It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

Li Cheng paused for a moment with a slightly strange expression, then slowly said, "But actually, I don't have Phillips' contact information either..."

Hook: ?

"Don't rush, don't rush."

Noticing that Hook's expression was not very friendly, Li Cheng changed his tune and said, "But Phillips will be coming to pick up the dress the day after tomorrow. You can come to my house and wait there. You can meet her then—but remember, I won't provide any extra help. What you can do after meeting her depends entirely on your own abilities."

Chapter 282 Taking a nap

Phillips agreed to pick up the clothes on the appointed day.

No. 14 Tulip Street.

Tap tap tap tap tap...

A rather urgent knocking sound woke Li Cheng from his sleep. He rubbed his tired eyes, his lips twitched down, his eyes were dull, but his face was full of joy—who the hell is knocking on the door so early in the morning? Can't a person get any sleep?

After quickly putting on his shirt and trousers, Li Cheng hurriedly went to open the door.

Good morning, Mr. Orange.

Hook appeared at the door. She greeted him in a cold tone, then walked past Li Cheng and went straight into the house.

Today, Hook was dressed up carefully, a black swan dress wrapping around her tall and slender figure, her fair cheeks showing a faint blush of makeup, simple yet beautiful.

In addition, on her equally black, cascading hair, she wore a small black, round-topped straw hat, with a pale pink rose tucked into the brim. The delicate petals seemed to still have a drop of dew on them, suggesting they had been picked recently.

With such a beautiful young woman standing in front of you, it's easy for anyone, regardless of gender, to feel a sense of goodwill at first glance.

But Li Cheng glanced at the wall clock and realized that it was only a little past five o'clock. Immediately, a feeling of irritation at being disturbed from his sleep welled up in his heart.

You see, for some reason, he couldn't fall asleep in bed last night, tossing and turning until late into the night before finally managing to drift off. It wasn't a big problem, since he didn't have to rush to work, but who would have thought that some crazy person would come knocking on his door at five in the morning.

"Miss Hook."

He glared at Hook, who had entered the living room without permission, and said through gritted teeth, "Don't you think you're a tiny bit too early?"

“You didn’t tell me what time to arrive,” Hook replied calmly.

"Is this your reason for knocking on my door at five o'clock?" Li Cheng retorted.

“Yes,” Hook replied frankly, “it’s so as not to miss my meeting with Miss Phillips—besides, being late is a very bad thing that can easily make a bad impression.”

"Have you ever considered that knocking at five o'clock will lower my impression of you?" Li Cheng's expression was quite unfriendly.

Hook glanced at Li Cheng with some surprise, seemingly thinking he was quite clueless: "You can go back to your room and continue your sleep."

"Don't I entertain guests when they come to my door?" Li Cheng asked.

“I don’t need your hospitality.” Hook pointed to a piece of furniture in the living room. “I just need to borrow your sofa to wait for Miss Phillips to come over. I’ll keep quiet during this time, and you can go to sleep.”

Li Cheng once again felt that Hook might indeed have a serious mental illness.

However, just as the way to deal with a mentally ill person is to comply with them, he also felt that his hospitality was meaningless except to cause unpleasantness for both parties. Li Cheng decided to follow the other party's advice and go back to his room to catch up on sleep.

Li Cheng shrugged: "Then do as you please, I'm going back to my room to sleep some more."

Hooker: "......"

So Li Cheng yawned, left the beautiful young woman who was visiting in the living room, and went back to bed to take a nap. Miss Hook didn't seem to mind at all; on the contrary, she was probably more comfortable alone than sharing a room with a man.

But whether it was because he was taking a nap or because Hu Ke, whom he wasn't very familiar with, was sitting in the living room, Li Cheng didn't sleep very soundly.

That's why, when he seemed to faintly hear conversations coming from the living room, he immediately sat up in bed with a start.

Oh no, I forgot about the landlady who delivers breakfast!

Since the meal times were irregular, Li Cheng made a new agreement with the landlady: he would knock twice before delivering the food, and if no one answered, he would leave the lunchbox on the windowsill and collect the old lunchbox left on the windowsill from the previous meal.

The problem is that Hook didn't know that she might have mistaken Phillips, that cross-dresser, for a new dress and excitedly opened the door.

When Li Cheng thought about that stingy and gossipy landlady who knocked on his door early in the morning to deliver breakfast, only to find that the person who opened the door was a complete stranger... Oh, just kill me.

"I'm numb. These two people really have nothing to do with me."

Li Cheng rubbed his temples, feeling quite troubled, and decided to play the submissive role in the bedroom until Mrs. Hudson left before leaving the room.

But waiting idly was too boring, so he peered through the crack in the door to observe the situation inside the living room.

In the living room, the beautiful Hooker and the still stunning Mrs. Hudson, though older, sat close together on a sofa, seemingly engaged in a lively conversation.

"You've studied painting too? What a coincidence! I happen to know a little bit as well. We can paint sometime, and you can be my model..."

In stark contrast to his cold expression towards Li Cheng, Hook always wore a warm smile when facing Mrs. Hudson, who was a woman. His conversation was full of humor and wit, and he could often make Mrs. Hudson laugh out loud, covering her mouth and giggling.

"You're so funny."

Hudson glanced at the wall clock in the corner and said regretfully, "But unfortunately I can't chat anymore. I have to hurry out to buy groceries and then prepare today's lunch."

"You prepared lunch yourself? That's too much work for you."

Hook gently extended his long, slender hands, tenderly cupping Hudson's slightly rough right hand in his palms, and softly stroked it, saying, "It's cruel to make these delicate hands endure the high temperature of flames and the erosion of cold water!"

Although she was already used to cooking, Mrs. Hudson was a little saddened by what she said: "Alas, it's all to save money. If my annual rent income were three thousand éricu... Fortunately, I recently met a gentleman from England, and the payment he made has made me much more comfortable."

Hook, who was originally very enthusiastic, frowned as she listened. Her eyes inadvertently glanced in the direction of Li Cheng's bedroom, as if she suspected someone.

Mrs. Hudson continued, "But thanks also to Mr. Orenkey, on his advice, I discovered that the English gentleman's daughter didn't speak French. Since I had lived in England for a time when I was young and was fluent in both English and French, I offered to be her French tutor..."

"Although I said I wouldn't charge him, it was just a personal gesture, the British gentleman still insisted on giving me a considerable sum of money... Ah, he really is a generous and magnanimous gentleman!"

Upon hearing this, Hook silently withdrew his gaze from peeking into Li Cheng's room, but his tone was far less enthusiastic than before.

Mrs. Hudson stopped the conversation at the right moment: "Oh, we really can't talk about this anymore—by the way, when are you free? We can arrange to meet next Friday, when I have a painting class."

"Okay, I'll definitely do it next time."

She gave a perfunctory reply, clearly losing interest in him, and it was unclear whether this was a good thing or a bad thing for Mrs. Hudson...

Chapter 283 I fell asleep last night because I was too tired.

After waiting quietly for the landlady's footsteps to disappear, Li Cheng made his bed and got up. Trying his best to ignore Hook as a background figure, he began his day's schedule.

【AM: 8:00】

Get up, wash up, and eat.

Hook seemed to have anticipated that it might take a long time to wait. She took out a beautifully wrapped black book from her cloth bag, sat on the sofa, and silently began to read it.

As I passed by, I glanced at the book title and realized it was "Domination 3," the book I had finished writing at Lincoln. So I pretended not to see it and turned to leave—although I had heard that the book was quite popular among women in London, I still felt despair for this insignificant world.

Although a maid who comes to the house three times a week is hired to do odd jobs, the drawings and painting tools still need to be organized by oneself.

Finally, the blankets were carried to the yard to air out. It must be said that as a landlocked country, France has far more sunny days than the island nation of Britain, and the sunshine is much brighter.

【AM9:00-9:05】

The work involves carefully reading the collected materials, drawing and selecting suitable clothing styles, and organizing the drafts.

【AM9:05-9:10】

continue working.

【AM9:10-9:15】

jobs.

【AM9:15-9:20】

jobs.

【AM9:20-9:25】

jobs.

【AM9:25-9:30】

Work:

【AM9:30-10:30】

Take a short rest.

Finding that Hook had already browsed through the books she brought, she politely offered to move a stack of magazines she had bought to the sofa, indicating that she could borrow them at will. Although it seemed that Hook had already read these magazines once, out of sheer boredom, she still picked out a few and began to read.

AM10:30-11:00

Exercise is essential; good health is the foundation of everything, and it's also a crucial component in maintaining family harmony.

Phillips still hadn't arrived, which was a bit strange, since she had always knocked on the door early in the morning and left at noon the previous times—probably for many corrupt nobles who couldn't distinguish between day and night, noon was the start of the day, so she would handle affairs in the afternoon.

He told Hooker his speculation and suggested she come another day.

Hook replied, “If Miss Phillips is truly busy and unable to come, wouldn’t she send a servant to fetch her? Since she isn’t, then she’s probably just held up by something and should come in person later.”

It sounded quite reasonable, and I was successfully persuaded.

【AM12:00】

At lunchtime, although I forgot to ask Mrs. Hudson to bring me an extra lunch, she still thoughtfully brought me two. The asparagus soup was rich and flavorful, and the pork chops were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Both the taste and the portion were much better than usual, showing that she had prepared very carefully today.

Hook was amazed by Mrs. Hudson's kitchen skills.

【PM13:00】

Although I really wanted to go out for a stroll, there were still guests around.

Speaking of which, I seem to remember hearing from Newton that she was ridiculed by Hooke for her overly simplistic and abstract paintings. As her father (just kidding), since I had nothing better to do anyway, I decided to help her save face.

Hook was given a drawing challenge that would shock her, and she agreed with great interest.

However, ordinary exquisite paintings were obviously not enough. Hook himself was also a painting master, so after thinking about it, he used Hook sitting on the sofa as the prototype to draw her cute image - large oval eyes, two very light blushes on her cheeks, a nose reduced to a small dot, and fringe with an uneven cut on her forehead and long black hair.

Haha, I'm a seasoned anime fan, this kind of little thing is a piece of cake for me (actually, it's just JD.com's attitude).

Hooke quickly completed the drawing of JD.com's face.

"So fast?"

Hook seemed to have the illusion that I was just putting on a show for her, but it didn't matter; she would be shocked soon enough.

I smiled slightly and turned the easel around so that Hook could see her two-dimensional image clearly—long black hair draped over her sides, large gray pupils filled with indifference and aloofness, and lips pressed tightly together, as if unwilling to speak.

"This is?"

Hook's expression was somewhat indescribable when it came to his two-dimensional character... a mixture of confusion, surprise, curiosity, and bewilderment...

The expressions varied greatly, probably similar to my expression when I first saw Newton's drawing of the curly-haired pig—both were expressions of a metaphysical shock.