Approaching Science

The gas lamps came on, and night fell over Mondel Town.

Wayne stopped at a corner by the street, twirled his cane, removed his hat, and bowed.

"Tonight's discussion was fascinating, ladies. I'll take my leave now. See you tomorrow."

After he left,

Anna remarked, "I'm really not used to seeing Wayne act like that..."

In the past, whenever they parted ways, Wayne always liked to do something mischievous, like elbowing Li Mo or deliberately farting as loudly as he could...

Li Mo smiled. The kid probably couldn't relax with Helen around.

He said, "It's nice this way too. Appreciate how gentlemanly he is while it lasts."

Anna said, "True."

The night breeze blew.

Li Mo slowed his pace and asked Helen, "What's the plan tonight? Are you coming to sleep with Anna and me, or going straight home?"

Helen trembled slightly and said in a quiet voice, "I've... I've already caused you too much trouble, and you still have the school salon to prepare for, Mr. Li Mo... I think I'll sleep at home tonight."

"Oh," Li Mo said. "All right. We live close to each other anyway, so if you can't sleep or get scared, just come knock on our door anytime."

"Mm..."

They were almost home before long.

But Helen's steps grew slower and slower.

Li Mo turned to ask, "What's wrong?"

Helen pressed her lips together.

After a long hesitation, she finally said, "Mr. Li Mo... actually... the incident at the docks isn't the only reason I'm afraid to sleep in my room."

"What do you mean?"

"For the past half month, there have always been strange noises in my room during the second half of the night... They come from inside the wall. At first, it's a kind of 'scritch, scritch, scritch' sound... Around two or three in the morning, it turns into a 'whoosh, whoosh, whoosh' sound. It's terrifying..."

Li Mo nearly laughed. Helen was imitating the sounds so seriously that she was rather cute.

Anna tilted her head and glanced at Li Mo.

Li Mo immediately suppressed his smile and said soberly, "Have you had anyone take a look?"

Helen said plaintively, "Yes. We've had spirit mediums and occult scholars come over, and spent quite a few gold pounds, but none of it helped... Father is very upset too. He thinks our family has been afflicted with some curse that can't be lifted. He's been lying awake all night, night after night, and has kept considering moving or tearing down the walls. Maybe that's also why he was in a bad mood that day..."

After hearing her out,

Li Mo had a bold idea.

People in this world were too quick to attribute every problem to the occult.

It was like Approaching Science, the show that had been hugely popular back on Earth. One episode had been especially funny.

It was about an old man who mysteriously caught fire every day.

His quilt would catch fire while he slept, and his pants would suddenly catch fire while he was sitting down. Over a hundred pairs of pants had already been burned... What was he, the national server's Brand?

Just as everyone was puzzled,

Someone noticed that it was always his granddaughter who discovered the old man on fire.

After repeated questioning, the granddaughter finally confessed.

She said she really had set the fires because her grandfather had four sons who had long been arguing over who should care for him.

There was a legend in the village that an old person catching fire meant a lucky star had arrived, so his sons would compete to take him home and care for him...

So the village had not only Brand, but also Annie...

Based on what Helen had just said, Li Mo had an idea of what might be happening.

He said, "Come on, take me to your room for a look."

Helen paused. "N-now? Wouldn't that be too much trouble?"

"It's fine. It won't take more than a few minutes."

Helen still wanted to decline.

But Anna took her by the hand and led her along. "If Li Mo says it's no trouble, then it's no trouble. Stop dithering."

The three of them arrived at the Greens' home.

Green had spent the whole day waiting for his daughter to come back.

But when he actually saw her, he put on an indifferent act, as if he had just happened to be drinking tea in the courtyard.

Li Mo said, "Good evening, Mr. Green."

Green immediately rose and bowed with great respect. "Mr. Li Mo, welcome."

Since making his oath, the old man had become a little too polite.

Li Mo was somewhat unused to it. He scratched his head and said, "There's no need to be so polite. I heard from Helen that there have been some strange noises in her bedroom wall lately, so I stopped by to take a look."

Mr. Green glared at Helen. "This... how thoughtless of you. How could you tell outsiders about something like this... Well, I've actually already contacted a stonemason. I was planning to tear down all the partition walls on the second floor in a few days..."

"There's no need to rush into tearing them down. Let's go take a look first."

"All right, please follow me..."

On the second floor,

Helen's bedroom was very tidy.

Li Mo glanced around and saw a teacup on the bedside table. It looked rather familiar...

Just then, Helen rushed over and stuffed the teacup under the covers.

Oh, I remember now. I gave Helen that teacup as a birthday present.

He had given it to her a long time ago. He hadn't expected her to still be using it.

Li Mo pretended he hadn't seen it and looked around, studying the room.

"Do you have a small hammer or something like that?"

"Yes, I'll go get it for you."

Green went downstairs and brought up a small iron hammer.

Li Mo ran it over the surface of the wallpaper.

Then he gently tapped the wall with the hammerhead.

The sound was rather dull.

He moved to another spot and tapped again.

There was a bit of an echo.

Li Mo had an idea. "Mr. Green, was this wall altered two years ago?"

Green was startled, then said, "Yes. In the winter of 1859, to reduce fires caused by coal smoke, the town office required all households along the street to install a central smoke-extraction system. I hired workers to extend the main flue from the downstairs sitting room upward, running a cast-iron pipe through the cavity wall of this bedroom and connecting it to the exhaust outlet on the roof."

"Mm, that's probably where the problem is."

Green didn't understand. "What... what's the problem?"

"First, there's the deformation of the metal caused by thermal expansion and contraction. The temperature difference between day and night is fairly large right now. When the flue cools and contracts, the aged, rusty clamps securing the two ends of the pipe produce that scraping sound."

There's such a thing?

Mr. Green was a little baffled.

This was a field he was neither good at nor familiar with.

Li Mo continued,

"The wind getting louder at night is actually an acoustic phenomenon called the wind-whistle effect. Essentially, it's resonance. Our town is by the sea, and the sea breeze is strong at night. The breeze blows back down the chimney on the roof, and the draft passes over the edge of the loose ventilation valve, producing a shriek."

Mr. Green said hesitantly, "Then... do you mean we need to open up the wall and replace the iron pipe inside?"

"There's no need to go to all that trouble. Anna, give me a coin."

Anna usually carried the money, so she found a coin and gave it to him.

Li Mo stepped onto a stool and pulled the ventilation valve's pivot outward, revealing a gap.

Then he wedged the coin into the worn slot in the valve's slide rail.

Finally, he tapped the coin a few times with the hammer.

That did it.

Put simply, it was making noise because it was too loose. All it needed was a damping shim.

"Let's wait and see if it works."

They waited a little while.

A gust of night wind blew.

The only sound was the mournful whistling of the iron drainpipe outside the second floor.

Yet no sound came from inside the fireplace anymore.

In more technical terms, the resonant cavity had been disrupted, and the loose point where the stress was released had been jammed in place, so naturally it was quiet.

Li Mo turned to Helen. "It won't be noisy tonight. Are you still afraid?"

Helen's long eyelashes trembled, and she quickly lowered her head. "I'm not afraid anymore... not one bit. Thank you, Mr. Li Mo."

Mr. Green also stepped forward and bowed to Li Mo a second time. "Mr. Li Mo, I truly don't know how to thank you..."

"It was no trouble at all." Li Mo returned the hammer to him. "It's getting late. Anna, let's go home."

"All right."

Green respectfully escorted them all the way to the gate.

Helen had followed them too, but she didn't dare go outside. Instead, she hid behind her father and secretly watched them leave.

Green shut the gate, turned around, and suddenly said, "Helen."

"What is it... Father?"

"What exactly do you feel for Li Mo?"

Helen said, "!"

She forced herself to stay calm. "F-Father... what are you suddenly talking about... What do you mean...?"

Green said, "If I tried to bring the two of you together now, would it still be possible?"

"Father!!"

Helen was both embarrassed and annoyed. She could no longer stay meek at a moment like this, and stamped her foot.

"Y-you're talking absolute nonsense! I... I'm not speaking to you anymore!"

A father knew his daughter's temper best.

Lies didn't hurt people; the truth was the sharp blade.

His daughter's embarrassment was already an answer...

Mr. Green fell into thought.

There was an old saying in Mendel Port: the seagull perched on the mast at Pier One would always be the first to snatch the crumbs from the captain's cabin.

Perhaps, for his daughter's sake, he ought to think of a way to give them a good push.