[Gone with the Wind] Back to the beginning

Scarlett felt cold all over her body, as if she had fallen into an ice cave.The bruise of self-esteem ignited raging anger, but the pain of being rejected came like a tide, drowning the whole soul.She was desolate and angry, because that person dared to despise her - dared to treat her like that - he...should love her.

She dragged her tired body upstairs, didn't say a word to Pete, and fell on the bed too lazy to take off her shoes.She was as stiff as a piece of wood, only her shoulders shrugged slightly.Scarlett buried her face deeply in the soft quilt, and finally couldn't help sobbing softly.

Under the dignity that has been forcibly supported all the time, small self-doubts slowly grow from the cracks.Since her rebirth, Scarlett has always believed that through her own efforts, everything will get better.However, what she never dared to think about was, what about feelings?Emotions are such a delicate thing.Sometimes what is lacking may be an opportunity, and it is almost impossible to achieve unforgettable love.Scarlett, who came here with the love of her previous life, is both confident and unconfident in Rhett's feelings for her.She is confident that Rhett still did not let her go even when she was obsessed with her in her previous life, and she is not confident that Scarlett is the Scarlett who lost Rhett in the end, not the radiant and helpless Scarlett he fell in love with at the beginning. Carefree young girl.These complex emotions are entangled in my heart like vines, and I can't see the clues in my strong confidence at ordinary times, but they are doubly worrying at this moment.Small worries, fears, and grievances turned into liquid and seeped into the quilt, and wet the pillowcase.

But will she give up Rhett Butler for that?Scarlett still felt pain at the thought.How could she get rid of Rhett Butler?However, after he had already scorned the proposal of marriage, the dignity belonging to Scarlett O'Hara would never allow her to stick it up again, and she believed Rhett would not think highly of herself like this.It must be his loss to refuse her, she must—but, anyway, let her lie like this for a while.Don't think about anything else, and let go of your pride for a while.On Scarlett's wet face, the trembling eyelashes finally closed gradually.

She fell asleep, and didn't care about the moonlight coming in through the window, so naturally she wouldn't think that in such a deep night, there was a man walking slowly outside on a horse.

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Scarlett was no longer interested in Rhett, and everyone found out.However, it is not so obvious.

Everything that happened on that moonlit night was tacitly kept secret by the two, so in the eyes of everyone, in the meeting between Rhett Butler and Scarlett after he was released from prison, the latter only performed the most basic etiquette coldly.And Rhett unexpectedly did not go forward to pester him with an uncharacteristic attitude, but frowned, as if he was also thinking about something.But the frequency of his visits to Aunt Pitt's house remained the same as before, and he claimed that it was only because he was worried about the loneliness of the old lady, but of course no one would believe it except the stupid Aunt Pitt herself.

Scarlett certainly did not speak more than ten words to Rhett after the moonlit night.After that night of extremely tired, deep and dreamless sleep, she decided to deal with this relationship temporarily.In some things, she will not bow her head or compromise.As much as she still loved Rhett, he definitely owed her an apology.Rhett's response was quite to her liking. Although she was a little annoyed to see that face hanging around Pete's house as if nothing had happened, Scarlett didn't know how to resolve the conflict between the two of them for the time being.It's good for everyone to calm down.

Perhaps the impact of Rhett's incident on Scarlett is not easy to see, at least no one will connect them on the surface.But Tommy Wellborn had a deep understanding of Scarlett's bad mood during this time.The green-eyed girl seemed to be filled with anger, and unconsciously became irritable.She is not as gentle in her speech as before, and she is more careless about the influence in her actions.Tommy already knew about Scarlett's ambition.But now she has abandoned the previous step-by-step approach to social acceptance in the South, directly to the point of disturbing.Tommy was deeply concerned about this.

"Aren't you worried about the letter from Tara now?" The young man turned his head and asked with concern.His blond hair shone in the sun, "You know, the wind in Atlanta has been a bit unpleasant recently."

Scarlett scowled.She pursed her lips tightly, and even though she knew that this sentence was only from her friend's concern, she couldn't soften it a bit. She said forcefully: "I don't care about them. Listen to what they can do!"

Tommy sighed.

It was evening and Tommy was driving her home.Because the warehouse was almost too busy, and there was no other place to need Big Sam for the time being, Scarlett had sent him home a few days ago.So now she has to travel alone.This kind of behavior immediately aroused the objection of Aunt Pete. After the Cold War, at least five of the ten sentences Rhett said to her were put on it.He told her Atlanta was too messy to travel alone.Otherwise, he would rather stick to his promise before the cold war and come to drive her a car every day.To a certain extent, this represented Rhett's willingness to seek peace, but Scarlett refused to compromise.This is not what she wants.Fortunately, at this time, Tommy made the same suggestion.Scarlett hurriedly agreed, secretly thanking Tommy for saving her from the embarrassment of facing Rhett, and thinking that she had troubled Tommy Wellborn again.

But Tommy didn't take much notice of her thanks.The man was always gentle and considerate in his helping hand, never embarrassing Scarlett.Most days, Tommy came to pick her up in the morning and take her home in the evening.Only a few times, when he was busy with the construction site and couldn't come, he would ask someone to tell him in advance.At such times, Uncle Peter will do it for him.Occasionally, no, just once, Scarlett found out that it was Rhett Butler who came to pick her up, and it was really mixed feelings.However, the two of them didn't say a word, and there was always a slight embarrassment in the air, which was far less comfortable than usual chatting with Tommy.Scarlett knew that Tommy had his own job and shouldn't bother him too much.But at this time, what she wanted to see was Tommy.

They are getting more and more familiar, and their friendship is getting deeper and deeper.But outside of friendship, with a woman's sensitive intuition, Scarlett vaguely sensed that Tommy had some male-female affection for her.Scarlett had to admit that she had always been happy to see other people fall for her charms without compunction.She naturally lacks sympathy in this area, and she doesn't think there is anything wrong with attracting others. She has always enjoyed being admired.But for Tommy, perhaps because he is a rare person close to her heart, although she loves Rhett and is still determined to take him down, Scarlett still has a similar affection for Tommy.It is different from the frivolity when attracting bees and butterflies, but deeper and more sincere.After struggling for a while, Scarlett didn't speak clearly.Tommy never made it clear. The reservedness of a girl prevented her from refusing in advance. It would be better not to reveal some things.Besides—thought Scarlett sourly, Rhett Butler couldn't see her, could he?Someone can always see it!Friendship and a tinge of affection nourished her shattered self-esteem, and she saw Tommy as a very close bosom friend, very very.

"But you do, Scarlett." Tommy's blue eyes looked into hers quietly. "You're just in a bad mood, and you don't care about anything when you're having a fit. But if Mrs. O'Hara really wrote to ask , you will still feel uncomfortable."

Scarlett forced a smile.no answer.

The harsh and tense atmosphere towards women in the south made her uncomfortable. Since she was reborn, she thought that she had gradually adapted to this set of rules, but when she really wanted to let go and develop her ambitions, she discovered that the set of rules that were not allowed to go beyond the threshold How uncomfortable the rules make her feel.Yes, life is hard now, and women have to earn money to subsidize their families, but even if they search the whole city of Atlanta, they can't find a woman who is in business!The Southern ladies who used to be quietly did women's jobs, such as Mrs. Merriwether baking pies (though sold to the Yankees), Mrs. Bonnell teaching music, Mrs. Elsing and Fanny painting. Porcelain, needlework, tenants and the like.According to the rules, they don't go out the door.For someone like Scarlett, [-] deviations are nothing!A woman who doesn't want the protection of her family, breaks into the barbaric world of men, grabs business side by side with men, and lets others gossip and criticize, how decent is that!What's more, she dared to do a better job than most men!This is simply a heinous crime!

Scarlett opened the second warehouse before Big Sam left.According to the dense rules she made, Hugh Elsing took office conscientiously.Thanks to Scarlett for the careful arrangement, nothing went wrong.Mrs. Elsing resented Scarlett for calling her nephew around, but Hugh himself knew what he was capable of and was grateful to Scarlett.Scarlett was half-satisfied with his work, which was profitable anyway, though not as good as the one she ran herself, wasn't it?

Now Scarlett handed over the sawmill to Johnson, and sold logs in the city herself.It was originally planned that she should still be in the Pentagon Plaza during this period of time, but the cold war with Rhett angered her to a certain extent, and Scarlett's deviant side came out.The old greedy Johnson always wanted to take advantage of her absence to sell the wood that had just left the factory privately, so that he could pocket the money.Scarlett tried her best to deal with him, and secretly fell in love with Johnny Gagler, an Irishman under Tommy.The little man was cunning, mercenary, and hard-hearted, but capable enough, and Scarlett was confident that a deal of pay would drive him to do his best.She also mentioned it to Tommy, and she insisted when she complained with a wry smile, "I'm just such a competent person", and finally got Gagler's promise: after Tommy built this building, he went to join him. She made Tommy look at her meaningfully that day, and Scarlett couldn't help feeling a little guilty.

Although the whole city is currently under construction, the supply of timber is in short supply, but the biggest source of customers is a few big contractors, and the competition among the bosses of the timber factory is tight.Scarlett has plans to visit them one by one after her business grows bigger, but she is still in the stage of driving around the city to sell mosquitoes, no matter how small the legs of mosquitoes are, they are still meat.Tommy Welburne was her first client and earliest supporter, and she supplied him with the best lumber cheaply.In addition, she is also actively developing new clients.Once, old Jeff, who was building a house, was negotiating business with another lumber. Scarlett drove up, got out of the car in front of a group of stonemasons who were laying foundations, and told old Jeff not to be fooled.She insisted that the quality of her wood was better, and the price was more reasonable. She also calculated a long list of figures on the spot and immediately quoted an estimate.It's humiliating enough to break into a gang of menial craftsmen, and show off to so many people that you know how to settle accounts! — So say the ladies and gentlemen of the South.But it turned out that Scarlett snatched the business, and they ordered her lumber.Now her business is booming.

"One day," said Scarlett slowly, visibly depressed, "since I've decided to go into business on my own, there will be a day. I just know I'm doing the right thing."

Tommy didn't say anything, just drove the carriage quietly.This kind of silent company made Scarlett feel better, and she remembered the conversation with Ellen before leaving home, "I promise that my bottom line is above morality".Has she violated morals by going out to do business?Then what's wrong with her?Mom will accept her like this—mama can accept her like this.

"Scarlett." Tommy called her before the farewell. He hesitated for a moment, and reminded cautiously, "Be careful when you go out...the black people around here are very reckless, and there are also dirty Yankees and rebels."

The shadow of being attacked by lowly blacks in the woods in her previous life flitted across Scarlett's mind, and she nodded seriously.

Compared with the booming business of the sawmill, the situation is actually getting worse.Everyone was terrified and became frightened.Compared with the persecution of the Yankees and the attacks of the Negroes, the gossip was mild and trivial.The bloody Ku Klux Klan that I remember was formed in such an atmosphere. The Ku Klux Klan responded to Yankee oppression with brutal revenge, only to be met with harsher treatment.Their methods are too violent and too unintelligent, but when they are faced with the simultaneous attack of power and violence, they seem to have no choice but violent instinctive resistance.Scarlett doesn't like the Ku Klux Klan—even if several Klan members including Tommy and Frank died because of her in her previous life, she still doesn't like the way they do things.But she sincerely hoped that at least the tragedy that happened to her would not happen again.She closed her eyes and opened them again.

"Then you have to be careful, Tommy." Scarlett said with a smile. "My two younger sisters are going to get married together in May. Come to Tara to watch the ceremony."

Time has turned back, and she, Scarlett, must change her previous destiny.