[Phantom of the Opera] In Praise of Iris

If I had known earlier that I would meet a lunatic woman who insisted on fighting me to the death, I would... definitely be fully prepared before I come out!Li Ailin sighed in frustration when she thought of the grain that had finally bottomed out in the secret path.God knows what kind of headache it would be when she was walking in the deserted countryside and found someone jumping at her from behind like a hyena smelling of carrion!In fact, Li Ailin had a strong sense of foreboding when she heard that man, well, that woman's roar.However, until the instinct of her body knocked people out faster than her thoughts, and pushed back the disheveled blond hair covering her face, she was reluctant to compare this woman in rags who was worse than the tramps you can see everywhere on the streets of Paris. Lin's impression of the somewhat haggard but exceptionally stubborn Miss Meg together.That dry and thin appearance could not find a trace of the brilliance of the blonde beauty in the past.

Li Ailin didn't know how Meg, who was still lingering on the sick bed when she left, found this place, and she didn't want to know how persistent love could support a delicate—compared to herself—a ballerina who left her mother's warm embrace. Traveling thousands of miles from Paris to the Loire Valley, what an unforgettable resentment made a clean girl willing to stay in the outskirts of Chaney's territory all day and all night, just to get revenge on a ""who may never appear"" murderer".

In Meg's opinion, I must have been a "dirty phantom accomplice," a "ruthless murderer"?Although it seems to most people that it is just an overly extreme statement, it has to be said that it is actually unexpectedly correct.Although, after she left the man in the snow in a fit of rage that day and left alone, she didn't expect to learn the news of his death—from Meg's hoarse and incoherent roar.

Oh no, Rand didn't die in that sudden snowstorm, after all the snow had stopped by the time she left.However, his life after the sacrifice did not last too long—it was just long enough for him to pass on the letter to Meg Hongyan, and use the noose of emotion to turn the girl into a sharp blade to inherit his legacy.

No wonder, you didn't come to interrupt my long alone time with Eric.The girl's eyes darkened slightly.

Even, you probably guessed that after I lost part of my memory, I wouldn't kill her as quickly as before?Li Ailin sighed in her heart to the old friend who had passed away only ten days ago, but she still took care of Meg—at least she had to show a clean face that could be recognized by others immediately.And then she dropped her on the old Shani's gardener's path every evening—that shrewd old man would provide her with a simple but comfortable bed, and maybe a cup of hot water?If only he had seen Miss Geary's face that Mr. Rand had remembered in his dying days.

Ah, you asked why Li Ailin didn't take advantage of the trend and return to Shani's house?Because judging from Meg's state of mind towards her, it was hard to believe that the Shani family would have any positive speculations about her, who had been missing for more than half a month.Besides, I still have Eric.Lovely and charming Eric!Li Ailin thought of their customary good morning kiss that she started this morning-more lingering than usual, her cheeks couldn't help but flush a little.At this time, she would not have thought that in a long time, that would be the last kiss between them.

God knows I might meet my old nemesis in Paris here too!The girl with exquisite eyebrows and eyes fled in embarrassment along the streets of the town, cursing at the same time, with two heavy flour sacks behind her back.The gun hit the bag with a muffled "chi chi" sound, and fine white flour sprayed out from the hole in the bag, streaking across the white lines, obscuring a small piece of clear sky in the town.Finally, this unexpected chase ended with a violent shock on the ground—all the chasers, including their leader with a sinister smile, were either swallowed by the scars of the ground, or buried by the collapsed brick wall of the alleyway, only the girl ran alone To the middle of the main road, all the way is still safe and sound.

Oh, it turns out that Eric's mood can not only affect the sky, but also the geography?No wonder Rand clearly had the upper hand at that time, but he didn't do anything to them except to forget everything. Was it because he was afraid that Eric would be in a hurry to end the world?Li Ailin thought calmly: Mr. Phantom, you woke up in time, you saved me once.Or, before I don't even know you, you have saved me countless times?

Let's go home first.The girl weighed a small part of the flour sack, and a small smile appeared on the corner of her lips.

It only took her less than a quarter of an hour to turn back to the secret passage from another entrance, but she tossed and turned in the ruins where the man went to the building for nearly half an hour.Of course, the white mask did not appear beside the pillow; there was not a single piece of the black dress left, even if the one worn by the phantom today, the rest probably belonged to Rand; A small amount of ink and wax, the paper includes the used and unused ones she has been recording these days, and the used ones also include the later and gradually high-level event records written for Phantom, which are from Eric and he is also rare. Wen Shi's fragmented musical score without any sense of strangeness, and... the lingering love words with ghosts and the increasingly unbridled interrogation she recorded out of some indescribable little daughter's mind.Of course, she was still a little cautious after all, and used Chinese, the mother tongue of her previous life, for the last item.

The girl waited there for several days, still drinking the water drawn from the underground river, and saving the bread made of white flour left over after she had sprinkled all the way back that day——Meg only knew about it from Rand. The location, the specific path and the ingenuity between them are still too late to figure out.Otherwise, seeing Meg's attitude towards her as a demon, it should have rushed in to find her a showdown, instead of lingering around Shani's house in vain.It's just that without that emaciated embrace, the previous Taoyuan finally showed the true face of the prison's desolation.

Li Ailin admitted that since she came to France at the end of the nineteenth century, her only worry was that the Chaney family paid too much attention to aristocratic rules, but she inherited—let's just treat it as an inheritance.But the body she inherited belonged to a noble lady with a very powerful instinct, as long as she pays a little attention, she will never worry about showing her feet.What's more, there is also the kind guidance of the "citizen" Rand?At that time, she didn't know what strange thoughts this kid had.

After that, it was more than 20 days alone with Phantom.Although Eric's inexplicable anxiety sometimes caused her a little trouble, it is undeniable that they are familiar with each other physically, and they are not exclusive; and spiritually...Thanks to myself who carefully read the musicals several times, She is not a stranger to him either—at least, when she thinks she is new to your land, he can give her the sense of security she desperately needs more than anything outside.

But the dramatic thing is that when she finally survived the anxiety of world transformation and sank into the ghost's affection with confidence, they had to endure separation again.

Or have you finally grown impatient to cater to my barren, frivolous soul, and this is your implicit farewell?Li Ailin was flustered for a moment, but she immediately comforted herself: Who said, doesn't he still have some affection for you?The earthquake that was as sudden as the blizzard just now is proof.

Remnants... Li Ailin's heart that had just warmed up throbbed again, and this time she was completely awake.

Yes, even if you are not blinded by his weird appearance, what can you match with his magnificent soul?Take your beauty that will be easily ruined by the years in a short time?Take your half-knowledgeable level of music appreciation?Or take those absurd dreams you once had?

However, isn't youth just my capital?Before her heart died, she heard a small voice deep in her soul.

Don't you think that the former Irene was also the former you?The little voice said to her: If the soul is poor, go to the mountains of books and learn from the sea to enrich it and make it deep; if the heart is weak, go to the wind and rain to polish it and make it tough; Or step into the valley, it will eventually be settled.It's just a memory lost, is it also lost the spirit of being a human being?

Yes, I am still young!A girl who is only 15 years old, what can she want to be like in the future?she said to herself.The emerald-colored pupils were lit up again with high fighting spirit, but after all, the brilliance of the smile that was always there before faded away.

As for Eric?He also took away the papers that recorded the cause and effect, didn't he?At this time, there is really no need to delude yourself into thinking that he needs your care.In fact, there are those records that remind you that as the man who used to control the entire Paris Opera House in the name of a ghost, after parting, he will only be better off without your selfish concealment.

Li Ailin wrapped the last two breads baked in the small half bag of flour with the leftover canvas and put them in her bosom. Her smooth and lustrous platinum hair was dyed bright and mottled by the juices of various flowers and plants that she could find at this time. The color, the oil paints left behind along with the canvas also blended exaggerated and funny makeup on her white and small face, and matched it with a fancy dress made of random tablecloths... The girl once again walked in the name of Shani's house. In the crowd of the small town below, no one could recognize that this was the jewel of the Chaney family who had amazed the entire Loire Valley.

In the small town on the banks of the Loire River, a highly skilled juggler recently came. She can stand on a wooden board with steel rings and throw thirteen solid balls back and forth non-stop, and she can also ride a bicycle in the air. She can drive freely on the thin steel wire, but what she likes most is to tell you jokes with fire in her mouth!

The artist's voice is really nice, as soft as the clouds on the top of the Alps, as sweet as the wine from the Larou Mountains.Not long after, there was an open canvas in front of her, on which were piled up various interesting gadgets.At the beginning, it was just a few pebbles with childlike patterns painted on them, and gradually there were dolls with flexible limbs and voices. Finally, when she set off to go elsewhere, the canvas in front of her was replaced by a more durable one. The light blue canvas of the town—with the kind patronage of the only innkeeper's wife in the town, but among the trinkets she puts out, you'll find a few neatly jointed little boxes with more than thirty mechanisms hidden in them. It is no longer surprising.

Of course, the life of a vagabond entertainer is far less leisurely and beautiful than that of Miss Shani, and it is not even as easy as Li Ailin's life as a college student.But she felt that the heart that had been relying on nothing but the phantom since time travel had finally come to fruition little by little in the trajectories of these flames and small balls flying.

I am... literally alive in this world, as Irene Lee, in nineteenth-century France.

I can sing beautiful songs, but I prefer to play with delicate machinery.I don't know enough about Eric, but I miss that man's loving gaze, and I want to cuddle up in that emaciated arms as he rubs his swollen lips and sunken nose against my cheeks, Until I return even more lingering kisses.

I want... I want to have the Paris Opera House and watch that man show off his talent in the sun!A certain delusional thought that had been dusty for a long time suddenly became bright again, and it stubbornly lingered in my mind.

So, give it a try?The travel-worn girl looked at the posters of some familiar actresses outside the Paris Opera House and smiled, before casually making a decision.

The author has something to say: I feel that the insertion of extras in the middle of the text is almost killing obsessive-compulsive disorder, so I decided to adjust the order