British writer

the next day.

Palace of Westminster.

In Wodehouse's office, he and Churchill were smoking cigars and puffing away smoke.

"Huh~"

He let out a sigh of contentment.

Churchill asked: "What? You seem to be in a good mood today."

Wodehouse shrugged and made no reply.

But it's easy to see from his relaxed expression that he is indeed in a good mood.

Early this morning, he received news from the soldiers of the Coldstream Guards sent by Sir Stephenson, saying that Princess Margaret finally stopped worrying about letters from readers at night and went to bed early and got up early. Edward VII was very happy.

Although Churchill was very curious, he had the sense not to ask any more questions.

He changed the subject,

"Unexpectedly, Robert escaped with his life."

Robert Gascoigne-Cecil, leader of the Conservative Party and current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Wodehouse couldn't help but sigh,

Who would have thought that Her Majesty the Queen would suddenly fly to the west?

Just last year, in 1900, everyone felt that the Queen's health was getting worse day by day. Even the investiture ceremony on her birthday was suspended for an hour and a half because she needed a rest.

The two parties have made sufficient preparations for this,

As a result, the Queen's body miraculously recovered and she survived London's gloomy, humid, and cold winter.

For the elderly, winter is the hardest time to bear.

Just when the two parties relaxed their vigilance, the queen's physical condition took a turn for the worse and she died of illness.

This was beyond everyone's expectation.

Originally, the Liberal Party had the confidence to win more seats by criticizing Cecil's negligence in handling the Royal Navy's budget affairs, and even directly unseat Cecil. However, because of the Queen's death, they had to give the other party a chance to breathe.

Wodehouse whispered: "You should not die."

Churchill nodded, took a puff of cigar, and tasted it: "It's Indonesian again... I'm tired of smoking it."

Ten thousand straw horses galloped through Wodehouse's heart,

grass!

Fuckfuckfuckfuck!

He said: "Then don't smoke."

After saying that, he turned around, removed a small lock from the desk, and added it to the cigar cabinet.

Churchill chuckled,

"Don't either..."

Before he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door suddenly.

At the same time someone called the door: "Winston!"

The movements of the two people in the room froze.

Wodehouse mouthed silently: "Is it Cecil?"

Churchill nodded seriously,

"I go?"

Wodehouse nodded toward the door.

Churchill walked over and opened the door.

I saw Cecil standing at the door, playing with his bowler hat leisurely.

Behind him is Arthur James Balfour, another Conservative politician.

The two of them looked at the room with amusement in their eyes.

Churchill put on a smiling face,

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, what is this?"

Cecil said with a relaxed look: "Winston, I knew you were not in the office. You must have hid in Old John's place to look for cigars to smoke. You see, you forced people to lock the cigar cabinet."

After speaking, Cecil nodded to Wodehouse.

The latter stepped forward,

"Robert, what's going on?"

The corners of Cecil's mouth curved in an extremely subtle way. Because of the beard, it was difficult to tell that he was smiling.

He said: "You don't know yet?"

This kind of half-said way is really annoying, like reading a novel and encountering a chapter.

Wodehouse frowned;

"Speak directly if you have anything to say."

Cecil said: "The Mirror office is under siege."

Churchill:? ? ?

Wodehouse:? ? ?

Both of them were confused and thought they heard wrongly.

"Mirror" is so popular, why is it "besieged"?

Moreover, some time ago, the Mirror received the attention of the royal family because it ranked Queen Victoria at the top of its list of "The 20 Greatest Britons".

This should be the consensus of London citizens.

Who is so stubborn?

unimaginable!

Cecil's face remained unchanged, but the smile in his heart grew stronger, and he uttered a name: "Emeline Pankhurst."

Churchill: "..."

Wodehouse: "..."

Both of them were speechless, thinking that Pankhurst was indeed an iron-headed boy.

However, with the layout of the "Mirror", it is both gender-based and people's livelihood. It is on the left side of the spectrum no matter how you look at it. Why did Pankhurst lead his people to "besiege" the "Mirror"?

Still puzzled.

Cecil said: "It seems that you don't know yet? Shall we go over and have a look? I have already ordered people to prepare the carriage."

This means not giving people the chance to refuse.

Wodehouse and Churchill could only agree.

The four of them left together, got into the spacious carriage prepared by Cecil, and headed straight to Fleet Street.

As soon as they turned onto the main road, they heard a noise.

Wodehouse opened the curtain and saw that the door of the Mirror newspaper office was blocked by many women. Even the horse-drawn carriage transporting the newspaper was blocked, making it impossible to get in, let alone the books. Businessmen and newsboys.

If you do this, you won't be able to sell even one copy of "Mirror" today.

"Tsk..."

Wodehouse was stunned and looked around, looking for people from Scotland Yard. It didn't take long before he saw several patrol police figures.

He said, "I'll go ask."

After saying that, he jumped off the carriage.

Watching his back getting further and further away, Balfour whispered: "As an investor in the Mirror, Sir Wodehouse does have reasons to be anxious."

This sounds full of irony.

Churchill didn't answer and looked at the group of women.

I saw Pankhurst standing in the crowd, shouting loudly: "The Mirror must respect the original novel of "Jane Eyre" and must not modify the content of the novel at will. Otherwise, it will be a disservice to the author, Ms. Charlotte Brontë. Disrespectful!”

This statement was immediately responded to by all the ladies.

Fierce criticism arose from all sides;

"The Mirror is not allowed to modify the original work!"

"Respect Lady Charlotte Brontë!"

"respect!"

…

There was a huge quarrel.

Because Fleet Street is the home base of major print media, it was surrounded by reporters who were watching the fun and not taking it too seriously.

Several major newspapers have even set up cameras.

They would not mind taking this opportunity to step on the Mirror.

When those women face the camera, they will even slightly adjust their posture, or pose intentionally or unintentionally, to ensure that they are more photogenic and more "advanced" after being photographed.

Churchill couldn't help but want to laugh,

What was supposed to be a serious matter actually looked like a joke.

However, Pankhurst cannot be blamed;

Her main scope of activities is in Manchester City. She has no foundation in London. It is good to be able to find so many people in a hurry.

The quantity is in place, but the quality cannot be forced.

Pankhurst's speech continued: "The earliest copyright law was passed by the British Parliament in 1709, and its name was directly after a woman, the Queen Anna Act, who gave authors copyright over their works. right!"

Churchill himself was a speaker, and he had to admit that Pankhurst did have two brushes.

For example, third person pronouns,

In an inconspicuous transition, Pankhurst uses "she", which is not far-fetched at all, but can well arouse the emotions of the women present.

Cecil said: "Winston, I think we won't be able to sell the Mirror today."

Churchill glanced in the direction of the Mirror newspaper office.

"It's hard to say yet."

Cecil raised his eyebrows,

As a result, just as he was about to retort, the carriage door was opened.

Wodehouse ducked in and gasped, "I asked just now. Professor Lu refused to let Scotland Yard get involved."

…

"Mirror" newspaper office,

Lu Shi's office.

Margarita looked at the growing crowd outside, feeling worried and puzzled on her face.

She turned around and looked at Lu Shi, but stopped talking.

On the other side, Scott couldn't hold back and asked: "Lu, why?"

At this time, Lu Shi was making tea, staring intently at the tea leaves dancing in the glass.

"what why?"

Scott said: "People from Scotland Yard came just now and said they could disperse those who had gathered. And the reasons they gave were reasonable and legal because Pankhurst was really hindering our normal operations."

Margarita nodded,

This is what she wanted to ask just now.

Lu Shi took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and then said: "Some things can be done forcefully, but some things cannot be done forcefully, otherwise it will be counterproductive."

Pankhurst was very vigorous and had considerable influence in Manchester.

Moreover, as the wheel of the times rolls forward, the issue of rights and interests has become increasingly acute and has to be resolved. The slogan of the movement he led in his later period was even "take action, don't talk, this is our eternal motto." This shows that,

Smashing windows, bomb attacks, arson, hunger strikes, suicide...

Highlight a reality.

In this situation, if tough measures are taken, it will only make the other party more united, but it will not end well.

Scott asked, "What do we do?"

Lu Shi glanced at the sky outside,

"what time is it now?"

Scott was helpless,

"You don't take the trouble at hand too seriously, right?"

He took out his pocket watch, took a look at it, and said, "It's past twelve noon. As of now, today's Mirror has not been shipped yet, and it has already passed the prime time for selling newspapers."

Lu Shi spread his hands,

"Then, let's wish the Manchester Guardian will sell better today."

Scott was speechless,

"You're so cute! @* # ￥%..."

He shook his head and smiled wryly.

Since the birth of "Mirror", all major newspapers have been hit indiscriminately, especially the troika of "The Times", "Daily Telegraph" and "Manchester Guardian", which have lost a lot of market share.

On the contrary, for a highly professional newspaper like the Financial Times, sales have increased instead of falling.

As a result, the people of Fleet Street discovered a new direction,

In terms of tabloids, they can't cover the "Mirror" which is several positions ahead, but in terms of professionalism, they can cover all fields.

Scott said: "Stop making fun of me."

Lu Shi smiled and said,

"The weather is nice today."

well……

Scott sighed silently, and then asked: "Lu, what can you do?"

Lu Shi said: "Wait a little longer until two o'clock. Before that..."

He took out the address book from the drawer and flipped through it carefully.

Scott and Margarita all moved forward curiously, wanting to see if Lu Shi had any back-up plans, but they found that Lu Shi was looking at the page labeled "Restaurant" with a serious look on his face. It seems that they are carefully selecting.

The two of them were confused.

After a while, Margarita regained her speech function.

"Professor Lu, what are you doing?"

Lu Shi said: "Would you like some fish and chips? I'll let them put more sauce on it."

Margarita was incoherent;

"I...you..."

Lu Shi was curious,

"Did Buckingham Palace...uh...didn't you ever eat this kind of food?"

Margarita didn't know what to say anymore, so she decided to give up thinking and said, "I want mayonnaise with chopped parsley."

…

The sun rises higher and higher.

Even on a lovely spring day in London, the temperatures are starting to become unbearable.

Not far from the entrance of the newspaper office, there was a small patrol policeman standing around.

The patrol captain loosened the button near the collar and cursed in a low voice: "Fxxk! It's too hot! Those old ladies... ahem... those 'elegant' ladies can really bear it, and they don't go back to their homes. .”

As he spoke, he waved his hand,

"Is there any water?"

Immediately a small patrolman came over and said, "Yes, yes!"

A kettle was handed over.

The captain unscrewed the lid and poured it into his mouth. He found a faint smell of rust in the water and immediately became angry.

"You didn't get the water from the Thames for me, did you? It stinks!"

The little patrolman quickly shook his head.

"Sir, I got the water from The Times headquarters!"

The captain frowned,

"Eighty percent there is something wrong with their kettle."

He threw the kettle back to the little patrolman, then took out the cloth bag he carried with him, thinking about rolling some tobacco, but considering that the more he smoked, he would get thirstier, so he finally stuffed the cloth bag back.

At this time, the door of "Mirror" suddenly opened.

The scene was quiet for a while,

Immediately afterwards, hurried and messy footsteps sounded, and Pankhurst led the group of women around them.

The captain cursed secretly: "Fxxk!"

The newspaper office obviously has a side entrance and a back entrance, but who is so stubborn that he has to go through the front entrance?

The patrolmen stood on tiptoe and looked around.

Someone whispered: "It seems to be Mr. Lu, the editor-in-chief of the Mirror."

As soon as this statement came out, they all knew they were in trouble.

Someone asked: "Captain, should we call for backup! I'm worried something might go wrong!"

The captain frowned and weighed for a moment. He finally felt that it was necessary to observe. He shook his head and said, "No, don't worry. Unless violence occurs... In short, don't be in a hurry to blow the whistle or touch the weapon. You know. ?"

The patrol officers responded immediately.

They looked toward the crowd.

I saw Lu Shi walking out, holding a piece of fish and chips wrapped in newspaper, as if he was just strolling around.

He raised his hand,

"Everyone, the sun is so hot, do you need water?"

This question was beyond everyone's expectations.

"..."

"..."

"..."

An eerie silence fell, almost audible.

Lu Shi chuckled and said, "It seems that no one objects."

He waved his hand, and a dozen clerks immediately walked out of the newspaper office and placed buckets filled with water on the ground.

The water droplets slid down the wall of the bucket, glistening in the sunlight.

"Gu..."

Many people were swallowing their saliva.

This was the first time Pankhurst encountered someone playing this trick. He was confused and intuitively judged that Lu Shi should be stopped.

She said: "You are...in..."

Lu Shi finished for her,

"bribe?"

Pankhurst's head is full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜

She didn't expect that Lu Shi would be more up to date than she was.

Lu Shi chuckled,

"Just drink some water, it shouldn't be a problem, right? Besides, I..."

Halfway through his words, he looked at the fish and chips smeared with chopped parsley and mayonnaise in his hand, showed an expression of realization, and said: "Mrs. Pankhurst, do you think I am going to give you the fish and chips? "

Pankhurst was furious;

fish and chips?

To say this thing is a bribe is absolutely pure yin and yang.

Unexpectedly, Lu Shi did an even better job,

He scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "Sorry, this is my lunch, I only bought one."