Chapter 20 Chapter Nineteen

When the tea party was over (Lucy had been introduced to at least twenty pairs of parents), the crowd gradually left the garden and Lucy caught up with Mademoiselle Luc on the way back to the main house. "I'm afraid I'm going to miss my appointment tonight," she said. "My migraine is starting to strike." "It's a pity," Miss Luke said without any emotion, "I also abstained." "oh why?" "I'm so tired, and Ruth's accident has made me so depressed, I don't really want to be in town tonight." "You surprised me."

"I surprised you? How to say?" "I didn't expect that I could see Kailin Luc face herself dishonestly." "Oh. Then I'm kidding myself thinking something, and you'll find that's not why you're staying home." "Isn't it? Then why?" "Because letting Edward Yadi go will bring you infinite happiness." "A sad statement." "But suffice it to say the truth. You take every opportunity to show him your superiority, don't you?" "I feel absolutely no guilt about breaking my appointment."

"Isn't it kind of rude?" "A pathetic play on the self-indulgence of the shrew. Is that what you really mean?" "He wants to be with you so badly. I really can't figure out why." "Thanks. I can't tell you why. Maybe he was crying out to me, telling me how much he hated acting—actually it was everything to him." "Even if he bores you—" "Even! My God!" "—You can also bear with him for an hour or two, instead of using Ruth's accident as the trump card in your hand." "Do you want me to be true to myself, Miss Ping?"

"That's the gist of it. I'm pretty sorry for him, to be left—" "My—good—ma'am," said the words, striking Lucy on the forehead, "don't ever feel sorry for Edward Addie. Many women have spent their youth feeling sorry for him, and in the end Own folly pains. These self-indulgences, self-deceptions—” "But he managed to get a bottle of German canning." Miss Luc stopped and smiled at her. "It would be nice to try some wine." She said after thinking for a while. She walked on for a while. "Do you really want to honor Xiaode's appointment?" she asked.

"That's right." "Okay, you win. I'm so inhuman, I'll go. Then every time he exaggerates, 'Oh, Kaelin, I can't live with this hypocrisy', I'll hatefully think: Ping Miss is the woman who got me in trouble." "I can absolutely live with that," Lucy went on. "Has anyone heard of Ruth's situation?" "Miss He Ju just called. She hasn't woken up yet." Lucy saw her from the window of Handa's office—it said it was her office, but it was actually a small reception room to the left of the front door—and went in to congratulate her on a successful performance this afternoon, one I also let my suppressed head relax, while Miss Luc continued to walk forward.Handa was glad to see Lucy come over, and after listening to the compliments all afternoon, she was still happily listening to Lucy say the same thing, and Lucy stayed and talked with her for a while, so when By the time she walked to the stadium auditorium to enjoy the dance performance, the seats were almost full.

Seeing Edward Yadi sitting on the side of the aisle, Lucy stopped and said to him, "Karin will go." "What about you?" he asked looking up. "Oh. Too bad I can't go. It's six-thirty in the evening. My migraine will hit on time." So he said, "Miss Ping, I admire you so much," and kissed her hand. The audience next to him seemed taken aback, and someone behind him let out a chuckle, but Lucy loved the way her hands were kissed like that. What good is daily rosewater and balm to protect your hands if you don't get the occasional reward? She walked back to her seat on the front row, and the next seat, the grand old woman with the lorgnette, didn't come. Enjoy the dance show, the seats are vacant.

But just as the lights dimmed—the gymnasium hall was entirely curtained to create a light effect—Rick appeared from behind and asked, "If you're not helping someone else reserve this seat, what am I going to do?" Can I sit here?" He sat down just as the first dancer appeared. After the fourth or fifth dance, Lucy was visibly disappointed. Familiar with international skills and ballet performances, she did not expect that the level in school is still at an amateur level.So far, the performances of the students have been quite good in their future career or education, but in terms of the time and energy invested in other subjects, they are still far from professional dancers. far.Dancing requires full dedication.

Their dance performances can only be said to be good, but there is nothing new to speak of, at an amateur level, or slightly better.So far, all the performances are dance codes often selected by dance teachers.Well-behaved, straight-forward, but not very interesting.Perhaps it is their single-minded attention to the changes in their own steps that makes the performance dull and unoriginal.But on the whole, Lucy feels that discipline and a sense of rhythm are not enough.Similarly, the audience is also a bit dull and lacks the enthusiasm when watching sports performances.Maybe they drank too much afternoon tea, maybe it's because they watched too many movies, and the performance requirements for skills became more and more demanding.In any case, their applause was polite at best rather than heartfelt.

A gorgeous Russian dance music sounded, which lifted everyone's spirits and looked forward to the next dance.The curtain rises and Diderot appears alone, arms raised above his head, his slender waist facing the audience.Her dance clothes have the southern hemisphere flavor of her hometown. The spotlight hits her brightly colored costumes and original style accessories, making her look like a gorgeous tropical bird flying from the Brazilian rainforest. Son.Her tiny feet in high heels stamped impatiently under the long dress.She began to dance, slowly, almost carelessly, as if wasting time.Then it suddenly became clear that she was waiting for her lover and he was late.

Soon, the effect of his lateness on her is also apparent to the audience.At this point, the audience sat up straight. She fictionalized her lover from the space.On his swarthy face, the expression of humiliation was almost visible. She faithfully compromised with him.By this time, the audience is already sitting on the edge of their chairs.After compromising, she began to show off to him, doesn't he understand how lucky he is to have such a girlfriend? Such an elegant woman with a willow waist, bright eyes, buttocks, sexy lips, and slender ankles, is he vulgar? Can't even see these things? So she had to show him, and every gesture made the audience smile unconsciously.Lucy looked back at them: the next second they might start cooing like a flock of pigeons.amazing.When she began to show her gentle side in a charming way, the audience was completely overwhelmed by her.When she finally walks away with the virtual, but decidedly docile young man, the audience cheers like a group of children playing in the Big West.

Seeing Diderot bowing in reply, Lucy remembered that she had said before that she chose Lai's Academy because students from other professional dance schools "must be dancing as a career in the future". "She's modest about her dancing after all," Lucy exclaimed. "She could be a professional dancer." "I'm glad she didn't become a professional dancer," Rick said. "It wasn't until she came here that she learned to appreciate the English countryside. When she went to a big city to learn to dance, the only things she would encounter were ballet, no uneducated people." Lucy thought he might have a point. When other students who kept their duty continued to perform the next dance, the atmosphere in the hall visibly cooled down. Sina Stewart's Celtic charm is quite fresh; Innes's performance is sometimes elegant and sometimes fiery, but compared with Diderot, Lucy almost forgot Innes' personal performance.The magic of Diderot. At the end, she alone received the warm applause from the crowd. When Miss Ping saw the expression on Rick's face, her heart tightened. It's not enough for someone to kiss your hand. "I was never told that Diderot could dance like that," she said to Miss Vargue as they walked together to dinner.At this time, the guests finally left gradually, and there were sounds of car engines starting everywhere, as well as the sound of cherished goodbyes. "Oh, Mrs. Rever dotes on her the most," said Miss Varger, in an earnest tone, as if Mrs. Rever's follower was not too pleased that Diderot hadn't attended the competition class. "I think she has great stage presence. She doesn't feel right here. I don't think her first dance is that good. What do you think?" "I think it's cute." "Well, well," said Miss Varger resignedly, and then added, "She must be quite outstanding, otherwise Mrs. Rever wouldn't love her so much." Quite quiet at dinner.Fatigue, slack, and once idle, overshadowed by the accident of the morning;The same is true for the teaching staff. After being shocked, they are exhausted. After being exhausted, they have to take care of social activities, and now they are very anxious.Lucy felt that in such a situation, she really needed a glass of good wine to comfort her, so she couldn't help but regret that she didn't taste a good German canning wine with Miss Luc.Her heart pounded horribly when she thought that in a few moments she would go to Handa's office with the little rosette and tell Handa where she had found it. She hasn't taken the things out of the drawer yet.After dinner, as she was going back to her room to get it out, Boa stopped her in the way, put an arm through Lucy's arm, and said, "Miss Ping, we all boil cocoa in the common room. You Come cheer us up, P. You're not going to sit upstairs in the morgue, are you?"—the morgue should refer to the studio—"No? Come and encourage us!" "I'm not very energetic myself," said Lucy, thinking how much she hated hot cocoa, "but if you can stand me being sullen, I can stand your blues." When they were walking towards the public classroom, a sudden gust of wind swept through the open window into the corridor. The green branches of the trees outside the window knocked against each other, and the leaves were ripped off, revealing the back part. "That's the end of the good weather." Lucy paused to listen.She had always loathed the wind that ended the good times. "Yeah, and it's cold too," Bao'er said, "We started a fire." The public classroom is part of the "old house" and there is an old brick stove inside.The flickering lights and crisp crackling sounds of the freshly lit fire, the rattling cups and plates, the bright dresses wrapped around the tired bodies of the students, and the room slippers in more lively colors, all of these will of course refresh one's mind. vibration.It wasn't just O'Donna who was wearing strange-colored slippers tonight, almost everyone was wearing slippers of various kinds.In fact, Dax lying on the bench, with her bare feet raised above her head, only had bandages on her toes.She waved happily to Miss Ping and pointed to her feet. "To stop the bleeding," she said. "My best ballet shoes. I don't think anyone would want to buy a pair of ballet shoes that are slightly soiled? No, I don't think so." "There is a chair by the fire, Miss Ping." After Bao'er finished speaking, she walked over to pour a cup of cocoa.Innes was curling up in front of the fireplace, watching a junior student fanning the fire with a bellows. She patted the chair and expressed her welcome to Miss Ping in her usual serious way. "I asked Miss Qiao Li for all the leftover snacks from the afternoon tea." Wilma said. Hassett came in with a large plate of leftover snacks. "How did you do it?" Everyone asked eagerly, "Miss Qiao Li never gave anything, she couldn't bear to give away even fragrance." "I promised to send her some peach jam when I got back to South Africa. This looks like a big plate, but there is not much in it.The waitresses ate most of it after the tea party.Hi, Miss Ping, what did you think of our performance?" "You all did a great job. said Lucy. "Yeah, just like the police in London," Beau said. "Well, you believe that? Wilma Hassett." Lucy apologized for her cliché and tried to convince them of her enthusiasm by speaking more carefully. "Diderot charmed the whole house, didn't he?" they said, casting friendly and admiring glances at the calm man who sat by the fire, wrapped in a thin blanket. "Me, I only do one thing. It's easier to do well if you do one thing at a time." Lucy, like everyone else, couldn't be sure whether the calm remark was one of humility or reproach. On the whole, it should be regarded as humility. "That's enough, Marcus, the fire is going well," Innes said to the junior, and moved to take over the bellows.As she moved, her feet showed, and Lucy saw that she was wearing black leather slippers. Where metal trim should have adorned the toe, it was now empty. Oh no, said Lucy to herself.No, no, no. "Miss Ping, that cup is yours, and this one is for you, Innes. Try a long-baked macaroon, Miss Ping." "No, I have prepared some chocolate biscuits for Miss Ping." "No, she'll have to try the Scotch muffins from Ayrshire, fresh from the oven. Not like your leftovers." Chattering and arguing surrounded her.She took something from the tray. She answers all questions.She even took a sip from her glass. oh no.No. Here it was--the thing she dreaded most, she was too afraid to even picture it clearly in her own mind--it was imminent, specific and definite, and Lucy was terrified.Suddenly, everything turned into a nightmare: the bright and noisy room, the darkening sky outside the window pregnant with a storm, and the missing trinket.In such nightmares, the smallest, most irrelevant details can take on frightening importance.I have to do something quickly, but I don't know where to start, and I can't understand the reason. After a while, she had to leave the table without being rude, and then take her story to Handa and explain: "Now I know whose shoe it fell from, and it was Innes." Innes sat on her feet, not eating anything, but drinking cocoa as if thirsty.She curled her feet under her body again, but Lucy didn't need any further inspection.The faint hope that anyone else wore the same loafer was utterly shattered.All kinds of shoes were on the feet of the crowd, but no second pair of leather slippers were present. No one else, anyway, would have had the motive to show up at the gym at six o'clock this morning. "Let's have some more cocoa!" Innes said cheerfully, turning to look at her.But the drink in Miss Ping's cup was almost intact. "Then I'll drink more." Innes said, and began to stand up. A fairly tall junior student named Feather walked in.The faculty prefers to call her "Change". "You're late, Change," someone called out. "Come in for some buns." But Feather stood hesitantly. "What's the matter, change?" Everyone was puzzled by her frightened expression. "I'm going to arrange flowers in Fu Ruo's room." She said slowly. "Don't tell us, she already has flowers in her room?" someone said, and everyone laughed. "I heard the staff talk about Ruth." "Oh, what's the matter with her? Is she better?" "She's dead." The cup in Innes' hand fell to pieces in front of the stove.Boa bent over to pick up the shards. "Oh, nonsense," they all said, "you got it wrong, Little Change." "No, I heard right. They said it on the landing. She died half an hour ago." After these words, there was a low-key silence. "I'm the one against the wall," O'Donnell said loudly in the silence. "Of course you are, Xiao Tang," Stewart walked towards her after finishing speaking, "We all know that." Lucy put down her glass, thinking she'd better go upstairs.They let her go in whispers of regret, and the happy celebration would crumble to pieces.After going upstairs, Lucy found out that Miss He Ju had gone to the hospital to greet Ruth's family, and it was she who called to inform the news.Ruth's family, who had arrived, seemed to take the blow without emotion. "God forgive me, I never liked her," Mrs. Rever straightened up on the hard sofa, her plea to God sounded from the bottom of her heart. "Oh, all right," said Miss Wagga, "after getting to know her, she's all right. She can play a very good midfielder in the game.Terrible, isn't it? Now there will be an inquest, there will be police, investigations, horrible publicity and all that stuff. "Yeah, the police and all that stuff. She couldn't make any decisions about rosettes tonight.Besides, she wanted to think about it.She wanted to leave alone and think about it.