Chapter 3 3

"Hello, Phil, my name is Jane. Your friend is very handsome." "That friend of yours isn't bad either," said Phil, who was a born master at this kind of bullshit. The two sides exchanged witty words and fluent answers. The place where the conversation was held was a high-end bar for singles, on the corner of 64th Street and First Avenue. ".In fact, the proper name of the store should be called "Maxwell Plums", but I always look at things with a sarcasm, and people always look for the best, and in my eyes, Li Yuke is so shriveled that he has become a dried plum.In short, I hate this hotel.I couldn't bear to see the group of fashionable men who pretended to be beautiful men in the store, all of them were smug and chewed their tongues endlessly.Look at them, all pretending to be millionaires or literary critics.In fact, I'm afraid that even the appearance of the bachelor is just pretending.

①The original text of "梅子" here is plum, and the word plum has another meaning, which is "good harvest"; the original text of "梅子湿" above is prune, which also has another meaning, which is "an annoying guy".There is a saying in English that "plums become dried plums", which means "what a good thing has become dry and tasteless".Oliver's ridicule means this. "This is Oliver," said Philippe Cavilelli, dressed in Robert Hall men's fashion, with a haircut by Cranston's Italian and a cashmere sweater by Pierre Cardin Brand-name goods (bought in the basement of Falin's department store).

"Hello, Al," Jane said. "You're so pretty. Are you a pastry lover too?" She's probably a model.It's the so-called slim beauty in fashion magazines.But she looks like a giraffe to me.She also had a friend, of course, a pudgy fellow named Marjorie, whom we heard giggling when we were introduced. "Do you come here often?" asked Jane, the slender beauty the giraffe. "Never," I replied. "Well, that's what people who come here say. I'm only here for the weekend. I live out of town." "Coincidentally," Phil said. "I'm from out of town too."

"What about you?" Jane asked me. "I'm not here at all, I'm going to eat early," I said. ①The original text is Im out to lunch. According to out to lunch, it literally means "go out to eat". However, in American slang, this phrase has been escaped and deduced many meanings. It can be used as "absent-minded", "out of mind", It can also be said as "out of fashion", or even "stupid", "grotesque" and "crazy".Oliver's intention was clearly that he was not interested in finding a partner here.Philip changed his words for him below.

"Stop kidding," Jane said. Philip, who was escorting me, hurriedly came to smooth things over: "He meant that we would like to invite the two of you to dinner together." "Wonderful," said Jane. We ate at a nearby restaurant called Flora's Gourmet House. "It's classy enough," Jane said. The delicacies are quite classy, ​​but I'm afraid I have to add that even the price is also quite classy.I couldn't hold Phil back, so he had to pay the bill (although he couldn't hide his surprise when he saw the bill).He paid the bill with his MasterCard with great swagger.I thought to myself at the time: For his generosity, he must sell several large baskets of pastries to earn back. ...

"You're rich, aren't you?" the smirking Maggie asked Phil. ① Marjorie's nickname. "Well, it can be said that he has a bit of family background," Phil's answer seemed to be the style of Lord Cranston, and then he added: "However, the cultural level is not as good as my son-in-law." The scene turned cold for a moment.Oops, look at this terrible embarrassment! "Son-in-law?" Jane still spoke. "So the two of you have already...?" As he spoke, the thin hand with long nails drew two circles, with a questioning posture. Phil didn't know how to answer. I couldn't sit idly by, so I just nodded to show that it was the case.

Jane cried out with a "wow": "This is really wonderful. Where is your wife?" "This...uh..." Phil couldn't say for a long time, "They..." So it was cold again, and Philip scratched his head anxiously. "They're not in the local area anymore," I hurried up to answer him, so as not to embarrass him any further. There was another silence, and Jane finally understood how it was all wrong. "It's very interesting," she said. Phil kept his eyes on the mural on the wall, but I couldn't help it anymore. "You two," I said, "I have to go."

"What?" Jane asked. "There's a pornographic film, can I not go," I said while stepping back step by step. "Why, that's odd," I heard the quick-witted Jane exclaim. "There are such weird people, why don't they go alone to watch pornography?" "Hey, I'm not going to be a spectator," I shouted to them across the crowded shop. "I'm going to be the protagonist!" After a while, Phil caught up with me on the street. "Hey, I mean you," he said, "that's the first step you've got to take."

"No, haven't you already stepped out?" "Then why did you leave?" "It's too sweet for me to bear," I said. We walked all the way, no more words. "Listen," said Philip at last. "I still have to live a decent life, and I can go this way." "I don't believe there is no better way." "What kind of way? Tell me about it." "Hey, so what should I say," I deliberately joked with him. "For example, go post a friend advertisement." As soon as I said this, he didn't say anything for a long time.It was only after great difficulty that I replied, "You have already advertised."

"What did you say?" I stopped, looked at him, and couldn't believe my ears. "What did you say about me?" "There's a nice book review magazine that Jenny used to read, you know? I put an ad for you. Don't worry about it. Absolutely no scribbles. It's brilliantly written. Nothing out of the ordinary." "Oh!" I said. "What did it say?" "It basically means: 'A lawyer in New York who loves sports and studies anthropology...'" "How did you come up with that, bullshit personal anthropology?" He shrugged. "That's like a profound knowledge."

"Well, it's yours. I'd like to see if there's any reply." "Yes." As he spoke, he took out three different envelopes from his pocket. "What did the letter say?" "I never read people's private messages." Filippo Cavirelli is now a staunch defender of the right to privacy again. So, under the orange-yellow tungsten street lamp, with a feeling of confusion and some anxiety—not to mention Philip right behind me—randomly picked out a letter, and opened it to read. My dear!I secretly screamed when I saw it, but I didn't scream out.Phil pretended not to peek, but he could only gasp: "My God!" The person who wrote the letter is really a person who is very interested in anthropology.But the idea of ​​a cult with her in the letter was so absurd and outrageous that Philip almost fainted when he saw it. "That's a joke," he uttered a feeble grunt. "Yeah. I was kidding you," I replied. "But who can stand such grotesques, Oliver?" "Philip, this is 'Wonderful New World'①," I said with a slight smile to hide it, even though I was actually taken aback.I simply threw the other two letters in the trash. ①The phrase "Wonderful New World" comes from a poem by Shakespeare, and it is also the title of a satirical novel by the British writer O. Huxley. Philip, as if very much reproached, walked a block or two without saying a word before saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I really didn't know." I put my arms around his shoulders and couldn't help but laugh.So he swept away his sorrow and smiled grinningly. We went home in the warm New York twilight.We are just two people.Because our wives...are not here anymore.