บท 11: Eleven. Waiting for nightfall
"Thank you so much, Mr. Exorcist. If anything had happened to my poor Henry..." Tolkien kept giving thanks, and he would have liked to embrace Lu Li to express his emotions if Lu Li's expression hadn't been so calm.
"500 shillings."
Lu Li interrupted Tolkien before he could continue.
Minutes later, Lu Li exited the residence with the 500 shillings Tolkien had paid.
A slim, dark figure in a dress stood at the door, casting flirtatious glances at passersby. Hearing the door open, Oliver turned in surprise.
"Have you been standing here all along?"
"Did you see a ghost!"
Their voices sounded at the same time.
"Sort of," Lu Li replied. Naturally, he could not divulge the true situation to someone like Oliver who made his living by peddling information.
"I wonder about the commission fee..." Oliver indicated, with his hairy legs intertwining and rubbing against each other.
A 50-shilling note was handed forward, and a calm voice rose, "500 shillings, this is your part."
"Fantastic!" Oliver exclaimed, jumping on the spot. A few passersby instinctively peeked under the dress and then walked away quickly with a grim expression.
Holding the 50 shillings tightly, Oliver kissed it passionately, his gaze fixated on Lu Li with an almost frenetic intensity.
Lu Li stood there, motionless, his voice slightly cold: "If you dare to pounce on me, I will make sure you go back naked."
"I just wanted you to experience the customs of Rodest Port. If you don't like it, forget it," Oliver said somewhat disappointedly, stuffing the money into his chest pocket and patting it with his palm.
"Great, I can have beans stewed with meat tonight."
"Aren't you going to cover the overdue room charge?" Lu Li put on his hat, walked down the steps, and started across the street.
"Uh..."
Oliver hesitated for a moment, suddenly recalling Mrs. Slav's instructions before he had left.
"Boss, are you free right now?"
"What is it?" Lu Li asked without turning back as he walked ahead.
"Well... I have a lot of commissions at my place, do you want to come with me to pick them up?" Oliver bit his lip, choosing Mrs. Slav over his boss Lu Li.
"Just bring them here."
"But..." Oliver struggled to think of another idea to lure Lu Li over, then decided to try the truth: "But Mrs. Slav wants to meet you!"
"Mrs. Slav?"
"She's the landlady of our apartment, a..."
"I know who she is. What I am asking is why she wants to meet me," Lu Li said.
Oliver's mind raced, fabricating a reason: "She wants to check out what my new boss is like, for my sake."
Lu Li, walking ahead, stopped, turned around, and looked at Oliver with his unique black eyes.
Even though those eyes showed no emotion, Oliver still felt an unbearable pressure, almost on the verge of spilling the truth.
But before Oliver could respond, Lu Li had already averted his gaze and continued walking.
"Not today."
It was well past noon; the clock near the wall indicated 1:30 pm, and the afternoon meant "don't go far from home" to most locals, to avoid not getting back before dark.
Lu Li followed local customs in this respect as well.
Mrs. Slav's apartment was in the Black Gold District, a long walk there and back. Especially since Lu Li had more important matters to attend to.
"Not today..." Oliver murmured. Then his face brightened: "Does that mean you're available tomorrow?"
"Perhaps, if tomorrow I'm still unharmed..."
The final words were murmured as if to himself; Oliver did not hear them clearly.
At the end of the street, the two who were headed in different directions parted ways.
...
Sailor Street, some shops selling food had already opened their doors, the aroma wafting out and carried away by the sea breeze.
The people here mostly only ate two meals a day: morning and afternoon.
They rarely ate in the evening.
A meal in the morning provided residents with enough energy to work; the afternoon meal was to ensure they wouldn't go hungry before bedtime. Dinner? There was no point or need for it, only the wealthy or nobility ate three times a day.
Mrs. Phelin's bakery, freshly baked bread was being placed in the display window by the workers. Most were bran, hard in texture, along with a lesser portion made from refined flour making soft bread.
Some raggedly dressed children, their faces slightly jaundiced from malnutrition, gathered around the window, greedily inhaling the fragrance coming from the bakery, swallowing their saliva.
There was still some time left before the afternoon meal, the bakery staff were busy baking bread for sale.
A figure in a black coat and a top hat stepped into the bakery, his tall frame partially blocking the light from outside.
The busy worker at the window looked up, saw the figure remove his top hat, his eyes brightened, and he approached enthusiastically, "Mr. Luli, what would you like today?"
"Two pounds of soft bread," said Luli, then remembering something, he added, "Do you have bean stew with meat here?"
"We only make bread here, but Mrs. Phelin makes bean stew with meat; I can ask Mrs. Phelin to help you out if you need it."
"Please, that would be great."
You're very kind. Please wait a moment." The employee went to the back kitchen, said something, then returned to the window, and took out just-baked, still-steaming soft bread from the display, placing it into a paper bag.
"Mrs. Phelin will make it right away; once it's ready, we'll deliver it to your Detective Agency. The bread is 8 shillings, the bean stew 23 shillings, 30 shillings total would do."
Luli handed over the money, took the paper bag, and turned to leave the bakery.
The children looked eagerly at Luli, fiddling with their filthy pants, as if expecting something.
Luli stood at the bakery door, waved to the group of children, and opened the steaming paper bag.
"Wow!"
The children cheered as they surrounded Luli, careful not to get too close and soil his expensive clothes; they gingerly took the large pieces of bread Luli broke off, crisply thanking him.
"Thank you, Mr. Luli."
"You are a great man!"
Some passing adults looked on with smiling faces, and some neighbors who had met Luli a few times joked friendly that Luli was at it again with his generosity.
The residents of Sailor Street were warm and polite.
They did so not just because of Luli's unique eyes and hair color, but also because of his stature.
Luli was the only Exorcist in the Sailor District, like a doctor or a scholar, someone everyone might need help from.
And for the children, their warmth was for a very simple reason: Luli was good to them.
After distributing half the bread, amidst the greetings, Luli returned to the Detective Agency.
Before long, the bakery's employee delivered the bean stew with meat; Luli even tasted the spices in it.
Clearly, Mrs. Phelin had put a lot of effort into making this pot of stew.
Luli finished the bean stew with bread, cleaned the meal box, and returned it to the bakery, then headed back to the Detective Agency's desk.
Settling into his chair, Luli sat inert like a statue, quietly waiting for night to fall.
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