Southern Rose [Gone with the Wind]

Adults are so complicated!

Victor's heart was heavy.He didn't know much about it, except that he had lost his father again.He is accompanied by a housekeeper and a tutor every day. He learns a lot of knowledge. His mother is very concerned about his studies, but not very concerned about what is going on in his heart.He didn't know how to tell his mother about this, he would rather hide his uneasiness and uneasiness in his heart.

The maids began to pack, and Mrs. Jenkins told him that she was taking the siblings to live in New York for several years.Cynthia happily ordered the maid to pack up and bring all her dolls.

"Victor," said the little girl's limp body, her delicate voice, and her short arms hugging her brother's neck. "Have you ever been to New York?"

"I've been there."

"What's New York like?"

"That's it. You went there when you were a kid, but you were too young to remember."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Cynthia fiddled with the doll in her hand, "Mom said New York is very big, we will live next to a big park, it will be fun."

A 3-year-old only knows how to play.

Victor smiled and tugged at her curls. "Yeah, it's going to be fun."

Cynthia yawned, "Mom asked me if I wanted to learn the piano, I don't know."

"Do you like playing the piano?"

"I don't know, maybe I don't like it."

"Then you don't need to learn. You are still a baby, you just play every day." Victor said with a smile.

Josephine stood at the door.

She was a little surprised that her eldest son seemed to have grown up in a blink of an eye, and he had grown into a tall boy, half a head taller than an ordinary 9-year-old boy.He hasn't reached puberty yet, and when he starts to grow taller, he will grow taller.

Victor looked less like her and more like his father, a man she could barely remember what he looked like.Genes are really a strange thing. Her two children look more like their father, but they don't look like her at all. This makes her a little annoyed: They are half of one person's genes, so why is there no one who looks more like her in appearance? ?

Cynthia was sleepy, rubbed her eyes, and murmured, "Mommy."

"You should go to bed." Josephine smiled lightly.

"Mommy, can I sleep with you?"

"Okay. Manny, wash the lady's face and put it in my room."

Manny took Cynthia away.

"Mother." Victor stood up.

"We're going to New York tomorrow—oh no, the day after tomorrow. We're going to live in New York for a few years, at least three years. When you're 12 or 14, I'll send you to Paris."

Victor keenly understood the meaning, "'Send me to Paris'? Does it mean you won't go to Paris?"

Josephine thought for a moment, "Not necessarily, it's hard to say now. Your father still has some houses in France. You are a Frenchman and you have to go back."

Victor suddenly became sad, "No, mother, I want to be with you, I don't want to go to France."

"Silly boy, you will always grow up. When you grow up, you will feel that leaving your mother is not a serious matter."

"No, mother!" Victor said hurriedly, "I will always be your child!"

"Of course!" Josephine touched the top of her son's head, and then said to the maids, "Okay, you guys go out and clean up tomorrow."

The maids stopped, curtseyed to their mistress, and withdrew.

"Mother, why are you going to New York?"

"Boston is too small, and New York is also small, but it's better than Boston."

Victor didn't quite understand, nodded, but shook his head again.

"Don't worry, just live in another city. Do you feel that you have lived in several cities and always moved around, not very-" Not very stable.

The boy nodded.

"Okay, I see. Go get ready for bed."

Victor went to the bathroom to wash up.

Josephine looked around the room: the boy's room is very simple, he doesn't like too many things, there is no other furniture in the room except the bed and wardrobe.He has his own study room for class and homework, as well as his own game room. She thinks she has taken care of the child's study and life in all aspects.

Children grow old.It seems that not long ago, he was a crying baby, how did he grow up so quickly?And she didn't even have her 26th birthday yet!

She sighed.

The trip to New York went well.

Old Mrs. Tarent was not very happy, but she couldn't stop Josephine from leaving Boston with the children.Two days later, they arrived at the railway station in a private carriage bearing the initials of Tarent "t" and arrived in New York that afternoon.

The civil war had a certain impact on the progress of Central Park in New York, but the impact was relatively small. The construction of the park was proceeding in an orderly manner. The vicinity of the park was still a wilderness, and most of the sites were waiting for the park to be completed before starting construction.

Josephine's several pieces of land have not yet started construction, they are simply fenced with wooden fences, and there are no building materials.

Ryan said: "It is very difficult to buy construction materials now, and everyone is hoarding materials. But because of the war, the shortage of people in the mine is severe, and there is a large buyer—" He casually pointed in the direction of Central Park, " The materials are too expensive, and after looking at them for a long time, I only bought some wood, piled them up on Seventh Street, and hired people to guard them.”

Josephine nodded, "You can figure it out. I think there will be a shortage of materials in the past few years, and the war is coming to an end. By then, there will be a lot of construction in those states."

"It's true." Ryan suddenly became excited, "I thought that building materials business would be a bit profitable. Now many people are hoarding materials, and they are going to make a lot of money at that time. Of course, building your own house is the most important thing." Good material, but if you want to do business, you can use inferior materials."

aha!This is the normal way of capitalists, shoddy, or selling ordinary materials for the price of high-grade materials.Southern Reconstruction is a big market, and it can be said that as long as there is something to sell, it will definitely make a lot of money.

She herself is impatient to do business, except for the profitable railway company, everything else is investment.

"If you start a company, I can invest in you."

Ryan smiled. "No, no, I can't use your money, or Josephine's. Mother gave me money, and I—have some money."

The second half of the sentence is very reluctant.As a fun-loving young man who spends as much as he wants, he has never had much money in his hands, and sometimes it is even pitifully small.

"I want to be... I can't ask you to spend money in the future. I should pay for you and the children's living expenses. I think I have the ability." He held her hand and kissed the back of her hand lightly. "Not long, not long."

Josephine withdrew her hand, "You know you'll be laughed at by Bostonians."

"I do not care."

"But I'm thinking of Cynthia. She's always going back to the Tarents, back to Boston, and she's going to find a husband who's just right. You can't be too selfish."

Ryan looked indifferent, "As long as you have money, no one will care. Cynthia has an annuity of tens of thousands of dollars a year. There are so many men rushing to marry her. What you should worry about is that there are too many candidates. Okay. Let’s not talk about things that need to be troubled after more than ten years.” He was a little annoyed: Josephine is right, the law does not actually prohibit younger brothers from marrying the widow of the dead brother, but ordinary people think it is disreputable , always have to be gossip behind the back.Josephine may not care what others say about her, but she must consider her daughter.

He thought meanly, it would be fine if there was no Cynthia.A pretty girl is very attractive, but if it hinders his marriage, he doesn't like her.

Josephine was so beautiful that people couldn't take their eyes off it. It was hard for a man not to be fascinated by such a woman.Her voice, walking posture, and smiling face are all so charming, and no matter how young he is, he is still a man. He understands that a beautiful woman will be very dangerous if there is no man around her.She would be robbed, and her property could easily be taken from her, and he had to protect it, whether it was for her or for the property of the Tarents.

Josephine spent a few days inspecting her own and the Talent family's real estate in New York with Ryan. In addition to the land, there are also other residences. There is a Talent family at the wharf near Wall Street. Josephine didn’t want to live in a two-story building in her ancestral property, which was leased to a transportation company. Josephine didn’t want to live there. The Point District is very chaotic; the Five Points is above Chinatown, which is also chaotic; above Wall Street is Little Italy, which is chaotic.

In short, the entire Lower Manhattan and Central Manhattan are in chaos, and the upper city is still under construction, which is not suitable for a rich wife to live in.Josephine first took the children to live in a hotel for two months, and finally found a spacious villa on Long Island, which is separated by a river from Manhattan Island, signed a three-year long lease, and moved in soon.

On the first day of moving, Thomas Wolfe seemed like a hostess, entering the house, but he did not express his opinions on home furnishing.Men don't pay attention to those side details.He said excitedly that he had bought an excellent piece of land on Manhattan Island across the river, and was starting to build a riverside villa.The villa has not yet been built, and a yacht has been ordered first, and the goods will not be delivered until next year.

He was very dissatisfied with the progress of the shipyard, full of resentment, and complained that even if he spent money, he could not meet the deadline. The reason was naturally this "damn war".He laughed at the fact that the Yankees had to fight each other, but the crowd in the Old World saw the joke!

Ryan, on the other hand, has been busy making money. In addition to the railway company and the property of the Talent family, he has also started his own construction company. He is so busy all day long that he only has time to come to see Josephine at night.He never concealed his dislike for Thomas, and Thomas hated him very much.