Chapter 181: Survival in the Turn of History
Chapter 180 – Survival Desire in the Turn of History
Today’s London was drizzling with a dense, fading rain, a thick curtain of rain that pressed down from the northernmost tip of London to the southernmost tip.
The borough of Greenwich was certainly caught in the midst of the pounding rain.
In the Wheatstone Musical Instruments, Arthur, wearing a large brimmed hat with a lot of rain falling on his shoulders, leaned against the counter and swallowed a cloud of mist, and between the clouds of mist, those sharp black eyes swept back and forth to look at the store as if it had been ransacked by bandits.
After a while, Arthur then spoke, “Mr. Wheatstone, why don’t you call the police?”
“Call the police?” Wheatstone’s head drilled out from under the counter shivering, a trace of the celebration of the robbery still remaining on his face, “How dare I call the police? Those people all said they were referred by you!”
“Wow?” Arthur clenched his jaw as he savored the words, “You mean to say that I was the one who lured the ghosts here?”
“Who else but you? Those people are as good as crazy! One by one, they all said they wanted to buy a phonograph. When I told them that the store was currently out of stock, they scrambled to shove deposits into my arms as if they were crazy.
They didn’t believe me when I told them I couldn’t afford to make that many in a short time. And they even threatened me that if they couldn’t get the goods by the time they got there, they would have a hard time in the future, and if they had a hard time, then I wouldn’t want to have a hard time either.
After they said those harsh words, they went ahead and bought up all the other instruments in my store. There was also a drunkard who came into the store before you came, and when he saw that I didn’t have anything on the shelves here, he thought that I was a furniture seller, and dragged away my chairs by the hand.”
Arthur’s arm was resting on the tabletop as he sipped his pipe and spoke, “Isn’t that nice? I congratulate you, Mr. Wheatstone, on your recent business!”
“Yes! Thanks to you, my business is fucking booming!”
Perhaps being furious, the always socially fearful Wheatstone even exploded directly in Arthur’s face, “Those tricks you taught me don’t work well at all, the gun doesn’t scare anyone at all! I hadn’t even pulled out my gun for two seconds before the guys grabbed it!”
Hearing this, Arthur couldn’t help but frown, “The gun couldn’t even scare them?”
Wheatstone spoke up, tapping his knuckles on the tabletop in exasperation, “Isn’t that right? Those guys have their heads as far up their asses as if they were in the fucking Thames water, they took my gun and they were still fucking praising me. The dumb asses said I made a pretty fucking good gun! Tell me, Mr. Hastings, if I can’t even scare these donkeys, can I scare those apprentices at the Royal Society?”
Arthur sniffed and shook his head slightly, “That’s different, Mr. Wheatstone. In my experience with cases, it’s precisely because they’re donkeys that they’re not afraid of guns. People who are poorly read or have nothing to lose are usually the most unafraid of death, and I’m sure you wouldn’t have suffered such an embarrassment if those gentlemen and ladies had come in person to buy a phonograph today, instead of their servants coming over. Mind you, that group of upper-class people might almost be considered the most life-thirsty bunch in Great Britain.”
When Wheatstone heard this, he just said in exasperation, “What on earth have you been telling them? I’ve never seen so many customers in my life, and it’s been the same situation for the past few days, if it wasn’t for today’s rain, I’m afraid that my little store would have to be stuffed with them again.”
Arthur shrugged, “Actually I didn’t say anything Mr. Wheatstone, you have to believe that it’s your superior product quality that’s brought in so many new customers, and I’m just embellishing on that a little.”
Mr. Wheatstone didn’t believe Arthur’s bullshit, he said, “Touch up? You’ve got so many flies on the wall with just a few touches? Wow! Well, I thank God for all of us! It’s a good thing you’re endorsing gramophones and not flush toilets and outhouses.”
Hearing this, Arthur just glanced at the red devil on the side as he returned with apologies, “Actually, if the price is high enough, I can consider endorsing toilets and lavatories as well. But given that a friend of mine has a big grudge against toilets, I feel that at some point, it is still necessary to take care of his feelings.”
Saying this, Arthur suddenly changed his words, “But I purposely came here today, not to discuss toilets with you. I came to ask you if you’ve finished the gramophone I privately reserved with you a while ago.”
When Wheatstone heard this, he said with a look of displeasure: “Where is the gramophone so easy to make, and don’t you think that it is only a few days since you gave me notice? Mr. Hastings, you must learn one thing, that all men have their limits. I am a man, not an ass.”
Arthur frowned slightly as he leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice, “Mr. Wheatstone, if you say so, then I will have to have a discussion with you to discuss the matter of your lost gun. Do you realize how big a crime it is to steal a Scotland Yard officer’s pistol?”
“Theft?” Wheatstone was jolted, “Wasn’t the pistol given to me by you? If I lose the gun, I’ll just go to the arsenal and buy one to return to you.”
“That won’t do.” Arthur gently shook his finger, “Mr. Wheatstone, you may not know. Since there was a serious case of lost firearms in Scotland Yard in the first half of this year, every pistol in Scotland Yard has been marked with a number since then.”
Wheatstone couldn’t help but stare at the words, “This ……”
But soon, his eyes rolled in a deadpan look, “The gun isn’t in my hands, so how can you prove that the gun was stolen by me?”
Arthur sniffed and couldn’t help but applaud for Wheatstone, “Very good logic, Mr. Wheatstone, the gun is indeed not in your hands, so I can only go door to door to the homes of those gentlemen and ladies to ask who’s servant took the gun.”
“Right! What business is it of mine if they took the gun?”
“That’s right, but where did they take the guns from?”
“Me.”
“And where did you get your gun?”
“You!” As soon as these words came out of Wheatstone’s mouth, his face instantly blackened like the dark clouds outside the door, and he raised his finger tremblingly, pointing at Arthur and speaking, “Mr. Black …… Hastings, you …… are trying to accuse me falsely? ” Arthur, while drawing out the iron box full of clean burned pipes with tobacco in his pocket, spoke, “No, I did not want to frame you. You should know that Scotland Yard never falsely accuses good citizens. Especially in the police districts under my jurisdiction, such is strictly forbidden.”
Whitestone took a sharp, deep breath as he leaned forward and probed softly, “May I ask what your definition of a good citizen is?”
Arthur pulled out a match and relit his pipe, “It’s simple, a willingness to cooperate with the police is a good citizen.”
Wheatstone continued to press, “And what does it take to be willing to cooperate with the police?”
“That depends on the situation.”
“What about situations like today?”
Arthur sipped his pipe, “Good citizenship today means being able to hand over two phonographs before I leave.”
Wheatstone pressed a slap to his face as he closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, “Mr. Hastings.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m already starting to regret knowing you a little.” Wheatstone tilted his head back and looked up at the ceiling, his face filled with a distraught expression, “If I had been able to possess the courage to stand on the podium of the Royal Society in the first place, perhaps I would not have met you.”
Arthur nonchalantly lifted the teapot on the counter and gently poured two cups, one handing it to Wheatstone and one holding it in his hand.
Only a clinking sound could be heard as Arthur held the teacup and touched it to Wheatstone, “To our great encounter!”
Wheatstone picked up the teacup and drank the tea in one gulp, then slammed it heavily on the tabletop, “To fucking fucking courage!”
At the end of his sentence, Wheatstone sighed and walked towards the back room of the musical instrument store to fetch Arthur’s much desired gramophone.
Agareth, who was grinning badly at the side, pushed up his glasses, and the Red Devil spoke, “Arthur, it seems that your special training on his speech was very successful! But this Charles Wheatstone is also a real weirdo, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone get angry because too many guests came to give away money.”
Arthur shook his teacup while speaking, “It’s nothing, it’s only natural for an expert in science to have a bit of personality. Given Mr. Wheatstone’s exceptional talent and hands-on ability, I think I can tolerate this little bit of his temper. After all, the future work of the LPS will depend on talents like him. Relying on an ass like me, who only knows how to dance around with a sword, won’t be able to do anything great.”
The Red Devil rubbed his hands together and laughed, “Wow! My dear Arthur, you mustn’t think too lowly of your talent for evil. You can do a lot of things that no one else would even think of, but only if you can let some things go. For example, in order to keep your Lunatic Bureau, perhaps you need to do something unseemly first.”
When Arthur heard this, he first froze, then raised his eyebrows and asked, “Listening to your tone, it seems that something went wrong with the Wednesday Prime Minister’s Questioning that took place today?”
The Red Devil excitedly said, “More than going wrong, it was explosive!”
Arthur’s heart thumped as he heard this, and he asked, “Someone planted explosives in the parliament building again?”
“That’s not so bad. Arthur, that’s not what I meant when I said explosive.”
Arthur sighed in relief, “Just as long as no one died. I don’t want to be running around for a bunch of MPs’ corpses, and London’s been so quiet lately.”
The Red Devil sniffed and added in a mysterious voice, “But even if there were no deaths, the ministers in Wellington’s cabinet are almost out of breath.”
“Hmm?” Arthur narrowed his eyes at the Red Devil as he opened his mouth and pursued, “Agares, what the hell are you up to?”
The Red Devil grinned, and in the gap between his sharp teeth that were as sharp as knife blades was the long bright red tongue that he waved, “Arthur, don’t you understand? The Whigs have formally proposed a motion of no confidence in the cabinet to the parliament today, and given the current situation, Wellington’s cabinet is already in jeopardy! Don’t blame me for not reminding you, if you don’t want to be kicked out after the cabinet change, you’d better hurry up and think of a way for yourself to save your life.”
Who knew that when Arthur heard this, not only was he not surprised, but he was unusually calm.
“I thought something was wrong, isn’t it just that the cabinet has fallen? I thought all those people were sent to God. Even if the Whigs are replaced, Scotland Yard will still do nothing more than those things, at most, my top boss will be a different person.”
The Red Devil raised an eyebrow, “You’re not worried?”
“Worried, of course I am.”
Arthur smiled, “Why else do you think I’m here today? Have you forgotten? Didn’t our beloved, reliable, parliamentary interviewing friend Charles just bring me back the latest news the other day?
Of the options he gave, after analyzing them, I believe that if the Tories fall, the most likely person to take over as Home Secretary will be Viscount Melbourne, who likes to lie in Parliament and huff and puff. And the most important part of my day’s journey is to deliver the gramophone previously reserved to his sister, Lady Cowper.”
(End of chapter)