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

In the evening, Alec's carriage finally arrived at the intersection of a private villa area in London.

In the gloomy woods, the fence of the villa is hidden among them, and the two ends of the long fence are decorated with sika deer with horns.There is a small villa built at the intersection, where the gatekeeper lives.

At this time, the doorkeeper came out, and the two stood in front of the large carved iron door that was pushed open, and respectfully welcomed the guests who showed the invitation letter.

Alec's carriage drove in immediately.

There is still a long road from the intersection to the real owner's manor, surrounded by lush and tall bushes, driving along the wide road, Alec saw other carriages driving in front of him, occasionally the carriage behind caught up, Passed by his own.

Sure enough, he is worthy of being the IX Duke of Norfolk, with great style.Alec thought to himself, this is a real aristocrat with both status and money, and he is not comparable to the Duke Maurice from his mother's family who is so poor that he can only rely on marriage with a wealthy businessman.

After driving for about 10 minutes, Alec finally got a complete view of the Duke of Norfolk's private villa.

The villa only has three floors, but it is surrounded by a barrel, with countless rooms, inlaid with elegant "George windows". The center of the villa is surrounded by a large green lawn. A huge and simple circular fountain, the water sprayed from the center of the pool shoots up high, and then falls on the water lily leaves specially transplanted from the east around the pool, the crystal water drops roll up and down, reflecting the orange twilight, more and more bright.

Alec got out of the carriage and entered the hall of the villa following the directions of the servants.

At this moment, bright candle ceilings are hung on the high ceiling of the hall, and the candles inlaid on the walls are also lit one after another. In the bright hall, there are capitalists and entrepreneurs who are familiar or unknown, and they gather together to chat and laugh.

Although the Norfolk family often holds literary and art salons and other gatherings here, Alec still doesn't understand why he can receive invitations to gatherings of entrepreneurs and celebrities like this today, but his family's business is not Little, maybe Norfolk invited guests for the amount of capital?

He randomly took a glass of wine from a passing servant with a wine tray, took a sip and found out that it was sherry wine, and even the glass was an exquisite sherry glass that matched the wine.He smiled, raised his head and gulped it down.

It really is a good wine!

Soon, dinner will be ready.

Alec followed the flow to the long dining table and sat down. Just as he flicked the napkin and wanted to spread it on his lap, unexpectedly a gust of wind blew in from a row of cylindrical dome doors, blowing the fluffy napkin to the ground. He stopped at the feet of a gentleman beside him.Alec was about to bend down to pick it up, when he saw the gentleman bent down, reached out to pick up the napkin, and handed it to him silently.

"Oh, thank you so much." Alec raised his eyebrows in thanks, and took the napkin from the other party's hand.

The other party just nodded slightly, then turned his head and sat down without making a sound.

Seeing that he was not like the celebrities and capitalists around him whispering and communicating with each other in twos and threes, Alec became interested.He extended his right hand toward him. "Hi, I'm Alec d'Urberville."

The other party didn't seem to expect that Alec would stick to him spontaneously, but he still politely stretched out his right hand to shake hands with him, and then separated, "I'm Burton Knightley."

Alec unexpectedly struck up a conversation and brought a pleasant surprise, "Knightly? Knightley from the shipbuilding company?"

Burton obviously didn't understand why Alec's tone suddenly became so enthusiastic. It was obvious that he was not used to this familiar way of communication, so he frowned unconsciously, and answered the other party: "Yes."

Alec didn't seem to notice the other party's indifference, "Oh, Mr. Knightley, I know your brother, George Knightley."

Burton didn't react too much, "Oh, really."

At this time, the well-arranged servant brought up the covered cream soup with one hand, respectfully placed it in front of his corresponding guests, lifted the cover for them, and then respectfully retreated.

Knowing that the other party didn't want to continue talking with him, Alec shrugged his shoulders indifferently, arranged the napkin, picked up the spoon and started to eat, his movements were no different from other gentlemen.

At the end of the meal, a blond young man in a black tuxedo stood up, raised the wine glass in his hand, and made a quiet gesture. At this moment, all the dining guests put down their knives and forks, quietly Jing stared at the host of the dinner——Albert Richardmond Howard, the precious son that the Duke of Norfolk finally got in his later years.

Richmond raised the wine glass in his hand and said, "Cheers, for the reunion tonight."

The guests picked up their wine glasses and clinked glasses with him from afar.

Richardmond took a sip of his wine, continued to hold his glass, and said, "It's a great honor to invite so many outstanding entrepreneurs here tonight. My father has been admiring everyone here. It's you who respected us." The kingdom that Her Majesty the Queen rules has created great wealth, so cheers, this time to your lords."

The flattered guests are gracious.

Richmond took another sip of his wine, his originally relaxed face suddenly became serious, and his tone was also extremely heavy: "However, while we enjoy the rich material wealth, we should also be grateful for the wealth created for us at the bottom. Wealthy, our great workers," he glanced around where he began to whisper, "they dedicate three-quarters of their day to our machines, our factories, and yet their return is two or three Pennies, too poor to afford a whole loaf! . . . "

Hearing this, the guests below were in an uproar, and some even looked at Richmond with less respect and friendliness than before.

"Oh, I really can't believe it, how poor little Mr. Howard was blinded by the bloody greedy workers?" said a man of about fifty with gold-rimmed glasses sitting on the other side of Alec. The year-old gentleman said to him, "Two or three pennies?! God knows they eat so much and give me so little in return!"

Alec smiled, but remained silent.

Mr. Knightley, who sat on the other side of Alec, remained silent.

"...Therefore, we should increase the wages of the workers and arrange good accommodation for them. Only in this way, the workers will have the motivation to continue to serve us, and our wealth will continue to increase..."

Richmond's passionate speech was still going on, but the people underground had already started discussing it. The butler of the Norfolk family standing in the corner saw that the situation was not good, so he quietly walked out the door and summoned the servant to explain. Order, quickly disappeared in the lively hall, and hurried to the door.

Some distinguished guests no longer bother to stay here anymore. After listening to Mr. Howard Jr.’s inexplicable speech for so long, they thought they had given the Duke of Norfolk enough face, so they stood up and left one after another. Richardmond Seeing this situation, I was very anxious, so I increased my volume and said: "We all have the ability to live in the dream of wealth accumulation, how can we ignore the poverty, suffering and wishes of the majority of people?"

After saying this, the people who were still hesitating also started to leave.

Seeing the people around him leave one after another, Alec lowered his head and didn't know what he thought of. He slowly stepped forward, going in the opposite direction to the people around him, and approached Richmond, who was still advising the obstinate people around him.

Richmond suddenly saw someone approaching him, thinking that there was finally a like-minded ally who had awakened, and happily reached out to shake hands with Alec.

"Oh, my esteemed gentleman, for you to have such awareness, your heart must be nobler than your identity!"

Alec smiled, and let the other party hold his hand, with a slick mouth: "Mr. Howard, I agree with you very much, oh, although I am just an ordinary country gentleman relying on the shade of my ancestors to maintain a decent life, but I can imagine how hard it is for the workers who toil in my factory."

Richardmond's eyes lit up, and he was easily deceived into trust by the man in front of him who spoke pious words of confession but was unpredictable in his heart, "Sir, what should I call you?"

"Oh, I'm Alec d'Urberville, and I live in d'Urberville in Chateau Hunt." Alec said quickly, as if he was also eager to join them.

Richardmond thought for a while, and finally found such a long-standing surname in his mind, and said pleasantly: "You are from the d'Urbervilles of the Normandy knight family? My God, I thought your family had fallen! Oh, Please forgive my gaffe."

Alec waved his hands to show that he didn't mind, and misleadingly smiled, "So, my son's Christian name is Bruce." He said so.

Richardmond understood, "Yes, Bruce, from Normandy," he continued, looking into Alec's eyes with expectant light, "So, noble friends from Normandy, would you like to join our organization? For To help Her Majesty's tens of thousands of suffering subjects?"

"Of course I would," replied Alec without hesitation, "but our strength alone is still too small, you know, sir, there are too many poor friends who are waiting for our help. "

Of course Richmond knew this, so he invited wealthy gentlemen from the local area to discuss it today, but the result was so unsatisfactory, "Anyway, I am very happy to meet you today, Mr. d'Urberville. "

"You can call me Alec, sir." Alec said with a smile.

Richmond also laughed, "Oh, you can also call me Richmond."

After the two exchanged each other's names, they felt immediately closer to each other.

Alec invited Richmond to come to his house as a guest when he was free, and after getting a positive answer from the other party, Alec left the Norfolk villa by car.At this time, all the invited guests had already left. In order to show his importance to this new friend, Richmond personally sent Alec out of the door, and did not turn back until Alec got into the carriage.

In the carriage, Alec was in a very happy mood, and couldn't help humming a song in a low voice.Not long after, when there was still some distance from the intersection of the villa, a luxurious two-horse carriage approached at high speed and passed Alec. , the gleaming Norfolk coat of arms on the horse's body.

"Oh, God bless you, my new friend." Alec gloated a little, and then continued humming the tune just now.

The carriage drove out of the villa, and drove quickly towards the hunting garden castle in the countryside.

The author has something to say: Although I don't really want to write about commercial things, it is necessary, otherwise Alec will be just a second-generation ancestor who eats the shadow of his ancestors all his life. . .