I am aging gracefully in the world of famous books

Pei Xiang ignored Pepys' questioning, she looked at the approaching Rexxar and said:

"You have indeed mistaken the handkerchief. I found it when I entered the house. It has been laundered and brought to the store. I will fetch it for you now."

"Thank you, Lucy," Rexxar nodded slightly, and said in a gentle voice, "I'm not in a hurry, you can do other trivial things in the store first. I'm here to talk to Baron Pepys, and then I hope It is an honor to have afternoon tea with you."

"Of course you have the honor, my friend," Pei Xiang smiled, "Then, gentlemen, I excuse you."

After speaking, Pei Xiang left without looking back, leaving Baron Pepys to Rexxar to deal with.

After Pei Xiang hid in the lounge and leisurely read more than a dozen pages of the book, Rexxar knocked on the door.

"Lord Pepys is gone?"

"Well, Mr. Wilkes, who came with him, also left."

Pei Xiang motioned for Rexxar, who was standing at the door, to come in and drink tea.

"Did they buy anything? What else did Lord Pepys say?"

"Mr. Wilkes selected two books, a sheet of music, and jars of sweets. Lord Pepys had the second-floor consignment sent to his house, and he signed the check."

"Hey, I didn't expect Baron Pepys to be a generous customer. Unfortunately, there are no G's works in the store recently." Pei Xiang raised his eyebrows pretending to regret.

Rexxar paused while pouring tea, and then said with a gentle smile:

"I remember, you only sold G's works to me before."

Pei Xiang shook his head and explained: "That's because you are the first to make an order or offer to buy every time, and others are not as quick as you to pay the bill."

"So I should congratulate you on another quick-paying customer?"

"Shouldn't you be congratulating? Who would dislike a customer who delivered it to their door?"

"But he will cause far more trouble than he will benefit."

Rexxar lowered his head to drink tea, his tone seemed a little careless:

"The relationship between Pepys and his wife is cold, and the mistresses around him have never been broken. However, none of his mistresses came to him on his own initiative, and they were all 'pursued' by Pepys using various means."

"What method did he use?" Pei Xiang asked curiously, "Money? Sweet talk? Pretending to be true?"

"It's not just that. What he is best at is to use some connections to trouble the family of a beautiful girl, and then solve the problem in person, so as to get the other party's gratitude and admiration. However, once a woman falls in love with him, it doesn't take long In time, he will get tired and abandon the other party, and look for the next prey again."

"George, you know Lord Pepys very well."

"Because of some necessary reasons, I have to investigate and get hold of many cryptic information."

Pei Xiang pondered for a moment, turned his head and asked:

"You said Pepys was going to cause trouble, eh, so, you think he'll make me his new prey?"

Rexxar nodded: "I don't know how he behaved before I walked into the store. But after the contact and conversation just now, I'm almost certain that he's going to play that dirty trick again."

Pei Xiang did not hide the previous conversation between her and Pepys, and directly repeated the provocative words of the other party.

George Rexa restrained the gentleness on his face. At a certain moment, Pei Xiang felt that this man was colder and firmer than a marble sculpture, but soon, this feeling dissipated as quickly as the morning mist and morning dew.

She glanced at her friend who was not far away, quietly recorded his momentary real emotions, and at the same time did not forget to ask:

"Will he immediately cause trouble for Edward and 'The House of Thorns'? Will he ask 'James Hoffman' to go to the Baron's Palace tomorrow, and will he use this to find fault?"

Rexxar pinched the bridge of his nose, he temporarily suppressed his anger towards Pepys, and judged rationally as much as possible:

"He is busy with a very important matter recently. If he does it well, he will be able to go further in his official career and even have a greater say in the party. Therefore, he will not embarrass you about James for the time being. .But once he's done with his work, he'll probably have the time and energy to do harm to others."

"Well, this is your judgment on Pepys..." Pei Xiang nodded thoughtfully, "Thank you for your reminder, George, I think, I will take care of the upcoming troubles."

"Are you going to solve it alone?" Rexxar's eyes were heavy.

"It's not considered to be solved alone. I must communicate with Edward and Captain Butler in advance. Moreover, this is just your guess. The proud Baron Pepys may turn around and forget me .”

Rexxar was noncommittal to Pei Xiang's idea.

He got up and went to the window and looked out, thinking how to chop off Pepys' claws so quietly that he would not dare to covet him again.

He didn't mention his plan to Pei Xiang, because the relationship between the two is currently only at the level of friends.According to Pei Xiang's personality, she would not want unrelated people to intervene in her personal affairs too much, and would feel that this was a debt of favor she owed.

After quietly hiding his true thoughts, Rexxar felt that even on the surface, he shouldn't be indifferent.

"Actually... if I were your suitor, Baron Pepys would always be afraid."

"But it's just jealousy. Besides, wouldn't this make you a thorn in Baron Pepys' side? George, don't be impulsive. Think about what you are doing now. Why do you need to attract more attention from others?"

Rexxar smiled gently: "I have my own calculations, Lucy. Besides, after today's chance encounter, I think that Baron Pepys has misunderstood the relationship between you and me. If that's the case, it's better to make a mistake."

"keep mistake?"

"Yes, please allow me to pursue you, my Miss Lucy." Resac bowed slightly, his eyes always looked at the blue-eyed girl in his heart with a smile, and his voice was extremely soft, "I am willing to hold the shield and Long sword, drive away all unwelcome wolves, tigers and leopards."

At this moment, knowing that it was an expedient measure, Pei Xiang couldn't tell whether the tenderness in Lesac's eyes was real or fake.

George Rexar didn't need Pei Xiang to respond clearly, he seemed to have quickly entered the role-playing.And the first thing he did after he became a suitor was that he decided to visit the baron's mansion with "James Hoffman" tomorrow.

On the second day, Baron Pepys did not deliberately embarrass James Hoffman as Rexxar analyzed.Under the guise of being concerned, he asked the doctor to examine the injuries on James' face in detail, asked a few more questions about Harpy's Tavern and Captain Butler, and then let him go.

During this period, Baron Pepys did not mention Lucy Hoffman at all, and even his attitude towards George Rexxar, who came to accompany him uninvited, was quite good.From the looks of it, the Baron is quite the master of style.

But Pei Xiang didn't relax because of this. After she left the baron's mansion, she contacted Rhett Butler who was still recovering from his injuries. She briefly talked about Baron Pepys and reminded Captain Butler to be careful. Beware of being stumbling in the business field.

However, the days that followed were uneventful.

The Baron Pepys only appeared once in the "House of Thorns". Seeing that there were only clerks in the shop but no Pei Xiang, he turned and left without any entanglement or inappropriate behavior.

Just when Pei Xiang was wondering if he was a little self-indulgent, the business cooperation between Edward and Butler began to encounter trouble.

"One of the warehouses where the goods were stored was burned down. If the guards were not vigilant, we would have lost more. Lucy, thanks to you for reminding me, I added a few more people on duty who stayed at night. The fire spread."

"What was the cause of the fire?"

"I personally took someone to check it carefully. There are some traces of arson, but the clues are not obvious."

Pei Xiang's eyebrows twitched, and he immediately thought of that dirty Pepys:

"Brother, are those lost goods urgently needed to be delivered?"

"Some are. Hey, according to the original plan, the goods in that warehouse will have to be loaded onto the freighter and shipped to the United States in three days. But after this fire accident, we probably won't be able to deliver the goods on time according to the deadline in the contract."

"Need double compensation?"

Edward scratched his hair: "There is no need to double it for the time being. Rhett said that he still has some inventory in the warehouse he rented near the Atlanta train station. He can use the goods he stored in advance for emergency, and then ask the purchaser over there for accommodation. At the same time, factories in the UK also need to start urgently to restart the production of those burned products."

Pei Xiang thought that if someone was really looking for trouble, the problem would definitely not be solved so smoothly, so she asked:

"Let's not mention whether the purchasers in the United States are willing to be flexible. Brother, can our factory start smoothly? Have you encountered any obstacles?"

Edward sighed: "As expected, you guessed it. I just received a notice this afternoon that several factories that had cooperated very well before suddenly refused to accept our urgent orders, saying that they cannot produce, unless we can pay three Double the pay."

"From this point of view, it is obvious that someone is going to embarrass us," Pei Xiang sneered, "Brother, do you think this trouble is caused by Baron Pepys?"

"Maybe it's him, maybe it's our competitor. The other party did it very secretly, leaving no particularly obvious evidence, and we need to continue the investigation."

"What did Captain Butler say?"

"Lucy, that's why I came back in a hurry. Ritter said that although he is recuperating, his brain is not bad. He will definitely solve Liverpool's troubles and find out the real behind-the-scenes, and the factory will be willing to accept it." Our order."

Pei Xiang nodded. After two years of cooperation, she believed in Rhett Butler's ability and means, and knew that even if he couldn't immediately catch the real mastermind behind the scenes, he could temporarily settle the twists and turns in the business field.

Edward continued:

"But he needs me to go to Atlanta as soon as possible, as a sole investor, to coordinate with the merchants there on the contract issues. Then go to the plantations in the south and buy as much cotton as possible."

Pei Xiang understood: "Let you go to negotiate with the Atlanta businessman? That's a good idea. Captain Butler's reputation in the south is not good. I guess, many of his businesses are not operated under his name. This time, the If you come out as an Englishman, you can avoid some embarrassing scenes of being ostracized. Besides, Rhett's injury still needs to be recuperated, and it is really not suitable to travel long distances at this time."

"Lucy, I used to sail on American routes when I was a crew member, so I am no stranger to these. It's just... I have traveled far away from home, what do you do? Although you can solve many problems by yourself now, I still There's no way to be completely reassured, and I don't want to go through that panic again."

Not only Edward was worried, but Pei Xiang was also worried about his elder brother.

It stands to reason that it is now 1859, and the American Civil War is still about two years away, so the environment is relatively safe.However, who knows if the timeline of this world will proceed according to the real history, what if the war breaks out early?

Pei Xiang originally planned to personally investigate and find out the murderer behind the scenes, but when he heard that Edward needed to go to Atlanta as soon as possible to deal with the business contract, he quickly changed his mind.

——Leave the investigation to Butler in advance, anyway, that man is shrewd.

She smiled and said, "Isn't this simple? I'll go to the United States with you. Brother, I haven't been abroad yet, so I just took this opportunity to visit the hometown of Captain Butler and Mr. Wilkes. Treat it as a long-distance trip, and when you finish your business, we will return together."

——The current dark tide is raging here in Liverpool.Rexxar, Jones, and Pepys are not easy-going three parties, and an ambitious Captain Butler is involved in the middle. I'd better go out with Edward.

This proposal made Edward's eyes light up. He hadn't traveled far by boat with his sister yet.

"It's fine. You've been busier than me these two years. It's time to go out to relax and broaden your horizons. Lucy, come on, let me tell you about my first experience at sea..."

The next day, Pei Xiang met her new "suiter" Mr. Rexa at home, and happily told him about his plan to go on a long trip.

"So, during the time I'm away, you don't have to play special role-playing, just concentrate on doing your own thing. I am very grateful for your help, George, and I will bring you a gift."