British writer

the next day,

early morning.

Strand Street, The Shore Magazine, editorial office.

Doyle slowly woke up from his sleep, yawning,

"Ah……"

He straightened his body, trying to stretch.

Unexpectedly, there was a numb pain in the right arm, and there was even a light "click" sound at the joint, as if he had been in an awkward posture all night.

At the same time, a man's voice came from my ear: "Arthur, are you awake?"

Doyle couldn't help shivering,

"who!?"

He got up suddenly.

"It is I, Herbert."

Herbert Greenhoff Smith, editor of The Shore Magazine.

He was standing in front of Doyle, holding a steaming cup of drink in his hand, handed it over, and said, "Are you still awake?"

Doyle took the cup and took a sip,

The warm tea flows down the esophagus into the stomach pouch, making the body extremely comfortable.

He was fully awake now.

Looking around, I saw that the sky had just dawned, and the dirty morning fog in London was blowing on the windows, as if it wanted to float in through the cracks in the windows, creating an unspeakable atmosphere.

The "bed" under Doyle is made up of six chairs with backrests facing each other.

He couldn't help muttering: "No wonder sleeping so uncomfortable..."

Herbert looked helpless,

"I told you to go home and go to bed early, but you didn't listen."

Of course Doyle can't go home,

In "The Dancing Little Man", he adopted the form of case + secret for the first time. Whether it can be successful or not depends on the feedback of readers.

Looking at it now, it seems very good,

At least those temporary supplements of The Shore Magazine were all sold.

Herbert on the other side sat behind the desk, took out a small wooden box from the drawer, opened it,

It turned out to be butter,

Then he opened the cookie tin again and spread butter on the cookies with a butter knife heated with a match.

Doyle was shocked.

"Will the butter go bad like this?"

"Of course it will," said Herbert. "But since you started The Hound of the Baskervilles, I've been up all night a lot, so I'll eat the butter before it goes bad. It's so cold in London now." ,no problem."

Doyle took a biscuit dubiously, ate it with butter,

Unexpectedly, the taste is not bad.

The two had a great time.

Suddenly, Herbert asked: "Arthur, why did you ask me to issue a supplement on Monday instead of putting the two separate articles on two Wednesdays? You know, it's because you notified too late, we Only 9,000 copies were printed, and the supply is seriously insufficient."

Doyle stopped chewing,

"You ask me? Could it be that you really don't know the reason for my arrangement?"

Herbert smiled, but did not answer clearly.

The silence speaks,

No answer is the best answer.

Doyle's reason for requesting Monday's supplement is simple—

Not confident in subterfuge.

The code that appears in "Dancing Little People" is not difficult to crack,

The British Empire has a large number of capable people, especially the top universities, most of the professors of science and engineering can solve the code,

Therefore, if the interval between the case chapter and the revealing chapter is extended to one week, the topic will definitely be broken, and it will be completely ruined.

Moreover, because the number of temporary supplements printed is small, the spread of novels is less, which can also reduce the possibility of being broken.

You can even engage in hunger marketing to expand public opinion.

When "Seashore Magazine" releases its revealing article on Wednesday, reports like "Dr. Doyle Stumps London" will surely spread, and the reputation of the Sherlock Holmes series will surely hit a new high.

Doyle couldn't help snorting coldly in his heart,

"Lu Shi, didn't you say that I can't write good tricks? Let's see why you fight with me!?"

After Herbert finished eating the biscuits, he picked up the magazine manuscripts on the side and flipped through them.

"I have to admit that this "Little Dancing Man" is indeed very exciting. Even though I have read it many times, I still feel... um..."

He fell silent suddenly.

Doyle was surprised,

"how?"

Herbert asked curiously: "By the way, why did you arrange Holmes' failure in this short story?"

In "The Little Dancing Man", Holmes received the commission, but ultimately failed to save the lives of the client and his wife.

From the results point of view, this is indeed a failure.

Doyle pondered,

"I don't even know what I'm thinking."

Herbert was stunned,

"ah?"

Doyle nodded sincerely and said, "Maybe it's because I want to show Holmes a little bit of sadness..."

Before the words were finished, there was a sudden knock on the door outside.

"Editor-in-chief! Doctor Doyle!"

Herbert frowned,

"It's so early in the morning, why are you panicking!?"

He went to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, a clerk rushed in, holding onto the back of a chair to stabilize himself.

Herbert asked, "What's the matter?"

The clerk swallowed hard, and said, "No...it's not good, "Manchester Guardian" is actually...the editor-in-chief Smith, you should read it yourself."

As he spoke, he handed over a crumpled copy of The Manchester Guardian.

Herbert and Doyle couldn't help but look at each other,

Faintly, a bad premonition arose in both of their hearts.

Herbert asked: "Which page?"

The clerk immediately replied: "Book review version."

Herbert turned to the review page,

Then, he suddenly opened his mouth wide, and maintained this expression of his jaw dropping to the ground for a full minute.

Doyle said, "What's going on?"

He also leaned forward.

This time the "Manchester Guardian" played tricks again,

I saw that the book review page was as clean as it was when the sales volume of The Scotsman was announced last time, without even a single English letter.

replaced by……

"Dancing...it turned out to be a dancing villain..."

Doyle muttered to himself.

thump--

He sat back in his chair, pale as a ghost.

"Arthur," cried Herbert.

Doyle didn't respond, still looking dazed.

Herbert raised the volume:

"Ah! Se!"

Doyle came back to his senses suddenly, looked at Herbert, but his eyes were full of confusion, as if he couldn't focus,

He asked, "What...how?"

Herbert said: "Don't panic! Perhaps this line of dancing villains has no meaning at all, but is just a trick!"

Of course it can't be a scheming,

Because sooner or later Doyle will publish the revelation, and when the time comes, readers will compare it with the book review of the "Manchester Guardian", and the scheming will immediately turn into self-inflicted humiliation.

But at this time, Doyle couldn't think so much anymore.

No matter what, he must hold on to the last straw!

He turned to the book review page again, slid his fingers over the dancing figures, and translated them one by one, muttering: "I...cracked...the..."

There was an eerie silence in the room,

"..."

"..."

"..."

After a long time, Doyle read out the complete sentence:

"

'I cracked the code. Your loyal fellow friend, Lu. '

"

Doyle seemed to have been sucked out of his whole body, and collapsed into the chair again.