SGB Chapter 289

## Chapter 289: Extraordinary and Unusually Confident (5K8)

The small tavern on the street corner saw Arthur and Louis-Napoleon savoring their beers. The frothy, pure white brew tasted slightly bitter, so Arthur reached into his pocket, pulled out a candy wrapped in colorful paper, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth.

Heine, who was drinking deeply at the table beside them, saw Arthur’s action and couldn’t help but wrinkle his brow, asking, “Are you afraid of bitterness?”

Arthur smiled and shook his head. “No, but I still prefer a sweeter taste. If I can have candy, why would I go out of my way to suffer?”

Louis, understanding the undercurrent in Arthur’s words and the purpose of their meeting, smoothly picked up the thread, “You’re right, but the problem is that you can’t always enjoy sweet candy. In general, you eat bitter things because you have no choice. Look at Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they jumped at the chance and stole the forbidden fruit, even God’s warnings were thrown to the wind.”

Agareus, the eyewitness, rolled his eyes and couldn’t help but curse, “That old geezer God just likes to stir up trouble, what’s the big deal with eating a couple of rotten apples? If he hadn’t planted those apples there, there wouldn’t have been so much crap later. Maybe I should’ve skewered that Sammael-turned-snake right then and there. It’s also those damn guys from Lucifer’s crew who insisted on betting on whether Sammael could tempt Adam and Eve, those two idiots. Now look what happened, everyone lost their jobs, if not, maybe I’d be…”

Agareus stopped short, his gaze shifting to meet Arthur’s.

The Red Devil glared and yelled, “What are you looking at? I didn’t tempt you to eat apples! Stories don’t come free, do they? Arthur, you little bastard, you have to understand that not everyone is willing to let you freeload, at least with the Devil, you don’t get anything for free, we don’t bargain that way!”

Arthur, seeing the Red Devil’s flustered appearance, knew that he must have been triggered by some unpleasant memory.

His eyes returned to Heine, and Arthur feigned ignorance, “So, Mr. Heine, judging by your accent, you don’t seem to be British?”

Heine didn’t shy away from answering, “How did you guess? I thought that after living in London for so long, my English accent would have improved greatly.”

Louis, hearing this, couldn’t help but look at Arthur in surprise.

Arthur also understood his confusion. If a guy like Heine had lived in London for a long time, and Scotland Yard had no information about him, that would be considered a dereliction of duty.

And judging from the files and documents inherited by the Police Intelligence Bureau from Scotland Yard, they did seem to have dropped the ball. Scotland Yard’s records on Heine were almost completely blank, as if they had never heard of the man.

But thankfully, Scotland Yard had already made enough mistakes, and adding Heine to that list seemed like no big deal.

If it weren’t for Rothschild approaching Arthur a while back, Scotland Yard’s records on Heine might have remained blank for a few more years.

Arthur calmly continued his conversation, “You lived in London before?”

Heine nodded. “More than just lived, I spent two years in London.”

Arthur raised his hand, calling for a cup of tea, and then asked, “Two years? That’s quite a long time. Were you on a study tour in Britain? Or were you simply looking to experience London’s exotic atmosphere?”

“Good question!”

Heine snorted, “As to why I stayed in London for two years, that’s a long story. First, I need to introduce myself. If we go by the current territorial division, my homeland should be the Kingdom of Prussia. But privately, I still identify as a citizen of the Kingdom of Westphalia, even though that country no longer exists.

You know, I even saw Napoleon with my own eyes when I was a kid. I was riding on my father’s shoulders at the time, watching Napoleon ride a tall horse leading the army into the city. At that time, I thought it was incredible because riding a horse was not allowed in the city, anyone who rode a horse on the streets had to pay a fine. But I didn’t see anyone arrest him, nor did I see him pay the fine. From that moment on, I knew he wasn’t an ordinary person.

Not long after, the Kingdom of Westphalia was declared, and six years later it was gone. Although the country’s history is short, I still miss it. Of course, if you find my identity difficult to understand, don’t dwell on which German state I’m from, after all, most German states went out with the same death, just call me a German, I don’t mind you calling me that.”

Louis-Napoleon, hearing this, couldn’t help but frown.

From the moment he first met Heine, he felt that the guy’s way of speaking was simply infuriating. If not for the fact that this guy considered himself a citizen of the Kingdom of Westphalia, a vassal state of the French Empire, Louis felt that he had to duel with him.

He turned his head and looked at Arthur beside him, but found that his face still maintained a polite smile. While marveling at Arthur’s good personal demeanor, Louis couldn’t help but secretly make up his mind to improve his posture in terms of facial expression management and learn a thing or two from this young superior.

Heine continued, “To be honest, when I left Prussia, I didn’t intend to stay in London for so long, after all, I was traveling and looking for local publishers to publish my poetry collection. I was lucky, my poetry skills were recognized by readers in various European countries, and wherever I went, I could always make the publishers I collaborated with rich. But when I was about to end my trip to London and head to Austria for a visit, I found that they didn’t seem to welcome me.”

“Not welcome you?” Arthur asked, “Why is that?”

Heine took a swig of beer and said, “It’s probably because I like to use a string of flowery adjectives when describing Metternich. But you should know, I’m a poet, the language of poets is always flowery and magnificent.”

Louis asked, “What adjectives did you use for Metternich?”

Heine cut the sausage seriously, “I was just repeating what Tsar Alexander I said.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow, “So what did you say?”

Heine put down his fork, impatiently saying, “I said he was lower than a dog.”

Arthur pressed, “Is that all?”

Heine scratched his cheek and added, “I also praised the Austrian police.”

Louis asked, “How did you praise them?”

“Nothing, just some old-fashioned blessings.”

Louis was relentless, “So, what exactly did you say?”

Heine picked up his knife and fork again, eating the sausage, “I said, ‘I bestow upon the Austrian police a series of stomachaches, they feel like pincers clamping their bowels, and I’ll also bestow upon them the annoying Prussian hemorrhoids and difficulty urinating.'”

Hearing this, even Louis, who had just resolved to cultivate his composure, couldn’t help but slap his forehead, exclaiming, “How could you say that?”

Heine leaned his head on his hand and chewed, “I just wanted to test them, but to my surprise, Metternich and the Austrian police readily admitted it.”

“They admitted it?”

“Yeah, they admitted it very readily.”

Heine pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his mouth, “Those guys banned all the copies of my poetry collection published in Austria, their speed and efficiency were really high, if they were this diligent all the time, they wouldn’t have hemorrhoids. At that time, I had spent almost all my royalties, and I thought I could make some money in Austria, but they were ruthless towards publications with my name on them.

The Tsar really did say it right, Metternich is a dog-less thing. Uh… sorry, I’m not usually this crude, but when it comes to that guy Metternich, my true feelings can’t be concealed.”

Louis’s brows kept twitching as he listened, he suddenly nudged Arthur with his elbow, “Maybe we should introduce him to Alexander, they might hit it off.”

Arthur just kept puffing on his cigarette, “Let’s wait until the monkey comes back from South America. I suddenly feel like training the monkey, maybe he’ll have a bright future.”

While Arthur and Louis were talking, Arthur suddenly noticed Heine nervously looking around the tavern’s glass window, as if he was searching for something.

Arthur asked, “What’s wrong?”

Heine leaned back in his chair and said, “Austria doesn’t welcome me, and neither does my homeland, Prussia. They’re afraid of me, afraid that I’ll spill the beans about their hemorrhoids. So, when I lived at home, I’d often find a few familiar faces outside my apartment, they were there almost every day, wherever I went, they followed. Although they thought they were well disguised, it couldn’t fool me, I knew they were sent by the authorities to monitor me, they were just a bunch of Prussian lackeys.”

At this point, Heine pulled down the louver covering the glass window, creating a small slit that could only fit two eyes, and looked out, “And I’ve noticed that these lackeys have gotten more and more arrogant lately. When I was in Prussia, they’d monitor me, and now I’m in London, and there are still people watching me. It seems I’ve become a thorn in Prussia’s side.”

Prussia obviously wouldn’t be able to cross the ocean to London to monitor Heine, and Arthur knew exactly where those lackeys Heine was talking about in London came from.

He simply snapped his fingers and turned to look at Louis.

Louis-Napoleon understood and pulled out his small notebook, accurately adding a line – “This person has strong anti-surveillance skills, and is also a narcissist.”

After writing this sentence, Louis didn’t forget to show the notebook to Arthur, asking, “What do you think?”

Arthur pointed at the “narcissist” in the notebook and shook his finger lightly, “That’s really too rude, even though we’re not poets, we should still try to be more elegant with our wording, how about narcissist?”

“Narcissus? That guy from the Greek myth who fell in love with his own reflection in the water?” Louis pondered, “Arthur, you’re not wrong, that word fits perfectly, I’ll write it down.”

Heine let go of the louver, turned his head and asked, “What are you two talking about?”

Arthur smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Mr. Heine. If the Prussian government really dares to send people to London to monitor you, we’ll definitely make them pay. You know, Louis and I are Scotland Yard police, we even cracked a French kidnapping case on the high seas last year. On matters of sovereignty, Britain will not yield to anyone, as long as your feet are on the soil of London, the Prussians can’t do anything to you.”

Heine sneered, “I don’t think they can do anything to me either. I came to London to publish “Travel Sketches”, it’s a travelogue about my travels in various countries on the European continent, I didn’t mention Prussia much in it. The articles criticizing Prussia, I left most of them in my apartment in Paris. “Travel Sketches” mostly criticizes Britain and France, of course, I also mentioned Prussia briefly.”

Arthur saw that the groundwork was laid, so he said, “Mr. Heine, although I think writing is a rather private matter, outsiders have no right to point fingers at how you write. But speaking from a friend’s perspective, if you need royalties to make ends meet, maybe you can be a little more flexible in your writing techniques. You can’t scold Prussia when you’re in Prussia, scold France when you’re in France, and point fingers at Britain when you’re in Britain.

Back in the day, Lord Byron’s “Don Juan” ran into trouble for doing just that, he scolded all the cabinet members, making things difficult for his publishing, and it wasn’t until recent years that he was finally granted permission to publish. And the Austrian incident should have given you a taste of Lord Byron’s blues back then, shouldn’t it?”

“Huh?” Heine frowned at this, “But I heard that Britain is now free to publish?”

Arthur nodded slightly, “Newspapers and magazines are indeed free from censorship now, newspapers only need to obtain a publication license, and they can freely publish newspapers within the term of the license. Although general publications are also free to publish on the surface, if your work displeases the gentlemen, they can’t ask you to modify it or directly refuse to publish your work, but they can give you the runaround and drag things out.”

“This…” Heine hesitated for a moment and said, “If that’s the case, then I’ll just publish the first three volumes of “Travel Sketches” in Britain. I’ll hold off on the fourth volume, “British Fragments”, for now, and revise it before publishing. Although I don’t want to bow to these conservative authoritarian forces, but to let readers see my work as soon as possible, I can accept some minor adjustments. I’ll release the revised version first, then the original version in the second edition, anyway, this isn’t the first time I’ve done this.”

Arthur originally thought that Heine, with his hot temper, would be upset by his words, but to his surprise, it turned out that this eloquent and sharp-tongued poet was actually a flexible and experienced offender. It seems that the banning incident in Austria, besides giving Metternich a hemorrhoid, also gave Heine a second thought.

But on second thought, it seemed reasonable, after all, people need to eat, and poets are no exception.

In a way, Arthur was even happy about it, at least it lowered his workload.

But Arthur’s purpose for coming here wasn’t fully achieved, he hadn’t forgotten Lionel’s request.

He racked his brains, thinking about the information he’d gathered on Heine these past few days, and smiled, “It’s great that you can think this through, I’m sure your book will be a bestseller. But before that, you should double-check that your “Travel Sketches” doesn’t contain anything about the Kingdom of Hanover. You know, our king, besides wearing the crown of Britain, also sits on the throne of Hanover.”

“The Kingdom of Hanover?” Heine pondered, “You don’t say, I forgot about it. But you guessed right, I did write a bit about the Kingdom of Hanover, it’s in the first volume, “Journey to the Harz Mountains”, after all, it’s also a member of the German Confederation, and I also studied at the University of Göttingen in Hanover, it’s a bit difficult for me to not mention it.”

Arthur feigned surprise, “You studied at the University of Göttingen?”

Heine chuckled, “Yeah! Graduate of the University of Göttingen! Graduate!”

Louis was also curious, “How’s Göttingen? I’ve always heard that the education quality there is very high, after all, it was founded by George II of Britain, modeled after Oxford and Cambridge. Many people say that it’s the best university in Germany, it has a good environment and conditions, and compared to other German universities, Göttingen is not subject to government or church interference, the academic atmosphere is very free.”

“Modeled after Oxford and Cambridge?” Arthur took a sip of his tea, “Then their education probably isn’t that strong.”

Heine, hearing this, was like finding a kindred spirit, he exclaimed, “That’s right! You’re right! It’s the British who know Göttingen best! I have nothing to say about Göttingen, when I first arrived, I guessed that the city must have a long history.

Guess why? Because I still remember that seven years ago, when I registered and was soon expelled, she was already old and worldly. It was filled with night watchmen, curly-haired dogs, dissertations, dancing tea parties, washerwomen, syllabuses, roast pigeons, Guelphic orders, carriages for those who received doctorates, pipe bowls, privy councilors, legal advisors, expulsion committee members, professors, and other things.

Freedom? Göttingen actually dares to call itself free! I’ll just say this, the population of Göttingen is quite simple, it can generally be divided into four distinct classes: petty citizens, students, professors, and beasts. Of course, in my opinion, the beasts probably play the most important role in Göttingen.

Of course, the professors aren’t completely useless, sometimes I even have to defend them. You know why German professors always write their books in an obscure way, as if they’re afraid of letting others understand? I can tell you the reason here, because they’re afraid that if the beasts understand their arguments, their lives might be in danger.”

Arthur heard this and smiled, “That’s what I’m worried about for you.”

Heine, already in a frenzy, heard this and directly grasped Arthur’s hand, shaking it, “You’re a true friend. But you put me on the same level as professors, that’s too much of a put-down.”

Arthur rubbed his temples in distress, “Mr. Heine, I completely agree with you. But the problem still needs to be solved, doesn’t it? If you launch a sharp criticism of the Kingdom of Hanover in the first volume, it’s hard to leave a good impression on the gentlemen, especially the King of Britain.”

Heine was also a bit at a loss, “But if I delete Göttingen from the first volume, I don’t have anything else I particularly want to say. And my journey starts from there, I can’t tell the readers that my journey starts from Paris, can I?”

Arthur heard this, pretended to think for a moment, and feigned a flash of inspiration, “I’ve got it. Mr. Heine, in my opinion, you shouldn’t publish “Travel Sketches” as a whole. You can try publishing it in chapters, for example, you can serialize it in magazines. Newspapers don’t need to wait for licenses, and by publishing in chapters, you can constantly test how far the British gentlemen can accept. That way, you don’t delay your maximum expression of thought, what do you think?”

“Serialization?” Heine was stunned, “This… I seem to have heard that this method is quite popular, but I don’t know anyone in the British press!”

Louis, hearing this, exchanged glances with Arthur, he just raised his glass and smiled, “You’re lucky today, I know the editor of “The Englishman”, do you know “The Englishman”? They’re not a small magazine in Britain, their sales are pretty high. And their content, in my opinion, is also quite inclusive and diverse.”

(End of chapter)