Operation Red Book

"The weather is really bad..."

Ivy muttered as she looked at the raindrops sliding down the window glass, and the frown on her already fine lines deepened.

"Hahaha!"

Holmes laughed beside Ivy.

"What?"

Ivy's voice was a little hoarse. She tilted her head to look at Holmes, her tightly-pressed lips raised high.

"You didn't want to be like this more than half a month ago. Hmm...it might be due to the influence of the Mirror of the Underworld."

"Your spirit and consciousness have been invaded. The matter from the underworld has amplified your resentment and sadness, so your emotions are fluctuating abnormally, just like eating a firecracker..."

"Of course, the huge energy consumption made you sleepy and weak. During those days, you even slept for more than 15 hours..."

"15 hours? One day!"

Ivy twitched her lower lip in surprise. She hardly remembered anything about that period of time.

Except for that birthday party that night when she could barely stand up and caused her to fall into an endless abyss...

"Hey, hey, hey! Stop thinking about that!"

Holmes tapped Ivy's forehead with his knuckles, not hard, but enough to bring Ivy back to her senses.

"I'm here! Well, and so is Mrs. Hudson and that Joshua boy..."

Holmes pursed his lips reluctantly and placed his large hand gently on Ivy's shoulder.

"This lawsuit is very important. Whether we can return to 221-B Baker Street depends entirely on the judge's decision."

Ivy raised her head and met Holmes' brown eyes.

Their eyes moved, and there seemed to be a belief in victory slowly moving in their pupils...

A warm ripple rose in Ivy's heart. Perhaps, perhaps after so many failures, the turning point of victory would be in this judgment...

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

We will win, yes, we can definitely go back to the way we were before...

"Shame on you! Shame on Britain!"

"Bang bang bang bang!"

"Tie them both up! Throw them in jail!"

"Bang Bang Bang!"

Very good, another trial that ended in a disastrous defeat...

Ivy squatted in the corner with her head in her hands. She had a splitting headache and her throat was dry.

But in front of her was nothing but a crumbling grey wall and a rusty iron lock, and the passing patrolmen were not even willing to look at this poor little girl...

Ivy had never suffered such a desperate mood before.

I will definitely not go to hell in the future, Ivy cried in her heart. In the six months since she came to the 19th century, she should have experienced all the sufferings of this life...

Oh no, she had already sold her soul to Dorian... But she is Chinese, so after death she should be under the control of the underworld... So who would win if Bofu and Dorian fought? The devil or our "little bully"...

The more she thought about it, the more her headache worsened. Ivy rubbed her sore eye sockets with her index finger, hoping to relieve the headache a little.

"Click!"

Suddenly, without any warning, the lock opened.

Holmes, a cigarette in his mouth, opened Ivy's cell door with a curse.

"James is not available, Joshua is nowhere to be seen, Lestrade is back home for vacation, and only Luna is on duty at SCO..."

Holmes pushed Ivy's back and led her towards the door where the light was.

Along the way, he kept complaining, and his mouth seemed to have fifty thousand complaints to vent.

Ivy breathed out hot breaths from time to time, and her head was aching even more because of Holmes' nagging.

"When I need help, there is no one around. I usually hang out with people who are treacherous and unfaithful..."

The moment he walked out of the light, Holmes suddenly closed his mouth.

Ivy blocked the blinding white light, and it took her a while to notice the thick black shadow standing in front of them.

"Why don't you tell me."

The black shadow questioned, his tone full of resentment, and the look in his eyes as he looked at Holmes revealed a different kind of helplessness.

Mycroft Holmes was wearing a formal, upright black suit, looking like a big seal that had just come ashore.

"There's no need to tell you about things I can handle on my own."

Holmes argued cunningly, his arrogance obviously dampened a lot.

"It's faster, more effective and more convenient to tell me. Just a letter or even a verbal message will do."

"I've already told you that I don't need your help. I can help Little Sheep clear his name right away..."

"But you didn't."

Mycroft said calmly, he stretched out his palm as big as a seagull's wing and started to break it like a child.

"Miss Ivy has had eight court trials in total, three in the Madison case, four in the trespassing McMillan case, and one in the assault on the Duchess case, and you have been held in contempt of court in every one of them."

Ivy stayed quietly aside. McCoff was right. Holmes did speak eloquently during the trial, but at the end of each speech, he would take the opportunity to humiliate the opposing lawyer and the judge in court, which led to repeated postponements and detention.

"Because those people are fools!" said Holmes unconvinced.

"Maybe it's because you're the real idiot."

"Me? Me!"

Holmes was rarely so angry that he blew his beard and glared. He raised his voice and his neck turned red.

"It was my credit that the London Bridge suicide case that stumped Scotland Yard for more than two months was solved!"

"You didn't catch the witch. We spread the accusation that the tavern owner used poisonous mushrooms to make wine later... Anyway, he molested a young girl and was sentenced to death twice."

"I even helped Grace Coleman clear her name! You can't be unaware of how much effort I put into bringing the Florence bombing case to a successful conclusion!"

"If you hadn't angered the old judge so much that he had a heart attack and died on the spot, Ms. Coleman wouldn't have been sentenced to a year of community service. She could have been acquitted and directly become the new dean."

"Miss Grace has been released?"

Ivy raised her head and asked in surprise.

"Of course, I am her attorney!" Holmes began to be proud again.

"Her community service is to take care of the children in the orphanage. So what if she becomes the director again after a year? The orphanage is still being rebuilt anyway..."

"Great!"

Ivy gleefully raised her arms above her head, ignoring the pain in her head.

Holmes put his hands in his trouser pockets and looked at the gloomy Mycroft even more smugly, his upturned mouth corners unable to hide his joy.

McCof rubbed his frowning brows and let out a long sigh. He looked at Holmes uncomfortably and spoke earnestly.

"Xia Li, I am your brother who grew up with you. I hope I can lend you a helping hand, and I hope you can contact me on your own initiative..."

"Lend a hand?"

Holmes drilled his ear with his little finger, with a disdainful expression as if he had heard the biggest joke of the 19th century.

"Isn't it the fault of your British government that she was harmed like this?"

"Sherlock, watch your words."

"What did I say wrong? It was the British who first pointed their guns at China, burning, killing, and looting everywhere, leaving the people homeless and starving!"

"Now you are beginning to be afraid of the power of the Chinese wharf. If that is the case, why did you act like a saint when receiving the Chinese in the early years?"

"The British always laugh at the Dutch for being reckless and the Portuguese for being cautious. Fine, you can laugh as much as you want! I just feel ashamed! I just feel hatred!"

"Sherlock Holmes!"

Mycroft ignored etiquette and yelled at Holmes.

The atmosphere between the two brothers had already become tense. Ivy shrank her neck, fearing that she would be implicated.

"Ivy! Come here!"

Ivy was frightened by Holmes and shuddered violently. Before she could react, she was pulled in front of him.

"You targeted Ivy because you wanted to attack the Chinese docks, didn't you? You are so shameless as to bully a little girl from a foreign country and cross my bottom line again!"

"Let me tell you, Ivy is much stronger than you think. Don't be fooled by her innocent appearance. Aren't you afraid that she might be a cherry boom?"

Holmes didn't give Ivy and McCoff any chance to interrupt. He was so angry that his hands on Ivy's shoulders were shaking.

"Ignore him, let's go!"

Holmes turned his head and got on a carriage at a very fast speed, leaving Ivy and McCovey standing there looking at each other in bewilderment.

"Sorry... um... well... how about you apologize to me too?"

Ivy touched the back of her head and said awkwardly.

“Go find the root of the problem.”

"Huh?" Ivy's eyes widened.

"The government responds to the voice of the people, and the voice of the people is often guided by public opinion."

"Women often have a strong core. I agree with what Xia Li said."

McCof left some unclear words, bowed to Ivy, and slowly turned and walked away.

"Goodbye, Miss Ivy."