Chapter 17 Chapter Seventeen

On Wednesday morning, Beatrice took him to visit the tenants of the three farms—Flander, Ueda, and Viser. "Gates is at the end, let him not be too complacent." This is what Bitui said.In fact, Gates is also the least important of the three tenants, because the Weisser farm is also the smallest of the three.This farm was originally a farm for Recht's own use. It is located on the edge of the parish, on the slopes of the northern outskirts of the village.It's almost impossible to be self-sufficient on this small farm alone, but Gates also runs a butcher's shop in the village (two days a week), so he doesn't have to rely entirely on Visey's income.

"Can you drive, Bo Lai?" Bitui asked just as they were about to get in the car. "I can drive, but you're better off driving, you are more familiar with—" He almost blurted out "route", but then changed his words to say "this car". "Calling it 'the car' is too polite of it. I suppose you're more used to the driver's seat on the left." "yes." "I'm sorry we have to drive this little beetle today. The big car at home broke down, which is rare. The repairman took all the parts apart and checked, but there is still nothing to do with it."

"I love this little beetle. It brought me back from the train station yesterday." "Yeah. Seems like a long time ago. Do you feel that way?" "Yes." To Bo, this day seemed like years. "Did you hear that the "Callene Daily" let us go?" Bitui continued to ask after the car roared onto the boulevard. "No, what's going on?" "Don't you read the newspaper at breakfast time?" asked Beatrice.She had breakfast at eight o'clock in the morning. "There's never been a newspaper where I live. We listen to the news on the radio."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot that your generation doesn't need newspapers." "Why do you say they let us go?" "It was three strangers we'd never heard of, never met. The fourth wife of a dentist who lived in Manchester, the husband of an actress, and the owner of a black suitcase. She tapped the horn, turned to the right slowly, and continued: "The owner of that black suitcase packed a person's hands and feet in the suitcase. Who knows? Maybe the hands and feet are his own." I am afraid that this news will be circulated in the "Carlain Daily" for a while.

The actress's husband accused her of lack of enthusiasm--the kind of news that the "Calline Journal" liked best. " "And what about the third one?" "what? " "Fourth wife of a Manchester dentist." "Oh, yes. By God, this woman has just been dug out of the grave and found to be full of arsenic. Her husband is long gone." "What do you mean: "Callene Daily" has too much news to report, so it doesn't care about our family's affairs?" "It must be so. The news of that lawsuit takes up a whole page.

Even if they want to report news about our family, they just mention a few words on the back of the report, and people who read it will forget everything in two minutes. "Western Times" also has their big news to be published, it seems that our family's affairs will not be too ostentatious. " Well, another level has passed.Now he has to concentrate on facing the tenants of the two farms, Farland and Ueda.He should have known them. The tenants of Farland were a tall, flushed old man and his sister. "Miss Hussey is terrified of everybody," Lording had said to him: "her face is as horrible as a witch's, and her tongue is sharp enough to scratch.

She doesn't talk much, but as soon as she opens her mouth, you'll feel it. " "It's such an honor," Old Mr. Hersey greeted happily after seeing Beatrice and who she brought at the gate of the vegetable garden: "Mr. Bert, I'm so glad to see you back." The rough hand shook Bolai's hand, and then covered Bolai's hand with the other affectionately.No doubt he was glad Bert was back. But it was not so easy to know whether Miss Hussey was happy or not. While shaking hands with Bo Lai, she looked at him and said, "This is really a surprise." Her polite words and false stories made Bo Lai very funny.

"It seems that life overseas hasn't changed you much." She said while setting up teacups in the small living room. "One thing has changed a lot." Bo replied. "Really?" She didn't go on to ask which aspect had changed a lot just to please Beau. "I'm not afraid of you now." Old Mr. Hersey laughed. "I'm not as good as you in that, Mr. Burt. If I come home half an hour late from the market, and before I get to the house, I'll sneak in like a dog with its tail between its legs, as if I'm going to be in trouble." .”

Miss Hesse didn't say anything, but Bo Lai noticed that her expression seemed to add a layer of goodwill towards him. Soon after, she brought out a plate of biscuits from the kitchen, which she obviously didn't mean to bring out at first. They drank a wine called "White Harbor" and chatted. When they arrived at Ueda Farm, only fat Mrs. Duke was home.She was busy churning cream behind the house. "Who is it? Come in by yourself!" She answered the door with her voice.So they walked across the cool tiles to the cold cream room. "I can't keep my hands off," she said, looking up to see who was coming, "these creams—oh, my God, I didn't know it was you! I thought something was passing by What about passers-by. The children have gone to school, and Jiali has also gone out. Oh, my God! It's you!"

When Mrs. Duke and Bo came to shake hands, Beatrice naturally took her stick and continued to churn the cream. "Very well, very well," cried Mrs. Duke kindly, "you have grown into a good-looking and handsome young man." Hearing Mrs. Duke's praise, Bo Lai felt that Beetui seemed to be looking at him with interest. "This is a day of joy for all of us, Miss Assubie, don't you think? It's amazing. I just told Carrie.I said, this kind of thing only happens in the story, why does it really happen to us unknown people now? Now it is absolutely true to see you come back, it is so good to see you!"

"Can I whip the cream? I've never whipped it before." Bolai deliberately struck up a conversation. "Why not?" said Mrs. Duke, a little surprised. "You used to come over early on Saturday morning to play with this thing!" Bolai's heart almost stopped beating: "Really? I forgot." If there is anything wrong, just pretend that you don't remember it—Lodin once told him to do so—you must not be arrogant, or you will show your feet soon. "I thought you'd switched to electric now," he heard Beatrice say, making room for him to stir. "Oh, of course a lot of work is done electric," Mrs. Duke replied, "won't churning cream. You see, the butter made by the machine at the International Food Shop in Xishi Town is not as fragrant as the hand-stirred ones before? Sometimes when I get busy, I inevitably turn on the electric switch, but I always feel something is wrong.Machines are not a good thing, not at all artistic. " They drank hot black tea, chewed barley cakes, and chatted about their children's schooling. "That's nice of Mrs. Duke," Beatrice said as they drove back. "I guess she really believes in her heart that electricity was invented by the devil." But Beau didn't answer.He was lost in thought.In the future, he must tell himself not to be brave, so as not to arouse suspicion.The churning of the cream was not serious, but other things were not, and he had to be careful. "Beau, it's Friday," Beau said to Beau on their way to Visey Farm via Carlisle. "What's the matter on Friday?" Bo Lai's contemplation was interrupted, and he asked anxiously.Beati looked around, smiled and said, "Forgot? It's your birthday." Of course, he has a new birthday now. "Did you really forget that you'll be twenty-one on Friday?" "Oh, I almost forgot." He saw Bitui squinting at him, without a smile on her face. "Friday," she went on, "I think since we've decided to postpone the bar mitzvah, let's not have a special celebration on Friday. Mr. Sandow will bring the papers for you to sign that day, so we I'll take him to lunch and treat it like a family dinner." By the way, signing the papers, he knew he was going to have to do it sooner or later.He even practiced his peculiar capitals with the help of an old notebook of Bert's.In this way, the matter of signing is not too difficult for him.The ceremony merely legally established his succession as irreversible. "What do you think of this arrangement?" "What? Oh, you mean a birthday. Of course, of course. I don't want a big celebration. Can we just go through this rite of passage unassumingly?" "I don't think the neighbors will let us off like this. They expect us to have a big celebration, and we can't let them down. The invitation letter has been printed long ago, and I changed the date to when Uncle Charlie returns. two weeks. He will be back in twenty-three days.What should come will always come, isn't that what the old people say?" Yes, what should come will always come.Anyway, it's not imminent, so he doesn't need to be nervous now.He doesn't need to know the Gates family he is going to visit later. Now they were walking back towards the village.On the left is the white fence of the racecourse.The morning was bright and fresh, but it seemed a little too shiny.The sky was like a sheet of metal, and the sun gave it a silver edge. When they passed the pastor's house, Beetui suddenly mentioned: "Eli Lodin came back not long ago and spent a weekend." "Really? What is he doing now?" "Still playing some small roles in the theater. You know, the kind of nonsensical plays with only four roles, five doors, and a bed. I haven't seen him in person, but Nancy says he's improved." "Where did you improve?" "It is said that he is more interested in others. He can even get along well with the pastor. Nansi thought that he should be more sensible when he is older. When the pastor is not at home, he can still read in the pastor's study." Hours of reading. They could talk for a while when the pastor was at home.Nancy was very happy.She has always liked Ali, but every time he came back before, she was a little uneasy.There was nothing he could do in the village, and he didn't like the priest. It's a nice change. "Around the center of the village, they turned a corner and entered a lane, which led to Visey Farm. "I'm afraid you don't remember the girl Amy?" Beatrice asked Bolly. "She grew up on Visey Farm. Then she married Mr. Gates who lived on the other side of the Bull, and he had a farm there too. After Amy's dad died, Gates came back to run the farm and of course take over the butcher shop. They're doing pretty well now. It's a pity that their son doesn't like his father.I found a job as a mechanic and moved away.The daughter lived with them, she was the apple of his eye, and she usually went to an expensive boarding school.Her original name was Peggy, but she went by the name Margaret at school. " The car slid into the entrance of Visey Farm and stopped in a small gravel-paved vestibule.The two dogs saw them and barked with their throats open. "I really hope Gates can discipline his dog well," Beatri muttered.Her own dogs were as well-bred as her horses. The barking of the dog drew the hostess out.Although she is quite old, she can still see that she must have been very beautiful when she was young. "A Lin! Xiao Le! Stop barking!" She barked at the two dogs, going forward to say hello to them.Unexpectedly, before she came to them, Mr. Gates suddenly emerged from the corner of the room and strode past her.Gates' abrupt welcome made his wife welcome them more sincerely. She didn't know what to do for a while, so she had to smile and watch her husband greet them exaggeratedly. Gates is a tall man, and Bolai believes that his youthful vitality must be quite attractive to petite Amy. "They told me you made your fortune on horses there, too?" he asked Beau. "I live off horses," Beau replied. "Come and see what's in my stable." He stepped forward and led them towards the stable at the back of the house. "But Hurley, you should let people in first?" protested his wife. "Sit down later. They'll love to see the fine horse first. Come on, Mr. Bert, come on, Miss Ashby. Alfred!" he cried triumphantly as he led the way. His assistant: "Bring out that new horse and show it to Ms. Asybe!" Mrs. Gates followed, and happened to be walking with Bert. "I'm so glad," she whispered, " It's so good of you to be back.I remember you as a child, when my father was still alive.I never liked any other child as much as I liked you except my own. " "Look, Mr. Bert, take a good look at this horse! How's it going?" Gates unscrewed the door of the stable with his big arm, and saw Alfred lead out a huge horse, which seemed a bit out of place with the surrounding environment.There's no denying that this brown horse is one of a kind. "How? What do you say? What do you say?" Beatrice looked at it and said, "Isn't this the horse that Dick won the jumping award in Perth last year?" "That's right," Gates said triumphantly, "Not only the jumping award, but also the best mount award. It cost me a lot of money, but I can still afford it. What else is there for my precious daughter?" What's better than this? Yes, Peggy, this horse is for her. It's worth it! It's worth it!" He laughed exaggeratedly: "My precious girl rides on this horse like a feather It's so light. I don't need to tell you, Ms. Asubie. You know that. There is no one in the village who can ride this horse better than my Peggy. I don't feel sorry for spending more money!" "You really bought a good horse, Mr. Gates." Beatrice said, the excitement in her tone surprised Bolai a little.He couldn't help turning his head and looking at her for a moment, wondering what made her so happy—the brown horse would be a match for Tipper, and any of the Lychters, after all. "Needless to say, I have had a veterinarian appraise it and issued a certificate. I will not buy it casually." Gates added. "Will Paige show the horse this year?" "Of course. If I don't show it, why should I buy it?" Bitui's expression became even more cheerful. "That's great!" she said, with a tinge of excitement in her voice. "Do you like this horse, Ms. Asybe?" It was Peggy who asked, and at some point she appeared beside Beau. Paige is very pretty.The skin is white and pink, with golden hair.Bo came to think, adding the benefits of Miss Basler and Ailian together, I am afraid that he would become the Peggy in front of him.When her parents introduced her to Beau, she was introduced obediently, but at the same time expressed her personal delight at his return. When Bo came to shake hands with her, he felt her soft little hand squeeze him tightly.After shaking hands, Bo Lai had to endure so as not to dry his wet palms on his trouser legs. Then Beau came to congratulate her on a fine horse, which she gladly accepted.After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the Gates couple extended the guests to the living room.They drank some good wine and chatted about Bull's farm show. As they drove home, Beatrice still looked as happy as if someone had given her a large sum of money.She looked at Bolai's thoughtful face and asked, "How is it?" "You're as happy as a cat getting a cream meal." Bitui squinted at him again, and continued, "It's not just butter, it's fish and beef liver added." "After Friday's business, Beau," said Beatrice, "you should go into town and get some clothes. We're going to have our bar mitzvah party when Uncle Charlie gets back, and you'll have to dress decently then. " "Then what should I add?" he asked without a clue. "If I were you, I'd let Walter the tailor worry about it." "Anyway, it's enough to dress up as a standard British gentleman." Bo said. Bicui squinted at him again, feeling that he seemed to mean something.