Chapter 15: The Magical Prop House

"In politics, there is no one, only ism, no feelings, only interests. In politics, we don't kill someone, we remove an obstacle. "The conversation between Villefort and Novatier and father and son can easily decide whether a person lives or dies, exposing the cruel and cold nature of politics. Puran couldn't help but applaud this sentence, and the manuscript in his hand became thinner and thinner, and Puran realized that he had read more than half of it unconsciously.

Damn it! Why is this novel so short!

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"I have lost everything in my life that I am nostalgic for, and death is smiling at me and inviting me to sleep. I died of my own free will, I died of exhaustion, as if I had slept with despair and hatred after walking around this dungeon three thousand times on those nights, and the loneliness of being trapped in a desperate situation tormented everything I had, how I wanted to see my dear father, my beloved Mercertes again, and yet no one listened to this plea, even in the muttering of it. ”

Edmund's desperate murmur in the dim, damp prison touched Puran's heart, and he, like Edmund, prayed for a miracle to save the poor sailor.

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The review of "The Count of Monte Cristo" was carried out until noon, and he came back to his senses when his colleague called Puran to go to dinner together, and looked at the messy font in the manuscript in a daze, and the nostalgia in his heart did not dissipate for a long time.

Edmond Dantès was imprisoned in prison, rendering the ultimate despair and madness between the lines, just 50,000 words in one go, the plot is coherent as if a huge net is opened, no, it should be that as the plot unfolds, the whole sky collapses and falls, as a reader, he stands on the plain and watches the sky collapse and oppress little by little, he can't breathe, and tries to think about the meaning of every character and every sentence, to speculate on the subsequent development of the plot.

When he came to his senses, he was curious about Edmund's encounter with the mad priest, what role would this character play in the novel? Can Edmund be saved from despair? What happened to Edmund's fiancée, Mercetes, and who framed the protagonist? Puran could guess from the clues of the handwriting, but he couldn't figure out the meaning of the premise.

Even after graduating from university, Pran, who had a passion for literature, had never been exposed to such a peculiar novel, and a strong feeling told him that this novel was likely to start a new genre and become another fire in the era of intense literary development!

Such a work is beyond the limits of excellence, and Puran himself cannot complete a specific evaluation of this work.

But there is no doubt that such a work should not be buried, it should not even be seen, he felt ashamed.

All the resentment in Puran's heart towards Motley vanished into respect and gratitude, and Motley could have taken over the review of the novel "The Count of Monte Cristo" if he wanted to, but he did not take advantage of Poorley's negligence. Shame and a lingering curiosity arose in his heart, was such a work really created by the famous playboy Harvey Adrian?

"The plot of the work is methodical and controlling, which is difficult for ordinary novelists to do, and can the characters talk to each other in a way that a mere aristocratic son can write? Oh my God, no! It is because Harvey Adrian has been in the social world all year round that he knows people of different classes well. ”

Thinking back to Harvey Adrian's first impression of him when he met him, Puran became more and more sure: "With such observation and insight, he can never be as simple as the rumors say, I must apologize to him, and I must thank Mr. Evelyn." ”

At the end of the meal, Puran formally apologized to Mottley in the astonished eyes of many reviewers and submitted an application for additional publication.

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Harvey completed the creation of 6,000 words of "The Count of Monte Cristo", and his burden has been much less since the submission of "The Count of Monte Cristo", anyway, the speed at which he writes more words and publishes it is still determined by the publishing house, and "The Count of Monte Cristo" has been greatly damaged by his confidence after the defeat, and if he is not sure whether it can be published, he should not be delusional about winning the Leonard Prize.

He was mentally prepared for the worst, and wrote an invitation to dine with Diana Cromwell, ready to be sent out.

Now that he was prepared for the worst, Harvey was in a much lighter mood, and he was ready to go out and find something that interested him.

When he passed through the corridor, he found an empty room with the door open, and when he walked over, he saw Shirley sitting in the center of the room, she was tall, and she was wearing a maid's dress that was very common in this era, but she exuded an amazing classical beauty, Shirley looked at the drawing board in front of her intently, bathed in the sunlight shining from the window, and her temperament was more dignified and elegant, Harvey believed that even the most skilled painter could not paint this scene.

Closer to the past, Harvey realized that Shirley was painting himself, and he painted his demeanor when he created "The Count of Monte Cristo" in the form of sketches, and his exquisite painting skills are comparable to those of some professional painters in the field of drawing in later generations. However, because of the pursuit of perfection in details, Harvey's demeanor or bedroom background is very detailed, and when you look at it, you will feel that the layers are a little chaotic.

Harvey knew that Shirley was interested in painting, perhaps because she had a trace of elven blood, and her talent in painting and music was extremely good, but after the Adrian family declined, Harvey Adrian also sold the only piano in the family and could not afford to buy paints for painting.

There are also some drawing boards piled up in the corner of the room, all of which are her works created in the past few years. Shirley has to take care of this large house, and it is difficult to find time to do what she likes, and it takes months to paint a picture.

Noticing Harvey's arrival, Shirley stopped drawing and turned to bow to him, "Sir." ”

obviously grew up together, and the relationship between the two is not very good.

Harvey looked at himself in the painting and clapped his hands and praised: "The painting is good, don't worry about me, continue to finish the painting." ”

Shirley bowed slightly, Harvey picked up the drawing boards stacked in the corner of the room and found that Shirley's paintings were basically his own, and each one had subtle changes, especially the one Shirley was drawing in her hand now, although the appearance was the same, it was difficult to imagine that it was the same person as these drawing boards at first glance.

INTERVIEWER Do these paintings represent her own image in Shirley's mind?

Harvey touched his chin and asked, "Shirley, do you know anything more than a portrait?" ”

"It should be fine, I've tried painting still lifes before."

Harvey opened the wooden window of the room, looked at the street scenery outside the window and smiled, "Then how about trying to draw the scenery outside the window?" Maybe it will be useful for my novels. ”

Shirley came to Harvey's side and looked at the street scenery from afar, the buildings are generally not high, and the height of the two-story building can be seen very well, she squinted at the pedestrians and buildings on the street, and her expression seemed to be a little hesitant.

Harvey looked at her hesitantly, thoughtful.

Leaving the mansion, Harvey wanders around the Victorian-style city of England, purposefully searching for traces of magic.

Magic is not a legend in this world, as far as he knows, there are items related to magic sold in the store, and if he can learn magic, his ability to protect himself and his identity will definitely be improved.

After walking several streets, he finally found a shop with a strange style.

"Magical prop house? It's magical. ”

The shop was small, the size of his bedroom, on a quiet and deserted street, with glass cases displaying all sorts of quirky things, including animal skulls, brightly colored gems, twig staffs, and small steampunk toys.

Pushing the door in, I saw a tired fat man sitting at the counter, even if the guest came to the door, he didn't mean to stand up to say hello, and he continued to be in a daze after looking at Harvey.

Harvey took off his hat and nodded politely to him, the shopkeeper didn't ask anything but made him feel relaxed, and began to look around the goods with relish, the things sold in the store were marked with names and specific functions, most of them were low-level materials used to cast spells, and Harvey walked back and forth a few times to find something he was interested in.

A spell book that records zero-order spells [magic tricks], with a price of 70 baluns.