Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen

In between sleeping, eating, and writing notes, I read a little Shakespeare.Mitch puts a complete set of Shakespeare's works here, and of course a bunch of supplementary notebooks, dictionaries, research criticism, and the like.Do I need to add another pile of my bird poop on Everest?I don't think so.Although I must say, this Braces fight made me see another side of Shakespeare.I've done business with people in the creative world, and I've always seen a weird frankness in them, and that dude Brace Godou sees in Shakespeare: creative people are talking to you Talk, talk about deals, etc., but you feel as if you are not talking to a normal person, but to a character they made up.I'm only talking about writers here, musicians are different, musicians are like big kids with bushy hair.

My little notebook told me that the next morning I was working with some fairly well-known musician.If you listened to rock music in the 1980s, you would know him. He wrote at least fifteen top 20 hits.This guy sold the copyright of his song along with his trademark without first consulting with a good intellectual property lawyer. The bastard company that bought the trademark only gave him an advance payment of about 25,000.Then of course the musicians became famous, toured, made more money, fast forward twenty years to today, the original band and fans are gone, but the songs have become classics, and every vintage radio station will Play countless times.Then the bastard company that bought the copyright and trademark of the song sold the song to the media group for 100 million yuan, and how much did my client get?The answer is zero.The plethora of radio stations played his songs non-stop, and he didn't get a dime either.When you hear the song on the radio or on TV, the artists who sang it don't get paid anything, because only the copyright holder gets the ASCP royalties.

So I sat down with the people from the media group and they said that while they agreed that my client was completely screwed, they were helpless, they spent a lot of money on this commercial property, and this matter has nothing to do with this property Whether it comes from the effort of my client.Both sides make sense.My client accepted it quite gracefully. He smiled and expressed his amazement. What was in his mind at the beginning has now become such a considerable asset, and he is already content to be able to bring joy to so many people.Like I said, musicians are big, hairy kids. Shakespeare, unlike them, was always very careful about authorship.He sold Hamlet's play for ten pounds at the beginning, and it is worth about four hundred pounds today.But he sold it to himself, because he sold the play to the troupe, and he was a shareholder in the troupe, and old Brice Godo became his bookkeeper, and Shakespeare probably made more money.

I digress again because this next part is painful. After my bad-news-filled meeting with the musicians, I traveled across town with my colleagues to attend the meeting.This kind of thing is very common now, when a media company proposes to buy another company, it will involve a large number of lawyers.I have to attend because I know a lot about foreign copyright laws, and such laws are annoying and no one wants to study them.The point is, I wasn't at my best in that meeting because I was thinking about Miranda who was missing, and that poor musician.The long polished tables in the conference room were sat by bald men, none of whom had ever created anything a normal person would want to hear or see.Someone proposed to discuss how the European Union should deal with the copyright issue of mobile phone ringtones. A colleague looked at me because I had done the most exhaustive research on this topic, but I said it wrong. .

Anyway, I was out of the office when the fateful call came, and Miss MacDonald wrote it down on a yellow Post-it note and stuck it on my desk lamp.A yellow post-it usually means the caller doesn't want to be on the record, usually my mistress, and I do get calls from mistresses a lot in the office.I took the post-it note to her and she said Miranda.Kellogg called from Toronto.I immediately called back the call she gave me, and it was transferred to the voicemail of the Education Department office: Miranda.Kellogg is not seated right now, would you like to leave a message?This question is a very common system machine voice, but the name part should be the mailbox owner's own voice, a nice Canadian accent, but not my Miranda's voice.My stomach started to writhe, and I didn't leave a message.

I called the police right away and made an appointment with Detective Murray to go through Bustrow's file.I sent the driver, Omar, to pick up the file, and while waiting, I called the Toronto number three times.People say that the third time is better luck, and sure enough, someone answered on the other end of the phone, and a voice I was not familiar with sounded, deeper and slower than my Miranda, um, that's what I always called her.I told her who I was and asked her if it was the late Andrew.Buszjo's niece, she said she was, had just returned to Toronto when she heard the bad news. She had been in the Himalayas before and had no contact with the outside world.Himalayas?Yes, she went trekking in Nepal.I asked her when that happened, and she said it was about six weeks ago, in early October, when Buschrow had just returned from England, and she suddenly got a chance to travel for free.In short, she learned of her uncle's death when she returned home, and thought she should make a phone call to find out, although the body should have returned to Oxford University and Oliver.She said she wasn't counting on money, she knew her stupid old uncle was broke, but could I give her a message when I read the will?She thought that most of her uncle's property should have been given to Oliver, but her uncle had promised to leave her a collar clip, which was left by her grandmother.I said I would, and hung up, leaving a thin layer of sweat on the microphone.

I tried to concentrate on intellectual property law, but it didn't work, even though I had to come up with a response proposal for the media M&A meeting in the morning, the two sides fought like a battle between monsters, but the text just couldn't stay in the proper part of the brain.Omar walked in with a large brown cardboard box under his arms, and I rushed over to find Andrew.Bustrow's real last will and testimony, not the fake one my Miranda showed me.Sure enough, as the real Miranda pointed out, all belongings were left to his longtime partner Oliver.Horses, plus some little treats for other individuals, I'm glad the real Miranda will get that collar clip.There is also a small leather desk photo frame inside the box, which contains a photo of Professor Bustrow and a younger woman. Her appearance may have a bit of the Bustrow family characteristics, and that is the real Miranda.

I was sitting among the scattered papers on the floor when my colleague in charge of the Bustrow case, Jasmine G.Miss Pinn came in, and without a word I handed her the will, and told her my guesses.She sat reading the papers, her porcelain-perfect face turning livid, like a demon mask seen at a Chinese folk dance festival, really funny.A trust lawyer submitting a bogus will to a probate family court, that's not a good thing.Jasmine then went on to say some nasty things about my private life, which I thought was a little unfair, but didn't defend herself, she wondered how I let this happen, strongly implying that I had let my lower body rule my brain.But she is a very polite person, and she would not really say such words.She said I had to tell the partners about it, I agreed it was the right thing to do, and she wanted me to guarantee that the imposter hadn't been given access to the estate.Having said that, I must admit that a valuable item has disappeared with the imposter, and I explain what that valuable item is.Jasmine said something I already knew: If the real heirs wanted to make a big deal out of it, if it went to court, I would be out of business and out of business.In any event, I cannot continue to meddle in any legal matters concerning the Boothrow estate at this time.As she spoke, she stared at the paper on the floor, with a displeased and disgusted expression on her face, as if I were plundering the dead.Then she called the general affairs staff in the office and asked them to come and help organize and remove the documents.When she was busy, I sneaked Bustrow's itinerary under the sofa in my office.

Two tall and strong porters came and took away all Buszrow's papers in boxes.As soon as my office was free, I took out that book and turned to the week before his death, and in one column in July, I found what I was looking for, eleven thirty Writes Caroline.Miss Quesetti?It must be, the fake Miranda mentions that there is a Caroline involved in this matter, and here is a Miss Caroline, who is either a seller or a broker.I photocopied this page, then rushed outside to find Miss Macdonald, handed her Bustrow's book, and told her it was a document of the Bustrow case, and it was accidentally left out, and I asked her to take it right away Miss Pinn's there.I believe this is the first time in my life I have lied to Miss Mak.This incident shows more clearly how depraved I am, when a lawyer starts lying to his secretary, it's a sign that something is wrong, very bad.

Fortunately, Quesetti was not a common surname. I looked through the New York phone book and found only twenty-eight Quesettis, but none named Caroline.I printed the list and went back to the office and started tapping the buttons on my phone.Of course, only the elderly and sick are at home at this time, and I don't want to leave a lot of voice messages.I don't know for what reason, I started calling people who lived in the suburbs and continued to call the city.When I called in Queens, Ms. Mak poked her head in and told me that Mr. Geller, a senior partner of the firm, wanted to see me right away. I nodded and continued on the phone.After a lot of tones and unanswered calls, I got through and it was a woman's voice with a guttural New York accent that sounded very educated, and I asked her if she knew Carolyn.Quesetti, she said she knew every Quesetti in New York, but no one named Caroline.Then she paused for a while, laughed a few times and said: Unless my son married her and didn't tell me.

who?I asked. The other party paused for a while, and the voice became more formal, who are you? That's when I stared at Bustrow's itinerary and realized I had made a small mistake.His handwriting was loose and messy, and his appointments that morning had crossed the line from the day before, and he wasn't writing about Caroline.Quesetti, but Caroline.Rollie and Ai.Quesetti. I decided to tell the lady half the truth, so I said: My name is Jacob.Mishkin, from Geller, Linz, Grossberg, Mishkin, I am Andrew.Mr. Boothrow's estate lawyer wanted to track down a transaction that Professor Buschow had made in July.Quesetti and Caroline.Meet Luo Li, do you know about this? I know.The lady said: Albert.Quesetti is my son, and I think it's about a manuscript. I was relieved to hear those words, yes, indeed.My mind was full of surprise, I had made several assumptions before, and now I was talking to a thief, a victim or a villain? gentlemen?The lady continued. ah? Your late client once tricked my son into selling a valuable seventeenth-century manuscript for a low price.Is there a way to compensate? So she is a victim.That's certainly up for discussion, Mrs. Quesetti. I hope so. We should arrange a meeting. I'll have my lawyer contact you. Goodbye, Mr. Mishkin. I wanted to call her again right away, but Ed.Geller's stocky figure had already appeared at the door of the office.His build reflects his aggressive personality.Legally, all partners in our firm are equal, but human society is such that orders usually come from those most hungry for power.In our company, Ed was the guy, and usually got what he wanted.In addition, he and Marty.Linz was the one who founded the company, so he seemed to be in a higher position.Geller was annoyed, I think mostly because he asked me to come over and I didn't, so he had to stand facing me instead of sitting behind his desk talking to me.His table is slightly higher than ordinary tables, and the chairs around it will sink when people sit on it.I think it's better for me and him to stand face to face and talk at a normal height. I said: I guess you talked to Jasmine. Yes, we talked.He said: Tell me, what the hell are you doing? Ed, it was just a misunderstanding, and I'm sure it will be cleared up soon. Yeah, so you didn't take the precious things from our company's client's estate for yourself and hand them over to your girlfriend? No, I'm the victim of a scam by a woman claiming to be Buschrow's heir with what appears to be a real will. Is this the will we drafted? No, I assume it was found when he died.I mean, we are only entrusted by the parties with a specific thing, which is to keep a document and give advice on the intellectual property rights of this document, as well as the attribution of intellectual property rights to other documents derived from this document. How to derive? I took a deep breath. This is a seventeenth-century manuscript written by someone who claimed to know Shakespeare. In addition to being of great academic value, it also hints at the existence of an unknown Shakespeare's own manuscript. clues to where the manuscript was hidden. Ed was a good litigator, and I think I've mentioned that the most important thing about being a litigator is never to be surprised, and now he gasped.damned!Can this be believed? No idea, but Buszrow believed it to be true.He is one of the world's top experts in this field. This object, this seventeenth century manuscript, is in the hands of your boba fraudster? I wouldn't call her my boba scammer, but basically you're right. I don't understand, how can you be so stupid?Wait, don't answer me!You slept with this honey, didn't you? Do you want to hear the whole thing, Ed? Sure, but go to my office. During the short drive to his office, colleagues looked at me sympathetically, and I briefly considered whether I might be hiding any material facts from him.But he's one of the best confrontation lawyers in the New York legal community, so the answer is no, I have to tell the painful truth, but I won't tell him my speculations and plans.When I arrived at his office, I told him the basic facts, and after he squeezed the words out of my mouth, he said that if we want to call the police, we must also contact the real heir, that is, Oliver.Horse District, let him know what happened.However, I ignore these things as he has noticed a severe lack of focus in me lately.I have to agree with him that this is indeed true, we discussed my ugly performance in the morning meeting, and he pointed out that this merger involves the interests of some important customers of the company, and it is impossible to bring them anything in my current state. helpful.He suggested that I take a vacation for a while, with the care of an uncle.He's rarely been this nice to me, and it almost feels like Donkey Kong decided to switch careers as a social worker instead of destroying Manhattan.He went on to say how sorry he was when Emma and I broke up, and how different he felt I had been since then.As soon as he said these things, as soon as these words floated into the air, I felt as if a balloon was floating in my head, and then it was hard to describe, it was not so much out of body as it was a very serious alienation It felt like Ed was talking to someone who wasn't me. It's actually quite funny, a bit scary, but still funny, and I think about my mother's last days, wondering if that's what it was like: living alone in a crappy apartment, with all the kids gone, though I'm still there, but I've always made it obvious that I'm only here with her because of the weight of the responsibility.And her stupid job.Alas, why continue to live?What is the meaning of living like this?Ed started talking about handing over my work to a couple of other associates until I picked myself up, and part of it was of course the cell phone ringing case.The word is completely on my mind right now, ringtone!Ringtones!The force of this absurdity hit me like pie in the face: We're two grown men, real human beings, and yet we're sitting here with all this stupid stuff.If someone's cell phone rings beep beep beep beep instead of jingle jingle, someone will pay in the appropriate form.This absurdity had a strange connection to my sense of alienation, reminding me of my mother, and I started crying and laughing at the same time and couldn't stop for a long time. Ed immediately called my secretary, Miss Macdonald, she was very smart and thought of calling my driver, Omar, and asking him to come upstairs and take me through the side door of the office building, so that no one would be embarrassed , and will not scare the other secretaries.On the way home, I asked Omar if he had ever thought about committing suicide. He said that during the first Palestinian uprising, his youngest son was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier and died. At that time, he thought about it. And at that time, the hawks in the Palestine Liberation Organization were encouraging people to become suicide bombers, but he thought that was a crime.Whether it is suicide or killing innocent people, it is a crime, but if you kill someone powerful and then commit suicide, it is different, but no one has ever given him the opportunity to do such a thing, so he came to the United States. That afternoon, I took out the pistol from the deepest part of the supply cabinet, and for the first time seriously thought about Camus’ big question. Of course, unfortunately, I was already in the United States, and I couldn’t find a paradise to hide like Omar did.I even put the muzzle of the gun in my mouth, just to taste the taste of death, to imagine a little: who would be inconvenienced if I died.Emmale will be relieved and free to marry someone else who deserves her love more; the kids will barely know I'm alive; my brother Paul will be pissed and will eventually let it go; sister Miri will up her dose A month or so; Mistress Ingrid will find other lovers; Omar will get the Lincoln and a small gift, so he will be better off. Since I'm still typing this, it's obvious I didn't pull the trigger.The fact that I recovered from my hysterics quickly is one of the benefits of being superficial as a fish.I also didn't let out for a week, stop eating or stop shaving.No, I thought then, Jack's personality would be in place again and everything in life would go on as usual (except for the phone ringing).In the end, I think it was curiosity that made me decide to live. I wanted to find out how Bracegrave's espionage work ended up, whether the show actually existed, and I wanted to talk to the gangster Osip.Meet Shavnov.Yes, curiosity and a little bit of revenge.I wanted to find out who was plotting to ruin my life, and I wanted to strangle that woman who dared to play Miranda.Kellogg, play me for an idiot. Shavnoff and I made an appointment in SoHo at ten o'clock, and I had a couple of appointments uptown before then, because I had promised to take my daughter, Imogen, to a school rehearsal.Mrs. Ryland is a drama teacher at Copley College. Every three years, she arranges a play of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to alternate with "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Tempest".Last year Imogen played an elf in The Tempest, but this year she landed the role of Titania, the fairy queen, with unbearable pride.Last year I didn't see her in Genie for the reasons I think I've already mentioned, I don't go to the theater, not because I don't like what's being played in theaters now, but I really can't bear to sit in a dark theater and watch a live Actors are on stage, and three minutes after the curtain goes up my windpipe will be tied up and I can't breathe;My sister said I should get my brain checked, and of course she was right, but I declined the suggestion. I don't mind going to rehearsals, the lights are on, people are walking around, the director will call out instructions, actors will miss instructions or forget words, it's fun; don't have to sit in a fixed position in the dark, close Pouting and looking at real people in heavy make-up pretending they're not who they are, like me. When I arrived at my wife's doorstep, my daughter was waiting on the front steps of the brownstone, chatting with two young men.The pair had apparently arrived in their white Ford SUV with gold-plated trim, parked side-by-side on the street; the tailgate was open, as if trying to mix the goofy music in the car with the neighbors. Share, the volume is loud enough to shake stones.She seemed to be having a good chat, and I hated to interrupt the little gathering, but the two young men greeted me politely, for they were sent by me, Paul, to guard the house.Imogen and I sat in the back seat of the Lincoln, and I told her about the origins of these two young people, but she was a little discouraged because she thought she was doing something rebellious, with two obviously gangsters. The guys gossiping.I didn't expect it to be so.After clarifying the matter, we drove to the school in silence, at least I was silent, and Imogen was chatting with girls her age on her mobile phone.They had just spent the day together, and they would see each other again in a few minutes.Anyway, you can do anything, as long as you don't talk to Dad. Well, you know, this play is nothing like Shakespeare, even if it were performed by children.Mrs. Ryland liked to act "A Midsummer Night's Dream" because it could be performed by children of all ages, from the lower grades to the upper grades.She had the younger children play elves, the older ones play fairies, the freshmen and sophomores play royals and heroines, and the oldest play rough laborers.If the boys were out of order on stage, she would say: The greatest female characters of all time were created on stage by twelve-year-old boys, and no one thought they were funny.You can at least play a man here!It worked out amazingly, the boys started uttering those classic lines, and for a moment they finally left their teenage narcissistic enclosures and entered a wider, richer universe, or at least it seemed to me.I saw my daughter come out in Act 2, Scene 1, and she had an angry line: You're just trying to fake your jealousy.I don't know how she learned it, but she knows how to talk: We meet on the hillside, in the valley, in the forest, on the meadow, By man-made springs, or by murmuring brooks, Or perhaps on a sandy beach by the sea, We danced in circles with the gentle breeze. She also knows what expressions to make on her face and how to move her body to create the impression that a fairy is dancing. Mrs. Ryland is also fascinated. broken. As I said, I enjoyed watching the rehearsals, and felt that if I went to more rehearsals, it would make up for my lack of being able to attend the official performances a little bit.The place is full of young, lovely bodies, and their mothers, reminding me of Ingrid.After the Imogen scene, I went outside and called Ingrid and asked if it would be convenient to meet me later, after my meeting with the Russian gangsters.But she was nonchalant and said she was busy.I've always had this ability to know if someone on the other end of the phone is lying, and I feel it now, which is not at all Ingrid's way.She is a straight person, does she have a new lover?Maybe, do I care?Yes, there is one thing that I have always cared about, but I didn't care too much. They all know it, so every relationship life of mine will end soon. After the rehearsal, I asked Imogen if there was anything she wanted to do.When she was daddy's sweetheart in the past, she loved it when I took her to a certain restaurant and bought a special drink for her, making her feel like the famous actress Shirley.Temple, drinks filled with fruit flavored junk food.But she doesn't like going there anymore.Imogen finds Divorce boring, especially since every one of her friends is from a broken family.She seems to like being a special girl with an unbroken family, or she doesn't like it, I really don't know what her cute little head is thinking.So we drove home again in almost silence.She did tell me that it took her freaking brother a whole week or so to print out page after page of genealogy information, so many that no one else could use the printer.The so-called other people here are Imogen herself. She hopes that I can ask my brother to stop printing, and she also said that my mother is partial, and my brother can do whatever he wants.I said I would talk to him when I got home, and I did. With such a series of major events happening recently, I almost forgot the mission I gave to Nico.I found him upstairs in the computer room, where he was arranging files on a long bench in the room, laying out each document precisely, with every row and column equally spaced.I looked at him for a while before I said: Nico?Imogen said you found something for me, is that Bryce Godou? yes.Nico answered.If you ask Nicole to help you find an answer, what you get is not an answer, but a very complete process, full of exhausting details, from the first attempt, to the logical reasoning involved in the process, and various corrections strategies, sources of information, false leads, every fact found at the end, and so on.I'll just say the conclusion, our Brace Godo had a son, also named Richard, and he grew up and married, and had seven children, and five of them lived to adulthood, all married and had children, Men all went to sail or entered the army, and they were promoted to the rank of officer by the end of the seventeenth century and until the eighteenth century.One descendant led a regiment under General Wolff on the Plains of Abraham outside Montreal, Quebec; another was captain of the fusiliers at the Battle of Plassey, and others were whaling or human-trafficking .The last male descendant of the Bracecracker family died silently in 1923 after being wounded in World War I. Well, what I had hoped for was that it might be a family treasure: a box of ancient papers in the attic that just so happens to be a little-known Shakespeare play.I looked at my son, and his futility, and felt a pang of sadness, and wanted to hug him too, but knew better than not. I said: That's a pity, Nico, but it's worth a try.Have you seen any Russian gangsters snooping around your home? No, there were two black men staying nearby, one was driving a white Ford with the New York license plate HYT620; the other was driving a green American car company Pacer with the New York license plate IOL871.I haven't finished talking about the descendants of his family, I only finished talking about the male part. Are there female offspring? Yes, on average, half the offspring are female, Richard.Brace Godou's son had three daughters, the eldest named Lucinda, who married Martin W. in 1681.Lewis He went on like this, and I must admit I wasn't paying much attention, and being with Nicol was like sitting by a rushing brook, strangely comforting.When Nico finished speaking, he picked up the neatly organized files and carefully stapled them together. He said I had to take these materials away because Mom said there were too many things in his files, and now he was no longer interested in Bracelet Interested.He turned back to face his screen and put on his headphones.I got a big envelope full of papers and left.I didn't see Emmarie, nor did I look for her, though I could sense that she was at home, as real as the rumors of an impending war. Rasputin's is a small chain of semi-fast food restaurants run by a Russian immigrant couple.They, like many others, are looking for alternatives to pizza.The shop sells a wide variety of minced bread and borscht, Russian desserts, and strong tea served in a tall glass.The decor is like old-time Soviet Union, with social realist posters, tiled floors, waiters in peasant smocks and long skirts, steaming Russian teapots and a display of Red Army artifacts.The menu is in Cyrillic imitation, and the uppercase R's are printed backwards.At 10:50, Omar drove me to the only branch in Manhattan, on Lafayette Street, and secretly hid the Lincoln on a sidewalk far away to prevent these gangsters from coming. The restaurant is cozy inside, full of steam and smells of cinnamon and cabbage.I sat under the beautifully framed portrait of the monk and ordered a pot of tea and two mincemeat.There weren't many customers, mainly people from the neighborhood looking to get away from Chinese, Italian, or anything trendy that was overpriced.After ten o'clock, a man came in the door and stood in front of my desk, smiling and looking around.He was about my age, about half my height, with thick mottled hair half white and half brown, a large nose, and dark, deep-set eyes that seemed intelligent; he wore a coat with a black high-necked silk The clothes are quite fashionable. What, does it matter how he looks or what he wears?I had just come back from a walk around the cottage, all was still in the early morning mist, I checked the boat dock, the pump room, the two-car garage, and parked my rental Cadillac. Inside, the car was big enough for a big guy like me to sit in the driver's seat, and I now understand why stout Americans love these behemoths so much.Parked next to my rental car is Mickey's Harley, which he bought shortly after I bought the BMW, I think to show me that he's a daredevil, even though I bought it The reason is that I dare not drive a car in the city.I got some breakfast and I went back to typing. At that time, I must have looked around with doubts, because Shafnov saw my expression and said: What?Are you still waiting for someone else?I said that I always thought that the appearance of Russian gang members must be a group of people.He laughed, yeah, six bald guys in black leather, and two Ukrainian sluts, you want to see?I can call.He speaks English with almost no accent, save for occasional misspelled articles or omitted pronouns.We talked about my sister and her growing business, about Rasputchin's restaurant, and he said he was one of the early investors.I joked about whether they dared to turn down his request for a stake. Hearing this, his smile froze a bit, and he said: Mr. Mishkin, I don't know what you think of me, so let me tell you, so that there is no misunderstanding.I am a businessman, I used to work for the Soviet government like everyone, but now I have been in business for fifteen years, I have business in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Israel, and here, you want to know what business Well, basically I'm an investor, someone has an idea, and I have money and connections.Networking is important in Russian circles because that's how we did business in the old days, you know?It's a trust, because we don't have your kind of business rules or court system, and the reward for my investment is a stake in the business, like the New York Stock Exchange. You are a loan shark.I said So does Citibank, and so does JPMorgan Chase.Why, do you think the consortium doesn't charge interest?The consortium will not swallow the collateral?I do subprime lending, like this place, and no one else can find them that much money, so they come to Shavnov and pay me back with some shares, and everyone is happy. If you are not happy, you send someone to break someone's leg, which is the difference between you and JP Morgan. He smiled stiffly again, and waved his hands as if he was going to wave something away, please, I have nothing to do with debt collection, I promise to outsource it to another company. Outsourcing? That's right.You buy a pair of Nike sneakers, do you know who made them?Maybe to tie up a little Chinese girl and lock her to a machine and make her work, they starve the kids and beat them.As you know, everyone says that Nike is a respectable company. I don’t think even Nike knows who made it.If you want to stay pure, you should be in church, not in business, right? not necessarily.既然你提起被綁架的小女孩，我相信你委託外包的某家公司，前天晚上在我家攻擊了我的僱員，綁走了一個年輕女人。 夏夫招手示意女服務生，點了茶和小薄餅。她離開後，他說：為什麼你覺得我應該那樣做呢？ 也許你應該告訴我。 他表情凝重，綁架是很嚴重的罪，我想你已經報警了吧？ 我報警說有人攻擊我的僱員，但沒有說綁架的事，我比較想要我們兩個生意人自己處理就好。女服務生端來了他點的東西，比她送上我的餐點還要快得多。他喝了些茶，咬了一口食物，然後嘆氣說：聽著，米希金先生，我們都是很忙的人，所以直接說重點吧，好嗎？我這裡的故事是這樣的：這個學者布斯卓來找我說，夏夫諾夫，我有線索可以找到偉大的文化寶藏，我以文化人的身分向你請求幫忙找到這東西，公諸於世，我需要一點錢去做這件事。然後我說，沒問題，布斯卓教授，這裡有兩萬塊美金你拿去，還需要的話你就說。你知道的，即使像我這樣的生意人也有靈魂，不希望人生都花在浴場和俄式小餡餅上，和女人在酒吧瞎混，而且我覺得這會為我的公司帶來可觀的資金，所以我就給他錢讓他去找。之後他出國了，我沒收到任何消息。過了幾個星期，我從可靠來源那兒聽到令人擔心的消息，這個消息來源說，教授回國了而且找到了寶藏，但是他不想跟夏夫諾夫分享，所以我怎麼辦？我打電話給他，他否認全部的事情，走到了死胡同。我的生意裡，有很多次對方都不想分享成果，我只好採取強硬手段。 你刑求他。 拜託，我根本沒對他怎樣！我跟任何刑求折磨都沒有關係，就跟布希總統一樣。總之，我的消息來源告訴我，教授把文件存在你的事務所，我想那應該算是我的資產，米希金先生，又有消息來源告訴我，某個女繼承人出現了，她可以領出這物品，我希望她能夠做對的事情，就是把這些文件給我。她去你那邊談法律，我期望她很快會連絡我，然後談妥交易，但是你現在告訴我她被綁架了，這件事我真的一無所知，請上帝幫幫我吧。 奇怪的是，我相信他。要是我沒發現米蘭達是假冒的，我一定不可能相信他。我說：好吧，夏夫諾夫先生，這樣的話，事情就完全不同了，如果你沒有扣留米蘭達．凱洛格，那我們為什麼見面？ Why?因為你是布斯卓的委任律師，這份遺產裡有一部分是屬於我的，也就是那份十七世紀理查．布瑞斯葛斗的手稿。我看過那手稿，我付錢用科學方法檢驗過手稿的真偽，我也有文件證明這屬於我，一切都很合法公開，這難道不是你想見面的原因嗎？ 我說，嗯，我請我妹妹安排會面，是因為我以為你要用暴力威脅的方式得到這份手稿。 暴力威脅，你這是什麼意思？ 派人來我家偷走手稿，派人來我的健身房威脅老闆，讓我被驅逐失去會員身分，還有就像我剛提到的，綁架了米蘭達．Kellogg. 他搖著頭，在空中揮舞著手指，首先，我從沒派任何人去偷東西，就像我剛才解釋的，我何必呢？健身房那邊，那是個誤會，我只是希望在隱密的情況下跟你會面，沒有任何威脅的意思。就像我說的，有時候很難控制外包業者，我只要下個命令，你馬上就可以重回健身房了。跟你說聲抱歉。 Thank you. You're welcome.現在，我該怎麼做才能拿回我的財物？ 嗯，這有點問題。很遺憾必須告訴你，那個我以為叫做米蘭達．凱洛格的女人，其實根本不是她本人，而且這女人現在跟手稿一起失蹤了。我想我們兩個都被同一個人給耍了。 有一瞬間，夏夫諾夫放棄扮演溫和的生意人，眼裡閃過很邪惡的光芒，然後又消失了。他擺出很遺憾的微笑表情，聳聳肩說：可能是這樣吧，有時候贏，有時候輸，對吧？如果你找到她或是文件，可以跟我連絡嗎？我可以證明這份古代手稿是我的財產。 我說我當然會，要求他也答應我一樣的事情。當然，他說，還有其他同類型的文件，這是當然的。 什麼其他同類型的文件？ 我聽說布斯卓的賣家除了找到手稿之外，還找到些其他東西沒拿出來。我想這可不是正常的交易規矩。告訴我，米希金先生，你有這些文件嗎？ I don't. 要是你有一天看到這些文件，要記得這也是屬於我的。 我會記得你的話，我這才了解，這就是他要與我會面的目的：他以為我可能會有那些密碼信。我立刻對他所說一切的真實性打了折扣。 謝謝你，我想事情到這邊談完了，很高興認識你。 我們握手，他從口袋裡拿出一厚捲紙鈔，往桌上丟個二十塊錢，給那女孩，他說：其他的都不用付錢，我招待。然後他瞪著我，頭往上抬眼睛瞇起來，好像要比較眼前所見跟心裡所想的影像是否符合。他接下來說的話差點讓我從椅子上跌下來。 do you know?你跟你爸爸長得很像。 你認識我爸爸？ 當然了，我們有些共同的投資之類的，在以色列。他站起來又說，下次你見到他，替我問候他。 他走出去，留下我倒抽了一口氣。 第四封加密信 爵爺哪，我向您和家人致上我的忠誠和衷心的讚美。過了這麼久，我沒有從您或彼葛先生那裡收到任何信。但您無疑是有更重要的事情煩心。我這次帶來的消息是，莎士比亞已經完成了那齣有關瑪麗女王的劇，他一跟我說，我就馬上請他拿給我看。一開始他說：不要，讓我先好好抄寫起來，也許還要做一些修正。說他平常會有些筆誤。但我再三要求後，他就答應了。於是，我便讀了他汙穢的手稿。大人，我覺得我們誤解了這個人。除非是我解讀錯誤，不然就是他沒照我們所要求的寫。但為了讓您能略知一二，我憑記憶在此寫下了劇中內容和一些對話。他連一行也不讓我抄。 一開始是序章，介紹這齣劇是在敘述兩個女王間的鬥爭，此時，王國的命運以及人類的靈魂也陷入了危機：隨英國教會的爭端，我們英國漸漸衰亡。但看完這齣劇，你不但會可憐敗者，也會可憐勝者。我們原先預想他會寫出出伊莉莎白善變、專橫的一面，這部分他的確有寫到；但他也同時為她嘆息：伊莉莎白因為不孕，所以必須將王位讓給她不得不殺死的女人的子嗣；他也可憐伊莉莎白，為了政策，不得不殺死這世界上唯一能成為自己朋友的人。 我們原先預想他會將瑪麗寫成一位善良的基督教徒，讓我們對她的命運抱不平，他劇中也的確有寫到。但他也將她描繪成一位強健、魯莽，自毀前程的女人。睜大著眼踏入毀了她一生的陰謀。故事中，她渴望得救，她已不在乎自己能不能當英國女王或蘇格蘭女王，她只願自己能吸一口自由的空氣，自由騎馬奔馳。她後悔自己過去的惡行，但又認為，自己能因天主教虔誠的迷信而獲得原諒。雖然她是一位囚犯，卻吹捧自己的偉大，輕視伊莉莎白女王枯萎的子宮和乾涸的性欲，說偉大的伊莉莎白的處女身比起牢獄更是一種禁錮。誇耀自己真心愛過，而英國女王除了表面做做樣子，其實根本沒愛過。而且，莎士比亞說攻詰瑪麗女王的證據有一部分是假的，因為瑪麗女王從來就不曾想過要謀害伊莉莎白，她一心只希望能拋下權力，奔向自由。所以，沃辛漢在劇中是一位做偽證的騙子。 宗教議題上：他為瑪麗安排了一個教士的角色叫都培洛，他和阿密亞爵士對於基督教正確的信仰有一段爭執，我想這有稍稍抓到他的把柄。他以低級的小丑劇來表現，一位是清教徒，另一位是天主教徒，兩人以嘲弄的態度爭論此事。也許這些內容就足以吊死莎士比亞，但如果能再大膽一點更好。瑪麗女王死去的那一景相當動人，內容精心設計，觀賞的人都能忘記她是一位邪惡、淫蕩的殺人凶手。也許如此就能滿足您的要求了，但我說的內容和劇的全貌相比實是不值一笑，雖然我對戲劇毫無了解，但它寫得比我說得更巧妙，並處處充滿諧語。等我寄去給您後，再由您決定是否能達到您的要求。在那之前，我仍是您忠順的僕人，願您萬事興隆，長命百歲。 一六一〇年十月二十八日，於倫敦 Richard.布瑞斯葛斗