Southern Rose [Gone with the Wind]

Once this thought popped into his mind, it could never be dismissed.He never considered the question of whether it was a crime or not.

Objectively speaking, the Austrian is quite good-looking, and with Josephine, anyone should be able to say "very good match".The older brother Philip was a pretty boy from childhood and grew up to be of course a handsome man, almost perfect except for a little too serious.Of course Philip can have such a beauty, no matter how good-looking and rich the Austrian is, he doesn't deserve it!

Ryan Talent's face was gloomy for a moment, and he looked at Thomas with rather unfriendly eyes.It seemed that Josephine was somewhat wary.As the youngest son in the family, there is a serious elder brother who is responsible for the parent, an overly gloomy second elder brother who is frail and sick, and a conservative and dull mother. Ryan's personality is different from everyone in the family. He has never been troubled by money. He has always been in trouble since he was a child, because there is always someone to clean up for him. Such a person has never learned to be rejected, and he also knows the charm of money.

It's easy to deal with people like Ryan, she doesn't even need to please him, just showing her true colors is enough to attract him.This is out of the beauty's self-confidence and understanding of the psychology of this urchin.They want the best, the most different, and if you show how much you care about him, that's what he'll walk away from.

Of course, her original intention was not to make Ryan think of her.

He might not be able to resist giving Thomas a good beating!

Thinking of this, Josephine showed a happy smile on her face.

Thomas glanced at her, then at Ryan again.Before Ryan could withdraw his gloomy eyes, seeing Thomas looking at him, he gave him a hard look, and then smiled, "I bought you all presents, where should I put them?"

The Christmas tree is decorated, with a sparkling crystal star hanging on the top of the tree, and all kinds of decorations and candies hanging on the branches, sparkling and festive.

Cynthia played for a long time, her face was tired, she rubbed her eyes, and tried her best, "Mom, I want to sleep."

"Okay. Ask Luna to carry you upstairs. Luna." Josephine called the maid.

"Mom, I want to sleep with you."

"Not now, it's not night yet. You sleep for a while, and then we have lunch together, okay?"

The little man nodded, "Okay, Mom." She kissed her mother on the cheek.

Luna took Cynthia away.

"She got up too early in the morning." Victor was also sleepy and yawned.

"Go to sleep for a while too." Cynthia was used to waking her brother up after getting up.Victor gets up at 7 o'clock every morning, which is very early, while Cynthia wakes up by herself after 6 o'clock.

Victor and Damian leave immediately.

To be a rich wife requires social activities, either attending other people's banquets, or holding banquets at your own home.Mrs. Talent had just moved in, and invitations had already been sent.

Christmas Eve is a time to spend with your family, and you can go out on Christmas Day.Compared to Manhattan Island, Long Island is considered a wealthy area, and New York is not too far away from Boston. The rich people nearby already know that the young wife of the Talent family in Boston has moved to Long Island.

The invitation was casually placed on the plate on the high table by the wall of the living room. Damian knocked the silver plate off when he left. He made a face at the maid and ran upstairs with a smile on his face.

The maid picked up the invitation, and Thomas said, "Bring it to me."

He took the invitations casually, looked at one and threw one at a time, "Smith. Michelle. Lawrence. Hastings."

Hastings?

This surname is not very rare, but it is not common either.

Thomas picked up the invitation. "Hastings?" looked at Josephine.

"I don't know. Look at the name."

"Johnny Hastings and Holly Hastings."

"never heard of that."

"Someone ask. Mrs. Jenkins, please get Nick." Nick was his valet.

Mrs. Jenkins nodded and told the maid to find Nick in the servants' room.

interesting.

Ryan pondered.He knew that Josephine's ex-husband was named Hastings. The surname Hastings was not uncommon. He didn't expect Wolfe to be so vigilant.And... It's a little strange, why is Wolfe a little nervous?Ordinarily, Hastings had been dead for many years, and Josephine had remarried again. Even if she was a relative of her ex-husband's family, it was no big deal.Besides, from Paris to New York, how could it be so coincidental to meet the Hastings family?

Josephine was no different.But she's always been like she doesn't care much about anything.For example, now, it is not embarrassing for her to receive her lover and brother of her deceased husband at the same time. It is probably not the case for other women.

The Christmas presents have been bundled and neatly placed under the Christmas tree.The maids began to adorn the drawing-room and dining-room with colored webbing and green fir-tree foliage.This creates a festive atmosphere.Mrs. Jenkins politely asked the mistress to move to the study so that the maids could do their work.

The study room was very large, and there were no books in it. There was only a whole set of legal books for decoration, and few people were interested in it.

There were several wooden boxes with their lids open on the floor, some books were on the shelves, and many more books had not yet been brought out.

Books are very expensive now. A book is usually worth more than $3, and a book with a better binding is worth more than $5. Rich families usually have a study room full of it, and it can be left as a legacy to future generations. It can be regarded as "property".Half of Josephine's books are fiction, with both European and American authors.Most of the others were philosophy books, and there were some rather radical pamphlets like Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and so on.

Thomas sneered at "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman," "Didn't Wollstonecraft not live according to her ideals? In the end she still found a man to marry."

"That can't be helped, she has a child." Josephine understands Mary Wollstonecraft very well. Mary thinks that marriage is a shackle, but in the end she had to marry in a hurry because she got pregnant out of wedlock. Fever, died after giving birth to the child.

"I thought she hated men."

"I don't know. Hate men and—" Josephine laughed, stopping just in time.

"What's the matter?" Thomas urged, "You're done talking."

"It's nothing." Josephine gave him a "you understand" look.

"Aha!" Thomas was stunned, "You are right when you say that. Women are weak after all."

Josephine didn't like to hear these words, "What nonsense are you talking about? This is not so much a weakness of women, but a weakness of human nature. You men always say things too simply, but you all know why."

"Why? It's because women are too weak, and she has become a prisoner of desire. If she is firm in her beliefs, I will admire her."

Josephine shook her head, "Don't say it, if you say it again, I will quarrel with you." It is difficult to change the way of thinking of a man who already has fixed ideas, and she will not do this kind of thankless matter.

"Okay, let's not talk about it." Thomas didn't say anything more annoying today, and obediently put the "A Vindication of Women's Rights" in his hand on the bookshelf.

Ryan had never heard of Mary Wollstonecraft, nor had he read A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, so he secretly wrote down the name of the person and the title of the book, and decided to buy it when he went back.The title of the book sounded very strange. At this time, he was a little annoyed that he didn't study hard in college, otherwise he wouldn't have to just stay by and listen to their discussion.It doesn't feel good not being able to get in the mouth, it seems to be blocked by them - by her - which is not good!

Terrible!

He was very annoyed.

Josephine and Wolfe seem to have endless conversations. Wolfe looks like an idiot, but after reading so many books, he can say a few words to Josephine in almost every book. Well, that author can be regarded as having something in his stomach; this book is quite interesting, and that book is full of air.

Ryan found that he couldn't get in the conversation at all, so he could only hold back his anger and stay aside obediently.

There are two desks in the study, one on each side; there are new-style kerosene lamps on the desks. The kerosene lamps are brighter than candles, but they are still not enough to illuminate the whole study.Josephine was talking about installing a circle of kerosene lamps on the wall to brighten the study room—it was daytime, and at noon, the glass floor-to-ceiling windows let in light, because it was snowing and the sky was dark, so kerosene had to be lit Lamp lighting.

Thomas pushed open the floor-to-ceiling windows, and a gust of cold wind blew in, bringing in several flakes of snow.

"It's so cold!" Josephine shrank her neck.

Thomas touched her cheek, "Is it cold?"

She nodded.How can it not be cold with such a strong wind and snow?

So he took her a few steps outside and stepped on the snow on the balcony.

"How bad are you!" She thumped his arm a few times coquettishly.

Ryan stood up suddenly, "It's too cold, Josephine, come in quickly, don't freeze."

Thomas' face sank, "Why haven't you left yet?!"

Ryan's fist turned faster than his brain, and he punched it.

The two men got into a ball, punching and kicking, cursing at each other in an unseemly way.

Josephine hid against the wall and called for Mrs. Jenkins.Mrs. Jenkins felt a headache, "Madam, you should go out. If you go out, the two gentlemen will not be able to fight."

Makes sense, life wisdom!In the final analysis, the two men fought for her. She was not around, and they had no energy in fighting.

"Go find Percy and separate them," Josephine whispered.

Mrs. Jenkins nodded, "Okay, I'll take care of it. You go upstairs first."