I am aging gracefully in the world of famous books

As if to confirm the fact that Thornfield House cannot lack tutors for the time being, Rochester left the manor with his pet dog Pilot the day after Jane Eyre resigned.

Therefore, Jane Eyre once again took on the teaching task related to music, and began to teach Pei Xiang to do some simple needlework.

Pei Xiang has classes in the morning and self-study in the afternoon. After tea, she goes outdoors to practice martial arts.At night, she had to avoid people to treat Bertha Mason, and every day was full of schedules.

With the continuous improvement of the treatment plan, Bertha spent more and more waking hours, and the communication with Pei Xiang became more and more in-depth, and occasionally muttered about the past days.

"They all laughed at me, called my brother Richard an idiot, said I was stupid and ignorant, said I didn't know anything, always made jokes, said that my mother's blood was not noble. My father was always away, and occasionally watched I sighed and frowned. But the servant who took care of me said that those who spoke ill of me were jealous of me, because I was good-looking, as good as my mother, and the dowry was rich..."

Hearing this, Pei Xiang looked up at Bertha's appearance.She found that after removing the redness and swelling, Ms. Mason's facial features are indeed very beautiful, and she must have been very eye-catching when she was young and healthy.

Bertha didn't need Pei Xiang to respond to her, she suddenly became interested in talking, and muttered to herself:

"But I know that the maids are deceiving me. The men in the town court me, and always ask me to dance, but never propose to me, preferring to wear rings to ugly and poor women. Oh, No, someone proposed marriage, but Dad said that those people are inferior people, and he will not let the Mason family's daughter marry into a commoner's family."

Pei Xiang thought to himself, this is probably the reason why old Mason must marry the Rochester family far away in England.Because in the Spanish city in the West Indies, those rich kids should have heard some rumors.

At this time, Bertha Mason had already fallen into the memory, she sometimes frowned and sometimes smiled, and spoke intermittently, but it did not prevent Pei Xiang from hearing clearly what she was talking about.

"Later, Rochester appeared. He was the kind my father said... a man from a high-class family, a son of a famous family. He talked to me, and he wanted to get close to me, but the people around him always prevented me from talking with him for a long time. They rushed to speak for me and surrounded us all the time. Everyone was laughing, and Rochester was also laughing. When he looked at me, I felt very happy. I wanted to be alone with him, but many people surrounded me. It's so annoying to look at us!"

Pei Xiang paused, a little surprised that Bertha Mason could say the surname Rochester so calmly at this moment, instead of being entangled with curses and insults like before.

"Then," continued the patient, "men I didn't know ran up to me and yelled at Rochester, and they all professed their admiration for me. That's strange, I didn't know any of them.

"I was terrified, but they blocked me and wouldn't let me speak. Then Rochester left with those yelling men, and when he came back, he looked at me even more intensely. I I gradually understood that as long as more men like me, as long as they lose their temper with Rochester, Rochester will like me more."

This passage made Pei Xiang snort coldly, she knew that this was a trick of old Mason and old Rochester's gang.

They guarded against Rochester who came from afar, preventing him from discovering Bertha Mason's true character.While looking for some people to act as Rochester's rivals in love, the young man fell into a vortex of rivalry and jealousy.

They succeeded, they made a young man's competitiveness overcome his calmness and reason, made Rochester become impulsive and reckless, and made him think... that he was already in love.

Bertha seemed to like the time when she first met Rochester, the lines on her face gradually softened, and the tone of her narrative became much lighter.

"One day, my father asked me if I would like to live with Rochester forever. I was a little scared and didn't want to go to a new home. But my father said that he was too tired and had to find another person to take care of me and my brother Richard. The burden to help the Mason family.

"He said it several times, and I agreed. Then, I became a bride, hee hee, many people said I was beautiful, and Rochester also said I was beautiful when he saw me wearing a bridal veil."

Speaking of this, Bertha Mason suddenly reached out to touch her long disheveled hair, a little helpless appeared between her brows, but soon, her expression became cold and severe again.

"But, he suddenly changed. I don't know what I did wrong. Rochester suddenly doesn't like me. Why? I'm still so beautiful? Why? Why?"

Bertha uttered a series of questions, but before the only listener could give an answer, she began to mutter again:

"He frowned when he saw me, and he said a lot to me, but I couldn't understand. Then, he stopped talking, and he kept reading and playing the piano, always doing things that didn't interest me I lost my temper and asked him to accompany me, but he wanted me to learn something inexplicable, but I couldn't learn it, and I didn't want to learn it! I felt irritable and couldn't help losing my temper. I was unhappy, very unhappy, and I I want him to love me forever."

Pei Xiang put away the silver needle and signaled Bertha Mason to stop talking and take the medicine as soon as possible.

The patient was already very familiar with this treatment process. She obediently drank the strange-tasting potion, and then lay down on the bed, staring straight at the simple and elegant top of the bed with a pair of dry eyes.

"Miss Witch, why does Rochester suddenly dislike me?"

"He was deceived, and he was stupid again," Pei Xiang concluded in a flat tone, "You were also deceived. This is the sin of the two selfish ghosts, old Mason and old Rochester."

Bertha Mason didn't expect Pei Xiang to answer her question. She grinned happily, but soon became depressed again.Because she couldn't understand the other party's words, just like when she faced Rochester back then, she couldn't grasp the other party's true thoughts.

At a certain moment, panic flashed across Bertha's face, and her eyes gradually became cloudy, as if she was about to fall into a state of madness and confusion again.

Pei Xiang hurriedly massaged her acupuncture points gently, and encouraged her in a low voice:

"Okay, okay, don't listen to what you don't understand, Bertha, think of something you can understand, come on, continue to talk to me, what happened afterwards?"

Bertha's anxiety was appeased in time, and she followed Pei Xiang's suggestion to divert her attention and continue to recall the past.

"Miss Witch, I've been thinking hard for a long time, and I finally came up with a good solution. I'll go find those men, hang out with them, and make them like me, so that Rochester will rush to fight them, just like Like before, like before we got married.

"But I found that after doing that, Rochester didn't like me any more. He actually started to hate me. This made me very sad, very sad. I just yelled and lost my temper. I wanted to hit someone."

Having said this, Bertha Mason became emotional again.

Pei Xiang estimated the time in his heart, and knowing that the sleeping potion was about to take effect, he no longer forcibly appease the patient's emotions by stimulating the acupoints, but let her vent it.

Bertha began to speak faster, and the uncomfortable malice and ferocity appeared on her face again. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth and said:

"Afterwards, Rochester became one of those nasty people, and he called me a lunatic too. Ha, he was more of a nasty guy than those, because he'd lock me up and not let me go out to play... Daddy hated me Shame, he doesn't come to see me anymore, he won't help me, Richard is also a coward, he just cries... My husband said I am shameless, crazy and shameless. He yelled, oh, I know, he Want to abandon me! I think he is more hateful than others, because he lied to me, he doesn't like me at all, he is not as good as those who keep laughing at me, liars, robbers..."

As she spoke, the sleeping potion began to take effect, and Bertha's speech speed changed from fast to slow, from passionate and sharp to vague, and gradually, she calmed down.

Pei Xiang was silent for a moment, then got up and took the pulse of the patient, and found nothing unusual, so he packed up the silver needle and medicine bottle, and left the dark room familiarly.

After returning to the children's room, Pei Xiang washed and washed again, and then changed into pajamas and went to bed.Before falling asleep, Bertha Mason's words kept echoing in her mind, and she also pieced together the truth of the year.

Back then, Rochester, who had just graduated from university, learned that his family had booked a marriage for him, so he went to the West Indies to visit his prospective fiancée.

He finds her beautiful, reserved, and has many "suitors".After accepting the deliberate provocations of several "rivals in love", the young and aggressive Rochester formally proposed to Bertha Mason in a flash - even though he had no chance to really know her.

Thus, a tragic marriage had a beginning full of deceit, and later, the two people in the unfortunate marriage were even more unfortunate, like falling into an abyss.They spent more than ten years looking for a way to escape, one crazy and the other remorseful, torturing each other, and they were both hurt forever.

Pei Xiang turned over in the quilt.

She thought that when her inner strength was deeper, she could hide a wisp of sword intent in Bertha Mason's meridian acupoints, and then use a special kneading fingering technique and gentle inner strength to assist, even if It is the completion of a stage of treatment.

In this way, as long as Bertha Mason goes crazy again, the sword intent wrapped with special internal power will tremble slightly, causing her to lose the strength to hurt people in an instant, and she has to lie down weakly, quietly waiting for her emotions to stabilize again , until the recovery of clarity.

——I don’t know what I have experienced in the past, but these powerful skills that have almost become instincts always make me feel that my life is full of unscientific when I travel through time at a young age...

One afternoon two weeks later, after reading Mr. Rochester's letter, Mrs. Fairfax immediately announced to everyone in Thornfield that the owner of the mansion would return in three days. At that time, he would bring A large number of guests checked in.

The news got everyone busy—except the kids and the sick in the attic.

Jane Eyre also had to temporarily suspend the class and began to help Mrs. Fairfax.

The housekeeper also borrowed three temporary housemaids, five housemaids, and a cook from Lear's Hotel in Millcote, and brought new coachmen, footmen, kitchen handymen, and gardeners from nearby farms.

In short, when Rochester showed up with his guests, the whole Thornfield took on a new look.Pei Xiang took advantage of the adults not taking care of her, and quietly hid in a room on the third floor to watch the excitement.

——At times like this, children are generally not allowed to show up.

Five luxurious carriages, six valiant gentlemen on tall horses, and a lady in purple riding attire were passing through the black iron gates around the manor and heading towards the main entrance of the main house.

Pei Xiang quickly found Rochester among the riders, and then, as a matter of course, noticed the slender lady next to him, who was also the only lady riding a horse in the group.

"Is that... Miss Ingram?"

Pei Xiang heard Mrs. Fairfax mention this person.The housekeeper seems to think that Mr. Rochester intends to marry Miss Ingram, so the old lady is a little worried about Pei Xiang's future situation.

Pei Xiang looked past the talking and laughing male and female duo, and began to observe the people who got off the carriage.

"Huh?" Pei Xiang leaned forward in surprise, not expecting to see someone he knew among these guests.

After the door of the penultimate carriage was opened, a delicate and plump young lady came down first, and then a small child was carried out and put on the ground by the nanny.

Pei Xiang recognized the child's identity at a glance. It was Theodore Grant from Viscount Rio's Mansion, a child she met in Millcote.

At this time, a tall, thin and elegant lady came down from the last carriage. Behind her, the black-haired William Grant and the blond-haired Norton Bleiman stepped out of the carriage one by one.

Seeing a child among the guests, Pei Xiang realized that Mr. Rochester would soon ask her to entertain the little guests.So she jumped off the marble ledge quickly, and ran lightly back to her nursery.

Just at this time, the nanny Sophie came in a hurry.

"Miss Adele, downstairs, downstairs, Master Grant, Master Bleiman, and Master Theodore Grant are here, and Mr. Rochester asked me to take you down to meet your friends. Oh, my God, how dirty your skirt is." No, no, I must change to a more beautiful one, as well as hair and shoes..."

"Sophie," Pei Xiang called out to his nanny, "go and get out that light yellow satin blouse embroidered with kittens, as well as matching pantyhose and small leather shoes. I'll do my hair myself, don't worry, those ladies The ladies have to change their clothes too."

With Pei Xiang's command, Sophie immediately started rummaging through boxes and boxes.

A few minutes later, the governess Jane Eyre also knocked on the door and came in to help Pei Xiang braid her hair and tie her hair and buttons.

After Pei Xiang changed into beautiful clothes for meeting guests, Sophie went to the front to check the situation, and Jane Eyre was in charge of accompanying her students, and added some common sense of etiquette for meeting guests.

The teacher and the student waited for more than ten minutes. Sophie came back and said that the three young guests were resting in the small vaulted living room on the second floor, accompanied by tutors and servants.All three miss Pei Xiang very much and hope to see their long-lost friends as soon as possible.

Pei Xiang nodded, got up and walked out.

"Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Bleiman are still washing up in their respective guest rooms?"

"Yes," Sophie replied hastily, "I heard from Mrs. Fairfax that these two families were not among the original guests. Mr. Rochester met them on the way, and Young Master Theodore overheard The name of Miss Adele clamored to come, and the other two young masters also expressed their curiosity about Thornfield House, so the number of guests increased."

"Theodore remembers me? I thought children would soon forget some people."

"Miss Adele, you are only seven years old."

"Oh, well, Theodore is a bright little boy indeed."

"Miss Adele, why don't you ask Master Grant and Master Bleiman? I haven't seen you for a few months, and the two young masters have grown taller, look better, and are more polite. Also, Grant The young master actually still remembers my name..."

Pei Xiang walked and listened, and soon arrived at the door of the small living room.

After the servant notified her, she walked into the house and saw two handsome teenagers and a well-behaved and cute child.

After a long absence, the friends who reunited said hello to each other and soon became acquainted again.