Chapter 496 - The East End (1/2)

Chapter 496 The East End

Even though Zhang Heng and Holmes had been getting along quite well, the two had only known each other for a few weeks and hadn’t yet developed a deep friends.h.i.+p. After Zhang Heng’s attempt at persuading the latter, he said nothing more the next time they saw each other. After all, they were all adults, old enough to be responsible for their own actions.

Zhang Heng heaved a ma.s.sive sigh before he left the house.

“You rarely come to London, so go out more often when you have time. Don’t just see the city; observe each detail, and keep a record of them. It will help with solving any upcoming cases.”

“Mm, I asked Mrs. Hudson to bring you lunch,” answered Zhang Heng. “Thank you.”

As a matter of fact, even without Sherlock Holmes’s reminder, visiting London had always been part of Zhang Heng’s plan all along. One thing was for sure, though, Sherlock Holmes knew the city like the back of his hand. He could always be found in the upper cla.s.s’s banquets (although he despised their shallow materialism and the ostentatious red tapes), drinking dark beer, and making jovial conversations with cab drivers.

To win the compet.i.tion and complete the mission, Zhang Heng would need to narrow the gap between them as much as possible.

So, that afternoon, he decided to leave the house. Instead of calling for a carriage, he took to walking the streets.

He first headed to the lively Queen’s Market, where the Royal Clarence Vase was on sale for just one s.h.i.+lling. The ornament made of gla.s.s, enamel, and gold was explicitly crafted for King George IV and was said to have taken 15 skilled workers three years to complete. Curiosities and trinkets from all over the world could be found there, including cotton-padded clothes from India and tea from China.

After that, Zhang Heng took a boat tour of the Thames River, which at that time, was flanked by factories and houses. Thick, endless streams of black smoke belched out of the chimneys, and s.h.i.+ps dropping anchor choked the riverbank, congesting to the point only a narrow pa.s.sage remained down the middle. At the sterns, topless boatmen smoked tobacco, and the incessant smog d.i.c.kens described as “interminable serpents” engulfed the entire city in a grey shadow.

Horse-drawn carriages sped down the roads, women selling flowers weaved through the crowd with baskets in their hands, while the shoes.h.i.+ne boys sat on their heels, diligently working their brushes and hoping to earn a little more tips.

IO

To the west of Charing Cross was London’s main business and entertainment center, also England’s largest financial capital. The famous West End theatre complex was located here. Au contraire, Bishop’s Gate Street, lying east of River Thames, was a completely different scenery altogether.

In the Middle Ages, it was a vast, rural, and spa.r.s.ely populated area. However, the rapid expansion of London City saw a population boom. The houses here were plain, squalid, and dilapidated terraces, cramped and dense with narrow, curved alleyways running between them. Originally the residence of sailors, s.h.i.+pbuilders, and a large number of Jews, it had now become the gathering spot for all low-income groups. The population here was densely packed, cramming in about 30,000 people every half a square mile. Each house was occupied by a large number of people, where lighting conditions were awful, and ventilation greatly lacking. The shared latrines were filthy, and along with that came a permanent stench wafting around the air. These unsanitary conditions were the source of many nasty epidemics—Typhoid being the most common one.

In the early 19th century, a cholera outbreak caused about 6,000 deaths. Several other outbreaks of the same disease followed, killing tens of thousands of people, most of which the poor in the east.

Furthermore, London’s east end had the highest crime rate and was notorious for being the most dangerous place in the city.

Two million people called the area home, yet there was a heinous absence of basic public facilities, munic.i.p.al authorities, theater galleries, soldiers… Really, there was nothing at all. It was like the city’s forgotten corner, carrying with it no history nor future.