It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

"Tch, fine, don't tell me then. They're all keeping it from me." Annie muttered, then ran outside.

Newton had just put away the letter with no address and said to Susie, "Wait a moment, I'll go get the things for you." Then she went alone to Li Cheng's room, hoping to find the medical report that Li Cheng wanted. This was the best help she could offer.

However... it cannot be found.

It took more than an hour, and they even called Freya over to explain the situation before searching together, but to no avail.

"How could there not be?"

Newton sat wearily on the cold floor, lost in deep doubt.

Li Cheng's room had been turned upside down, with every nook and cranny thoroughly searched, but the doctor's report that Li Cheng had mentioned was still nowhere to be found—instead, the draft of "Domination Love 2" was found, but Newton was in no mood to read it now.

Freya asked, "Could it be that Mr. Li Cheng has misremembered, and the item isn't in the room?"

Newton shook his head: "Probably not, he packs his things very carefully."

Freya recalled that, in her memory, although Mr. Li Cheng was much better than Miss Li Cheng, who had a habit of leaving manuscripts lying around and not tidying up at all, he was by no means meticulous.

So she said tactfully, "But over time, people's memories will always wear down."

Newton thought about it and agreed: "Hmm, I often forget where I put the scratch paper where I wrote my equations. Let's go look in the study again; there shouldn't be anywhere else."

So the two spent another hour in the study. In the middle of it, Freya even asked Susie to calm down and asked the chef to prepare some snacks for her to eat – not steamed buns, those were leftovers from breakfast, only Anne would use them to entertain guests.

However, they still found nothing, and the report could not be found in the study.

"......"

Newton stood silently, sensing something was wrong, and was trying to think it through.

Freya, seeing this, assumed she was upset and comforted her, "Really, no, Mr. Li Cheng probably lost it sometime."

“Prince Edward,” Newton suddenly said.

"what?"

Freya was confused by this seemingly random question: "What's wrong with Prince Edward?"

Newton frowned deeply: "Freya, do you remember when Prince Edward sent people to assist in the search, saying they hoped to examine Li Cheng's room, saying that this would uncover more evidence?"

Freya's eyes widened in surprise: "Miss, what do you mean?"

"The report must have been taken by Prince Edward's men, damn it."

Newton, having figured it out, was furious that Prince Edward had used them to take the report.

However, anger was ultimately futile. A look of sadness appeared on Newton's face, and Freya remained silent.

But silence obviously couldn't solve the problem, so Newton could only write the message down in a letter and have the messenger named Susie deliver it along with the money.

"Oh, right, there's also Annie's report that was returned back then. It's almost identical to the original report."

Newton recalled that Anne had complained about this to her before, and because it was quite amusing, she still remembered it vividly.

So the two of them went to look for Annie, who was jogging around the villa, sweating profusely.

Although Anne appeared cheerful on the surface for the past month or so, she was actually very concerned about Li Cheng's disappearance. She not only asked her father, Mr. Stoller, for help in finding him, but also took a leave of absence from the theater.

You know, she's the lead actress in the very popular movie "Domineering Love". It's a good thing that that rascal Therese doesn't make a living from the theater, otherwise it would be a miracle if she got this long vacation.

"The paper my advisor rejected back then? Why not just get a new one?"

Annie was a little puzzled.

Newton couldn't say too much, only explaining that there were special circumstances. Anne didn't ask any further questions and promised to go back and get the paper later.

Nevertheless, Anne's report should still be at her home, so she couldn't get it for the time being. She could only write it down on a piece of paper and have the messenger deliver it to Li Cheng along with the money.

However, Newton became somewhat curious about this messenger. She couldn't understand why Li Cheng would choose someone like this... well, not stupid, but clearly lacking in knowledge, to be a messenger. Did he just pick someone off the road?

------

Li Cheng waited at the hotel for a full three hours. Bored, he even asked the hotel staff to run errands for him, buying him a disguise hat and pen and paper.

Just as he began to suspect that Susie had been abducted by human traffickers, there was finally a knock on the door.

Knock knock knock—

Li Cheng leaned over and opened the door, revealing a simple, almost naive face.

"I'm back." Susie said cheerfully, lifting the oil paper bag in her hand. "Holmes, I also brought you some snacks."

Li Cheng was surprised that this girl had taken the initiative to buy snacks from the street so quickly; her progress was nothing short of miraculous. But after curiously taking the oil paper bag and looking inside, he immediately lost interest—it contained steamed buns, homemade.

"Eat it yourself."

Li Cheng shoved it back into Susie's hand and asked, "By the way, why did you take so long? Where's the stuff?"

"I don't know. They kept me in the room waiting, and it took them a long time to give me the things."

As she spoke, Susie took off a leather bag she was carrying and handed it to Li Cheng: "Here you go."

Li Cheng opened it and, seeing it was full of banknotes, closed it again to prevent Susie, this naive country girl, from fainting from the shock: "What else? Couldn't you just give it all at once?"

Susie then pulled a letter out of her pocket and stuck out her tongue: "I forgot about it earlier."

Li Cheng didn't answer, but instead pressed his temples with a headache: "I already said to take them all at once."

“That’s all, that’s really it!” Susie said, raising her hands high. “If you don’t believe me, search for yourself. They only gave me these three things.”

Is it really gone?

What about the report I need? That's the most important thing!

Putting aside his doubts for the time being, Li Cheng chose to open the letter first, thinking that Newton would surely explain the reason inside.

[You idiot assistant, since you've been gone for so long, why don't you just not come back!]

As expected, in addition to some of Newton's arrogant remarks, the letter clearly described Newton's unsuccessful search for the report and his speculation about Edward taking the report.

Finally, Newton stated that he would find Anne's original paper, which had been rejected by her advisor, as soon as possible, and would store it at a clothing store near High Street for Li Cheng to retrieve.

"It's so troublesome..."

Li Cheng put down the letter, somewhat surprised that he encountered difficulties at the very first step, and his brows furrowed tightly.

This doctor's report is one of the most important pieces of evidence, proving that Charles II's real cause of death was not an ether overdose but deliberate poisoning. Having it makes the next steps easier.

When Li Cheng pretended to be unaware of the matter, he revealed it, which is why Edward later tried to take away the evidence. In addition, it is estimated that the relevant reports in the government are now also missing.

As for the doctor who happened to write this report, the best-case scenario is that he will be sent to explore the New World... The worst-case scenario is that he will simply vanish into thin air, as it is far too easy for someone to disappear in this day and age.

Fortunately, Edward was unaware that Anne also had a paper that had almost been rejected. Unlike the excellent paper that Li Cheng had ghostwritten, Anne's paper was almost a verbatim copy, so the occasional mention of the case of "fingers ulcerated and turning black" was also recorded.

"I never thought that the homework of a poor student would come in so useful one day."

Li Cheng shook his head and sighed, lamenting how utterly absurd the world truly is...

Susie asked curiously, "What does 'academic failure' mean?"

Li Cheng then realized that there was an ultimate academic failure in front of him. Even though Annie was a bit of a rascal, she had at least gone to school. This country girl probably didn't even know a few words. She didn't even know the word "study" at all; all she had was "scum."

"It has nothing to do with you. A 'bad student' is someone who is very bad at studying."

Li Cheng offered a casual explanation, then his gaze fell on Susie's simple corseted coat, recalling Newton's comment that he would leave Anne's paper at the clothing store.

In those days, most ordinary people didn't own many clothes, and a belted coat was the most common attire. Susie was no exception—she wore an old, yellowish white coarse cloth coat over a newer white belted coat. Apart from some small embellishments she had made herself along the edges, it was almost completely undecorated.

However, Li Cheng was in the same boat. His previous outfit was too worn out to wear, so the white coat and brown breeches he was wearing now originally belonged to Susie's father, which he had bought.

So he waved his hand and said, "Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go out and change into some new clothes later."

Chapter 150 Preparations

Due to limitations in production capacity, many daily necessities, including clothing, were very expensive at that time.

This may be hard for modern people to imagine, but clothing at that time was a real 'property', similar to the concept of large household appliances for modern people—after all, the price of an ordinary pair of woolen trousers was equivalent to 1/30 of the annual income of a low- to middle-income worker, and a pair of shoes might be even more expensive.

Before cotton textiles became popular, they were even more expensive. At that time, wool was the most common fabric, and most farmers in rural areas would only own two or three pieces of clothing in their lifetime.

Therefore, when Li Cheng suggested that he could change Susie's clothes, the girl immediately became shy.

“My lord wizard, this... I don’t really need it. The clothes I’m wearing underneath have only been patched twice and are still in great condition.”

Susie rubbed her hands together, looking quite embarrassed.

No way, you're the kind of person who shamelessly followed me here wanting to see the world, and you're actually embarrassed about your clothes?

Li Cheng rolled his eyes and said, "Stop talking so much nonsense. In some places, you would be kicked out for what you're wearing. Hurry up and take some money to buy a couple of decent outfits."

"Hehe, thank you, Wizard."

Susie was just being polite; she immediately pocketed the money Li Cheng had given her and turned to leave.

"wait a moment."

Li Cheng suddenly remembered something and called out to her, "Where are you planning to buy clothes?"

Susie stopped and turned around with an embarrassed smile: "Oh, I was too excited and forgot to ask—where should I buy clothes?"

Li Cheng slapped his forehead: "I knew it... Here's what you do: find a city person who works odd jobs at a hotel, give him a tip, and have him accompany you to a nearby shop that sells secondhand clothes."

At that time, there were no ready-made clothing stores. If you wanted to quickly buy a set of clothes, you could only go to a pawn shop or a shop that specialized in buying and selling second-hand clothes.

Pawnshops can be directly excluded. As the supposed birthplace of the pawn industry, Britain's pawnshops were once notorious for unfair transactions. For example, in his famous works, writer Charles Dickens described pawnshops as a dark and ruthless business that "eats people without spitting out the bones."

Sending Susie, an inexperienced country girl, to a pawnshop might lead to her being tricked by those shrewd Jews and pawning herself. Therefore, hiring a city person to guide her to secondhand clothing shops would be quite necessary.

"Oh, hire someone?"

But when she heard that she had to give away the money she had to others to show them the way, even though it wasn't her own, Susie still felt very distressed: "Isn't that unnecessary? I think asking for directions is enough. I can go by myself."

Li Cheng countered, "And then, because you weren't familiar with the prices, you got ripped off by the boss?"

Susie said seriously, "I can play it by ear."

Li Cheng's forehead veins throbbed: "See your head my foot! Do as I say!"

Susie remained quite adamant. As a country girl, she had a very simple view of money: "...I still think it's a waste. We could use that little tip to buy more food. There's no need to ask someone to show us the way, is there?"

Seeing her insistence, Li Cheng was too lazy to say anything more: "Fine, you can try it yourself—but we have an agreement: if I find out later that you were ripped off at the price you paid, you'll have to pay the difference yourself."

Susie was quite happy when she heard the first half of the sentence, but she was stunned by the second half: "Oh, but I don't have any money. I left all my money to my parents..."

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow, giving Yang Bailao the look Huang Shiren gave him: "No money?"

!!!