed.

Lu Shi replied disapprenosingly: "It's not Dr. Doyle's fault. ”

This is quite a big statement, and the implication is that the Sherlock Holmes series is indeed problematic.

Doyle frowned,

"Can you elaborate on that?"

Lu Shi continued: "Take "Spotted Ribbon Case" as an example, the murderer used a poisonous snake as a murder weapon to commit the crime, but it is actually very unreasonable. First, a viper suffocates in a safe; Secondly, venomous snakes are reptiles and cannot feed on milk; Again, it doesn't make sense to summon a snake with a whistle, which has no external ears and can't hear a whistling at all......"

Doyle's face was as black as ink,

You know, "Spotted Tape" is the most bizarre and dramatic short story in the entire series, and naturally one of the most popular.

I didn't expect the Oriental man in front of me to be able to point out three loopholes casually.

Doyle couldn't help but argue: "How do you know that snakes don't drink milk?" ”

Lu Shi felt that this question was a bit silly,

"The reason why young human children can feed is because their mothers produce milk, so only mammals can give milk," he said. ”

Doyle's face darkened.

Natsume Soseki swallowed his saliva and said, "Dr. Doyle's writing style is scientific and professional, and the 'science' here doesn't mean ...... Forehead...... 'science' means...... Ah, yes, deduction! Dr. Doyle is adept at using rigorous causal reasoning to unfold stories. ”

After saying this, Doyle's face was not good-looking.

He said, "But, Mr. Natsuki, why does your article say that Sherlock Holmes's reasoning is very subjective? ”

Natsume Soseki's face was bitter.

Lu Shi looked over, cast an inquiring look, and said with his mouth: "This is not what I said." ”

Natsume Soseki lowered his voice and said, "I said it." ”

Lu Shi was confused,

"What? You said? ”

Natsume Soseki nodded and replied, "In 'The Mystery of Regate', Holmes himself said, 'The main thing in the art of detective is to be able to discern from the many facts which are critical and which are secondary. But it is clear that Sherlock Holmes will hardly lay out all the clues for the reader to discern for himself which are the 'key questions'. ”

This can't be blamed on the author, the main thing is that the genre of detective literature is still immature, and there is not even the concept of "true character", and it is normal to have some small problems in creation.

But Doyle doesn't care about that,

When he looked at Lu, he clenched his two fists, and the green tendons on his forehead jumped suddenly,

This pot is obviously going to be carried by Lu Shi.

literati are light,

There is no difference between ancient and modern China and foreign countries.