I am aging gracefully in the world of famous books

In order to keep his "Oriental blood" secret, Pei Xiang decided to quickly resolve the matter of Celina Varun.So, she imitated Celina's handwriting to write a letter of help to lawyer Briggs.

In the letter, Celina claimed that her daughter Adele was difficult to deal with. Although she promised to pay her living expenses, she was extremely indifferent to her and limited the number of times she went out and the scope of daily communication.

Therefore, Celina needs some money to bribe the servants in charge of guarding/caring for her, let them speak well of her in front of Adele, or loosen her monitoring and guarding.

All in all, this is a help letter to borrow money.

The letter was sent to Hua Gefu butcher shop, and then it was sent to lawyer Briggs.

After confirming that Briggs had received the fake letter, Pei Xiang visited the other party's office that night.

Briggs' office is divided into two parts, inside and outside.The outside is a simple and comfortable meeting area, and the inside is a real office space, with piles of documents and a dozen thick stacks of bills and vouchers, three large iron cabinets with important contracts locked, and an office embedded in the wall. Inside the safe.

Pei Xiang looked around for a week, and made a preliminary estimate in her heart. If she wanted to read through these paper materials and find useful clues from them, it would take five or six nights, even if she had sharp eyesight and quick hands.During this period, it is a bit precarious to have to act carefully to ensure that Briggs will not find any clues.

"Fortunately, I made some preparations in advance." Pei Xiang thought to himself.

She closed the door of the inner office again, took out a small piece of dark brown incense stick from her waist, and lit it.

Little sparks, curling smoke.

The incense didn't have any special smell at first, but as it burned, a rich floral fragrance gradually emerged in the office, which was full of the smell of paper and ink.The fragrance of this flower is fragrant and warm, as if someone broke a bottle of perfume or knocked over a box of rouge powder.

Pei Xiang's nose moved slightly, and walked in the direction of the fragrance of flowers.

She bypassed the desk and the safe with combination lock, passed a full bookcase and a row of blue file boxes, and finally, she stopped in front of an unremarkable oak chest of drawers.

Pei Xiang bent over and leaned forward, smelled it carefully, and finally confirmed that the sudden strong smell came from the chest of drawers.She smiled slightly, carefully extinguished a small stick of incense in her hand, and began to search the drawer.

Pei Xiang removed the old newspapers and outdated policy documents in the drawer, and among a pile of Lawyers Association pamphlets of different sizes and thicknesses, he accurately found her forged letter—the source of the fragrance.

——It turned out to be here.

——If there is no scent guide, I really wouldn't check here the first time, I would probably run to the safe and the iron cabinet with the lock.

——I hope that this senior lawyer has good professional habits and likes to organize and store documents in different categories to avoid memory confusion.

According to Pei Xiang's speculation, since the other party put Celina's help letter here, the relevant documents will not be hidden too far away, at least, they will not be scattered throughout this office.

— Let's see how lucky I am.

Pei Xiang continued to check the old and invalid documents in the drawer of the chest of drawers.

After a while, she found a German letter in a rolled-up bar association directory, which mainly related to a foreign investment.Afterwards, Pei Xiang found several payment vouchers and an IOU written in French.

After silently writing down the above content, Pei Xiang put the hidden files back in the original position, and then carefully closed the drawer of the chest of drawers to restore everything to its original state.

At this time, the scent that "guided" Pei Xiang had completely dissipated, and the dim office was once again filled with a faint mixed smell of ink and tobacco.

——As long as you don’t light the incense stick just now, the letter paper will be an ordinary paper without any smell. Otherwise, the floral fragrance will become strong again.

After getting what he wanted, Pei Xiang realized that it was still early, so he casually flipped through various materials in Briggs' office.She wrote down some useful bits and pieces of information and strings of data, thinking that although she can't use it now, who knows when it will play a key role?

By the time Pei Xiang left the lawyer's office, it was almost midnight.

She galloped and ran lightly in the night, avoiding certain brightly lit streets and noisy crowds of carriages and horses, and found the back wall of the Viscount Rio Mansion along a dark alley without street lights.

After skilfully climbing over the wall and entering the garden, Pei Xiang lightly jumped up to the terrace on the second floor of the Viscount Rio Mansion, intending to go back to her bedroom through the men's smoking room and billiard room.

Unfortunately, there is a late-night William Grant here.

Pei Xiang hurriedly stopped, and retreated silently into the shadows on the terrace.

Before dodging, she glanced at the cigar and half a bottle of red wine that William had just lit, knowing that this gentleman would not leave the smoking room for a while.

- If I don't want to be silly feeding the mosquitoes on the terrace, I'd better go back the other way.

Pei Xiang leaned on the carved railing of the terrace and looked around for a while, only to find that Theodore's study room was still lit.

—He didn't sleep either?

——The two adult sons of the Grant family like to stay up all night so much, aren't they afraid of going bald?

——I just happened to ask Theodore for something.I should also... let him rest assured of my skills.

Pei Xiang aimed at several climbing points, turned over from the flower stand on the side of the terrace, moved along the wall, and swayed a few times to borrow strength, and she successfully reached the window of Theodore's study.

"Tut, duk..." Pei Xiang tapped lightly on the window frame of the screen window.

Theodore, who was concentrating on writing something, suddenly raised his head, and at that moment, a cold look appeared in his eyes, completely devoid of his usual gentle appearance.

After he saw Pei Xiang poking his head out of the window, he first softened his brows, then his face turned serious, and he got up suddenly.

"Adele!"

Theodore clutched his chest and slowed down his tone as much as possible, for fear of scaring the other party.

"Can I come in?" Pei Xiang asked with a smile.

"Yes, come in quickly!" Theodore responded quickly, and opened the screen window in fear.

"Then you step aside, I'm going to jump in."

Theodore immediately backed away holding his breath, his blue eyes were deep and dark, staring closely at every movement of Pei Xiang.

Pei Xiang's hands let go of the window frame in an instant, and he turned his waist halfway. Like a flying crane piercing the clouds, he slipped into the window gracefully, calmly and swiftly, and landed lightly and steadily on the carpet.

It wasn't until Pei Xiang stood still that Theodore breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's so late, why haven't you rested yet?" Pei Xiang's tone was natural, as if his actions just now were ordinary.

Theodore closed his eyes, and finally said helplessly, "Adele, you just scared me."

Pei Xiang patted Theodore's shoulder lightly, comforting Theodore like he did when he was a child:

"My dear friend, you know that I have a lot of secrets, and I have done a lot of things alone. If I don't have agile skills, how can I deal with all kinds of accidents and dangers?"

"It's one thing to know, it's quite another to see you hanging out the window."

Pei Xiang pondered for a while, and said sincerely:

"Then I apologize to you, Theodore. However, next time you encounter a similar situation, you don't need to be so nervous. You should know that I am not a reckless person."

Theodore felt he couldn't do it.He poured himself a glass of wine with a sullen face, and poured Pei Xiang a cup of warm tea.

"Adele, I have always been very clear that you have learned a lot of special skills from that oriental man, and I know that you are very powerful, but I can't suppress the worry and tension in my heart at all."

Pei Xiangyi pointed out: "There will be many such things in the future, Theodore. You have to choose between getting used to it and giving up."

Theodore was silent for a moment, and asked hesitantly: "So, can I learn, can I do some dangerous things for you?"

"You can learn, but it will take a lot of hardships and you will get hurt. Besides, I will definitely continue to take risks based on realistic needs and personal interests, um, although the situation just now...is not an adventure at all for me .”

"I know, Sister Adele," Theodore said with a firm expression, "I am so uneasy now because I don't understand your ability. If I can fully understand your ability in attack, I will It might calm down a bit."

"Theodore, you will sweat, get hurt, and suffer, but it may have little effect, and it will not reach the level like me."

"So what? I guess the skills mastered by Sister Adele are also very precious and rare for Orientals. Speaking of which, I still took advantage of it."

——What's more, in the process of teaching and learning, Adele and I spend more time together, and we will have more common topics.

Pei Xiang thought about the future arrangements, nodded and agreed to Theodore's proposal.

The two talked for a while before Theodore's nervousness completely calmed down. He took a sip of wine and asked Pei Xiang gently why he jumped out of the window and came to the study in the middle of the night.

"I asked some useful clues from that Celina Warren, and I am currently investigating lawyer Briggs. Theodore, I want to know about Briggs' overseas industries and investments, and what else? Has his real source of income."

Theodore replied ponderingly: "Sister Adele, can you give a more specific scope and direction? If you investigate in general, it may lead to the omission of some key events, and it will take longer. "

"Of course, I already have some clues, but it's not convenient to continue the in-depth investigation. It would consume too much energy and time, and it's not worthwhile."

That's why Pei Xiang came to Theodore for help tonight.The two already have a cooperative relationship, you come and go, mutual benefit.

Theodore has the advantages and convenience of his status, and some things are just a little effort for him.But if Pei Xiang, who started from scratch, would have to start from scratch, she chose to take a shortcut.

"Adele, leave it to me." Theodore's eyes were bright, and he was very happy to be Pei Xiang's "shortcut".

Pei Xiang nodded and told some clues she found tonight.

After listening for a while, Theodore couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly. He had realized what Pei Xiang had done before.

Pei Xiang's eyebrows were curved, and he was at ease.

So Theodore couldn't help being distracted, thinking she was so cute.

Seven or eight days later, Theodore handed over the preliminary investigation results to Pei Xiang.

"Briggs has a plantation in South America. Of course, he doesn't own it alone. He doesn't participate in the management and operation of that plantation, but he can get 30.00% profit dividends every year. The money will go through two foreign banks Transfer and remittance, and finally divided into four to five times into the account of his underground lover."

Pei Xiang flipped through some internal information obtained by Theodore mobilizing contacts, and said in a low voice:

"The scale of this plantation is very large and the location is good. According to Briggs' apparent income and expenses, he simply does not have enough capital to invest in such a large plantation. But now, he can get 30.00 % dividend, which is unusual at first glance. Theodore, who is the real owner of this plantation?"

"It's Daniel Mason, an Englishman living overseas."

"It turns out that it's really a Mason..." Pei Xiang's eyes turned cold, "He must have valued Mr. Briggs for giving such a generous reward. I'm really curious about Mr. Daniel Mason's generosity , what Mr Briggs will do in return for him."

Theodos sneered politely: "In any case, Mr. Briggs must satisfy his big client, even if he uses some despicable means."

Pei Xiang got the name "Daniel Mason", even if he found the most critical link.She thought about it carefully, and realized that she had actually heard the name before.

When visiting Bertha Mason a few years ago, Bertha's housekeeper once praised a person named Daniel Mason.Said the man would stay for a while whenever he came to see Bertha, and was a very nice gentleman of gentle manner and good manners.

It's just that Bertha disliked Daniel Mason and yelled at him when she saw him. Therefore, he visited Bertha less and less frequently.

——So, did he think of taking advantage of my relationship with Bertha when he realized that he couldn't please Bertha?

——However, since he owns such a large plantation, plus the income from other industries, his net worth must be very rich, why would he bother to calculate so much for [-] pounds?

—Could it be...he has a personal enmity with Mr. Rochester?

Pei Xiang thought about Daniel Mason's motives for a while, and then he didn't delve into it any further. Regardless of what he was doing, he just wouldn't let him succeed in his calculations.

Theodore noticed that Pei Xiang had been staring at the name "Daniel Mason", and asked curiously:

"Adele, is there anything special about this Mason? Is he plotting against you? Can you tell me something inside?"

Now that she had asked Theodore for help, Pei Xiang didn't want to hide him completely. She avoided Bertha's illness and briefly introduced the reason:

"Mr. Rochester's ex-wife was named Mason before they got married, so when I found lawyer Briggs according to the clues provided by Celina Warren, and found that one of his important clients was named Mason, I had to go to a certain I have guessed the direction. You know, I visit a lady every year and stay with her for a few days. In fact, she is Mr. Rochester’s ex-wife, Bertha Mason. She likes me very much, more than the younger generation of her natal family.”

Hearing this, Theodore said sharply:

"With Mr. Rochester's temper, he will probably return his ex-wife's dowry, and then... that Bertha Mason values ​​you more...she wants to give you her dowry? So, that Daniel Mason wants to plot against you? "

Pei Xiang shook his head, and told Theodore about Bertha's property disposal plan.

Theodore came to a sudden: "That Bertha Mason likes you more, so some people think that you can influence Bertha's choice. When it comes to interests, conspiracy naturally follows."

Pei Xiang sighed: "Not only that, but there are other entanglements, and even... there may be some that I haven't discovered yet. In short, those people have the idea of ​​killing more birds with one stone."

Theodore was slightly startled, really curious about Pei Xiang's hidden secret, but he still chose not to ask.

After that day, Pei Xiang became busy again. After attending several grand balls in a row, she finally found a few days of free time and started to continue her previous investigation.

She repeated the same trick, writing to attorney Briggs again in imitation of Celina Warren's handwriting.This time, instead of asking for help, she told Briggs that Celina already had some key evidence and could complete the task they assigned.

However, to be on the safe side, Celina was unwilling to hand over the evidence she had finally obtained.In the letter, she asked the lawyer Briggs to meet her in person, bring five hundred pounds and the previously signed IOU, and hand over the evidence and pay.

Briggs didn't immediately agree. He managed to contact Celina and met with him, trying to coax her to hand over the evidence letter first.

Naturally, Attorney Briggs was firmly rejected by Pei Xiang's version of Celina.

After several rounds of probing, Briggs became anxious. At this time, he was convinced that Celina had evidence. He weighed up and down, hesitated repeatedly, and finally agreed to go to the appointment in person.

The lawyer Briggs who appeared alone did not see Celina Varun, but was secretly sent to No. 23 Dole Street by Pei Xiang's subordinates after being hit by a sap.

So far, Briggs and Celina Warren, who has one meal a day, have become temporary "cellmates."

Soon, he confessed the name Daniel Mason.

After that, under the threat of Pei Xiang, he wrote an urgent letter to a big client in Jamaica, and made up a detailed reason for asking him to come to England.Otherwise, they face significant losses.

"Adele, will that Daniel Mason come?" Theodore asked with some uncertainty.

Pei Xiang's eyes were cold and sharp: "If he comes, the matter will end in England; if he doesn't come, I'll go to Jamaica to find him. It's only a matter of time before we get rid of the enemy."

These words made Theodore suddenly stand up:

"Adele, do you intend to leave England? To travel? For a long time?"

Pei Xiang looked at Theodore apologetically, and nodded without hesitation.

Theodore frowned all of a sudden, he stared at Pei Xiang silently, and after a long while, he asked in a hoarse voice:

"According to your plan, when do you plan to leave? When do you plan to come back?"

Pei Xiang explained in a gentle voice:

"Dr. Peter is getting old, and he still wants to return to his hometown to die, so I will accompany him to leave. As for the time to leave... it is expected to be next spring. Theodore, I will not never go back, here is Rochester Sir and Bertha, and you friends and partners. We can communicate by letter, and the previous plans will not be delayed. The travel time... about two or three years, I will definitely return to England. After that... Whether he will leave or not, we will see the specific situation at that time."

Theodore struggled and asked, "Will Mr. Rochester agree?"

Pei Xiang nodded resolutely, and said in his heart that if he was deceived, he would definitely agree.

Theodore's heart sank, and his thoughts were a little confused.

"Sister Adele, did you plan to travel long ago? Before, before I proposed?"

Pei Xiang's gaze wandered a little:

"Before... I was a little hesitant, but this time I made up my mind. I have a hunch that Daniel Mason is very likely not to come to England in person, so if you want to fight back against him, you have to go to him."

——There is no reason to guard against thieves for a thousand days.

——What's more, what if the person he really wants to deal with is Mr. Rochester?

——I must cut the weeds and get rid of the roots.

"Your safety..."

"Theodore, you have seen my methods."

Theodore's brows were gloomy, and his heart was sour.

He had wondered before, why did Pei Xiang suddenly show off his skills in front of him?I was also secretly happy, thinking that the two were getting closer.Now it seems that I think too much.

"Adele, are you sure you will be back?"

"Naturally," Pei Xiang nodded with a smile, "I will definitely do what I promised. Don't worry, Theodore."

How could Theodore be relieved?