Salted Fish Chapter 14: Necklace

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

“I’d like to buy one myself,” he said. “As a gift.”

Z’s frown tightened, clearly still unsettled.

Mrs. Lynn smiled knowingly. “Is it for Miss Ruth Roberts? The daughter of your patient, Mr. Roberts?”

Although she misunderstood it so much, Duan FeiZhou still went downhill. “I don’t know anything about jewelry and I’m afraid I’ll be cheated. I would be grateful if you could introduce me to a reliable store. That Mrs. Vilyuy must have bought it from a well-known jewelry store?”

“It is Mrs. Vilyuy’s own necklace. Her family owns a tailor store.” Mrs. Lynn secretly lowered her voice, as if she was going to say something disgraceful, but she sounded full of excitement. “Last year her husband got sick with Ether, and in order to cure him, she spent the last penny of the family and had to borrow money everywhere. I certainly can’t say that being sick is a good thing, but if it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have gotten this necklace!”

It seemed that Mrs. Lynn knew nothing about the real power of the necklace, but it was Mrs. Vilyuy, who was very suspicious. Duan FeiZhou asked, “Can you tell me the address of this Mrs. Vilyuy’s store? I think, if she is in financial difficulties, she may be willing to sell some other jewelry, so I can also pick up a bargain.”

“This child is young, but very economical, and knows how to save money.” Mrs. Lynn teased. She wrote Mrs. Vilyuy’s address on a perfume-scented purple sticky note and elegantly handed it to Duan FeiZhou.

“Look at you,” Mr. Lynn said to his wife. “You know she’s not well-off, but you’re still pushing her for money!”

“Isn’t it only right to pay what you owe?” Mrs. Lynn wasn’t happy. “Besides, I was generous enough to agree to pay off her debt in kind. If it were someone else, I’m afraid they wouldn’t be happy about it!”

Seeing that the couple was about to quarrel, Louisa, the daughter, came out to intervene. “Mom, the nuns at school taught us to forgive people’s debts as God forgives ours. But Dad, Mom bought the necklace at such a cheap price, it is clear that she has earned it, and you don’t care!”

She hit both of them but without offending either, and then gave a resolution. Duan FeiZhou could not help but admire Louisa for resolving her parents’ conflict in a clever way.

“That’s more like it…” Mrs. Lynn gave her daughter a grateful glance. “I also want to save up for Louisa’s dowry.”

Louisa smiled and said, “Then you should give me that necklace to wear!”

“I’ll give it to you, you little girl!” Mrs. Lynn scolded. She took off the pearl necklace and put it around Louisa’s neck.

“How does it look?” Louisa asked the two guests with pleasure.

Z couldn’t see anything, so he couldn’t judge the quality of the jewelry. Duan FeiZhou could see, but to be honest, he thought the style of the necklace was more suitable for a middle-aged woman like Mrs. Lynn, and not for a young girl like Louisa. It would be too old-fashioned to wear it.

Of course, as a guest, he had to do his best when the host family sought praise, so he could only praise the necklace for Louisa, and compliment Mrs. Lynn’s outstanding vision. Louisa’s face turned red at his compliments. To hide her shyness, she got up and said, “I’ll go and bring the dessert.”

After saying that, she ran into the kitchen in a flash.

The main meal was already so horrible that Duan FeiZhou naturally did not dare to look forward to dessert. He only hoped that Mrs. Lynn had underestimated the amount of food they would eat and had not prepared too many desserts, otherwise…There was a crackling sound from the kitchen, like many plates being knocked over.

“Louisa, what’s wrong?” Mrs. Lynn frowned, “Did you break a plate? Why are you so careless?”

Then Lynn’s maid screamed, “Miss! Miss, what happened to you?”

Everyone in the dining room looked at each other, and then immediately rushed to the kitchen. Duan FeiZhou was sitting closest to the kitchen and was therefore the first to arrive. The kitchen was a mess, with broken porcelain and pudding all over the floor. Louisa was crouched on the floor. Her hands clutched her neck, her body trembled, and she seemed in great pain.

Lynn’s maid stood by hand and foot, her face pale.

Mr. and Mrs. Lynn and Z also crowded into the kitchen. Seeing his daughter’s strange appearance, Mr. Lynn asked, “What’s happened?”

The maid shivered. “I don’t know. Miss suddenly became like this…”

Duan FeiZhou was half kneeling beside Louisa. The young girl’s face was blue, her mouth was wide open, and she seemed to be trying to breathe, but she couldn’t get a breath in. She looked at Duan FeiZhou in despair. Her eyes overflowed with tears, as she expected him to save her. Since there was pudding here, it was likely that the airway was blocked while eating the pudding.

“Maybe she choked on the food.” Duan FeiZhou said.

Mrs. Lynn lunged over and tried to slap Louisa’s back to get her to spit out the food. But Duan FeiZhou stopped her. Slapping her on the back at this point was counterproductive. He had learned the Heimlich maneuver and immediately wrapped his arms around Louisa’s body from behind and squeezed her abdomen.

Louisa made a vomiting sound, but did not vomit any food. Duan FeiZhou had some self-doubt. He had never failed when using the Heimlich method before! Could it be that it wasn’t a blockage of the trachea?

His eyes shifted to the pearl necklace Louisa was wearing.

In his vision, the necklace emitted an ominous shimmer. Was it the necklace? This necklace…was trying to strangle Louisa to death?

Duan FeiZhou had no time to think about the reason. Louisa was on the verge of suffocation, and there were only a few minutes of golden time!¹

He wanted to untie the necklace, but the clasp of the necklace could not be undone. The tiny clasp was like a lock, no matter how he pressed, it refused to loosen.

“Give me a knife!” Duan FeiZhou shouted, “I want to cut this necklace off!”

Z came over. He pushed the Lynn’s and the maid aside, took off his gloves, and a blade popped out of his brass-colored metal prosthetic. With a flash of silver, the necklace broke, and dozens of pearls fell to the ground, as if from the sky and a rain of pearls.

Louisa breathed a long sigh of relief, then finally slowed her panting down.

Mrs. Lynn wailed and pounced on her daughter, and took her in her arms, “My poor child! Are you alright?”

Louisa took several deep breaths, as if she had never tasted such sweet, fragrant air. “It’s okay, Mom…” She showed a weak smile. “I just suddenly couldn’t breathe. It seems that something strangled my neck…”

“Was it this necklace?” Mrs. Lynn looked at the pearls all over the floor. But how could a necklace strangle the owner’s neck? Everyone in the room had a question in their mind at the same time.

Only Duan FeiZhou knew the possible correct answer: the necklace had an offensive secret spell attached to it. However, he didn’t dare say that because Z was present. If he said straight out that he saw that the necklace was a secret occult item, it would definitely reveal his identity.

The good thing was that after the necklace broke, the light on the pearls disappeared, which indicating that the secret spell attached to it was disposable and would automatically expire after it was used.

“I think Miss Lynn was choking.” Duan FeiZhou smiled at Mr. and Mrs. Lynn, “Her neck was congested and swollen, that’s why she felt that the necklace was strangling her neck. It’s like the rings and bracelets we wear every day, when we first wear them, they feel right, but after a while, they seem smaller. In fact, it is not the rings and bracelets that have become smaller, but our body that swells. So when we treat a patient, we have to remove the patient’s jewelry first so that they don’t block the blood circulation. If it’s too severe, it may even lead to limb necrosis!”

“That makes sense…” As a woman who often wore jewelry, Mrs. Lynn had this experience from time to time, so she easily accepted that statement.

Besides, Duan FeiZhou had the credentials of a doctor (although he wasn’t licensed). If even the doctor said so, how could it be false?

Mrs. Lynn ordered the maid to clean up the kitchen, and went upstairs to rest with Louisa, who was in shock, while Mr. Lynn looked uneasily at the messy kitchen. The thought of his daughter almost dying just now gave him pause.

“I’m glad you were there!” He gratefully put his arm around Duan FeiZhou’s shoulders. “I can’t thank you enough! You saved Louisa’s life!”

Duan FeiZhou was distracted. “Detective Xenia was the one who cut off the necklace. I didn’t do anything.”

All he could think about was the necklace, he didn’t care about Mr. Lynn’s thanks. Nor did he even notice that Z had quietly picked up a pearl and stuffed it into his pocket.

Mr. Lynn, however, interpreted his distraction as modesty. “You are indeed like your uncle who was never proud. When I first heard you were practicing medicine in Aberdeen without a license, I was skeptical and thought you were fooling around.” He gave him a guilty look. “Now I’m ashamed of myself!” He turned to Z. “And of course, a thanks to Mr. Detective! If it weren’t for you gentlemen, my daughter would be dead!”

Z laughed, “It was Mr. Chester’s judgment. I didn’t do anything. He is very well respected in Aberdeen. I remember when his patients thought I was going to arrest him. They begged for his life, and even tried to bribe us.”

Mr. Lynn was amazed. This was the first time he had heard of bribery. He was eager to inquire about the details, but now wasn’t a good time.

“Alas, gentlemen, I would have liked to keep you longer, but as you can see, with all this going on in the house…” Mr. Lynn looked at the two guests with embarrassment.

Hearing his host’s order to expel him, Z said politely, “It’s all right. Your daughter’s health is more important. We’ll take our leave for today.”

“Shall I give you a ride? Especially Leo. He’s new to London. He’s not familiar with it…”

Duan FeiZhou wanted to say that it wasn’t necessary, but Z said before he could speak, “I will give him a ride.”

Eventually Mr. Lynn dropped them off at the intersection. When he said goodbye, he said in a secretive tone, “As much as I respect my wife, I have to say that she’s a terrible cook. How can you guys eat something like that and still look the same? If you guys are going to throw up, there’s a very proper sewer over there.”

He knew the sewers around his house like the back of his hand, so he must have used them many times.

“I don’t think it’s that bad, right?” Duan FeiZhou turned to Z and asked for his opinion.

“I can’t taste it.” There was a faint sadness in Z’s tone.

Duan FeiZhou looked at him in shock, and waited for him to explain how he had lost his sense of taste.

But Z just said, “Goodbye,” then quickened his pace and walked into the night. He couldn’t see Z’s face anymore.

Duan FeiZhou also hurriedly said goodbye to Mr. Lynn and caught up with Z.

When he was almost at 49 Frances Square, Z suddenly stopped and Duan FeiZhou looked back at him strangely. “What’s wrong?”

“Can you do me a favor?” Z asked.

“Sure, if I can help,” Duan FeiZhou said easily.

Z’s vacant eyes looked into the endless night with a grave expression. “Help me find the owner of the trading house.”