gentleman's manor

I don't know exactly how he did it.

Edward returned to England as a gentleman and entered the House of Commons.

He only told me that he had bribed several cabinet ministers with £[-].But I know that bribery alone can't do it, because the homicide charge on him was actually dropped, under the name of a misunderstanding.

He bought a mansion near London, including a large piece of land and a small forest around it. There were no tenants on the land, and he didn't seem to want to run the estate.We rode horses around the land and then took a leisurely walk along a shallow stream.In the sultry and humid air in the evening, many mosquitoes circled around us, and the horse snorted impatiently.Edward led the horse and walked in front of me. He patted his mount gently, as if to calm its emotions.

Like all men from the aristocratic class, Edward has an extraordinary love and dedication to horses. He has loved riding horses since he was a teenager, and his riding skills are very good. He can easily jump over high stakes and fences.His favorite horse is Ella, a black mare with pure oriental blood, tall and handsome, with strong limbs, fur as bright as silk, and long mane like flowing smoke when galloping.It's a pity that she has a bad temper, and she doesn't give face to anyone except her master.

The arrival of evening did not dissipate the heat of the day. The sun was still hanging on the horizon, unwilling to set for a long time. The colorful clouds in the sky were as tight as the crow's feet at the corners of the old man's eyes.The ferns in the plain are very luxuriant. Looking from a distance, a large piece of thick green, under the sunlight, shows a blue-yellow color, like the weeds that are about to wither in autumn.

"What a beautiful place." I praised sincerely.

"It's not easy to get your praise. It's worth my effort to buy it. If you like it, how about moving here?" He looked at me and said.

"Your thoughts are really straightforward, so I will not comment."

"Tell me what you think, I don't mind your harsh evaluation."

"I never make any harsh comments, I always tell the truth and respect reality."

While arguing, we led the horse back to the gate of the house.The footman took the reins from the horses and took them to the stables, where we were greeted at the gate by a butler in his mid-40s.

"Sir, dinner is ready, please sit down with your guests."

We walked through the high-vaulted foyer, and the small living room on the first floor was at the end of the corridor, where several red velvet sofas were scattered, and a statue of a woman holding a pot was placed next to a huge palm bonsai.Opposite the living room is the dining room, where candles have been lit, and with an exquisite dinner table, the atmosphere is extraordinarily warm.

I thought it was a bit of a waste, because there were only two of us eating at the table, but the dishes were so exquisite that I rarely had an appetite.

"Before at sea, once a cargo ship encountered a storm, we almost lost our way. The food and water were about to run out, and each crew member only ate a piece of bread the size of a fist a day. I was dizzy from hunger and terrified. I swore secretly that I would never go out to sea again after I landed safely. But after everything has passed, I still yearn for the ocean, because life on flat land is too ordinary." He shook a glass of red wine gently, his tone very nostalgic.

"You've only just come back to England and you miss the time at sea?" I asked him.

"Yes, I miss it very much." He looked up at me: "However, I probably won't go to sea again."

Under the dining table, one foot was lightly leaning against my leg. Edward's expression was very serious, and his eyes were also very bright: "Because I feel fear in my heart when I face the sea now, and I am worried that I will never go back to the shore. I I want to spend my whole life in our home with the people I love."

I was taken aback by his sudden confession. Although I was moved, I was also a little helpless.There were four servants standing in the dining room, and we were almost watched as we ate. He acted too boldly, and the way he stared at me was too explicit.

I coughed hastily and said, "Then I wish you the best of luck in finding a beautiful wife to fulfill your dream."

He grunted and laughed, his eyes slightly teasing, but he didn't say much.After that, he kept teasing me with his feet under the table, which made me nervous. When cutting the food on the plate, I made a harsh creaking sound several times because of excessive force. I felt that my expression must be very embarrassing.

So, I decided to punish him for this childish behavior.

"I want to rest earlier, can someone guide me to the guest room?" I wiped the corners of my mouth with a napkin and looked at Edward.

Edward immediately stood up and bowed slightly to me: "Please let me lead the way for you personally."

He didn't need a servant, he carried a candlestick and led me up the dark corridor.Perhaps because he entered a dark and narrow place, he became more and more daring, and actually started to move.I endured his harassing behavior until I came to the door of a room on the second floor.

Edward pushed open the door of the room, bowed and made a gesture of invitation.

I walked in generously, but blocked his way when he wanted to follow in.

"Just send it here, thank you Mr. Edward for your hospitality tonight." I snatched the candlestick from his hand and closed the door directly.

"Hey!" I heard his depressed voice coming from outside the door.

"Good night, and I hope that the pleasure you got by teasing me at dinner lasts forever."

"No..." His voice was full of helplessness: "I made a mistake Adam, let me go in."

"Really? But in my consciousness, Mr. Edward seems to have never taken the word prudence to heart. I think you should reflect on it."

"Don't be so cruel. I've been looking forward to this night for a long time. Do you have the heart to shut me out? Don't you miss me?" He bewitched in a hoarse voice, "Please open the door, please."

I leaned against the door, a little soft-hearted to his pleading tone.But thinking about the obscene things he did in front of many people in the restaurant just now, I was so embarrassed that I wanted to find a crack in the ground, so I can't condone this kind of behavior no matter what.

"It's a punishment, remember that," I said.

After that, the sound of footsteps fading away came from outside the door.I looked at the door suspiciously, and he left obediently. I thought he would be soft and stubborn for a while.

Shaking my head, I lit a few candlesticks, and the whole picture of the room appeared in front of me.

It was a very spacious bedroom with a high dome covered with frescoes.There is no wallpaper on the walls, they are all made of white plaster, and the lower part of the wall is covered with a layer of wooden carved panels.The four-poster bed with tea-colored curtains was covered with a scarlet velvet blanket that fell to the floor.The carpet with intricate patterns covers the entire room, and every step feels extra soft.

I suddenly realized that this is not a guest room, this should be Edward's own bedroom.

The style of his bedroom has not changed much since he was a teenager. There is an easel in a fixed position in front of the window, a saber decoration on the wall and several colorful landscape paintings.The most eye-catching thing is those big bookshelves. Few people put bookshelves in the bedroom, and they are still such big bookshelves.

I found a thick picture folder on the bedside table. The picture folder was wrapped in brown parchment paper, which looked very delicate and detailed.Edward always has some strange insistence. He strives for perfection in everything he does, and every small item on his body has a bit of gorgeous and charming taste. Even though he has lived a hard life at sea all these years, this habit has not been eradicated.

I opened the picture folder at will, but I was stunned all of a sudden.

The person in the painting is me, to be precise, me in India.

In the black-and-white painting of an Indian market, I am standing on the street in a priest's robe, surrounded by vendors with stalls, and there are camels, cows and horses in the background.The unique style of India brought me back to those unforgettable years.

He painted a lot, almost every one is me, the scene is realistic and delicate, I almost doubt that he has been following me all the time in India.Because I also saw a painting of me riding an elephant. I hadn’t been in India for a long time. I rode an elephant out of curiosity. The result was that the bumps were too severe, and I vomited pale when I came down. .

I flipped through the lead paintings, and suddenly felt sour in my heart. I never questioned him why he refused to come to see me even though he knew I was looking for him.Everyone has their own helplessness, and Edward is the same, but looking at these paintings, I suddenly became annoyed, he was clearly following me, why didn't I find him?What was he thinking when he followed me?A picture suddenly appeared in my mind, Edward looked at my back from a distance, followed silently all the way, wherever I go, he will go wherever I go...

The paintings have been turned over one by one, and my days in India have also been passed day by day.His paintings are so good and so realistic, as if all his thoughts have been integrated into these paintings, and he can see the effort he expended in every stroke.And the edges of the paper are a bit frayed, it looks like he flipped through them a lot.

Turning to the end of the album, I saw a portrait of a teenager, the paper was very small, and the painter's technique was relatively jerky.I suddenly discovered that I have seen these slightly old paintings before. Once I overturned a book in Edward's room, and these paintings were mixed in that book, and Edward even sent me a message for it. temper.

Are these pictures me?Was it drawn by him when he was young?I stroked his slightly childish strokes and thought.

"Huh...huh..." A panting sound came from the window sill, and with the cool night wind, Edward appeared in front of me.

"Oh! God! Did you climb in through the window?" I looked at the smiling man in surprise.

He bowed slightly to me and said, "As you can see, I sneaked out with the servant on my back, and then climbed onto the window sill. I must not be careless now, I didn't even enter the door."

I hurried to the window sill and looked down. Below was a tall banyan tree. He seemed to have climbed up from this tree, but it was too dangerous. Once he fell, he would not be joking.

"Are you crazy? This is the second floor!" I said, taking a deep breath.

"But besides that, I don't know how else I can get into the room, because my cruel lover has shut me out," he said, putting his arms around me.

I braced my forehead with a headache and didn't know what to say.

Without saying a word, he pushed me onto the bed, pressed me on top of me, and started to untie my tie.

"Wait, wait." I hurriedly grabbed my collar to stop him.

"What are you waiting for?" He chuckled in my ear, his voice was hoarse and low, and there was already something about to move.

I pointed to the paintings on the bed and asked, "Is this boy me?"

After he glanced at me, he stared at me with a strange expression, as if he wanted to say something and then swallowed it, so he let me go and picked up the painting and said: "So these are old things, didn't you ask me before? I said this It's a character in my fantasy.

"It turned out that I was being self-indulgent." I looked at him with a smile, is this guy embarrassed?He didn't admit it.Normally he was so thick-skinned that he would casually say some incomparably obscene things, but now he started to put on a show.

He rubbed the cover of the portfolio and asked me, "Have you read it all?"

I slowly approached him. Under the dim candlelight in the room, Edward looked at these paintings with a deep nostalgia.

"Yes, you draw really well, much better than when you were young." I said.

He raised his chin in dissatisfaction: "Is someone who doesn't even know basic portraits qualified to judge other people's works?" Forget, some of them are not me, but characters in your fantasy."

Angrily, he threw the picture album away, pressed me on the bed and kissed me vigorously, as if taking revenge, until he kissed me until I was out of breath.Then he propped himself up, leaned over me, and looked at me deeply.

I looked up at him, there was a dark shadow in his eyes, and then the shadow was getting closer, he pecked my lips a few times like a dragonfly on water, and then said in a hoarse voice: "You are like a Bastard, I must teach you a lesson."

My heart was soft, and I couldn't help but say, "I'm sorry, Edward, it's my fault that I didn't find you sooner."

He opened his eyes slightly, and then leaned gently against my neck, I could hear his slow and steady breathing, he didn't say anything, just hugged me tightly, as if he didn't want to do anything else.That night, we just fell asleep hugging each other like this. My heart has never been so at ease, and I think he is the same.