man, he looks ugly

At some point, rumors of a ghost hiding in the theater spread like wildfire.

The Garnier Theater is a huge and complex building. It is good in the lounge, ballroom, restaurant, stage, dressing room and other places where people come and go, at least there is sunlight or candlelight to supplement it.But there are even more unknown secret passages. Even if all the secret door managers in the theater are gathered, they can't be sure that they can sort out the layout of the countless secret passages behind the doors and behind the walls.In these places that neither sunlight nor candlelight can reach, who can guarantee that there will be no dark creatures parasitizing them?

First, some people joked that the two managers were deceived by a good-minded but mischievous guy, so they made the decision to keep box [-] empty. Later, two ballerinas were bewitched. , Later, more and more witnesses saw the 'ghost', and this rumor was confirmed.

There really is a ghost parasitizing the theater!

I looked at Eric who appeared in front of me speechlessly, and I really wanted to open my mouth to satirize his bad taste.

This guy brought back a strange stone from Sudan. Compared with the ordinary stones on the roadside, this kind of stone is more brittle and glows in the dark. He polished it into a skull shape, placed it on the hat, and put it on his face. Wearing a Zorro-style face mask, black clothes and a black cloak, looking from a distance in the dark, it looks like a white skull floating in the air.

In addition, Eric's night vision ability in the dark is unmatched. He can easily appear in front of people and disappear behind them through secret passages. , Passing through the wall.

Occasionally, when the bad taste strikes, he will also paint the luminous powder on the wings of Little E, so that he can fly out at night to scare people.Seen from a distance, the white dove spread its wings with two fluorescent greens like will-o'-the-wisps, floating in mid-air like ghost eyes!

I can understand how he wants to come up from the underground world to date me, but he doesn't want to be seen.

But using the excuse of a date to scare the theater people into panic is a bit too much, and he clearly enjoys it!What is the state of mind? !

"Eric, take that skull off your head." I couldn't help but whisper.

"Did it scare you? My Angie." He took off his hat in a good mood, and fiddled with the skull in his hand.

The more reclusive the guy is, the more immature his mind is. He is quite satisfied with his clever pranks, and he never tires of it.

I seriously doubt that if this guy was going to scare people for Halloween, he would be able to play like crazy all day long.Fortunately, this festival from the United States has not yet been accepted by the noble French. They think it is a trick for children to take advantage of the opportunity to ask for candy.

"You scare the girls out of the theater at night."

"Isn't that just right? The whole theater is ours. We can go to the restaurant to have a big meal. I have already prepared the key for the restaurant's back kitchen. They just purchased fresh ingredients today."

"No... Eric, this is wrong. We can't play tricks like this and enjoy things that don't belong to us. This is a crime." I squatted in the corner, grabbed his little finger and shook it.

During the month I've been in love with Eric, I've experienced more passion than I've ever experienced. When night falls, the theater shows are over, the lights go out, people go to bed, and this gorgeous theater becomes me and Eric. Rick's Playground.

We came to the empty ballroom and danced a square dance for two people in it; we went to the quiet stage and performed Eric's free-for-all; Playing a musical instrument, plucking a string; kissing and hugging in a dimly lit hallway...just get away before people find out.

But after experiencing the initial crazy joy, the sense of guilt wound up like thorns in the dark night, and when the blazing sun rose in daylight, it tormented me all the time.

Erik was an uninformed man who had no concept of it, who had been away from home since he was a child, had no formal education, and when he wanted something, he went to great lengths to get it, ignoring all legal norms.

Even the promise ring he gave me was a half-gamble, half-bought, and only cost him twenty thousand francs!

The commission he received from the theater manager was more than twenty thousand francs a month.

"What's wrong with you?" He half knelt down, his golden eyes behind the mask stared at me nervously.

"It's okay, Eric, we can not only date in the theater, my confinement is over, it's okay to go outside for a walk." I tugged at the hem of his clothes and pleaded in a low voice.

"You're going to that banquet!" Eric stood up abruptly and stepped back, his voice full of anger. "How could I ignore that, you never forget that invitation at all! A woman who is greedy for vanity! Why are you so obsessed with that pomp!"

It’s like this again, every time when I propose to go to Sally Perry’s birthday party, Eric will be furious. He has an irresolvable hostility and hatred for the Perry family, perhaps because he has witnessed the death of Al Bing , made him despise the Perry family in every possible way, but Earl Perry has been dead for so long. When he just died, Paris had just entered the pastoral month, and now the hot month is almost over.

Sally was only ten years old, and she needed company.

The more personal reason was that I needed Philip's help in figuring out the mystery surrounding the pink diamond ring.Otherwise it becomes a red-hot ring, and whether it hangs on my chest or is worn between my fingers, even if it is hidden under twelve layers of goose feather cushions, I can't sleep or eat.I am afraid that one day the Paris police will rush into the house and take out a bunch of cold and heavy iron shackles.

"Eric, this has nothing to do with vanity. Mom asked me to go to this banquet. I have promised her and the new clothes are ready. If I don't go, she will be suspicious."

"Why, you can't listen to me! You must go to the house of the poisonous scorpion woman!"

"Uh... are you talking about Mrs. Perry?" From his angry words, I was sensitive to some extra-text.

"She poisoned her husband, and if you were a guest at her house, drinking a glass of wine and eating a piece of meat may cause you to die without knowing it!" He walked back and forth anxiously.

"Eric, how do you know this? The police in Paris haven't found out the cause of Perry's death. What's wrong with you? How can you know the whole story of this poisonous murder so clearly?" Pimple, I was horrified by his narration.

The cause of Perry's death is still an unsolved case. Philip Shani, as he himself said, only told Sally after finding out the real culprit, but never reported it to the police station. The entanglement with Perry's family He doesn't care at all... So, how does Eric know?

"This has nothing to do with you." His eyes became averted.

"Tell me, please, Eric, tell me this has nothing to do with you!"

Finally, under my probing, Eric explained the whole process to me.

The marriage of the Perry couple was a transaction. Mrs. Perry needed to marry a nobleman to break away from the status of a commoner, and Earl Perry needed a generous dowry to maintain a noble life.Originally, the purpose of this marriage was to get each other's needs, but Earl Perry was obviously the best of the scumbags. Before he had a son, he wanted to take his mistress' son into his family to raise him.

In order to protect the status of herself and her daughter, Mrs. Perry met Daloga by chance, or with Eric's help, after learning of Daloga's side job, she finally chose to use some kind of Persian The poison used by the royal family ended Perry's life, which was the final lead of the ball poisoning case.

"Eric, I have no hatred with her. Mrs. Perry will not poison me."

"Who knows, do you know who Perry's mistress is?"

"Do I know her?"

"Olan." Eric casually threw a bombshell.

The black mourning clothes in the suitcase, the secret mourning behind the crowd, the haste to leave the theater, and... There are more secret and unknown details, which are boiling in my head like a pot of porridge.

"Olan is gone...she went to Italy. Sally invited me to a birthday party. It was just an ordinary birthday party. I swore I would not eat or drink anything. I would stay for an hour at most. After congratulating Sally Li will be back, okay?"

I tried to convince Eric, and I tried to convince myself.

Sally was only ten years old. A ten-year-old girl's birthday party would not be a vulgar and superficial ball. With Mrs. Perry's acquiescence, she held a grand tea party in the beautiful garden of her country villa.

When I came last time, the garden was full of white roses. This time, the roses withered, leaving only green branches and vines, and the rose vines that had spent the summer turned dark green.In order to make up for the sense of decline brought by roses, many new roses were picked and planted. The tiny leaves of roses are still flourishing in the sun.

Most of the people who attended the tea party were friends of her age, but there were also some very close friends who were older than her.

In the open space in the middle of the garden, there is a long ivory table with gold inlays, which is filled with fruit tarts stacked into hills, golden cheese croissants, elastic apple pudding, and creamy sweets sprinkled with crushed almonds. The biscuits, as well as the chocolate mousse cake, which is sweet enough to make people tired, made the children and girls who came to the tea party scream with excitement.

In contrast, the expensive black tea contained in those exquisite tea sets is a little bit inferior.

As the host, Sally wore a dress with rose branches on a white background, with pink fringed ribbons in her hair, sitting quietly in front of the long table, with a childlike smile on her face, which made people who had seen her shrewd and sophisticated I am a little uneasy and uncomfortable.

She is clearly playing a beautiful doll, behind those charming glass eyes, is a more mature and shrewd heart than adults.

"Sally." I walked to her side, stood in the same direction as her, and looked into the garden.

The children are chasing and playing among the rose bushes under the sun, which is in stark contrast to Sally, who is dressed in Chinese clothes and sits alone.

"Why don't you go play with them? Honey." Asked in a low voice.

"Sitting here, you can just see the fountain." Her eyes were fixed straight ahead.

I followed her gaze and shivered unconsciously. It was the fountain that Earl Perry fell into when he was poisoned. Now, under the bright sunlight, the cool water splashed beautifully.

"Sally, it's time for you to come out, Earl Perry has been away for three months, it's time to start..."

"I hate Victor."

I reacted for a while, and then remembered that Victor in her mouth seemed to be Mrs. Perry's lover.

"He is a greedy and cruel guy. Before long, my stupid mother will accept his temptations over and over again and remarry." Sally cut open a grape trembling under the silver fork with a knife, as if Cut open a beating heart.

Outsiders really don't like to comment on other people's family affairs. I carefully patted Sally on the shoulder to comfort her.

"Do you like to read?" Sally asked suddenly and irrelevantly.

"Well, some types."

"It's really rare, your soul is not as superficial as your appearance." She judged viciously.

In an instant, I felt dumbfounded that a ten-year-old child was actually talking about the word 'superficial' to me!

"Philip is waiting for you in the house, you should go find him." Sally looked up and smiled coldly at me.

Feeling horrified, I walked silently along the edge of the flower corridor into the small door, and walked towards the lounge.

Philip was admiring the paintings on the wall with his hands behind his back. When he saw me walking in, he saluted exaggeratedly.

"Mr. Earl, I don't have much time, tell me about the theft." As soon as I entered the door, I quickly pointed out the topic.

"In such a hurry, dear, are you going to meet your lover?" He still had a frivolous and sarcastic smile on his face, as if for him, there was no one day and no one who could make him interested in this world.

"Whatever you say, sir, tell me, what have you found in the past month?"

"Honestly, nothing."

"Nothing?! Are you kidding me?"

"That's true. A small ring disappeared from an empty room. Paris is so big, and we have searched every shop in the shop, but we still haven't found it. To be precise, It literally disappeared, like a grain of sand dropped into a sea of ​​sand."

He picked up the flowers in the vase and plucked the petals one by one, just like a gypsy fortune-teller does.

"No, it's not about the ring. Didn't you investigate Andre?"

"Andre? Oh, speaking of it, it's not all without progress. I know he's carrying a huge gambling debt, which will be repaid by this marriage. It’s strange to report all his speech and behavior to me. This gambler seems to have changed his temper and never returned to the gaming table. Well, maybe he was afraid of his uncle’s investigation. Duke Margot returned to Paris from Switzerland a week ago... ..." Philip pursed his lips and continued to tear the rose petals.

"It's obvious that he sold the ring to pay off his gambling debts!"

I remembered what Eric said, that pink diamond ring he won from some gambler.Plus what Philip said, Andre is a gambler... I feel suddenly reminded of something.

"No, no, if he gets rid of that ring, he will be like a mouse in a trap. As soon as he stretches out his claws, he will be clamped to death by iron clamps. The Paris police will definitely bring him to court faster than me. And, I said Yes, my dear, I paid off his servant, which means I can do far more than the police ... I checked all his luggage."

"Isn't it hiding somewhere in the house?"

"The Paris police have dug up the house long ago. My dear, it would be very unwise for him to hide in the house."

After sorting out the chaotic timeline, I seemed to be dazzled by the tangled twine. Eric bought the diamond ring at the gambling table, but Philip was sure that after the theft happened, Andre never returned. to gamble.

"Now, finding where the ring is is definitely more urgent than determining who stole it." Philip threw the plucked flower branch on the table and looked at me helplessly.

"If you can't find the thief, how can you find the ring?" I rubbed my hands guiltily, it's terrible, the ring is here with me now.

"You seem more concerned about convicting Andre than finding the ring?" He came over, looking down slightly at me.

"If you are misunderstood as a suspect, Mr. Earl, I believe you will be cleared of the suspicion faster than I thought." I couldn't help avoiding those sharp blue eyes that seemed to be able to see people's hearts, and lowered my head slightly.Damn it, I couldn't help rubbing my toes against the ground again.

"That's human nature. Now, we'll just have to wait." He turned around, passed me, and wandered around the room as he pleased.

"Do you think the ring will be lost before the engagement banquet starts?"

"Well, an interesting guess, let's continue."

"Andre didn't show us the ring. Just at that moment, the water pipe in the garden blew up. Is that really an accident? If the ring was lost in the first place, he made a fake ring and put it in the box. show us here..."

"Fake ring? Do you think the real ring was sold before the engagement banquet? How did you lose the fake ring?"

"Uh..." I was dumbfounded.

"The inside of the house is the most important place to check. The police searched every corner and almost smashed the wall."

"Perhaps outside the house?"

Philip's half-closed eyes lit up suddenly.

The carriage was speeding towards the country house, and I had to hold my hair buns with one hand to prevent them from being scattered by the violent bumps, while the other hand was firmly holding on to the wall of the carriage for fear that I would be thrown out carriage.

Oh my god, not to mention the hair, the whole person is about to fall apart!

"I have asked Julian to pick up Catherine. She will arrive at the villa earlier than us, and she must find the evidence first." Philip turned around and shouted to me, "Hold on, little Meg."

"Leave me alone, I can take it."

I rubbed my aching bones and shook my head. The girl in the carriage glass had no blood on her face, but her expression was uncontrollably excited.

Revenge feels so good!

More touching than the sacred music played;

Better than the harvested fruit;

Let the heart pound,

more nervous than a first love;

More passionate than violent dance music.

Arrogant and shameless fellow,

Can you see the cold light shining on the sword?

The author has something to say: The Theft of the Diamond Ring, the next chapter ends, and then enters the full-scale theater scene.