The literary scene in Elroy has fallen silent since a call for papers held by the city's largest publishing house, Leonard Press, and the Leonard Press Novels Collection has only occasionally become an after-dinner conversation among intellectuals who marvel at the talent of the second son of the Elroy family, who was born into a noble family and was able to write such excellent literature as "Wild Rose." Occasionally, there are people who are obsessed with another work, and the strange novel that allows them to memorize the complete title, the plot, and the name of each character in it can be read with relish by both ordinary readers and literary scholars with a spirit of study.

This work was only a flash in the pan in the "Leonard Press Novel Collection", and after that, even readers who couldn't put it down were difficult to find relevant information.

Winter is coming, the sky in the city of Elroy is dark, the day is still gloomy and quiet, the streets are much deserted, passers-by are in a hurry, and there are no more warblers or civilians talking and laughing. In the fading city, there is a shop diametrically opposed, the shop is located in the bustling Red Maple Street, the façade is spacious, and the glass door that can accommodate four or five people to enter side by side is an internal pull-out type.

The interior of the shop is luxuriously furnished, with rows of glass counters displaying the most luxurious jewelry, placed on black cushions, the pearl chain is smooth and round, each bead is a carefully selected uniform size of raw materials, hand-polished by craftsmen, placed above the pearl necklace is a delicate sapphire necklace, the gemstone is the size of a thumb, is set in the necklace shell made using metal carving technology, the sapphire in the soft light of the shop shimmers a psychedelic halo, It would be difficult for any woman to take her eyes off the gemstone at first sight and be fascinated by the gemstone's beautiful luster.

The price of beautiful jewelry is naturally not something ordinary people can imagine, and the price of any piece of jewelry in this jewelry store is equivalent to the wages of ordinary laborers for decades.

Jewelry is a direct symbol of a woman's status in this era, no matter how expensive the price of jewelry is, there is no need to worry about no one buying it, on the contrary, the price has become a woman's capital to show off, to prove her importance in the eyes of her husband, to prove the wealth of their family.

There is a salon in the corner of the shop where guests can enjoy free fruits and juices when they are tired of shopping, of course, it is more for men who accompany women here, and the small bookcase next to the sofa is updated with today's newspaper every day, and a batch of different types of books are stored.

As if deliberately, a novel entitled The Count of Monte Cristo is placed in the most prominent position on the bookcase.

In fact, "The Count of Monte Cristo" is also eye-catching enough with its strange style of novel cover, and in this era, whether it is a novel or other literary works, a simple black cover is commonly used with the title of the book, and there are very few oil paintings with a strange style made into novel covers.

The sketch of the cover of the novel was completed by Shirley, and the coloring part was done by Puran with the help of an artist, and the effect barely reached the passing line in Harvey's mind.

"The Count of Monte Cristo, written by Alexander, a writer I have never heard of."

Sitting on the sofa in the salon, Colwin was curious to take the novel with its peculiar cover from the bookcase, and he had to admit that the cover of the novel was indeed attractive, and the painting showed a desperate prisoner and a gentleman dressed beautifully, and there were strong contrasts and similarities between the two.

"Is it a person?"

Colvin muttered uncertainly, and opened the novel at random, and found that the novel was also mixed with some beautiful black and white illustrations, the style was completely different from the popular sketches, although the degree of delicacy was far inferior, but he felt amazed by these black and white illustrations from the bottom of his heart.

Why?

Doubts welled up in his heart, and he quickly concluded that illustrations with a peculiar style of painting contain a huge amount of information, and that general sketching techniques will be used in portrait painting, with characters as the main body, it is extremely rare to be able to draw the emotional charm of the characters. These illustrations show a complete scene, the characters' expressions are rich, and the scene is delicately restored, and it seems that the plot of the novel can be seen from this painting.

Colwin glanced at the front of the counter, his wife was talking and laughing with friends, trying on the necklace one by one, and there were a lot of jewelry on the tray to try on, and it was estimated that he would not be able to leave here in a short time.

With a look of helplessness in his eyes, he turned the novel to the very beginning of the page, intending to take a good look at this peculiar novel.

······

"Honey."

"Honey?"

"My dear husband, Mr. Colwin Aldrich!"

"Oh! I'm here! ”

Hearing his wife's angry voice, Colwin, who came back to his senses, hurriedly put down the novel in his hand, and looked up to see his wife standing in front of him holding a beautiful wooden box, probably having finished selecting her favorite jewelry. Somehow, he blurted out, "You've decided which one you want to buy?" So fast. ”

His wife looked at him with strange eyes: "Honey, what are you talking about, I chose this one for more than an hour, if you were usually impatient to leave here." ”

"What, it's been an hour?" He was surprised, looked at his watch, and sure enough, he found that it had been an hour and a half since he picked up the novel, and he looked at "The Count of Monte Cristo" on the table, and said, "Oh, I thought it had only been more than ten minutes." ”

"You're so strange, are you sick? I warned you that the weather was starting to get colder. ”

His wife's words of concern warmed his heart, and Colwin coughed a little embarrassed: "No, I was a little absorbed in reading the book just now." ”

The two left the jewelry store, and Colwin personally put his wife in the carriage.

"Honey, aren't you going back together, obviously you kept shouting tired when you came here." His wife looked at him and asked strangely, seeing that he didn't mean to get into the carriage at all.

"I suddenly remembered that there are some things that haven't been done yet, don't worry, I'll go back soon."

"Be careful."

As the carriage departed, Colwin looked back at the salon in the jeweller's shop, to be precise, the novel on the table called The Count of Monte Cristo, which the waiter was putting in place. Now that his wife has already chosen his jewelry, it is difficult for him to go back and continue reading. He didn't get a taste of it, but it wasn't hard to solve, and at the end of Red Maple Street was the largest Leonard bookstore chain in the city of Elroy.

As he was leaving, he saw a man dressed as a gentleman hurrying in, with no female companion by his side, and he was a little curious about what a man alone was doing in there, so he hurried in the direction of Leonard's bookstore without delving, and he couldn't wait to see the novel again.