[The Phantom of the Opera] The Beast and the Canary

Of course, not everyone is on the girl's side with red lips.

Questioning voices rang out from the crowd: "Miss Gilly has already starred in two ballet pantomime, whether she is the heroine of "The Shepherdess" does not have much impact on her reputation, why should she risk ruining her reputation? Risk, must win the heroine of this show?"

"That's right. Besides, we don't know whether Hearst has decided on her by default. It's all just someone's one-sided words."

The red-lipped girl curled up in her good friend's arms, trembling: "I, I really didn't lie...Last night, my friend and I saw that she took Mr. Hurst's hand and placed it in her own. Her waist, she must be embraced by Mr. Hurst... Mr. Hurst didn't want to, so she threw herself directly on Mr. Hurst's body..."

Another girl also echoed: "Perhaps the heroine of an opera has no effect on her reputation, but as we all know, Mr. Hearst is the best at making popular actresses... As long as you can become Mr. Hearst's lover, you will be able to do it in the future." Do you want any role?"

The girl with red lips shook her head weakly but firmly: "Don't say that, I believe that Mr. Hearst is temporarily bewitched by her. How could a man as handsome and talented as Mr. Hearst fall in love with such a hypocritical woman?"

"That's right, I probably just want to play with her."

The two sang together, on the surface they were analyzing the romantic relationship between Hearst and me, but secretly they portrayed Hearst as extremely innocent and me as extremely vain.In this way, even if it got into Hester's ears later, it was nothing more than an insignificant scandal to him, and he couldn't blame the two of them at all.

Some doubters began to waver: "Meg, some people here have watched you grow up, and everyone believes that you did these things just for a moment..."

"Yeah, why don't you go to the casting tonight, as long as you are willing to give up the casting, we still believe that you are the little Meg from before."

The girl with red lips also looked at me with pear blossoms: "Miss Ji Li, don't be obsessed anymore, you only have experience in pantomime, you can't hold up an opera at all... please give those capable people a fair chance Bar……"

"Miss Giri, there is no reason for a ballerina to sing an opera in this world..."

After all, it just wanted me to withdraw from the casting.At this time, I can no longer see that this is a targeted frame, and I am a fool.Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that they ran to my room door to quarrel in the early morning?

But why me?Did they really think I could be the heroine?Or did the incident last night mislead them into thinking that something really happened between me and Hearst?

Thinking of this, someone suddenly exclaimed: "Mr. Viscount, Mr. Hurst!"

The face of the girl with red lips was like white wax in an instant.The entire corridor was suddenly silent.Everyone's eyes seemed to be pulled in the same direction by a pair of invisible hands, and they saw Viscount Shani walking side by side with Hester.

With his cane under his arm, Viscount Shani stopped at the corner, smiled and made a gesture of "please let me go".The dead silence continued, and everyone didn't dare to breathe out. They watched Hester walking towards me and stood by my side with arms folded.

The red-lipped girl's face was blue and red, and her whole body shook like a dead leaf in the bleak autumn wind.In fact, I am not much better than her. At first, my heart was half cold, and I thought that unless Hester himself clarified, it would be impossible to stop these people's mouths. Who would have thought that he would appear in the next second? my side.

"Meg Geary, isn't that right?" He said indifferently, as if he didn't know me at all, "Mrs. Geary said, you will entertain me this morning."

"I……"

He held up a finger condescendingly.The image of him jamming my lips with his fingers flashed through my mind, and I took a big step back subconsciously.

However, he just shook it casually twice, still in an imperative tone: "Stop talking nonsense. Don't waste my time, I'll only wait for you for 5 minutes."

He doesn't look like he has the slightest idea what's going on here, so should I ask him to help clarify?But how do you talk about this kind of thing in full view?After one night, his attitude became inexplicably strange. If I open my mouth, will he reject me?

I stood where I was, hesitating for a while.The girl with red lips huddled in the arms of her friend, as if she wanted to minimize her sense of existence.In fact, she didn't have to be so afraid at all.When Hester walked over, his gaze didn't rest on anyone, including me.

At this time, a young man stood out from the crowd, and he saluted Hearst: "Mr. Hearst, it is very timely for you to appear now, we were just discussing whether the heroine of "The Shepherdess" has been decided It's Miss Geary."

Hurst hugged his elbows and gently wiped his chin with his index finger knuckles: "Why do you say that?"

The young man said: "Someone said that you just came out of Miss Giri's room this morning...and said that you have personally admitted that the heroine of "The Shepherdess" is Miss Giri..."

After hearing this, Hurst gave him a dispassionate look.Such an indifferent glance actually made the young man take two steps back, with a look of shame on his face, as if he had been reprimanded for asking a very stupid question.

On the contrary, Viscount Shani asked with interest: "Who is this kidding? Although the theater has arranged a room for Mr. Hearst, he has been living in the Earl's Mansion since he came to Paris. How about coming out of Miss's room?"

The young man nodded embarrassingly: "So that's the case, Mr. Viscount Lao Lao answered. It seems that we misunderstood Miss Giri."

Viscount Shani smiled: "You're welcome, you can't make such a joke next time." Although he has a gentle temperament, there is a strong aura unique to nobles in his words.

As soon as this remark came out, the young man immediately apologized to me, saying that he should not listen to other people's one-sided words and misunderstand me.When he said this, the girl with red lips wished she could turn into an ostrich and bury her in her friend's arms.With the young man taking the lead, those who wavered also expressed their apologies to me.There were only a few people whose eyes were still wandering between me, Hearst and the girl with red lips, and their faces were watching the show.

A turbulent storm disappeared in an instant, which I felt was unreal.Perhaps this is the benefit of the powerful, without any hard evidence, the rumors can be dispelled.

It wasn't until no one apologized to me that Hester put his arms around his chest, patted my head lightly, and said, "Let's go."

I was stiffened by his shooting, and under the torch-like eyes of the people around me, I walked forward bravely.Halfway through, I suddenly remembered that I got up in a hurry in the morning and didn't wash up yet.

At the same time, a voice sounded from behind: "Stop!"

Turning around and looking, it was the friend of the girl with red lips.She seemed unable to believe that she was deceived by the red-lipped girl, and she shouted excitedly: "It's one-sided to say others, isn't Mr. Viscount also? How can you be sure that Hester and Meg have no affair? In the end, he still chooses What if Meg is the heroine? Then how fair is the public casting?"

There was silence all around, except for the sound of burning wall lamps and the footsteps of Hearst's hard-soled boots.

He didn't even turn his head, his voice echoed in the corridor coldly and clearly: "The open casting is for the convenience of finding a suitable leading actor. As for who to choose, that's my right."

The implication is that you have no right to comment.

As the last word fell, I watched her cheeks and neck turn red as if she had been slapped.At this time, Hester also came to the corner and looked at me sideways: "Aren't you coming?"

I put on the hood of the cloak, trotted over, tugged at the hem of his clothes, and motioned him to lower his head.He didn't move, as if he didn't feel anything.I had no choice but to lift the hood to reveal one eye, patted his shoulder on tiptoe, and hinted him to lower his head with flexible eyes.

He paused, bent down, and put his ear to my mouth: "What's the matter?"

I covered my mouth, afraid that the breath I didn't rinse my mouth would smell on him, so I whispered, "I, I haven't...washed..."

He was silent for a moment, took out his pocket watch, glanced at it, and said coldly, "I'll give you five minutes."

My face was so hot that I nodded, pulled my hood tight and walked back.Along the way, everyone was watching me closely and parted ways in unison.His cheeks couldn't help but get hotter.The girl with red lips and her friend showed vigilance, as if they were guarding against my retaliation.

I didn't have time to care about them, so I went back to the room quickly, brushed my teeth, washed my face, changed into a light green plaid dress, and because it was late autumn, I took another thick cloak sewn with snow-white fluff.After everything was dressed, the door was opened, and the crowd was still stranded on both sides of the corridor.

Their eyes flicked back and forth between me, Hearst, and the girl with the red lips, as if in disbelief that I had only entered the house to change.

Of course I not only changed clothes, but also... rinsed my mouth.Putting on the cloak and tightening the tie, I walked to Hester and tugged at the hem of his clothes again: "Okay."

He didn't answer, just strode away and disappeared around the corner.Viscount Shani tapped his cane, smiled and shook his head: "Leave him alone." He then asked politely, "By the way, Miss Geary, we're going to go to the circus. I wonder if you're interested."

I was stunned: "Circus?"

"Yes." He put on his top hat, "This circus troupe is quite famous throughout Europe, but the appearance of the actors is a bit scary, but you don't have to be afraid, Hester and I will do our duty as gentlemen to protect you."