Ball of Suet: Selected Short Stories by Maupassant

Chapter 24 Boar Moran (2)
"When I heard her say that, I couldn't help but feel a little weird, not knowing what she was trying to express. Suddenly, I asked her this question: 'If I kissed you now, how would you react? ?'

"She stopped, looked at me carefully from head to toe, and then said: 'If it were you, it would be different.' Her tone was calm.

"Then it's not the same thing. I understand that. I'm only 30 years old. I'm still so young. What's more, I'm famous all over the province for my handsome appearance. I'm a real handsome guy. However, I pretend not to understand , asked her: 'What is the reason?'

"She shrugged her shoulders and said: 'You're obviously much smarter than him.' Then she peeped at me and added: 'And you're much prettier than him.'

"At this moment, I suddenly had the urge to sneak attack her, so when she was caught off guard, I kissed her face hard. She came to her senses and hurriedly jumped aside to avoid it, but she still couldn't escape. She said: 'Ah! You have a thick skin. Please don't tease me like this again.'

"I lowered my voice and pretended to be respectful and said to her: 'Miss, if I have only one wish left now, then this wish is to go to court and stand trial because I committed the same crime as Moran.'

"She asked: 'Why?' I looked at her with a very solemn expression.

"I replied: 'After seeing your beauty with your own eyes, everyone will come to the conclusion that it is true that Labarbe has committed such a crime, but it must not deny his luck. Look at the man he offended. What a charming lady! You think of you as one of the most beautiful ladies in the world, and I have the honor of committing such a crime against you. From now on, I will regard this as one of my crowning virtues honor.'

"She laughed more and more.

"'You are so strange!' Before she finished speaking, I hugged her violently. I kissed her one after another, kissing all the places I could, hair, forehead, Eyes, cheeks, and even her small mouth. I kissed her all over her head and face like crazy. She dodged again and again, helplessly caring about this side, but not the other side, and kept getting defeated.

"She got out of my arms with great difficulty, her little face was burning red with anger, and she said: 'Sir, I really regret it, just now I heard you talk like this, you are so rude.'

"I also felt a little shy, so I held her hand in my palm and explained stammeringly: 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, miss, I was so rude to do such atrocities to you! But, You mustn't hate me for it, and when I beg you, please don't. As for why I did it, it's because...' I racked my brains, but I couldn't think of a reason.

"A little while later she said to me again: 'Sir, I have no interest in knowing anything like yours.'

"But at this moment, I had a flash of inspiration and said loudly: 'Miss, the reason is that I have been in love with you for a full year!'

"She didn't expect me to say this at all, and she couldn't help but looked at me carefully. I continued: 'Miss, please listen to me, the whole thing is like this. I don't know Moran before, and the trouble he caused , of course I don't need to bother. I don't care whether he will go to court for trial, and then whether he will be put in jail. Before, I saw you standing in front of that fence gate. From the first time I saw you, my heart fluttered for you. After that, I think about you day and night, and dream about you. Now , I don't care if you believe me when I say it. I just insist that you are a charming creature, and I've thought of you so long, and I look forward to seeing you again. Now at last I Found a reason to come here to see you, that foolish thing that Moran's stupid pig did. Finally, I couldn't help doing this to you. I beg your forgiveness, please forgive me I!'

"She looked intently into my eyes, trying to tell if I was lying. Then I saw that she couldn't help laughing again. She murmured incoherently, 'You really like to joke.'

"I raised my hand and said, 'There is nothing wrong with what I said, I can swear to you.' At that time, my tone was very sincere. Even today, I still believe that at that moment, my affection for her was not in vain. False.

"She said straight to the point: 'That's it.'

"There is only me and her around, and there is no one else. We can no longer see her uncle and Liwei. They have already walked into the winding and deep path. I grabbed this I started to confess to her sincerely. I held her hand in the palm of my hand, kissed her fingers, and told her affectionately about my feelings for her. She seemed to be listening to something new. Just listen to my confession. She hasn't made up her mind whether to believe me or not, but she does look happy.

"After I confessed my confession, I even lied to myself. I felt that what I said was true, and I was very excited. I gasped heavily, my face was pale, and my whole body was trembling. I took her little Man's waist was lightly encircled.

"I leaned close to her ear, stuck to her hair on the sideburns, and continued to confess softly. She seemed to be fascinated, and the whole person fell into this dream. Gradually, I hugged her more tightly. The strength of her waist. Although during this time, my arm has been trembling. She did not resist, quietly let me take action. I gently kissed her cheek, and then kissed her Her lips. I didn't look for it deliberately, it just happened naturally. We kissed for a long time, and the four lips were entwined, endlessly. Suddenly, a voice came from behind me a few steps It reached my ears from a distance away.

"She ran away and disappeared into the woods. I turned around and saw Li Wei, obviously he turned back to find my trace.

"He stood in the middle of the road with a blank face, and said to me in a contemptuous tone: 'Is this the way you plan to help solve the matter of Boar Moran?'

"I said nonchalantly: 'Hey, my friend, we just need to play to our strengths. I'll be in charge of my niece's side, and you'll be in charge of her uncle's side. By the way, is there any progress on your side? Has her uncle agreed? Our request?' When I said this, I couldn't hide the pride in my tone.

"Liwei said: 'You are happy, I can't enjoy this kind of beauty with her uncle.'

"I took him back to the room."

three

"During dinner, I became more and more distraught. She was seated next to me, and I put my feet on her feet and kept touching her hands under the cover of the tablecloth. We Looking at each other, thousands of tenderness and nostalgia are all fused in each other's eyes.

"The moonlight is very good tonight. After dinner, we went out for a walk together. I took the opportunity to instill my deep love for her again, which was from my heart. I hugged her tightly and kept talking Kissing her lips, making her lips wet. At this moment, Li Wei was walking with her uncle in front, arguing about something. Their shadows fell on the path behind them, following When people move, shadows move with them.

"Then we went back to the house again. It didn't take long before a postman came with a telegram from her aunt. It said that her aunt would return early the next morning and take the 7 o'clock the first train.

"Her uncle said: 'Well, then, Henry Atter, take the two of you to their respective rooms.' We shook hands with him, and then followed Henriette upstairs. We came to Li Wei's room first. In the bedroom, Liwei leaned close to my ear and whispered to me: "She will definitely not send us to your bedroom first, you can rest assured about that." Afterwards, she led me to my room. It was just the two of us again, and I hugged her again, trying to make her lose her mind and submit to me. I couldn't keep her, although she almost gave in to me.

"I was lying on the bed, feeling excited and sad, and also a feeling of shame. I knew I was going to be sleepless tonight. I was thinking hard about the reason why I just failed, and at this moment, I heard There was a slight knock on the door.

"'Who?' I asked.

"'I.' someone answered softly.

"I quickly put on my clothes and went to open the door. She came in and asked: 'I forgot to ask you a question, what would you like to drink tomorrow morning, how about chocolate? Would you like coffee? Of course, drink Tea is fine too.'

"I hugged her in my arms immediately, and while touching her body like a demon, I said inarticulately: 'Drink... drink...' This time, she came from me again. She slipped out of her arms, and before she left, she blew out the candle in my room, and then ran away without a trace.

"The whole bedroom became dark, and I was alone in it, full of anger. I looked around for matches, unsuccessfully at first, but at last I found them, but with great difficulty. I lit a candle and brought it to the In the hallway. Right now, I'm almost half crazy.

"Sense has disappeared from my mind, and the purpose of my going out from here has become clear. I want to find her, and I must get her tonight. I just walked out without any scruples." Suddenly, a thought appeared in my mind: "If I break into a certain room so recklessly, if her uncle happens to live in it, how can I explain my reasons to him?" Thinking of this , my thoughts stopped working. My heart was beating extremely fast, and I stood in place all of a sudden, unable to move a step. The answer to this question came to my mind after a few seconds: 'I Just say that I want to discuss an important matter with Liwei, and I am looking for the room where he is.'

"I looked at the doors one by one, trying to find the one that belonged to her. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything. So, I casually buckled the key on a door and turned it around. The door It was opened by me just like that, which was really unexpected. I walked in immediately... I saw Henriette was sitting on the bed, and he couldn't help being surprised when he saw me come in.

"I locked the door carefully, walked up on tiptoe, and said: 'Miss, I want to ask you to borrow a book, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention this to you just now.' She resisted, but it was of no avail. No After a while, I opened the book I wanted. Forgive me for not being able to describe the details of this book here, but it is indeed a wonderful book. It is not only the most touching poem in the world, but also It is the most wonderful novel in the world.

"Now that the front page was up, she simply allowed me to read on until I was satisfied. I went on and on, turning over countless new chapters. Finally, the candle burned out and the reading came to an end.

"After I thanked her, I sneaked back to my bedroom. When I sneaked into the corridor, I was caught by a rude big hand. Li Wei came again, and he asked me in a low voice: 'You Haven't settled the matter of Boar Moran yet?"

"At seven o'clock the next morning, she came over with a cup of chocolate and handed it to me. This cup of chocolate is extremely mellow, and after drinking it, the whole body is indescribably comfortable, as if it is about to become a fairy. It is so delicious. I've never tasted that much chocolate before. I glued my mouth to the rim of her cup and it felt so amazing that I couldn't move my mouth again.

"Li Wei walked in right after she left my bedroom. He looked like he hadn't slept all night, upset and restless. He said to me: 'If you continue to do this, the public You don't need to expect to solve the matter of Pig Moran, you should think about it yourself." Obviously, he is very dissatisfied with me.

"Her aunt came back at eight o'clock. After a brief discussion, they quickly made a decision to withdraw the complaint. They are really kind-hearted people! I will keep five hundred francs and give them a gift. One family, they can use the money to help poor people living in the local area.

"We finally solved this problem satisfactorily. Their family kindly asked us to stay, and hoped that we could delay our departure for a day. They could use this time to guide us to visit local places of interest. I saw that at the moment Henry Aite behind the couple nodded to me, implying that we agreed to her uncle and aunt's proposal. I agreed. However, Li Wei firmly disagreed.

"I dragged Liwei to a place where there was no one, and I begged him to stay. I persuaded him: 'Liwei, my good friend, for me, can you stay one more day?' Liwei became angry , and said to me threateningly, 'You know what I'm sick of with the Boar Moran thing!'

"I have no way of convincing him. I can only obey his advice and bid farewell to Henry Aite. I have lived to this day and have had many very sad experiences. This time is undoubtedly one of them. I really hope that Moran Don't solve the matter so quickly, it's better to keep me in the process of solving this matter forever.

"When we left, everyone just kept shaking hands and didn't say anything. After getting into the car, I said to Li Wei: 'You are so unreasonable at all.' But Li Wei said: 'Brother, I have already Angry for you to the max.'

"When we returned to the newspaper office, many people were waiting for us in the office. As soon as these people saw the two of us coming back, they immediately asked loudly: 'Have you two solved the problem with the boar Moran?'

"It turns out that this incident has already spread throughout the streets and alleys of La Rochelle. When Liwei was still on the train, he was no longer angry. Now, he saw that this incident has become a At the center of people's attention, I couldn't help but want to laugh, and it took a lot of effort to suppress the smile. He said loudly: "It's resolved, this matter has been resolved, and Labarbu has contributed a lot!"

"We then went back to Moran.

"At this time, Moran was full of melancholy, and he was lying weakly on the easy chair at home. A cold towel was covered on his forehead, mustard paste was smeared on his legs, and he coughed rapidly one after another, looking very sick. Poor thing about to die. How could he catch a cold so badly all of a sudden? The answer is really hard to find. His wife is staring at him fiercely at this moment. My husband swallowed it alive.

"When Moran saw me and Li Wei, his hands and feet trembled uncontrollably, and he looked terribly nervous. I said to him: 'Okay, you rascal, your trouble has been solved, remember Don't do it again next time!"

"Mo Lan couldn't say a word, but he just got up and took my hand in his hand and kissed it. The gesture was like kissing a king. He cried and almost fainted from crying. After that, he went to hold my hand. Wei, and then his wife. As a result, his wife pushed him back to the easy chair with a sudden force.

"However, Moran suffered a great blow in this incident. Even if the problem is solved now, it will be difficult for him to return to his previous state.

"After this incident, 'Boar Moran' became the collective name for him by the locals. Every time he heard others call him that, Moran felt as if he had been stabbed.

"When he was walking on the street, every time he heard those ruffians yell out the word 'pig', he would turn his head to look, just like a conditioned reflex. Even relatives and friends would often make fun of him. For example, every time people eat ham, Moran hears the question: 'Is this ham made from your meat?'

"Moland died two years later.

"And I later participated in the campaign for the parliamentarians. That was in 1875. One day, for the campaign, I went to Dussel to visit a gentleman named Belronco. He is the Dussel district. Newly appointed notary. Upon arrival, I was received by a tall, buxom, attractive lady.

"This lady asked me: 'Don't you remember me anymore?'

"I stammered: 'Ma'am...no...I don't remember...'

"'Don't you remember Henriette Purnell?'

"'Ah!' At that time, my face must have turned pale as paper in an instant.

"She was very calm, looking at me peacefully, with an amiable smile on her face.

"Later, she left so that I could discuss business with her husband. The gentleman shook my hand with such strength that he could almost crush my hand. He said to me enthusiastically: 'Sir, in fact, I thought of it a long time ago. I have called at your house. My wife always speaks of you in my presence. I understand that she was going through a very difficult time when you met, and that you are so kind, understanding, and wise, You solved it perfectly...' He seemed to have encountered an unspeakable swearing, he hesitated a little, and then whispered: '...you solved the matter of Boar Moran perfectly.'"

(End of this chapter)