aristocratic engagement

Annie was full of doubts, but the earl seemed determined to play tricks on her, but he didn't tell her why.

Lady Catherine and Countess Fitzwilliam took the cufflinks from the Earl and exchanged surprised looks.

Anne looked at her mother, and saw that the previously secretive joy faded from her face, and her face calmed down. She thought she was the heir to the lord after hearing what her brother said, but who knows... Madam Catherine lowered her head and drank Take a sip of tea, as if nothing happened.

"I know what you are thinking, Catherine, this person is obviously not the eldest son of the Duke of Bridgewater." Earl Fitzwilliam snatched the cufflink from her hand and placed it in front of Anne.

Anne's eyes widened, staring at the cufflinks.

Unexpectedly, Darcy suddenly spoke, although his tone could not detect any emotion: "Edward Edgerton, the eldest son of the Duke of Bridgewater's family, often hangs around the club, never takes care of family affairs, and doesn't know Whether he is unwilling or unable to compete with his younger brother."

Annie squeezed her eyes, reached out and poured him another cup of tea.Darcy took the teacup inexplicably, and after taking a sip, Annie stretched out her hand and covered his forehead: "Cousin Darcy, don't you have a fever after staying up all night, why are you talking nonsense? Mr. Edward is the heir, and he must shoulder the responsibilities and powers, and this cannot be changed."

To be honest, Anne doesn't really care about the rules of the inheritance law. After all, although she is also an heir, as Earl Fitzwilliam said that day, if she marries, the tens of thousands of acres accumulated by the generations of the De Bauer family The land and the production of six or seven thousand pounds a year would fall into other hands.

——It is precisely for this reason that Anne at this time has no intention of getting married, and is even trying to start a new one.She originally occupied the magpie's nest and the body of this sentence. If it is because of her, the property of the De Bauer family will be handed over to others...

However, at the same time, Anne considers herself to be a hypocrite.

Darcy was rightfully the sole heir to Pemberley, and he was sometimes not cautious in this regard—Anne glanced at him, flirted with Darcy, and pointed to the Fitzwilliam brothers diagonally across the way.

Darcy's forehead was covered, and she was a little stiff for a moment. Georgiana smiled and watched her brother deflate.

"Darcy is not wrong. Although the Duke of Bridgewater is admirable and a powerful person, he is not good at running a family. If he hadn't forced his eldest grandson to stay with him too much, Bridgewater The Te family will not be in such an embarrassing situation now. What a pity for that excellent second grandson..."

With that said, the count pointed to the direction upstairs.

It turned out that the man was the youngest grandson of the Duke of Bridgewater, Anne nodded suddenly.

Darcy took Anne's hand on his forehead and said coldly, "Eat well."

After breakfast, the count enthusiastically proposed to go hunting, and his sons naturally would not object.Darcy glanced at the direction upstairs, hesitated for a moment, but still agreed to the earl's invitation.

George Wickham heard that the uninvited guest last night was attacked by wolves in the forest. He turned pale and asked Daniel to teach him how to ride a horse near the manor on the pretext that he was not good at riding.This was exactly in the hands of Earl Fitzwilliam - he was not like his overly kind and kind brother-in-law, who had no sympathy for such a shy, timid boy.

Madam Catherine confirmed to them that she would definitely come back for dinner, so she asked the kitchen to prepare lunch boxes and asked them to pad their stomachs outside.Impatiently, the Count rode away with the three young men while she was going to the kitchen.

"Since you're out hunting, why do you need to bring a lunch box? What can't you eat in the forest?" The earl said as it should, and happily received Anne's praise.

While sitting with Georgiana under the Christmas tree and unwrapping presents, Anne secretly pondered the earl's unfinished words.

She didn't understand why the grandson of the duke was her luck in the mouth of her uncle?Can a son of a lord who is destined not to inherit the family business shake the decision of those in power?

Anne knew very little about the gossip of the Lord's family, because Rosings Manor was forcibly cut off from society by Lady Catherine.This defect was not obvious before, but now when she faces a broader stage in person, a sense of crisis and urgency arises spontaneously.

—playing a good lady in Rosings has paralyzed her nerves.

Although she has her own intelligence channels, the scope of coverage is limited because of the short time, the lack of foundation, and the concealment of her identity.The information that Annie has is mainly related to the business world...

etc!business world?

A hint of inspiration suddenly floated in Annie's mind, as unpredictable as fluff in the air.

The Duke of Bridgewater was not entirely new to her—Phoenix Textiles had mass-produced low-priced plain weave before she bought it, and the executives at the time were trying to dump cheap, hard-wearing cloth On the way to the factory area in Manchester, it was dragged down by high-cost transportation, which gave Anne an opportunity to buy.The supervisor complained more than once that it would be nice if the Bridgewater Canal took over the transshipment business.

If this Bridgewater is that Bridgewater...

Annie had some calculations in her mind, she probably understood what the earl meant, but she didn't quite understand it.

"Lady Catherine, that guest is awake!" Mrs. Jiang Jinsheng pushed open the door and said out of breath.Before Madam Catherine could reply, Anne immediately stood up while leaning on the sofa, and Du Li grabbed her hand.Georgiana inexplicably stopped unwrapping the gift and looked at her suspiciously.

"I'm going to visit our guests." Annie decided to take the initiative, sounding out.

Lady Catherine hesitated to speak, but finally did not object.

In the room, the fireplace was burning brightly. As soon as Annie walked in, her nose was itchy from the heat wave.The person on the bed was lying on his side, with his back to the door, and Annie didn't see his face.

Mrs. Jiang Jinsheng insisted that Miss de Bourgh should not see an outsider without a nurse, or a man lying weakly on the bed, so she followed closely behind Anne.As soon as she entered the room, she could smell blood/smell in the stale air, so Mrs. Jiang Jinsheng strode to the window, opened the curtains, and opened a small window.

Anne was supported by Du Li and sat down on the armchair by the fireplace.

Their movements were not small, but they did not elicit the slightest reaction from the patient on the bed.

The footman sent to attend to the sick was about to salute Anne when she interrupted her with a wave.Du Li agreed with her, and winked at the footman, leading him out of the room.

Mrs. Jiang Jinsheng didn't understand what kind of riddle they were playing. Seeing that she insisted on staying, Annie acquiesced after pondering for a moment.

"You are my saviors, but no matter what, I will not be a prisoner you use against my family." The man hoarsely voiced, and squeezed out the words word by word from his throat, " I know you took my cufflinks, yes, I am from Bridgewater, but I am just a tool without inheritance..."

"I don't care which family you belong to. In my eyes, you are just a poor man who was besieged by wolves and couldn't go home on Christmas Eve." Annie interrupted him. It is not easy to provoke people in the mansion of the Duke of Bridgewater, who made his identity clear.

The person on the bed froze, then shuddered suddenly, and turned around: "Oh... I didn't expect it to be a young lady. I'm sorry, I am in this state, it is really unsightly." As he said, he Pulling the quilt, trying to cover the exposed skin on the chest, but accidentally touched the wound, grinning in pain.

The pair of tightly closed eyes that Annie saw last night are now opened, and a little bit of physiological tears overflowed from the blue and transparent eyeballs in pain.

It has to be said that these blue eyes made his ordinary handsome face look amazing.

"It's okay, no one will be harsh on a patient. You see, I won't salute you anymore, we're even." Annie sat on the sofa and spread her hands.

"Your injury... the doctor told me that you may have to recuperate for a long time, and you are not suitable for walking. I can have a servant send a letter to your family, telling them your injury and... that you cannot spend Christmas with your family reason."

Annie's words clouded her blue eyes with smoke.Blue Eyes made a gesture to sit up and leaned against the head of the bed, but blood oozed from the wound on his chest covered with white bandages due to the force.Annie immediately asked Du Li to help him up, and put a thick pillow on the backrest.

"By the way, you haven't told me your name yet!" Anne said briskly.

"...Alan, my name is Alan Edgerton." The blue eyes—oh no, Alan—was a little surprised, he thought that since the little girl in front of him knew that he was from the Duke of Bridgewater's mansion People, at least already know his name.

Her "ignorance" gave him a strange sense of relaxation.

Then, Anne tentatively asked about things in London—it was only natural that a young girl like her living in the country, even if she was a descendant of a lord, was naturally full of yearning for London.To Annie's surprise, Allen knew nothing about the novelties of the nobles. Instead, he talked about the factories in the suburbs, and there was something in the details.

Sure enough, as Earl Fitzwilliam said, this excellent second-grandson of the duke is very good, and he is an expert in managing the industry—it’s a pity that he is not the eldest grandson, no matter how good he is, he will not be able to inherit the title and family property.

Perhaps, in the eyes of some people, fortunately he is not the eldest grandson.

Annie had a bold guess, but it was too shocking.However, Christmas, even robbers and thieves will not choose to leave their families to "work" on this day.How did the excellent Mr. Alan Edgerton come to Kent in the southeast of London halfway while rushing from Manchester in the northwest to London?Still wounded all over, almost killed by a wolf?

When Mrs. Jiang Jinsheng winked at her for the fifth time, Anne finally showed a shy smile and said goodbye to the patient: "I'm really sorry, the London you described is so interesting, I was fascinated by listening to it, and disturbed you Please take a good rest, I will ask my cousin to write a letter to the family to explain to you."

Mrs. Jiang Jinsheng took a step forward, supported Annie, and walked towards the door with a limp.

"Dare to ask." Allen raised his voice, "May I have the honor to know your name?"

"Anne de Bourgh."

TBC