Edinburgh,
A city on the east coast of Scotland.
Seagulls soaring in the sky, overlooking the city, are like inspecting a newly built stage, which is filled with layers of ancient buildings and the famous Arthur's Seat.
But the charm of Edinburgh is not in the scenery, but in the people here.
The Scots always have a yearning for freedom.
In the afternoon, the sun shines on the Forth Bridge.
The bridge body made of steel divides the yin and yang between the east and west, making morning and dusk completely different, just like the line in Du Fu's poem "Yin and yang separate the dusk and dawn."
The Scottish gentlemen were basking in the sun on the shallow beach under the bridge and eating in the afternoon.
Arthur Conan Doyle and his wife Louise Hawkins strolled on the shallows,
Because Sherlock Holmes ended nearly seven years ago, Doyle gave very few interviews during this period and had low exposure, so he was not recognized for the time being.
At this moment, he was lowering his head, trying to think of something in his mind.
At this time, a newsboy ran by,
"Supplement, supplement, there's a supplement in today's The Scotsman."
Hawkins asked: "Don't you want to take a look? The Wednesday supplement of The Scotsman seems to be a novel, which may be beneficial to your writing."
Doyle shook his head.
In the past few days, he has indeed been thinking about how Holmes should return. Any method that can help find inspiration is necessary to try.
But The Scotsman might as well forget it.
"You know, I hate that kind of hypocritical newspaper. The Scotsman claimed that it was determined not to act as a tool of parties or small groups, but to reflect the interests of ordinary British people... Hum... the result? It became a 'sacrifice' A liberal newspaper'."
As he spoke, Doyle showed a disgusted expression.
The current editor-in-chief of The Scotsman is Charles Alfred Cooper, who is exactly the same as the Charles of the Manchester Guardian. Both seem to have been brainwashed by liberalism.
The most important thing is that the power of these two Charles is very stable, and they have been in their respective positions for 21 and 29 years respectively.
There is no telling how long their iron-fisted rule will last.
Doyle muttered: "The world is declining, and people's hearts are not as old as they used to be."
Hawkins sighed silently,
"Since you don't like to read news reports in The Scotsman, just read the pages that were published."
Doyle didn't hear anything and went to the side to watch the two old men playing chess.
At this time, they had reached the middle of the game,
An old man had just eaten the opponent's castle and was slowly placing the chess pieces into the wooden box.
He argued with the chess players: "Lao Zhan, is it almost done?"
Lao Zhan raised his head and yelled: "Shut up!"
The old men watching chess around couldn't help laughing.
"Old Charlie, don't play these vain off-the-table tricks. If you want to do it, do it well. What's the point of trying to persuade people to surrender here?"
"I just said that the castle can't be moved like that. Just admit defeat~ Just admit defeat~"
"Don't listen to him, Lao Zhan, jump the knight there, yes, right there."
"Get out! You're just giving away food like this! Listen to me, level the king, and watch him first~"
…
Chess is very popular in Scotland, and most people can play a few moves. Otherwise, there would be no opening named after the region like the Scottish opening in chess records.
Several old men were discussing happily.
But there are so many people talking, and the more people discussing it, the harder it is to decide, and no one knows what the next step should be.
Old Charlie sighed,
"You guys discuss it first."
After finishing speaking, he shouted to the newspaper boy beside him: "Children, bring me a newspaper."
The newsboy put the hanging mail bag in front of him, plucked it with his hands, and asked: "What newspaper do you want? We have The Times, The Manchester Guardian, The Scotsman..."
Old Charlie interrupted the other party to announce the name of the dish.
"The Scotsman."
Upon hearing this, Doyle couldn't help but gasped softly: "Tsk..."
He paces to the side.
Hawkins grabbed her husband and whispered: "Don't you think this place is very romantic and suitable for reading newspapers and books?"
Doyle couldn't help but have black lines all over his head, ￣□￣｜｜
Take a look around and look at your surroundings,
Where's the romance?
Hey, woman...
He couldn't help complaining: "Ruth, look at the Forth Bridge above our heads. The train passes over it, the axles rattle, and the whistle roars across the sky. Isn't reading in this environment asking for trouble?" "
Hawkins looked at her husband with admiration.
"'The wheel axles rattled and the whistle roared across the sky'..."
She repeated Doyle's original sentence.
Doyle knew his wife's character well and was ready to change the subject.
It turned out to be too late.
Hawkins said: "Look at what you just described, isn't it romantic?"
Doyle couldn't help but be speechless.
At this time, old Charlie's voice came from behind the couple: "I said, have you read today's supplement of "The Scotsman"? Who wrote "No Survival"?"
Someone asked: "Is it well written?"
Old Charlie nodded,
"It's very well written. I...I think...I think this book is better than Sherlock Holmes."
The surroundings became extremely quiet, and you could hear the drop of a needle.
A train roared past on the bridge, but the noise it produced had no impact on the bridge. The bridge above and below seemed to be two completely isolated dimensions.
It took a long time for someone to say: "Old Charlie, although Dr. Doyle has gone to London and has nothing to do with us Scottish country bumpkins, you can't arrange him like this, right? Is it better than "Sherlock Holmes"? Are you kidding me?" !”
Old Charlie blushed,
"Really! I'm serious! If you don't believe me, come and see!"
He was instantly surrounded by people,
The remaining old men who couldn't squeeze in had no choice but to go to the newsboy and buy up all the "Scotsman".
For a while, no one was playing chess, and everyone gathered together in twos and threes to read newspapers.
The surroundings became quieter.
Doyle and Hawkins couldn't help but look at each other.
This scene is very familiar to them. It is exactly the same as the publication date of "Seaside Magazine" when the Sherlock Holmes series was still published.
At that time, almost all of London was reading the novel, and the streets were empty.
Doyle stepped forward quickly and stretched his neck, trying to see the contents of the supplement clearly, but he could only see the back of the man's head with sparse hair.
He cleared his throat and said, "Gentlemen, can you let me take a look?"
Someone turned around and looked at him like a fool.
"Who are you?"
Doyle showed a confident smile and said: "I am Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes."
The elders looked at each other and suddenly burst into laughter.
Lao Zhan said: "If you are Conan Doyle, then I...well...you are really..."
He seemed to recognize it.
Doyle was overjoyed and asked the other party again: "Can you lend it to me?"
Lao Zhan hesitated for a moment, but finally shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Dr. Doyle, this "No Survival" is really interesting, even better than your... ahem... in short, I want to finish reading it now."
The facial scan failed, and Doyle's expression froze.
Is it really better than what I wrote?
He subconsciously scanned the newspaper supplement and discovered to his surprise that the author column of the novel was not in English, but only had two simple letters——
Lu.
"Lu...Lu!? Lu Shi!?"
He was stunned.
