[Pride and Prejudice] Becoming Katherine Bennett

The housekeeper walked on Catherine's front right and respectfully led her to a beautifully decorated guest room.Catherine just looked at it, and the lemon in her heart was squeezed into juice.The guest room was larger than her junior suite.

The housekeeper poured tea for Catherine herself. Not long after, a maid opened the door and entered, holding four or five neatly folded skirts in both hands.

The housekeeper said: "These are Madam's newly bought clothes. They have only been washed and Madam has not worn them yet. She asked me to tell you that you can choose whatever you want."

Catherine looked at the brightly colored and high-grade fabric skirts, accepted the kindness with a smile, and chose a white cotton and linen dress to put on.

After Catherine changed her clothes, the housekeeper had asked the servant to take away the stained skirt for washing, saying that it would be sent to Mr. Gardner's house in a few days.Then, he asked her softly if she still wanted to go back to the salon.

Catherine couldn't help feeling Tina's carefulness.The dispute just now has developed to the point where even if she seems to be the winner, she is really not in the mood to participate in the salon, let alone Miss Kelan might go back. Thinking of the other party guessing herself so maliciously, Catherine I don't want to be on the same occasion as her.

Tina's instructions were very considerate, and if she hadn't offered it on her own initiative, Catherine would have worried that it would be impolite for the master.Now, she doesn't have to worry about it anymore: "Please say sorry to the countess for me, I'm not feeling well, and I want to be alone for a while."

The housekeeper nodded in response, and then took Catherine to another lounge, and told the maid to stand outside the door and obey Catherine's order before bowing and leaving.

Catherine sat on a soft and comfortable armchair, curiously admiring the mansion in front of her.

The main building of Earl Gordon's mansion is a three-storey baroque building with a large area and many rooms.

The lounge is spacious and stylishly decorated.The walls are made of light green wallpaper, and the edges where the walls meet the ceiling and the ground are covered with gilt.Catherine guessed that this should be a place where Tina really used to deal with affairs, rest and study, and would not entertain guests here.

There are not many furniture in the room and the area is large, so it looks very open. There are bookshelves, desks, seats, etc. on one side of the room, and purple armchairs and brown sofas on the other side. The floor is covered with intricate patterns. According to anyone, this is a room with style and luxury.

But speaking of it, the most striking thing about this room is its window sill.On the northeast side of the house, there is a window-sill about fifteen feet long and ten feet wide, projecting from the other walls, and raised about a foot from the ground, with panels of ebony wood covered with Several layers of thick blankets, large soft cushions and a small table frame.On the other side of the window sill is a bright floor-to-ceiling window. Outside the window is the most beautiful part of gardening. Not far away is a fountain and a lake.

Catherine was in a bad mood at first, but when she saw the well-arranged window sill and the beautiful scenery outside the window, she felt a little itchy in her heart, and she really wanted to sit on it and feel it.Catherine was a bit hesitant at first, fearing that this was Tina's exclusive seat, but she soon saw four or five cushions on the window sill, so she stopped ink stains and happily climbed onto the window seat.

After sitting down for real, Catherine once again shed tears of envy for the rich woman's life.

The thick blanket made the feeling under her body soft, and the scenery outside the window was wider than what she could see standing on the ground. The bright sunlight poured into the window, leaving golden radiance and warm heat all over the floor.

Catherine picked up a book casually, thinking that when Tina was sitting here, there must be servants who would bring elaborately cooked snacks and fragrant milk tea. In a lazy afternoon, reading a cherished book, what else would it be like? Can your life compare to such comfort?

She couldn't help thinking of a clear statement in her mind: Do you think rich people are as happy as you think?No, you can't imagine the happiness of rich people.

After lamenting the boring life of others, Catherine lowered her head to read the book, only then realized that the book she picked up was actually "Blood Debt".The book wasn't finished yet, and naturally it wasn't released yet, so what Tina took was a transcript of the manuscript.Catherine turned to the end and found that Tina had read all of her manuscripts for Willard.

The story is still unfolding slowly.Earl Ryan's revenge plan has just reached the fourth person-Blaze Doyle.This gentleman was the youngest son of the faithful old steward, and had grown up with Lord Ryan.He is naturally cowardly and introverted, and looks very honest. Earl Ryan has a lot of trust in him.

Gilbert takes advantage of this by paying a prostitute to seduce him by posing as a damsel in trouble, and when he falls for a love scam but still refuses to betray the earl, Gilbert lets the prostitute trick him into drug addiction and gambling , when Doyle could no longer buy drugs due to economic reasons and was about to collapse, he was persuaded by prostitutes to join Gilbert.

However, Doyle is different from other Earl Ryan's revenge targets in that he is the only one among the characters currently on the scene who feels remorse for his actions.In fact, he didn't do anything to directly hurt Earl Ryan, but he always deliberately sent wrong information at critical moments.If he had fully carried out Gilbert's order, Earl Ryan would have ended up miserable, but he didn't. Every time he would change part of the content, let Earl Ryan make a wrong decision, but he would not die.

Catherine set up such a character who is not a good person, but not a bad person, so she naturally learned from the masters.She always believes that a mature literary work is not a fairy tale book for children. The characters in it should not be black and white, and it is impossible to divide positions according to absolute right and wrong.

In the real world, there are very few extremely good or extremely bad people, and most human beings are gray figures intertwined with contradictions and struggles.

However, Catherine does not mean to preach. She wants to leave room for readers to think and argue, which does not mean that she wants to tell everyone the answer.Doyle's ending in the book is still miserable.

Under her arrangement, Earl Ryan's revenge pursues art, and he pays attention to repaying the other. There is no simple cliché like "I will kill you when I am strong", but how others betray Ryan. , He will use any method to retaliate against the enemy.This method not only makes revenge more beautiful, but also makes readers admire the hero's subtle strategies and agree with his noble sense of morality. At the same time, it also arouses bursts of pleasure. It was also the reason why the enemy provoked the hero first.

The most important thing about revenge-type cool articles is to repay the blood with blood.

No matter how Doyle passed false news to Ryan, Ryan would make arrangements to make him make a wrong judgment.Doyle's depravity is inseparable from the prostitute who made him fall in love. Unfortunately, he was sincere, but the prostitute only used him as a tool to make money. Doyle has discovered this later, but He still couldn't get rid of his love for her, but he hated her for ruining himself.

Their ending was that Blaise Doyle, under the misleading of Ryan, thought that the prostitute was going to kill him, and killed him first.After he killed her, the police came and Doyle confessed to the crime.

Ryan went to see him one last time in prison before being hanged.Blaise Doyle looked at the familiar and unfamiliar face of his childhood partner, and suddenly laughed lowly. Soon, the laughter gradually became louder and turned into a huge laughter.

The jailer was afraid that he would disturb the nobles, so he immediately punched Doyle in the face. Doyle, who had been taking drugs and imprisoned for many years, was extremely weak. This punch knocked out several of his teeth, and blood flowed from his mouth.

"You already knew, didn't you?" Blaise Doyle grinned when he spoke, his words were vague, but Ryan still understood.

Earl Ryan didn't answer, just looked at him quietly.

"I just find it strange," Blaise Doyle murmured in a low voice when he no longer needed an answer. "I'm in prison these days. I can't figure it out. Why would she want to kill me? She just doesn't love me." I, take my money and the money others gave her, just to raise another man, but she won't want to kill me."

Earl Ryan looked at his former partner's dirty and sickly appearance, and said coldly at this moment: "Just because of such a woman, you betrayed me."

Doyle stopped talking to himself and said nothing. After a long time, he laughed and said: "No, no, I am not for her, I am for myself, because I am a scum, Orlando, I am a scumbag who should have died a long time ago. There is something in my heart that I have always wanted to tell you, and it may not be interesting now, but I still owe you this sentence. "

"sorry."

The apology came slowly and heavily.Earl Ryan didn't answer, he turned around and walked out of the prison amidst the respectful voices of others.When the outdoor sunlight bathed his body again, Earl Lyle raised his head and looked at the blue sky, and two childish voices rang in his ears.

"I will not be your housekeeper when I grow up, let's go to war! I will be your soldier, or your best partner and friend!"

"It's a deal!" The young Orlando Ryan replied excitedly.

……

Although the book was written by herself, Catherine read it with relish now.This is due to her narcissism, but it is also inseparable from Tina's window sill.

The window sill is very ingeniously designed, and it really fits Catherine's mind. There are thick scarlet curtains on the outside of the window sill. She leans back on the cushion and tries to close the curtain halfway. In an instant, the curtain splits into a small independent world. She was separated from the world outside the curtains, leaving only the sunshine and beautiful scenery outside the window, and the fragrant books in her hands.

Catherine was reading "Blood Debt" when she suddenly heard the door of the lounge being opened.The carpet in the house was so thick that Catherine couldn't hear anyone walking in.She was a little dazed, and was about to open the curtains to remind others that there were people in the room, when a woman's small crying sound reached her ears first.

The cry was very soft, but it was also very touching, full of grievances and sobs.Catherine, who is also a woman, felt that the crying was really pitiful.She guessed that at least two people came in, most likely a man and a woman.It's not that she wants to slander the same sex, it's just that she has never heard a natural cry that is so deliberate but beautiful.

When Catherine was hesitating whether to go out or stay still, she heard the female voice crying: "Willard, why are you so cruel to me?"

Catherine was immediately stunned and did not dare to move.

It took nearly a minute for the woman's question before Catherine heard Willard lazily answer: "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Why don't you know? You know my heart for you, I love you so much. Do you know how everyone laughed at me behind my back these years? They all mocked me about this, saying that I have no shame, They are entangled to death. They don't know anything!"

Catherine judged from the information in these words that the female voice should be Miss Manla.

"Oh? You're talking about what they should know." Willard's tone was still lazy, full of disapproval and carelessness.

Catherine felt that she would be pissed off if she were Miss Manla.

Sure enough, Miss Manla was also very angry, and her tone became a lot more excited: "We obviously had an engagement, have you forgotten?"

"Really? Why don't I remember."

Manla took a deep breath: "Willard, you have never been married before, I can wait, I can understand that you don't want to get married, you want to live a chic life, man, I can understand. It doesn't matter, I can wait for you, they I don't care how you make fun of me, because I know we have a marriage contract, and I'm different from them. But I can't tolerate you blatantly bringing other women to hit me in the face, Willard, I can't tolerate it!"

Willard didn't speak.

"Catherine Bennett, right? A humble squire's daughter. Even if you are not satisfied with my marriage contract and want to find a woman to humiliate me, you should change to a similar character. Such a woman, I simply..."

Catherine didn't expect to eat melon and eat her own head.She didn't intend to speak, though, and just continued to listen in silence.

Willard listened quietly for a moment, then suddenly said: "Actually, there is one thing I can't figure out. I don't understand, who gave you the confidence to make you think that we have a marriage contract? I don't seem to have ever agreed to it. .”

"Willard, how can you say such a thing? Have you forgotten that this is an agreement between our two families, your mother..."

"Camille Manra," Catherine heard Willard draw out every syllable, as if she had heard a very funny joke, "when my mother died, I was only six years old, and I didn't know who you were , so what are you talking about my mother? Have you ever been to heaven?"

Manla paused for a moment: "...I'm talking about Mrs. Erica."

"Ha," Willard sneered, "I have no intention of stopping you from recognizing her as your mother, but I absolutely have no such wish, so please don't put such a disgusting relationship on me."

Manla's voice was much gentler. She persuaded Willard, as if she was persuading an ignorant child: "Willard, can't you let it go? Although Mrs. Erica is your stepmother, she has a lot of love for you." You have been very good, this is what everyone sees..."

Willard interrupted: "Since you want to know why I don't want to marry you, it's better to tell you frankly now. There are certainly many reasons for this, but the most important one is because you are stupid. You are the most stupid person I have ever seen. Stupid and most ignorant woman, you have an empty head, but I'm afraid there is nothing in it."

"I don't know who gave you the illusion that you think you are qualified to point fingers at me, but I want to tell you now, please shut up immediately. I'm afraid the words you said haven't been repaired by the farmer in my ears. Cotton makes a nice noise, which at least amuses me, and you just make me really sick."

Willard's words made Manla burst into tears immediately.This time, she was probably too sad and didn't remember to hide it. Her crying became much louder, and she was out of breath: "Willard, how can you say that?"

"Why can't I? I've said it, and you've heard it. If you don't like to hear it, you can turn around and leave. I promise I will never have an opinion."

"So, because of your dissatisfaction with Mrs. Erica, you want to reject the marriage contract she arranged for you, and use a country woman like Catherine Bennett to humiliate me?"

Willard's tone was filled with a smile: "No, you think too much. You are not in my eyes at all, and it is not worth using others to do things to you. How can you deserve me to spend such thoughts? As for me and Miss Catherine It has nothing to do with you, I don’t want to and I won’t explain a word to you. My most sincere suggestion to you now is that you better cover your face and run out crying, otherwise I may say more embarrassing things. If you cry, if you walk fast, I can bear it for a while."

"Willard..."

"I'll count to twenty."

"Willard, you can't..."

"Nineteen, eighteen..."

During Willard's emotionless counting process, Manla finally gave up persuading, she gritted her teeth: "You are such a bastard!"

"I thought you already knew. Friendly reminder, I counted to ten."

"I curse you to be humiliated and heartbroken by your lover like me!"

After Miss Manla finished speaking, she slammed the door and left.Tranquility quickly returned to the house.

Catherine hid behind the curtains and remained motionless until she heard the door being opened and closed, and she was relieved. After a pause, she carefully opened the curtains and wanted to jump off the window sill.

However, when the curtains were drawn halfway, Catherine's pupils shrank suddenly.

There was a long reflection on the ground, Catherine looked up along the reflection, and saw Willard standing not far away, looking at herself expressionlessly.