There was a probing tone in Miles's voice. His gaze carefully yet excitedly fixed on Charlotte before flickering toward Russell.
Hearing this, Charlotte gave no answer. She simply picked up her teacup and slightly raised her eyelids. It was taken as silent consent.
"Please go ahead, Mr. Miles."
Russell laughed.
Relieved that permission had been granted, Miles flipped to a new page in his notebook, a faint curiosity appearing on his face.
"Well then, the first question… Miss Holmes."
He looked at Charlotte.
"May I ask—what prompted you to choose the profession of detective?"
"As far as we know, you are currently a university student, correct? With your talent, there must have been far easier options available?"
"Because it's boring."
Charlotte set down her teacup and spoke concisely.
"Boring?"
Miles was clearly not expecting this answer and looked surprised.
"Could you explain?"
"Boring is boring. No explanation needed."
Charlotte said.
"In short, it is driven by interest."
Russell spoke at the perfect moment, acting as interpreter.
Hearing this, Miles suddenly understood and looked at Russell with gratitude.
"Besides solving cases, do you have any hobbies?"
He asked again.
"She occasionally plays the violin."
Russell answered again, deliberately omitting anything about chemical experiments.
"Music helps with thinking."
He said.
"I see…" Miles nodded and quickly jotted notes in his notebook.
Genius detective, maverick, violin enthusiast… all kinds of keywords were written down.
He paused for a moment, then looked up again, this time turning his gaze to Russell.
After the previous exchange, he understood that he could ask this man any question.
"What about you, Mr. Watson?"
Miles asked, "How did you meet Miss Holmes? And why did you become her assistant?"
Hearing this question, Russell thought for a while, an expression of reminiscence appearing on his face.
Charlotte, standing beside him, still showed no reaction, but unconsciously paid a little more attention.
"Well… I met Charlotte at the opening ceremony of Imperial College London."
Russell said.
"When she arrived late, I was sitting in the last row. She came in with a very arrogant attitude and sat next to me."
At the time I thought, "How can there be such an arrogant person?"
He said with a smile.
Hearing this, Miles was initially surprised, but his eyes quickly lit up.
Finally, this moment has come!
"And then what happened?"
He continued, "How did the two of you get to know each other?"
"And then…" Russell thought for a moment. "She came over to me, observed me carefully from head to toe, and then—to my utter surprise—she said I was her neighbor."
"Is it that dramatic?"
"Yes," Russell nodded, "it's that dramatic."
As soon as Charlotte finished speaking, she coughed twice to draw everyone's attention.
"Ahem, ahem."
"Is there anything you would like to add?"
Miles wisely spoke up.
"To be precise, there is something that needs correcting."
Charlotte said.
"Correcting?"
Miles paused. "Is there a problem with the location Mr. Watson mentioned?"
"Yes," Charlotte said, turning her eyes to Russell beside her.
"For example, some people might not have mentioned at all that they planned to skip the opening ceremony."
Russell's expression stiffened slightly.
"Skip?"
Miles's eyes immediately sparkled. He sensed the scent of gossip.
"Mr. Watson, could you explain in more detail?"
"Well…" Russell cleared his throat and tried to gloss over it.
"The ceremony was a bit boring, so I wanted to go outside for some fresh air. It's not like I wanted to run away."
"Is that so?" Charlotte said casually from the side, clearly not intending to let him off easily.
"So you're saying the elaborate opening ceremony Imperial College London prepared for the start of term was boring?"
"Seriously?"
Russell's expression grew even stiffer.
"Mr. Watson?"
Henry Scott also showed interest and leaned forward slightly to join the pleasant conversation.
"Was what Miss Holmes just said true?"
"Absolutely not."
Russell straightened his back and sat with a serious expression.
"How could I, a student of Imperial College London, have such a disrespectful thought?"
"I love this school as much as my parents. It's impossible for a child to get irritated with their parents, right?"
Hearing this, Charlotte glanced at him and twisted her lips in contempt.
"If you have no complaints about Imperial College London, then you must have some complaints about Mary Morstan."
…When will this ever end?
"…At that time, would it be okay if my stomach hurt?"
Russell stared at him and said in a languid tone.
"Yes, of course."
Charlotte neither affirmed nor denied, nodding. "That is your decision."
"Well, let's change the subject."
Russell looked at Miles and lowered his voice. "Please don't include this part."
"Ah." Miles snapped out of his thoughts and nodded with a smile.
"Of course, of course."
He cleared his throat, then turned back and asked.
"How did the two of you begin your collaboration? And what was the first case you worked on together?"
"It seems it doesn't exist."
Russell said.
"She moved in next to me, happened to be handling a certain case, and came to ask for my opinion. That's all there was to it."
He paused for a moment, then continued.
"The first case we handled together was Nicholas Winter's suicide."
"I see…" Miles nodded in understanding and began taking notes.
"So your story began there… And what happened after that?"
"After that… Charlotte had already been serving as a detective consultant for Scotland Yard before that, so I simply benefited from it."
Russell said.
"After that, we formed a partnership, accepted commissions from Scotland Yard, split the profits, and used them to cover my tuition."
"I see…" Miles nodded. "It started with interest, then moved on to bonds…"
He jotted the keywords in his notebook, then looked up again.
"So, besides Scotland Yard work, do the two of you also accept private commissions?"
Miles asked.
"Once."
Russell nodded, then began recounting the story of Holly David.
"I can't believe something like that exists."
Miles and Henry looked surprised.
"Is there anything else?"
Henry continued the questions.
"Well… we don't accept many private commission cases."
Russell said.
He paused for a moment, stared at the two eager learners, then continued.
"However, afterward, we began receiving invitations to assist at Buckingham Palace as well."