Chapter 12 12. Going out to visit friends

The next morning, at five o'clock, before Madame de Renal appeared, Julien had obtained three days' leave from her husband.Contrary to his intentions, Julien still wanted to see her, but he was only thinking of her delicate hands.He went downstairs and waited in the garden for a long time, but Madame de Renal was still missing.However, if Julien had been caring, he would have seen her, her forehead pressed against the glass, looking away from behind the half-closed shutters on the second floor.At last, in spite of her great resolve, she resolved to go for a walk in the garden.The bright radiance of getting up early changed her usual pale complexion.However, this simple woman was obviously very disturbed.A restrained, even resentful mood changed her elegant demeanor, and it was this serene, calm and otherworldly expression that added a lot of charm to her fairy-like face.

Julien approached hastily.Julien admired her wrists completely exposed under a shawl she had hastily thrown on.The annoyance at night made her more sensitive to the outside world; the coolness of the morning seemed to add to the luster of her skin.She is shy, charming, and full of spirituality, which is hard to find in the lower class; this seems to be a sign to Lian, awakening a kind of sensibility that has not yet sprouted.Julien's greedy gaze unexpectedly found such beauty, and he was so overwhelmed that he forgot the friendly greeting he had expected.However, the indifference of the hostess surprised him a lot, and he even saw that she wanted him to return to his original place.

The pleasant smile disappeared from his lips immediately.He remembered his place in society, especially in the eyes of rich ladies.Suddenly, only arrogance and self-pity were left on his face.He felt so wronged that he delayed his departure for more than an hour, only to get this supercilious look. "Only a fool would be angry with others," he blamed himself in his heart. "Stones fall because of their weight. Am I a child who can't grow up? I don't know when I developed a good habit. , I paid money for them! If you want to teach them to value it, and teach yourself to value it, you should let them understand that I only deal with their rich people because I am poor. But in my heart, no matter how arrogant they are, they can’t do anything about it. Moreover, the level of realm is definitely beyond the reach of their reputation."

Feelings of this kind came to him one after another, and his face, which changed as he said it, took on an expression of aloofness and ferocity.Madame de Renal panicked.She originally wanted to pretend to be pure and innocent and as cold as ice when they met, but now she became concerned, and the reason she was concerned was because she saw the other party's sudden change of face.Greetings to each other in the morning, the weather is fine today, and as soon as the empty talk is finished, the two feel that they have nothing to say at the same time.Julien had not yet lost his infatuation, and immediately thought of a way to teach Madame de Renal that his friendship with her was still very weak.He didn't say a word about going out, he just bowed to her, turned around and left.

From his gaze, one could see a kind of sinister arrogance, and that gaze was still so lovely overnight.While Madame de Renal stood there in a daze, watching Julien go away, her elder son came running from the depths of the garden, put his arms around her, and said: "We are on vacation, and M. Julien is away on a journey." Upon hearing this, Madame de Renal was cold, as if she was about to die.Alright, morality, morality, and now you have reaped the consequences!And her weakness made her misfortune even worse. This latest development took up all her thoughts.Her virtuous decision, the fruit of a dreadful night of thought, was now cast out of the blue.The problem at hand is, if you don't try to push back against this lovely gentleman, I'm afraid you will lose forever.

A must have at the breakfast table.To make matters worse, Monsieur Renal and Madame de Vier talked about Julien's going out.The mayor of Verlier has noticed that when Julien came to ask for leave, he spoke in a very harsh tone, which must be deceitful. "This country boy must have other engagements in his pocket. Now, the salary has been increased to six hundred francs a year; anyone, even M. Valenod, would be more or less scared away from paying this amount. Yesterday. Well, Wei Liye must have asked for a three-day grace period to consider this matter. In order to avoid giving me a formal answer, this little gentleman went into the mountain this morning. He would have to lose his face with an arrogant and domineering employee. Look where we've fallen!"

"My husband doesn't know what he has hurt himself, and if he even thinks that Julien is going away, why should he doubt it?" Madame de Renal thought to herself, "ah! it's all settled! " In order to have a good cry and to avoid Mrs. Daville's questions, she said that she had a terrible headache and wanted to go to bed. "That's the way women are," Mr. Renner repeated, "something is always going to go wrong with these complicated machines." After saying that, he walked away with a mocking look. The fiddle of fate plunged Madame de Renal into a terrible passion.She was tormented by infatuation, but Julien was very excited, and walked into the mountain road where beautiful peaks were often seen.He was going to cross the great mountain range north of Weier Creek.The mountain path gradually goes higher and higher among the tall beech trees, winding on a large hillside; to the north of the high mountain is the gully in the Du River Basin.After walking for a short time, our traveler saw that at his feet, there were intertwined hills, leading the Du River to turn southward.Looking into the distance, it is the fertile fields around Burgundy and Beaujolais.No matter how dull his mind is to the beauty of mountains and rivers, this young careerist can't help but stop and enjoy the magnificent scenery like the openness from time to time.

Finally, he finally reached the top of the mountain.Sticking to the side of the mountain, taking a shortcut, you can go down to a lonely valley; his friend, a young timber merchant Fu Kai, lives there.Fu Kai, or anyone else, Julien was in no hurry to see.On the top of the mountain, there are craggy rocks.He was like a bird of prey, standing between the barren and dangerous rocks, he could see anyone approaching from a long distance.He found a small cave in the belly wall of a crag.He ran to see where Yi Fang was hiding, and then got into it.There was a happy light in his eyes, and he sighed: "Hiding here, the world will not be able to hurt me." He suddenly thought, why not write down his thoughts here.These thoughts, no matter where they are, are very dangerous to him.Taking an ashlar slab as a desk, he writes like flying, and everything around him disappears.At the end, he noticed that the setting sun was shining behind the distant peaks of Beaujolais.

"Why don't you spend the night here?" he said to himself. "I have bread, and I have liberty!" His heart stirred at the great word liberty.He is hypocritical, even with Fu Kai, he is not allowed to be free.Resting his palms on both hands, dreaming and living his sweet dreams - what a joy it is to be free!He felt that he had never been so comfortable in his life as in this cave.Without thinking or worrying, he watched the slanting rays of the setting sun disappear one by one.The twilight is long, and my heart is also confused, imagining all kinds of situations when I first arrive in Paris in the future.The first person he met was of course a beautiful woman, in terms of beauty and talent, she was much better than the mainland women he had seen.He was madly in love, and in love with her.If we leave her for a while, it is to win honor and to be more worthy of love.

A young man mixed in the Parisian society and taught by the sad reality, even with Julien's rich imagination, no matter how romantic the story he made up, he would only be ruthlessly ridiculed: great actions will be followed by unrealized Their hopes were all destroyed; instead, they were replaced by a mediocre reality, which can be summed up in this common saying: "Whoever doesn't keep his mistress will not be cheated two or three times a day!" But this country boy felt that he Between heroic achievements, everything is ready, only opportunities are missing. At this time, the night had driven out the day, and Julien still had seven or eight miles to go before he could go down the mountain to the village where Fu Kai lived.Before leaving the small cave, he lit a fire and burned all the writing paper he had just scribbled on, not daring to take it lightly.

At one o'clock in the middle of the night, Julien knocked on the door, startling his friend.Julien found that Fu Kai was busy keeping accounts.He was a tall young man, with an unattractive appearance, a rough face, and a long nose, but his unflattering appearance did not conceal his honesty. "You must have had a quarrel with M. Renal, and you came here all of a sudden?" Julien recounted what had happened the night before, in whatever way he could. "Come with me," said Fouquet, "I think you have seen M. de Renal, the director of Valenod, the prefect of Mogihon, the abbe Chelan, and others, and have learned their methods; Now you are fully qualified to participate in the bidding. You are better at arithmetic than me, so come and manage the accounts for me. My business makes a good profit. I can’t manage everything by myself, and I’m afraid that finding an accomplice will be a liar, so Seeing that there is a good business, I can't do it every day. Two or three weeks ago, I made 6,000 francs by choosing Misso de Saint-Amand. I haven't seen each other for six years. I happened to meet you when I bought it. Why can't you come and get it six thousand francs, or at least three thousand francs? Because if you were there that day, I could have asked a high price for the felling of the woods. , they will let me contract on the spot. Let’s work together as a partner!” This proposal was out of Julien's original intention, because it disturbed his wild dreams.The two friends are like heroes in Homer's writing, preparing supper by themselves, because Fu Kai has been single all along.While eating supper, Fu Kai showed Julien the account book, which proved that his timber business was very profitable.Fu Kai has always valued Julien's intelligence and character. Ti Lian lay alone in the pine hut, thinking to himself: "Yes, I can earn a few thousand francs here, and then it will be much more profitable to be a soldier or a priest. As for whether to be a soldier or a priest, it depends on the situation." The times will be fixed in France. With a little money, all the odds and ends will be solved. The seclusion in the mountains is a cure for my terrible ignorance. There are many things you don't understand, and the regulars in the salon He is also very concerned. Fu Kai does not want to get married, but he has repeatedly said that life is lonely and depressed. Obviously, he found a partner with no funds, hoping to have a lifelong partner and never separate. " "Am I going to deceive my good friend?" cried Julien angrily.Hypocrisy and ruthlessness are his usual magic weapons.But this time, he was deeply grateful for his confidant, and he didn't allow himself to be a bit dishonest. Suddenly, he was happy again: he had a reason to refuse. "Why! Make me shy away and waste seven or eight years! I'll be twenty-eight after a few rounds; and at this age Napoleon's life, the most brilliant, has been accomplished! Luckily, a few Forgive me, low-level liar, once I earn some money quietly, who can guarantee that I will still have the ambition to become famous?" The next morning, Julien replied to Fu Kai in a very calm tone, saying that the ambition of the priesthood made him difficult to follow.The kind-hearted Fu Kai originally thought that the partnership matter had been negotiated, but he was stunned for a long time after hearing the reply. "But have you thought about it," Fu Kai said earnestly, "this is a partnership. If you like other methods, how about I give you four thousand francs a year? You want to go back to Mr. Renard's house, but He treats you like mud on the soles of your shoes! Once you have two hundred louis in your hands, who will stop you from entering the seminary? To put it a little further, I can be responsible for finding you the best in the country. Priesthood. Because," Fu Kai added in a low voice, "Mr. So-and-so, Mr. So-and-so, I supply the wood they burn. I send the best oak, and they only pay the price of white wood. , and it’s actually the best investment.” Julien was determined not to change his mind, but Fu Kai couldn't persuade him no matter what, and finally thought that he might be a little crazy.In the early morning of the third day, Julien bid farewell to his friends and spent the whole day in the mountains, forests and ravines.He went to visit that small cave again, but the peace of mind was no longer available, because it was driven away by Fu Kai's suggestion.Like the Hercules Hercules, what he has to choose now is not good or evil, but the ease and comfort of doing nothing, or the heroic dream of youth. "It can be seen that I do not have a truly fortitude character." This kind of doubt caused him the most pain. "It seems that I am not expected to become a big man. After eight years of hard work, I am worried that I will lose my strength." , I don’t have the courage to do extraordinary things anymore!”