Chapter 5 Chapter 5 "Perfect" Tour

The old man collapsed on the ground, and a group of security police in white uniforms blocked our view, and several soldiers with automatic weapons held their guns horizontally and pushed us to the door. "We're walking," Peeta said, pushing away the vigilantes who were crowding behind us. "We got it, okay? Come on, Katniss." He put his arm around me and walked me back to the courthouse.The security police were right behind us, only a pace or two away.No sooner had we entered than the door slammed shut.Then we heard the footsteps of the security guard running back. "What happened?" Effie hurried over, "We just heard Katniss say those touching words, the signal cut off, Haymitch said he seemed to hear gunshots, I said this is ridiculous Yes, but who knows? There are madmen everywhere."

"Nothing, an old truck with a flat rear tire," Peeta said quietly. Two more shots were heard.The door did not completely block out the sound.Who is this one?Sarrish's grandma?Lulu's little sister? "You two, come with me," Haymitch said.Peeta and I followed him, leaving the others where they were.We are currently in a safe position, and the security police are not paying much attention to our activities.We walked up a beautiful marble spiral staircase.After walking to the top floor, a long corridor appeared in front of it, and the floor was covered with worn-out carpets.Two large doors were open, and our presence was not denied. The ceiling was twenty feet high, decorated with reliefs of fruit and flowers, and fat children with wings stared at us from the corner.The flowers in the vase gave off a strong aroma, which made me unable to open my eyes.Our clothes were hanging on the hooks on the wall. It turned out that this room was reserved for us, but we only stayed here for a moment, not even time to leave a gift.Haymitch yanked the mics off our clothes, tucked them under the sofa cushions, and waved us on.

As far as I know, the only time Haymitch has been here was on the Victory Tour a decade ago.He must have had a great memory and a keen sense of intuition to lead us down one maze of spiraling staircase after another, and through hall after hall, which got narrower and narrower.Sometimes, he needs to stop and pry the door open.The heavy door made a creaking sound when it was opened, and it could be seen that the door had not been opened for a long time.At last we climbed a ladder and came to a clapboard door.Haymitch opened the door, and we were inside the dome of the courthouse.The dome was large and full of broken furniture, old books, scaffolding rails, and rusted weapons, all covered with a thick layer of dust, as if no one had been there for a long time.Light struggled in through the four grimy windows inside the dome, casting a dim glow inside the dome.Haymitch kicked the bulkhead shut and turned to look at us.

"What happened?" he asked. Peeta recounted what happened in the square, how people whistled, how they paid me respects, how we hesitated in the front hall, how we shot old people. "What's going on, Haymitch?" "It's better if you caused it," Haymitch told me. I don't think so, it would have been a hundred times worse if I had caused it.I told Peeta everything as calmly as possible, about President Snow, about the unstable situation in the districts, and even the kiss with Gale.I told him frankly that we were all in danger, that the whole country was in danger because of my berry trick. "They wanted me to calm things down on this tour and convince everyone who ever had doubts that I did it out of love. To calm things down. But, obviously, what I did today made three people Die, and now, everyone in the square will be punished." I was so sad that I sat down on a broken sofa next to me with all the springs and cotton pads coming out.

"I made things worse and I said I'd give them money," Peeta said.Suddenly, with a wave of his hand, he swept a desk lamp that was crookedly placed on the crate far away, and the desk lamp fell to pieces on the ground. "This can't go on anymore, stop it now, it's--it's a game you two are playing, you two are whispering and throwing me aside like I'm stupid and stupid and weak and can't handle anything It doesn't seem to be possible." "That's not it, Peeta—" I say. "That's it!" he yelled at me. "I have people I love too, Katniss! I have family and friends in District 12, and if I don't get it right, they'll die like your family. We Going through hardships and dangers together in the arena, can't you still get your truth?"

"You've always been good, you've always been smart, you always know how to behave in front of the camera, I don't want to break that," Haymitch said. "Hey, you're overestimating me. Look, I screwed up today. What do you think of Lulu's and Saresh's family? Will they get a bonus? You think I gave them a nice The future? They'll be lucky if they survive today!" He broke another sculpture as he spoke, and I've never seen him like this before. "He's right, Haymitch, we shouldn't have kept things from him, not even in the Capitol," I said.

"Even in the arena, you're secretly plotting something, right?" Peeta asked.His voice has calmed down a bit, "It's not for me." "No, nothing was planned, I just judged what he meant by what Haymitch sent." I said. "But I never did. He never gave me anything before I met you," Peeta said. Indeed, I got burn ointment and bread in the arena, but Peeta, who was struggling on the death line, got nothing.What he would think from Peeta's perspective, I've never really thought about it before.Seems like Haymitch was going to let me live at the expense of Peeta.

"Listen, kid—" Haymitch began. "No, Haymitch. I understand you have to choose between the two of us, and I hope it's her. But it's different now. There are dead people out there, and there will be more dead unless we both do our best. We all Everyone knows that I'm better than Katniss in front of the camera, and I don't need to be taught how to speak, but the problem is that I also need to know where I am," Peeta said. "From now on, I won't hide anything from you," Haymitch assured him. "Better," Peeta said.After speaking, he turned his head and left without even looking at me.

The dust kicked up behind him, then settled in a new place, in my hair, in my eyes, on my shiny gold brooch. "You chose me then, didn't you, Haymitch?" I asked. "Yes," he said. "Why? You like him better than me," I said. "Yes, but you have to remember that before the Capitol changed the rules, I could only hope that one of you two would come out alive. At that time, I felt that since he had also made up his mind to protect you, then I was most likely Take you home," he said. "Oh." I sighed helplessly. "You see, sometimes we have to make choices, and this time you have to pay more attention to everything if you want to complete the tour smoothly."

Yeah, today I understood one thing, District 11 is not a big copy of District 12. In District 12, the fence has no guards and no electricity. Our security police are not liked, but they are also Not so brutal.We had a hard time, but it was fatigue, not anger.But here, in District Eleven, people suffered even greater pain and despair.President Snow was right.The raging anger hidden in the hearts of the people in the eleventh district is about to burst out. It all happened so suddenly that I didn't have time to react.The vigilantes sounded the alarm, fired bullets, and I may have sparked even more resentment.Everything was so unexpected.It's one thing if I cause a commotion on purpose; but the truth is... God, how did I get into such trouble?

"Come on, we've got a party to go," Haymitch said. I stood under the shower head, dousing my body with hot water for as long as possible, stalling for time.After a while my make-up artist will prepare for me to attend the banquet. They seem to know nothing about what happened today, and they are waiting for the banquet with joy.In the various jurisdictions, they are also considered dignified figures, and they are eligible to participate in banquets; but in the Capitol, they are never invited to important occasions.When they started to do my make-up, they were so excited to guess what kind of dinner was going to be prepared at the banquet, but I kept thinking about the old man who was shot, and let them play with them absent-mindedly.Before leaving, I just looked in the mirror.I was wearing a pale pink strapless floor-length dress, and I had a few strands of hair tied back and in long, curly locks that fell over my shoulders. Cinna stood behind me and put a shimmering silver shawl on me. He looked at me in the mirror and said, "Do you like it?" "Beautiful, as always," I said. "Let me see what this costume looks like with a smiling face," he said softly.He was using this method to remind me that a camera would appear in a few minutes.I forced a grin, "Let's go." As everyone gathered to go downstairs to dinner, I saw Effie fidgeting.Of course, it's impossible for Haymitch to tell her what happened in the square, and it's okay for Cinna and Portia to know, but everyone seems to have formed a tacit agreement not to tell Effie the bad news; will know all this too. Effie looked at the schedule of tonight's events, then tossed it aside. "Oh, my God, we might as well just get on the train and get away," she said. "Is something wrong, Effie?" Cinna asked. "I didn't like how they received us, being locked up in a truck and then segregated us on stage. Then, an hour ago, I wanted to walk around the courthouse, you know, me too Half an expert in architectural design," she said. "Oh, yes, I've heard of that," Portia interrupted. "So I wanted to look around, because the dilapidated buildings in the districts are the most dissatisfied people, but then two security police came out and ordered me to go back to where I was. One guy even put a gun on me!" Effie said. I can't help but think to myself that maybe Haymitch, Peeta, and I ran off on our own this morning, as a direct consequence.Maybe Haymitch was right. There was no one monitoring the dusty roof. Thinking about it this way, he felt more at ease.But I bet there must be someone monitoring it now. Effie looked in a terrible mood, and I couldn't help but go up and hug her: "It's too bad, maybe we shouldn't go to the party, at least until they apologize." I knew she would never agree Doing so, but she was obviously in a much better mood hearing me say that, and she knew someone was listening to her complaints. "No, I'll try to arrange it, after all, it's my job to weather the storm. We can't let you two miss this banquet." She said, "You can say that, I am very grateful." Effie arranged the order of our appearances.The makeup artist comes first, then herself, the designer, Haymitch, Peeta, and me last. Music was already playing downstairs.Peeta and I hold hands as the first man walks down the stairs. "Haymitch said I shouldn't have yelled at you and you were just following his instructions. I'm yelling at you like I've never lied to you before," he said. I remember how surprised I was when Peeta professed his love to me in front of the whole of Panem, Haymitch knew everything, and he didn't tell me. "I remember throwing things around after that TV interview." "Just a flowerpot," he said. "But your hand. It's useless to say that, is it? We've all kept it from each other," I said. "Yeah," Peeta said.We were standing at the top of the stairs, fifteen paces from Haymitch as Effie said. "Did you really only kiss Gale once?" I immediately replied, "Yes." I was surprised myself.With so many things happening today, is this what he wants to know most? "It's fifteen paces, let's go," he said. The spotlight was on us and immediately I had the biggest smile on my face. We go down the stairs .Repeat the same rhythm every day, get up, get dressed, walk past the cheering crowd, give a welcome speech, and give a thank you speech, each time according to the script prepared by the Capitol, never speaking by myself.Sometimes there is a short wandering: when passing a certain area, I have a glimpse of the sea, in another area I see tall woods, sometimes I see dilapidated factory buildings, and sometimes it is a vast wheat field or a smelly oil refinery.Wear evening gowns, go to parties, ride trains. At various ceremonies, Peeta and I were dignified and respectable, and we were inseparable, always holding hands or arms.At parties, we were borderline crazy lovers, we kissed, we danced together, and we were often caught sneaking away.Back on the train, we were saddened, silently considering what effect this would have. Even if we didn't say those words and didn't spark outrage - needless to say, our speech in District 11 was deleted before it aired - there was still tension in the air and anger about to explode fire.Not all districts are like this, and the people in some districts react to the celebration ceremony like the people in the twelve districts, like a flock of tired lambs.But in other jurisdictions, particularly Districts Eight, Four and Three, there was anger lurking behind the jubilant atmosphere.When they called my name, it was not so much a cry of joy as a cry of vengeance.When vigilantes tried to push back the restless crowd, they didn't back down, they swarmed forward.I knew that nothing I could do could change this; no matter how believable the show of our love was, it could not reverse this tide of anger.If my act of holding berries was madness, these people would rather embrace madness. The waistline of my clothes keeps shrinking, forcing Cinna to make constant changes, the makeup artists get nervous about my dark circles, and Effie starts putting me on sleeping pills;As soon as I closed my eyes, I had nightmares again and again, more and more, more and more frequently.Peeta also often wanders at night, and sometimes he hears me cry out in a deep sleep after taking the medicine, as if trying to get rid of the nightmare.At times like this he always tries to wake me up and calm me down.He then went to bed and held me until I fell asleep again.Since then, I refuse to take sleeping pills, but I let him sleep in my bed every night.We huddled next to each other as if we were in the arena, as if we were facing danger at any time, and passed the long night together.Nothing happened after that, but our behavior caused a lot of gossip in the car. When Effie mentioned it to me, I thought, oh my god, maybe she's going to tell President Snow about it.I told her that we would be more cautious in the future, but we didn't. Then we got to Districts 2 and 1, and things got worse.If Peeta and I hadn't been able to get home, then Cato and Graf from District 2 would have triumphed.And I personally killed Grimmer and the male player in the first district.I tried to avoid confronting their families, but I still learned that their family name was Malfoy.How did I never know this before?Maybe it was because I didn't pay attention at all before the game, and I didn't want to know afterward. When we reached the Capitol, we were all hopeless.Time and time again we were among the cheering crowds.This is a place where those in power live, where no one has to risk his or her name being drawn in a lottery, a place where children and grandchildren are not killed for their crimes, where unrest is impossible.We don't need to prove to the people here how unswerving our love is.However, as long as there is still a glimmer of hope, we will not give up, hoping that those in other jurisdictions who have not believed in our love believe in our love.Yet everything we do seems so insignificant. We were back at our old place at the training center and I proposed that Peeta propose to me in public.Peeta agrees, but then he locks himself in his room and doesn't come out for a long time.Haymitch told me to leave him alone. "I thought he thought so too," I said. "But not in this way, he wants it all to be real." Back in my room, I pulled the covers over and lay down on the bed, trying not to think about Gale or anything else. As we enthusiastically answered question after question on the stage set up in front of the training center that night, Kaiser Flickman wore a blue gold evening gown with dyed blue hair, eyelashes and lips , who conducted our interview with impeccable skill.When he asked what our future plans were, Peeta got down on one knee, poured out his heart, and begged me to marry him.I, of course, accepted his proposal.Caesar was overwhelmed with excitement, and so were the Capitol audience, whose enthusiastic cheers resounded through the sky, showing that Panem was a joyous nation. President Snow also unexpectedly came to the scene to congratulate us.He squeezed Peeta's hand, patted him on the shoulder affectionately, and then he hugged me, smelling a mixture of blood and roses, and kissed me on the cheek with a heavy snort For a moment, and then he looked at me with a big smile, his hand still firmly on my arm.I raised my eyebrows and seemed to be asking the question I've always wanted to ask but was afraid to ask, did I do it?Is this enough?Is it okay to leave it all to you, to keep the game going, to marry Peeta? In answer, he shook his head slightly, almost imperceptibly.