The heroine of the healing department is very rigid [Pride and Prejudice]

"I'm done, Mr. Bennet." Thompson took off his hat, and Mary realized that the top of his head was almost bald.

He was only 30 years old, and he already had no hair. Mary looked at her father worriedly, and after confirming that Mr. Bennet's hair was still thick, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"The court judged me to pay Duke John 2800 pounds. It is impossible for me to have so much money in my life. The 800 pounds I invested before is already all my property."

"I will definitely go to prison. I heard that the jailers like to beat people with whips. Maybe they will put me in a water dungeon."

Thompson sat down on the couch, repeating the words "I'm done" over and over, burying his head in his palms, which made his voice sound stern.

Mr. Bennet patted him on the shoulder, trying to say something comforting, but could not.

Two hours ago, he also received a court ruling. In this failed transaction, he needs to pay a full 8000 pounds in compensation.This is simply an astronomical figure. Even if he sells the garden and all the sheep, he still can't afford it.

"What does Mr. Heathcliff say?" Mr. Bennet had to pin his hopes on another partner.

"He insists that someone has set up his business, and he is still appealing. I hope he will stop doing this, because every time he appeals, the court will fine us an extra 500 pounds."

"He has a rich property, so he doesn't need to care about the money, but I can't. Mr. Bennet, please persuade him, let him stop appealing, I really can't afford to lose the money."

Thompson lifted his face from his palms, his eyes were bloodshot, and there was a ring of blue-black stubble on his chin.

"What if, what if someone really framed you and Dad?" Seeing that her father was silent, Mary interjected while filling Thompson with water.

"Oh, Miss Mary." Thompson pulled out what little hair he had left. This action made Mary's heart skip a beat, for fear that he would accidentally pull off the entire scalp.

"If someone really wants to frame us, there is nothing we can do. He can tamper with the Duke's goods, and we can't beat them even if we go to court."

"Now, the best way is to obediently pay compensation, but where can I find so much money. If I ask you, we shouldn't do business with Heathcliff. God knows how many people he has offended outside."

"Those people have nothing to do with him in business, they can only take the people around us. Damn it, why do business with people like him."

Thompson hung his head in frustration, hammering his knees with his fists.

"If we were really framed, we should seek justice." Mary couldn't hold back and joined her father's conversation.

"We can't compromise, otherwise they will only bully us even worse. Besides..."

"Mary." Mr. Bennet stopped her, "Go back upstairs and stay with your mother. I will take care of things here."

"Father."

Mary stood up, but did not leave. She had a premonition that her father, like Thompson, was planning to pay the reparations without knowing what happened.

"Heathcliff is still in London, we should cooperate with him to find out this matter, instead of giving up on ourselves here."

"Mary." Mr. Bennet raised his voice slightly, glanced at his daughter, and sighed, "Go back upstairs, child, I'm here."

Mary didn't speak any more, and went back upstairs in silence.Instead of going back to her room, she hid directly in Elizabeth's room.

She understood her father's concerns, but did not approve of their actions.

Especially when Thompson complained about Heathcliff, she was still a little inexplicably unhappy.

Thompson had known for a long time that Heathcliff had many enemies outside, and that every business deal of his had hidden various unpredictable risks.

But in order to make a lot of money, Thompson still invested all his belongings.

Now that the business has a problem, he not only abandons himself and does not think about the solution to the problem, but turns around and complains that Heathcliff has many enemies.

What's the point.

Besides, they really can't afford that much money. 8000 pounds, even if Mary sold herself, she would not be able to raise a tenth of the money.

The only way now is to try our best to assist Heathcliff and find out the murderer behind the scenes.

Mary explained her thoughts to Elizabeth intermittently. As expected, Elizabeth stood by her side when everyone was on the opposite side of Mary, as she had done many times before.

This comforted Mary, and a little bit of gratification at the same time.Elizabeth trusts Heathcliff, which shows that the two of them have something to do.

Thinking of this, Mary's mood suddenly improved a lot.In her opinion, Heathcliff's enemies are not a bad thing. A particularly successful person will always have several enemies around him.It could be because he actually offended them, or it could be because of jealousy.

Mary made up her mind to help Heathcliff find out the real culprit behind the scenes, not only for her sister, but also for her father.Dad is 50 years old, should he really go to jail?

On the other hand, Thompson and Mr. Bennet discussed it all night without any result. Instead, they drank a bottle of rum and smoked seven or eight cigarettes.

The soot piled up on the floor and burned several holes in the wine-red Polish carpet. Mrs. Bennet rarely said anything when she saw it, but asked Elizabeth to mix some honey water and take some bread.

Mr. Bennet could not afford 8000 pounds. In order to save his wife and daughter from living as desperadoes, he decided to go to London to surrender in two months, and prayed to the Duke to let his family go.

He is willing to go to prison, and he is also willing to be a servant of the Duke.He also asked Mr. Bingley to take better care of his daughter and wife while he was in prison, and again rejected Bingley's offer to lend them money.

At this point, he no longer expected Bingley to propose to Jane.After all, Bingley is a decent gentleman, and it is impossible for him to marry a prisoner's daughter as his wife. He only hopes that Bingley can take care of his family for the sake of his "strength".

Mrs. Bennet didn't agree with him, and she didn't support Mary, but she couldn't think of any good way herself.

So she had red and swollen eyes every day, and she wore the old dress before she got married and shuttled between various pawn shops. She pawned all her jewelry and slightly better clothes, hoping to save up to 8000 pounds.

Those pawn shop owners are all treacherous people. They know that Mrs. Bennet is eager to spend money, so they lower the price again and again.They offered as low as £30 for an ivory fan, but only £100 for a ruby ​​ring of fine quality.

Of course, this is not enough to save enough money to pay back.

Because of the need to reduce expenses, all entertainment activities at the Bennet family were cancelled. Mary and her sisters proposed to work as tutors to supplement the family income, but they were rejected by their father and mother.

This time, their reasons were surprisingly consistent: Although we were down and out, the girls in the family must never go to work in public.

So they can only do a little needlework at home, and then entrust their father to sell them to earn a little milk money.But this also just made it easier for Mary to investigate the leather bag.

Heathcliff only came back late at night a few days ago, so she naturally didn't see him.But it is learned from the milkman that Heathcliff stayed in the slaughterhouse all night.

"He's such a pervert, he can stay in that kind of place overnight." The milkman pouted, as if seeing a hydra.Mary was about to tip him the customary pennies, but put the money back in the apron at this remark.

There was not even a ghost in the slaughterhouse, and the air was full of rot and blood. Mary blocked her nose with a veil and walked through it carefully.She knew that there was a row of straw sheds in the innermost part of the abattoir, where the skins were once dried, and it was also a temporary processing factory for fire extinguishers.

Thompson once enthusiastically referred to the straw huts as "my lovers" and "my darlings," but now he felt blood rush just by looking at them.

Naturally, there was nothing in the straw hut, except for the black blood that had solidified on the ground.Mary looked around and found nothing.

That's right, even if there are any clues here, Heathcliff must have taken them away last night, so what is she still looking for here?It was a waste of effort.Mary shook her head annoyedly, ready to continue her investigation in another place, but just as she was about to leave, a little white crystal in the corner caught her attention.

Those crystals were translucent, emitting a faint green light in the dark corners, and a little white smoke.

It is white phosphorus.

But why is there white phosphorus here?Isn't it used for incendiary bombs?

Mary felt weird, but soon remembered that the ignition point of white phosphorus is only 40 degrees.And these leather and bamboo tubes happened to be delivered in summer. If white phosphorus was sprinkled on them, coupled with long-term transportation and hot weather, it would not be difficult to reach the ignition point, so the goods would be damaged.

Mary felt scared for a while. On such a hot day, there were sheepskin and bamboo tubes in the box. It was lucky that it didn't cause another fire.

So who exactly put the white phosphorus in?The craftsmen and technicians who made the fire extinguishers were all locals, and logically speaking, they shouldn't be hostile to Heathcliff.

Could it be an outsider?Nor should it.

In order to keep the idea of ​​the fire extinguisher secret, the workshop and factory do not allow outsiders to approach, and Hertford has not seen any outsiders recently.

Mary squatted down and carefully observed several pieces of white phosphorous glowing green in the corner, and suddenly realized a problem.

The goods were sent out several months ago, and if the remaining white phosphorus on them had fallen into the workshop, it would have been useless long ago.It won't be like the current state, just taken out of the reagent bottle.

Could it be that someone deliberately put white phosphorus here?What is this for?

Mary was bewildered.Then, she heard a familiar voice with a bad tone.