mud buddha

It had been three or four days since I met Benoit on the street, and Nibel often recalled the way his slender fingers clenched into fists in front of him, and the reddish corners of his eyes when he was panting for breath while holding his arm.

The moon is already high, shining on the quiet town.There was a click at Nibel's window, and a twig was knocked up and fell with only a light tap.

Nibel should have gone to bed, but today he happened to be nauseated because of the supper before going to bed, something went wrong with the fried fish, eating it made his stomach feel like it was on fire.

The silver candlestick was placed on the window sill by his hand, the candle was burning crookedly, the warm yellow candle light illuminated a small area in front of Nibel, and made a hazy silhouette on the window, Nibel was so annoyed by the light Flipping through the book.

Mrs. Mill stood downstairs looking at the silhouette in the window.The slightly curly black hair, the graceful browbones, the straight bridge of the nose and the slightly upturned upper lip, she once touched them gently with her hands.She could imagine the shadows cast by those eyelashes on the full cheeks as those watery eyes stared at the book.How intimate this man had been to her, and how it would soon become-how, Jane did not know, but it must be a terrible situation irreparable.

Throwing the book on the windowsill, Nibel looked out the window.Jane stood in the garden, unable to see her face clearly.This is not the first time Jane came to him. Once Nibel forgot Jane and didn't contact her for a whole month, so Jane sneaked in one morning and smashed Nibel's window with a stone. wear.

Seeing Jane waving to him, he put on his coat and took the candlestick and went downstairs.The servants at home were all asleep, so he made his footsteps very soft.In the garden, Jane rushed over and hugged him.

"Nibel—"

"What's the matter? My little bird." Nibel wrapped Jane's waist with the hand that wasn't holding the candlestick, and Jane's waist seemed a little thinner than usual.He moved the candlestick up, just to illuminate Jane's face.Jane's eyebrows were neatly trimmed before, but now they are a little messy.Those eyes were red and swollen, and Nibel could see the tear stains under her eyes, which shone slightly in the candlelight, like the golden thread on his bed curtain.

"Nibel, if I asked you for a favor, you would do it, wouldn't you?"

"Well...it depends on what's busy. What kind of trouble have you encountered?" Nibel let go of Jane slightly, but Jane stuck tighter.

"Oh, Nibel, I'll do anything for you if you promise me."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Are you really willing to help me? I know you won't refuse me, after all you love me - you love me, right? You know, after all I love you so much!" Jane looked up to find Nibel's eyes , trying to meet his gaze.The candlelight shone on his chin, his eyes looked indifferent and deep in the darkness, and the passionate eyes in the past seemed to have turned into a frozen lake without any waves.Startled by this look, Jane lowered her head again, staring at the buttons on Nibel's chest.

"I'm in a big trouble, and if you don't give me a hand, I'm going to be in a situation where I can't recover—it will be!" Jane's lips pursed and pursed.

"Just say it."

"You're impatient, aren't you? I know, I know. You're all like this, everyone, everyone!" Jane clutched Nibel's coat tightly and tore it unconsciously: "I've always been witty, yes, You like my well-behaved appearance the most. Tell me to go east and I will never go west, how obedient! No one loves me, no one—"

"Don't say that, Jane."

A burst of loud footsteps interrupted their conversation. Of course, the owner who could hear the footsteps had tried his best to restrain himself, but obviously it didn't work.Jane let go of Nibel, and panickedly hid behind the flower stand on one side.

"Who's here?" said Basile, sleepy-eyed, in a coat, with a lamp in his hand.The flower stand obviously couldn't hide people, and the lamp in Basile's hand shone brightly on Jane's pale face.

"It's all right, Mrs. Mill has brought me something. Did you wake up?"

Basile looked at the two dubiously. "No, sir. What's the matter with Mrs. Mill? She's shaking."

"Oh, it's nothing. You go back first." Nibel sent Basile away and turned to look at Jane.What Basile said was right, she didn't know when she knelt and sat on the ground, trembling next to the flower stand, her eyes were wide open.Nibel called her several times before she realized it, and fled without saying anything.

When Nibel returned to the room, the moonlight shone on his bed curtain through the window, and the originally pale yellow bed curtain looked gray.He blew out the candle and lay down on the bed.

It wasn't long before Nibel fell asleep when Winnie woke him up. He held Winnie in his arms and held her tenderly for a while.Winnie wiped his face with a kerchief, said that the newly purchased lip balm had rubbed on his face, but there was not much left on her own, and asked Nibel to make up for it.

"The taste is delicious. Next time, ask them to buy you a whole set, one of each color." Nibel pecked her on the mouth, and Winnie saw Nibel's hand go up her belt before she made a sound. Stop: "Master, there are guests coming."

"It's okay for anyone to come. Every time you come to this kind of time, you make excuses." He said and untied Winnie's belt.

"It's a handsome young man with red hair, French I suppose. He's sitting down there."

Nibel listened, released Winnie, and asked her to change her clothes.Winnie fastened her belt, stood up and went to the wardrobe.

"I heard that a women's school was opened in the monastery two days ago, and an old lady was invited to teach there. Do you want to go?"

The movement of Winnie's hands stopped, and she didn't turn her head: "Master! What do you mean by this, do you think I'm bored and want to drive me away?"

"I think it's pretty good there, and it can save candles for the family." Nibel took out the candle stubs that fell on the bed, with a half-smile: "Both board and lodging are provided there, and it's good for girls to read some books." of."

Winnie turned around, opened her mouth, and said nothing.Nibel was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing the sun, his black hair looked a little yellow.Some small dust in the air floated in front of her eyes, and she remembered how it was when she first came to Roswell's house.

At that time, she was 12 years old and Nibel was eight years old. Roswell Sr. took her in after losing her parents and asked her to help take care of Nibel.Nibel was thin as a child.His cheekbones are a little protruding, his chin is very pointed, and his eyes are surprisingly large, which looks uncoordinated, like an exaggerated little puppet bought on the street.Little Nibel was gentle and sensible, but Winnie was often skeptical of that.He always doesn't care about anything, which of course is too absolute, because he takes care of everything.

Winnie knew he had a favorite little handle, a vase just big enough to hold a single flower.Little Nibel always went to the garden to pick the flower of the day and carefully put it into a vase.He wiped it patiently every day until the day he accidentally broke it.

"My God!" Winnie patted Nibel on the shoulder, lest he cry like other children who lost their favorite toys.She is not good at coaxing children.

As a result, little Nibel didn't cry at all. He raised his grape-like eyes and stared at Winnie: "Aren't you going to clean up the pieces?"

Soon a new vase was placed on Little Nibel's table.It was like this many times later, no matter what, no matter how much Little Nibel liked it, if it was accidentally lost or broken, he would not care, and never tried hard to find or restore it.Even when old Roswell died, Niebel shed only a few tears.Winnie felt that his eyes were hot, but his heart was cold.

"You're right, sir. It's a pity a woman can't do much with a book."

"Why? Is there anything an educated woman can't do that an educated man can do?"

The words rushed to this point, and Winnie also agreed.

To study, Winnie had never thought of it before.She really liked reading when she was a child. Her parents read poems, novels, and history to her at home, and she remembered them all. Every night when she came to Nibel’s house, she dug them out from her memory and chewed them over and over again.Later, when Nibel took charge of the house, he asked Winnie to change new candles every day. She firmly supported Nibel's wasteful decision. Every morning, she collected all the candles that Nibel had used, and read books by candles at night. until late at night.

Occasionally when she looked up from the book, she could hear a woman having a private meeting with Nibel.The women have different footsteps, but all are heading in the same direction.Listening to their footsteps, Winnie would always think of Nibel's ornaments back then, which were carefully cared for and then discarded.