Chapter 6 chapter Five

"We are from Bergen, but our ancestors are not natives of Norway." The elder brother of the two northern European brothers was the first to speak, "I was an Italian noble here in the 14th and 15th centuries," he tapped the beautiful woman on the table with his index finger. stone candlesticks, and continues, "Our ancestors were doing business in Germany when they were making sculptures praising Christ in fine marble." "Germans? I thought you were from the planet Pandora." Emily made a face.Everyone laughed. "Hanseatic League!" Xiao S was staring at the rain outside the window in a daze (I guess he just didn't want to face me and D), but suddenly became interested for some reason.He turned his head and stared intently at the young man who was narrating.

But Emily spoke again. "What is the Hanseatic League?" she asked. "It was a commercial alliance formed by German coastal cities at that time to protect trade interests. Lübeck was the leader, and gathered rich merchants and nobles from big cities such as Hamburg, Cologne, and Bremen. Hanseatic means chamber of commerce." Little S stared eagerly. Looking at the two tall men with fair complexion, brown hair and blue eyes, I hoped that my enthusiasm would be affirmed and confirmed, "I wrote a paper on this last semester." "It's the Hanseatic League." The tall man on the opposite side nodded approvingly, "At that time, children born in these places became apprentices at a young age, and left their hometowns with their masters to work in other alliance cities. Do this Although it was hard work, it was a dream job at that time, because after the contract expired, these apprentices could use the experience and contacts accumulated in other places to go home and do business on their own, and at the same time, they could seek higher positions in the chamber of commerce. It was a good investment at that time."

Xiao S's answer was confirmed, and he looked around triumphantly for a week, while Emily was looking at him adoringly.I rolled my eyes. I know why he broke up with me a year ago.Long-distance love is undeniable, but even if we live in the same city, it is only a matter of time before we break up.Maybe Emily had as little in common with him as I did with his geeky mind and political and economic interests, but there was one thing we differed from. Emily adores him from the bottom of her heart, and I don't. On the contrary, it's another thing I hate about him.Self-righteous, so overjoyed.Maybe most men in the world share the same flaw, ingrained machismo, or rather, some sense of superiority as a male species—like Nick in my class.Nick is very similar to him at this point, which is why I "instinctively" rejected his pursuit.All in all, I am surprised that my dislike of Xiao S is so obvious now.At this time last year, I obviously cried for him.

Time is the measure of everything. This is really incredible. When I was distracted, Brother Avatar paused for a moment, as if he wanted to show off on purpose. He lowered his head and drank a big mouthful of beer, then licked off the foam on his lips, and then said slowly: "Tell us about our story, the protagonist He is an apprentice of a chamber of commerce. He came to Norway from Germany with his employer at a young age, worked hard for many years, and hoped to return to his hometown to achieve a career in the future, but then he failed.” "Compared to big cities like Hamburg and Cologne, Bergen is of course not a good place. It's just a small backward fishing village. It rains more than 270 days a year." Brother Avatar couldn't help interjecting .Although he is a younger brother, he is half a head taller than his elder brother, and his limbs are outrageously long. He really looks like those "Na'vi people" in the movie.

"But he never went back to his hometown." Avatar brother added. "Did the Vikings invade?" Emily asked innocently, blinking her eyes. Little S hurriedly grabbed her, "The Viking Age ended in the 11th century!" The Australian let out a distinct sneer, heard by everyone present.The American girl was upset, "I really don't know!" Emily pouted her lips. "It's worse than the Viking invasion." Avatar brother showed a consoling smile to the pretty girl with a round face, "By chance, he discovered a big secret of his employer."

"If you go back, you will die." Avatar brother added. "What's the secret?" Emily asked.Her long eyelashes fluttered and all the freckles on her red face were shining.I found myself totally drawn to her.Her beauty, her ignorance, her innocence and kindness of a human girl are like juicy fruits hanging on the tree of good and evil, which are fatal temptations to me.A desire that I never had before challenged my nerves and taste buds, no, it should not be said that I never had, maybe, when I was a devil... But all this is too absurd!I don't want to hurt her.I don't want to hurt anyone!I gritted my teeth, grabbed my wrists, and looked up just in time to see Heath smiling at me.

At this moment, a bolt of lightning split the dark rainy night outside the window.The chandelier above the head went out with a "squeak".With the rumbling thunder, the entire hotel was plunged into darkness one after another. Emily screamed.I instinctively grabbed D's hand beside me.The cold and hard touch gave me a little comfort.I know he's here.The floor under his feet creaked, distant and chaotic footsteps came from downstairs, the sound of doors opening and closing, someone was swearing in Italian, and the voice seemed to be the few fans just now.If there's anything worse than being stuck in a hotel in heavy rain, apparently the lightning bolt just hit the hotel's power supply and cut us off.

Through the thin wooden floor, the shouting and cursing from downstairs continued.The round table in front of him was silent.Except for Emily's short exclamation, nothing happened.I gripped D's hand tightly, overwhelmed by the unnatural silence around me.In a trance, I even had an ominous premonition that something had happened to Emily, and I was the culprit of this whole incident. With a soft "pop", a bunch of gorgeous little flames exploded in front of his eyes, and the Australian took out his zippo. I was the first to look for Emily in the dim light, and was relieved to find her sitting where she was, eyes wide open in horror.Fortunately, she's fine, I said to myself.I let go of the heart that has been hanging, but I don't know where my previous panic came from.

"Should we continue?" The Australian lit the candle on the table with his lighter. The soft yellow flame melted the darkness that engulfed everything around him, dancing and burning silently and slowly in everyone's eyes. Ten people, twenty eyes, no more, no less. "Of course." Heath and D said at the same time, I was taken aback. The Avatar brother shrugged, "I have no objection." So the brother continued to speak and completed the following story. 1 One of the wealthiest families of the Renaissance, leader of the city-state of Florence.The beauty of the hotel is compared here, and it has no direct connection with the "Mr. Medici" who took over Bran Castle earlier.

2 During the Renaissance, there were many city-states in Italy, the northern part was controlled by the Holy Roman Empire, and the central part was ruled by the Pope.The local population often fought among themselves over who would unify Italy. 3 In the legend of King Arthur, Lancelot is the greatest knight of the round table and the lover of Queen Guinevere.The latter relationship led to the eventual breakdown of Arthur's kingdom.