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0每天五分钟听经典英文故事，读绘本，磨耳朵。一个穷小子借女人与报馆一路往上爬，把恩人、情人和妻子都当成台阶。
Today, Duji is going to tell you Bel Ami, a famous novel by Guy de Maupassant
It's about a poor young man who couldn't even write his first article
Somehow he became the son-in-law of a newspaper owner, and before that he was the bride's mother's lover
How did he get there
And why didn't the people he used and betrayed ruin him
The story starts with him standing on a Paris street, counting the coins in his pocket
He had just come out of a cheap restaurant, and he was working out how many meals the coins would buy
It was a summer night, and the cafes along the street were full
Cold drinks stood on every table
He was thirsty, but he wouldn't go in and spend the money
He had been a soldier
Now he was a clerk at the railway office
His clothes were old, but he was a handsome man, tall, with a curled mustache and a cavalryman's walk
He watched the men who could afford to drink, and the longer he watched, the angrier he got
Then he ran into an old friend from the army, Charles Forestier
Forestier was an editor at a newspaper now
He heard Duroy's troubles and invited him to dinner at his home, where he would introduce him to the owner of the paper
To go to the dinner, Duroy borrowed money and bought proper clothes
On the stairs he caught sight of a well-dressed man in the mirror
For a moment he didn't recognize him
Then he saw it was himself
He smiled at the glass, bowed, and practiced the way he would greet the guests
At the table he told stories about his years as a soldier in Africa, and everyone listened with interest
The owner told him to write them down for the paper
Back in his room, Duroy set out paper and picked up his pen
Nothing came
In the end, Forestier's wife helped him
Madeleine asked him about his life and shaped his answers into an article
It appeared under his name
He bought a copy and read his own name over and over
He joined the newspaper office and learned to hunt for news and stay close to useful people
The work came easily enough, but the money never stretched
That was when he and Madame de Marelle became lovers
She liked him, met him when she could, and left money behind when she saw he was short
Her little daughter called him Bel Ami, which means handsome friend
Duroy took the help
They quarreled and parted, then drifted back together
When she caught him tangled up with another woman, she stormed off
But they never made a clean break, and sooner or later they met again
Then Forestier fell ill
Duroy traveled south and sat with Madeleine at his bedside
The man who had brought him into the newspaper office died
During the wake, he began to speak to the dead man's wife about a future together
Madeleine didn't want to be a wife ruled by her husband
She wanted freedom, and she wanted a marriage that worked as a partnership
Duroy agreed
After the wedding she kept writing with him and brought politicians into their sitting room
His articles were taken more seriously, and he gave his name a noble sound
But when a colleague compared him to the dead Forestier, he grew angry
He didn't like being reminded whose place he was sitting in
A count who had been close to Madeleine died and left her a large fortune
Duroy seized on it
He questioned her about the man, then demanded half the money, saying he wanted to avoid gossip
In the end, he got it
He also went after Madame Walter
Her husband, Monsieur Walter, owned the paper
At first she refused him
Then she fell into the affair
He soon tired of her clinging, but she still wanted to hold on to him
She even told him secrets from her husband's business
The paper stood close to the men in power, and it got news early, which made its name
Duroy's articles spoke for them in public
But when there was real money to be made, he was kept in the dark too
Minister Laroche-Mathieu denied any plan to send troops into Morocco
In secret, the minister had already bought Moroccan bonds with Walter
They knew the bonds would rise once France sent its army and guaranteed the debt
Madame Walter told Duroy what was really happening and helped him into the deal
He made a profit
Then he found that his owner had made far more
He wrote other men's articles while they grew rich behind his back
He walked into the grand new house Walter had bought and looked at everything in it
That was when he fixed his eyes on Suzanne, Walter's younger daughter
Suzanne liked him and told him her private thoughts
But he was already married
To step into that family's money and name, he first had to get rid of Madeleine
He watched his wife's movements in secret
At last he brought the police and caught her with the minister
The official record of adultery let him apply for a divorce, and he meant to expose the minister in the paper
Walter hesitated
The minister had been the paper's ally, but the scandal was now a fact, and there was nothing left to gain by protecting him
The owner agreed to print the story
Duroy was free of his wife, had brought down a minister, and had shown Walter what he could do
After the divorce, he had Suzanne speak to her parents first
If they refused, she was to slip out at night and meet him
Suzanne thought of the elopements in novels, two people running away so no one could part them again
She said yes
That night Duroy waited in a carriage at the Place de la Concorde
The clock struck twelve and she didn't come
One o'clock came too
He was sure the plan had failed when her face finally appeared at the window
She had fought with her parents
Her mother refused outright, and her father said he wasn't good enough for his daughter
Now she had come to him
The carriage rolled out of Paris
Madame Walter found her daughter's bed empty and called her husband
Walter looked into the empty room and understood that he had been outplayed
A daughter who ran off with a man became harder to hide with every hour
His wife still refused
But he had begun to speak for Duroy
This man could bring down a minister with a few articles
One day he might be a deputy, even a minister
His rank was low for now, but his future might not be
The letter Duroy had prepared arrived
It said Suzanne had come to him of her own free will
Without her parents' consent, he would keep her with him and hide her
Walter agreed to the marriage
Suzanne was still in the country with Duroy, and he introduced her as his sister
They didn't sleep together
What he needed was the elopement itself, and the threat of scandal
Once he had his answer, he sent her home
Madame de Marelle learned what he was planning
She came and told him what she thought of him, and they fought
Duroy struck her
The quarrel ended, and he went back to preparing his wedding
On the wedding day the church was packed
Duroy stood beside Suzanne and listened to the blessings
Important men came to shake his hand, and as he looked at the crowd, he felt that all of them were there for him
Madame de Marelle came too
When they shook hands, there was the old warmth between them
He understood that the two of them were not finished
He walked out of the church with his bride on his arm
Below the steps, the crowd waited to see him
He lifted his head and looked past the Place de la Concorde to the parliament building far away
A few more steps, it seemed, and he would be there
As he came down the steps, the image of Madame de Marelle rose in his mind again
He saw her standing at the mirror, tidying the curls at her temples
