Chapter 10: Jade Rabbit and Uninvited Guests “It’s not easy to take my things…
Alice's plan to deliver herbs to the church is interrupted by an unexpected visitor.
In the evening, a middle-aged man wearing a black felt flat-top hat walked into a shop with a sign that read "Oriental Alice".
With a comically large nose, he stood at the counter, quickly glanced around the store, and spoke gently, "Please ask your employer to come out. Tell her I have a big deal to discuss with her."
Anna and Anne looked at each other in bewilderment. Their experience in the lower classes had made it easy for them to discern the rudeness and unkindness beneath a gentle exterior. They stood there in a daze, unsure whether to inform Miss Alice immediately or hide their employer's whereabouts.
The person in question was currently selecting herbs for treating carbuncles in the pharmacy behind a screen, and he immediately recognized who the person was: the so-called advisor whom he had met by chance in the glassware shop?
Out of the kindness of her heart? Alice sneered.
She wanted to see what this person was going to say.
Putting down the herbs in his hand, he walked around the screen and said, "Sir, are you looking for me?"
"Miss Alice." Given her current fame in London's upper class society and the conspicuous shop sign, it was not surprising that he knew her name.
My attention was once again sucked away by his nose. This guy always looks at people through his nose. He is just like that idiot Tianpeng who was demoted to the mortal world and reincarnated as a pig.
Alice said nothing, picked up a flower from the vase, looked at it carefully, and washed her eyes.
He was a little unable to hold it in, but pretended to be indifferent and continued: "Let me introduce myself. I'm Harry Reid. I'm in the same line of work as you, young lady. I run more than a dozen Reid's pharmacies, including those on Bond Street and Oxford Street. Perhaps you've heard of them." When he said the last sentence, there was a arrogance on his face that the other person must have known.
Oh, the biggest store on the street. She had indeed passed by it.
"I'm here to discuss a big deal with you, young lady." No one responded, so he could finish his part. "Oriental ointments are all the rage in London. I understand your specialty Chinese herbal teas are also selling well. But with all due respect, your shop is far too small, and your staff is pitifully understaffed. It's simply not enough to cater to the ladies of London's upper-class society."
As he spoke, he looked around the store again and also looked at the only two employees, with obvious disgust in his eyes.
"So? What does Mr. Reed mean?" Alice raised her eyebrows.
"How about we work together? Miss Alice provides the formula, and I'll provide the staff and storefront to expand production and meet the needs of the ladies," said druggist Reed. "I can have Miss Alice's store hang a small sign outside my pharmacy to help promote it for you. This is my sincere offer."
How could someone describe a free medicine recipe as so refreshing and refined? The unusual buyer Annie mentioned was most likely sent by him. Unable to analyze the formula, they came to "politely negotiate."
Alice curled her lips, unmoved. An ordinary person might consider this a poorly executed but still generally profitable partnership. But she needed no external help; she could handle it all on her own. With the jade pestle, she could make as many ointments as she could at once. The only limitations on her production were the quantity of herbs and the number of buyers.
"Mr. Reed, please go back." Alice saw the guest off.
Drug dealer Reed thought the matter was a sure thing, but he didn't expect to be humiliated like this.
He said in a stiff tone, "Miss Alice, don't regret it." Then he slammed the door and left.
After wasting some time, it was already getting dark.
She continued to sort out the licorice and honeysuckle she needed, put them into a cloth bag, and pushed the door open to go to St. George's Church where Adrian Moran was.
"Miss Alice, it's getting dark. How about we take it for you?" Anna knew her employer was delivering herbs to the church and was worried that she, a lady from a gentleman's family, would be in danger. London nights were never safe.
Alice looked up and saw that the night was gradually deepening. A full moon hung in the sky, covering the whole country and illuminating the earth without distinction between east and west.
"I'll take the carriage, it won't be a problem." She said with a relaxed and casual smile.
Anna had no choice but to call a public carriage for her employer.
It was already dark, and there were fewer people on the street. Occasionally, there were people who were seen, but they were mostly homeless people lying on the street or drunkards.
The carriage rattling along the deserted streets was particularly conspicuous.
The harsh sound of rutting wheels was even more abrupt in the night.
The carriage suddenly stopped, surrounded by several ferocious street thugs. The huge iron man suddenly looked like a weak and pitiful little thing.
The coachman glanced at the young lady behind him and said tremblingly to the gangsters, "I'm just a coachman. I don't have... no money."
The implication was that they should not rob her, and that the lady behind her should be their target.
The thugs did what the driver wanted, pulled him off the carriage, and kicked him away. The driver also rolled away.
"Miss, let's get off the car and have a chat. Otherwise, don't blame us for not being 'gentlemen'." The first one spoke in a deliberately weird voice and used exaggerated movements to pretend to be a gentleman, which made all the thugs around him laugh.
They thought they were big bad wolves, surrounding a poor little white rabbit, and that the young lady in front of them could only be tossed and squeezed by them. They had no scruples and even enjoyed teasing her before biting her, watching her panic. After all, it was rare for a young lady from the upper class to go out alone at night. Such an opportunity was rare, so how could she not show off her power for a while?
However, the panicked screams and terrified cries they had anticipated were completely absent. The young lady with a delicate face and elegant demeanor was still sitting peacefully in the carriage, her expression seemingly unchanged.
In the darkness of night, even with the dim street lights, it is actually difficult to see the expressions of the people in the car.
If you insist, it seems like the curve of the corners of the mouth is getting wider and wider.
No way? It must be my own eyes. All the thugs believed this. It's impossible that this girl wasn't afraid at all and was even smiling.
But I'm not in the mood for any show or teasing, so I'll just get straight to the point.
"Miss, someone paid us to ask you for something. If you give us the gift, we'll let you go. As for us, you can just give us a little tip for running errands. I believe you're a smart person."
The carriage, which had been eerily quiet since it stopped, uttered a voice for the first time: "Oh?" The ending tone was drawn out, and there was a hint of frivolity in the voice, but the aura was strong.
"You want to ask me for something? My things are not that easy to get." There was a sense of nonchalance in the words.
"It's not a difficult task. Just write down the secret recipes for the awakening ointment and the special Chinese herbal tea." His keen sense of business made him feel something was wrong, but thinking of the boss who assigned the task, the leader still spoke with a weak tone, "Miss Alice, you've become famous recently, even us little guys know. If we give you the recipe, you can still sell the medicine, and you won't lose anything."
"Recipes for the wake-up cream and herbal tea." The voice of the person in the car was emotionless, and even through the car window, it seemed a bit ethereal. The thugs didn't know for a moment whether this was a yes or no.
One of the thugs slapped his thigh and nudged the person leading the conversation: "Hey! Pens and paper! If you don't hand over the prepared paper and pen, what are you asking the lady to write for?"
The gangsters thought what he said made sense and asked the clever boy to hand them a pen and paper.
He knocked on the car window, but before he could hand over the thing in his hand, the car door suddenly opened and he was blown out.
"You are quite polite and will be gentler." The lady who had been persuaded for a long time finally got off the car.
She was wearing a soft and comfortable silk empire-style gown, but in her hand she was clutching a hard stick that had come from nowhere. In the night, it shone with a white sheen they had never seen before. It was obvious that it was very valuable.
Their desire for money clouded their minds, and with a glance, they rushed forward. Their goal was to capture the wealthy lady and force her to write down her secret recipe. As for their hard-earned money, they would just use this stick, the material of which was unknown, to pay it off.
Alice felt calm at the moment and even found it a little funny.
The last person to fight her endlessly was Bi Ma Wen, who had wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace. Her jade pestle could even rival the golden cudgel. Now, a few mortal thugs dared to challenge her, even coveting the jade pestle.
You really don't know how to live or die.
It was so absurd that it was funny. She chuckled softly, and then her laughter grew louder and louder until she burst into laughter. It seemed vivid and strange in the empty London streets.
The thugs were completely confused, but their bodies were already rushing forward due to inertia, so they didn't care about anything else.
Alice held the jade pestle that had grown to the size of an umbrella and stood there without taking a step, waiting for those ignorant little bugs to crawl over.
The arm swinging the pestle was so fast that it left an afterimage, and he struck one person with each pestle.
In just a moment, all the thugs fell to the ground, without even the strength to groan.
There were footsteps approaching from behind.
Alice gave a final blow with the club on the wheel, smashing it to pieces and causing the carriage to tilt, thus repaying the driver for pushing her against the disaster.
Only then did he retract the jade pestle into his body and turned around.
"Miss Alice." Adrian Moran turned from the side street and saw the lady he came to pick up.
I quickened my pace and walked over until I was under the streetlights. I noticed a group of nearly unconscious men lying on the ground. They looked like thugs by the way they were dressed.
"Miss Alice, are you okay?"
Alice was puzzled. She looked at the things on the ground, then raised her head to look at the gentleman who asked the question. It didn't seem like she was the one in trouble.
The man's eyes followed her gaze, unconsciously wandering for a moment before he suddenly grasped the young lady's meaning. A little embarrassed, he insisted, "Are you safe?" There were no weapons to be seen, and Miss Alice looked as if she had defeated so many people with her bare hands. Even if she had won, she might have been injured somewhere, and she would need to be bandaged quickly.
"No." Alice was full of confidence. "I'm afraid that anyone who can really hurt me hasn't been born yet."
Adrian Moran couldn't understand why he could see such a detached and uninhibited presence in a young lady from a country family. This fearlessness of the world shone brighter than the holy moonlight in the sky, like a god of light, radiant and brilliant, all things avoiding its brilliance, making it difficult to look directly at him. He was lost in thought, staring intently at the young lady before him.
"Mr. Moran, you don't seem to think so?" Alice asked, noticing the man's doubts.
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