[Phantom of the Opera] Devil's Beauty

Two days later, instead of waiting for Eric's surprise, Bai Lanzhi waited for an unexpected guest.

Odell bought a neighboring villa and became their neighbor.Of course, there is still a considerable distance between the two villas, about seven or eight kilometers, and it takes about an hour for a carriage to go back and forth.If Odile hadn't taken the initiative to write a letter to tell her, Bai Lanzhi would never have known about this.

She looked at the letter, sighed heavily, and had a terrible headache.For Audrey, she has nothing to say.

She could see that Odell had an inexplicable and strong hostility towards her; she didn't have a good impression of Odell either.What she didn't understand was why Odell would take the initiative to approach each other to make trouble when they both hated each other.It was like this last time, and it was also the same last time. This time it was even more exaggerated, and she directly became her neighbor.What's wrong with being so rich?

Forget it, nothing excessive was written in the letter.After reading it, Bai Lanzhi crumpled it up and threw it into the wastebasket.

In the evening, Eric arrives home.The weather has been hot these few days, and he is dressed casually, with a light black coat, a white shirt with a stand collar, no tie, and gold-plated chain cufflinks on his wrists.As soon as he entered the house, he took off the cufflinks and put them on the table. He was about to tell Bai Lanzhi to go out, but his eyes were attracted by a bunch of valuable white roses.

There are more than 90 white roses in this bouquet, occupying more than half of the table, and there are still a few dewdrops on the stamens. It seems that they have just been delivered not long ago.

Eric looked away calmly, pressed the electric bell, leaned on the stone pillar in the house, and waited quietly for Bai Lanzhi to come downstairs.

After a while, Bai Lanzhi came down.When she saw the white rose on the table, her first reaction was to rub the center of her brow helplessly. She was so engrossed in reading that she forgot to throw it away.

"Who gave it to you?" Eric glanced at Bai Meigui and said nonchalantly.

"Odell..." Bai Lanzhi felt absurd even saying this name.She picked up the white rose and pulled out the delicate little card inside, with elegant handwritten French on it:

To my dearest Blanche

Odell

The flowers and the card were all right, the problem was the prefix of her name - "Dearest"?Are you sure it's not "most hated"?

Looking at this bouquet of bright white roses, Bai Lanzhi felt that Audrey might be crazy.

"Don't care about her, it's my surprise."

Eric looked at the gold pocket watch: "The time is just right, come with me." After a pause, he put a finger into her collar, tried the thickness of the material at the collarbone, shook his head, "It's too thin , go and bring a cloak, it might be cold later."

Bai Lanzhi's cheeks were slightly hot.

This person...at the beginning, his ears would turn red even when he was close to her, but now he can act like a hooligan so calmly.

I don't know whether their relationship has become more intimate, or he himself is not a serious person.

-

The carriage stopped in front of the Paris Opera House. When Bai Lanzhi stepped down, she saw a colorful poster at a glance.

In the middle of the poster, there is a young man with blond hair, blue eyes, and a scar running from the left brow bone to the right corner of the mouth, but it is not scary at all, but adds a bit of wild and powerful masculine charm.He held the thick rope aloft with both hands, in a gesture of readiness to an angry lion.

Below is a line of capitalized and bold French:

abel saga

After searching for a long time, Blanche finally found a line of mosquito-like small words in the lower right corner: Gall's works.

Gal means singing and stranger.She blinked and smiled knowingly, "Gal is you, right?"

"It's my pseudonym." Eric smiled lightly, took off his black gloves and held them in his hands, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, "I can't hide anything from you."

They walked into the theater and took seats in the front row.There were not many spectators, only about [-] people, and a few gentlemen brought in a game of chess, and were talking while playing chess. Their voices were very low, as if they were afraid of disturbing other spectators, but they did not lose their gentlemanly demeanor.The two ladies seated in the box were fiddling with gold-plated binoculars, inadvertently revealing a bracelet inlaid with rare gemstones, which caused a lot of sighs and amazement from the bystanders.

Bai Lanzhi thought that Eric would show displeasure in the face of this situation, but his expression was extremely light, as if he didn't see it.She couldn't help asking: "Aren't you angry?"

"Why are you angry?" He asked back in a low voice, "This opera was written for you."

The voice fell, and the lights went out one by one.

The red curtain slowly lifted.

Despite the small audience, the stage set was unapologetically grand, with at least five or six mechanics at work.After the overture, the actor playing the young Abel appeared, a boy about 12 years old.Generally speaking, children's voices will have more or less intonation problems.The boy's voice was clear and clean, and he didn't ignore pitch and breath because of his young age.

Eric suddenly said: "This is my student, Eugene. He was originally a member of the choir, but he was deprived of the qualification to praise God because he reported the priest molesting children. Very good, twenty francs a week if he hadn't reported the priest. His mother was very displeased with his behavior, and often beat and scolded him. When I met him, he was fighting with a group of children, With a ruthless hand, one of the children was almost killed." He was silent for a moment, "I didn't want to meddle in my own business, but..."

However, he thought of Blanche.

In his eyes, life and death are as common as the alternation of the sun and the moon.In Paris, where there are rich and well-born, there are naturally poor and poor.There are too many tragedies that have happened because of poverty, and it is impossible for him to take care of everything.He can't control it, and he doesn't want to.After all, when he was wantonly bullied at Eugene's size, no one ever extended a helping hand to him.Therefore, when he saw that Eugene was about to kill a child, his expression was extremely indifferent, and he didn't feel pity because it was a fight between a group of children.

But in the next second, he thought of Bai Lanzhi.

Recalling that in the underground labyrinth, even if she saw his true face, she would not hesitate to open her arms and stand in front of him when facing the abuse and slander of others, as if he was a person who needed love and protection. .

She is his sensibility and conscience.She was so kind that even a devil like him would kiss and save...but he turned a blind eye to the life or death of a child?

So, he stopped, grabbed Eugene's collar with one hand, and dragged him away from the chaotic scene of the fight.

On the stage, after Eugene sang the recitative, he clenched his fists and roared like a wolf cub: "Because I am born with an unusual appearance, will I be bought and sold like a commodity?"

As expected of Eric's student.His roar was full of vigor and force, and the entire performance hall fell silent.

Bai Lanzhi understood that Abel on the stage was him.He is using the form of an opera to tell her what happened in the past.

Because she once said that she wanted to see the scenery he had seen.

It was not until the end of the first act that the young Abel left the scene.Although he is still childish, his singing voice is extremely explosive.Eric is used to composing in diatonic scales, and even established opera singers have difficulty controlling his passages, but Eugene sings them with ease.

The second act begins with Eric’s experience in Persia—renovating the palace, becoming the “secret door master” beside the king, being an extremely courtier, inventing the bonzabu rope, fighting the death row, endangering the king, being sentenced to death, fleeing and wandering...

Each episode is more thrilling than the last.I don't know if Eric did it on purpose. In the lines, "Abel" has an ugly face, but the actor was chosen to be handsome, with only a flesh-colored scar pasted on the brow bone.There are two noble ladies holding their chests in the back, obviously already fascinated by Abel's legendary first half of his life.

In the third act, Abel began to wander in various countries.He took a gypsy caravan, went to Florence, joined a steamer in London, and sailed to India.Every time we go to a place here, we will play a piece of distinctive music with local musical instruments, at least a dozen kinds of musical instruments are used.How to make musicians learn these instruments in a short time, and how to integrate these instruments into a piece of music, are almost impossible problems to solve.Eric did.Some audience members who know a little about music were so shocked that they couldn't speak when they heard this tune.

Near the end, Abel failed to settle in France like Eric, but died in a voyage.

The lights are dim, and the scenery artificially simulates the scene of rough and rolling waves, with thunder and gusts of wind.Abel was wearing a loose white shirt with his trousers rolled up to his knees, standing on the deck in a daze.

The sailors were in a hurry, some were rescuing supplies, some were trying to inflate the sails like a tug-of-war; the captain was biting his wet cigar, and turning the wildly spinning rudder with glaring eyes: "Abel——Abel! What are you doing? Help, go help!"

"It's late." Abel turned his head, "There is an iceberg ahead."

Ships wrecked and sunk.

The curtain falls, and the play is over.

Bai Lanzhi held Eric's hand and asked softly, "Have you ever met an iceberg?"

"No, the impact of an iceberg on a ship at sea is devastating. If it is encountered, it is impossible to survive." He smiled calmly, "The reason for writing this is that I think Abel's story should end."

The actors took their curtain call, and the applause continued.

Eric took Blanche to the backstage, where Eugene, who played teenage Abel, was teasing the ballerinas.Tall, with good features and pale blond hair, he was popular with girls.I don't know what he went through, but his behavior was not like a 12-year-old boy at all. He was quite mature. He even took the spirit from the dancer's hand and took a big sip with a smile.

Eric didn't make a sound to stop him. He never bothered to talk to anyone other than Blanche. He just put his hands in his pockets and stood behind Eugene calmly.

The moment he saw Eric, Eugene was almost choked to death by the spirits. He blushed and coughed for a long time, leaning on the wall, and it took him a while to recover.He wiped the corner of his mouth, and was about to ask Eric why he came here, when he saw Bai Lanzhi next to him, with her eyes glued to her body, unable to move away.

He thought these ballerinas were pretty enough, but compared with Bai Lanzhi, they were all reduced to vulgar fans.He has never seen such a beautiful woman, her hair is lighter than his, like the snow reflecting the sun, her outline is three-dimensional but very soft, her lips are a natural pink like petals...more than the angel murals in Notre Dame Cathedral Gentle and divine.

who is she?Could it be the teacher's wife?Impossible, he had seen Eric's true face, and even he, who claimed to be daring, was shocked when he saw it.If such a beautiful woman were the teacher's wife, wouldn't she be so scared that she couldn't sleep every day?

He didn't blink, and wanted to continue watching, but Eric gave him a cold look.

Eugene immediately lowered his eyes and clasped his hands neatly: "Teacher..." He lowered his eyes for less than ten seconds, and then raised his eyes to Bai Lanzhi again, "Teacher, this is..."

"My wife," Eric replied coldly.

Eugene was shocked, and even ignored the teacher's intimidation, he shouted loudly: "What? This..."

In order to prevent this singing genius from dying young, Bai Lanzhi coughed lightly: "Eugene, I am indeed your teacher's wife."

"... Oh." Eugene's tone was low, his eyes filled with the despair of a broken love.

I exchanged pleasantries with Eugene for a while.Bai Lanzhi felt sorry for this boy with sophisticated eyes like an adult, but she didn't care too much.But even so, it still made Eric unhappy.He grabbed Eugene's collar with one hand, pulled it back unceremoniously, and warned coldly: "You are not young. Keep your distance."

After bidding farewell to Eugene, Bai Lanzhi looked at the displeased Eric, and smiled slightly: "Are there any surprises besides the opera?"

"In the underground labyrinth." Eric replied coldly, obviously, the jealousy had not completely dissipated.