Mr. Darcy's reaction was the same as last time, and his expression stiffened even more as Emma's words did not loosen his frown. Emma narrowed her eyes slightly, Mr. Darcy's reaction

"Emma. A voice interrupted Emma's train of thought.

Emma looked back, oh, who is this? A man with a bruised face, a purple face and a stain of blood pushed away the front of him and squeezed in front of Emma, and took her into his arms. "It's great that you're okay. ”

Emma recognized that the person in front of her was George, and hurriedly checked George's injuries up and down. "Brother, what's going on?" These look like bruises from the impact, not like they can be squeezed out, could it be that the guy who caused the riot in the fight was George?

The anger in George's eyes was about to erupt at the mention of this, but he still held back, and the muscles in his face twitched. "It's okay, I'll go back and talk to you. The two young ladies weren't hurt either, were they?"

Emma took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped the blood away for him. Although I was worried about George, there were many people here, and it was really not a suitable occasion for explanation. "They're all right. Thanks to Mr. Darcy for coming in time. ”

George was soothed by his sister's gentle movements, and his boiling love gradually cooled down. "It's a great credit to Fitzwilliam. When someone shouted about the fire, I was with Fitzwilliam Charles, but in fact, I knocked over the lamp and lit the curtains, and the fire was not big at all. I saw the three of you together, and jumped out from the balcony to call the servants to put out the fire, and asked Fitzwilliam to find you. It's a good thing that Fitzwilliam doesn't usually feel strong, but when I came back, Charles was still squeezing on the edge and dragging people out, and he had already found you. ”

Emma agrees. Mr. Darcy's clothes are not as tight as the one that is popular now, and I can't usually see it, but when he pulled Emma into his arms just now, Emma felt the difference in strength between the two very intuitively, she was surprised and struggled a little, but she couldn't resist that force at all, and was pulled into his arms at once. By the way, she still has some questions that have not been resolved. Emma looked back at Mr. Darcy, who felt her gaze look up, and the two looked at each other. Mr. Darcy had regained his composure, his eyes cold and restrained. Emma was immediately ashamed of her momentary conjecture. She was so narcissistic, how could Mr. Darcy like her? She had a fiancé, and who would say that to someone she liked?

When something like this happens, the ball naturally can't go on. Although Emma felt that a long time had passed, it was actually only twenty minutes. Thanks to the short time, no gentleman or lady was killed in the accident, although many were slightly injured.

Mr. Smith, an acquaintance, tried to squeeze over to find his sister and was hit on the bridge of his nose by an elbow, and his nose bleeded; Miss Daisy fell to the ground in the wrong position and broke her foot; Mr. Bingley's feet were about to be trampled into duck's paws during the pull just now, and when he found Miss Bingley, he relaxed and his face turned white. Although Mr. Smith was not injured, when something like this happened at the ball, his face was even more ugly than that of the injured man, and he apologized one by one and called the doctor to hurry over. However, most of the guests who were not affected did not want to stay here any longer.

Emma and George greeted their acquaintances and went straight back.

As soon as he entered the door, before Emma asked George, he couldn't help but tell what had just happened with anger. "The perpetual motion machine has officially failed. That guy is bankrupt and wants to settle accounts with me. ”

Emma probably guessed that there was a project failure on the road just now, but she didn't expect it to be a perpetual motion machine. "Perpetual motion machine? I remember that you were only an investor in this project, not the owner. "George invests in two types of projects, one is that he buys out the recipe drawings or ideas, and hires some professionals to implement them, and George has full ownership of such projects, such as cowpox. The other is the idea of the professionals themselves, George is just an investor and can obtain financial benefits, but the honorary achievements belong to the research and development personnel, such as the perpetual motion machine.

George said indignantly: "There is no change, I am an investor." Although the manuscript had a perpetual motion machine idea, it was not detailed, and the guy's idea seemed more plausible. So the project is not mine. ”

Someone who shouldn't have been looking for George to come to him to take responsibility, Emma could probably deduce the situation. "There are only three investment partners in the perpetual motion machine project, they are all worth a lot of money, and the project itself does not need to invest too much money, your investment accounts for more than seventy percent, only a little more than a thousand pounds, how can you go bankrupt because the project failed? The person who developed the perpetual motion machine went to find other investors?" Although there were many people who wanted to invest money in George, he pushed everything he could, leaving only some who could not refuse, such as the people named by the Duke himself. Moreover, the projects selected by George are the kind with relatively little investment, and the loss is not big whether it succeeds or not.

George nodded. "That's right. All the expenses of all the projects I invested in had to be listed and handed over to the person I sent, who couldn't see how much money he was getting, so he used the excuse that it was a project I fancy and asked someone to invest in. There were a few speculators who invested large sums of money in the hope of becoming rich overnight. In order to make the show more realistic and prove that I really just had a lucky trip, I didn't take care of anything but send someone to take care of the money, and I was exploited. He was going to run yesterday and was already arrested, but the perpetual motion machine project also failed completely. The person who came to me last night was borrowing money and investment, and the perpetual motion machine came to naught, and he was not only bankrupt, but also in debt, and wanted me to return the money to him. ”

Emma shrugged. "It is estimated that the developer squandered a lot of the money he had defrauded. And when the rest of the money is distributed, it must be returned to you serious investors who have signed the paper. His loan is not a bank loan, but a private loan shark, right? Although you are innocent. ”

George was going to be laughed at. "You warned me to beware of such a thing, I don't want to keep a close eye on the project, so you announced in public that the investment partners have been found and will not let people join, and you also published the news in the newspaper. He himself is greedy and stupid, so that he can step into the trap, but he has to accuse me of being a liar. Not only did he do it, but he almost caused a fire, and if Fitzwilliam hadn't found you in time, you might have been injured. The riot caused by that man almost hurt Emma, and that's what made George angry.

Emma saw that George's hands were shaking a little, and knew that he was scared today, and the situation was so chaotic that she really couldn't tell what would happen. "Brother, don't you think I'm good?"

George was still very uneasy, and sternly admonished: "Emma, you should go out less recently, and if you must go out, bring a few more manmaids." ”

Emma nodded obediently. "Okay brother. You have to be more careful. ”

George felt a little headache and rubbed the corners of his forehead. "If the perpetual motion machine fails, there will definitely be a lot of people who will attack me, but it's not necessarily a bad thing for me, just get through it. ”

To be honest, George is really not easy. After clearing his grievances and becoming an earl, life became even more difficult. Pretending to be stupid every day, you have to beware of being tied to the chariot by the Duke, and you have to investigate the affairs of the old Earl of Kentra, and you must be vigilant against the black hands who have been hiding behind the scenes to act again. George was not yet thirty years old and already had a few gray hairs, but out of his brother's pride he never complained to Emma. Emma secretly thought about how to relieve the pressure for George, and sighed faintly: "I'm afraid you guessed it right, after this project fails, many people will withdraw their funds." ”

George was in a much better mood when he heard Emma's words. "That's right, hopefully their response will be quicker. ”

Emma didn't get up until daylight the next day, and before she could go down the stairs, she saw someone she hadn't expected. "Elwin?" Irwin didn't come to reply at this time. Looking at his stiff and restless expression, it probably didn't bring good news.

Alwyn resisted the urge to run over and walked quickly to Emma, looking her up and down carefully.

Emma suddenly realized that Alwyn had not come to give an answer, but had heard about last night.

Emma was right. Alvin didn't go to the ball last night, but London hasn't had such a large-scale dangerous incident since the last fire, and last night's events have spread all over the morning, and even the ill-informed Alvin has heard other people's discussions, starting from the failure of the perpetual motion machine and someone asking the Earl of Kenta for money to end with many gentlemen and ladies injured in the riots. Alwin's face changed on the spot. George was injured, what about Emma? Was she affected by the fight, or was she squeezed in the crowd? After that, Alwin didn't think about anything, including the reason why Emma was engaged to him in the first place, whether Emma loved him, whether Emma did something deviant, none of these matters mattered, what mattered was whether Emma was okay.

Alvin hurried all the way to Emma and George's quarters and trotted in eagerly, only to be told that Emma hadn't gotten up yet. Although the servant said that Emma was fine, Alvin would not be relieved until he saw Emma with his own eyes, Emma did not like to tell others about her difficulties and pains, and always took it silently herself, what if Emma had let the servant tell a white lie? With such worries, Alwin sat downstairs and was really restless. When he really saw that Emma was okay, Alvin's mood relaxed, and he couldn't help but show a small smile. "Great, you're okay. ”

Seeing Alvin like this, Emma's heart softened. "I'm fine, I don't even have a bit of a bruise. Emma then gave a brief account of the previous night's events to Alvin.

Alwin's heart was a little sour, because he had failed to protect Emma in her time of need, and instead asked Mr. Darcy to lend a hand several times. "I'm sorry, I won't be in the future. ”

Emma understood, but she wanted Alvin to reconsider. People always make decisions that they regret when they are in the heat of the day. Emma wanted Alvin to be a deliberate, rational choice. "Let's go to the parlor and sit down and talk. ”

Alvin plucked up the courage to grab Emma's hand. "Emma, I'm not impulsive, I know what I'm doing at the moment. I had a lot of concerns before, but today when I heard that you might be hurt, I realized that these are not the most important things, the most important thing is that I wish you peace and happiness forever, and I hope that these peace and happiness are offered to you by me. ”