Chapter 20 prefer white

It was a semi-detached building in a quiet street in Kent, near London.In front of the white gate, there is a meadow with a few roses planted here and there; it is late autumn, and there are no flowers; the green leaves and flower buds are all faded, withered and yellow.She opened the door and let me into the hallway, took off my shoes, and followed her up a long, narrow staircase.The stairs are covered with white carpet.At the end of the stairs was another white door.Inside the door is the living room. White sofa.White coffee table.White flowerpot.white vase.white wall.White desk.White windows.The white bookshelves are not too high, dominating the entire north-facing wall.Most of the bookshelves are Penguin edition books, and the orange spines are connected to form rows of orange book walls.The orange spine has the author's name in black with the title in white.She was sitting on the white carpet in front of the bookshelf, her long ginger hair was scattered on the white shirt; she had two very black and thick eyebrows and very red lipstick.Suddenly, I found that the living room was only endless white, streaks of orange and sporadic black.Then there are a few very delicate potted plants; on the bookshelf, in front of the window, next to the TV, and on the wine cabinet, there are all of them.Although the green can't make up that piece of white, it can be regarded as breaking through that piece of white.

"The white bookshelf seems to be only suitable for a set of Encyclopedia Britannica," I said. "Women who live alone don't look in encyclopedias!" she said. "Women who live alone don't want other colors, just white?" I said. "But Maugham hates white," she said. "But Maugham hates women," I said. "Maugham doesn't like white bookshelves, but Maugham has a cleanliness." She leaned over to clean up the scattered "Sunday Times". The British novelist Somerset Maugham cleaned up the books and newspapers thrown on the ground by the guests in front of the guests.Maugham has a cleanliness.When he married Sally, who was thirty-seven, when he was forty-three, he realized that he should not have married Sally.He complains that Sally treats feelings as commodities; and that she only cares about material things and doesn't understand the heart.He finds her superficial.He said that when he reached middle age, he couldn't change his temper or lifestyle, and he didn't want to accommodate her.He asked to be allowed to travel with his homosexuals for six months every year in search of writing material.Sally disagreed.So the couple often quarreled.

In 1923, Sally opened a small shop at 85 Bag Street, London, selling antique furniture and curios, and doing interior design business.In those days it was quite radical for women to come out and open shops, and Sally was more famous in London society.Maugham was happy to see that she had something to do, so she didn't have to make trouble with him; but he still couldn't get rid of the gentleman's concept in the Edwardian era, saying that he didn't approve of women going out to do business.When entertaining guests at home, Maugham often joked and advised the guests to sit on the chairs and not move them, because these chairs would definitely be moved out for antique auctions.Sally's business grew, and she soon moved the shop to the more respectable Duke Street.One day, Maugham and a friend passed by Duke Street; when the two were about to reach the door of Sally's shop, Maugham hurriedly pulled his friend across the road to avoid passing Sally's shop.

"Please forgive me, I can't bear to see the good things my wife is doing in the window." Maugham said.My friend couldn't guess what good Mrs. Maugham was doing.Maugham explained: "I reckon she must have knelt before a rich American lady to persuade them to buy a chamber pot from her shop." Sally's interior design likes to use white as the main color, which has become a London fashion in the 1920s.Maugham said she stole all her white inspiration from Mrs. Fillison.Mrs. Fillison, who was married to a briquette dealer, had to contrive a trick to make the living room a pure white one.Sally, who had been to Mrs. Fillison's mansion, was infected with the white virus, and finally replaced all the furniture of British and American upper-class families with white: eggshell white floors covered with thick white wool fireside rugs; The white sofa is matched with a white tile coffee table with cracked patterns; a white vase is placed in the corner of the white wall, and white peacock feathers are inserted in the vase.Maugham and Sally's marriage lasted ten years.

Sally always liked to quarrel with Maugham in public.Sally loves to sell fake antiques.Sally loves to smuggle and cheat taxes.Sai Li's bank account is unclear and often returns checks.Sally has no sense of time.Several times Sally dropped her handbag in a taxi and lost her theater and ferry tickets.But Sally was good-looking and well-dressed; it was recognized in high society that she always gave a successful dinner, and the guests were happy.Only Maugham's face is always drawn long, because Sai Lijing will deal with the guests, flirting just right, interspersed with a lot of light words that are not excessive.When a play "Circle" written by Maugham was performed, Sally said this sentence to Maugham:

It's funny how everyone says "The Circle" is your best play; actually, I wasn't very kind to you when you wrote it! "She's not friendly to me at all. She just goes to work in Central on time every day. At least two nights a week I have to go out to meet those sleazy Hong Kong Central people. Who knows who is the bastard in the middle of the night The boy sent her back. God knows what she meant by changing all the furniture in the living room and bedroom to white. If the white furniture is not wiped every day, it will be finished. Who wiped it? Isn’t it me? I have a mouthful of food, so I have to serve these white bastards at home. You know that white bastards are so difficult to wipe off! Pick white!" His face was livid with anger.