It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

He tentatively reached out his hand to the other's still flushed cheek... Newton's body trembled slightly at the sudden touch, but he did not make any further moves, pretending to still be thinking about the problem.

Seeing no resistance, Li Cheng grew bolder, relaxed, and began to rub Newton's face, kneading it into various shapes. Throughout the process, Newton remained very compliant, resembling a wild cat that had evolved into a domesticated cat after being petted.

The Newton training plan is proceeding perfectly... Ugh, who has such a weird plan?!

Not content with simply pinching its cheeks, Li Cheng went a step further and tried to stroke its smooth, long, golden hair... Unfortunately, he forgot that cats are extremely proud creatures, and even domestic cats will bite if petted too much by their owners. Let alone a wild cat that has just been fed once and hasn't fully gotten used to humans yet.

Newton opened his mouth, revealing two blood-stained tiger teeth, and skillfully bit down on Li Cheng's wrist.

"what!"

Li Cheng quickly withdrew his hand, wincing in pain.

Newton took a bite and then let go, grumbling, "Will this ever end?"

Unbelievable! I was bitten three times in one day. Do I really not need to get a rabies vaccine?

Li Cheng, clutching his wrist which now bore another bite mark, changed the subject, asking, "What is it that you asked me to wait for you in the room?"

“Hmm…” Newton pondered for a moment, then glanced at Li Cheng, and after thinking for a while, waved his hand and said, “Everything is fine now, you can go back.”

Li Cheng: ?

Nothing happened? You call the man into your room, and then just say "nothing happened" and that's it? Is that reasonable?

Li Cheng was furious and decided to take revenge.

He said, "Ahem, since we're bored anyway, and it's still early, shall I tell you a bedtime story?"

Newton raised his head dismissively: "I don't listen to those bedtime stories meant for children."

"Don't worry, this is definitely not a story for children."

After making some assurances, Li Cheng began to recount: "One summer noon, under the blazing sun, Professor Loveclough, who worked at Miskatonic University, suddenly received a letter from a friend asking for help. In the letter, the friend claimed that he had been being monitored by something recently."

“Sometimes when he turns around unintentionally, he can see a dark shadow quickly shrink into a corner, but when he goes to check, he can’t find anything.”

"Although not entirely sure, Loveklar's friend speculated that it appeared to be the tentacles of a marine creature..."

Under the dim light of an oil lamp, Li Cheng slowly recounted a famous horror story from his past life in a low voice, while Newton listened intently, his knees drawn up to his chest. The shadows behind them stretched long, forming two expressionless black figures on the wall, one large and one small.

------

The room, which belongs exclusively to the head maid, is not large, but the furnishings are neat and tidy, which shows the meticulous personality of the room's owner.

After a busy day of chores, Freya finally got a break.

Shedding her maid outfit and donning a close-fitting nightgown, she stretched out her body, revealing a deep, rugged ravine that even Newton, despite being only three years older than him, could not acquire through hundreds of millions of years of geological evolution—according to the law of conservation of nutrients, Li Cheng stated that this was scientifically sound.

After stretching, she lay down in bed and drifted into a deep sleep.

.....

dong dong dong-

"Freya! Freya!"

With a knock on the door and urgent calls, Freya groggily opened her eyes. However, even in this not-yet-fully-awake state, as the head maid who had served the Newton family for many years, she immediately recognized that the voices outside were coming from Newton.

She hurriedly got up and opened the door, where Newton appeared, holding a pillow about half his height, looking anxious as if he were being chased by something terrifying.

When Newton saw the familiar Freya, his expression visibly relaxed, and he then slipped under Freya's arm and into the room.

"Miss, what happened?"

"Forehead......"

Only then did Newton finally calm down. Looking at the head maid, who usually seemed to idolize him, he paused for two seconds, then decided to play along: "Freya... I, I have a mouse in my room. Can I sleep with you tonight? Hehe~"

"mouse?"

Freya felt that things were not so simple: "Miss, please don't hide it from me. Tell me what's wrong, and we can deal with it immediately."

"It really is a rat!"

"Miss!"

Faced with the stern questioning of someone close to him, Newton couldn't withstand it and finally revealed the truth: "It was Lee, Lee he..."

Freya was shocked: "What did Mr. Li do to you?"

"Hmm, it's not what you think..." Newton looked up at the ceiling, his right foot digging into the floor in frantic circles, almost drilling a hole through it. "Lee, Lee told me a story..."

.....

Epilogue: After forcibly probing the reason for the incident and learning that Newton was simply too scared to sleep by the story Li Cheng told her, Freya breathed a sigh of relief. She then used Newton as a pillow and slept through the night with a happy smile.

Chapter Seven: Tom and Jerry

After Li Cheng finished telling Newton a bedtime story filled with indescribable terror, he fell into a deep sleep, completely satisfied.

London.

Bright moonlight shone on the castle's balcony, but it could not dispel the gloom in the city.

Even before falling asleep, Princess Veronica Stuart maintained her composure, standing on the balcony in a white dress, gazing silently at the sleeping city of London, her face devoid of any emotion.

"Your Highness, I have something to report."

A trusted confidante knocked on the door, and after receiving permission, she reported through the curtain: "There is a reply from Holyroodhouse Palace in Edinburgh."

The Third Princess's usually cold expression shifted slightly as she asked, "What did Father say?"

"The King was delighted to learn that the plague had ended and said he would return to London after the horse races. In his letter, he praised Your Highness for your courage in staying in London and said that he would award you a medal upon your return."

The third princess shook her head, seemingly helpless towards her father: "No need for the medal. What about my useless brother?"

The confidant reported: "His Highness the Prince is also very pleased, but he said he has some matters to attend to in Scotland and will stay for another two months or so."

"Hehe, they're exactly the same..."

After hearing this, the Third Princess laughed twice: "Well, that's fine too. I can take this opportunity to place more of my people here—Roberts has always been against me. I heard he was seriously ill last week. How is he now?"

The guard replied, "Principal Roberts has passed away this morning."

“Okay.” The Third Princess nodded, then asked, “What about Carter? How’s that fat man’s decision?”

The guard said, "Chairman Carter's tone has softened, but he said he needs to consider it for a while longer."

"What about Taylor? Is he also considering it?"

"He agreed."

"Anderson?"

"..."

After receiving a series of affirmative replies, the Third Princess closed her eyes and pondered for a few seconds before opening them with a slight smile on her face: "I understand. I need to rest now. You may leave."

----------

Li Cheng temporarily settled in Newton's house.

Through questioning Newton and the servants, he gained a preliminary understanding of this somewhat distorted history of England.

To put it simply...

Cromwell is dead, the dictatorship has collapsed, the Stuart dynasty has been restored, and England is now under the rule of Charles II.

With the initial development of capitalism, the power of the new aristocracy and the wealthy class gradually increased. If nothing unexpected happened (Li Cheng glanced at Newton, deeply skeptical), the Glorious Revolution would be imminent in another twenty years.

Even if the wheels of history really did veer off course and a civil war broke out in Britain, it would still be peaceful for at least a decade or so... probably?

.......

Let's shift our focus from the hazy fog of history and return to the present.

With Li Cheng's acting skills on full display, the two made rapid progress in their research, and it seemed that the paper would soon be completely completed.

Newton herself didn't seem to care much about the two of them spending all their time together doing research, but some of the maids and male servants in her household were particularly interested in gossiping about their young mistress.

“There’s no such thing as a coincidence. They must be up to something,” the young maid said confidently.

"It was just a coincidence."

The person who said this was a maid intern who had been working for two and a half months and was good at sweeping, mopping, and washing dishes. She was not very open about gossiping about her master.

“It is indeed very strange.” The third and most senior middle-aged maid said, “I have been with Miss for so long, and this is the first time that she has taken the initiative to bring a man home, and for him to stay for a week.”

The group was engrossed in their conversation when Newton happened to walk by, startling them. Fortunately, Newton didn't realize they were gossiping about her. She hurriedly crossed the corridor and went straight into Li Cheng's room.

The three of them stared at the tightly closed wooden door.

"How about... we eavesdrop?"

The new young maid, unable to contain her gossip, suggested...

"Isn't that a bit inappropriate? What if we get caught?" The maid, who had been working there for two and a half months, hesitated.

“I’ll go with you. If we’re found out, just say I was directing you to catch mice.” The most senior middle-aged maid was experienced. “Miss is very afraid of mice, she won’t ask any questions.”

After discussing their plan, the three maids, each carrying a hundred ducks, quietly approached Li Cheng's door. The shortest bent down, while the tallest stood on tiptoe, pressing their ears close to the crack in the wooden door to eavesdrop. Throughout the entire process, they held their breath, not daring to make a sound.

"That's not how it works."

"Just a little bit short."

"Go a little deeper?"

"Wow, that's amazing... This is the first time I've ever seen something like this."

The conversation in the room left the three of them looking at each other in bewilderment.

"Oh no, I think I heard something I shouldn't have," the maid, who had been working there for two and a half months, said in distress.

"What will we do then?" The young maid looked confused.

After all, in many biographical stories, the male master liked to grope young maids like her, such as deliberately placing vases crookedly so that she would break them while cleaning, then threatening to demand compensation, and so on.

"You should think about how to get along with this person in the future," the most senior middle-aged maid said, pointing out the crux of the problem. "Remember to be more respectful in the future."

--------

Inside the room at that moment, Li Cheng was revising a paper with Newton.

Coming from the modern era, he used his memories of his previous life's papers to correct some of Newton's inaccurate descriptions and took the opportunity to change some of his less-than-fair descriptions.

"I never knew a graduation thesis could be written like this."