Operation Red Book

"Wake up! Come! Here!"

A roar woke Ivy up. She was so frightened that she jumped up from the bed.

Also awakened by the fright was Joshua, who was lying beside Ivy's bed. He looked around panicking with a head of messy hair, and finally found Holmes, who had a smirk on his face, at the door.

The sky was already bright, and the warm sunlight poured into the room through the window. The air in the bedroom was processed by the sunlight, making people more sleepy.

After realizing it was Holmes who called her, Ivy rolled up her quilt and covered her head with it, closing her eyes. She didn't forget to get angry at him even as she lay down: "What gentleman would enter a girl's room without permission? Get out now!"

"Oh, I'm not here to bother you. I have a guest here to see you. It seems to be the famous Chinese wharf area leader, Mr. Zhu."

Holmes pulled out Joshua's chair and pulled back Ivy's quilt.

"I know you are definitely involved in what happened at the dock last night. I'm telling you, I'm very busy. If you don't come out, I'll carry you out to meet the guests."

Holmes pretended to carry Ivy, and Ivy was so frightened that she waved her hands hurriedly and asked the two men to leave.

“You and her are not quarrelling?” asked Holmes.

"Stop arguing. Yesterday, Ivy cried and apologized to me, but I'm not mad at her."

Joshua scratched his head in confusion and picked up the cookies Mrs. Hudson had prepared in the kitchen.

Early this morning, when everything was settled, Joshua, accompanied by Bell, came to the Chinese dock area.

Joshua was stunned by the chaotic scene in front of him and didn't know what to do. He had to follow Bell to the place where the SCO members were resting.

Ivy was sitting weakly in a chair at the time. Her eyes were swollen, she looked tired, and there were scratches of varying sizes on her face and hands.

Luna stood aside holding the doll, her lifeless eyes staring straight ahead, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

Ivy was the first to see Joshua. She stood up suddenly, held back her tears, and ran over to hug him tightly.

"I, I, I, I..."

Joshua's face flushed and he began to stutter nervously.

Just as Joshua was thinking about whether to touch her head or pat her back, Ivy apologized to him in a sobbing voice:

"Wuwuwuwu, I'm sorry, Joshua, I didn't mean to get angry at you, wuwuwuwu, I was wrong, I'm sorry wuwuwuwu..."

Joshua thought back to the end and his face gradually turned red again.

He said embarrassedly: "Then, then she, she was tired of crying, and fainted..."

Holmes secretly ate a few cookies, hummed a few perfunctorily, and walked into the living room with Joshua, followed by the flustered Ivy.

When Ivy arrived in the living room, Mr. Zhu was already chatting with Mrs. Hudson. When he saw Ivy coming, Mr. Zhu invited her to sit down as if she was at home.

Ivy sat down next to Mrs. Hudson with a sideways look and a frown on her face.

"Good boy, did those gangsters at the Chinese dock hurt you last night?"

Mrs. Hudson looked at Ivy's porcelain-white face, then lifted her hands and looked at them carefully. After confirming that everything was fine, she nodded with satisfaction.

Ivy looked at her hands and quietly touched the injured part of her arm.

She was surprised to find that the wounds she had incurred yesterday had already healed to their original state without even a small scar left.

Ivy looked up at the look Joshua gave her and immediately understood what he meant. She couldn't help but admire Ms. Bell and her magic potion.

"I heard that many British people at the Chinese docks...died?"

Mrs. Hudson bent down and spoke to Mr. Zhu in a low voice.

"Of course, those bandits were extremely vicious. They killed anyone they saw and burned any house they saw. That scene...tsk tsk tsk tsk!"

Mr. Zhu spoke in broken Chinese English, but Mrs. Hudson enjoyed listening to him.

"Then the cabinet and the royal family will not care about it?"

Mrs. Hudson lowered her voice even lower and winked at Mr. Zhu frantically.

Mr. Zhu then sat up straight, raised his head, waved his hand, pointed upwards, and made a mysterious sound.

Mrs. Hudson nodded, and they both crossed their arms in front of their chests, then relaxed and laughed.

Holmes and Ivy were becoming more and more annoyed. Joshua looked at their expressions and kept asking Holmes "why".

"If you two have nothing else to do, I'll go back to bed."

Ivy ignored Mr. Zhu's tut-tutting and turned to flee.

Mrs. Hudson pulled Ivy down, put her arm around her shoulders, and said to Mr. Zhu with a smile, "Mr. Zhu, you are so honored to come today and specifically asked for my Ivy... Is there anything you need to discuss?"

"Oh oh oh!"

Mr. Zhu took a sip of tea and said to Mrs. Hudson politely, "Ms. Ivy was very brave and outstanding at the scene yesterday. I asked her if she could be my new assistant, and she readily agreed..."

"When did I agree?"

Ivy blurted out something in Chinese, and the three British people in the room all looked at her in confusion.

"That's not up to you." Mr. Zhu responded in fluent Chinese.

“Now all the Chinese wharves have been burned down. It’s a complete mess.”

"It wasn't me who burned it, go find the person who did."

"Hey - didn't you light the stove that didn't go out yesterday? You are the one who burned down my house. Let's settle the bill together."

"You are unreasonable!"

"If you want to be reasonable, you'll never be able to pay me back in this lifetime!"

"OK, OK, OK, don't quarrel, okay?" Mrs. Hudson stopped the quarrel in time.

"Madam, I came here today and brought a small gift with me. On the one hand, I came to visit Miss Ivy, and on the other hand, I wanted to talk to her in person about her expected salary."

Mr. Zhu presented an exquisite wooden box containing a bracelet made of fine jade. He also gave Holmes and Joshua a blue and white porcelain cigarette holder and a gold ring respectively.

"What a coincidence..." Ivy rolled her eyes and muttered to herself.

"9am to 5pm every day, 80 pounds a month, food and accommodation included, how about that?"

"Saturday and Sunday are closed."

"can."

"Two hours' break at noon."

"can."

Ivy tilted her head and thought: "50 pounds for half a month."

"If you keep talking, I'll make you pay for it!"

"Then there's one last request..." Ivy bit her lip, "Pay me this month's salary first."

"Can."

Mr. Zhu replied with a smile, but the blue veins on his forehead were throbbing, and he took a sip of the tea in his hand.

“This tea is really…”

He smiled and nodded to Mrs. Hudson and Holmes, then spoke the rest of the words in Chinese to Ivy, who looked relaxed.

"It tastes bad."