Early spring. Abat.
Kent House.
"What?" Wood Kent was shocked,
He took a few steps forward,
"You said that Ms. Anna was arrested by the royal family? Why?! "
Sir James Cook was dizzy from his shaking,
"It was too late when I found out about the news … I only knew that it was the Emperor's order …"
Wood fell on the sofa. "Is it because of the woman's work? But … "But the previous work had been performed for a few months, and the royal family had not expressed any negative opinions during this period …
Sir James Cook's fat face wrinkled into a chrysanthemum,
He sighed:
"You're not the only one who thinks so … that day,
Anna was arrested in front of the door,
More than one person saw it … "
Wood Kent was stunned.
Outside the window,
The cries of the boy selling newspapers and the girl selling flowers were mixed together.
"Selling flowers!"
"Extra! Ms. Anna was arrested,
Suspected of offending the royal family! "
"Selling flowers! Sir,
Would you like to buy a bouquet of flowers? "
"Extra! Subversive news: the royal family's favorite is suspected to be a royal prisoner! "
"Give me a copy!" Swish,
The courtyard door opened,
Wood Kent shouted.
The flower girl and the paperboy squeezed up together:
"Sir, do you want to buy flowers?"
"Sir, do you want a newspaper?"
They stared at each other,
They refused to give in.
Wood Kent did not care about entanglement at all,
He did not count and casually stuffed the money into his hands,
He hurriedly scooped up the flowers and newspapers. He did not care about the dispute between the flower girl and the paperboy for money and picked up the flowers,
He glanced at the newspaper ten lines at a glance.
A moment later,
Sir James Cook in the room,
The flower girl and the paperboy outside the room,
Were all startled by a roar:
"Dog! You've gone too far! "
District 8.
Miss Volgue came back trembling to report, "Madam, the newspaper said that Miss Anna was really arrested by the royal family because she wrote something against the precepts …"
They had seen the knight take Anna away with their own eyes and had been on tenterhooks for a long time.
For this reason, Madame Géron even stepped out of the house that she had not visited for a long time and asked her relatives and friends about it.
"Madam …" Miss Volgue's eyes were filled with tears as she pleaded, "Miss Anna, she's still so young, she still …"
Madame Géron's face suddenly turned pale. She thought of the time when Anna kissed her cheek, as if she was her daughter.
She knelt in front of God for a long time. The scriptures on her knees were wet with tears.
After a while, the frail lady closed the scripture and got up. She put on a cape carelessly.
"I … When he was still alive, he had some friends …"
In her panic, she didn't even realize that she had stepped on the scripture.
"Fu Gai, get ready … get the carriage ready …"
The harbor.
It was rare that there was no performance today. The stevedores, sailors, and vegetable vendors were bored and gathered together to talk. "Hey, have you heard? That woman has been caught. "
"Which woman?"
"The author of 'Lady Peony,' 'A Wrong Marriage,' and 'The Iron Throne!' I heard that in order to catch her, five thousand people were mobilized! "
"Wow! So many people are needed to catch a woman? "
"It's said that she committed a serious crime."
"What crime can be so serious?"
A woman in revealing clothes, who was obsessed with Sir Theodore, twisted her waist and spat disdainfully. "I think those old fogeys framed her."
After a day of hardship, most of the people at the harbor relied on street dance plays to relieve their boredom. In the end, the dancers were also shocked by the news of the author's arrest in the newspaper and didn't dare to perform anymore. Many people were bored. After hearing this, they all agreed with the woman.
The carriage passed by the street. Charlie Beckett in the carriage looked at it with disdain and sneered at his follower. "Lowly people like you have seen."
When he heard the news in the middle of the night, he laughed out loud on the spot. Heaven would punish him for what he did. The next day, he contacted his friends at the newspaper and published the news. He had to let all of Abat know the news the next day.
Less than half a day after the news spread, the theater owners, who had been hostile to him before, all called him "Dear Charlie."
He came like a shooting star and left like the morning dew.
In the end, he was an outsider and didn't understand the importance of being well-behaved.
Only by being well-behaved could he last a long time!
In the future, wouldn't the Abat theater world be his, Charlie Beckett's, world?
Only these lowly people who didn't know what was good for them, those who were blind and pretended to be noble, the shifty-eyed Old Man Cook, and the weak and ignorant women would cry tears of sadness for this "shooting star" who was destined to fall.
Amidst the sighs, Charlie Beckett hummed a hymn and passed through the harbor.
Bang.
The carriage stopped.
The follower woke him up with his eyes still closed. "Sir, look …"
Look at what?
He opened his eyes. Sooner or later, he would fall back into a half-dead state. It was just Cook Theater. What was there to see?
He glanced sideways.
Hmm?
From time to time, there would be a commotion in the long line of people. "Quick, is it my turn yet?"
Among the people in the line, there were plainly dressed small shop owners, guild masters, and even dock helpers. They were jostling and complaining. "Sigh, I've been waiting for almost a day. Why isn't it my turn yet?"
The complaining small shop owner was patted on the shoulder. He turned around and saw a young man dressed like a scholar. In the distance, there was also a long face like a donkey.
The young man was instructed by Beckett. He wiped his sweat and smiled at him. "What are you doing?"
"Waiting in line to watch the play. Haven't you seen it before? "After waiting in line for a long time, the small shop owner didn't have a good voice.
When asked what play it was, he rolled his eyes at the young man and pointed directly at the sign in front of him. "Go see it yourself!"
The young man wiped his sweat and came back to report. Beckett pulled a long face and walked to the sign in person.
At the sign, all the other popular plays had been removed. Today, strangely, there was only one sign hanging on the wall.
["Harbor Dream" by Anna.
From today onwards, the whole place is free, regardless of the family.]
It's this Anna again! She's already been caught, what new tricks is she playing!
The young man secretly glanced at Beckett. He swore that he saw a ferocious expression on Beckett's face that was comparable to the devil in the Church's hell statue.
When the two of them walked to the door, the doorman stopped them.
"Sir, you haven't bought a ticket yet."
"… Didn't you say that the whole place is free?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Beckett." The doorman glanced sideways at him. "Master has ordered that the few of you are not free. Miss Anna's works are not for you. Five shillings, thank you. "
So this is Charlie Beckett?
The people in front of the line couldn't help but look sideways for a moment. People had more or less been bombarded by this person's name in the newspaper during this period of time. Most of the slanderous and malicious comments about Anna's works were either directly written with this person's name or juxtaposed with several other names.
Under everyone's gaze, Beckett gritted his teeth and took out the money. Ha, I want to see what tricks this woman is playing!
When they walked into the theater, the announcement at the beginning of the play was particularly different. There was no introduction of the background or characters, only a line of big words:
This is a gift from the Eastern playwright, Miss Anna Lin, to the harbor city.
*
"Hey, are the sacks and hemp ropes ready?" A rich young man in leather boots asked skillfully.
"No problem. We even prepared the cloth to gag your mouth. "Several other young men gestured to him.
There was also a lookout who looked around. "There's no police! Ah, he's here, he's here! "
The young men hurriedly put on their masks and quietly hid in the alley.
"Women will always be women. What harbor city, hehe, this kind of nouveau riche city is worthy of praise? Look at how lowly they are, heh … Look at how scared they are! "
Beckett talked loudly, the young man nodded repeatedly in agreement, but his eyes were still red, uncomfortably hiding his disapproval of him.
"Get ready …" The young man in the lead lowered his voice. "One, two, because of 'Harbor City', escaping from the Cook Theater, Beckett, who was venting his dissatisfaction, didn't notice that the dark alley in front of him was unusually quiet.
The young man was too busy thinking about something with his head down to notice.
Bang!
He waved the wine bottle and smashed it on Beckett's head.
Then, a stinky sock was stuffed into his mouth, and the world in front of him turned black.
The sack was placed over his head, and a youth holding a wooden stick and other weapons suddenly emerged, violently beating up Beckett, who had already been blindfolded and turned around.
The young man on the side was stunned by the sudden appearance of these evil young men. "What are you doing!"
He was about to risk his life to save Beckett, his idol, when he suddenly heard the young men were beating him and muttering.
"Dog! I'll let you insult Miss Anna, I'll let you slander 'Harbor City'! "
Another young man added, "And 'Wrong Marriage', 'Lady Peony', 'Iron Throne'!"
The young man was stunned for a moment and didn't rush up in time.
At this moment, one of the young men gave a look, and the other young men left Beckett, who was already stunned, and surrounded them.
In the dark alley, a gang fight was going on.
The uniformed police captain patrolled with his men.
A young policeman was about to step in and stop, but another pulled him. "What are you doing?"
The young policeman was surprised. "Over there …"
The potbellied captain glanced at the situation in the alley and saw that it was two literati who were beaten to the point that they couldn't fight back at all. He was relieved and yawned. "Let's go. There were a few theater managers and playwrights who were beaten and said that they wanted to complain. We have to go and drag these things out. As for this, anyway, the baron has ordered that the literati who have been beaten recently have thick skin and especially thick skin, so they won't die. These boys have a sense of propriety. "
The young policeman was still hesitating when another older colleague pulled him. "Let's go. My daughter is still waiting for me to get off work and take her mother and her to see 'Harbor City'. "
The policemen yawned and turned a blind eye to Beckett's screams and walked away.
A week later, Abat broke out in a parade.
Many citizens demonstrated in front of newspapers and some theaters, demanding the banning of certain newspapers and the expulsion of immoral literati.
There were even people who performed 'Harbor City' in front of newspapers in public. To show their dissatisfaction with these tabloids.
Later, people found that some newspapers and literati had quietly disappeared from Abat.
Someone said that they saw them run away from Abat overnight.
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