Chapter 28 Chapter 27 Birthday Party in the Castle

Just when Liu Xia had almost forgotten about the Earl's birthday, on Friday night, the driver sent by Alfonso showed up at the gate of the Academy of Fine Arts on time. Liu Xia was afraid of being caught by the tabloid reporter again, so he got into the car at the speed of a thief. After arriving at the castle, the housekeeper Lisa was waiting for her at the door and took her to a room on the second floor of the castle.The maid who had been waiting there for a long time brought her a replacement dress in time.At first Liu Xia was a little puzzled, but after thinking about it, she understood.Even though she was just a small tutor of the earl's family, if she was rude in her clothes, she would embarrass the earl, so the clothes designated by the earl were naturally the safest.

Although I feel a little uncomfortable, this is someone else's territory after all.Now that you're here, let's follow other people's rules. Anyway, it's just a temporary loan tonight. Thinking of this, she casually opened the box containing the clothes, took a look, and felt a little admiration for Alfonso. It is indeed... a dress that suits her very well... As an upper-class person in Rome, Count Alfonso's birthday party naturally invited many famous people in the area.Except for the fine arts professionals whom Alfonso himself favored, the rest were mostly celebrities in the financial and political circles.

Compared with usual, everything in the castle is more grand and extravagant today.Greek-style sculptures, gorgeous and complicated velvet curtains, valuable paintings, slightly mottled bronze statues of knights...every decoration seems to show the noble blood of the castle owner.The expensive beaded crystal chandelier exudes crystal brilliance, reflecting the baroque dome and surrounding murals.A well-known local band is sitting in a corner of the hall, and the soothing and elegant notes are slipping out from their fingertips one by one, filling the air like an intoxicating fragrance. Today's protagonist——Count Alfonso is talking quietly with several members of the government department at this time, and it seems that the chat is very pleasant.

Suddenly, he heard low voices of discussion coming from around him. "Who is that oriental girl?" "It seems to be the tutor of Count Alfonso's family." "It looks familiar, by the way, isn't this the girlfriend of the star Toto?" So he turned his head and looked in that direction, with a slight smile on his lips as expected.Immediately, he turned his head and continued to chat with those guests. Today's dress was specially chosen by him for her. It was more suitable for her than he imagined. The water-green long dress wrapped her small and exquisite body, exuding a fresh and elegant temperament. At first glance, it looked like a fresh and bright green leaf, which made people feel comfortable.The classical and graceful temperament revealed between her beautiful and delicate eyebrows made her look like a precious ink painting.The drop-shaped emerald on the slightly open white chest swayed slightly with her breathing, as if it would slide into a deeper place at any time, which aroused endless imagination.

Among the guests present, Liu Xia really saw the famous modern painter Mr. Alberni.In addition, there are also several famous artists who are usually only seen in media publications. Liu Xia comforted herself a bit, seeing them was not in vain. But what made her feel strange at the same time was that she never saw Margaret. When she was looking for Margaret everywhere, she suddenly saw a figure with a short tail beside the column not far away.Liu Xia couldn't help but feel moved, since the short tail is here, then Margaret should be nearby too, right?Taking advantage of the excitement here and no one noticed her, Liu Xia stepped out of the hall again.The short tail meowed at her, and ran forward.Liu Xia hurriedly followed it, and sure enough, she saw Margaret under the oak tree in the garden.

"Teacher!" Margaret smiled and waved at her. "Margaret, why are you here? Why don't you go to the hall?" Liu Xia asked and walked to her side. "There are so many boring people inside." Margaret sat on the stool and shook her feet. "It's so boring. I don't know why Dad invited these people." "These people are all your father's friends." Liu Xia smiled, "By the way, did you give your father a birthday present?" When talking about this, Margaret immediately became energetic, "I gave it to my dad this morning. Dad liked it very much and praised me for my good drawing. Teacher, thank you so much!"

"That's good." Liu Xia was also happy for her from the bottom of her heart. "Teacher, let us have a little celebration." Margaret rolled her eyes, dragged out a basket from under the chair, and took out a beautifully designed frosted crystal wine bottle from the basket . "Teacher, this is strawberry wine that I heard is delicious. I brought it from the cellar specially. I don't give it to others." She took out another crystal wine glass of the same style and poured the wine He took some in the cup and handed it to Liu Xia. "You're a child, you can't drink." Liu Xia didn't forget to remind her when she took the wine glass.The fine wine in the glass has a ruby-like color, gently shaking in the transparent crystal glass, exuding the intoxicating sweetness unique to strawberries.

"I can't drink alcohol, so I use fruit juice instead." Margaret seemed to have thought of this a long time ago, and took out another box of orange juice from the basket. Liu Xia laughed hoarsely, "You have a lot of things in this treasure basket." Margaret also stuck out her tongue, lightly touched the orange juice in her hand with Liuxia's glass, and whispered, "Cin cin! (Cheers) Liu Xia drank the wine in one gulp, stood up, "I've been here before, and I've seen it. It's almost time to go back." "Then go and say goodbye to Dad before you leave." Margaret smiled like a pure angel, "But apart from happy birthday, I don't want you to say anything else."

Liu Xia glanced at her helplessly, until now, this little girl still hasn't completely dispelled her hostility towards her. Watching her back disappear into the darkness, Margaret squatted down and gently stroked her beloved cat, with a strange light flashing in her eyes, "Look, a good show is about to begin , short tail." The short tail shook the fur on his body, and he turned over with a lazy meow, exposing his fluffy, round belly to the sky. "After drinking this kind of wine from Dad, she will definitely make a fool of herself." Margaret sneered, "I thought she was different from other teachers..."

After returning to the hall, Liu Xia obviously felt dizzy in his head, and seemed to have an indescribable sense of constriction and pressure, and his feet felt numb when walking.She couldn't help but secretly wonder, she has always had a good capacity for drinking, why is it that she can't do it after drinking such a small cup just now? Not only that, but there seemed to be a fire burning in her abdomen, and this fire continued to spread to all the limbs and bones of her body, causing her consciousness to gradually become blurred, and even her own will began to be uncontrollable...

First of all, she felt that her facial expressions began to lose control, and when the people around her laughed, she also laughed.The people around her showed surprised expressions, and she also showed surprised expressions.Just like the little monkey in the fable, she will follow the expression of others.Then, even her movements became uncontrollable... Alfonso noticed her abnormal behavior from a distance, and already felt a little uncomfortable.YouQi knew something was wrong when he saw her suddenly leaning against a man next to him, so he apologized to the guests around him and walked towards Liu Xia, helping her out of the hall without a trace. "Liu Xia, what's wrong with you?" He just asked, She muttered a few words in Martian language that no one could understand, and suddenly she slapped him on the chin with her hand. Alfonso frowned and shook his head. He suddenly smelled the smell of strawberries coming from her lips, and his expression changed slightly. He hurriedly picked her up by the waist, and hurried upstairs. When the housekeeper Lisa saw this situation, she immediately followed up with sharp eyes and hands. "Lisa, Miss Liuxia is drunk, take a rest in this room first. You get someone to take care of her." Alfonso saw Lisa following in, so he asked her to take care of Liuxia by the way. When he walked out of the room, he did not forget to say "Remember, don't let Margaret in." After returning to the hall, Alfonso himself didn't know why he was always absent-minded.Even when entertaining those guests, it seemed that there was always something on his mind. After finally waiting for everything to end and all the guests to leave, he immediately went to the room where Liu Xia was placed on the second floor.The girl who was still murmuring before seemed to be tired too, curled up and fell asleep on her own.Lisa was wiping the fine sweat off her forehead with a towel. "Mr. Earl, she was very drunk. But she has calmed down now." Lisa pushed the mirror frame, "She seems to have drunk your Sogno." Alfonso nodded, "I know. Margaret must have stolen it." In this castle, no one dared to touch his things except his own daughter.The Sogno in his collection has such a high alcohol concentration that if drunk without soda, even a small sip can cause people to pass out and behave out of control.In severe cases, it can also cause mild neurological disorders. "So, are you going to let her live here tonight?" Lisa asked cautiously. Alfonso didn't answer, but just said coldly, "You are no longer needed here, go back and rest." Lisa was taken aback, "Then..." "Do you have any questions?" His eyes narrowed, and he inadvertently exuded a dark and gloomy temperament. "No, Mr. Earl." Lisa didn't say anything more, got up and opened the door and went out.At the moment before going out, she quickly glanced at Liu Xia who was still in a daze. The moonlight outside the window gradually faded, and it didn't know when it started to rain lightly.The champagne-colored curtains were raised high in the dark night, rattling by the wind. He walked to the bed and stared at her face quietly. She seemed to be quite drunk, and her fair face was stained with a few touches of abnormal blush, as hazy and intoxicating as the morning glow, and she looked a bit heart-warmingly beautiful.Her lips showed a faint rose color, as if she was waiting for her lover's kiss.Looking at it, he couldn't help but feel a slight movement in his heart, as if a slight wave was blown on the calm lake surface, gently rippling circle after circle of ripples... For some reason, the words she had said suddenly echoed in his ears, "But no matter when and where, some of us will still maintain a pure land in our inner world, which cannot be touched by others, and we will not touch it ourselves." "The once sharp edge will be slowly smoothed by time, and then succumb to the helpless real life. But as I said before, everyone will always have a more or less pure land in their hearts. So there is Sometimes, I also want to be the one who doesn’t give in.” Many people wear masks.But as she said, there may be a time when they take off their masks. However, some people can never go back to the past even if they take off the mask because they wear it for too long. Just like him. Ten years later, she was still so clear and clear just like the little girl who appeared in front of his eyes.It is like a fresh and gentle wind, which can easily blow away even the long-standing haze and dust; it is also like a bright and warm sunshine, which can break free from the thick cloud even if it is shrouded in endless night. In the darkness, try to find your own light. His heart was warm and melancholy, and this inexplicable emotion made it difficult for him to calm down.As if bewitched, he slowly stretched out his slender fingers and slid across her lips as soft as rose petals. The moment the skin touched, it seemed that a strange electric current flowed through his blood vessels, reaching the deepest part of his heart, causing a subtle trembling, an unstoppable impulse churning low and low in a strange place in his body, tempting All his senses were stimulated. ------- It is impossible to describe the agitation in his heart at this moment. At this moment, his mobile phone rang suddenly, which released him from the unspeakable ambiguous atmosphere. He calmed himself down and pressed the call button.Romeo's voice came from the other end of the phone, "Boss, why don't you open Skype? I haven't told you happy birthday yet. You won't blame me for calling your cell phone?" "It doesn't matter, this phone has been loaded with anti-surveillance software, and there will be no problems within ten minutes." He replied lightly, "If I remember correctly, our birthdays are only two days away." Romeo laughed twice, "Yes, we are both Geminis born in May, but you are more like a Scorpio born in November." "When did you become interested in constellations again?" He smiled. "By the way, we will meet Parker when he returns from Venice. I haven't seen his serious expression for a long time." "The recent weather is so good, Parker should be able to collect a lot of beaks and dirty things this time." Romeo smiled and said a code word in the organization. Alfonso smiled knowingly. The organization compared protection fees and usury to beaks and dirty things, which can also be described as vivid.The recent economic crisis has brought them unexpected gains.Many large and small banks in Italy are unwilling to grant loans. Those desperate merchants can only turn to organizations for help, and are forced to promise to pay up to 500% interest when taking loans, and even the minimum interest rate is no less than 30%.During this period of time, usury has become the fastest-growing business of the organization amid the financial crisis. And Rome is the largest usury market in Italy. EVIL EYE is the supreme master of this black market. "Is there any gain from that matter?" Romeo asked after a pause, "You also invited a lot of people from the council today, right?" The corner of Alfonso's mouth curled into an arc, "It can be regarded as rewarding." "Oh?" "Everyone has a weakness. The weakness of Speaker Pera is---his wife." After hanging up the phone, he stood by the window and watched the thin lines of rain swaying under the light and shadow of the street lamp.The rainwater accumulated on the roof slowly flows towards the corner of the eaves, and the little lights are projected on the water surface, rippling gently with the ripples, it looks like there are many twinkling stars floating. The phone rang again at this moment, but this time it wasn't his phone.He walked to the bed and picked up her cell phone.The flashing screen clearly indicated the name of the caller - Toto.Like all lovers, there is a small heart-shaped mark in front of his name. He pressed the call blankly, and simply turned off her mobile phone. She seemed to be still in a deep sleep, and compared to the usual way of protecting herself, she looked like a little daisy without any defense. For some reason, he suddenly felt an uncontrollable excitement with the prey in his hand. Compared with those real daisies, maybe---this one is more desirable for him to collect. Even if the wind comes and goes without a trace, he must firmly control the direction of the wind. Even if it is the light that darkness fears, he will firmly grasp the end of the light source.