[Gone with the Wind] Parallel Time and Space

Chapter5 Banquet

Rhett Butler stood in front of Scarlett casually with his tall and straight body.After many years, he has become taller and stronger, his face has become dark like a pirate, but his temperament is still so "ungentlemanly".He held the hat in his hand, his eyes were smiling, and his naked eyes were penetrating.Scarlett had never hated that look.She walked down the stairs, and he waited for her to walk towards him and stood a meter away from him.Unexpectedly, at the same time, Mr. Kennedy walked over quickly, took a look at the two of them, and took the initiative to introduce each other to them.

Both listened to Mr. Kennedy's introduction, and then Rhett spoke first: "Ah, Miss O'Hara, nice to meet you." He called her Miss O'Hara, and Scarlett felt cold, but knew he was right. Yes, they should never have seen it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Scarlett's words seemed very cold, and she tried her best to show that she didn't care about Rhett at all, but in fact, there was a beast screaming in her heart, and she wanted to question him very much. At least she left her a message at the beginning, Or any other way, just let her know what's going on.

Mr. Kennedy babbled a lot more, but Scarlett didn't listen. She hoped impatiently that he would leave earlier, but it turned out that Mr. Kennedy dragged Rhett away.

Scarlett turned around angrily, and was surprised to find that Melanie was sitting at a table in the distance watching her, without her other female companions around her. Seeing her turn around, she smiled softly.oh!Melanie!She went straight, and Melanie stood up to meet her. She took Scarlett's hand, and then touched her face. "You're shaking, dear."

"I must be pissed off." Scarlett realized that she was indeed trembling, but waved Melanie's hand away indifferently.

"I think you may be nervous." Melanie invited Scarlett to sit down.

"Oh? Why should I be nervous?" Scarlett snorted coldly, but she felt a little guilty when she said this.

"Because after so many years, you finally saw Mr. Butler again, didn't you?" Melanie's eyes were gentle, just like Scarlett's mother Ellen. She put her hands on Scarlett's, expecting to give She loves people with comfort and understanding.Scarlett didn't pull her hand back, she didn't say a word.

Scarlett is a bright girl, very bright, not only in her homework - she was good at math problems at school, but in her ability to learn - especially from being a black mum and mother The learning of the lady's growth rules cultivated by Ellen is the ability to please men.She knows which angle is the most beautiful, how to blink to show her agility, and how to smile to reveal the sweetest dimples.These are skills she has learned by herself.The female parents taught her more focused on how to be a lady, such as not eating too much at the banquet; not discussing politics casually; dancing a waltz to show that you are going to faint; never express yourself in front of men More knowledgeable than them and so on.It's just that for Scarlett, these rules are annoying, she usually puts them aside, and she only uses them under certain circumstances.Like now.

She took another seat so that the boys could surround her in a circle, and she attracted a dozen boys.Only none of them named Rhett Butler, indeed, he wasn't a boy any longer.The boy, Charles Hamilton, is on her right, holding her fan in one hand and his plate of untouched roast in the other.Scarlett smiled at him and said to him from time to time that he was Melanie's brother.This makes other men especially jealous and makes him feel "flattered".

Scarlett pretended to look around casually, Melanie and Ashley were chatting, her sister Sue Ellen glared at her, Karin looked like she was about to cry, but she didn't even notice Rhett , suddenly felt very annoyed, although she liked the feeling of being surrounded by stars, which made her feel attractive and got affirmation from the outside world.But it's meaningless at all, because she didn't achieve her goal, and instead attracted the hatred of those boring silly girls next to her, although she didn't care.

After the barbecue banquet is over, the ladies will go to take a nap. This is a rule, and all the ladies will take a nap.However, Scarlett knows that she is not a lady. She always thinks that I will be a lady in the future, just like my mother taught me, but not now, she still has her own little thoughts.

She sneaked down from upstairs and heard the men in the meeting room discussing politics and talking about the war.She is not interested in these topics.war?politics?State rights?What does it matter to me?But she heard a familiar voice, with a Charleston accent, drawing a long, slow voice, and the speaker was mocking and dismissive.When the men said they could beat the Yankees back in a month, he said we were not as good as the North, we had no factories, no battleships. "And they... countless foreign immigrants, laborers, iron foundries and coal mines who would willingly fight for the Yankees for food and a few dollars...everything we don't have, but all we have is cotton, slaves" he There was a pause, "and arrogance."

Facing the questioning of the typical southern gentlemen, he said: "God is on the side of the strongest army!"

Scarlett frowned, deeply surprised.To be honest, she didn't quite understand what Rhett meant, but she could understand that we would lose.But for the current Scarlett, that's all there is to it, she doesn't think about how the defeat will affect her life.It was as if she was fantasizing about marrying her sweetheart and disdaining the dullness of married women who could not dance at balls without thinking that if they married themselves they would have to sit with other married women. Together, she too can only sit on stage and watch when the dance begins.

So when Rhett left the meeting room, she suppressed the doubts in her heart and followed, to the study of the Wilkes family.

"Aha, my little cat, what are you doing with me?" Rhett Butler dragged Scarlet into the study and closed the door.

This time, Scarlett was extremely embarrassed, but the arrogance in her bones gave her aura.She randomly found an excuse. "I heard you say we're going to lose, Mr. Butler."

"Don't be so unfamiliar, Scarlett, I miss you calling me Brother Rhett." He sat on the sofa, patted the seat next to him, and signaled Scarlett to come and sit.He didn't seem to care much about it. "You don't come here to find the truth, do you? Eh? Scarlett. But I can say that I am one of the few sober people in the south."

Scarlett didn't care about the war, nor what he said in the conference room just now, so she focused on the first half of the sentence. "Do you think that after you left without a word and now appearing in front of me as if nothing had happened, I will still call you so affectionately? Impossible!" She did not sit down, but stood, her green eyes straight Googo looked at him.

"So, what are you looking forward to, Scarlett? Get married? Scarlett, I like you, I have liked you since you were young, that's right. But it's not enough, I don't want to get married. "

Scarlett picked up a porcelain bottle on the table and threw it at him.He laughed and ducked away.