221 St Martin's Street, Fulham, West London.
swish swish...
The tip of the pen lightly crossed the paper, leaving curling and jumping characters in the yellowed blank space.
In the study room with his back to the window, a middle-aged man with sideburns and blue eyes was writing down something in a notebook. Sometimes he would stop writing, caressing his square chin with one hand, and pick up the silver paper on the table with the other. The lighter popped open the lid with a 'ding' sound, lit the hand-rolled cigarette in his mouth, and took a nice puff.
The cigarette was burning sizzlingly, and the quiet sound of needle dropping could be heard in the room. In the smoke rising from the birds, the middle-aged man looked at the wall embroidered with basil pattern opposite and fell into deep thought, as if he was recalling what happened not long ago.
"Holmes was...well."
After taking a last puff of cigarette, the middle-aged man put out the cigarette, picked up the pen again, and was about to continue writing when suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Watson." An old woman wearing a house apron walked into the room: "There are guests outside looking for Holmes."
"Okay, I get it, Mrs. Hudson."
Watson put down his pen and saw three young men who followed Mrs. Hudson into the room - brown hair, dark green eyes... they didn't look like Windsors, and one with braids. The little girl looks a bit like Frederick...
"Gentlemen, are you looking for Dilock Holmes?" Watson stood up and asked.
Looking Watson up and down, Ma Wei was quite interested in the middle-aged man wearing a white shirt and gray velvet vest in front of him.
He stared at Watson for a long time, then suddenly took off his hat and put it on his chest, and said in a calm voice: "I heard that Dilock Holmes has an assistant named Henry Watson, who can always help him at critical moments. I must That's your Excellency... Nice to meet you, my name is Nicholas von Manstein, these are Felix, Jonas and Emma, my brother and daughter."
"I am indeed Henry Watson, but I am not Holmes's assistant. I am just his friend. I will occasionally help him with some trivial favors at his request."
Watson looked at the old woman standing at the door: "Mrs. Hudson, could you please pour a few cups of tea?"
"Come right away."
After the old woman left the room, Watson invited Ma Wei and others to sit on the wide-backed sofa in the study room, and asked aloud: "What can you do?"
"Oh, we want to entrust Mr. Holmes to investigate." Ma Wei explained his purpose: "We have encountered a very difficult situation, and we would like to ask Mr. Holmes to take action. The reward is good."
Although Watson is Holmes's assistant and Holmes completely trusts him, so much time has passed and Ma Wei is not sure whether Holmes is still 'waiting' for his return. Based on this possibility, he can just use the case of No. 27 Flower Street Review Sherlock Holmes….
"What a coincidence. Holmes went out and took over a piece of evidence. I'm afraid he won't be able to come back until evening." Watson took a pen and paper from the table. "You can tell me the case that needs to be investigated and leave it with me." I will faithfully convey your address to Holmes."
Ma Wei smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, we will just wait for him here...if you don't mind."
"...I understand, then please sit here for a moment."
Watson did not reject Marvey's request to wait for Holmes' return. In fact, after he and Holmes met, clients often came to his door. If Holmes was not around, these clients would usually wait patiently for Holmes to return....
Usually, patient clients have very important entrustments.
Mrs. Hudson brought hot black tea and freshly baked shortbread biscuits. One was placed on the desk, and the other was placed in front of Ma Wei and others.
Watson was writing something behind the desk, and Ma Wei and others sat on the sofa and waited patiently. Yunia couldn't bear it, and looked around, and finally ran out of the room, probably following the scent to the kitchen. Mrs. Hudson.
While drinking hot tea, Ma Wei picked up the newspaper on the table and flipped through the news.
The newspapers were circled and drawn with pencils, like someone suffering from graffiti. Almost every page of news had a few lines of small words circled.
Among them, Ma Wei found that in the news about "Fourth Prince Arthur established an orphanage", the name of Fourth Prince Arthur was circled in pencil. At the same time, the bottom of the orphanage was blackened with pencil, like a thickened identification line. .
As expected of Sherlock Holmes... It seems that he has already doubted the purpose of the fourth prince Arthur in establishing the orphanage...
After not seeing each other for a year, Ma Wei still 'misses' Holmes. He hopes to bring Holmes into his camp. So far, Holmes is one of the few goals that perfectly fits the 'logical truth'. Talents like this cannot be wasted. .
Lai Wen next to him was a little restless. He was holding a silver wine flask and walking around the room. It seemed that the whole space was filled with an aura that made him anxious and irritated. After half an hour, he couldn't help it anymore: "I'm going out." Get some air.”
Carrying the walnut cane, Lai Wen left the room without looking back. Mawei put down the teacup, knocked on the table in front of Daniel who was reading, and winked.
"...I'm also going out to get some air."
Sighing in his heart, Daniel put down the book, tightly grasped the hilt of the sword at his waist, and followed the message. In the blink of an eye, only Ma Wei and Watson were left in the room.
Looking at the various strange ornaments placed on the fireplace, Mavey suddenly asked: "Mr. Watson, do you have any religious beliefs?"
Watson raised his head and stared at Ma Wei's back for a long time: "No, why do you ask?"
"Because I found that there are many exquisite gadgets in your study..." Ma Wei bent down and carefully observed a wooden statue of a monster with two heads and four arms: "I'm just a little curious, please Don't mind."
"These knickknacks were all brought back by Holmes." Watson said: "He didn't have this habit before. Almost a year ago, he suddenly started collecting these strange things. Every time he left London for business, he would bring them with him. Come back a little bit, I asked him but he didn’t tell me... Are these things related to religion?"
Watson, who has been with Holmes for many years, has already learned some of the essence of his good friend and learned to observe the things around him. Mavey first asked him about his beliefs and then observed the various furnishings in the room. It was obvious that the two were related.
"Some have it, some don't." Ma Wei pointed to the monster statue with two heads and four arms in front of him and said: "This is an indigenous totem of the Vodu Kingdom, called Ogen. It is in charge of war and death, and the armor on its body is made of mud. , which is soaked with the souls and blood of sacrifices...one of the gods worshiped by the Witch God Cult."
"Witch Cult?" Watson frowned and said, "What is Holmes doing collecting these things?"
Ma Wei smiled and did not answer Watson's question, because even he himself was not sure of the answer and could only make a bold guess.
During the year he went to the Romanov Kingdom, Holmes must have done a lot and investigated a lot of clues. If he was smart enough, he might be able to track down information about the lost history and the Free Society... This is also Ma Wei wanted to please him.
As early as after the Black Swan Dance Troupe incident, Ma Wei realized that it would be difficult for him to compete with the Free Society on his own. The Free Society is not an emerging force. They have been existing and lurking in this world for many years. They are the puppets of the ancient gods. Deep-rooted and ubiquitous.
There are specialties in the arts, and the Church of Truth needs a genius who is consistent with "logical truth" to compete with the mysterious Free Society and assist Ma Wei in investigating and detecting the secrets of the lost history...
This talent appeared a long time ago, but the Truth Church at that time was weak and could not attract this talent to join. Now...
The Church of Truth has completely entered the world stage, competing with other large churches and becoming increasingly powerful. It is no longer the small church that was at the mercy of others and could not help itself.
In the future grand plan conceived by Ma Wei, Holmes is an indispensable part. On the way to No. 221 St. Martin Street, Ma Wei was extremely uneasy. He was afraid that Holmes had joined other churches and broke the agreement.
The answer to this question can only be obtained by actually meeting Sherlock Holmes.
In the evening, the white sky gradually darkened, the sun set, and Daniel, who had gone out for some fresh air, had returned. Yunia used some means to coax Mrs. Hudson into baking a big cake for her. You know the cake is not easy to make, but Mrs. Hudson is so happy that she doesn't mind at all.
Just when I was getting impatient to wait for the letter, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from the door of the study:
"Watson, are there any guests at home?"
