Detective Mary

Chapter 1

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a rich bachelor always needs a wife.

But is it really true?

Mary Bennet has often pondered this opening line of Jane Austen's lately. Before traveling through time and space, Mary lived in the twenty-first century and had entered a modern society where rich bachelors were unnecessarily bound to marry a wife. But it's different now, and the Queen of England is still Victoria at this very moment. Mary pondered for a few days and realized that Jane Austen's words were not unreasonable.

First of all, the prerequisite is "rich", because in England, there are still a lot of penniless bachelors can not get a wife; Secondly, Mary Bennet really did not find many exceptions. Even the famous poet Byron, a prodigal son who had numerous scandals in his life, was married at a young age, so who else's life is more legendary than Byron's in the whole of England.

Byron was not exempt from this, so Mary had to admit that even though she didn't love Jane Austen's fictional works much, she had to admit that this female writer had extraordinary wisdom for the present time, and this statement was also recognized as a universal truth.

And Mary Bennet, who had traveled through time and space to get here, would now be of an age to seek a rich bachelor to marry.

"--What do you say, Mary? I know that you are a young lady rich in true knowledge, and read all the great books, and have to do your journaling."

A call from the room brought Mary back to her senses, and being startled in her contemplation, she turned her head in bewilderment to her father, Mr. Bennet, who was waiting for his answer. Just lost in her own thoughts, Mary had no idea what her father had asked her.

And Mr. Bennet didn't seem to be waiting for Mary's response as he withdrew his gaze, "While Mary is deep in thought, we'll turn back to Mr. Bentley."

Right.

Mary bristled privately. That was why she'd started thinking about it.

A few days ago, Mrs. Bennet, Mary's mother, had learned that a handsome bachelor, Mr. Bingley, had moved in next door at Netherfield Hall. How could she not know who Mr. Bingley was, when Pride and Prejudice had been popular since its inception and into the twenty-first century in which Mary originally lived?

That's where the plot of the original novel begins, but Mary is not interested - for no other reason than she has traveled through time and space to the Victorian era!

Jane Austen herself was alive when the King of England was still William IV. Mary didn't know why her timeline had moved back a whole generation, but this was the Victorian era, the second industrial revolution was unfolding, the whole world was booming under the development of science and technology, and countless adventures and historical legends were spawned in this era, while Mary had to be in the countryside with her parents and sisters in the countryside with Mr. Bentley to the left and Mr. Bentley to the right, which made her eager to rolled in bed clutching her books.

Besides, Mary thought that her two sisters, Jane Bennet and Elizabeth Bennet, were both very beautiful women, and were a perfect match for the two perfect bachelors, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, in the original novel, so it was better for her not to join in the fun. Mary still found the Montesquieu treatise in her hands more attractive than her future brother-in-law.

But for Mary's two sisters, the fact that their father had visited Mr. Bingley in the morning was extraordinary. Until bedtime, Catherine and Lydia continued to chatter by their bedside, annoying Mary to no end: "Will you be quiet? I wanted to read this chapter before I went to bed!"

Lydia nonchalantly shot back, "Can't you read it tomorrow? Read and read all day long, and when you can't get married, let's see what you're going to read!"

Mary was instantly exasperated, and she put down her book in a huff, "I'm going out to get some air."

Worst of all, she also had to admit that Lydia was right - it was only normal for young girls in this era to be as keen as Catherine and Lydia to marry into a good family. They couldn't work, they didn't have citizenship, the likelihood of getting a good life with their own hands was low to none, and marrying was the only way out.

Mary sympathized with them, but she had traveled through time and space in the twenty-first century, so sympathy was sympathy, but to be the pretty full-time wife of some rich gentleman's sidekick? How could she be willing to do that.

Originally Mary was agonizing over this, and felt annoyed by Lydia's poke at her sore spot. She left the room and decided to seek refuge with her second sister, Elizabeth.

And almost the next moment Mary knocked on Elizabeth's room, the door opened.

Elizabeth, the future Mrs. Darcy and now an unmarried teenager, opened the door and gave Mary a half derisive, half reproachful smile, "What are you making? So loud, I knew you'd come running."

Mary immediately took Elizabeth's hand and grumbled reluctantly, "Catherine and Lydia are just too noisy, and I can't speak to them."

Elizabeth smiled and let the door to her room open, "Come in."

Upon entering the room, Mary realized that her big sister, Jane Bennet, was there.

Mary still preferred her older sisters to the two chirpy mess of childishness. The original Elizabeth had disliked the pedantic Mary, but the current Mary was no fictional nerd. She loved to read, but she didn't make a fool of herself - the eldest sister was gentle, the second independent, such a perfect girl would be hard to find in two hundred years, and Mary loved to stick behind her two sisters since she was a little girl.

Seeing her sticky and pouty, Jane, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, also laughed out loud, "Mary, you're arguing with Catherine again."

"I don't care to quarrel with her."

Mary said, collapsing ladylike onto Elizabeth's bed and stifling a groan, "Mr. Bingley, it's just a rich bachelor, what's there to get excited about?"

Jane winked, "A rich bachelor, who has caught his eye, but he is about to be the wife of a rich family."

Mary grunted, "It's not their turn to marry."

She rolled over and looked at the beautiful Jane Bennet with a smile on her cheeks, "Even if I were to marry, it should be Jane who marries first, you're so beautiful and gentle as water, Mr. Bingley will surely fall for you!"

In the original story, Mr. Bingley nearly lost his soul for Jane.

Her naked ass-kissing made Jane laugh out loud. Elizabeth sniffed and deliberately raised her face: "You, you usually don't say a word in public, but you are very good at talking in private. Don't you know that the neighbors call you a mumbling nerd, and that's not a good comment."

That was because she didn't care to talk to them, okay, what could there be to talk about among country women. It's just about who's married to who, who likes who, etc. It's a headache to listen to.

Seeing Mary's disbelief, Elizabeth also hooked up the corner of her mouth: "Do not like rich bachelors, then what do you like, Mary? Don't say Byron, if you marry a man like Byron, you'll be worrying us."

Mary didn't have that in mind either. Even if Byron were alive, he wouldn't be able to look at her.

To be fair, Mary didn't think she was ugly, and with a bit of grooming she could be considered a pretty girl. But compared with her other sisters is too far, this era popular plump beauty, and Mary, uh, no high breasts and no waist, not much higher than Queen Victoria, want to rely on posture to marry a good family, obviously unrealistic things.

Of course, the high-minded Mary didn't care.

But Mary still had criteria for choosing a mate, and after careful thought, she replied, "Must be smart, exceptionally smart!"

Both sisters were stunned, smart men are certainly pleasing to the eye, but I've never heard of any girl who puts smartness as the primary criterion for choosing a spouse.

"His character can not be too good," Mary continued, genius, there are always some quirks, Mary think she can forgive, "but to be good natured, have a sense of justice ...... and, knowledgeable, unconventional, to be have insight and the ability to think alone, the mind should be alive, and ......"

"All right, all right."

Elizabeth couldn't help but interrupt, "Looks like Mary is looking for a banker."

Well, that's not a bad idea.

Mary knew that the landed gentry of this era looked down on factory owners, bankers and the like, but Mary thought it was all right. The Victorian era was an important time for the rise of the bourgeoisie, and the capitalists of this era were synonymous with upward mobility and struggle, and to put it mildly, doing business was much more fun than being a landlord's wife.

Moreover, in fact, Mary would like to say, even if there is no money, it does not matter, she is in this era forward forty years, Marx and Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto in London, and Marx's wife, Yanni Marx, is not also a proletarian everyone, she is a serious aristocratic lady, but followed Marx to live a poor life in this era is shocking, unbelievable choice. But in the twenty-first century, who would say that Mrs. Marx married the wrong person?

But that could not be said in the open, not with her two good sisters.

"It would have to be a London banker, too," so Mary assumed a sullen look, "but when am I going to London?"

London! Mary really wanted to go to London.

Victorian London, even though it was not as clean and organized as the twenty-first century, in Mary's heart, it was an ideal country - the birthplace of the future steampunk genre, the adventurous paradise of Sherlock Holmes, and the source of inspiration for countless authors and writers. Even if London is now dirty, chaotic and lacking in planning, Mary would still like to see it, otherwise, would it not be a wasted trip to this era?

Mary looked so depressed that Elizabeth couldn't help but knock her on the head, "I heard that Mr. Bingley knows a lot of friends in London, and you're not interested in him, so I guess you don't plan on attending his ball, that's a shame."

Oi ......

Right?

Mary's eyes lit up.

While it was true that she had a lack of interest in Mr. Bingley and his ball, Mr. Bingley, being a wealthy gentleman, figured that he would have his own property in London. He knew a lot of people - and not just Darcy, the hero of Pride and Prejudice, among them. Not to mention that, come to think of it, the fictional Elizabeth has also been to London.

She'd have to take advantage of the opportunity!

With that in mind, Mary immediately struggled to her feet and grandly announced, "Now I'm interested in Mr. Bentley!" --Well, at least one of her future brother-in-laws, Mary had to count on him to show her London!