[Count of Monte Cristo] Love and hatred

chapter117

When Haidee opened the door and came in, Plum Tess was examining herself in the mirror.

It has to be said that Plum Tess is a master at makeup.She combed her hair into the popular hairstyle of British aristocrats, and her face was pale, especially the dark red mustache that was carefully pasted, which completely concealed her gender characteristics.

Her clothes, too, were thoroughly English, a high-necked blue coat of [-] with gilt buttons, fine purple calico trousers, and a pair much bigger than she was in fact. Boots for much larger feet.

But Mei Tess was still dissatisfied, and continued to adjust her expression in the mirror, making it look with the unique indifference of the British.

Haiidee folded her hands involuntarily and reminded aloud, "My lord, the carriage is ready."

Plum Tess nodded, "It will be fine soon."

Although when they were in Rome, they were used to calling each other's names.But now, Haidee came to Paris with her as the protege and adopted daughter of Mei Tess, and they must be careful in front of the servants.

In fact, for Haidee, Mei Tess is more like her mother than a sister.Therefore, Haidee respects Mei Tess from the bottom of her heart, and has always guarded her secrets, even for her other benefactor, the Count of Monte Cristo.

A year ago, the earl kept his promise and brought Haidee back to Greece, leading her to the tomb of Governor Ali and Veriserki for the first time.It was also he who brought her to the bottom of the Greek people and made her deeply understand their miserable life under the slavery of the Turks. This shocked Haiide a lot.

Therefore, although Haidee has long been accustomed to the life of Westerners, after she returned from Greece, she seemed to be a different person.It's not just a character change—though she's certainly more mature—it's arguably visible.

She furnished her rooms in Greek style, and even restored her dress to Oriental.This shows that she has made some kind of determination in her heart.She was the Princess of Yanina, and she would never forget that, nor the humiliating and tragic history.

When Plum Tess was ready, Haidee took her hand, and they got into the carriage together, and were going to visit Danglars' house on the Via Anton.

In fact, they had been in Paris for some time, but this was the first time they had received an invitation from Danglars.After all, before this, Danglars and Mei Tess had always been business rivals, and he even tried to destroy her business a few times.

But after Mei Tess fought back, Danglars finally realized that this Lord Weimar from across the English Channel was not as easy to deal with as his previous opponent.

After arriving at the destination, the servant ordered Mei Tess and Haidee to Danglars' magnificent drawing room.This living room is very famous in Andun Dama Road. It is completely decorated with platinum and gold. The armchairs are white lacquered and inlaid with gold. The chair covers on the armchairs are white satin embroidered with gold. Even the ceiling is gilded. It looks gorgeous and dazzling, but there is an indescribably tacky feeling.

Here, Plum Tess once again meets her match.Danglars had looked much older and uglier since that encounter in Rome.His forehead is flat and slightly concave, like a red snake, his head is round, his nose is pointed and hooked, and he looks a bit like a vulture.However, there was still a haughty expression on his face.

In fact, Danglars specifically ordered the visitor to be introduced into this room, hoping to overwhelm him with its luxury.But he didn't show his truest side, or in other words, the most arrogant side.This time he took the initiative to hand over the olive branch. On the one hand, he wanted to "turn an enemy into a friend" and establish a business cooperation relationship.On the other hand, he heard that Lord Weimar was the Count of Monte Cristo's enemy, and he showed great interest in the Count himself. Therefore, he hoped to find out some information about the Count of Monte Cristo from Mei Tess.

On the latter point, however, Danglars was obviously unable to do so, for as soon as he mentioned the "Count of Monte Cristo," Meltes interrupted him in a very cold tone, expressing that he did not want to talk about that person.

After being stunned, Danglars led Mei Tess and Haide into the baroness's reception room, hoping that his wife could help find out some news.

This small octagonal living room is completely opposite to Danglars' living room, but this does not mean that the owner of the room is a person with more taste than Danglars.

The room is hung with Indian white linen curtains and curtains, but it is matched with gorgeous rococo-style pink thin silk. The furniture is all valuable antiques bought at auction houses, but Boucher's country-themed paintings hang on the walls.And in the center of the small living room, there is a piano that has never been used.In short, everything in this room is very elegant, but when they are put together, they are extremely incongruous.

Normally, Danglars could not break into this room casually.He had to be accompanied by a guest if he wanted to come in.So it was not actually Danglars who introduced the guest, but the guest who introduced him.And whether his reception was warm or indifferent, it all depended on whether the baroness liked or hated the man who accompanied him.

At this time, the baroness was looking at Mei Tess with a kind of not so polite eyes, because the Count of Monte Cristo came before her, and she didn't care about a lord who came from abroad like him but was not as rich as him. Then we were interested.But when she looked at Haidee beside Plum Tess, her eyes softened.In fact, Haidee's exquisite oriental attire is just what an arty person like her yearns for.

Plum Tess was also watching.But she will not be so superficial as the baroness who only looks at other people's clothes.For some reason, she faintly felt that the baroness seemed inexplicably familiar.In addition, she noticed that there was a handsome man in the room, Lucien, secretary to the Minister of the Interior.

She understood the public relationship between the two of them almost immediately.Because when she came in, the baroness and Lucien were sitting together on the piano bench, which was just a social diversion, because she didn't hear a little piano sound from this room from beginning to end.

They exchanged only a few words, and Danglars had to leave with his guests.Because he wanted to talk to Mei Tess alone, Danglars led Haidee enthusiastically to the upstairs room and introduced him to his daughter Eugenie.He was going to imply that his daughter would keep Haidee there, but Eugenie offered the invitation.

When Danglars came downstairs, there was already a burst of joyful piano sound upstairs, and it was the first time when he discovered that he and his daughter still had a connection.

"My daughter and your adopted daughter are fast friends," he said to Maize Tess.

"I'm really happy for them," said Mei Tess.

"By the way, your adopted daughter seems to be Indian?" Danglars asked suspiciously.

"She's not Indian," Mei Tess pondered for a while, "but she does come from the East."

"It seems that her parents must be rich too," Danglars admired. "She is full of gems."

"In fact, what her parents can leave her is far from being described as rich, but those things have been taken away."

"It's a pity," Danglars said with a false smile, "but it's really hard for an orphan girl to keep her own property. This is the case with my daughter's friend Rosie, who originally had a fortune at home. property, but she got nothing, and finally our family kindly took her in."

"Rosie?" Mei Tess frowned slightly, "Is her surname Amelie?"

"How do you know?" Danglars asked in surprise.In fact, he also had a hand in the matter of embezzlement of the property of the Amille family, so he couldn't help feeling a little guilty when Maisy Tess mentioned it.

"Oh, I heard it happen by chance from a friend I made in Paris," explained Melissa. "She said Miss Amélie had a brother in prison."

"Yes, I just heard recently that he has died in prison, but his sister is still in the dark," said Danglars in a low voice.

"Why, doesn't Miss Amley know about that?" Maisette asked in surprise.

"She always thought her brother had died many years ago," sighed Danglars.

Mei Tess suddenly remembered Amilai's last words, so she didn't go into it further.

"In comparison, your adopted daughter is much luckier." Danglars blinked, "I heard that you haven't married a wife yet, so you plan to leave all the property under your name to her?"

"It seems that you don't understand the laws of England." Mei Tess folded her hands. "In fact, Britain's inheritance laws are very different from France's. Many lands are inherited by heirs."

"Then your beautiful adopted daughter will have nothing?" said Danglars in a tone of regret.

"No, actually, I've been trying to give her something over the years."

"for example..."

"For example, wisdom, such as vision." Plum Tess pondered for a while, "Also, I have been cultivating her artistic accomplishment."

"Speaking of art, I don't know what's the use of it," said Danglars contemptuously. "My daughter spends a lot of money every year learning music, and now she is clamoring to learn painting. If she uses the money Buying jewelry or something, at least it can preserve its value.”

Mei Tess was disgusted by the baron's vulgarity. The two identities of a millionaire and a miser are not contradictory. "In fact, what you said is not entirely correct."

"How?" Danglars frowned.

She pointed to a painting in the stately drawing room, and said, "If I guess correctly, you paid a fortune for these paintings."

Danglars nodded, and said proudly, "Of course, these are masterpieces of Italian painters Abalna and Falto, and I bought them back at a huge price, but they will only become more valuable in the future. "

"Actually, they are Albana and Fattore," Mei Tess corrected, "I don't know what the big price you mentioned is. If you buy it back as an authentic work, you will lose a lot."

The guest's words were full of irony, and of course Danglars could hear it.He squeezed his lips together for a while, as if trying to suppress his anger before he dared to speak.After a while like this, he turned to his visitor and said, "What do you mean?"

"Because they're all copies."

"How do you know?" asked Danglars.

"Because the real ones are in the Louvre now." Mei Tess raised her eyebrows, "If you don't believe me, you can go and see for yourself."

Danglars bit his lip. In fact, he himself had never entered such a place.But on this matter, in fact, his daughter Eugenie reminded him a long time ago, but he didn't believe her daughter's words at that time, because Eugenie insisted that he buy paintings by French contemporary painters, and he thought it was his weird idea. Another trick by the daughter.But now that an outsider pointed it out again, Danglars had no choice but to believe it, but at that time he was very fond of the old-fashioned atmosphere of the Directorate, and looked down on contemporary painters the most.

"Now you believe it," Mei Tess said with a mocking tone, "Although mastering a certain amount of art knowledge will not make you a lot of money for the time being, it will at least keep you from losing money in art investment."

Danglars was sweating coldly, he just wanted to remove the paintings that made him ashamed as soon as Lord Weimar left, and then temporarily fill them with the paintings in his daughter's room.

“Well, I don’t know art,” admits Danglars. “In fact, I’ve always been troubled by not knowing something else.”

"What is it?"

The corner of Danglars' mouth curled up unconsciously, because he had successfully steered the topic to the direction he wanted, "That's technology."

"How do you say it?" asked Mei Tess.

"I heard that factories in England are very developed, and I hope to see such factories in Paris," Danglars went straight to the point.

"Baron Danglars, as far as I know, you own a textile factory in Paris," Mae Tess said with a smile.

"It was once brilliant and made me a lot of money, but it is a pity that it is behind the times now." Danglars rolled his eyes, "After all, as a native of France, it is difficult for me to get those new technologies overseas. I There is a language barrier and there is no trusted translator, but it will be different if an Englishman manages it."

"So you're going to sell your mill?"

"To be precise, it's a transfer." Danglars tried his best to show a smile. This unnatural expression made his face even uglier. "I don't intend to make money in this factory. After all, I have had feelings for so many years. I hope that the new customers of the factory can use the remaining money to treat my old workers well."

"You are such a kind person," Mei Tess raised her eyebrows.She had investigated Danglars' property long ago, and now he was having a headache for those workers who were on strike to demand a raise in wages.However, she has other plans, and this factory is an indispensable part.

"Yes, and there is such a good thing, I thought of you first," Danglars blinked, "You are British, and you have enough strength to take over this factory.

"I need to think about it."

"Of course you have to think about it," said Danglars hastily, "but as soon as possible, because your enemy, the Count of Monte Cristo, has also taken a fancy to this factory."

"What, he's also taken a fancy to a factory?" Mei Tess raised her eyebrows pretending to be surprised.

"Yes, last time he said how wonderful it would be to use this factory to weave cotton yarn from India."

"Okay, I'm willing to buy it," Mei Tess smiled sternly.

"What?" Danglars was a little surprised this time. He didn't expect that Lord Weimar didn't even go to the factory to take a look. "I mean...that's really great."

"Baron Danglars, I believe you have already prepared the contract."

"Of course", Danglars immediately offered the contract.But Mei Tess folded her hands and said, "No, Baron Danglars, I believe that the contract you have prepared is not this one."

Danglars was a little confused.However, he still gritted his teeth and took out another contract, the price was much lower than the previous one.

Plum Tess still shook her head, "Not this one either."

Danglars took out the last contract in a cold sweat, and the price of the contract was exactly the cost price of the factory.The reason why he is willing to sell at this price is because he believes that the factory will close down soon.

Plum Tess signed immediately.

That evening, when Mei Tess and Haidee were about to leave, Danglars and his daughter came out to see them off.Danglars had an uncontrollable smile on his face as he successfully sold the factory that was about to close down.

And Eugenie had a reluctance on her face.She and Haidee spent a pleasant afternoon in the room, and they had the same views on art.

The author has something to say: Thank you Ruan Sili and Asarum Erliang for the landmines, it’s a waste of money, okay~

Thank you Zhang Yixing for the same Gorgon cake?, Tianyu Liufang, Ruan Sili, An Ran Wu Yu, Fatahfi, Xixia's nutrient solution, okay~