[Comprehensive Book] A Rose for Catherine

The beginning of the story is a day that is no different from usual.

The September sky at Longbourn was as cloudy and cloudy as God's accidentally painted the wrong color.

Sitting in front of a table covered with a white embroidered cotton tablecloth, Catherine wrote this sentence in the letterhead to the unknown pen pal in the distance, and conveniently added a personal expression after this sentence, "Thank God Didn't paint that color on my mom's mood today."

But when Catherine wrote the last letter, she discovered that the sentence was a fallacy.

Mrs. Bennet had already yelled loudly downstairs: "Mr. Bennet, how can you spoil your child like this? You just like to anger me, and you don't understand my fragile nerves at all."①

Poor Catherine was so frightened that Mrs. Bennet's angry remark left a long ink-mark on her letter-paper.Mrs. Bennet's voice was still coming, and Catherine could hear it vaguely. It seemed that Mr. Bennet was calling on a Mr. Bingley, but Mr. Bennet was reluctant.

Catherine had no leisure to wonder who Mr. Bingley was.She put down the quill with a headache, and seriously considered whether it was necessary to write a letter again.

Paper in this era was a luxury. As a country gentry with five daughters who were neither the eldest nor the youngest, Catherine didn't have that much pocket money to buy paper.

In particular, she also has a letter-writer who is keen to communicate with her and communicate with her. Several letters are always sent every month-and these letters always have to go through many twists and turns. Aunt sent it to her.

However, this is an inevitable trouble for Catherine, because she is writing to a gentleman.In this day and age, correspondence between marriageable young men and women is proof of the existence of a marriage contract.For the sake of the invisible reputation, she and the other party's letters need to be conveyed by an intermediary-although this is tantamount to deceiving oneself. ②

Catherine's aunt also inevitably expressed her concerns euphemistically. In order to dispel her anxiety, Catherine could only describe her pen pal Mr. as a "respectable old gentleman over fifty years old."

Catherine finally gave up the idea of ​​writing another letter, and added another sentence in the spare space at the end of this letter.

"Dear sir, I hope you can control your exuberant desire to express a little bit! As a poor girl with a meager family, I can hardly afford the postage!" ③

After she finished writing this sentence, she didn't add it, because there was really no space on the paper for her to write one more word.Catherine put away the quills, ink, and the rest of the letter paper, and went downstairs.

Mrs. Bennet had calmed down, and was sitting at the table teaching her two older daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, how to make lace look better on their dresses.She had always been an expert in this matter, and none of the Bennet girls was better than her-after all, Mrs. Bennet was older than her eldest daughter Jane.

Mr. Bennet probably went back to his study, and only in the study could he get a chance to breathe.Mrs. Bennet Schrödinger's fragile nerves troubled him too much.

Catherine walked softly down the last step with the letter, trying to slip out of the door without attracting the attention of her sisters and mother.

Unfortunately, the idea didn't work out.

Jane stopped her.

"Kitty. Where are you going?"

Catherine quietly stuffed the letter paper into her sleeve, and replied nonchalantly: "I'm going out for a walk, it's too stuffy to sit in the room."

Jane has always been a kind girl who doesn't think of other people's bad side, let alone her close sister?She immediately believed Catherine's words.But Elizabeth glanced at Catherine and said, "Then you have to come back early, it's going to rain soon."

Mrs. Bennet put down her work and said angrily, "Let's go, you shut yourself in your room all day, and you refused to dance at the Lucas family's ball last time. The young girl There is no one so inactive as you!"

Catherine has become accustomed to subconsciously ignoring Mrs. Bennet's dissatisfaction and complaints, and disagrees with Elizabeth's statement. She thinks that there will be no rain in this weather, but she still nodded: "I'll be back soon."

She knew that the second sister had always been smart, and it was normal for her to notice anything.But Catherine also thought it was no big deal to be found out, she had never been taught in the first half of her life not to write to a good friend!

But because of the stupid secular views and Mrs. Bennet's fragile nerves, Catherine couldn't express this point of view openly.

Here, we have to briefly state two sentences about Catherine's identity.

Two years ago, Catherine was a young girl who had just graduated from university. While visiting an ancient art museum in Europe, unfortunately, a beam of the museum collapsed, killing a dozen unlucky tourists.Catherine happens to be one of them.

Then she woke up and became the fourth daughter of the Bennet family, a little girl who was only 14 years old at the time.Catherine Bennett.

Catherine, who had worked so hard to take the hell college entrance examination, finished college, and became a little girl who was only old enough to go to junior high school, was almost crying.

Of course, this is by no means a reason to read a book again, Catherine has no such opportunity at all.In this era, women's education is a very luxurious thing, and most of them are just accessories of their husbands or future husbands.

The only thing that comforts her is that in the UK, she can still choose not to marry for life, if she has enough property to support her life.Catherine had carefully read the English laws and regulations when she came to this world, and thought that women were going to hell to get married these days-or so it seemed to her.

Catherine went outside, planning to go to the library in Meryton town after posting letters at the post office.Meryton is only a mile from Longbourne, a very short distance.The Bennet girls went three or four times a week, under the pretense of visiting their aunt's family in Meryton, though in reality the young girls only went to the market.

There was no one in the post office, and Catherine, as usual, filled in the address of Uncle and Aunt Gardner's family in London, who would post the letter where it should go.But this inevitably requires my aunt to pay part of the postage.Catherine figured that she could send her aunt a suitable brooch this Christmas to make up for the postage.She can still save some money before Christmas this year, and in a few years, when the first few sisters are married, the private money she has saved plus the thousand pounds that Mrs. Bennet can give as a dowry will be almost enough to maintain A lifetime of living.

It is not easy to make money as a girl. If she is a boy, she can probably do sea trade in a fair manner.Maritime trade was one of the most lucrative ways in the early nineteenth century, and many descendants of nobles without inheritance rights also engaged in maritime trade to earn large profits.

However, Catherine does not have too many regrets about this. Her nature prefers ease and stability, which is a character cultivated in a long-term peaceful society.The high profits of maritime trade are also accompanied by high risks. Catherine does not want to take risks unless she has to.At present, she has not come to the predicament of desperation.

Catherine borrowed the books she wanted from the library in Meryton Town, bought some paper and ink, and walked back.Lydia was also in Meryton, but Catherine did not see her, and guessed that the youngest of the Bennets was wandering about at some fair.

Dinner was not ready when she got home, and she still had time to read the newly borrowed book.Catherine hoped to get a little inspiration from it, so that she could write a new manuscript.

Of course, strictly speaking, this book is not a book that ladies should read.Fortunately, it was old enough, the writing on the cover could not be seen clearly, and it was not a popular book at the moment, so it would not be looked at by the librarian with surprise.

This is a book called "The Memoirs of Fanny Hill", the memoirs of the prostitute Miss Fanny.Thanks to it, there are still pirated copies in the world! ④

Catherine took a deep breath, and opened the page with a strange mood.She knew that the heroine of her new novel was hidden in the corner of this memoir.