It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

Susie stared in shock at Li Cheng, who had just uttered such words: "Really...really want to say that?"

Li Cheng nodded vigorously: "Yes!"

Hearing the firmness in Li Cheng's tone, Susie had no choice but to say, "Welcome back. Master, would you like to eat first, or take a bath first... cough cough, no need for the rest."

After uttering the somewhat unfamiliar and awkward words, she looked puzzled and said, "My lord wizard, something doesn't feel quite right to me. Is it really appropriate for a personal maid to say such things?"

Even Susie, who grew up in the countryside, felt something was off based on her instincts.

"First of all, remember to call me master for the next two days."

Li Cheng corrected him, still looking serious: "Besides, that's your misconception. What I said just now was mainly to help you change your original way of speaking. You'll get used to it gradually... Now say it again, but speak more fluently."

Susie was skeptical: "I'm not very knowledgeable, don't try to fool me."

Li Cheng's face seemed to be frozen in a serious expression, and he remained solemn from beginning to end: "I'm well-read, why would I lie to you? Come on, be serious, this is a serious matter."

Although Susie still felt something was off, she couldn't quite pinpoint the problem, so she composed herself and repeated, "Welcome back, Master. Would you like to eat first, or take a bath first?"

This time there were no pauses, and it was much smoother than last time.

"No, absolutely not!"

However, Li Cheng still shook his head: "Your tone is too bland. It's too ordinary and won't work. It lacks appeal and flavor. You need to be gentler, more friendly, or simply do the opposite and show no emotion at all."

?

Susie was completely confused. She scratched her cheek and said, "So being a maid in the city is this troublesome."

"Not really, it's just that I'm very strict with myself..." Li Cheng explained. "Anyway, give it a try, and if it really doesn't work out, then forget it—by the way, I have a good idea, do you have someone you like?"

Susie shook her head: "No, the men in the village are too boring. They won't talk to me about werewolves and vampires whenever I mention them. Only my second uncle is willing to tell me these stories. Like the other day we were discussing whether werewolves molt in the summer—by the way, wizard, have you ever seen a werewolf? Do werewolves molt?"

What the hell is this about werewolves molting? If that's the case, wouldn't witchers be able to catch them every time they go out in the summer? And then, to avoid being discovered, werewolves develop the strange habit of estivating?

Li Cheng shook his head: "I've never seen one, but if there really were werewolves, I doubt they would change their fur."

"Why are you so sure if you've never seen it before?"

Susie looked unconvinced, and Li Cheng guessed she was a member of the molting faction: "Werewolves have so much fur, wouldn't they die of heat if they didn't molt in the summer? Besides, I asked the hunter uncle, and he said that wild wolves molt, so why don't werewolves?"

"But aren't werewolves usually in human form? They can't just turn back into wolf form every night, shed their fur, and then turn back again, can they? That would be too boring."

Li Cheng rested his chin on his hand, seemingly seeing a werewolf run outside in the middle of the night, transform into wolf form, shed its fur, and then transform back into its original form.

"Forehead."

Susie thought for a while and realized that what Li Cheng said made a lot of sense, and was immediately shocked: "I didn't expect that what my second uncle said was actually true..."

It's all nonsense, so why bother with right or wrong? But why are we suddenly talking about werewolves shedding their fur? This topic is way off track... Li Cheng shook his head and put his serious face back on: "Alright, let's get back to the point—what you lack right now is affection."

Susie asked in confusion, "Feelings?"

Li Cheng nodded: "Yes, feelings. You can try to imagine welcoming the person you like home."

Susie began to think about what Li Cheng had said, but she really didn't have any imagination in that regard. She stood there for a long time without coming up with anything, and finally could only sincerely say, "I can't imagine it."

"Let me give you an example, and you can imagine it."

Li Cheng raised his hand, trying to describe a scene: "Imagine it's a cold winter, and you're home alone, but you're very poor, have no money, and can't afford to eat. Suddenly, a man with pockets full of gold bars and a basket of bread in his hand knocks on the door, and that man is your master—just imagine how you would feel if you opened the door."

"..."

Susie lowered her head in silence, frowning in thought, seemingly immersed in that scene.

About five minutes later, she suddenly looked up, a bright smile spreading across her face: "Welcome back~. Master, would you like to eat first, or take a bath first?"

That smile is like something that can melt away the snow in winter. If a master were to brave the wind and snow to return home and receive such a greeting from a maid, his heart would probably be filled with warmth.

Li Cheng paused for a moment, then gave a thumbs up: "Great, absolutely perfect."

Susie rubbed her nose: "Hehe, so this is what I need to say tomorrow? I feel like I've got it all figured out."

"......"

After thinking about it, Li Cheng decided not to tell Susie the truth that he had only said it was a test.

------

The following day, Ritchie Bank.

Li Cheng strode in with an arrogant air.

At this moment, he was dressed in a respectable outfit, with long, black, curly hair typical of the upper class (his original hair had been shaved off), and wearing gold-rimmed pincushions. Behind him followed Susie, who was dressed in a maid outfit and had undergone special training.

This impressive entrance quickly attracted the attention of the bank employees. One of them immediately stepped forward and greeted Li Cheng: "Sir, are you here to deposit or withdraw money?"

"No, I'm looking for your boss."

Li Cheng tilted his head slightly and went straight to the point.

Faced with an unknown person who insisted on seeing his boss, the young man immediately looked embarrassed and gave a formulaic excuse: "Sir, our boss isn't at the bank right now. Besides, our boss is usually very busy. If you want to see him, you can make an appointment in advance..."

"I'm very busy too, I don't have time to make an appointment."

Li Cheng said calmly.

The delivery guy thought to himself, "Why is this guy so arrogant?" But for work reasons, he still smiled and said, "Sorry, without an appointment, you might have a hard time seeing the boss."

"Alright, alright."

Li Cheng waved his hand impatiently and said to Susie behind him, "Take the things out."

"Yes Master."

So Susie took out a gold brick from her bag—the most straightforward symbol of wealth in human society.

Holding the gleaming gold brick, Susie showed a barely perceptible hint of pain, but she suppressed it and handed it to Li Cheng as agreed beforehand.

Li Cheng took the gold brick and casually slapped it into the deliveryman's hand: "Give it to your boss, just say it's a greeting gift."

???

The heavy weight hit his hand, and the young man in charge of greeting him was immediately dumbfounded—he had never encountered anyone in his life who would drop a gold brick as a greeting gift upon meeting him! This was way too simple and crude!

After thinking for a while, the young man realized that the person in front of him might know his boss, so he asked, "Excuse me, do you know our boss?"

Li Cheng curled his lip, looking disdainful: "I don't know your boss. It's my old man who knows your boss's father. He heard that his father died, so he sent me over to check on things."

The boss's father? Doesn't that refer to the deceased Mr. Ritchman?

Although he was a little skeptical, the young man thought that someone who could casually pull out a gold brick as a gift was probably not trying to fool people—the cost of fooling people was too high, what would be the point?

Li Cheng then spoke up, "Can we meet now? Hurry up, I'm very busy too."

The young man had already figured it out and immediately said, "Please wait in the room for a moment, I'll go and inform our boss right away."

"Okay, hurry back. I'm very busy and don't have time to waste in such a small place."

Li Cheng waved his hand, signaling the other party to hurry back.

The young man then turned to leave, but suddenly stopped: "Excuse me, may I ask your name?"

Li Cheng casually replied, "Sherlock Holmes."

......

Ritzman Bank.

Its founders were originally a group of goldsmiths who absorbed advanced foreign experience and established the first institution in Britain to safeguard money and issue certificates to the public, namely a bank.

At that time, Charles I (the one who was later beheaded by Cromwell) misappropriated the gold stored by merchants in the mint in order to wage war, under the guise of "lending it to the king"... and not only did he not pay interest, he even defaulted on part of the principal.

This made the merchants realize that the mint belonged to the king, and if the king wanted to use the gold in the mint, there was no way to stop him. So they began to seek private goldsmiths to manage it, and Ritchie Bank took off as a result.

Although Ritchie Bank experienced a period of decline due to the "borrowing" of ideas by several goldsmiths and subsequent mismanagement, it has remained strong to this day.

Li Cheng's target was this bank.

His plan was to impersonate the son of the deceased Richman's foreign friend... to inquire about Richman's cause of death—what else could he do? Who would want to be the son, especially with such a huge age gap?

However, there are some advantages to impersonating a son, namely that one does not need to know too much about Rickman's daily life, reducing the possibility of being exposed.

In short, Li Cheng's character is set up so that he is ordered by his disabled father to come to England to find out the specific cause of Rickman's death and, incidentally, to invest in and help the declining Rickman Bank. However, he himself finds this very troublesome and therefore doesn't remember the details his father instructed him to.

In terms of personality, he is rather arrogant and looks down on small banks like Richmond.

......

In the reception room, Li Cheng sat on a soft sofa chair, with Susie standing silently behind him.

They had been waiting for about an hour, and it seemed that the current owner of Ritchie Bank was indeed not at the bank.

During this long wait, Li Cheng was fine, but Susie couldn't keep up. She felt that standing there like an idiot was torture.

How much longer do we have to wait?

There was no one else in the lounge, so Susie asked directly.

Li Cheng was also getting a little impatient. He thought to himself that he should have used a different method. At this moment, he could only say to Susie, "It should be about time. Even if that person has really gone on a long trip, we will still get the news by now."

"Mr. Holmes!"

Fortunately, the wait soon came to an end, and a gentleman who looked to be in his thirties appeared at the door of the reception room with a loud voice.

His name was Clive Richman. Although he didn't know when his father had made a friend, the fact that the friend presented him with a gold brick as a gift was so generous that it made him believe the story more.

"Ha, I waited for a whole hour."

Li Cheng wanted to say that everything was fine, but he still acted according to his pre-planned persona: "Never mind, I'll make it short. My old man forced me to come and ask about the situation. He has difficulty walking and can't endure another long journey."

"Now tell me the details of what happened before your father died, so I can go back and report."

As Li Cheng spoke, he looked around. Although the reception room looked quite luxurious at first glance, the furnishings were obviously a bit old. "And you look rather down on your luck. I'll talk to the old man later, and he might help you out of consideration for our past relationship."

Chapter 152 Clearing Suspicion

Clive Ritchman is the current successor at Ritchman Bank.

Today, as usual, he was worrying about the bank's poor performance when he suddenly heard his subordinate rush to his door to report that a man who looked very rich and naive, and who seemed to be the son of his father's friend, had come to the bank hoping to see him.

What the heck, why are there so many prefixes?

Frustrated, Clive immediately retorted, "Who the hell knows him? Tell that liar to get lost!"

But then he heard from his men that the other party casually tossed out a gold brick as a greeting gift, and Clive was immediately stunned: "Uh, let me think, maybe I really do have such a friend—anyway, take me to meet him first."

Regardless of whether the person was genuine or not, at least a gold brick was enough to prove their sincerity. Although this way of throwing a gold brick looked like something a nouveau riche would do, nouveau riche have it easy! They're rich and easy to fool!