Chapter 38: Jade Rabbit accepts a follower, "Miss Alice."...
Back in London, I walked across Westminster Bridge. Just crossing the bridge would lead me to the area where the lady usually hangs out.
Adrian Moran looked towards Bond Street. She should be dealing with the endless stream of requests for partnerships from pharmaceutical companies.
He suddenly hesitated.
I had ridden back from Hampshire, looking dusty and exhausted, and didn't look very good. Would she... or should I go back and clean up before meeting her?
Adrian Moran adjusted the laces of his cloak and paused for a moment on the bridge.
Beneath the bridge, the Thames River was covered in a thick layer of ice. The annual Frost Fair was underway. Numerous sheds lined the ice, each selling a variety of goods. People traded goods, watched acrobatics, or simply played and had fun, creating a bustling scene.
A figure in a red cloak suddenly caught his eye. Gazing at the familiar figure, he sank into a state of confusion and anxiety for a long time, his dead, withered heart seemingly thawing and coming alive, its heart beating vigorously.
All the questions, entanglements, worries, and hesitations that had been lingering in my mind before suddenly became meaningless. The moment I saw this person, I was nothing.
Adrian Moran couldn't wait to reach her, to his only refuge, to his new Master. It was ridiculous that he'd gone through all this trouble, only to suffer for himself. At this moment, he just wanted to get to her quickly, even faster.
The man turned his horse and headed straight for the ice.
The new master he missed was visiting London's famous Frost Market with her sisters.
"Elizabeth, Eliza," Jane called, "come, look at this ornament. I think our living room is just missing something interesting. I wonder if Charles would like it, too."
"Jane, buy it if you like it. Anyway, no matter what he does, Charles will feel that his family is happier with you." Alice smiled deeply, but the mischievous look in her eyes made it clear that this was more than just compliment. "He will only compliment your taste or express his love for you."
"The hostess's choice will never be wrong. Since you can be his master, how dare Charles have any objections?" Elizabeth joked and smiled at Alice.
Mary, who was browsing for books at the next stall and occasionally paid attention, suddenly interjected, "Even Jane's cooking skills, which are not so good, can move him to tears."
Alice and Elizabeth laughed out loud, and Jane couldn't help but smile when she recalled the scene.
As for Catherine and Lydia, they had already gone ice skating. Alice could still hear Lydia's arrogant laughter nearby: "Hahahaha, Catherine, I told you you couldn't catch me."
"Lydia, wait for me, you're skating too fast!" was Catherine's complaint.
Crackâit seemed like the sound of ice cracking.
Alice immediately walked out of the shed, only to see two familiar figures collide with each other and fall into the suddenly broken ice surface.
"What troublemakers!" Alice breathed softly and hurried towards the broken ice, where the panicked crowd had hastily cleared a large area.
She stepped into the clearing as fast as a human could, threw away her red cloak, and jumped into the ice cave.
"Alyssa!" Three female voices exclaimed. They were the three sisters who followed her out, puzzled by her sudden departure.
"Miss Alice!" A male voice shouted. It was a believer running towards the new master in the distance.
They watched helplessly as the people they cared about jumped into the icy river, leaving only a red cloak on the white ice.
Before they could worry for too long, Alice picked up the two people who had actually fallen into the water in almost an instant, one in each hand, and laid them flat on the relatively safe ice surface around them.
Catherine and Lydia were quickly rescued and had not yet lost consciousness, but the river water under the ice was freezing cold. The two drowned chickens shivered and struggled to control their frozen bodies to slowly sit up, still shivering.
After sending the two people away, Alice came out of the ice water by herself.
The other three sisters who were watching finally understood what was going on. They hurried over, first throwing away the wet cloaks on the two youngest sisters, and putting on the same thick cloaks that they had taken off but were still warm.
Mary was about to hand her cloak to Alice, who had come out of the water a step later, but she found that she already had one.
Adrian Moran, who had witnessed everything, had already abandoned his horse and pulled out several priest robes from his trunk, then ran towards the worried young lady. Inside the opened trunk were several more neatly folded priest robes and a well-protected painting.
The man anxiously wiped the icy water off Alice's body. He'd seen the woman before him in forms unlike any human, and he'd seen how concerned Alice, in her rabbit form, was about getting her fur wet. His future god might not be harmed by this, but he knew she was uncomfortable and didn't like it.
The young lady, with her keen hearing, had of course heard Adrian Moran's call and was aware of his presence. She did not refuse and naturally enjoyed the man's meticulous service.
Alice desperately wanted to return to her original form, shaking off the water droplets and tiny ice shards. Unfortunately, her magical powers hadn't recovered enough to successfully perform a deception in front of so many passersby on the Thames and Westminster Bridge. It would probably take some time before she could achieve the same level of deception she had used in India, fooling the entire palace or the crowds at the wedding banquet.
The man carefully wiped the visible water stains on her face and body, took off his cloak, and completely wrapped the person in front of him in the black cloak.
Alice, using his wide cloak as a shield, magically swapped her wet clothes with the relatively dry one the man had handed her. Others couldn't see clearly, but the man in front of her saw it all. In an instant, the collar of her clerical robe was wrapped around her neck, which was empty at the cloak's tie.
She closed her cloak, raised her half-closed eyes, and called out, "Mr. Adrian."
"Miss Alice." The man stopped wiping her hair and looked at her.
"You're back." She smiled meaningfully, with no unexpected surprise in her eyes, only the certainty that should have been there.
"Well, I'm back." He looked directly at Alice, as if he wanted to make up for the regret of not seeing her for so many days.
"Sir, didn't I tell you not to keep me waiting too long?" Alice suppressed her smile, glanced at him, and continued, "You didn't do it, so of course there must be a punishment. No matter what your answer is."
"I accept all your punishment. I only ask... I only ask that you don't abandon me." The man held onto the small piece of cloak and whispered, "I have nowhere else to go."
"That depends on how you do it." Alice pulled the cloak out of the man's hand. "Sir, I'll use your cloak for a while. Remember to come back and get it."
After saying this, he called his family back to the house to change clothes, completely ignoring the gossipy glances of the two children, who were shivering and folding their arms, and the curious, understanding, or hesitant expressions of the other three. He also ignored the pointing and gossiping of the crowd watching the excitement on the ice.
No one took yesterday's incident seriously. They each had a bowl of her medicinal soup, and even the two who had fallen into the water were soon back to full energy. Instead, she was being grilled by Jane and Elizabeth about her relationship with Adrian Moran. She replied vaguely, "What else could it be? It's just a relationship that's almost done."
Alice just waited for the feast to cook itself to its best flavor, package it and deliver it to her door, but she didn't know what the man had done. It was the next afternoon and he still hadn't said anything. But she was sure he couldn't leave her side.
Now that everything is back on track at the Tzu Chi Pharmacy and there are other priests at St. George's Church to help look after it, she returned to her old shop on Bond Street to deal with the drugstore cooperation matters that have no end in sight.
It was the time she had agreed to work on the exclusive rights deal. Alice sat on the sofa, chatting with several drug dealers from Lyon, France. French was her second Western language, so communication was not a problem.
Suddenly, there was a voice outside. It was not Adrian Moran whom she was waiting for, but a buzzing fly, disturbing her good mood.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please forgive my intrusion. I can no longer contain the grief and anger in my heart. I must stand before the door of this Oriental Alice Pharmacy and tell everyone a terrible news: the Hair Restoration Cream is a poison! It's a deadly poison!"
When Alice walked out of the store, she saw a young man who was dressed fairly decently, wearing a flat hat and a somewhat worn woolen coat. He was shouting to the crowd that was gradually gathering with a sad face: "I shouldn't have believed those false lies and deceptive sales and bought this expensive and harmful thing for my wife! She lost her life, so I am a sinner." As he spoke, he began to cry.
The Frenchman who came with her didn't understand English and looked puzzled. He asked the young lady, who was almost in a partnership, for help. But Alice didn't respond.
However, the local druggist in England who came to pick up the goods was shocked. He hesitated and stopped to pick up the goods with Ananna, deciding to see what was going on.
The two shop assistants who had followed Alice from the beginning were panicked for a moment, but they had become strong-willed by the commotion their employer had caused from time to time in recent days, so they were no longer as panic-stricken as they were at the beginning. They firmly believed that the omnipotent Miss Alice in their hearts could solve the problem.
The onlookers were not so rational. Some of them joined in the crowd, shouting "Give an explanation" and "This lady cannot die in vain."
Others, who have used the hair-strengthening and rejuvenation cream themselves, are worried they might have been poisoned, and are anxiously following the situation. While they suspect the cream is problematic, they also try to reassure themselves that so many people have used it and haven't heard of anyone else having any problems, so how could it be a problem? It must be a misunderstanding.
Alice didn't take it seriously at all. She wanted to see what kind of person dared to do something bad to her.
She walked towards the person lying on the bed at the feet of the troublemaker, who was said to have died after using the hair-strengthening and rejuvenating cream from her shop.
It was a young woman, dressed in a neat and tidy riding outfit. Her fiery red hair was loose, with a small patch of exposed scalp on top, and some semi-transparent paste still at the roots of her hair, which had not been fully absorbed. Her face was stiff, and all exposed skin, including her lips, was cyanotic and black. Her eyes, which had not yet fully closed, showed a slightly dilated pupil.
Alice knew what was going on, and was about to approach the young lady when she was stopped by someone claiming to be her husband, who shouted, "What are you doing!"
He stretched out his arms, guarding the person on the ground in a protective posture, his face revealing undisguised suspicion and vigilance. "Stay away from my wife! Don't try to destroy the evidence by any means. I must seek justice for my dear Maria today!"
"Maria was such a good person. She just loved beauty. Why were you so cruel to take her life? God will not let you go, you murderer who killed my beloved!" The husband became more and more emotional. "I told her that the ingredients of the ointment were unclear and it was not as safe as a wig, but she insisted on following this fashion. I couldn't persuade her!"
Ever since the business started to grow, this place has been bustling with activity, people coming in and out daily to discuss partnerships, pick up medicine, and deliver Chinese medicinal herbs. I never imagined it would be even busier today, getting busier by the day.
A horse-drawn carriage carrying Chinese medicinal herbs finally reached the entrance of a shop surrounded by a crowd. Two or three people, carrying bundled bags, entered the shop and placed them in the back where the medicines were stored. The last porter, however, did not follow. As he listened to the increasingly agitated accusations of the man in the crowd, he suddenly threw the bag heavily to the ground, attracting the crowd's attention.
He also jumped out of the carriage. His face was filled with the same anger as the husband's. "I really can't help but speak up. I know what's in that hair-strengthening and rejuvenation cream, and why it's killing people!"
The porter ripped open the bag, revealing the medicinal materials inside, which were small, dark brown, root-like, dried plant parts.
He grabbed a handful and showed it to the crowd. "These are the roots of wolfsbane! Extremely poisonous! Hunters use the juice of this plant to poison their arrows and kill their prey. And this Miss Alice, a famous figure in London, actually uses this poison to make an ointment that is applied to the hair of so many people in England every day!"
The husband immediately angrily accused: "The truth is even more terrible than I thought! The lives of all the people in England, no, all the lives in Europe, are not as valuable as money in your eyes! My poor Maria!"
Before Alice could reply, she saw Adrian Moran coming galloping from a distance on his horse. Seeing this, his face showed regret for being late.
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