Chapter 5 Chapter Four

"Don't expect them to behave normally." Miss Ping repeated this sentence. This Sunday, she was sitting in the same spot, looking at the happy and perfectly normal young faces in the grass before her.She looked at them happily.Even if there were no outstanding talents among them, it is impossible for any of them to harbor evil intentions.There was no sign of sickness or exhaustion on their tanned faces. These young girls had survived the strict curriculum set by Handa, and Miss Ping couldn't help thinking that if strict discipline could lead to good results, maybe she should also agree with this method.

She watched the "disciples" with interest.Because they have lived together for a long time, although their body shapes are different, their demeanors look somewhat similar - just like the feeling of a husband and wife after getting along for a long time.They all have round faces with the same expression of happy anticipation, and it is usually not until later that people notice the differences in the physique and skin color of the four. At the same time, she looked at Thomas amusedly, the Welshman who was always a late riser, the little man had a rather rustic look.And O'Donnell, from the time she heard her in the bathroom until now she was able to see her: a standard Irish woman's appearance, delicate skin, big gray eyes and long eyelashes.As for the two boy scouts who are relatively at the two ends of the group, they are relatively inconspicuous.

The red-haired Stewart was cutting a cake from a plate on the grass. ("It's from Crawford's," she said, with a flattering Edinburgh accent, "you who've only ever eaten cheap bread, at last you can taste what's really delicious!") Beautiful Campbell, with pink cheeks and brown hair, was leaning against a fir-tree, eating slowly her buttered bread. Except for Hassett, who is South African with a flat profile and an indigenous face, the rest of the senior students are what Queen Elizabeth called "pure English". The only one who stood out and was out of the ordinary was Mary Innes, a close friend of Boa Nash.This made Miss Ping feel a strange satisfaction.She felt that they matched well, and the friends chosen by Bao Er should be both internal and external.

It's not that Innes is particularly good-looking, the center of her eyebrows extends to her eyes, giving the whole face a thoughtful expression, but it makes people ignore her charming and detailed skeleton.It is completely different from Baoer, who is lively, cute and easy to laugh. Although everyone is talking non-stop, Miss Ping has not seen Innes showing a smile so far.Last night, after spending an evening with the teachers, when Miss Ping went back to her room to change, there was a knock on the door. "I'm here to see if you need anything. By the way, I'll introduce you to Mary Innes, the neighbor next door. If you need any assistance, Innes can help you at any time." Bao'er left immediately after saying that, leaving Lower Innes alone supported the overall situation.Lucy thought she was charming and intelligent, if a little reserved.She didn't even smile a little, as if she didn't think there was anything interesting to make herself laugh, and although her attitude was friendly, she didn't try to find something to talk about.

Such an attitude was not uncommon in the academic circles that Lucy had only recently met, but in a sporting academy full of laughter, it was almost the look of refusal.Simply.Innes's interest in books--the thick gray book--and in herself was certainly not the same. Sitting under the shade of the cedar tree, Lucy wondered suspiciously whether Mary Innes thought life was boring? Lucy had always been proud of her ability to read faces, and recently she relied heavily on her analysis.For example, people with low eyebrows over nose and raised brows above their foreheads are all strategic, and she has never missed this point.Someone, it seems that Gordon, who specializes in physiognomy, also published an observation report. When a group of people listened to a speech in a park, the ones who stayed and continued to listen were always those with longer noses, while those with short noses would mostly walk away.So now, looking at the position of Innes' eyebrows and the firm corners of his mouth, she suspected that this concentrated expression was preventing laughter from appearing.It's definitely not a modern face, it's—what is it? An illustration in a history book or a portrait in a gallery? Not, anyway, the face of a game teacher at a girls' school.No way.People with faces like Innes are usually the ones who make history.

Of the many faces chatting and laughing around her, there were only two that were not immediately likable.One was Kempel, too submissive, too soft-spoken, too easy to pander to.The other was a freckled Ruth, her lips pursed and alert. Ruth was late for tea, and when she appeared there was a sudden silence.It reminded Lucy of the silence of an eagle flying by.But there was no malice in the silence.It was as if everyone noticed her presence and suddenly stopped talking, but no one liked her enough to invite her into their circle. "I'm afraid I'm late," said Ruth.In a moment of silence, Lucy seemed to hear someone say: "Bookworm!" and concluded that Miss Ruth could not get out of the pile of books.After Nash introduced Ruth to Lucy, she sat with the others on the grass, and the interrupted speech continued.Lucy has always been considerate of those who are excluded because they cannot participate in group activities, so she felt sympathy for this late girl; but when she saw that stern face, she suddenly understood that this emotion was unnecessary.If Kempel's overly submissiveness is unattractive, Ruth's is the exact opposite.Nothing could describe the impression made by Miss Ruth other than the bulldozer.

"Miss Ping, you haven't tasted any of my cakes!" Dax honestly and shamelessly treated Miss Ping as an old acquaintance, sitting next to her seat with one leg stretched forward, like a doll. "Which one is yours?" Lucy's eyes looked at the assortment of snack baskets, which were quite different from the general bread in campus restaurants, enough for a country banquet. What Dax contributed seemed to be a chocolate sandwich with a creamy sauce.Lucy decided at the moment, for the sake of friendship (and partly because of her own gluttony), just this once, to put the weight issue behind her.

"Do you make your own cake every Sunday afternoon tea?" "No, it's because of you." Nash, who sat on the other side of her, laughed. "Miss Ping, the group of people in front of you are all gluttons who go to the kitchen to dig food every day. There is no student in the Physical Education College who doesn't like to eat." "Throughout my school days, my dear, I've been sick with hunger at any moment. Only shame can keep me from breakfast, but in half an hour I'll be so hungry I could eat a horse. " "That's why your only crime is—" Ruth was about to speak when Stewart kicked her hard on the back, causing her to almost fall forward.

"It's all for you," Nash said sarcastically, trying to cover up Ruth's unfinished sentence, "We have prepared a bunch of refreshing drinks!" "We even held a meeting carefully to discuss whether we have to dress up for you." Dexter said while cutting chocolate sandwiches for everyone, not feeling the gaffe just now. "But then we didn't think you were special enough to be filthy enough: the invitation brought a burst of laughter, she added hastily, "I meant no harm, we just thought you'd like everyone just the way they are." "They dress in all shapes and sizes, depending on personal taste or needs.

Some wore shorts, others blue linen blazers, others a pastel-washed silk dress.But there was no silk dress with flowers, and Diderot went to drink tea with the nuns at the convent in the town of Rabo. "Besides," Gai Linqi, who looks like a Dutch doll, spoke. She was the black-headed melon seed that appeared in the window opposite the courtyard at 5:30 yesterday morning, praying that someone would throw something at Thomas to stop Dexter from endlessly lamenting girl. "Besides, although we'd love to be your hostess, Miss Ping, the final exam is just around the corner. Even a highly skilled shape-shifting actor needs five minutes to change into Sunday's best clothes, if you can accept that Our tattered clothes are equivalent to contributing—” She paused, began to count silently, and then mentally calculated—”You are equivalent to contributing one hour and twenty minutes to human wisdom.”

"You can deduct five minutes from me, honey," Dax said, licking the dripping creamy sauce with an expert tongue, "I've been studying the cerebral cortex all afternoon, and the only conclusion is that I don't have it myself. " "You must have," said Campbell, the learned Scout, in a syrupy Glasgow accent. But no one pays attention to this all-too-necessary argument. "Personally, the part of my physiology I hate the most is the fluff. Come to think of it, there are seven parts in cross-section in just under one-twentieth of an inch in length," O'Donnell said. "Do you have to know this fine detail about human tissue?" asked Lucy. "It's got to be Tuesday morning," said Sleepy Soup, "and then you can forget about it." Lucy, remembering her promise to herself to see the girls at gym class on Monday morning, asked if it would go on as usual during the week of final exams.The girls confirmed to Lucy that the lessons were going on as usual.It was different on grades day, when gym classes were suspended two weeks earlier.Only then did she know that the release of grades was the most important event after the final exam. "Our parents will come," said one of the "disciples," "and—" "She means the parent of all," another disciple continued. "—and the people from the sister school, and—" "The squire of Rabo," added the third disciple.It seems to be echoing each other, as long as one disciple starts to speak, the others will automatically sing in harmony. "And the dignitaries in the county." The fourth finished the sentence. "It's simply malicious murder." The first disciple summed it up. "I just like the results conference." After Ruth finished speaking, there was silence again. There was no unkindness in the air.Pure isolation.No one commented on what Ruth said.They ignored her completely with indifference. "I think it's fun to let people know what we can do." She added in a defensive tone. Everyone else was equally noncommittal.Lucy had never seen English silence carried to such extremes, so brutally brutal.Her fingertips couldn't help twisting in sympathy. Ruth did not give in so easily.She inspected the plate in front of her, reached for something to eat, and asked, "Is there any tea in the pot?" Nash leaned over to get the teapot, while Stewart continued the topic of the four disciples. "What can really be called malicious murder is the lottery." "Position?" Lucy asked, "You mean job? But why the lottery? You must all know what job you're applying for, don't you?" "We only have a handful of people who need to apply," Nash explained, pouring the thickened tea from the teapot. "The school usually has enough applicants to operate places that have previously employed graduates of Lai's College. Usually, when there are new vacancies, we will write to Ms. He Ju and ask her to recommend candidates. If you need senior or supervisory personnel, She can get the message out to previous cohorts who want to change jobs. But usually when there are vacancies, they are filled by new grads.” "Their salaries are usually not too high," said one of the disciples. "No one gets paid well at the first job," said the second disciple. "There's less money," a third person added. "But the dignity remains," said a fourth. "So," said Stewart, "the most painful moment of the whole thing was when you were summoned to Miss He Ju's room and heard about your fate from her." "Or take the train and leave Labo Town, because Miss He Ju didn't call you at all." Thomas added, it seems that she didn't have too much expectation for her future job, thinking that she would lose her job and had to Sorry to go back to my hometown in the mountains. Nash sat back on his heels and smiled at Lucy. "It's actually not that scary. Some of us have already made a decision, so we don't need to compete with everyone. For example, Hassett will go back to work in South Africa, and the disciples will all work in medical work." "We are going to work in a clinic in Manchester," explained one of the disciples. "There are a lot of rheumatic patients in that area." "A lot of people have physical problems." "There are many seniors in the academic world." ——The other three automatically added. Nash showed a loving smile. "I'm going back to my old school to be a coach, and the walnuts - Diderot of course don't have to work. So, not so many people really have to look for work." "If I don't go back to study the liver soon, I will soon lose my qualifications to find a job." Thomas's bright brown eyes flashed in the sun, "It's really the best pastime for summer afternoons." They moved lazily, and resumed their conversation in protest.But in the state of concern, they still started to collect things one by one, like a reluctant child dragging away slowly, disappearing at the other end of the sunny garden.Only then did Lucy realize that she was alone in the garden except for the singing of the birds and the fragrance of the flowers. She sat for half an hour, watching the shadow of the tree slowly stretching out from her feet in utter bliss.Then Diderot came back from Rabeau, and Lucy, who had just had tea with a group of lively young people, found this girl walking down the path with Parisian elegance a bit awkward.She saw Lucy, so she changed direction and came over. "How's the harvest in the afternoon?" "I don't ask for a harvest, but this is the best afternoon I've ever had." Sao Walnut stood and stared at her. "You are really a very nice person." She replied irrelevantly, and walked lightly to the house. Lucy suddenly felt very young, but she didn't like it at all.How dare a brat make her feel clumsy and inexperienced! She got up suddenly to find Handa, reminding herself that it was Lucy Ping who had written a book, had lectured at many societies, and was listed in Who's Who , is recognized as the authority on the study of human psychology.