Ace Campus Hunk Don't Mess with Me

  That afternoon, no one intended to leave Martha alone in the house. But as it happened, for various reasons, everyone was called out. Mrs. McFarlane was attending a meeting of the Women's Anti-Gambling Alliance; Nell's boyfriend suddenly had to take her on a long drive; Father was at his office as usual; and this was Mary Ann's day out. As for Emmeline, she should have stayed home to look after the little girl, but Emmeline had a restless disposition.

  "Miss, if you don't mind, I thought of going down the street and saying a few words to Carlton's little girl," she said to Martha.

  "Of course you can. You'd better lock the back door and take the key with you, because I'm going upstairs." Martha replied.

  "Alright! Miss, I'll do just as you say." Emmeline ran off happily. She and her friend whiled away the afternoon. Martha was left alone in the big house, and she was locked in again.

  The little girl read a few pages of her book and then embroidered a few more stitches on her embroidery before she started "receiving visitors" again.

  Her four favorite dolls hung there. At this time, she remembered that there was a "dollhouse" in the attic, which had not been used for several months. She decided to sweep it and also sort it out.

  The little girl climbed up the spiral staircase with this idea and came to a large room under the roof.

  Three large windows let in a flood of light and warmth, making the room cheerful. The walls were lined with numerous wooden chests and trunks; old carpets were piled up, several pieces of old furniture, bundles of worn-out clothes, and other items that still had some value.

  At that time, every regular house had such an attic, so there is no need to describe it in detail.

  "The Doll's House" had been moved. Martha looked around for a while before finding it placed in the corner near the big chimney.

  She pulled out "Foreign Doll's House" and found a large black wooden box behind it.

  This was sent back by Uncle Walter many, many years ago from Italy. Martha wasn't even born yet then.

  One day, her mother had told her about this. She said that there was no key to open the box because Uncle Walter wanted to open it when he returned home. Walter liked to roam and was a good hunter, later he went to Africa to catch elephants and then disappeared without a word.

  The little girl carefully observed the box, apparently it had piqued her curiosity.

  The trunk was enormous - even bigger than Mom's steamer trunk. The trunk was studded with brass nails that had turned green. The trunk was very heavy, and when Martha tried to lift one end of it, the trunk didn't budge. There was a keyhole in the lid. She bent down to examine the lock more closely, thinking that it would take a pretty big key to open it.

  Now, just as you might have guessed, little girl was eager to open Uncle Walter's big trunk.

  She just wanted to see what was inside the box. In fact, we also have the same curiosity.

  She thought: "Uncle Walter may not come back. Father once said that he must have been killed by an elephant. If I had a key..." She didn't think any further, excitedly clapping her two small hands. She remembered that there was a basket of keys on the shelf in the closet. There were all sorts of big and small keys inside, maybe one of them could open this mysterious box.

  She flew down the stairs, found the basket and carried it back to the attic. She sat in front of the trunk studded with copper nails, trying one key after another to open this strange lock. Some keys were too big, but most were too small. Some could be inserted into the lock, but couldn't turn; some could be inserted, but couldn't be pulled out. For a moment, she was worried that the key would get stuck in the lock and couldn't be pulled out. Finally, when the basket was almost empty, an old copper key with a peculiar shape was easily inserted into the lock by the little girl. Martha was overjoyed, using both hands to turn the key. At this time, she heard a sharp "click" sound, and the heavy lid of the trunk automatically popped open.

  The little girl immediately crouched down beside the box, but everything that appeared before her eyes made her shrink back in surprise.

  A man slowly and cautiously emerged from the box, quickly jumping onto the floor.

  He stretched his arms and legs, then took off his hat and bowed politely to the frightened Martha.

  He was a tall and thin man, his face looked like it had been sunburned to be dark and dry.

  At this time, another man appeared in the box. He was yawning, rubbing his eyes, and looked like a sleepy student. He was of medium build, with skin similar to that of the first man.

  Just as Martha was agape, staring at the bizarre scene in front of her, a third man crawled out of the box: he was short and fat, with skin equally darkened by the sun.

  These three people were dressed in a strange and wonderful manner. They wore scarlet velvet jackets, embroidered with gold thread, and sky-blue breeches that reached to their knees, fastened with silver buckles. On their long stockings they had pretty garters of red, yellow, and blue. Their hats had very wide brims, and were surmounted by high, nodding plumes, from which floated long, streaming ribbons of brilliant hue.

  They wore gold earrings, with several rows of knives and pistols tucked into their belts. Their eyes were black and bright. They had thick beards, the ends of which curled up like pig tails.

  "My God! You're really heavy." When the fat man took off his down jacket and slapped the dust off his sky blue shorts, he said, "You've pressed me into a different shape."

  "It can't be helped, Lugg," the tall thin man replied in a low voice: "The lid of the chest is pressing down on me, and I'm pinning you down, so I apologize."

  "As for me, the man of medium build rolled a cigarette absent-mindedly and lit it. Then he said: 'You must admit that I have been your closest friend for many years, so don't mind.'"

  Martha was immediately alert at the smell of smoke. "You can't smoke in the attic, it will cause a fire and burn down the house."

  Before that, people of medium stature did not notice her. When he heard the little girl speak, he turned around and bowed to the little girl.

  "Since it's a young lady's request, I'll throw away my cigarette." He said, throwing the cigarette on the floor and stepping on it to put it out.

  "Who are you?" Martha was so shocked that she had forgotten to be afraid. Now she asked this sentence.

  "May we introduce ourselves?" The tall thin one tipped his hat elegantly and said, "He is Lugji." The fat one nodded, "And he is Beni." The man of medium build bowed, "I am Vittorio. We three are bandits - Italian bandits."

  "Thief!" Martha cried out in fear.

  "Not bad, perhaps there aren't any robbers in the world as fierce as us." Viktor said proudly.

  "Not at all." The fat man nodded solemnly in agreement.

  "This is outrageous!" Martha shouted.

  "Yes indeed." Viktor replied: "We are extremely evil. Perhaps in this world, you can't find more despicable people than the three standing before you."

  "That's right," said the fat man in agreement.

  "But you shouldn't be so fierce. This is... this is nonsense," said the little girl.

  Victor listened and lowered his eyes in shame.

  "What nonsense!" Beni felt frightened and repeated the little girl's words with a gasp.

  "These words are too embarrassing for modern people." Lu Ji said sadly, covering his face with his hands.

  "This is an idea," Victor said in a sorrowful tone, "We are actually insulted by others - and it's from the mouth of a little girl! However, maybe you spoke too casually."

  "Think carefully, miss. Our wickedness is justified. Let me ask you: if we weren't wicked people, how would we have become robbers?"

  Xi Jinping 18th Party Congress