Chapter 502: 502

Chapter 502 The Opera Singer

“What are you discussing?”

Villard returned, forehead drenched in perspiration . “The restaurants in London and what we should treat you to later,” Holmes answered .

The redhead detective blushed . “Oh, there’s no need for that . I’m not here on holiday . Don’t worry about me; I’ll settle for a simple meal . ”

Holmes couldn’t help but smile at the fellow’s reaction . “Villard, my friend, we were actually looking for the missing oil painting . ”

“What? You found the oil painting?!” Villard nearly leaped into the air . “That was fast! But how?”

“If you do as I say, stay calm, and pay attention to the details that you might have missed, you will also be able to piece the answer together . ”

“Oh, you have such a high opinion of me . It may be child’s play to you, but to the unexceptional man like us, it’s like reaching for the moon,” Villard sincerely admitted .

“It’s not like that . As I said, you have the potential, Villard, but you haven’t fully tapped into it yet . In fact, Zhang Heng here is about to find the answer as well, and he hasn’t been in this business for long . ”

“The people in your company are certainly not ordinary-I can only hope to learn from them . ”

Unlike Gregson, this red-haired detective was unduly modest, always putting himself down, playing the humble student .

With nothing to combat Villard’s self-vilification, Holmes said, “It was a joke, but since you’re our guest and it’s almost lunch, let’s have a meal together . You can rest later in the afternoon and mull over the case . I’ll need the afternoon to look into something anyway, so we’ll be seeing each other again tonight . ”

The three subsequently had lunch at the famous Royal Restaurant in London . After the meal, Holmes left in a hurry as he had declared, leaving Villard to return to the hotel and Zhang Heng to Baker Street alone . As soon as he opened the door, Mrs . Hudson shot him a strange look .

“What is it?”

“You have a guest,” she answered . “A guest?” Zhang Heng looked puzzled . He was all alone here in this 19th century London and had neither friends nor relatives . The only person he was close to was Holmes, and nearly everyone who came to 221B Baker Street was his guests .

Then, suddenly someone came to mind-the gypsy busker he met that afternoon in the East End . Before they parted ways, the busker had asked for his name and address and promised a visit .

Zhang Heng thought that the gypsy had only said it in passing, never expecting the fellow to actually come, and the very next day, to boot .

However, when Zhang Heng walked into the drawing-room and saw his guest, he was surprised to see that instead of the gypsy busker, a woman was seated on the sofa-and a gorgeous woman at that . No, to put in in a more precise way, she was the ultimate fantasy of every Victorian man, elegant, well-dressed, and all around her, an inherently mysterious persona .

“What is it?” the woman asked as she bit into a biscuit . “Don’t you recognize me?”

“You’ve gone through an immense transformation . ”

Zhang Heng had to admit that if Holmes’ makeup skills were at a level two, this mysterious woman was at a full-blown level three . Her disguise as a man was very natural, to put it mildly, even covering up her neck with a long scarf . It made it impossible to see that she did not have Adam’s apple, a dead giveaway .

Of course, it was also mostly because Zhang Heng paid little attention to her at the time . He was simply helping her . Also, unlike Holmes, she was not a familiar face, and numerous factors contributed to his failure in noticing those tiny little details .

“I didn’t mean to deceive you, but as you can see, if I went as myself, I wouldn’t have been able to go,” said the woman .

“Then what is lady such as yourself doing in the East End?”

“I’m the lead singer of an opera troupe, and I am fairly well-known in London, but I guess you probably haven’t seen me perform . I went there looking for inspiration for the new piece,” the woman answered . “Sorry, I rarely pamper myself with operas . ” “It’s alright . I’m performing at the Queen’s Theatre tonight . If you like, you can come watch with your friend . ”

The woman produced two tickets and placed them on the table .

“I only helped because I happened to there . You really don’t have to . ”

“Then, treat it as making an acquaintance . ” The woman did not take the tickets back . After finishing the last cookie in her hand, she went to Mrs . Hudson, complimenting, “Good bake . ”“Well, I’m glad you like it!” Mrs . Hudson trilled in delight .

The opera singer stretched lazily . She had come with the intention of gifting Zhang Heng the tickets, and now that it was done, she stood up from the sofa to leave .

But Zhang Heng called out to her, “I didn’t get your name . ” “Adler,” the opera singer turned around and smiled, “Irene Adler . ”

She reinstalled her bowler’s hat and veil, showing herself out . A two-wheeled carriage was already at the ready .

Zhang Heng flinched when he heard the name . Those who read the “Sherlock Holmes” series would find the name Irene Adler all too familiar . Holmes once told Watson that he had only lost to four people . Among them, were three men and a woman, and that woman was the mysterious opera singer, Irene Adler . The confrontation between the pair was recorded in “A Scandal in Bohemia . ” The female singer and her new husband fled London one night and Holmes failed to complete the commission, but it turned out to be a perfect ending for both parties . In the end, Holmes asked to have Adler’s photo as a souvenir, and since then, had only referred to her as “that woman . ”

Consequently, certain readers suspected that Holmes might have had a secret affection for the opera singer .

Nonetheless, as Sherlock Holmes’s new roommate, Zhang Heng, was more inclined to think that it was pure admiration for a like-minded soul . In fact, Holmes was a stranger to the softer passions, such as love . His attitude toward it was always one of repugnance, believing that such things would damage rationale, its effects of which far worse than the substances he injected himself with . Love was like sand that had fallen into a precision instrument or cracks on a high-powered lens .

Therefore, he had always stayed away from love and the likes of it . Of course, he did still study the psychology of people in love, but it was all in the name of solving cases .

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