Three minutes later, Lulu, quite the branch in Angela's bicycle wheel, picked up a sheet with Angela's formula on it. "What's with all the small writing?"
"It's my formula, duh."
"What formula?"
"... The formula to stop people talking."
Lulu quit her tongue-in-cheek provocations. It would be most unwise to antagonize Angela.
After half an hour's silence, Lulu exclaimed: "But, Angela, my brother said you should not touch those things!"
Angela looked back at Lulu, then turned to look at the bottles on the shelf. She had already used them!
"Well, just pretend you've seen nothing."
"What's in it for me?"
"I will teach you what you wanna learn."
"Wow, great!" Lulu leapt for joy.
"Phone my brother," Angela told Lulu, "and ask him what the difference between compound acid B and compound phenol acid A is."
"Phone him yourself." Lulu didn't want to change her clothes again.
"If I go, you will have nothing to do here." reasoned Angela.
Lulu puzzled over it but eventually found it agreeable.
She took Angela's cellphone and found Sven's number. She called him up and engaged in some small talk before Lulu cut to the chase. "Angela wants to ask you about the difference between compound acid B and compound phenol acid A."
"Remember," cautioned Sven, "compound acid B can hurt people's vocal cords. Compound phenol acid A can be made into a narcotic."
"Okay, I got it. Thank you, Sven." Although Lulu was a bit self-righteous, she knew how to sound polite and formal.
She returned to the lab. "Sven told me that... what's the name of it?"
"Compound acid B," said Angela. "What is it used for?"
Lulu seemed confused but did her best to relay the message as she had heard it. "Oh, yes. That is... a narcotic."
"What about compound phenol acid A?"
"It can hurt people's vocal cords," Lulu said with confidence.
"Good."
Angela added a few drops of compound acid A into the serum.
The sky gradually turned dark. Four hours passed, and by the end of the experimentation, Lulu saw Angela's colorless vials lined up in a rack.
By Angela's account, if such drugs were put into the water and drunk by a person, he or she would lose their voice for about one year.
And Angela would use them to do something.
What she would do? After her wound had healed, everyone would know.
In the evening, Lulu had her dinner at Shengfeng Mansion. She kept asking Angela a lot of questions when the dinner was about ready.
Not until two dishes had been served on the table did Angela, who had lost her patience, stop Lulu, saying, "No talking while eating."
Lule answered, "You sound like my brother."
Angela did not reply-- Even she was surprised to hear herself say this proverb.
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