[Masterpiece Les Miserables] Paris Sparks

Despite Corona's incredible self-control, she nearly fails to keep her word.

The previous fright and tension and the sense of security at home made her fall into a deep sleep the next second she lay on the bed.Excessive tiredness dispelled the dreams, and for the first time since her father's death, Corona's sleep was not haunted by sad, disturbing dreams.At last it was Fantine who knocked at the door early in the morning to wake her up. "Annie's going out soon, I thought you'd like to say goodbye to her?"

Corona thought about it for a while in confusion while half asleep and half awake——Anne?who is anneThen she jumped up from the bed. "Is she gone?" she asked as she quickly pulled on the coat next to the bed.

"It's far away from her factory, so she has to leave early. It's not a good thing to be caught late by the factory." Fantine said that she was obviously more familiar with Anne's situation than Corona, "I asked her what she wanted She didn't ask for any reward."

"Nothing?" Corona asked in amazement as she ran down the stairs.

"Who said that? I ordered a breakfast—a very good breakfast." Annie shouted a little indistinctly in the hall below, apparently hearing their conversation in the early morning silence, When Corona ran into her field of vision, she saw that Anne was still holding half a piece of buttered bread in her mouth, and she was holding another loaf of white bread in her other hand, shaking happily at her, "Also There's lunch and dinner! I can't even remember the last time I had white bread, maybe five years ago. It was awesome! Thanks for the bread ladies, next time don't go out alone at night shaking."

"Wait a minute, are you going out in this outfit?" Corona asked.There was a fireplace in the house, and she didn't feel cold when she ran out in her pajamas wrapped in a coat, but it was still snowing outside, and Anne still only had the tattered dress.

"Otherwise?" Annie shrugged, "It's impossible for me to wear your clothes."

Indeed, Corona knew that it was not a good thing for Anne to wear many of her beautifully made clothes.Although she herself did not spare a few dresses, it might get Annie into trouble.But she was not entirely without clothes that Anne could wear: most of the clothes she used to wear in masculinity were ordinary materials, some of which were well worn, and would not be too obtrusive among the workers.But she had been away from home for a long time, and her clothes were all put away, so she couldn't find them quickly. "Can you come over again tonight?" she asked, "or shall I come to you? Where do you live?"

"Come here again?" Annie asked, she had already half-stepped out of the door, and now she was leaning against the door, looking at Corona with a mixture of curiosity and vigilance, looking full of curiosity, He seemed ready to run away at any moment, "Why? You don't want me to pay for these two pieces of bread, do you?"

"Of course not!" Corona said, "but you saved me, I don't think two pieces of bread can repay you... If you want, I think, maybe you can accept some clothes..."

She didn't want Anne to think that this was pity or kindness, and she couldn't think of better words for a while, so she said something inconsequential.Annie leaned against the door, looking at the coat she had hastily wrapped around her body, and her messy golden braids. There seemed to be a little amused expression in her expression, but her previous vigilance did not fade away. "It's too far here, I don't want to run so far again, pity us who have to work more than ten hours, Miss." She said with a little sneer, but there was no malice in her voice, "You If you really want to come to me, I live at 23 Rue Saint-Jacques—don't come by yourself!"

After saying this, she turned around and plunged into the wind and snow outside the door.Although she immediately wrapped her hands around her body, shivering from the cold, she hadn't lost the lightness of a girl in her steps, and there was a youthful beauty that hadn't had time to be worn down by poverty.Corona just put on a pair of slippers hastily, unable to step into the muddy water outside the door, so she had to stand by the half-open door and watch her disappearing figure.

Fantine might have done the same.she thinks.I could have done the same myself.

This thought, as it always did, caused a wave of nostalgia for my father.Corona skillfully swallowed the sharp pain in her chest, and closed the door. "What time is it?" she asked, turning to look at the clock.

"It is still very early. Cosette has not yet risen," replied Fantine.

Corona originally thought that the darkness outside the door was due to the bad weather, but when she fixed her eyes on the time on the dial, she was taken aback. "So early?"

She thought that being awakened just after falling asleep was a hallucination in her deep sleep, but now it seems that it is not entirely true.She had only slept for four hours and it was not yet five o'clock in the morning.Anne apparently only got four hours of sleep.

"Yes, now go back and sleep for a while." Fantine urged her tenderly. "You can discuss going to the Rue Saint-Jacques with M. Jean in the morning."

Corona yawned, but didn't insist, and was obediently urged back to bed by her.

This time, no one woke her up. She slept until she woke up naturally, and almost didn't want to turn over to check the clock to confirm the time.Mostly because of the weather, the light coming in through the curtains was also very dim. Corona was lying on the bed, hugging the quilt, looking at the glimmer of light reflected on the carpet at the bottom of the curtains, listening to the firewood burning in the fireplace. Burning crackle, nothing in mind.

Something in her wanted to keep this moment going forever—to keep this benevolent, peaceful void.There is no struggle, no responsibility, no grief of any kind, just the peace of nothingness.However, the habit that has lasted for more than ten years quickly broke this blankness. She recalled everything that was like a dream last night, and Anne who suddenly rushed out and disappeared suddenly: she looked like a beggar, but there was no bottom worker. The usual insensitivity.On the contrary, she is like a wild deer in the winter forest, thin, alert and full of vitality.

Corona rolled around on the bed with the quilt in her arms, allowing herself to linger in this long-lost peace for the last minute.She needs to dress, wash, chat with Fantine and Jean Valjean, deal with the many things that are backlogged in Paris, answer many letters, rummage through her old clothes, and, moreover, reply to Enjolras and Combeferre ——Combeferre has already passed the medical school of the University of Paris, but Coronne has not even found the opportunity to meet him.After her father's death, she only wrote back one letter to Enjolras and Combeferre - in that letter she only managed to write "My father died of illness." pen to paper.She never had enough energy and courage to reply to the concerned letter that Enjolras sent afterwards, and it still lay quietly at the bottom of her suitcase.

Perhaps in the next letter, or, perhaps, at the next meeting with Combeferre, she would be able to tell them that she had a new friend--that was not so likely, but she hoped.

That night, when Coronne went to the Rue Saint-Jacques with Jean Valjean, after much deliberation, she decided not to dress up as a man.She just changed into her plainest clothes and put on a black fur cloak.Jean Valjean was at her side, carrying a parcel in his hand.They got off the carriage at the corner of Rue Saint-Jacques, followed the house numbers, searched for each house, and finally stopped at the bottom of a narrow tube building.

From the appearance alone, the building resembled the place where Fantine once lived, but perhaps because it was built in Paris, the appearance looked a little more dignified, and at the same time, it was more dilapidated.There was no porter at the door, and Coronne and Jean Valjean stood at the door and waited for a while before a man hurried out from the building.Jean Valjean called to the man.

"Excuse me. Do you know which floor Annie lives on?" he asked politely.

"I don't know." The man said impatiently, pushed his hand away and walked away.Jean Valjean and Coronne entered the corridor: there was only a small narrow staircase, and on each floor there were doors on either side of the staircase, leading to two rooms.This small building has four floors.It is obviously impolite to knock on the door one by one, and Anne never left any more information, so they retreated to the door and waited in a sheltered place. Jean Valjean stood in front and blocked it with himself. The cold coming from the door.Corona knew that it would be useless to argue with him, so she just stayed behind him, leaning out from time to time to look into the street.They stood there for about 10 minutes, before the second person came downstairs, but a surprised and familiar voice came from the street.

"Oh! You are here," said Anne, who stopped at the entrance of the corridor, squinted her eyes at Jean Valjean, and then at Cole standing behind him. Lorna, "It's too dark here, I didn't misunderstand the person - aren't you the lady who kept me overnight last night?"

"It is I," said Coronne, emerging from behind Jean Valjean. "Please call me Coronne."

"Korona! Very good, you remember to bring a man to accompany you this time. Come on, come upstairs."

She led them up to the fourth floor and turned into the door on the right. "Come in! I think I can light a half-candle for you. You wait, I'll ask Mrs. Marbury downstairs for a light."

She fumbled in the dark and picked up something—it was probably a half candle, and went out. The sound of footsteps went downstairs, and after a while, a little fire light floated in from the stairs.With the faint light of the candle, Corona finally saw the furnishings in this room.

It was a little better than the one in which Fantine had lived, but not so much better.A thick straw mat was piled up against the corner of the wall, and a quilt was laid on top of it, which was so worn that it turned white and fuzzy. That was the bed.Another smaller straw mat is probably a chair, and a broken wooden box is placed against the wall as a table, with some odds and ends on it, and there are several wooden boxes side by side in the corner at the other end, and Anne is probably inside. Not many possessions.

"Accordingly, I should tell you to sit down—but there is really no place to sit here." Anne shrugged, bent down to fix the candle on the wooden box with a drop of wax oil, "so if you don't mind my offense , that’s the only way to go! Speaking of which, why are you looking for me?”

"I did find a few clothes that might suit you, if you don't mind if I've already worn them." Corona said, she unpacked and took out a thick blanket, an old woolen skirt, and a A coat with slightly frayed cuffs and elbows, and a pair of cotton shoes.Annie leaned forward, buried her hands in the blanket, and let out a happy sigh.

"These are all for me?" she asked, letting out another sigh of happiness when she got the affirmative answer, and almost immediately wrapped herself up in the blanket, "thank you so much, kind Miss, in terms of politeness, perhaps I should decline—but you know, people who are about to freeze to death are not qualified for politeness and self-respect."

"You deserved it," said Jean Valjean, "you saved Coronne's life—these are but a small amount of gratitude from us, compared with which these dresses are far from being a reward." .We didn't bring more rewards this time, we just don't know what you need."

"What do I need? Well, I want a lot. But, I got a meal and a few clothes for a moment of kindness, and I think that's enough. If it's going to cost me the rest of my life It depends on you, I'm not that rascal." Annie said, "But I'm really curious, how do you have these old clothes? It seems that your family is not from people who need to wear this kind of clothes. "

"Please don't think that I am a young lady who doesn't know the sufferings of the world. If it weren't for my father, I would be an orphan now, and I'm afraid I'm worse than you."

Anne looked at Jean Valjean.Jean Valjean caught her intention and shook his head: "No, I am not her father."

"Mr. Jean is my...an elder." Corona said, she hastily changed the subject: "Where's your family?"

As soon as she asked, she regretted it: Annie's expression immediately sank.