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

In the autumn morning, on the tablecloth with lilac lavender style, there is a beautiful long-necked glass bottle with pink and white flower clusters inserted in it, and the cool morning breeze blows in from the open window sill , turned a few times in the room, and for a while, the flowers were blown lightly, exuding a refreshing fragrance from time to time, and the housemaid even sprinkled some beautiful clear water droplets on the petals, so that the whole flower group could see It looks more delicate.

Sitting at a small square dining table, the empress gently cut across the bacon and fruit stewed sandwich with a sharp knife, cut into a small piece and put it into her mouth with a knife and fork.Alec was already full, turning back and forth with the silver lighter in his hand, the empress glanced at him, and continued to eat without making a sound.

Alec deliberately turned the lighter around several times, but he still didn't hear his wife's amnesty, so he couldn't help but feel discouraged. He sighed, put the lighter away, and watched his wife eat with his chin motionless.

Not afraid of his watching, the empress drank a sip of milk and continued to cut sandwiches slowly.

Alec saw that he couldn't get his wife to give in, so he couldn't take it anymore, and said coquettishly, "Honey, I'll just smoke a half of a cigarette, okay?"

The empress gave him a sideways look and said nothing.

"Well, if you don't speak, it means acquiescing, am I right, dear?" Alec cheated.

The empress remained silent.

Alec put his hand out of his pocket and then lowered it. Seeing his wife's expression was unclear, he could only give up in the end.

"Only a small half."

Alec's eyes lit up instantly, "Of course," he replied quickly, "just a small half."

Seeing that Alec got up happily and stood in front of the window, he took out his cigar and lit it, took a long puff comfortably, and slowly exhaled the smoke. At this moment, his mood was indescribably complicated.

In fact, he doesn't need to ask for her opinion at all, anyway, they just get what they need, don't they?Even though she thought so, she had to say that she was very grateful for being flattered and respected by Alec.

"Bah bah——"

Suddenly there was a burst of horse braying outside, and Alec saw the grooms leading the six horses in the stables for running training through the golden sunlight that had not yet warmed up.

"Oh, it's the hunting season again this year," Alec said.

The empress had already eaten, she put down the tableware, and gently wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"Honey, what do you want, fox or sika deer, oh, maybe thunderbird meat is also a good choice." Alec turned around and asked excitedly.

The empress squinted, "Are you allowed to hunt, dear?" She remembered that the code stipulated that only noble men who owned land had the right to hunt, didn't they?

Alec sneered and exhaled the smoke, "In this day and age, as long as you don't commit crimes, you can do whatever you want, oh, of course, as long as you have enough money."

The empress is silent.

She stood up slowly, came to the window, and stood with Alec, watching the groom directing the horses to run and jump in the germination forest.

"I don't need your prey," the empress opened her lips, "I will hunt by myself."

Alec's heart skipped a beat, and without much concealment, he looked at his little wife beside him who couldn't reach his shoulder in surprise.She also looked up at him, allowing him to see a faintly dancing colorful light deep in her pupils.

The woman in front of her seemed to have never concealed her difference from the original Tess from the beginning.Alec suddenly felt scared. He never dared to ask her where she came from, because he was afraid...she would disappear after hearing this.

He poked the cigar on the window sill, turned around and took her into his arms.

"Okay, as long as you like." Alec gently sniffed the scent of flowers in her hair, his eyelids drooping to cover his restless gaze.

The empress also stretched out her arms to hug him, at this moment, Alec felt at ease.

At some point, the mild autumn morning light had spread from the window sill into the house, and sprinkled on the hugging couple. The glowing dust in the sunlight was floating slowly, and danced happily when a gust of autumn wind blew past.

At this moment, under another window, Claire had already calculated the salary of the servants for this month, closed the hard pages of the blue notebook, stood up, walked out of the butler's room, walked into the next room, and slowly descended the stairs , came to the underground wine cellar.

In the dim candlelight, an assortment of fine wines were neatly placed on rows of shelves covered with hay, as if waiting for his inspection.

As a housekeeper, in fact, the main responsibility is to manage the owner's wine cellar well, sort out the places for various wines, and then serve different drinks according to the occasion. At the dinner party held by the owner, he has to be responsible for pouring wine for the VIPs among them. Wine, to show respect and importance to him.

Claire has been the housekeeper for nearly two months, and she is already familiar with the wines in the d'Urberville estate.

The wine boxes just delivered were neatly stacked in the corner of the wine cellar. Claire bent down and took out all kinds of wine from the wooden boxes one by one, sorting them according to their functions and occasions.

Port wine from the upper Douro River in Portugal should be placed on the same shelf as white wine from Wagheim, Germany, both are suitable for meat dishes; Liquor should be paired with French Bordeaux red wine...only for dinner parties...

It has to be mentioned that although Alec is not doing business, he has inherited all the wine estates and processing plants in Old d'Urberville. Therefore, the wine types in his wine cellar are not inferior to those of the aristocrats. When Claire walks out of the wine cellar , It's almost time for lunch.

He returned to the butler's room and saw a stack of today's letters brought by the servant neatly placed on the table.

He began sorting the letters by the contents of the envelopes.

The book list sent by the publishing house...the advertisement of the clothing store...the promotion of the latest activities of the equestrian club...and a visiting letter?

Claire picked up the letter and saw the sender's name clearly. It read: Albert Richardmond Howard, and the Norfolk family crest was stamped on the back.

He held the letter in thought for a moment, then slowly stood up, picked up the letter and walked towards the main building.

Before reaching the entrance of the main building, Claire heard voices coming from inside.

"Abby, the pronunciation is [tse], not [se]. I'm right, Mr. Weston?" It was Lisa's clear voice.

"You're very clever, Miss Lisa."

"..."

Claire walked into the hall silently, came to Alec who was holding his wife and teasing the young son in her arms, bent slightly and presented the letter with both hands.

"Sir, your letter." He said in a deep voice without looking sideways.Alec took the letter with one hand.

"Good afternoon, Housekeeper Creek." Lisa greeted him happily.

Claire stood up straight and nodded, her voice was cold and distant, "Good afternoon, Miss Lisa."

Alec opened the letter, glanced at ten lines, and suddenly happily pecked and kissed his wife's cheek, "My dear, we will soon have a distinguished friend as our guest."

"Oh, that's really great." The empress replied casually, and skillfully pulled out the little guy's fingers that had been inserted into his mouth. The little guy looked at his mother, and then buried his whole face in his mother's arms.

Alec turned to Claire who was standing aside, "Mr. Crick will prepare a welcome dinner next Monday. Oh, this distinguished guest may stay here for two more days. I believe this will not be a problem for our Claire. Mister Rick?"

"I will follow your instructions, sir." Claire replied blankly, "I will take my leave first, sir."

Alec turned around and teased his wife, "Honey, does the butler have to put on a straight face to show his nobility? Oh, I'd rather he be as amiable as our Mr. Groby."

The empress ignored Alec, and looked at Mr. Weston, a parish clerk who was responsible for teaching Abraham's preschool primary education, "Mr. Weston, do you want to continue Mr. Durbeyfield's class tomorrow?"

The young Mr. Weston looked serious and said, "As far as Ma'am is concerned, tomorrow is Sunday." It means that we all have to go to mass.

The empress was relieved, and said to Abi: "In this case, Abi will help me take care of Auston tomorrow." As soon as the words came out, I felt that my tone was a little tough, and after thinking about it, I looked at Abi and added: "Okay ?"

"I am very happy." Abby replied seriously.

Lisa suddenly became interested, "Sister, are you going to play there?" She blinked her eyes, expressing that she also wanted to go together!

Alec smiled softly, spread his hands on the sofa behind the empress, and crossed his legs, "Your sister and I are going to the monastery tomorrow, and your sister wants to buy a boy servant for our little Mr. d'Urberville .”

Lisa understood that what the empress wanted was to buy a loyal servant for her son, just like the personal servant of every prince of aristocratic families in ancient times.

Thinking of this, she was very excited and asked expectantly: "Sister, can I go too?"

The empress glanced at Lisa strangely, not understanding why she was interested in this matter, but she didn't refute her intentions, and gave a light "um", which aroused Lisa's excitement.

"Thank you sister!"

The author has something to say: popularize the information I found:

British family butler: Supervise the orderly work of the servants at home, choose wine, serve wine for VIPs, sort letters, and confirm the list of visiting guests;

Coachman: the driver of the master, who often goes out with the master and becomes the "secretary" of the master;

Groom: Washing the horses, grooming the horses, trimming the mane, providing feed, training the horses;

Personal tutor: This is a male tutor who educates boys who are going to boarding schools in the host family. He is responsible for teaching elementary basic courses, that is, "male studies", such as Latin and Greek, which are different from female tutors;

Maids: Divided into housemaids, handy maids and kitchen helpers.

Boy servant: Generally speaking, it is a beautiful little man in uniform who sits on the carriage and the owner opens and closes the door. The boy servant mentioned by Alec here refers to the little boy who served the mistress before he became a knight in the Middle Ages. meaning.