Continuation of "Gone with the Wind"

Chapter 74 The Uninvited Guest

In fact, he also knew that this "child" she expected would be difficult to give birth, and might be stillborn.Mrs. Lanli obviously agreed reluctantly. Maybe she would regret it after Angela recovered from her illness, and then shirk with the excuse that the troops changed defense or other things that children couldn't understand.In short, adults deal with children in this way, and children become adults like this when they grow up.But he didn't want things to turn out like this.Although he could see that Mrs. Langley had a grudge against him recently—although he didn’t know why, he thought that helping Angela express his true wish wouldn’t make her so grieved—but she should It won't be because of this that he will not fulfill his promise.

But the development of things was far beyond his expectation.Over the past few days, Angela's condition has not improved, and her tolerance for Jack's "bitter medicine" has continued to decrease. At the same time, she is dissatisfied with the empty checks her mother wrote to herself. Her temper is getting worse and worse, and the servants at home are miserable , by the end almost everyone except Jack started avoiding her, and they would rather clean the house, even if it was Scarlett's big ugly building freak, some just quit.Landria's trust in Jack also dwindled, but no one except him was willing to serve the grumpy and self-willed lady carefully, so he had to keep running back and forth between Peachtree Street and her house.She and Scarlett have been busy with business matters, and they don't have much time to ask about Angela's illness.Besides, for her now, when she returns home, she has to face her daughter's inquiry of "Why hasn't Dad come yet"—or "questioning" is more appropriate—because she has guilt in her heart, and it is not easy for her to discipline Angela too much.

That grocery store and that bar can only be said to be doing poorly now. She has been persuading Scarlett to sell them all, but Scarlett just can't bear it. She always hopes that they can be brought back to life, and always hesitates to say wait Let's see, maybe there will be a turning point.Lan Li said bluntly that I don't know what you think, what else can you do with the unprofitable business except mold.Recently, Lanli's temper has grown, Scarlett probably because of Angela, she can't vent her anger in other places, she can only complain to herself, so she didn't fight for every inch of land as before, not to mention Scarlett has been Treat those two stores as her own children, they are the testimony of her overcoming those difficult years, she is not willing to sell them, not all because of money.She has to admit that she doesn't take money so seriously now, which should be a good thing, but what she can't accept is that she also has some strange, inexplicable, but hot and humid things. Emotions that really exist in the heart like fog.

It's just that her sentimentality and realism battled for several rounds and finally lost.Driven by Lanli's harsh opinions, Scarlett sold the two shops to the old Mrs. Merriweather who had always wanted to expand her pastry business at a reasonable price a month later.Of course she doesn't like her, but business is business, and you can often make more money doing business with someone you don't like than with someone you like.Because you are not polite, she is really rude.

It was rare that the day was not so hot, and a few lazy clouds stopped indifferently, just covering the scorching sun, casting a rare shade like a gift.Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, Scarlett and Landria went out to Uncle Henry's office to handle the house sales contract, leaving Jack at home to routinely prepare the last dose of medicine.It's just that no one, including himself, has any hope for it.

In the past month, Angela has tried all the medicines he brought, but her condition has not improved significantly, and fortunately, it has not gotten worse.The black blood stained on the fishbone she spit out is still fresh in Jack's memory, and every time he thinks about it, he feels uneasy, always worried about what strange disease she has.That was definitely not his illusion.He recalled the medical books and even ancient books he had read many times, but there was no clue.The first thing that can be ruled out is tuberculosis. Angela is not Lin Daiyu, and he has never heard her cough; other diseases that may cause vomiting blood are also not consistent with Angela's symptoms, and they can basically be ignored.In fact, Angela didn't show any symptoms at all, except that her temper became a little irritable recently, and her body looked no different from before.

But that didn't seem to be the case. When he was shaking the fan and staring at the feebly burning fire, something suddenly popped into his mind.He didn't know why he remembered such an insignificant thing, maybe it was the dark red flame that looked like the strong skin of an Indian touched his memory.Red, this color seemed to appear on Angela's originally fair skin, he could see it from the arm exposed from the sleeve that slipped off when she took the medicine.The arrangement of those red marks is completely irregular, occupying a very small area, not much, no bumps or depressions, and the color is so light that you can't see it unless you look carefully. Angela didn't even complain about itching or pain, look It looks like a few drops of red wine accidentally spilled on the snow-white tablecloth after it dries up. There is nothing to worry about, but Jack is not so optimistic.Although the trace of black blood had already disappeared before his eyes along with the poured fish bones, its appearance remained in his heart all the time, like a drop of ink accidentally dripping into clear water. Spread until the entire glass of water is blackened.In this process, his imagination is undoubtedly the most powerful accomplice in increasing the temperature until the water boils.

An unpleasant smell penetrated his nostrils, accompanied by a "hissing" sound, like the letter spit out by a poisonous snake.He sniffled instinctively, sneezed so hard that he even took off his fan.After he found a paper towel to wipe his hands and face, he realized that because of his long-term distraction, the medicine had been boiled dry, and the stove that had finally risen was also drowned by the boiling medicine liquid that opened the lid and flowed around the furnace wall. The lost fan was still lying alone on the floor not far from him.

The whole pot of medicine is useless.He carefully took down the medicine pot with a blank face, and poured all the remaining medicine residue into the sewer, and cleaned the medicine pot carefully, preparing for the next use—of course, he knew very well that the medicine pot would be used again. There is no "anymore".

He moved the stove back to the kitchen with great effort. He didn't care about the humidity inside. According to the intensity of the sun in the past two days, if the stove was placed outside in the sun, it would be completely burnt within an hour. It's dry; even if the sun is not so strong today, even if he puts it indoors, it only takes half a day at most to start a fire and cook without any effort.If people can be like it, whether it is a disease of the body or a disease of the heart, it will disappear after being exposed to the sun, that would be great.God, what am I thinking about.As usual, he conceived a delusion in his mind that couldn't possibly exist, and then laughed at his delusion as a delusion.Most people would never think of such a boring game for self-entertainment, but he never tires of it.He often secretly rejoices that he can think this way, because it proves that he is still a child at heart, and he doesn't want to become an adult, at least not now.The grown-ups hand over the right of fantasy to the children, becoming slaves to reality, and after a few years the children hand it over to younger children, ready to become adults.I don’t know how to cherish when I have it, and I don’t regret it when I lose it. I even feel lucky for it, glad that I can finally blatantly laugh at people who are as stupid as me, but forget that it was also me back then.Laugh at yourself because you forget yourself.Forgetting is a sin, but only through sin can people become what they want to be.You have to kill your old self to get a new one.

On the way to Mrs. Langley's house, Jack went back to his normal work—thinking wildly under a prudish veil.On this point, he both admires himself and despises himself.He can greet others familiarly on the surface and inquire about the situation in other people's homes, while letting his mind wander around the five continents and four oceans, and he will never be known to others.This shouldn't be called a hypocrite, he just doesn't want to let others into his heart casually.

Although the medicine was destroyed, I still had to go to Mrs. Lanli's house.Angela should be very happy that she finally doesn't have to drink such bitter medicine like being tortured, but what about her strange disease?He immediately laughed at himself again, he couldn't cure someone's illness, so why worry about him?Besides, maybe I read it wrong and thought too much.Angela has nothing to do at all, she just wants to see her father, and she is overwhelmed with thoughts, it's as simple as that.He deluded himself to the conclusion, deliberately blurring the terrifying impression left in his mind by the blood spots.He would rather make a mistake in his own judgment than think that Angela is really sick. And it doesn't matter if you get angry and ignore yourself, as long as she is fine, he doesn't care about anything else.

Seeing that the beautiful little house of Mrs. Lanli's house was getting closer, he suddenly stopped.That's strange, who are those two people, come to steal things?Well, what are you thinking about, looking at the well-crafted military uniform, which thief would wear it so grandly as if attending a banquet to steal things?Comparing with others, this set of oneself really looks like someone who came to steal something.In fact, the clothes he was wearing were not bad, and the old lady Eleanor personally chose them for him. The colors were bright but not too ostentatious, and they were just right for gentle and elegant children.It's just that comparing the two now, it pales in comparison like a bowerbird meeting a peacock.He was a little confused. After staying among the southerners for so long, their clothes are always gray and black. Even when the ladies go out to the ball, they usually choose evening dresses of plain colors—frankly speaking, some plain ones can be straight To preside, if the Catholic Church allowed a woman to be a bishop—real bright colors he'd seen only a few times in Miss Scarlett.She is an extraordinary person, and she is doing extraordinary things, so naturally she cannot be deduced by common sense.But in the scene before her, it was obvious that she was not the only one of the extraordinary—of course Mr. Rhett was also one, but it was not just the two of them—there were two more, two big men in bright blue uniforms.He had an idea, and at the same time was taken aback by what he found.Blue uniform, isn't that the Yankees, oh no, the color of the Northerners' uniform?Influenced by Scarlett, he now sometimes called northerners Yankees, and then changed it with guilt in his heart.He didn't know why time hadn't erased the estrangement that southerners had towards the north, and the northerners were much more generous. At least when he was studying in the north, he heard a lot about the south, but he had never heard of anyone calling the south. People are "Southern barbarians".From this point of view, the southerners are a little too stingy.He likes these optimistic southerners, but he thinks their brains are a bit dull.If things go on like this, I'm afraid he won't be able to see the reconciliation between the North and the South even if he lives.