[Gone with the Wind] Back to the beginning

He must have noticed Jonathan when Scarlett had almost noticed her.The hatred made him excited immediately, and the light of seeing the prey appeared in his cloudy eyes.Meeting Scarlett's contemptuous and hostile eyes, the former Tara supervisor showed a malicious smile, and drove the horse a few steps forward, just stopping in front of her carriage.

"Look, isn't this from Tara—Miss O'Hara? How did she get down to this rags?"

Scarlett saw buried resentment and malice in that sly face, and it made her realize at once that Tara's sky-high taxes had been paid.Jonathan's frustration stemmed from the failure of this revenge.She now had to watch out for new tricks the villain would come up with--but nothing would make her bow to Jonathan.

"Better than being a pug," said Scarlett coldly, holding down an angry Big Sam to keep him from acting rashly.The odds were against her that any frontal attack on Jonathan Wilkerson would result in charges, and there was no way the Yankee courts were on her side.She can't give away the handle in vain.

Jonathan's face turned liver-colored.But soon, his expression was normal again, and instead he inspected Scarlett's body with an obscene and lustful gaze, and said presumptuously and obsequiously:

"Yeah, Pug. How sensible and sweet—and you? Tell me, where's that huge sum of money. There's no way Tara can conjure up a sum of money to pay taxes right away, especially—you know Yes, I made it very interesting. Aha! Scarlett O'Hara, Miss Tara, what a dark secret! Come on, tell your backer, where are you from? Get the money from a grown-up—"

"Shut your mouth!" cried Scarlett angrily, and Big Sam raised his fist high at the same time.In the blink of an eye, Scarlett woke up from the monstrous rage, and the smile on Jonathan Wilkerson's face was so clear!He was going to piss her off, make her do something out of control, and accuse Tara!He will take all her property directly!Scarlett yelled "No", but Big Sam's fist was about to land on Jonathan's face——

"Hey, buddy," said Tommy Wellborn in a calm, collected voice, with a hand firmly on Big Sam's wrist, "Calm down."

The grin on Jonathan's face froze.

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Scarlett felt very confused, in fact everything from the time Tommy showed up was quite chaotic.She is not good at dealing with this kind of situation, besides rational suppression, she can only act according to vague instincts.How strange it is to hate someone and at the same time be calm and polite.But without Tommy, she would learn the price of not doing so.

Tommy probably said something, about framing or people's dissatisfaction.Jonathan has always had a dirty mouth, but this time he went too far in public, almost offending the dignity of all southern ladies—as long as Scarlett belongs to this class, she will be sheltered by this emotion.But these are not the reasons why Jonathan reluctantly gave up this revenge in the end.

"I think the real reason is," Tommy stuffed a small glass of brandy into Scarlett's slightly trembling hands, Aunt Pete's "sleeping wine" was easy to find, "—he wants to enjoy the pleasure of revenge."

"The thrill of revenge?" Scarlett repeated, raising her eyebrows high, and then sneered, "Doesn't he think what he's done is not enough?" If Tommy knew her enough, he would see that it was anger, not fear. Scarlett's hands trembled.

"Yes, the thrill of revenge." Tommy gave her a worried look, and then decided to go on. "You told me in the car, about Tara's sky-high taxes-I think, that Jonathan Mr. Wilkerson is perfectly capable of fabricating charges, throwing you all in jail, and then occupying Tara. But he wants to raise taxes, I guess it is a kind of revenge, a kind of torture-he hopes to make you break down, and then Go ask him."

"Please?" Scarlett said aloud, as if hearing something completely impossible, "to hell with him!"

"That's right." Tommy smiled softly, but it didn't ease the anxiety in his heart at all, "So I think he should be calculating you very carefully—to force you to have no hope of fighting back, unable to resist. It's like a game of cat and mouse, the cat won't swallow until the mouse is exhausted! You paid your taxes and didn't show that you were exhausted. He must be planning the next step. You met him today Just kicked up, I thought—"

"At that moment, he really wanted to deal with me immediately." Scarlett replied, and then looked at Tommy happily, "Thank you, Tommy, I guess he is now inclined to slowly enjoy the pleasure of torturing his enemies .”

"But I don't know what he's going to do next." Tommy said slowly, he looked very worried, his blue eyes were full of concern and worry, "I think he will make you—you suffer more than you can handle Difficulty, no way to fight back but let him insult | insult, this is too much. I guess I can't persuade you to stay at home," he sighed, "yes, it will always come to the head, the danger is just as big But they are too bad, too much—” He suddenly raised his head again, holding Scarlett’s hand tightly, “If there is any bad situation, you may face those people head-on, remember to let me be together, Scarlett .If I have your message, I will find a way to come and help you—I hope I can still be of some use.” By the end, his blue eyes were full of sadness, clearly knowing that there was nothing he could do even if he wanted to risk his life. Change the situation.But he still promised to do it.

Scarlett shook his hand gratefully, but had other things on her mind.

Jonathan... His hidden dangers are really worrying. A despicable and shameless person like him has gained power and can do whatever he wants. How will he deal with Tara!Sure enough, the best way is that, as long as you shoot, everything will be solved.Yes, just shoot him once and kill him completely.

The thought came alive again in her mind, like a ball of fire jumping in a block of ice.Scarlett finds coldly that she can only think of killing people to solve the problem-she has long been mentally prepared for this, but it doesn't mean she likes this method.Tommy was looking at her with sincere and warm eyes. This good friend, does he know how crazy Scarlett O'Hara is inside?

But the look did work, thought Scarlett, not without glee.By the time Tommy left, the topic of their conversation had shifted from the disturbing Jonathan Wilkerson to the planned sawmill—Scarlett had planned to see it before lunch.Tommy had rushed over to her just because he remembered some important information about the sawmill a few hours before, and stopped Big Sam Fist just in time.Scarlett admitted that the conversation had calmed her down, and that if the conversation had lasted a little longer they might have talked about old things like the ball.However, when Tommy left, Scarlett found that the murderous thought didn't actually leave her mind—it got closer to her.

"If I had to," she grumbled, "I could kill the Yankee, and I could kill him—of course I would!"

But a small, piercing sob from between her fingers gave her away.Scarlett covered her face, this silly girl, how could she think that killing people is such an easy thing, and it is the easiest way to solve the problem.That will obviously damage your own soul!