[Tess of the D'Urbervilles] Concubine Wan Gui counterattacks the doormat

One night in August, the d'Urberville manor, which is located at the bottom of the valley and backed by the forest, was immersed in a mist. The mist continued to spread, suspending the soft moonlight and firmly surrounding the entire huge building. The manor, unwilling to let the bright candlelight inside leak a little bit.

Mr. Ma, who came to D’Urberville Manor for the first time, was a little disturbed by these persistent and domineering Miss Yewu. They were used to the noise and brightness of big cities, and felt a little uncomfortable with the silence and darkness they were in now, so they had to Calm down by pacing gently back and forth now and then.

But there is a new scene in the big house.

All the candles hanging on the ceiling in the center of the house were lit, all emitting a bright light.The people below are dressed in fragrant clothes, and they are staggering. Unmarried gentlemen and ladies line up in the center of the house, dancing lightly, holding hands, turning around, looking at each other, and bowing their heads shyly; married gentlemen and ladies chat happily on one side , introductions, smiles, clinking glasses, sipping your head up... the music is transformed into wonderful symbols and shuttles briskly among the men and women attending the ball, and the whole house is full of excitement and joy.

"Oh! Mrs. d'Urberville, please allow me to admire these wonderful paintings! It's incredible! My God!" A woman in a blue gorgeous layered cake dress gently covered her mouth with a white gloved hand , exclaimed.

The Mrs. d'Urberville she spoke of stood out among a group of young ladies.Her long brown shiny hair is all tied up, leaving only a wavy strand of hair on her ear temples that hangs sexy and peeling beside her delicate and charming face like a peach blossom. The hair on her head is inlaid with white diamonds. The hairpin and the diamond necklace of the same color worn around the neck complement each other, shining with dazzling brilliance when the owner moves.The lavender long skirt hangs down to the ground along her uneven body, and the skirt is embroidered with large peonies, which are said to be embroidered with peonies introduced from China in the far east. Flowers grew in her footsteps, willing to be this woman's captive.This is the charming Mrs. d'Urbervilles, the woman who is said to have seized Mr. d'Urbervilles' heart so firmly that London society could not help but say "Oh, that is a beautiful and powerful lady" !"

Even if she is just standing quietly among the married ladies like this now, most of the men around or who seem to be concentrating on talking, drinking or dancing take the opportunity to take a look from time to time, and then look away pretending to be nothing, as if A piece of pleasing and precious jewelry, even if you can't get it, you want to see it.So Mrs. d'Urberville's growing charms often aroused both the pride and the torment of her husband.

"Oh, I guess it must be Mr. John Adolph Gweed," said one of them, with learned self-confidence, "I have heard my husband say, Mr. Gweed is a man of whimsy, and his work is always fascinating. Am I right, Mrs. d'Urberville."

Wan Zhen'er chuckled and said softly, "You're right, I guess Mr. Moran must always be very proud of his charming and wise wife."

Mrs. Moran didn't notice the irony in Wan Zhen'er's words, and an uncontrollable smile rose from the corner of her mouth: "You are so kind, Mrs. d'Urberville."

Lisa secretly groaned at the side. She didn't expect that over the years, the empress would have developed a habit of satirizing those women she disliked with words of praise and derogation, but she was still able to get along in this circle like a fish in water. She was really capable. .

As if sensing Lisa's slander, Wan Zhen'er turned her head and asked with a smile, "Lisa, why don't you choose a young and polite gentleman to dance with?"

When all the wives heard Wan Zhen'er's words, they spread their fans to cover the corners of their mouths, and laughed teasingly.

Others can't understand the meaning of the phrase "young and polite gentleman", but Lisa understands it very well. She just said in front of her brother-in-law Alec a few days ago that he was old and rude. The empress didn't What did he show, but now it is obvious that he is here to win back a victory for her husband.

Lisa held back her usual smacking and rolling, showing a decent smile like a lady, "Sister, ladies and gentlemen, then, I'll excuse you first." She held up the corner of her skirt with both hands as a salute, then turned around and left up.

"Miss Lisa looks really charming, I think she's almost 18, isn't she?" asked a lady next to her.

Wan Zhen'er smiled, "Yes, I'm already worrying about preparing for her adult dance."

"Oh, I think many unmarried gentlemen have noticed Miss Lisa's important ball by now." How much like Madame d'Urbervilles was she!

Wan Zhen'er smiled but did not answer.

"Good evening, my charming lady." A charming voice suddenly intervened in their conversation.

Upon hearing this voice, most of the wives among them who relied on their identities frowned unabashedly, showing disgust.

"Excuse me, Madame d'Urberville."

"Please allow me to leave for a moment..."

"..."

For a while, most of the ladies left, and the remaining two or three ladies noticed that the other party seemed to have something to say with Mrs. d'Urberville, so they also politely left to make room for them.

Wan Zhen'er smiled, but the words that came out of her mouth were mercilessly ridiculed, "Have I allowed you to come to the ball, Mrs. Gray?"

Anne Gray approached Wan Zhen'er indifferently, and stood with her, her tone was as intimate as if she had been a good friend for many years, "I really should let those people who praise you for being gentle and beautiful listen to what comes out of your charming little mouth How sweet it sounds, but now I am a female companion brought by a guest you invited, shouldn't you be more polite to me?" She said and raised her glass to a gentleman who was standing not far from her talking with others hint.

A nearby male servant came to the hostess with a tray of red wine in one hand, bent down and asked softly, "Ma'am?!"

Anne Gray complained coquettishly: "Oh, don't you do this to me."

Wan Zhen'er nodded her head lightly, and the servant left.

"Speak." Wan Zhen'er glanced at her lightly.

"Help me take my little Anne and make her your adopted daughter." Anne Gray said in a flattering tone.

"I thought I'd turned it down before."

"She is 13 years old and can no longer be with my notorious mother."

"Then why doesn't Mrs. Gray try to make her name sound as good as possible?"

Anne Gray choked.

"Oh, Mrs. Grey, please forgive me for not welcoming you, because I don't welcome you at all." Alec broke into their conversation, more bluntly and nastily than his wife's.Although he later found out that he had nothing to do with this woman, his dislike for this woman only increased a lot.

He was just chatting with his business partner in the study upstairs, and when he heard the news reported by the housekeeper, he hurried upstairs before he even had time to say goodbye, lest this woman make up some more lies to deceive his gullible wife .He stood beside Wan Zhen'er, put his arms around her, and couldn't help but kissed her on the face.

"Are you still leaving?" Alec said in a bad tone.

Anne Gray had already put away the embarrassment she had just had. She stood in front of one of the many paintings hanging on the wall, and seemed to be seriously appreciating the work.

"Look," Anne Gray turned to them, "how much like I am the girl in the Leprechaun Ball in the Garden on a Summer Night. I believe Adolf must have thought of The good times before me and him were lost. But now this brilliant Mr. Melancholy has left us forever, his paintings were awarded by Mr. Judge to his philistine ignorant cousin, who inherited The cousin of the entire inheritance is unwilling to raise even his only biological daughter who is unknown! I believe that if Mr. Judge knew this when he made the inheritance judgment, justice would not allow him to make such a hasty decision. decided."

Wan Zhen'er struck coolly: "Then, please ask Mrs. Gray to tell the truth to that just judge, lest he always be condemned by justice without knowing the reason."

Anne Gray's breath was stagnant, and then she became emotional.

"You should be grateful to me!" She whispered, accusing word by word, "If it weren't for me, Adolf's paintings would have been swallowed by the madhouse long ago, and his properties and houses in the north would have been confirmed as ownerless They were confiscated by the government! You got all this easily, but never thought of how to repay Adolf for his generous gift!"

It turned out that Alec's father had a younger sister who had married a well-known local squire when they were still named Stocker.Later, after the old d'Urberville family moved to the south and changed their surname to d'Urberville privately, the two relatives broke off contact.Alec's cousin Adolf suffers from hereditary mental illness. After seeing his father's illness and killing his mother, he also lost control and killed his father. Therefore, he was thrown into a madhouse by the government.But Adolf began to try painting in the madhouse, and drew on paper the world of goblins he fantasized about when he was ill. The dean of the madhouse saw a business opportunity and sold Adolf's paintings to outside businessmen.Unexpectedly, Adolf's paintings became famous, and because of the scarcity of production and the wonderful and novel themes, especially after Adolf's death, these paintings became priceless treasures, and people in the upper class followed suit and regarded them as treasures for collection. A painting by Adolf is proud.

"Stop kidding, don't you forget what a horrible thing you did! You made me think that Anne Duter was my illegitimate daughter! Your so-called joke that night almost ruined my family! Not to mention , Adolf didn’t even know he had a daughter when he was alive, so why should I trust you?!”

Anne Gray was completely helpless when she was questioned, she touched the wall and retreated step by step, looking so weak, the unsuspecting man thought it was Alec and his wife who bullied her.

Sure enough, the man who brought Anne Gray in had restrained himself, walked over and hugged her, although he was joking, but his tone was slightly reproachful: "Alec, you can't just because you have already Own a proud rose and be rude to other women."

Alec sneered and pushed his wife tighter.

The man was humiliated and said to Wan Zhen'er in embarrassment: "We are leaving first, I hope you have a good evening, ma'am."

Alec snorted coldly.

The other party couldn't stay any longer, and quickly left the ball with Anne Gray, who was obviously out of combat.

Although the people present did not know what happened, they also pretended that this scene did not exist, and continued to chat and laugh.

Lisa, who was dancing not far away, was going to support Anne Gray when she noticed that Anne Gray was approaching the empress, but because she only paid attention to the movements on the empress's side, she accidentally bumped into the arms of a nearby man, and he held her steady with one hand. He held her firmly, but the wine in the other hand spilled all over him.

"I'm sorry, sir." Lisa was extremely embarrassed and bowed her head in apology, but this action made her bury her forehead on the other's thick chest.

"It's okay, miss, please don't mind too much." The other party's gentle and intoxicating bass voice sounded like wine above his head.

Lisa suddenly felt that she was going to be drunk.She raised her head fuzzily, and saw the handsome face of the other party who was more charming than her voice.

Clean face, deep eyes that seem to be full of wisdom, and healthy and shiny lips...all of these are classical British gentlemen that only appear in her dreams.

She dreamily said, "Although I'm sorry...but...can I allow you to know your name?"

The other party seemed to be taken aback for a moment, and then replied in his charming voice:

"Hello, my name is Burton William Knightley."

Burton William Knightley.Even the name is so beautiful!At that moment, Lisa felt that the people and voices around her no longer existed, and her eyes and heart were full of the man in front of her.