[Gone with the Wind] Parallel Time and Space

Chapter23Prison

"Ah, I'm really unlucky today." Rhett glanced at his cards casually, looking embarrassed, and the northern officers around him were very happy when they heard this.With the last card down, Rhett Butler lost another hundred dollars today.But he didn't look annoyed, grinning and saying he was willing to take the bet. "When I get out, I will pay my debts to you."

All the officers expressed that there is no problem, and now whoever wants Rhett Butler to be hanged is the last, it must be them!

Rhett has been in this simple prison for a while, and the life in the prison should have been miserable, but with his clever mind, he finally got the treatment necessary for normal life.Rumors had spread in Atlanta that he had fled with mysterious Confederate gold.Conscience of heaven and earth, he didn't even see a shadow.But maybe he really caused a stir when he came back to town, because he was a speculator coming back in a beautiful carriage when everyone else had nothing to cook.They thought my pockets were full of bills, Rhett thought mockingly.

So many years of business experience told him that investing in a brothel is much more secure than other businesses, and it also makes a lot of money. "Ships sink, brothels don't," he said.And in Atlanta, Bel Watling's brothel was his investment.Most of his money is either in a bank or in a brothel.So, wouldn't he be showing off with his pockets full of banknotes, why, waiting for others to snatch them?

Rhett was locked in an abandoned room. There was only one bed in this room. The walls had scorched marks and the windows were locked. From the windows, two sentries could be seen standing guard at the door.During these boring days, observing the sentinel and the small world revealed by this window was one of his hobbies.At this moment, he heard footsteps, followed by the opening of the door.Then he turned his head and saw a young officer in front of him. He had just shaved and his eyes were cheerful and kind.

"Butler, your sister is here to look for you." The young officer smiled.

"Sister?" It was impossible for Rosemary to come here, and there would be no news of her being in prison at home.If it's Bell... Didn't she just come here yesterday, does she have to see me or something. "But I'm thinking about it. I'm afraid it's inconvenient to see her. Please tell my sister and let her go back."

"You're really cruel, Butler." The young officer leaned casually by the door, and he jokingly said, "This time it's different. She's a decent lady, named Scarlett Hamilton."

"Hehe, then I didn't either... Wait, who are you talking about?"

"Scarlett Hamilton," the officer repeated.

Rhett ignored his displeasure with Hamilton's surname, bursts of joy surged in his heart, and the corners of his mouth curled into a small arc.He walked out of the room, waited for the officer to close the door, and followed him to the hall, the original dining room.

He turned the corner and saw Scarlett, the beauty standing there straight, she was wearing a hat decorated with gorgeous feathers, her thick black hair was slightly exposed from one side, making her neck white But, she was wearing a beautiful dark green velvet dress, and her light lit up the entire dark gray room and his heart.

Hearing their footsteps, she raised her head and looked back at him.At that moment, their eyes met.Rhett felt his heart tremble.Her face was slightly pale but it didn't affect her beauty.There was an instant smile in his dark eyes, and he reached up and took her hands, holding them as warmly and passionately as ever. "Scarlett!" He called her name.He happily lowered his head and kissed Scarlett's cheek. Feeling her panic, he hugged her shoulders tightly and said, "My good little sister."

The officers then went out, leaving the room to Scarlett and Rhett.

Rhett's eyes searched Scarlett's lips and lingered on them for a moment. "It's very good of you to come to see me, you have no idea how happy I am, Scarlett."

Scarlett smiled, and that smile was really bright and bright.But in fact, her heart was a bit complicated, and she tried her best not to show any abnormalities, especially in front of Rhett Butler, the person who knew her best.She had come only to raise Tara's taxes, three hundred dollars.This three hundred dollars is a sky-high price for her!She had nothing on her hands but five dollars.And she couldn't lose Tara, so she came to Atlanta with her poor self-esteem.She dressed herself up meticulously and came before Rhett Butler.

"You see, I offended you out of righteous indignation that night on the road near Lovely..." Well, she could never forget that night.

Scarlett couldn't ignore the guilt she felt for Rhett from the time she decided to come to Atlanta.This feeling should not appear in my heart, Scarlett thought.After all, Rhett Butler was the one who left me alone.He owes me... But the reason did not convince Scarlett in the end. She found out in despair that she had not blamed him long ago. The passage of time made her understand him a little bit.What convinced Scarlett to come here was her love for the red land of Tara.

"My conscience is not guilty of leaving you behind. As for the enlistment... I was thinking of going into the army in high boots and white linen uniform and two dueling pistols. When the boots came Marching in the snow and freezing when worn out and without a coat or any food to eat... I don't know why I didn't desert, it was indeed the purest act of madness, a Because of human blood, southerners can never bear the failure of a career. But please don't worry about my reasons. It is enough to get forgiveness."

"Just being forgiven is enough?" Scarlett raised her head and smiled playfully, the feathers on her hat swaying slightly.

"Just being forgiven is enough." Rhett's tone was affirmative, and he looked at Scarlett with sincere eyes.Seeing Scarlett's clever appearance, he thought of her when she was a child, she was eccentric, and she must say something difficult to make him unable to get off the stage!

"Then I forgive you, Rhett Butler." However, her crisp voice was like the sound of heaven in his ears.Honestly, it's incredible.He looked at her, and Scarlett burst out laughing out of surprise. "So surprised?"

"Well... a bit." The two looked at each other and smiled. At that moment, Rhett Butler felt warm in his heart.And Scarlett's smile added color to her cheeks, they flushed.

Scarlett spun around in front of Rhett, her arms outstretched, her skirt billowing high to reveal her ribboned trouser legs. "You look very energetic and tidy. It seems that you have a good life." Rhett's eyes focused on Scarlett.It's good, it's good, it's good. "So, what did you do after we parted?"

Scarlett panicked, she put on a smile and pretended to be calm.Rhett pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, and she leaned over and laid a hand lightly on his arm, pretending to be nonchalant.

"Well, thank you, I'm doing pretty well, and everything's fine in Tara now, of course, it's been a rough time since Sherman came through here, but he didn't burn down the house after all, and the niggers burned the cattle Got to the swamp, mostly saved. Just this fall we had a bumper crop and ginned twenty bales of cotton. Yes, that's nothing compared to what Tara can give, but we've got a lot of hands on the ground. Plenty. Pa said, of course, next year would be better. But, Rhett, it's no fun in the country these days! You see, there's no balls, no picnics, and the only thing people talk about is hard times! My God, I'm so sick of it! Finally, last week, I couldn't take it anymore, and Dad said that I should take a trip and have a good time. So I came here and wanted to make some clothes, and then Going to see my aunt in Charleston again. It'd be fun to go to the ball again!" She flattered herself with this description of her situation which looked neither rich nor shabby.

That's good……

It's just that Scarlett is still that Scarlett O'Hara!That innocent little girl who loves to dance.

"You're beautiful in your dance clothes, Scarlett, and you know that. I've got to tell you the truth, I've missed you while I've been away."

In order not to reveal her joy, Scarlett hurriedly lowered her eyes. She believed Reiter's words, but she couldn't keep it in her heart.Because she has Tara's tax dollars in her heart now.Now she just needs to bring the topic to him, she can hint to him that she hasn't forgotten him, and then... everything will fall into place.But Scarlett felt her heart was crying, she was in pain.

"When will they get you out of this damn place?"

"It's hard to say, they might have to make the rope longer."

"They don't really hang you, do they?"

"They will, Scarlett, as long as they get a little more evidence against me."

"Ah, Rhett!" Scarlett put her hand on her chest, she suddenly felt her heart beating fast, she had to sit down, but before that, Rhett discovered her abnormality, and embraced her whole body He fell into his arms and sat on the cold floor with her.He hugged Scarlett in his arms to prevent her from being relieved of the coldness. "Scarlett! Scarlett! How are you?"

"No, it's okay." Scarlett reassured Rhett before he called someone. "I'll sit for a while."

Scarlett stretched out her arms and put her arms around Rhett's neck, resting her head on his chest, feeling his broad and strong shoulders and his strong heartbeat.She slowly calmed down.

"Rhett." The voice was very soft, with a hint of coquettishness. "How did you end up in jail?"

Rhett hugged Scarlett tightly in his arms, and said, "After returning to Atlanta, I often went to Aunt Pitty to find out about you. I wanted to go to Tara to find you, baby, but...that afternoon, I was going back from Aunt Pitty's, and a nigger disrespected a white girl, and that girl... suffered the worst. I got so angry that I killed him."

"If you want me to say, you are a hero, Rhett." Scarlett struggled to get up, and she felt much better.Rhett pulled the chair for her and sat next to her, she still looked pale, he was worried and happy at the same time.

"I'm not a hero, Scarlett, I'm a rational person."

"Yes, that's right, a rational person. A rational person, you won't be hanged by them, right? You will try your best to get them to release you." Scarlett paused for a while, and then said: " Why do you always do dangerous things? Rational person? You know your situation but risk yourself and end up in prison. You know that the South has lost but you have no hesitation to invest in it...you let me...let me Worry, Rhett. They can't hang you, because that would kill my heart too." Her voice was getting softer, but Rhett could hear it clearly in the empty and quiet room.

Scarlett didn't know whether she said this for the sake of taxes or her own sincerity.It just spit it out from its own mouth without hesitation.I must be in love with this man, Scarlett thought.I used to like it, I don't know when it started, but I have fallen in love with it.Having found her heart in such an embarrassing situation, Scarlett felt mixed feelings.

What should she do now?Although she tried her best to suppress it, she still showed panic.

"Scarlett, you can't have such an idea." Reiter obviously felt Scarlett's panic, and he moved towards her hands.He took a hand and kissed it lightly.Then he raised his other hand and put it on his cheek for a while.He wants to propose now...

But when he turned his hand over, palm up, and was about to kiss it too, he suddenly took a nervous breath.What kind of hands are those!It was the palm of a stranger, not the soft, white, dimpled hand of Scarlett O'Hara.This hand has become rough and darkened and covered with spots due to labor and sun exposure, the nails have been damaged and deformed, the palm is thickly calloused, and the blood blister on the thumb has not yet fully healed.What an ugly, glaring red scar from last month's splash of boiling oil!She looked at it with horror, and without thinking, she squeezed her hands hastily.

At this time he still did not look up, and she still could not see his face.He opened her fist mercilessly, stared at it, then picked up her other hand, put both hands together, held them silently, and looked down.

Only Rhett knew how the tears in his eyes kept spinning, and only he knew how the tears quietly left his face.Only he himself knew how the tears fell straight to the ground.He didn't let Scarlett see it, so naturally he couldn't let her see it.This was probably the only tear he shed in his life.

His baby told him everything.

Everything couldn't be worse.Gerald was in a trance.There is no one who can do field work to grow cotton, but there are many people who need to be supported, thirteen in total.

"Red, I'll tell you everything. We've been starving to death for more than a year. Oh, you don't know! You can't know! We've never had enough to eat, starved day and night, what's that like? It's terrible! And we don't have any clothes for the cold, and the children are always cold, sick, and..."

"I can stand hunger and cold, but now... now those Carpetbags have raised our taxes and have to pay them right away, and I have nothing but a gold nickel. I must have There's no money to pay those taxes. Don't you understand? If I don't pay, I'll—we'll lose Tara, and we can't lose it anyway!

I will never let it go! "

His darling is working in the fields like a nigger!His baby is starving!His darling was falsely deceiving his affections!His baby came to see him because he was profitable!But his baby didn't love him!

He is like a proud lion who finds himself being teased and hysterically wants revenge.His tone was eerily calm.

"You come here, dangling your jingling earrings like a jerk, pouting your lips, and smiling coquettishly to curry favor with a whore client."

"What on earth are you up to, Mrs. Hamilton? You're not so confused as to think I'm going to propose to you?"

"You're going to try your luck and think I'm going to catch you like a trout baiting me when I'm in prison and I can't get close to women."

"Finally tell the truth, what you're talking about is love, what you want is money, what a real woman!"

"Don't worry. How do you think I want you? How do you think you're worth three hundred dollars? Most women don't charge that much."

The words of revenge did not bring pleasure to Rhett, but instead plunged him into deep pain, and also plunged Scarlet into pain.

When he said that he refused to give Scarlett the money, she was very angry, her face became very ugly, she rushed out the door, and left the room before Rhett could react.

The officers entered the room, and they teased Rhett, but Rhett didn't listen to them.His mind went blank, and for a moment it felt like he was about to stop breathing.He panicked badly.

Suddenly, he rushed out.

No one expected this, and the officers had no time to stop him.He ran all the way to the gate before seeing Scarlett's back.Her back looks so lonely and thin in the cold wind.Rhett called her name loudly.

"Scarlett! Scarlett! Scarlett! Scarlett!!" He shouted loudly, but unfortunately the distance was too far away, and besides, he was stopped inside the gate by the guarding sentry.And Scarlett had already turned a corner.

He lost sight of her.

It's over, I'm losing her.

I am losing her.

I am losing her.

Mom, what should I do?

I love her.

"Bang!" There was a gunshot.Rhett felt pain in his leg.Oh, they think I'm going to run away!

whatever……

Suddenly, a touch of green appeared in his sight, and that color rushed towards him.That's... that's his baby.

That's the girl I love.

Rhett smiled with satisfaction.

The officers tried to drag him back. "Wait, wait," he told them.

Scarlett ran back to him. "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" She rudely pushed the officers away.

"I heard the gunshot, how are you? Ah, Rhett? Why are you bleeding?" Scarlett's voice was crying, and Rhett felt distressed. "Why are you bleeding? Go to the doctor, go to the doctor!"

Rhett tried to hug Scarlett. He leaned into her ear and said, "It's okay, baby. Wait two weeks, two weeks, okay?"

"What are you talking about, Rhett!"

"Two weeks! Wait for me." Rhett said in a pleading tone. "OK?"

Scarlett looked into Rhett's dark eyes and said "Yes".

The author has something to say: This chapter is really long, really (//?//) I thought it was a content, so I didn't separate it.I wish you all a happy new year and all your wishes come true ヾ^_^?