It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

Li Cheng sighed helplessly: "Actually, the reason is very simple, that is... once is not enough."

"Once isn't enough?"

Newton, looking shocked, said, "Are you trying to kill me?"

Li Cheng really didn't want to dwell on this issue any longer. The guilt that had finally disappeared from his heart was rekindled by Newton's series of naive questions, and even intensified by his previous actions.

'What did I do? That was way too cruel!'

Looking at Newton sitting in the bathtub in a completely natural state, looking exactly like a 14 or 5-year-old girl, and then looking at his sinful hands that had just touched her entire body, Li Cheng fell into deep self-doubt.

"Huh, it's gone."

Newton's eyes widened in surprise.

Li Cheng said expressionlessly, "Yes, the problem is gone. Can we continue taking a shower now?"

"Uh, okay, okay."

Intimidated by his imposing manner, Newton became obedient and responded.

......

at the same time.

Susie finally learned of Li Cheng's return and hurriedly left the farmer's house where she was hiding, heading straight for the castle.

"Li Cheng is finally back. I need to find him and ask him right away. I don't want to go back to London to be a maid."

"I was really unlucky before, even such a small thing was reported to me - I really didn't think about seducing Li Cheng, I was just grateful at the time, Lord Newton is really petty."

Previously, Newton had directly told Susie everything that the steward Lurengar had reported and gave her two choices: one was to go to Scotland to grow potatoes, and the other was to find a noble family to be a maid through the servants' mutual aid committee in London, as she had introduced.

Susie didn't want to choose either option. She had finally seen a glimmer of hope for the future and was working hard, so how could she suddenly be assigned to be a maid? Besides, she hadn't even seen the scene that Li Cheng had described to her yet, how could she just leave like this?

If she had been hired by Newton, she might have followed his lead. But after careful analysis, Susie concluded that the wizard was still in charge of the household (her worldview remained unshakable).

So she pretended to agree, took the letter of introduction and severance pay and prepared to go to London, but actually hid in the home of a farmer she had befriended, planning to make one last effort when Li Cheng returned.

If Li Cheng says the same thing then, then she'll accept it.

However, Susie didn't think Li Cheng would really do that. After spending so many days together, she felt that Li Cheng wasn't such a heartless person, and the success rate of this move should be quite high—anyway, the situation couldn't get any worse.

"Long time no see, Susie."

"Susie, where have you been these past two days?"

As she walked into the castle, after greeting the maids she got along well with, Susie found Freya and explained her purpose.

"Is Li Cheng here? I have something very important to discuss with him."

"what."

When Freya saw Susie reappear, she was briefly surprised before she spoke up: "Miss and Mr. Li Cheng are busy and may be a little late—but don't worry, Mr. Li Cheng has been speaking up for you, and I estimate he will at least arrange a new place for you."

Freya was a little sad that Susie, this lively and capable girl, had been sent away, but she couldn't break her promise to Newton. So, she was somewhat happy to see her again.

"Oh, then I'll go to my room and put my things away first."

Susie was quite pleased to hear this; she knew Li Cheng wouldn't be so heartless.

Freya nodded at first, but after Susie disappeared from sight, she suddenly remembered something and covered her mouth in surprise: "Ah, I haven't had time to call someone to clean the room yet."

And so...

A moment later, Susie stood blankly at her bedroom door, staring at the mess inside.

The bedsheets, disheveled as if they'd been rooted up by pigs, the underwear strewn haphazardly on the floor, and the strange, indescribable smell permeating the air... all of this indicated what had happened here before.

As a girl who grew up in the countryside, Susie knew more or less about this kind of thing.

She quickly figured out that a fierce battle had just taken place on her bed, and even guessed which two people it was—after all, not many people would be so unrestrained in the castle.

"Damn it, my room isn't a hotel! Can't you at least consider my feelings???"

Chapter 182 Annie's Thrilling Life

Time flies like an arrow, and half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

Susie ultimately didn't go to London to be a maid, nor did she go to Scotland to grow potatoes. Instead, she continued to work diligently as a foreman, spending her spare time tinkering with arithmetic, and living a rather leisurely life.

Li Cheng, on the other hand, has been focusing on developing his territory, and things have finally stabilized.

However, of the several letters he sent to London, only Mr. Roy and Mr. Stoller replied, which surprised him slightly.

Roy reported on the progress of the textile factory, which was currently engaged in a price war with Anderson. However, he was confident of winning because the factory, which used shuttle looms, had lower production costs than Anderson. In addition, he had already communicated with many people in the Merchants' Guild, who had agreed to provide support.

As for Mr. Stoller, he mainly asked Anne how she was doing lately, whether her business was going smoothly, whether she was eating on time (he was definitely overthinking this), and whether she was adapting to the environment in Lincoln, etc. (He was also overthinking this)...

The last two questions are easy to answer, but the first one... well, the situation is a bit complicated.

Objectively speaking, Annie's entrepreneurial journey can't be described as smooth sailing; it's more like she's living the dream of a wish-fulfillment novel. Li Cheng felt that after God closed a door called intelligence for Annie, He somehow managed to build her a fully automatic, voice-controlled glass door called luck. It was truly unfair of fate.

......

Lincoln has very few theaters, far fewer than London, a city known for its intense competition, but it is the third largest city in the UK, densely populated, and its residents have a very high demand for entertainment.

In this environment of lack of competition, theaters are basically making money without lifting a finger, so they compete to slack off.

Not only were the actors' performances extremely perfunctory, but the script was also an old one from over a decade ago. Local residents were almost completely tired of it, and the only reason they were still willing to watch it was because they had no other entertainment options. It's like how all the music you want to listen to has been bought up by **Music, so you have to use it even if you don't want to.

Then, Annie appeared.

She brought with her a wealth of advanced London experience, fresh scripts from various talented playwrights in recent years, and top-notch adaptations of 21st-century wish-fulfillment novels—she was simply unstoppable...

This woman first used the living expenses Stoller gave her, along with the startup fund generously sponsored by Li Cheng, to acquire a small theater that was on the verge of bankruptcy and renamed it the Little Hollywood Theater.

(Because the book "An Actor Prepares" frequently quotes "Hollywood stars", she felt that it must be a really cool place).

After winning over the original actors at the Little Hollywood Theatre with her acting skills, Anne, with the help of the Carter Chamber of Commerce, 'decisively' put on a free theatrical performance in Lincoln's largest square, which was essentially an advertisement.

Oh, by the way, the title of that theatrical performance was: "The Domineering Rich Woman Falls in Love with Me".

The residents of Lincoln had never seen such a provocative title before. They were already tired of the same old shows at Lincoln Theatre, and since it happened to be Candlemas Sunday, everyone in the city was off work. So, bored out of their minds, they called their friends and family, and happily brought their little stools over.

It is said that the square in Lincoln was packed with people that day, and the pigeons couldn't find a place to put their feet.

Later, because there were so many people, even people who don't like watching plays came, just to join in the fun, since there weren't many forms of entertainment these days...

As more and more people came, the more people came... Gradually, vendors, street performers, and even people who stole wallets to start businesses all came. Just when a new market was about to take shape, the municipal government was finally alerted.

The mayor was chatting and joking with his friends when he heard from his subordinates that a large number of residents had gathered in the square for unknown reasons (there were too many people and they couldn't see the temporary stage that Anne had set up). He was terrified, thinking that there were troublemakers rebelling, and quickly gathered the military police to try to disperse these bastards.

The military police captain immediately accepted the order and led 20 elite soldiers to the square with great momentum.

When this guy led his people to the scene, he found that there were already several thousand people gathered in the square, far more than he had imagined. He immediately gasped and chickened out.

He felt that so many people could drown him with their spittle, so what was the point of driving them away? He was lucky if he wasn't driven away at all.

But the military police captain was a clever man, and he noticed something strange: these thousand or so people were gathered together doing nothing, carrying no weapons, and chanting no reactionary slogans. They seemed to be just chatting and buying things, like they were shopping at a market.

So the captain didn't immediately carry out the order or run away. Instead, he arrested the two men and prepared to question them.

The military police captain asked menacingly, "What are you all doing gathered here? Who gave you orders? What's your purpose?"

The two men who were arrested looked completely bewildered. After exchanging a glance, they said in unison, "We don't know."

"Didn't you know you were all gathered here???"

"Everyone is gathering here, so we came along too."

Military Police Captain: ? ? ?

After giving the two who were just there for the fun a good beating and ordering them to go home immediately, the military police arrested a few more people. Only then did they realize that the reason so many people had gathered was because there was a free theater performance.

What theater is putting on such an amazing show?

Could it be Lincoln from the Royal Theatre in London?

The military police captain was so shocked that he rushed back to report. The mayor was also shocked when he heard this: "What? Lincoln has come to the Royal Theatre in London?"

He immediately dared not delay and quickly reported to the Garcia family, who were in actual power.

The Garcia family happened to be holding a banquet at the estate, and almost all the nobles from the vicinity of Lincoln were there.

"What? The Royal Theatre from London is coming to Lincoln, and they're saying they'll be giving a free three-day, three-night performance for the public in the main square. Almost the entire Lincoln population is going?"

The Garcia family was also greatly alarmed when they heard the mayor provide them with firsthand, accurate intelligence.

But they still instinctively felt something was off. The Royal Theatre was the King's private theatre. Why would they come to Lincoln to perform for free?

Does the king not share the joy with the people? But the new king hasn't been crowned yet, and besides, the old king's body is barely cold (although it has been burned to ashes). Isn't it inappropriate for him to share the joy with the people so soon?

They sent people to conduct on-site investigations.

As a result, almost the entire aristocratic circle in Lincoln knew that a theater called Little Hollywood was putting on a show, which attracted almost half of Lincoln's residents to watch.

Needless to say, after that, the Little Hollywood Theater quickly became a sensation, and Anne herself became Lincoln's top internet celebrity. If you didn't know her, you were embarrassed to say you were from Lincoln. Nobles considered it an honor to invite Anne to their homes and lined up to give her money.

This is true in any peaceful era; entertainment to the death and the dominance of internet traffic are not surprising.

But Li Cheng still said he was really screwed. He had been working hard farming in his territory, using lathes, making coal, coal briquettes, furnaces, and crucibles, but after all that, he hadn't even developed as fast as a primate that likes to imitate humans.

......

That concludes the story.

Inside the room.

Li Cheng sat at his desk, his hand holding the quill pen trembling slightly.

He knew everything about Anne's situation (even Lincoln knew about it), but he couldn't bring himself to write a letter to answer Stoller's question... The facts were the facts, but would Stoller believe him if he wrote a letter like this?

“Such a ridiculous thing, most people definitely wouldn’t believe it,” he muttered to himself. “Mr. Stoller probably would too. He might think I’m conspiring with Anne to deceive him, and in a fit of anger, he’ll come to Lincoln to investigate the truth.”

"Then Mr. Stoller will find that his daughter has become the 'top star' of Lincoln, with every nobleman vying to invite her to perform, and Anne is happily showing her face and running around all day long."

"Then, an enraged Stoller stormed into my house, the home of the prisoner I had been helping to cover up... Uh, I knew this wouldn't work."

After careful consideration, Li Cheng decisively crossed out the word that was originally at the beginning and started a new line.

Annie's business venture failed, and she was dealt a harsh blow by reality.

"But don't worry, with my secret help, she'll be safe. However, I estimate she can only hold on for two more months at most, after which she'll likely have to go back—I imagine Annie will mature a lot after this experience."

【...】

Satisfied, Li Cheng glanced at the reply and stood up, preparing to board the carriage to Lincoln City.