Continuation of "Gone with the Wind"

Chapter 120 Three Illness and Fever

Paul thought of Scarlett teaching himself that day again. He asked her what is a good thing and what is a bad thing. Scarlett didn't answer, and he didn't expect to get an answer at first, but now he felt that he understood the question a little bit.It's a good thing for Mrs. Butler to want to save her husband; but it's a bad thing for her to use this kind of dirty method. If Mr. Butler finds out later, it's the worst bad thing he can imagine. She is worried.

Of course, Paul knew that people would definitely not accept his kindness, and not only would they not scold him for meddling in his own business.But Scarlett could control what he did, but not what he thought.Following this feeling, Paul went further to think about the criteria for dividing good things from bad things that she and he had not yet completed.He used to think very simple and practical, good things are good things, bad things are not good things, and the benefits are naturally directed at himself.You can’t think like this now, you have to think about how you are and why you do something.He felt dizzy just passing through his mind, but he didn't give up immediately, but forced himself to continue.

There are good people and bad people in the world, and there are good things and bad things, but good people and good things may not always match up, and bad people and bad things may not always be so certain.To say that a person is a good person has to do a lot of good deeds, and to say that a person is a bad person requires that the person has actually done bad things before drawing conclusions.But this is just what other people say, if you don't care about it, it's useless.Bad people certainly don't care what others think of them, and what others say has nothing to do with them (such as Mr. Butler, in fact, he admires people like him); nice guy

Paul's mind was in a mess when he thought of this, and he decided to save this idea for later.At this moment, he suddenly felt that what Scarlett said to him before was very effective, but it was all applied to her.She said, "Being comfortable for a while and being comfortable for a lifetime are two different things. You must know that if a person does too many bad things, even if others don't punish you, God forgives you, but one day you will feel regret in your heart. People can't Doing bad things is to prevent myself from regretting it in the future." Now I don't know if she is regretting in her heart, Paul thought, and there was an indescribable feeling in his heart, if he had to find someone in his limited vocabulary To describe it in words, he felt that she was quite pitiful.

But what's going on?I was in a daze (there is no room for this word in his dictionary for the time being). It didn’t take long, why did the shadow on the ceiling darken so much all of a sudden, could it be that it’s already night?Paul just wanted to jump up from the bed, but when he saw the situation outside the window, he immediately fell back: When did he become so rare and weird? Isn’t it just a cloudy day? Anyway, the weather is so hot that it can rain Just take a shower to cool off.

His hope was true.In less than a quarter of an hour, dark clouds covered the entire sky.Accompanied by the lightning and rolling thunder across the sky from time to time, the rain hit the ground like a drumstick, like a warm-up before the start of a grand performance.

The summer rain originally came and went quickly, and Paul didn't care too much. He just waited for the rain to clear up and take a good breath of fresh air.Who knew that after more than half an hour, the rain didn't mean to get smaller at all, but it was getting bigger and bigger.The wind tossed the trees in the courtyard, and the grass almost turned into a pond, and the water was still rising.Paul thought mischievously that it would be fun to let some ducks and geese come out to swim at this time.

Many luxuriously dressed people gathered under the eaves, and they seemed to be guests who were woken up by the heavy rain.The women twittered like frightened sparrows, but Paul couldn't hear them; the men seemed much calmer, some with pipes in their mouths, admiring the rain with grace.Paul searched, but couldn't find Mrs. Butler, nor Angela's parents.

It's not interesting to stay upstairs, so I might as well go down and join in the fun.Paul came to the hall downstairs, where there were more people, most of them talking about the weather in small groups.But he didn't see a few children, probably still sleeping under the watch of the nuns.No one paid attention to him, and he was happy to lean on the railing of the stairs and watch all this, full of premonition that something good would happen.

Angela suddenly appeared in his sight in a fleeing gesture, followed by her distraught nun.Seeing so many people at once, Angela couldn't run anymore, so she had to stop reluctantly, and was nagged by the old lady.Seeing this, Paul couldn't help laughing, he had already forgotten the unpleasantness he had with Angela in the morning.

But Angela obviously didn't think so.She gave Paul an annoyed look while Mammy wasn't looking.Paul didn't care, jokingly watched her express dissatisfaction with her eyes, and smiled even more happily.

But just when he was laughing the most, Mrs. Butler came, and so did Angela's parents.Paul stopped laughing, but he didn't run away immediately. Instead, he continued to stand and watch the development of the situation, but he straightened his body.

It is said that it is the responsibility of the host to comfort the guests when encountering emergencies, but how can the guests also comfort the guests?Seeing that Scarlett seemed like a duck to water in the crowd, Paul couldn't help admiring her communication skills. Of course, he admired Angela's parents even more.

But the difference between the host and the guest is still revealed.Angela's father walked up the steps, his loud voice overwhelmed all the whispers, even the roaring wind and rain outside could not cover him: "Everyone, everyone, please be quiet, let me say a few words first .” The crowd quickly calmed down, waiting for his next words.Paul regretted that he hadn't slipped away earlier, it's hard to be surrounded by a group of adults.

As if he didn't see Paul beside him, Disson raised his voice and continued: "This heavy rain is indeed unexpected by all of us, but as the host, I have a different idea from everyone. It seems that God is saving me. Stay in the footsteps of the distinguished guests who are about to leave. Don't worry everyone. Although the humble house is simple, there are still some places. If it rains so much at night, you can stay here first. I hope you don't dislike it. Now the billiard room It has been sorted out, gentlemen can go to try their hands first. As for ladies, you can go to the lounge, where the Whist Bridge has already been set up."

After the crowd left the living room, Paul breathed a sigh of relief.But he suddenly felt a slap in the shoulder, and was almost pushed down the steps. Fortunately, he was not bad in physique, so he withstood the strength and stood firm by the railing.He was a little annoyed, but when he turned around, he saw Disson's enthusiastic smile: "Hey, Paul. The young man has a good body, he is a good material for a soldier."

"Oh, don't tease him. The kid is still young. Tell him whether he should be a soldier." Before Paul could speak, Lanli had already started to smooth things over, lest Scarlett be overwhelmed.

"That's right. It's too early to talk about it now, and it won't be too late to talk about it when you grow up in a few years." Disen has experienced the battle, and at a glance he can see another meaning that his wife didn't say. "However, young man, remember my words, no matter where you serve as a soldier in the future, you will be an American soldier." He patted Paul on the shoulder again, and found a very official addition to his words.

Scarlett was not very good at hiding her tongue, and she didn't realize what they meant until Deason finished speaking.She thinks that Lan Li is too caring. The life in the north these days has completely changed her bad impression of the northerners, at least it has made her think that they are not bad.Besides, the war happened so many years ago, Lan Li still can't forget it, and Di Sen may not mean that.

But then again, if Paul really served as a soldier in the north, she would be the first to quit.

Of course, keep this in your heart.Scarlett also tried to divert her gaze: "Okay, don't talk about it now. The guests have already gone in. Why are you two masters still standing?"

It is said that 90.00% of boys in the world have dreamed of being a soldier when they were young, but Paul is exactly one percent of that very small part. He always thinks that the free and easy Robin Hood is the most worthy of admiration.He originally thought that Disson beat him just now to take revenge on his daughter, but his compliment was something Paul had never heard since he was a child. lit up.

"Hey, why are you smirking, isn't it because my dad praised you, I think it made you happy." Angela curled her lips, and couldn't help hitting him—although her father rarely praised anyone in her impression.Anyway, Mammy has already been persuaded to leave by her father, and her parents have also left. Now no one can control her, and it's okay to speak out of line.

Paul ignored her ridicule this time, and smiled more forgivingly, he was still immersed in his own world.This made Angela feel embarrassed. Paul is actually a very handsome boy with a beautiful smile. It is not difficult for Angela to admit this, but she always feels uncomfortable being alone with him.

The knock on the door sounded just right at this time.Although it became very faint in the thunder, Angela still heard it, and she ran to open the door as if she was rescued.But it was still a step too late, the servant had already opened the door, and Andrew appeared in front of her drenched, which startled her.

"Oh. My God! Ender, how did you do this?" Although Angela was frightened, she stopped for a few seconds.But he ran to him immediately to see what was going on.At the same time, she still didn't forget to yell at Paul: "What are you doing standing there, why don't you hurry up and help?"

Paul also ran over, although he didn't think he had anything to do with Andrew making it like this, and he was also very disgusted with Angela's temper tantrum that appeared from time to time.He asked Andrew: "What's the matter with you, did you fall into the water?" At the same time, he helped the servant to hold him with his hands to prevent him from falling.

Andrew leaned on him, but looked in Angela's direction: "Don't worry, Miss Angie, I'm fine."

"It's not the time for you to be a hero in front of girls." Paul complained as he helped him to the table and asked him to sit down first, who knew that he slumped directly on the table as if he had no bones.

"I'm really fine. It's just—a sneeze—" Andrew tried to retort, but ended up sneezing on Paul's shirt.Seeing Angela's embarrassed expression, Paul didn't care, since he forgot to change his clothes just now anyway.

"You'll be a ghost if you're okay." Paul wanted to carry him to his room, but Angela stopped him, and she asked Paul to take him to his room.Faced with Paul's surprise, Angela looked very calm: "Your room has to go upstairs, and mine is next to it, closer."

Scarlett thought, and slowly fell asleep.

But Paul tossed and turned in his own room, but couldn't fall asleep. Instead, he disturbed his drowsiness like the folds of the sheets under him.He always thought he had seen that Brian somewhere, but couldn't remember.

After thinking about it for a quarter of an hour, Paul didn't have a clue, so he temporarily put this matter aside and let his mind think about something else.He is not good at connecting, but several things that he thought about under the tree just now popped up again.He didn't let them mess up this time, but worked hard to sort out the order.

Counting the days, the north-south separation of Angela's parents should have happened first (as for the reasons Andrew said); after that, they reconciled and returned to the north (Mrs. Butler must have put in a lot of effort); At this time, I was with Mr. Butler, and he disappeared soon (judging from the arrangement he made to himself before he left, he might have expected such an outcome); Mrs. Butler heard the wind from nowhere, In order to save him, he came to the north, and after seeing him, he got his news from him, so he came to pick him up and go back to Angela's house; but he stayed here for a few weeks, but he didn't hear her talk about Butler again. I asked about Mr.'s matter, but I didn't get a positive answer. On the contrary, I have seen Angela's house decorated with lights and festoons these days, and many people of all kinds have come, all of them are preparing for the banquet, Butler The wife was the most active. Not only did she personally teach herself the etiquette of the upper class (this was probably requested by Mr. Butler), she also became the undisputed protagonist at the banquet and had a hot fight with the northerners.

If I don't understand the situation, I'm afraid that Mrs. Butler will think that Mrs. Butler is an immoral woman. Seeing that her husband is in prison and there is no hope of getting out (Mr. To climb another high branch, to seduce powerful men, so as to leave a way out for herself.But Paul didn't think she was such a woman. Although he didn't have much contact with her, and she seldom gave him a good face, Paul could feel her deep affection for his husband.Of course, he knows that the relationship between the two of them is not good, but he can also see Mrs. Butler's efforts to reverse this situation. She has no reason to give up at this critical moment, but should seize the opportunity—although Mr. Butler It's kind of weird to see getting caught as an opportunity.

The truth of the matter, then, was obvious: Mrs. Butler had tried her best to dress, smile as best she could, and try to impress the Northerners in order to get them to let Mr. Butler out.

After Paul figured this out, it didn't get any easier than it did before.Although Scarlett's purpose in the future is completely different from the good direction he just thought about in the bad direction, which is enough to affect his judgment of her character, but the means are actually the same.This discovery made him feel—he couldn’t describe his feelings—uncomfortable, but he didn’t know who he was uncomfortable with, whether it was Scarlett who forced her smile or Rhett who would be cuckolded if she didn’t pay attention. .

"Mrs. Butler—is Miss Scarlett married?" Angela looked surprised.

"Three times. Her first two husbands both died in accidents." This sentence added fuel to the fire.

"What about the third term?" Angela was most concerned about this.

"It's hard to say." Saying this sentence is tantamount to not saying it. In fact, it is already about to explode.

"What do you mean?" Angela blinked, her expression was full of curiosity that wanted to understand, which made him flustered so much that he couldn't speak well.

"That's—so, the last time I saw him, he was alive and well—but that was more than a month ago. Do you understand what I mean?" At this time, I regretted mentioning this. It's a matter, after all, I don't know much about the specific situation, so I will talk about it here.

"Not at all." Angela curled her lips, "Where is that gentleman now, can you tell me a little bit more clearly?"

"This, it's really hard to say." That's all I could say, and then angered Angela to another table.

But the situation is not the worst at this time, the real outbreak is--

"Hey, no, I... don't go. It's really..." He made people angry, of course he had to apologize, but he didn't get up and chase after him, but kept the embarrassing position of squatting for a while and then put the original The ass that was halfway out of the chair fell back on the chair because he was not full.

It was only after eating and drinking that I realized that there was still business to do.He searched for signs of Angela, and found that she was sitting in his place without moving.Paul hesitated, but stepped forward to apologize.

"I'm really sorry just now." Before Paul finished speaking, Angela reached out and handed his handkerchief under his nose. He was stunned for a while, until he saw Angela lightly put her finger on his mouth with a half-smile After making gestures twice, she realized that she wanted to wipe off the gravy on her face that hadn't been wiped clean.Paul blushed at the time and hurriedly followed suit. Fortunately, no one else paid attention to him at the time.

When returning the handkerchief to Angela, Paul wanted to save some face, so he used what Scarlett taught him: "Dear Miss Angela, thank you for your warm invitation and hospitality." Kind of thing sounds nasty, but it's all right when you say it. Mrs. Butler is really making a fuss, and being a classy person is not as difficult as she said.

"It's nothing. If the guests come from afar but don't return to their satisfaction, it means that we haven't treated them well." Paul didn't know if he had read it wrong. When Angela spoke, her expression became lazy and her tone became cold Not a lot.

"How can you say that?" Paul knew more or less what the problem was, but he couldn't answer directly, so he could only continue to talk on the spot. "I'm really sorry for making you angry just now. I beg your forgiveness, Miss." He wanted to bow, but Angela ignored him and said directly to the nurse beside him, "I Tired, Mammy, go back." Then he left regardless of Mammy's persuasion.Paul's bow was useless, and the person who wanted to apologize was now the one who accepted Mammy's apology. He thought it was funny, and the stubborn temper that he had endured for a long time also came up: Miss Dahu likes to play tricks and let her play tricks, but he himself I'm too lazy to wait.