I am aging gracefully in the world of famous books

Mycroft always kept his word, and before dinner the next day, he handed a stack of documents into Pei Xiang's hands, in exchange for a cheer and a soft kiss on the cheek.

Although the person who kissed him ran away without hesitation in the next second, Mycroft still felt that the day's running around was worth it.

"What are you busy with today?"

"I went to Arlington Street in the morning and met Sissel and Bridge again. I took the opportunity of chatting with my mother to explain the reason why there was no 'noise' yesterday. I said it was Sherlock who persuaded me. I."

Pei Xiang looked down at the information while chatting with Mycroft.

"By the way, Mycroft, I hinted a few words to my mother today. I hope she won't let Jane and Sissel be alone before the official engagement. And tell her in your name that some things should not be rushed, Sissel There may be something wrong with Searle."

Mycroft walked to Pei Xiang and sat down: "What's Madam Caroline's reaction?"

"How else can I react?" Pei Xiang smiled and glanced at Mr. Holmes who asked the question knowingly, "In the past two years, you have been promoted to the number one trustworthy person in the eyes of your mother. She must seriously consider your words. Yes. After all, you are the best son-in-law in London, Mycroft."

"I'd rather get the title of Best Husband." Mycroft deliberately sighed in a low voice, with a smile hidden in his eyes.

Pei Xiang smiled: "Then you have to work hard, my dear. This title is not easy to get, probably even rarer than Her Majesty's Medal of Honor. I won't give you an award until the end of your life."

"It's really a long waiting process. However, since I have worked so hard to pursue it, I have to make do with it."

"Well, thank you for your hard work, my dear."

Mycroft chuckled, grabbed Pei Xiang's hand and kissed it.

"It's not hard, I'm willing."

The two sat on the sofa for a while, and after Pei Xiang roughly browsed the internal information of Baron Bridge's club, dinner was ready.

Sitting at the dining table, Mycroft remembered that there was one person missing in the family.

"Where's Sherlock?"

"Going to the concert, I guess I'll be back after ten o'clock."

Mycroft raised his eyebrows in doubt, and asked silently.

Pei Xiang explained with a smile: "He really wants to wait here, and then he will hear the news you brought back as soon as possible. However, a child came to tell him that Philip Sissel will go to listen to a show tonight." The concert, so he went out."

Knowing about Sherlock's itinerary, Mycroft stopped asking too much.

His topic turned to Pei Xiang's accommodation arrangement after school started. The two discussed and discussed, and found that they were about to face a short separation life.

Although we can always get together several times a week, it is still different from being together every day.For this, Mycroft felt a little depressed, and Pei Xiang was also a little bit reluctant.

After dinner, Pei Xiang took Mycroft to the studio, and the two got together to paint the pebble beach of Brighton and the sea in the morning, and you sketched the beautiful scenery according to the pictures in memory.

When Sherlock came back in the night, the husband and wife had just finished a joint work, and they were standing in front of the easel, admiring it, and praising each other by the way.

"I guess I'm back a little early?" Sherlock endured for 15 seconds, interrupting what seemed worthless to him.

"No, Sherlock, the time is just right," Mycroft shook his head. "If it's any later, it will delay Doris and my rest time. Let's go, let's go to the study and discuss in detail."

Sherlock immediately turned around, took a step ahead, and quickly made a decision in his mind. He will rent a house outside for the next vacation, and he will definitely not live this strange life on Pall Mall Street that affects IQ and logical thinking.

The three sat down in the study, and Mycroft handed Sherlock the information he had investigated today.

After a while, Sherlock looked up and said:

"Here it says that every member of the club needs to share with everyone what they find, um, things that have a unique and beautiful connotation. Then, members vote regularly, and the member who gets the most yes votes will be rewarded. Then, the reward What is it? Beautiful things...are there limits in scope and kind, including people?"

Mycroft leaned back in the high-backed chair, sitting in a more relaxed and casual position.

"As far as I know, beauties with unique temperament are quite popular in the selection process. As for the reward, it should be able to participate in an event for core members."

"Just once?" Sherlock raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, once you win, you can only participate once."

Pei Xiang wondered: "For those club members, is this reward attractive?"

"It's very attractive. All peripheral members who have participated in the event are very active in wanting to qualify for the next participation."

"The qualifications for participation? Not the qualifications for becoming a core member? So, if you want to become a core member, you don't just have to win once or twice?" Sherlock asked immediately.

Mycroft nodded slightly: "Yes, if you want to become a core member, you must receive rewards no less than five times, and then you have to go through a series of assessments before you can enter the core circle of the club."

Speaking of which, the three people in the house already knew very well that the crime they wanted to investigate should have occurred in the activities of the core members.

Pei Xiang immediately asked: "Is there anything special about the activities of the core members? Can't the peripheral members who have not participated in it hear a little bit of wind?"

"As long as anyone who has participated in it is unwilling to disclose," Mycroft explained gently, "I have carefully tried several times, but I have not gotten a clear answer, but I can see some vague clues from it. The activities of the core members, It’s not so upright and in line with the doctrine. In other words, it triggers the dark and dirty thoughts of some people, induces crime and absurdity, makes people give up the moral bottom line, falls into the abyss, and finally becomes an absolute supporter of the club.”

Sherlock pondered for a moment, his eyebrows condensed: "Perhaps, the investigation has been going on from the very beginning. The people who get the rewards are not randomly selected. They will probably show certain characteristics that will resonate with the core members and feel that they are of the same kind. Allowed to engage in more covert activities."

Mycroft nodded: "According to our current speculation, the activities of the core members are probably what they call 'picking flowers'. This is a naked crime, so when they recruit new friends, they must be cautious and cautious." Be careful, you must ensure that everyone becomes an accomplice."

Pei Xiang flipped through the materials that Mycroft brought back, and saw a certain text description, and frowned slightly:

"They also made mistakes. Those who have only participated in the core activity once and have not received rewards after that should have been eliminated from the opportunity to join the core organization. But, you see, those who have been eliminated are still interested in this There's a lot of interest and interest in the club and wanting to have the chance to get rewarded again, which is a bit odd."

"Yes, according to the previous analysis, the disqualified people should not be of the same kind as Bridge, but after witnessing the crime of human trafficking, they not only did not sue or stay away from them, but were still eager to try. This is a paradox. place." Sherlock stated in a low voice.

Pei Xiang lowered his eyes to think, and guessed uncertainly:

"Will there be some kind of hallucinogenic drug that will make those eliminated people hallucinate, and then blur the memory of participating in the event."

Sherlock understands this aspect better, he quickly thought about the types of pharmaceutical products currently in circulation, nodded and said:

"There is a possibility. Therefore, even if we can pry open the mouths of some peripheral members and allow them to testify against core members, it will not work."

"At present, if we want to expose their crimes, we must be at the transaction site, and the guarantor will get all the stolen goods. Otherwise, they will say that some members have hallucinations because of the use of unknown drugs. What they saw , What I have experienced is all illusory, and I used medicine to satisfy the secret desire in my heart. Although such behavior is not very honorable, it cannot convict them."

"Are you entering the trading site?" Pei Xiang pondered.

Sherlock's eyes lit up, and he quickly flipped through the list of members on the information, and finally, his gaze settled on a name that was fairly familiar.

"Thomas Borch? Is this the Borch I know?"

Pei Xiang also had a flash of inspiration, and she spoke enthusiastically: "Look at his age and current social status."

"Thomas Boch, 23 years old, is about to graduate this year. His uncle is the permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of Trade, and his grandfather is a judge of the High Court. He received an award for participating in core member activities at the end of last month, and he has been close to Philip Sissel recently. .And, with the suggestion and encouragement of the other party, Boqi is actively preparing for the next competition."

After Sherlock finished speaking, Pei Xiang clapped his hands:

"It seems that it is our senior, Mr. Boqi. I didn't expect him to be a member of this garden club."

Mycroft's eyelids twitched, he had already anticipated the subsequent developments.

But what about anticipation?After thinking about it, he could only add:

"This Borch, whether it is their kind or not, at present, Bridge and Sissel will not give up trying to win him over. I think that even if they use threat control, they will make Thomas Borch Pulled into the water."

Pei Xiang was taken aback for a moment, and then he understood: "Mr. Boqi's uncle is in the Ministry of Trade... I 'overheard' talking between Sissel and Bridge, and neither of them wanted to stay in the foreign department. Bridge seemed He plans to go to the Ministry of Trade, and Sissel also wants to work in the Education Committee of the Privy Council, is this... using extraordinary means to open up relationships?"

Mycroft nodded and concluded:

"Thomas Boch's uncle has only one daughter, and she married the nephew of the Minister of Trade, Lord Lingen. Among the descendants of the Boch family, Thomas Boch is the only male. Therefore, they will definitely invite this heir who has the right to inherit Boqi will attend the next gathering of core members. Whether the other party is voluntary, or is misled and deceived by drugs."

Pei Xiang looked down at the documents in his hand, re-read Thomas Boch's information, and then asked Mycroft:

"It didn't say what kind of competition proposal Sissel gave Boqi after he approached him. Dear Mycroft, do you have any thoughts?"

Mycroft shook his head: "Thomas Borch has also been troubled by this matter recently. He complained to a few friends after he was drunk, so I found out his relationship with that club."

Sherlock was very happy: "It's best not to plan, it saves us a lot of trouble. Mycroft, Doris, I plan to pretend to be Thomas Birch to sneak into that club, and then personally participate in their core activities."

Pei Xiang raised his eyebrows: "So, you need a partner to play the beauty that Thomas Boch has worked so hard to find. This beauty must not be too bad or too ordinary, otherwise, if Bridge and the others want to open a back door for Boch to win, they will not be able to win." Not good at cheating."

Sherlock nodded, looking at Pei Xiang thoughtfully.

Although he already knew that the other party was a genuine lady, most of the time he regarded Pei Xiang as "Klaus".

Mycroft pursed his lips unhappily, and didn't want his wife to be judged for being a "beauty", but he didn't say anything to stop it after all.

He gave Pei Xiang the right to choose, which he had promised not to interfere with her freedom and true will.

Pei Xiang blinked, his eyes were shrewd.

She got up and walked behind Mycroft, put her hands on his shoulders, leaned forward slightly, and exhaled like blue:

"Honey, I have an idea and need your support."

Mycroft's eyebrows twitched, and he suddenly thought of something, and a faint smile appeared in his quiet gray eyes.

Sure enough, sweet and wise advice came from his wife.

"Sherlock, I think it's more appropriate for me to pretend to be Thomas Borch. After all, I'm more familiar with Bridge and Sissel, and it's not easy to make mistakes in conversation."

Hearing this, Mycroft laughed lightly.

The future consulting detective's eyes widened suddenly, but he couldn't stop the witch from uttering her terrible plot.

"Besides, if you dress up as a man and transform from Sherlock to Charlotte, I believe you will have a different style, and it is absolutely in line with the garden club's purpose of looking for unique beauty."

Sherlock raised his face, looked coolly at the brother and sister-in-law who were sitting together opposite him, and snorted coldly.

"Are you kidding me? I don't think I have any other beauty except for being tall, muscular and tough. Doris, you flatter me too much."

"No, no, Sherlock, don't belittle yourself, and don't underestimate my disguise. Really, the ones I gave you before are just the basics of getting started. This time, um, if you agree, I can Let me show you a more amazing camouflage technique."

Hearing that there was a more advanced camouflage technique, Sherlock was silent for a moment, not wanting to admit that he was shaken.

Pei Xiang lightly poked Mycroft's shoulder.

Mr. Holmes, who had been cursed by the witch, responded immediately: "Doris once told me that she could dress me up as a flamboyant Jamaican girl."

Sherlock glanced at his brother strangely.

——a little curious...

Mycroft smiled calmly.

—Silly brother, it’s not good to think too much!