It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

Veronica's tension disappeared after she left, and she now looked much more relaxed.

“I want to directly disseminate the method for producing ether. It has a much greater purpose and shouldn’t just be used as a tool for making money.” Li Cheng thought for a moment and then asked, “Would you have any objections?”

"I have no objection."

Lavoisier shook his head: "After all, the ether was made according to your method. I just did a little work—and even used your laboratory."

Human labor embodies the crystallization of undifferentiated value... Li Cheng subconsciously wanted to use such a pretentious phrase, but then thought it didn't quite fit his current image, so he changed his words to: "No, I'm just clumsy, I really can't do without you."

"What do you mean by clumsy?" Lavoisier asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Uh, it just means I'm not very good at practical skills." Li Cheng explained the modern term, then shrugged. "Anyway, just understand the meaning. Just think of us as partners, and I need to get your opinion."

Lavoisier suddenly thought of something and said with a hint of malice, "What if I don't agree?"

"what?"

Li Cheng was taken aback by this answer. He paused for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Then... what are your terms?"

"Pfft-"

Lavoisier chuckled, and when the laughter subsided, she reached out and brushed a stray strand of silver hair behind her ear. "Just kidding, why would I make demands? You've already helped me so much—just a month ago I was in that dilapidated wooden hut, outsmarting the landlord."

"How to say?"

Li Cheng was quite curious about how the battle of wits and courage would unfold.

“The landlord wanted to kick me out before the agreed lease expired so he could renovate the house to accommodate more people and collect more rent.”

Lavoisier frowned, a look of utter dismay on his face: "Then I warned him that I studied law in college and that if he kicked me out, I would report him for unauthorized alterations to the house—and that bastard actually had the locks changed while I was out."

"And then?" Li Cheng pressed.

Lavoisier smiled and said, "Then I simply blocked the keyhole, so no one could get in—I secretly slept in the lab for those few days, thankfully the weather was relatively warm."

Li Cheng was moved by the story of Lavoisier's hardships, having never imagined they had been so difficult. He sighed and said, "It was tough, but it shouldn't be like that anymore."

"Yes, life is so much better now."

Lavoisier sighed in agreement, then changed the subject: "I suddenly realized that I really don't know you very well. I didn't know you were so busy. No wonder I rarely see you in Cambridge."

Li Cheng hadn't expected this matter to be brought up again, and his expression immediately stiffened: "Ahaha, actually it's alright..."

"Okay, take care not to overwork yourself."

Seeing this, Lavoisier shook his head helplessly: "But I recently learned a few very nutritious dishes from Joan, I'll make them for you to help you recover later?"

"Okay, I'm really looking forward to it too."

Li Cheng nodded, then pointed to a corner: "But before that, I need to send Joanna back first."

Joanna was still in the corner, pretending to be a Thinker statue with a serious expression. She only looked up when she heard someone call her name, and then looked in Li Cheng's direction with a somewhat confused look in her eyes.

------

at the same time.

Port of London.

This area is located on both banks of the lower Thames River in southeastern England, extending upstream from the river mouth through the Tilbury port area, across London Bridge, and all the way to Teddington Dock.

Along the riverbanks, there are many docks, wharves, and repair docks used for loading and unloading cargo. Countless workers and sailors rely on the port to make a living, while some people who cannot find work temporarily stand on both sides of the wharf, acting as temporary unloaders/porters.

Roy had just finished inspecting the quality of a shipload of cotton and, finding it to be of excellent quality, disembarked to leave.

Li Cheng didn't buy much cotton this time, so Spyton generously didn't let him pre-order the next batch or go through any complicated procedures. He simply took some cotton from the current shipment and let him choose. Roy came for this purpose in person.

"Ah!"

However, as soon as he disembarked, he suddenly sneezed several times in a row.

Could it be that the cotton inside that wasn't checked has become moldy...? Roy rubbed his nose with some doubt and asked the two workers he had brought with him, "Did you notice anything wrong just now?"

"No." "I didn't notice."

Although both workers said there was no problem, Roy was still a little worried, so he turned around and prepared to go back to the ship to check again.

However, as soon as he took a step, he realized that something was indeed wrong, but it wasn't a problem with the cotton—the waterline was too deep. A cargo ship carrying cotton shouldn't have such a deep waterline unless it had other heavy cargo on board.

Roy recalled asking the sailors earlier, "Besides cotton, what else does your ship transport?"

"Nothing."

The sailor replied, "Our ship is specifically for transporting cotton, and the captain has put a lot of effort into waterproofing it."

Waterproof? Besides cotton, what else needs to be strictly waterproof?

I hadn't noticed these details before, but now that I think about it, Roy is getting a chill down his spine... Boss, what kind of people did you hire? Are you sure you're not trying to scam me?

Roy decided to pretend he hadn't noticed anything and simply said to the two workers he had brought, "Never mind, it's probably just my imagination. Let's go."

Chapter 133 Sir, this is a misunderstanding

Hearing someone call her name, Joanna finally snapped out of her contemplative state and looked at Li Cheng with a puzzled expression.

"As I just said, I'll take you back to your brother's place first."

Li Cheng repeated what he had just said.

Because he was about to part ways with Joanna, he suddenly found the blue-haired girl much more pleasing to the eye. In fact, due to the strange tendency of humans to idealize things when parting, he felt a strange sense of reluctance.

Actually, thinking about it carefully, although this blue-haired girl speaks in a roundabout way and is sometimes a bit strange, she has always obeyed the request not to talk nonsense. Apart from following me around, there hasn't been much of a problem... well, okay, this is quite a big problem. Today, I've been asked at least three times, 'Who is that person behind you?'

Li Cheng dismissed the dangerous thought and waved to Joanna: "Stop standing in the corner like a statue, let's go."

Joanna finally snapped out of her reverie, nodded, and prepared to stand up.

However, because she had been squatting for too long, her legs went weak when she stood up and she almost fell. Fortunately, she managed to grab the wall and maintain her balance.

Even so, she still twisted her ankle slightly and gasped for breath.

"hiss--"

When Lavoisier saw that Joanna seemed to be injured, he instinctively took a few steps forward, put his arm around Joanna's shoulder, and showed a concerned expression as he prepared to ask about her condition.

"Don't......"

Li Cheng wanted to stop Lavoisier's self-inflicted torment, but everything happened too fast. By the time he realized what was happening, Lavoisier had already completed a full interrogation.

"Did you twist your leg? Do you need to rest here for a bit before you go? It won't make a difference if you take a little longer." Lavoisier asked with concern as he helped Joanna to the wooden chair she often sat on.

"..."

Joanna seemed a little flustered by Lavoisier's sudden concern, simply accepting his help in a daze—until a moment later, when she realized what had happened and heard Lavoisier's question, Joanna took a long, deep breath.

It's over... Seeing this, Li Cheng forced a desperate smile.

Lavoisier was still unaware of the seriousness of the problem and was considering whether to pull up Joanna's trouser leg to check if she had sprained her calf.

Joanna raised her face, looking directly into Lavoisier's red eyes, and said seriously, "From a subjective point of view, the limb dislocation that occurred just now due to the decreased limb control caused by prolonged crouching was a minor incident. However, if a sufficiently precise and objective judgment is made, combining biology and... Nevertheless, out of basic courtesy... it is far more important than actually... it must... &*%￥......￥%＃@."

Lavoisier: ? ? ?

This chanting was exceptionally long. Even Li Cheng, who had prior experience and some interpretive skills, found her brain automatically filtering some words into meaningless characters towards the end. This was even more true for Lavoisier, who hadn't received any prior warning or preparation. Suddenly bombarded with such intense information, she was in a state akin to a program crashing.

She began to analyze the junk information she had just received, her brows furrowing tightly into a wrinkled mess, and her lips appearing somewhat pale from being pressed so tightly together.

However, the analysis was destined to be useless, and after a series of arduous and fruitless attempts, Lavoisier gave up the fight.

She turned to look at Li Cheng, her puzzled expression clearly asking, 'What is she talking about?'

"Sigh—I told you not to ask before."

Li Cheng sighed and shook his head helplessly: "Besides, she probably said 'I'm fine, thank you'."

"That's all?"

Lavoisier seemed completely bewildered. She glanced at Joanna, who looked utterly oblivious to what she had done, and then at Li Cheng, who stood there with his arms crossed, watching from the sidelines. She couldn't help but ask, "How did you figure that out?"

Li Cheng stroked his chin, adopting a serious expression: "Based on experience and past cases, combined with the situation on site, we have made reasonable inferences."

Speak like a human.

Lavoisier frowned again; clearly, Li Cheng's joke was rather inappropriate.

"My guess."

Seeing this, Li Cheng quickly confessed, while changing the subject: "Anyway, she seems to be fine. I'll take her to her brother's place first, and we'll talk about the rest later."

Lavoisier then nodded.

------

Administration building.

This time, Miller's office door was finally open. Although there was still no one inside, Li Cheng guessed that he had only gone out for a short while and should be back soon.

After settling Joanna in the center of the office, Li Cheng said with a hint of unease, "I'm leaving now."

Joanna: "......"

Ever since visiting the ether experiment, she has been inexplicably lost in her own world, rarely responding to the outside world, and only snapping back to attention when someone calls her name.

Li Cheng shrugged helplessly and turned to leave, but after taking only two steps, he noticed that Joanna had silently followed him again.

"Hey, stop following me." He was quite speechless.

However, Joanna didn't hear those words at all and continued walking forward until she bumped into Li Cheng, at which point she finally realized that something was wrong.

Li Cheng continued, "Although I'm not entirely sure why you've been following me all this time, it's pretty much it. I have something very important to do now..."

Joanna looked up and saw Li Cheng's face so close to hers. Watching his lips move, a look of fear involuntarily crossed her face, and she murmured, "No, don't..."

?

What's going on? This girl's trying to cling to me...? Li Cheng was a bit bewildered, but for a moment he didn't know what to say, so he just coughed twice: "I think some things require mutual consent..."

This conjecture was clearly far from the truth. When Joanna saw that Li Cheng not only did not leave but even got closer, she panicked and did not know how to back down. She just pushed forward with all her might, trying to push Li Cheng away.

However, forces are reciprocal. Joanna, who was just over 1.6 meters tall, was clearly not strong enough to push Li Cheng, and instead, she fell backward.

"Hey!"

Li Cheng reacted quickly, grabbing Joanna's arm and pulling her into a hug: "What are you doing?"

!

Held in his arms and feeling the warmth of the man surrounding her, Joanna's fear intensified. Clearly, a day's contact was far from enough to dispel her wariness of Li Cheng, and the current environment between them only exacerbated her panic—after all, she was the kind of person who was easily startled.