[Gone with the Wind] Back to the beginning

By evening, the news had gotten worse.

It was alarming enough without news that the Yankees were heading south, and that two trains had been stopped by the Yankees in Atlanta and Jonesboro, according to reliable reports.The fleeing crowd looked at each other in blank dismay, but there were no trains on other routes, so they could only pray to the heavens and set foot on the journey without knowing the way ahead.

Those Yankees wrecked the tracks, knocked people over, and stole people's property!Oh, they rape|□□ women and bully children!The people in Atlanta were terrified, messages were flooding, and Mrs. Merriwether, Mrs. Meade and Mrs. Elsing jointly suppressed them. They still stuck to their posts—"The hospital needs us", the three women said so loyally, and they expressed their gratitude to the initiative. Scarlett, who came back to help, felt a kind of tacit respect.But Scarlett's caring for the seriously wounded was unseemly after all, and no wife except Mrs. Meade knew about it.

But for all these brave Southern citizens, many more chose to leave their homeland.Many of the ladies in Scarlett's circle were gone, gone at the beginning of the siege, Aunt Pitt, and Mrs Whiting, and Fanny and Maybelle with the baby, they all went.Atlanta is full of desolation.At night, apart from the occasional cannon, there was no other movement.

The siege of the city has lasted for several days, and shells fly like thunder.The gloomy and ominous night was dead silent, and the mockingbird uttered a timid cry, and soon the sharp muzzle shot broke the false tranquility.The fragrance of honeysuckle and roses was still there, but it was shattered by the smoke of the cannonball in the blink of an eye.In the dead of night, occasionally a soldier hobbled over and knocked on the door, begging for a drink of saliva.They were all soldiers who had been given an hour or two of vacation, and were almost paralyzed from exhaustion.Scarlett remembered the news that Rhett said during the day, and she did not sleep well. After bringing water and food to the two soldiers one after another (there was still some left at Aunt Pete’s house, she couldn’t take it), Scarlett simply Get up and sit down on the front porch.

Golden light from the living room windows spilled onto the dark, vine-covered porch.A tangle of climbing roses and honeysuckle formed a vast barrier of fragrance around her.The night was extremely quiet, didn't you hear a gunshot for almost half an hour?The world seemed far away, and Scarlett sat in the rocking chair rocking back and forth gently, feeling lonely and desolate.She recited the "Rosary" silently in her heart, but found that she could not memorize the scriptures completely, let alone seek inner comfort.Yes, God has long stopped bless her and bless the South, the era of prayer has passed, only she can not give up on herself.

Scarlett took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment of peace.But as soon as she closed her eyes, she felt the past events vividly unfolding in front of her eyes, and she quickly opened them again.Don't recall the past, she warned herself, don't, don't be sad now, cheer up, you can get the medicine almost the day after tomorrow, don't let yourself sink into sadness at this time... absolutely not!But at this time, besides sadness, is there any other memory that can be recalled?

The family doesn't know what's going on!Did the Yankees hit Tara?Has mother's condition stabilized?The grain and cotton she hid are all good, right?Can they get through this disaster safely?The more Scarlett thought about it, the more disturbed she became.Somebody, Scarlett thought silently.Whoever he is, come to someone to accompany her, don't make her think wildly, and help her get through this night.Please, please come to someone.Even Mrs. Merriwether, that old bastard!Please come to someone!

She buried her face deeply in her hands, tired and sad, when she suddenly heard a "click" in her ear.

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There was a sudden click of the door, and Scarlett hurriedly raised her head.Standing up, Rhett, his Panama hat in hand, was walking down the aisle.His tall figure cast a shadow on the ground in front of her, but he didn't seem to notice Scarlett's momentary loss of composure, and he sat down on the step at her feet carelessly.

"Haven't slept so late?" Under the faint light, it could be seen that his brows were knotted, and then he seemed to realize that his concern was too explicit, Rhett added, "I saw the lights on outside, so I came in to have a look."

Scarlett answered vaguely, not knowing what to answer.

Rhett was silent for a moment, then asked softly, "Are you worried about your family?" His tone was exceptionally gentle.

Scarlett nodded silently.

Still silent.Relatively silently Rhett took her hand.He put her hands together in his palms, played with them casually, and raised his head slightly facing her, his black eyes staring at her face in the night.This is a somewhat ambiguous gesture, which implies a dangerous and provocative meaning, but at the moment it is especially reassuring.Scarlett's whole body felt like an electric shock, her body was weak and her blood was rushing, and she couldn't refuse Rhett's caress at all, but she felt his soft tone and the warm breath blowing on her palm from time to time.

"You intend to ride back to Tara?"

It is a problem, and it is a key problem.Scarlett managed to regain her senses. She tried several times to withdraw her hand from him, but failed.

"That's right. The train is not safe, and it's not safe to take medicine. I'd rather ride the horse by myself, and my mother's medicine can't go wrong."

"Not a carriage?" He chuckled softly.

"No, no time. I'd rather have a horse, and get home much quicker."

After she had just finished saying this, Rhett, who had been staring at her all this time, laughed.This burst of laughter came out of nowhere, and Scarlett herself couldn't figure it out at all, but she felt that the low laughter was sexy and intoxicating, seductive in the mellow and dark night, and she couldn't help but blush secretly.In front of Rhett, she always seemed at a loss, like a little girl.How did I not discover this before?She obviously fell in love with him early on.The man in front of her was like a mystery, and Scarlett was puzzled and uneasy.What the hell does he mean?

Seeing that Rhett had finally had enough of laughing.Scarlett asked a little unnaturally: "What are you laughing at?" But just after she finished speaking, she felt that her voice was artificial, which was quite different from usual.Scarlett couldn't help being ashamed and angry, but Rhett was calm and calm, and even had the leisure to tease her.

"I'm laughing at you," he said with a smile, "I'm laughing at you, you obviously don't want to take away the silverware in this room, but you can't take it away, so it hurts."

It turned out that he was mocking her again.Scarlett felt a burst of fire in her heart, and all the charming thoughts just dissipated completely.Angrily, she broke away from his hand, stood up and called out the man's name angrily: "Rhett Butler!"

—Is it that obvious?

Rhett laughed loudly, almost making Scarlett worry about disturbing the neighbors in the silent night, and remembering that the next door had moved out was another desolation.Rhett laughed and stood up, even though he stood on the two steps below her, he was still a whole head higher than her.He stretched out his arm, put it lightly on her shoulder, and said comfortingly: "Don't be angry, Scarlett, I'm not laughing at you."

"I just feel sorry for you, I love you dearly, Scarlett." He whispered, as if he was about to get closer, but he took two steps away to carefully observe the changes in her complexion, he smiled, and he said to her after confirming, "Can I say a few words to you? Scarlett, there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about."

What is he going to say?Scarlett's heart was pounding. Was he going to confess?Pick at this time?No, not quite.So he was trying to tease her?Or something else?What on earth is he going to say?She became flustered, but this hesitant look fell into Rhett's eyes, which instead revealed her true feelings. Rhett laughed softly:

"Scarlett, don't be nervous." He sat back on the steps again, with his long legs crossed and stretched out at will, "Sit, Scarlett."

His tone was as soft as a whisper, and Scarlett followed him and sat down as if bewitched.Can't be controlled by him.Next, she thought, he was going to seduce her.She had to regain the initiative and not be manipulated by him.So she opened her mouth and said:

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Kerrett didn't answer at the moment.He took her hand again and looked at it carefully, and played with it for a while before finally speaking.He finally spoke.But his first sentence surprised Scarlett:

"You know, Scarlett. You've always given me a strange feeling."

Scarlett froze for a moment, but Rhett Butler obviously didn't intend to ask for an answer right away.He just patted the girl's hand reassuringly, feeling Scarlett's body visibly relax.He laughed again, and went on slowly:

"You are different from other girls. Of course, I like you because of this."

"Like me!" She thought with great effort, "Like me! He admitted it!" She couldn't help her face getting hot.Look at this worthless look!She secretly spurned herself, and he just said he likes it, why are you so happy?But he almost missed his next sentence.

"You are beautiful and charming, and girls are good at all kinds of tricks. But it is useless, there are many beautiful and lovely girls in the world! But you are different from them, and this is what fascinates me; you have a flexible conscience and a shrewd person Affordable, selfish but too lazy to hide it, like a pretty kitten who lazily stretches out her paws to scratch other people's faces, but doesn't care, and doesn't even bother to take them back. — oh , Sorry, let me correct it, you are not too lazy to cover up, but you are very relaxed in front of me." Speaking of this, he chuckled softly.

"But that's not the biggest difference between you and the other girls, Scarlett. The point is—sometimes, you confuse me."