I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 243 Becoming a Detective and Faraday Through Novels

When Sanders heard that Mikhail had started gambling as soon as he joined a British club, the publisher's legs went weak and he broke out in a cold sweat.

Good heavens! Mr. Mikhail, what have you been doing instead of continuing your Sherlock Holmes series?!

Our business has only just begun to progress, how come you've already fast-forwarded to the point of starting to enjoy it?!

As a publisher who was doing fairly well in London, Sanders certainly knew just how crazy some of the gentlemen in British clubs could gamble. Over the years, the bankruptcy stories Sanders had heard could fill a book!
Moreover, gambling is often accompanied by some less-than-honorable methods.

So what kind of experience would a foreigner with considerable wealth have in London?
If he hadn't exercised a little self-control, he probably would have gone bankrupt at the poker table!
Mikhail is both a great writer to Sanders and a key pillar for his magazine to gain greater recognition in London. What would happen to my magazine if Mikhail became addicted to gambling?
Does that mean only God knows?
But before Sanders could jump up from his chair to remind Mikhail, he heard someone else continue:
"The first time he went to the club, he was spotted by Douglas, who was very famous for gambling, and guess what happened? He won twenty hands in a row without even blinking! He went from twenty pounds all the way to a thousand pounds!"
Even after winning a thousand pounds, Mr. Mikhail still didn't react much. In fact, even when things were going very well, he smiled and said, "Gentlemen, I think we can stop and talk about something else. It's not a wise thing to squander money like this. Everything should be done in moderation."

What a gentleman! So gentlemanly! Even after winning so many times, he still maintained his composure.

However, Mr. Douglas was rather undignified. While the others withdrew gracefully, he insisted on continuing with Mr. Mikhail. So, after switching to a game he was more familiar with that could be played by two people, he soon lost another thousand pounds to Mr. Mikhail.

And this time, Mr. Mikhail reminded him as well, noting that Mr. Douglas's body trembled for almost a full minute before he struggled to leave the stage.

Sanders: "???"

Is Mr. Mikhail also an expert in gambling?
And was he really of commoner origin? Why did he act more like a gentleman than the most authentic British gentleman?
Even without seeing it in person, Sanders could already imagine just from other people's descriptions how alluring Mikhail must have been. No! How elegant he must have been!

While maintaining composure, Mikhail's gesture of offering a thousand pounds as a reminder was also quite measured. This amount would be painful for people in high society, but it wouldn't lead them to lose their rationality and take any crazy actions because of such a small sum.

After confirming the news from multiple sources, Sanders finally felt relieved. After all, the serialization of "A Study in Scarlet" had undoubtedly had a very good start, attracting a lot of public attention. Even if Mr. Dickens were to serialize a new work, it would probably not have such momentum. But what is more important is to stabilize the situation.

Just as Sanders was secretly relieved, Mikhail had actually been quite puzzled these past few days.

Mikhail generally maintains a cautious attitude towards things like gambling, but recently his hands have been itching for some reason. In addition, he has spent a lot of money in expensive London in the past few months and invested in a small factory. So, taking the opportunity to gamble with others to recoup some losses is a good option.

To be honest, Mikhail wasn't planning on winning by a large margin, but one London gentleman after another came knocking on his door. Some were simply unwilling to accept defeat, others felt they hadn't tasted defeat in a long time, and still others were looking for revenge.
Mikhail chose to satisfy these people.

But something even more bizarre soon followed: some people actually offered themselves up because they wanted to witness Mikhail's gentlemanly conduct after winning a thousand pounds.
Mikhail: “???”

How can there be such a perverted person in London?
As a result, Mikhail has recently preferred to chat with people and discuss current affairs, since he only needs to recover some losses. If he continues to win like this, there will probably be new troubles.

For the other members of Mikhail's club, they had also recently experienced a very memorable period. After all, in addition to demonstrating amazing gambling skills, Mikhail had also really shown them the so-called "deductive method." Even if it wasn't as exaggerated as depicted in novels, just this part of the demonstration was enough to astonish them.

Moreover, besides this "deductive method," Mikhail has also proposed many new methods that seem to be truly effective in solving cases. Of course, according to him, he will incorporate more of these things into his novels in the future.

To put it simply, Mikhail intended to incorporate some real elements into his novels, which later developed into the field of criminal investigation.

From another perspective, for Britain in 1846, many of the crime-solving methods in the Sherlock Holmes series were advanced and ahead of their time. If any London policeman had paid a little attention, he might have been able to learn some real techniques from the novels.

It would be hilarious if a London police officer actually became a master detective based on a novel.
Besides the things mentioned above, the other members of Mikhail's club were equally surprised to find that even when they were discussing British politics and anecdotes of high society, this Russian, Mikhail, often managed to pinpoint the essence of certain matters with a humor that the British could appreciate, often in a playful or even satirical way, like:
"If one person breaks the law, it must be investigated; if many people break the law, it must be covered up."

"We can't investigate everything, can we? We might find something out."

“Politicians are happy to panic; they need activity instead of achievement.”

"If people don't know what you're doing, they won't know what you've done wrong."

These words were rather unpleasant, even prompting a group of gentlemen to complain inwardly: "What does this Russian think of our British politicians and government?! How can he be so despicable and filthy? I think it's clearly Russia that's like this, we British are completely different!"

However, upon closer examination, most people would probably admit that there is some truth to it, and similar things seem to be happening in Britain.
Does this Russian even understand politics? And if he can say such sarcastic things in a foreign land like England, wouldn't he be riding on the Tsar's neck in Russia?

Of course, all Mikhail can say is that "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister" are truly classic lines, and there's no need to follow any formulas. The current political situation and various events in Britain always remind Mikhail of certain lines.

It can only be said that politics is a game where every dynasty uses similar methods, it's just a different skin and the same thing over and over again.

Regardless, due to Mikhail's aforementioned performance, he managed to establish himself in the social circles of the British upper class and even made a considerable name for himself.

Of course, this kind of thing wasn't that important to Mikhail. What really pleased Mikhail was that some people in high society had gradually accepted his outfit, and those who were more fashion-conscious had started asking him who designed it and where it was made.

At these times, Mikhail would enthusiastically provide an address and then exclaim, "This outfit would suit you perfectly! And I assure you, in London today, if you wore this on the street, everyone would give you a second look!" However, this did come with some risks, such as being grabbed by someone.
But Mikhail couldn't control that kind of thing, and surprisingly, some people seem to enjoy the feeling of being noticed and valued.

Thanks to the aforementioned activities, Mikhail has managed to build up some connections in Britain in just over ten days. At least when he wanted to attend the "Friday Evening Lectures" organized by the Royal Institution of London, he obtained a ticket to the most recent lecture without much effort.

So on the evening of April 10, Mikhail put on clothes commonly seen in British high society and then excitedly headed to the Royal Institution's Great Hall on Albermall Street in London.

In simple terms, this lecture is a scientific presentation, first started by British scientist Thomas Young in the early 19th century. By 1846, this type of lecture had become one of the "grand events" of London's social and scientific communities, aiming to popularize and showcase the latest scientific findings to the public.

It is both a scientific conference and a form of evening entertainment for the upper class, covering cutting-edge fields such as physics, chemistry, electricity, and astronomy. Speakers usually conduct live experimental demonstrations.

So who hosted this evening lecture during this period?
This man was born into a poor blacksmith family. Due to poverty, he did not receive a formal education. Instead, he dropped out of school early to make a living and became an apprentice in the home of a bookseller.

But such a start could not stop his thirst for knowledge and science. Through continuous self-study and with the help of some benefactors, he first served as an assistant to a scientist in the public capacity of a servant, and then climbed step by step toward the peak called science.
After he finally overcame all the hardships and achieved greatness, the British royal family was prepared to consider knighting him, just as they had once bestowed a noble title upon the immortal Isaac Newton. However, he replied, "I am proud to have been born a commoner and have no desire to become a nobleman."

He put his words into practice.

And walking toward you is Michael Faraday, who held the laws of electromagnetic induction in his left hand and electrolysis in his right.

With a special feeling, Mikhail soon arrived at his destination.

The venue for this science lecture was an elegant wooden hall that could accommodate about three hundred people. It was equipped with gas lighting, and the stage was set with experimental equipment such as glassware, batteries, and coils.

The audience was also dressed quite formally, with women in evening gowns and men in black tuxedos. The lighting was soft, and the air was filled with the scents of various unidentified perfumes.

For some reason, after Mikhail excitedly arrived and found his seat, it wasn't long before people seemed to look at him and whisper among themselves:

“Look, it’s ‘Mr. One Thousand Pounds’!”

"Keep your voice down, or you'll lose your thousand pounds if you look at him even a couple more times!"

"This Mr. Holmes is dressed so formally today."

"He looked exactly like a very well-mannered English gentleman; there was absolutely no trace of Russian in him."

Mikhail: “?”

Am I that famous?

Moreover, the nickname "Mr. One Thousand Pounds" is rather unpleasant.
Just as Mikhail was starting to get a little nervous, suddenly, the staff on stage seemed to panic and become agitated, but after a short while, they quickly calmed down, seemingly after being calmed down by someone.

As the start time of the lecture drew closer, finally, under the lights, a thin, middle-aged man walked onto the stage. He was wearing a black tuxedo, and although he was old, his eyes were still exceptionally bright.

Seeing the somewhat surprised audience, he quickly said in a gentle tone, "Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Since our main speaker, Mr. Charles Whist, has been away on business, I, Michael Faraday, will be presenting tonight's topic: Mr. Whistler's 'Timer'."

Because of his prestige, the audience quickly accepted this fact, and Mikhail was even less surprised, after all, as far as he knew, Faraday had not only introduced the 'timer' in this lecture, but also improvised and shared his 'rudimentary ideas' about light, electricity, magnetism and gravity.

After he conducted in-depth research and achieved certain results, James Clerk Maxwell, who was only fifteen years old at the time, would later propose his great and perfect Maxwell's equations, which unified the entire electromagnetic field, based on Faraday's achievements.

Maxwell's achievements in electromagnetism enabled the second unification of physics since Isaac Newton.

And this guy is at least a top-five in the field of physics.

Thinking of this, Mikhail couldn't help but become serious, preparing to listen carefully to Faraday's preview. Then Mikhail heard Faraday open his mouth and say:

“I think we can compare etheric matter with ordinary matter (such as copper in the wires through which electricity is conducted) and consider them to be the same in their basic composition.”

That is, whether both are composed of tiny nuclei (considered matter in an abstract sense) and accompanied by forces or energy within these nuclei, or both are composed of simple force centers (according to Boskovich's theory and my own assertion in my speculation), there is no reason to assume that a nucleus is more necessary in one case than in the other. Indeed, copper has gravity while ether does not.

Mikhail, feeling drowsiness gradually creeping into his brain: "???"

Mr. Faraday, what are you babbling about?
Listen again, I really feel sorry for you.
(End of this chapter)