What did you say? I exclaimed
He laughed when he saw my surprise.
I think it’s not bad to do manual labor for a few months, but it can clear my mind and help me face the reality.
Without saying a word, I wondered whether Larry really suddenly became a miner or refused to marry Isabel. I didn’t know how much he loved Isabel. Most people often make up excuses to say that they have followed their feelings when they are in love. I guess this may be because there are so many unfortunate marriages, because it’s like you know someone is cheating, but you have to entrust things to him because you don’t want to believe in cheating, so you will pay attention to interests and sacrifice friendship. That is, he will never live up to himself if he is not honest with others. But losing Isabel may be harder than he thought, and maybe he will get as cheap as most people.
Oh, and then what? I asked
I put my clothes in two boxes, entrusted American Express to keep them, took a bag and put on a suit, and left. My Greek teacher and brother-in-law are from a mine near Lance, and wrote a letter of introduction asking me to take them. Have you ever heard of Lance?
Never heard
It’s in the north of France, not far from Belgium. I stayed at the motel for one night and took the local train to the mine the next day. Have you ever been to the mine village?
I went there when I was in England.
Well, I guess it should be much the same except for the mine, where the rows of buildings are short and the two-story buildings are all the same. They are monotonous and depressing, and they are newer but uglier than the churches. When I first arrived, the weather was cold and it was raining in Mao Mao. I went to the office and gave him the letter. I was short and fat, and my cheeks were red and I looked like I had a good appetite. Many miners died in the war. I was short of workers and hired many Poles. I said at least two or three hundred. After asking me a few questions, he was actually not American. It seems that I don’t feel reliable, but the teacher’s recommendation letter has repeatedly put in a good word, and he is also happy to be helped. He came to ask me to stay on the ground, but I volunteered to go to the mine. He said that I was not used to doing rough work, and it would be too much for me. I said that I had prepared early, and he wanted me to take on the job of a miner’s assistant first. But the little boy there was not good enough. I took the initiative to ask my room if I had found it, so I wrote an address on a piece of paper and said that I could go and see the landlady and let me stay. She
I picked up my bag and set off, and then I found the door was a tall and thin woman with gray hair, big black eyes and facial features. She must have been a beauty before three dimensions, but she wouldn’t have looked so haggard if she hadn’t lost two front teeth. She said that the eye room was full, but there were two beds for a Polish guest. I can sleep in that bed building. One is her own, and the other is for her two children. She took me to see the house. I guess it’s probably the living room on the first floor, but it’s certainly good to be alone, but I think it’s better not to be picky After it turned into a drizzle, my clothes were already wet. If I continued to look for it outside, I was bound to get soaked. I said that the room was quite suitable for me, so I settled down. They used the kitchen as the living room. Two rickety armchairs in the courtyard served as the bathroom coal shed. Her two poles had brought lunch doors, but she said that I could have lunch with her. After that, I sat in the kitchen and smoked. She talked about her family affairs while doing home. Poles came back one after another after work. Behind the advanced door were two brothers, Poles, who passed through the kitchen and listened to the landlord. My wife said that I would share a room with him, and nodded to me. I got up from the stove and went to the coal shed to take a bath. The two brothers were tall. Although their faces were stained with coal ash, they still looked very handsome and felt very kind, but they still regarded me as a stranger because I was an American. My brother was nineteen years old and would be a soldier in a few months. My brother was ten years old.
When the Poles came back, they changed two boys to take a bath. It was difficult to pronounce the name of the Poles. Everyone called him Kosdi. He was tall and two or three inches taller than me. His face was pale and fleshy with a wide short nose. His eyes were blue, and because he didn’t wash off his eyelashes, coal ash looked like makeup. The black eyelashes made his eyes blue. Generally speaking, this guy was ugly and rude. The brothers changed their clothes and went to the door. The Poles were sitting in the kitchen, smoking a pipe and reading the newspaper. I read it in my pocket and noticed that he glanced at me soon after.
What are you reading? When he asked me, he handed it to him. That’s Princess Clive. I bought it on a train in Paris. It was just the right size to fit in my pocket. He looked at me again and again, with a curious face. Then he gave it back to me with a sarcastic smile and asked me, Do you think it looks good?
When I said I thought it was interesting, I forgot myself when I read it.
He replied that I read it when I was studying in Warsaw, and it was so boring. He spoke French very well, with almost no polish accent, and then said that I don’t read anything except newspaper detective stories now.
Mrs. Leclere, the landlady, sat at the table mending socks and looked at the stove and a pot of soup from time to time. She told Kosdi that I was a mine, and she told her what I told her after being introduced. Kosdi listened and smoked, and those bright blue eyes stared at me with sharp eyes and then asked some personal questions. As soon as he learned that I had never worked in a mine, he sneered again and said that you probably didn’t understand what miners do, unless there was nothing else to do, who would work here? But then again, this is your family affair, and you must live in Pakistan. Where is Li? I answered him truthfully. He said that we go to Paris once a year, but we have activities on the boulevard. You have never been to Maxence Larrieu, which is my favorite restaurant. I was a little surprised. After all, you know that restaurant is not cheap.
Very expensive
He seemed to find me a little surprised because he showed that mocking expression again, but obviously he didn’t think it was necessary to explain more. We talked about it, and then the two boys came back, and everyone had dinner together. After dinner, Kirstie asked me if I wanted to go to the pub for a beer, saying that the pub was also a big one. At one end, there were several big stone tables at the bar, and some wooden chairs were placed around it, and the piano was also played. There were people playing dance music with coins. Besides the table where we sat, Kirstie asked me if I could play shellfish. Lott card 3: Because I told some people that I would fight him to bet on wine money, I readily agreed to it. I asked the waiter to bring me cards. I lost a glass of beer first, and then a second cup. Later, he decided to bet on cash that night. He was always good at cards, but I was particularly unlucky. Although the amount of our bet was small, I still lost a few francs. He was particularly lucky that day, and he was more interested in alcohol. It wasn’t long before I guessed from his manners that he should be well educated. Later, he went to Paris to ask me if I knew him. Ms. or Mrs. So-and-so, they are all Americans. When Aunt Louisa Isabel lived in Eliot’s house, I met him more or less. He seemed to know them well. I can’t help wondering why he came to work as a miner. Although it’s still early, we have to get up at dawn. Kirsty said, let’s have another drink before we leave.
He sipped his beer and stared at me with his fine little eyes. What does he remind me of? A grumpy pig.
Why did you come to work in this ghost mine? He asked.
Want to experience a I said
That’s crazy, kid. He speaks French.
Then why do you work here? I asked. He shrugged his thick shoulders.
I grew up in an aristocratic military school. My father was a czar’s general. I was a Polish cavalry officer during the war, but I couldn’t stand Pitsudski. 4 Unfortunately, a group of us plotted to assassinate him. Later, news leaked out and everyone was arrested. I managed to escape from the border and join a foreign corps to work in a mine. There are two ways to take the lesser of two evils.
I told Kirsty that I was a miner’s assistant. He didn’t respond at that time, but now he leans his elbow against the big stone table and tells me to push my hand.
I know this is an old way than strength. Just put your palm against his palm. He smiled and said that in a few weeks, your hand will not be so tender. I pushed forward, but his hand was so strong that he didn’t retreat half a minute. Instead, he slowly pushed my hand back and pushed the table all the time.
I didn’t expect him to praise me. You are very strong. Few people can last so long. By the way, my assistant is very skinny. The French are as strong as lice. Xiaotian, you work with me. I’ll ask the foreman to let you be my assistant.
I said, of course. Do you think he would like it? He answered something. Can you give me fifty francs? He reached out and I took a bill from my wallet. Then we went back to our apartment to rest. I slept like a pig after a tired day.
Don’t you think miners are hard? I asked Larry
I became his assistant after consulting the foreman. At that time, Kosdi’s workplace was about the size of a hotel bathroom, and he had to go through a tunnel that was narrow enough to climb in. It was as hot as a stove. We were all shirtless. Kosdi was fat and white, and it looked really disgusting. Because the workplace was very narrow, the noise of pneumatic tools was deafening. I was responsible for loading his coal into baskets, and then dragging the baskets to the mouth of the tunnel, waiting for the coal trucks to come at a fixed time. Later, I will go to the ladder. This is my first time to come to the mine in my life. I don’t know if this is a common working mode. Although it seems that laymen can do it, it is really fucking tiring. At about noon, we sit and rest for lunch and smoke a cigarette. After hard work, I don’t regret it, and it’s really nice to take a shower after the end. My feet are dirty and black as ink. Of course, my hands are blistered and painful, but I have recovered after all. I am getting used to mine work more and more.
So how long did you do it?
I worked as a miner’s assistant for a few weeks. Those lump coal cars were controlled by a tractor, but the driver didn’t know much about the machine engine. He often broke down. He couldn’t start the tractor. Personally, I was at a loss. I knew a lot about the machine operation, so I helped to check it and repaired it in less than half an hour. The foreman told me about it and asked me if I knew anything about the car. Later, he asked me to take charge of repairing the machine body. Of course, it was monotonous, but it was very easy, and there was nothing wrong with the engine. They were also very satisfied with my performance
After I changed my job, Kosti felt very unhappy. After all, we got along very well, and he used to get along with me, and I became more and more familiar with him. Two people worked together all day and went to the pub to sleep in the same room after dinner. This guy was very funny and attractive. He didn’t associate with other Poles, and we would avoid Poles going to cafes. He never forgot his aristocratic status and was a cavalry officer. Of course, Poles hated them, but there was nothing he could do. I really want to fight, no matter whether I have a knife or not, five or six people can’t beat him together, but I still know a few Poles. They told me that Kosdi was indeed an officer in a cavalry regiment, but it wasn’t for political reasons that he left Poland. He was caught playing cards because of fraud, and he was expelled on the spot. These Poles told me not to play cards with him, saying that they were all a little guilty because they were too familiar with him.
Every time I play cards, I lose to Kosdi, but I don’t lose many francs every night. But if he wins the cards, he will insist on paying for drinks. It’s nothing. I’m unlucky or not as good as him at playing cards. But after talking to those Poles, I tried to keep my eyes open. Later, I was sure that he was definitely cheating, but I couldn’t see his disadvantages. Alas, he was really smart. I knew that he couldn’t get good cards every time. I watched him like a bobcat, but he was as cunning as a fox, and I guess he gradually learned his tricks
He took the deck of cards and asked me to specify a card, then washed the cards, and asked me to draw a knot at random. I drew that card and he demonstrated two or three tricks, and then asked me if I could play stud. I said yes, and he dealt me cards. I got four aces and one k in all.
He asked me to get this hand, and you should have a high bet. I said I would definitely bet the money. He laughed that I was a fool and then showed me the card stand. It turned out to be a flush. I still don’t know how he did it. He laughed and said that if I really lied to you, you would have lost your pants. I smiled and said that it was almost the same. He said that the money was a piece of cake and there was no way to have dinner in Maxence Larrieu.
We continue to play cards every night, and I am very happy. I find that he is cheating, saying that he is money, but not saying that he is fun. I think he can get special satisfaction from playing me. I think his heart is that I know that he is cheating, but he can’t see the doorway.
But this is one side of him, which really makes me think that it means the other side. I can almost treat these two sides as the same person. Although he claims that he doesn’t read anything except newspaper detective novels, he is actually very literate, sarcastic and cynical. It is very enjoyable to listen to him. He is a devout Catholic with a cross hanging on his bedside. He attends mass regularly every Sunday. Every Saturday night, he is always as drunk as a fiddler. When we go to that pub, it is always crowded with people. Smoky, taciturn, middle-aged miners come with their families, and groups of noisy young people and sweaty men play Bellot cards around the table, and their wives sit at the back and look around. The uproar of these people seems to have touched Kosdi. He will suddenly get serious and talk about mysticism, but he just chose this to talk about it. I knew nothing about mysticism at that time. In Paris, I read an article on maeterlinck discussing Rusbruck, but Kosdi talked about Prouddin 5 Athens Dafa. Official Dionysio 6 shoemaker Jacques Bomaire 7 Ikeha 8 and other mysticism listen to him, a big man who died outside. This sarcastic tone talks endlessly about all things and the integration of happiness with the emperor. It’s incredible. What he said sounds so novel to me. Although I can’t make a clue, I feel excited and inexplicable, just like lying in a dark room, suddenly the light penetrates the curtains, and the curtains are white. In front of me, there is a big field bathed in the morning light. But if I want to lead him to talk about the same topic after he wakes up, he will lose his temper and stare at me angrily.
But I know he’s lying. He knows what he said. He knows a lot of things. Of course, he’s really drunk. But his eyes and Zhang Chou’s focused expression are not so simple as alcohol. I remember the first time he said those words. They were so amazing that they have been imprinted on my mind. He said that everything was not created because it was born, but everything was eternal. This is acceptable, but he went on to say that good and evil are direct symbols of divinity. At that time, the cafe was dirty and noisy, accompanied by piano dance music. His words sounded really abrupt.
In order to give reading a break, I’ll start another paragraph here. This is purely for the convenience of reading. Larry’s conversation has not been interrupted. I also want to take this opportunity to say that Larry is quite cautious in his words. It is true that I have not presented it word for word, but I have tried my best to reproduce his attitude. He speaks with a deep voice and sounds very pleasant. He talks without gestures, and occasionally stops to rekindle his pipe. He will look at a happy and strange look in your deep eyes.
Later, spring arrived in a flat and desolate country. It was still cold and rainy, but occasionally it was warm and sunny. People wanted to stay on the ground instead of sitting on a rickety ladder and running hundreds of feet deep into the earth’s belly with a miner in dirty suspenders. Although Spring came, it seemed like a shy ghost in a dirty mine, like daffodils or lilies in a window sill potted plant in a slum. No matter how beautiful it was, it seemed out of place. On a Sunday morning, we still got up late and lay lazily in bed. I was reading at that time. Kirsty suddenly told me whether I wanted to leave here or not.
I know that many Poles will go back to Poland to help cut in summer, but the season is not even worse at that time. Kostigan went back to Poland.
I asked you where you were going, and he replied, travel through Belgium, then go to Germany and walk along the Rhine. We can find a farm worker to spend the summer. It didn’t take me long to make up my mind to tell him that it was interesting.
The next day, we resigned together with the foreman. I found a miner who was willing to exchange my backpack for my bag. I also gave Mrs. Leclere clothes that I couldn’t or couldn’t carry. Because we were almost the same, Kosdi left a bag and put the necessary things in the backpack. The next day, after drinking the coffee prepared by the landlady, we sent it.
We are in no hurry, because the farm won’t ask for help until the cutting season at the earliest, so we will slowly cross France and Belgium, pass through Liege, namur, and then enter Germany from Aachen. We will walk at most 10 to 12 miles every day, and we will stay for one night when we meet a village that looks good. No matter what, we can stay in a hotel or a pub. Generally speaking, the weather is very pleasant. It’s really comfortable to breathe fresh air after staying in a mine for several months. I never knew that grass and green land were so beautiful and didn’t spit out new leaves. The branches covered with light green mist are so lovely. Kosdi taught me to speak German. His German is as good as French. He will tell me everything in front of me. Later, he will teach me to repeat simple sentences. When I pass the time, I will say that I want something in German.
Although Cologne was not on the way, Kosdijian wanted to go to see St. Ursula’s church. As soon as we arrived in Cologne, Kosdijian went crazy and disappeared for three days. When he returned to the dormitory like a worker, his face was very difficult. It seemed that he had a fight with someone, and his lips were bruised and bruised. It looked terrible. He slept for 24 hours. Later, we went to Damme along the Rhine Valley. He said that there were the most job opportunities in rural areas there.
I’ve never been so comfortable, thanks to successive fine weather. We strolled through many small towns and villages, and when we met the good scenery, we stopped to enjoy it and looked for a place to spend the night everywhere. We slept in the attic for a few times and ate and drank in the roadside hostel. Later, when we arrived at the wine country, we stopped drinking beer and started drinking wine. When we were drinking in the pub, we were relaxed with our guest friend Kirsti’s generous temperament. He played German Scott with them. He played cards as usual, but his personality was pleasing and he could tell low-level jokes, everyone. I also practiced German with these people by the way. I bought English-German conversation grammar in Cologne, and the grammar improved very quickly. After a lot of yellow soup, Kosdi was always almost morbid and paranoid. He talked about how to escape from loneliness by human law, which means that the soul is at night. But in the early morning, when we crossed the beautiful countryside, the grass was still wet with dew. When I urged him to say more, he lost his temper and didn’t hit me.
He will swear and shut up, you idiot. Why do you ask such a chat to continue practicing German?
