The lights of the car illuminated the road beneath them.
Paige looked into Hazel’s glowing eyes, the same way the real Hazel should have been a hundred years ago.
That’s why JT was able to pour that kind of emotion into a hypnotized person.
“How did you and JT meet?” Paige asked.
Hearing her mention JT, Hazel’s expression became serious and she paused, “Paige, I think you’re really recognizing the wrong person, JT and I have known each other since we were young and supported each other all the way up, he’s not the … Enrico you’re looking for.”
It wasn’t that she recognized the wrong person, it was that this replica city was wrong.
Paige continued on, only to say, “I may be mistaken, but can you tell me more?”
“Sure.”
Hazel smiled lightly, “JT and I were both born in the countryside, and when we were seven years old, a large wealthy man took a liking to our land and forcibly evicted us, and when we refused to do so, they sent men to burn the houses, and the entire village burned to the ground in a fire hose, with many deaths and injuries, and I escaped by dragging JT with me.”
“…”
Life seemed to be a particularly singular thing in those days.
Paige listened in silence.
“Then a troupe master saw my voice and took us in, I learned to sing and JT did odd jobs, and we survived the troupe.” Hazel was still smiling as she spoke of the memories, just a little bitterly.
“So when did he learn that mastery of hypnosis?” Paige wondered.
“What hypnosis?” Hazel looked at her blankly, a little helpless, “Paige, I told you you had the wrong guy.”
“…”
Paige stared at her, her long eyelashes moving.
Hazel didn’t realize that JT could be amazingly hypnotic with one hand?
“JT has suffered more than me since I was a kid, I have a good voice, the class master won’t do anything to me, but he’s always being squeezed and bullied, he wants to leave, but he’s afraid that I’ll be alone in the troupe with no one to turn to, so he can only grit his teeth and put up with it.”
Hazel sighed softly, “Then later, I couldn’t stand it, he was always being bullied, so I escaped with him.”
“We have been displaced all the way, the most bitter time, two people will share a potato, sleep on the dead body stripped off the straw mat, sick can only cheer each other to survive through, and so escaped to The Capital.”
Sounds like a story of mutual love, so how come she then married Leonard?
Or is this just Hazel from JT’s point of view with a biased perspective?
“Back then, I sang opera, got money to read to him, and he’d come back to teach me how to read, and the days just went by.”
Hazel chuckled, “And so it went on for years, and now that I’m somewhat famous and he’s got a proper job as a clerk at the Chamber of Commerce, he’s kind of survived.”
A man with that kind of skill, but only a career as a clerk?
Is it that JT, in this period, hadn’t yet learned to hypnotize?
Or what?
Paige mused, and Hazel suddenly said, “Look, speaking of which, my house is here.”
“…”
Paige was baffled and looked up, it was a civilian area in a decent setting, closer to the richer neighborhoods and not too chaotic.
“This is where I live, do you want to come in and sit down?”
Hazel asked with a smile, her hand already taking Paige and pulling her inside.
It was nothing more than a room, a simple stove with only a curtain separating it from the bed next to it, a small dining table in the center with food held in clasp baskets, and a very old dresser in the corner.
Paige looked at the furnishings in this room and reached out to touch the countertop.
The furniture was definitely a hundred years old, and even the chairs and beds looked loose and ready to fall over.
I’m afraid that back in the day, the real JT just kept everything Hazel used.
“Aren’t you a famous actor?” Paige was a little taken aback.
She’d had too much of a clean slate.
“People like to go to the movies nowadays, and not many people go to the theater anymore, so famous actors don’t make a lot of money.”
Hazel walked over to the table, took out a cup and poured water and handed it to her, smiling, “And JT and I have talked about using all our money in a women’s self-help club first, and then starting to save up when we’re ready to raise kids after marriage.”
“Ahem.”
Paige choked lightly, her eyes landing on a red wedding dress by the bed, “You’re, you’re getting married?”
To Enrico?
“Yeah.”
Hazel walked over to the bed and sat down, picking up the dowry dress and threading it skillfully, “After we get married, we’ll be able to dedicate a room to the kitchen, so we don’t have to be cramped like we are now, where a lot of things don’t fit.”
People in those days spoke of love in just plain terms.
Paige caught the point at once and pointed next door, “Enrico … isn’t that right, JT lives next door to you?”
“Yeah.” Hazel grinned.
“…”
Paige continued to drink from her glass.
“We’re going to have two tables of wine at Papa Bree at the end of this month, so we’ll consider ourselves married.” Hazel looked over at her with a sincere look on her face, “Can you come?”
“How many days left?”
“Three more days.”
Hazel bites off the stitches and unfolds the beautiful wedding dress, wrapping it up successfully.
“Ahem.”
Paige choked again; she and Enrico hadn’t even had their wedding yet, and instead she’d been invited, to his wedding to someone else.
So angry.
Paige pressed her heart, she kind of wanted to cry.
Fake, fake, all fake!
“Paige, does my wedding dress look good?”
Hazel unfolded the embroidered dragon and phoenix dowry in front of her, beaming with happiness.
“It looks good.” Paige put down her cup, unable to look at the bright red color, “It’s late, I’ll leave first. You don’t need to see me off, the Folsom family’s car is waiting for me outside.”
“Okay, then take care on your way.”
Hazel nodded and smiled as she watched her leave.
Walking out of Hazel’s house, Paige turned her eyes to the house next to her and looked at the old wooden door, forcing her to resist the urge to go up and kick it over.
What a marriage, what a relationship, just an act.
Enrico must have a whole plan in mind, and she was going to follow his lead.
The big picture was important.
Paige, the big picture is the big picture.
The love of men and women is but a small love, the time to put down should be put down, the time to be generous on the generous …
Paige silently counseled herself in her mind, then lifted her leg and kicked the door open.
“Bang.”
The sound resounded through the night.
Whew…
Cool.
Hazel pushed the door open and came out to see Paige standing in front of Enrico’s door with a stunned look on her face.
Paige looks at her with a fake smile, “The wind blew the door open.”
Hazel didn’t doubt it and frowned, “It’s time to fix this door, I’ll have to talk to JT when he gets back.”
“He’s not back yet?”
“Well, the Chamber of Commerce has a lot going on, I guess.”
“Oh, well, I’ll be off then, good night.”
Paige continued to fake a smile before turning around and getting into THE Folsom family’s car.
As the car slowly drove down the road, Paige flicked open a small slip of paper in her hand with a black arrow on it.
It was from Enrico when he choked her at night.
Paige continued to flick the paper until the ink was gone and she looked out the window.
Sure enough, headlights swung over a wall, and a tiny black arrowhead was tucked between a pile of the child’s drawings.
“Stop the car.”