[Gone with the Wind] Back to the beginning

Scarlett's relief did not reassure the family, but made them love her even more.

In fact, because Scarlett was psychologically prepared, she didn't feel much grief for Charles' death.She tried to put on a sad look, but she couldn't even convince herself with that look, so she had to give up quietly.Except for a few private prayers for Charlie, Scarlett lived as usual.However, the family thought she was enduring the pain.

"It won't do her any good to keep the pain inside," said old Dr. Fontaine. "It's best to change the environment." He would like to get rid of this patient who he didn't even think was sick.

Just in time, the third letter from Miss Pitt arrived.

Miss Pitt was a plump old lady and the aunt of Melanie and Charles.She had written several times to urge Ellen to allow her daughter to live permanently in Atlanta, and this time, Ellen seriously considered the matter.

Peter Pat and Melanie lived in a big house. "Without a man," wrote Miss Pitt, "my dear Charles has gone, and though there is my brother Henry, he does not live with us, and I cannot write more here. If Scarlett will come to live with me, May Mary and I will feel so much better, so much safer. Scarlett is so brave, we are not afraid to have her. Besides, dear Scarlett may find a way to relieve her sorrow here, like Mary, go to the hospital Take care of the brave lads."

In this way, Scarlett packed her luggage again and set off for Atlanta.Before leaving, however, she had a conversation with her mother, Ellen.

During her time in Charleston, Ellen worked day and night to double Tara's production to support the Confederate war effort.She also lost weight quickly because of this. Scarlett was shocked when she saw it, and then felt guilty.

My mother died of overwork in her previous life.

She'd never forget the feeling of dragging a boy, a baby, a woman who had just given birth, and a foolish nigger back to Tara in the chaos of war, thinking she'd be free With a heavy burden, she threw herself into her mother's arms and acted like a baby carefree, but got a bolt from the blue.

"Your mother died yesterday," repeated Gerald dully like a parrot with tired eyes, "she died yesterday—she died yesterday—she died yesterday It's-"

"The doctor said that she exhausted her physical strength..."

She must never let her mother die of exhaustion again.

"If you don't promise me, take good care of yourself, I will never go to Atlanta." Scarlett insisted.

"Honey, I'm very relieved." Ellen said softly, "But the Confederacy needs us..."

"But we need you too!"

During those days when she lost her mother, the painful feeling hit her heart again. Scarlett's throat suddenly choked up, and she was too sad to speak. Ellen looked in surprise at the sudden tearful The eldest daughter repeatedly promised that she would take care of herself.

"It's time for Su Ailun to learn how to manage the manor." Scarlett quickly wiped away her tears and raised her head, feeling a little embarrassed by her sudden sentimentality. "She is about to get married, and she will manage a big manor in the future."

Although Ellen temporarily agreed to her, Scarlett knew that it was only out of her love for her daughter.Mother would still work as hard as she could, so Scarlett had to find her a helper—to be honest, she was thinking about going to Atlanta, if she didn't worry about not seeing Rhett in her life.

"Okay." Ellen stroked her hair tenderly.

When Su Ailun learned that Scarlett persuaded her mother to let her help manage the manor, she immediately ran over angrily, preparing to have a big fight with Scarlett.This younger sister is the same as Scarlett back then, only thinking about how to dress herself well and how to attract boys, how could she be willing to learn complicated things about the manor?

However, Scarlett was a businessman after all, and a few words made this sister she didn't like smile.

"Aren't you going to marry Frank?" Scarlett said with a look of surprise, almost exaggerated, "God, Sue Ellen, I can't believe it. Have you forgotten how much land Frank has? You hope to let him find out after you marry Are you a piece of shit?"

Su Ailun was stunned, she had never thought about this question.

"Besides," Scarlett added, "Frank is the captain of the quartermaster now, and he has to come down every month to collect supplies. Don't you want Frank to come, and his mother will praise him: this month's production in Tara Is it due to Su Ailun?"

Su Ailun's heart was moved by what she said. At first, she was a little suspicious of Scarlett's intentions, but after thinking about it, Scarlett's fiancé was dead, and she suddenly felt superior.So he stopped arguing with Scarlett and happily went to Ellen to learn manor management.

And Scarlett finally embarked on a journey to Atlanta.

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If a southerner takes the trouble to pack his bags and go out as a guest twenty miles away, he will go for a month, often much longer.Southerners love to be guests, just as they love to entertain guests who come to their door.It's not surprising that relatives come to celebrate Christmas and live until next July.Newlyweds hang out with relatives for their honeymoon, often staying in a relative's comfortable home until their second child is born.Elderly aunts and aunts come to dinner on Saturdays and stay there for years, maybe, until they die.The guests don't cause any trouble, anyway, the house is spacious enough and there are many servants.In this fertile land, it is a trivial matter to have more mouths to eat.Besides, the life of the southerners is slow and orderly, and the guests are more excited and changed, of course they are welcome.

Because of these reasons, and Scarlett's intention to develop a relationship with Rhett's mother, she lived in Charleston long enough. When she went back to Tara to rest for a while, and then left for Atlanta, the fact There was not much difference between the time of her last life and her last life—in her last life, she went to Charleston to change her mood after giving birth, but at that time she hated the old-fashioned Charleston people so much, she stayed there not long before going back.

Atlanta has always been Scarlett's favorite city, second only to Tara.In her previous life, she spent a lot of time in Atlanta.Almost all of her and Rhett's story takes place in Atlanta, too.When Scarlett was a child, she heard her father say that the city was as big as her, and when she grew up, she realized that her father's words were exaggerated, and he was willing to exaggerate as long as it made the story sound good.In fact, Atlanta was nine years older than her. It was named Terminos at first, and then Marthasville, and was renamed Atlanta in the year she was born.

The city that grew up with the railway has always been very similar to her.Atlanta before the war was fresh, bold, rude and full of aggressiveness, just like her impulsive willfulness. After the war, Atlanta flooded with all kinds of baggers, speculators, and free blacks, becoming chaotic and lacking order , but finally stood up firmly, just as she survived everything despite being hardened by life and beyond recognition.

Scarlett had always liked Atlanta for exactly what the people of Savannah and Augusta and Maconetti reviled, a city that combined old and new Georgia.When the two conflict, the strong-willed and vigorous new often prevails.Just like herself, she would rather change than be imprisoned and eliminated by the old things.

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Scarlett stood at the gate of the station with her luggage.Although she and Charles were only engaged and did not need to wear mourning, in order to win Melanie's favor, Scarlett tried to dress as simple as possible.She didn't dress up very much, she just chose the simplest pale green moiré silk dress without lace.Melanie's love was something that she used to squander and didn't care about, but it is also what she is trying to fight for now.

Scarlett looked around for the old lady's red cheeks.I saw cars coming and going on the red mud streets, military carriages and ambulance carriages rolling in, loading and unloading supplies and wounded from the trains, busy.The coachman yelled and cursed, and the mules ran wildly, making a lot of noise.Just as she was in a hurry, a lean old black slave with a shaggy gray beard was walking towards her in the mud with a hat in his hand.Scarlett recognized it at once. It was Uncle Peter.

"Is this Miss Scarlett? My name is Peter, and I'm Miss Pete's coachman. Miss Pete was so excited when she heard that you were coming, she fainted, and now she has no energy, so she sent me to pick you up." He said Then he took the salute, looked at Scarlett for a while, and saw that she was obviously satisfied with her simple attire, "Miss Scarlett, let's go."

Scarlett was quite flattered by Uncle Peter's hospitality. At the end of her previous life, this old black man who was loyal to the Wilkes family didn't have a good look at her.Quickly and obediently followed Uncle Peter and walked towards the carriage.

Uncle Peter nimbly climbed onto the driver's seat, picked up the whip and swung it.He was the old nigger of the Hamiltons, and he was loyal to the family.During the Mexican War, he followed Charles in the fight against Melanie's father and saved his life.He single-handedly raised the Hamiltons after their parents died.Around that time, Pittpat also had a falling out with his brother Henry and moved in with him.Pete is an old kid who doesn't grow up, has no ideas, and everything is decided by Uncle Peter.Charles once said, "He is the smartest and most loyal black slave I have ever met. The only thing I hate is that the three of us have to listen to his body and mind, and he knows this." It is precisely because In this way, he finally followed the advice of Uncle Peter and joined the South Carolina Army.

Thinking of Charlie, Scarlett had some strange emotions.She quickly shook her head to throw these away, and returned her attention to the old black man.

Uncle Peter is loyal and has a high status in the Hamilton family.Things like how old Melanie was to wear her hair in a bun and go to the ball, and whether Aunt Pete should go out and wear a shawl were all decided by the loyal old black man.Perhaps because of Charles' death, Uncle Peter looked haggard, but he was still serious.

When she was observing Uncle Peter, Uncle Peter was also secretly watching Scarlett.For the time being, he gave a lively and sensible evaluation in his heart.After seeing Scarlett, Uncle Peter felt a sense of responsibility, because this girl and Charles were once engaged, and he was determined to control this well-behaved girl.

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Scarlett sat in the carriage and looked around. After all, the impression of the city remained in her heart more than ten years later.

Compared with before the war, Atlanta has changed too much.Several railways made her a center of commerce in peacetime and now a strategic location.Now, in order to meet the needs of the war, Atlanta has become a manufacturing center, a medical base, and one of the main supply stations in the South.The city in front of me is like a baby that has grown into a giant with long arms and legs and is constantly busy overnight.

Before the war, there were very few cotton mills, woolen mills, arsenals, and machinery factories in the area south of Maryland, and the southerners were proud of it—politicians, soldiers, manor owners, lawyers, doctors, and poets came out of the south, but of course there were no engineers, Mechanic, let the Yankees do the work.But now that the Confederate ports were blocked by Yankee gunboats, and only a little blockade material was smuggled in from Europe, the South had to desperately manufacture its own military supplies.

Today, the headquarters of various military branches can be seen along Peachtree Street and nearby streets.The small town had disappeared, and the new, fast-growing city was bustling and full of life, which made Scarlett breathless from the leisurely and quiet life in the country, but she liked it here, the atmosphere here was exciting and inspiring, and she It was as if she felt the heart of the city beating faster, in perfect time with her own pulse.Although the streets of this city were narrow and situated among the rolling red hills, there was a vitality in the bones, a natural wildness, and it hit her right away, although she maintained an elegant style on the face.

The upsurge in the city's atmosphere completely ignited the enthusiasm in Scarlett's bones.She just wanted to shout: Atlanta, here I come!