The next day,

Morning.

It was Natsume Soseki's teacher, Smith, who knocked on the door of Braya Road, not Doyle.

The old gentleman did not enter the house,

He stood outside the door and said with some embarrassment: "Mr. Lu, Arthur rushed back to his hometown of Edinburgh overnight because of his urgent business, so let me introduce you to Charles." ”

As if worried about Lu Shi's misunderstanding, he hurriedly added: "Don't think about it, Arthur just rekindled his passion for writing because of the conversation with the two of you yesterday, maybe it won't be long before we can see the resurrection of Sherlock Holmes." ”

The Last Case was published in December 1893.

The Hound of the Baskervilles was published in August 1901.

During this period, Sherlock Holmes was in a state of "death",

From the perspective of time, what Smith said was not necessarily all comforting words, but should be a mixed bag.

Lu Shi invited: "Sir, do you want to come in and sit?" ”

Smith bowed his head rather gentlemanly and said, "No, let's hurry to Fleet Street and don't make Charles wait too long." He's a hot-tempered ......."

The old gentleman reached out to arrange the bowler hat, as if he was silently urging.

Lu Shi nodded in understanding.

From the name, it is not difficult to see that the headquarters of the Manchester Guardian is in Manchester, and London only has an office, and Charles Presvich Scott, as editor-in-chief, naturally cannot stay here for long.

Smith took Lu Shi into a carriage and headed to Fleet Street.

Named after the neighbouring Fleet River, Fleet Street was the headquarters of the traditional British media until the 80s of the 20th century, hence the name "Home of British Newspapers".

The most conspicuous building here is the headquarters of the Times, which is tall and graceful.

By comparison, the office of the Manchester Guardian is much shabby, renting only a three-storey Ottoman-style apartment, with a door full of doors, and a smell of ammonia next to the stairs, as if it had been urinated on by a drunken man.

Smith knocked on the door and handed the business card to the porter.

The porter confirmed his identity and beckoned him and Lu Shi into the house.

"The editor-in-chief is already waiting for you."

He led the two of them up the stairs to the third floor, and stepped over the piles of manuscripts and newspapers piled up on the ground to the innermost room.

I was about to knock on the door, and there was a conversation inside,

"Editor-in-chief, aren't you going to eat?"

"Wait for someone."

"Ah, by the way, I heard that it was a young writer recommended by Dr. Doyle, and it seems that he is still Chinese."

"Doyle's stinky bastard, when we are really picking up rags, why do you introduce me to all kinds of crooked melons and cracked dates? The Chinese are writing novels or something, can he write them? Can't write! Don't you know if you don't have the ability? ”

……

The porter's hand froze as it prepared to knock.

The atmosphere was awkward.

Smith patted Lu Shi on the shoulder, then cleared his throat loudly, and even tapped the wooden floor with his cane a few times to make sure the people in the room could hear.

The editor-in-chief's room fell silent for a moment.

Not long after, the door opened, and a young editor ran out with his head bowed in his arms and stacks of newspapers.

Behind him, Editor-in-Chief Scott's voice sounded: "Is it Old William?" Come on in! ”

Smith led the landing into the house, and at the same time said, "Charles, when did you start to look down on people?" What's the matter, the Londoners haven't subdued you as a 'hillbilly' from Manchester? ”

Scott's face darkened,

"So, sometimes I'm really annoyed by 'Orphan of the Fog'."

In The Orphan of the Fog, Dickens portrays Manchester as synonymous with poverty and misery, and the stereotype spreads widely, and Londoners at the Queen's feet naturally look down on the "hillbillies" from Manchester.

Smith chuckled,

"So, don't always look at things with the same old eyes, isn't Manchester what it used to be? I love the glasses you make there. ”

Scott gave a "tsk" and didn't answer.

Seeing that he was noncommittal, Smith frowned,

"It's not a gentleman's doing."

Scott sighed and replied, "Well, you don't know...... China...... Forget it, don't mention this. ”

As the editor-in-chief of an influential newspaper, he has his own channels of information to get a general idea of the current situation in China.

Of course, Lu Shi also knows,

In the near future, that is, on October 17, 1900, the commander of the Eight-Nation Alliance, Wadexi, entered Beijing, set up a general headquarters in the Forbidden City, and established a military colonial organization, the "Beijing Management Committee", in the Yamen of the Imperial Court.

In the general perception, the Forbidden City is the center of power of the Qing court, which is about the same as the seat of the British parliament - the Palace of Westminster.

This landmark is set up as the headquarters of other countries' armies, and basically symbolizes the end of a regime.

Scott looked at Lu with a kind of arrogant pity in his eyes.

He stretched out his hand,

"Manuscript."

The attitude is somewhat careless, obviously not expecting a Chinese to write much good work.

Lu Shi was actually a little annoyed, but after thinking about it, he still had a ridiculous braid on the back of his head, and his annoyance turned to helplessness.

Alas, 1900......

For a while, he had mixed feelings in his heart,

What might you be able to do in a foreign country?

Seeing him in a daze, Scott snorted coldly and said, "Young man, are you waiting for me to apologize?" I tell you, I don't owe you anything. If it weren't for Doyle's idiot......"

As he spoke, he glanced at Smith and swallowed back the complaint,

Smith is Doyle's friend, and it is a little inappropriate to scold Doyle in front of him.

Lu Shi was no longer indignant and handed over the manuscript.

Scott caught it with one hand and said, "Let's talk about it first, this matter is eighty percent useless." As you know, we at the Manchester Guardian only have a book review section, not a serialized novel, so it's best not to get too big...... Hmmm......"

When he saw Lu Shi's manuscript, he suddenly showed a somewhat approving expression,

"It's a beautiful handwritten font, a bit like Italian, but it's much more coherent than Italian, perfect for heavy writing scenes. Your teacher is Italian? ”

In fact, it is the font that comes with the office software, and it will be used a lot.

Lu Shi did not pick up the stubble.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Scott didn't dig any further and read the content instead.

At first, he just wanted to take a general look at the ten lines at a glance, and then casually found an excuse to send Lu Shi away.

Unexpectedly, the preface of the opening chapter gave him a great impact.

He said, "This is detective fiction? ”

Lu Shi touched his nose and corrected: "I'm not going to arrange a fixed detective character in this book, so it should be considered a suspense novel." ”

Scott dumbfounded,

The suspense novel is prefaced with a nursery rhyme!?

This beginning is also too novel.

In an instant, his appetite was lifted, he took out his glasses from the small wooden box on the side and put them on, and read them carefully word by word.

When he read that the nursery rhyme appeared in the text, and someone's death coincided with the first sentence of the nursery rhyme, the whole person couldn't help but tremble violently, and the skin on the back of his neck had a layer of goosebumps, and the cold hair stood up.

He raised his head and asked a little confused, "Which master's work is this?" ”

After saying that, I felt that it was wrong again,

Isn't the master the Chinese guy in front of him?

Scott's gaze became frenzied and restless as he looked at Lu.