[Tess of the D'Urbervilles] Concubine Wan Gui counterattacks the doormat

To please his mistress, Alec decides to take her to an opera he guesses she has never seen.

At nine o'clock in the evening, their carriage slowly drove into the streets of London.At this time, the street was brightly lit, and tall gas lamps were neatly arranged on the side of the road, illuminating the sidewalk as if it were daytime.From time to time on the street, a coachman wearing a tall hat is seen driving a horse-drawn carriage, and pedestrians traveling at night are bustling, and the road is very lively.

The empress has never seen such a novel and flowery exotic night scene. Although she has been leaning on the velvet leather cushion, her eyes are looking out from the curtains that have been fluttering with the movement of the carriage.

Alec was overjoyed and hugged his mother, but with the other hand he was taking advantage of his little wife without scruple.It's not that the empress didn't notice it. She thought that she hadn't given Alec any substantial sweetness. It's been almost a month now. In the past two days, the way he looked at her became more and more fiery and revealing, and he wished he could swallow her in one bite. Even she couldn't help but feel creepy sometimes, so she let him go.

As if he was satisfied with the magnetism in his lowered voice, Alec habitually put his mouth next to the empress's ear and said, "Honey, if you like London, we can come here often, maybe we can also live in London." Here... what do you think of this suggestion?"

The empress curled her mouth and smiled: "I am very willing, sir."

Alec's eyes lit up, he wrapped his hands around the waist of the empress, let her lean into his arms completely, and then he whispered in her ear ambiguously, "...we won't go back tonight... How are you, dear?"

The empress's heart was not as calm as it appeared on the surface. When she heard Alec's words, her heart skipped a beat and obviously accelerated.

She felt that she really answered him, so tonight...

Alec seemed to have guessed his wife's intention to refuse, smiled in a low voice, and added calmly: "Honey, you know it was already eleven o'clock when we finished the opera."

The empress couldn't help but glanced at Alec.

Recently, Alec has been so obedient, he created the illusion that he is stupid and easy to bully, but he never thought he would dare to play tricks on himself!But after thinking about it, although she was a little apprehensive about Alec's tall physique, which was different from Zhu Jianshen, this kind of matter would have to be resolved sooner or later.

Thinking of this, she smiled tactfully at him, "I see, dear."

With burning eyes, Alec took her lace-gloved hand and kissed it lightly.

The carriage stopped slowly, and the coachman's respectful voice came from outside:

"Sir, madam, the Mandel Theater has arrived."

The two people in the carriage were still staring at each other. Finally, Alec finally looked away, picked up the lady's cloak on the mat and put it on for the wife who never admits defeat, and got out of the car first. He opened the curtain and reached out to help her down.

The empress bent her mouth, lifted the hem of her skirt and put Alec's hand on her knees, and got off the carriage.

The Mander Theater is a frequent gathering place for the upper class in London.At first glance, the whole building looks a bit like the Greek temple that the lady saw in the book, with white-gray walls and huge colonnade.There is a row of gas lamps emitting dazzling light on the cornice of the theater, which makes the huge posters hanging on the second floor extraordinarily dazzling. When people look up, they can see the names and portraits of the main actors in black letters.

Ladies and gentlemen in costumes have already entered the arena in groups of three or four.

The empress took Alec's arm and followed him to the ticket office in the marble hall, then walked to the end of the hall and went up the stairs to the second floor. Immediately a female usher stepped forward and respectfully took Alec. Li Ke took a look at the green ticket stub in his hand, and then led them to the reserved box.

Pushing open the door, the box was very dark.The usher took a box of matches from the pocket of his overalls, went to the table in the center of the room, and lit the candles in the silver candlesticks.The yellow candlelight danced, and for a while, the empress could fully see the furnishings in the box.

The decoration of the box is very simple, only two high chairs covered with red upholstery and a coffee table, on the coffee table there are baskets of red wine and two tall glasses, a bright red rose inserted-in the basket A high-necked glass vase next to it.The empress walked to the viewing platform of the box, put her hands on the iron fence covered with velvet, and saw the whole interior of the theater.

A row of bright gas lamps were lit on the theater stage, illuminating the hanging red velvet curtain extremely brightly, and the long tasseled pendants on both sides even reflected light slightly.Although there is a huge crystal ceiling hanging on the high ceiling of the hall, and the dense candles fixed on it are all lit, the location on the first floor is still a bit dark, and only the dense heads of the audience below can be seen vaguely.

The empress was watching, when Alec suddenly hugged her from behind, crossed his hands and fixed her waist, leaned over and lowered his head, rubbed his high nose against her neck, and took a deep breath in fascination .

As soon as the empress covered Alec and held her hand, she suddenly felt a scorching gaze on them from the left. She turned her face slightly, and looked at the owner of that gaze.

Apparently Alec felt it too. He raised his head and looked to the left. On the viewing platform on the left, he saw a young and beautiful blond woman looking at her little wife in his arms. He felt Alec's Notice, she paused, then smiled at them.

"Hi, I'm Mrs. Knightley." She greeted proactively, her tone full of kindness.

A beautiful woman took the initiative to talk, and Alec habitually brought up a bad smile, "Hello, I am Alec d'Urberville, and this is my wife." He introduced enthusiastically.

The empress glanced at Mrs. Knightley lightly, then turned her head and continued to observe the environment of the theater, as if she was not interested in getting to know her.

Mrs. Knightley felt a little embarrassed, then raised her head and smiled at Alec and said, "Mr. d'Urberville and his wife came to see the opera together. It's such a good relationship." Generally, young men who come to the theater are almost always accompanied by lovers or It's purely for the sake of a beautiful actress, and it's rare for a young couple like them to be together.

While Mrs. Knightley was speaking, Alec's hand around his little wife's waist was slapped warningly by her, and he reluctantly let go.

Now when he heard Mrs. Knightley's words, he touched his nose a little guilty. Fortunately, he didn't go to the Deman Theater often. If he was in the Starlight Theater, who wouldn't know the romantic and passionate Mr. d'Urberville?But at this moment, he also responded cheekily: "Of course, I don't feel at ease to let my beautiful Mrs. d'Urberville come to watch the opera alone."

Mrs. Knightley seemed a little lost at this, and fell silent.After a while, there was movement in her box. A young woman about her age came in and kissed her happily. Mrs. Knightley's mood suddenly became better.

"Oh, Slit, here you are at last."

"Oh, I miss you so much, Emma."

"..."

The two young women held hands intimately and started chattering loudly.

The empress frowned slightly.

Alec had already returned to the box and poured two glasses of red wine, walked back to the viewing platform, and handed one of the glasses to the empress, "Would you like some red wine, dear?"

The empress glanced at him before slowly taking the red wine in his hand.

The music started at this moment, and the curtain rose, revealing a spacious stage.The voice of talking gradually died down, but occasionally some low voices could still be heard.

Alec handed the small binoculars to the empress understandingly.The empress paused for a moment, looked at it carefully, and then picked up the binoculars and put it in front of her eyes.Sure enough, the blurred landscape in the distance suddenly zoomed in, as if it was happening right in front of my eyes.

The stage was set up like a banquet, and the costumes of the music changed to a brisk waltz. The actors and actresses in evening gowns danced on the stage in pairs, hugging each other's waists. Soon, the dancing music gradually died down. Stopped, it turned into another kind of music, the empress was very familiar with it, because she heard it at her and Alec's wedding banquet not long ago.Sure enough, these prom men and women held hands and vacated the middle seats one after another, and a couple of newlyweds appeared arm in arm.

At this time, Alec put his mouth next to the mother's ear and whispered, "It's Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

The empress is feeling novelty about this kind of opera performance that she has never seen before, and she is concentrating on watching the opera. Alec's molesting is as annoying as a fly at the moment, so she stretches out her hand impatiently and pushes Alec's close Face.

Alec was left out in the cold, he felt a little unhappy, his eyes darkened involuntarily, but when he thought about what was going to happen in the evening, his mood immediately improved.

I'll let you go first, and I'll get it back with interest later.Alec thought darkly.

So, he forced himself to calm down, pretending to be a good husband who patiently accompanied his wife to watch the opera, guarding her side like a tall knight.

Neither of the newlyweds noticed that on their left, Mrs. Knightley, accompanied by her girlfriend of the same age, glanced at them with envy from time to time.