Fox of France

The Bonaparte family is a very traditional Corsican family. This also means that in their family, women are not very in charge. Letizia is a very good wife and a good mother, even in difficult times, she can always endure silently. But she's also a very traditional Corsican woman who doesn't speak up when she needs to make up her mind.

So after Carlo's death, Joseph made almost all decisions in the family. When the younger brothers and sisters wanted to ask their mother something, she always said, "Ask your brother, and see what he says." Just like when Carlo was still there, she said to the children, "Go ask Your dad?" Same.

So Joseph immediately got busy, first arranging his father's funeral, and then dealing with inheritance and debts. Fortunately, my uncle helped with these matters, and the presence of Bishop Minier also made those who wanted to take advantage of this family's lack of adult men a lot more worried. So these things went very smoothly.

On the third day after the funeral, all the leftover matters were basically dealt with. That night, Joseph called his mother, uncle, and several younger siblings together.

"Mom, uncle, and brothers and sisters. Father's funeral and related matters have basically come to an end today." Joseph said, "After losing our father, our family's situation has changed a lot. Our original way of life will definitely change a lot. We must adapt to such changes and prepare in advance. Now, I will tell you about the changes that may occur in our family."

Everyone listened quietly to Joseph's speech.

"After my father passed away, his salary naturally disappeared. You also know that our family has very little land, and the production is also very limited. If there is no father's salary in the Governor's Mansion, it will only rely on the little land left by our family The output of our family will be reduced to one-third of what it was before. This means that our income can only barely survive. Brothers and sisters, your pocket money and even education funds will have problems.

Napoleon, you are studying in a military academy, and you will naturally serve in the army after graduation. It doesn't cost much to go to military school. But I'm afraid the pocket money I gave you will be cancelled. "

"That's all right," said Napoleon.

"I have learned about your grades in the past few years." Joseph continued, "Your math, geography, and history are all very good. But your language grades disappoint me."

"Mathematics, geography, and history are all useful in war. Language..." Napoleon was a little unconvinced

"My stupid brother, language is also a tool of battle!" Joseph glanced at Napoleon and said, "How did Octavian defeat Brustus back then, don't you know? The ability to use language has been important to a good man since ancient times. For the general, they are all indispensable."

Hearing that Joseph used Emperor Octavian as an example, Napoleon stopped refuting.

However, Joseph was unwilling to let Napoleon go. He continued to stare at Napoleon and said, "For example, our family has encountered difficulties for a while now. In order to earn more money to support the studies of other brothers, we must Someone can stand up and take over from Dad.

You know, I still have a year to graduate. But now, we have encountered difficulties. If I drop out of school now, I can find something to do. Of course, the income will be much lower than that of my father. If we can continue for another year and wait until I graduate to find a job, my income will probably be doubled. Of course, this is still not as good as when my father was still there. But this number can barely support the life of the family.

Clearly, dropping out of school now is not the best option for me or for the family in the long run. But we can't ignore the life in front of us. So I have a workaround plan. I have a classmate named Armand, who is the nephew of Mr. Lavoisier. Napoleon, I mentioned this fellow in my letters to you. He has a lot of translations of scripts and poems on hand that he can transfer to me. In this way, while I continue to study, I can also have some income. In addition, my classmate Lucien can also lend me some money. If the family is more frugal, it should not be a big problem to support it for a year.

Of course, if Napoleon's language scores are better, maybe you can also join in and do something within your ability, which can be regarded as helping the family, and I can relax a little bit. However, with your current grades, I dare not entrust such a thing to you. "

"I see, I will work hard on this in the future." Napoleon lowered his head.

Then Joseph turned to his other brothers.

"Lucien, although you are still young now, you must also know that you are also the man of the family, so you must study hard. Although our family has the title of nobleman, we are not those in France who can just sit back and eat without doing anything. Nobility. The men in our family must have skills. Lucien, do you know where the skills of those outstanding people come from? They all come from learning and overcoming difficulties. Now is the time for you to receive some education age. I will try to make sure that your education is not affected by financial difficulties, but you have to work hard yourself.

Louie, you too. Wait until next year, when I graduate and find a good job. If possible, I will take both you and Lucien to Paris for education. In terms of educational environment, Paris is much stronger than Corsica after all. "

"Joseph, I will graduate at the end of the year. But now I have a chance to be sent to the Paris Military Academy. After graduating from there, I can get a higher position and better development. I don't know..." Napoleon said .

"My stupid brother. Why hesitate in such matters? Are you doubting your brother's ability to provide for the family with your meager wisdom? You can just go to the Paris Military Academy. The current thing Just leave it to me." Joseph replied.

"Joseph, where am I stupid? I just..." Napoleon rarely protested against the "stupid" attribute Joseph gave himself.

"Oh?" Joseph said immediately, "Napoleon, your geometry is the most outstanding of all subjects. Do you need me to give you a topic so that you can understand yourself correctly?"

Napoleon was stunned, and after a while he said angrily, "Joseph, you are not a good person."

...

After spending a few days and basically arranging the things at home, I set off again and returned to Paris. During these days, and along the way, as long as he had free time, even if it was only about ten minutes, Joseph would seize the time to translate the things in his hand. When he arrived in Paris the next morning, Joseph first went to school to cancel his vacation. Then he found Amon and handed him a volume of manuscripts.

"This is the translation of "Timon of Athens". Please see if there is anything that needs to be changed, and I will make changes." Joseph said to Amon.

"Joseph, you actually got this thing out so quickly?" Amon was taken aback and said, "It's impossible for me to do it without more than half a year."

"Your speed is slow because you are doing it finely. I am doing it fast, but it is a lot rougher." Joseph said.

"Joseph, I love to hear your words. However, I know that I am slow not because of fineness, but because I am too lazy to do things, just like the lazy king in history (seventh century, Frank You are a hard-working person. In fact, the translation of literary works is best done in one go. Only in this way can the emotion and momentum remain coherent. Well, I will Check it out. As for the fee, I'll give it to you in a few days."

Amon has always been delayed in doing things. He said that the fee will be paid in a few days, and Joseph is ready to wait for half a month. However, unexpectedly, after only three days, Amon handed over the commission for translating this work—a total of fifty francs—to Joseph.

"Joseph, the quality of the manuscript is good. If you can continue to maintain this quality and speed, then you can earn six hundred francs a year. Add your scholarship, by the way, how many brothers do you have?"

"Four, three of them have reached the age of education. But the oldest one is studying in a military academy and doesn't need to spend money like me." Joseph replied.

"Ah, so there are only two younger brothers who need your money..." Aman thought about it in his heart and said, "Oh, this money is not enough at all. With this money, Joseph, you can't drink beer anymore , as for the foie gras, you have to say goodbye to them. Even the bread you eat can't be buttered, you can only eat one lamb chop in a month, you have to eat this lamb chop for three days, and the first day you eat lamb The meat on the steak, you eat the fat of lamb chops the next day, and the bones on the third day. When you are working, you can’t smoke to refresh yourself, and you can’t use black tea to refresh yourself. You can only use the lowest grade coffee, and the portion must be There are restrictions... oh my god, can't you have one less brother?"

Joseph replied: "In our Corsica, there is a saying that goes: 'When it's time to deal with the fox, you don't know that there are too few hounds; when it's time to deal with the enemy, you don't know that there are too few brothers.' So we in Corsica One never complains about too many brothers, nor too many friends."

"This sentence is very interesting." Amon said, "It's just that it is too long-winded, but it can be refined a little more. Ah, maybe after you translated it from the Corsican dialect into French, the taste changed. I think Your translation is like this, although it is very accurate, but many places are a bit long-winded. If it were me, I would translate this sentence like this. We have a saying in Corsica, which is called: 'When a dog is used, it hates less.'”