Fox of France

During the meal, Joseph told Napoleon that in nine days, he would go to participate in the experiment of the French Academy of Sciences to measure the speed of light. He told Napoleon that if he was interested, he could find a way to take a leave of absence, and then he could take him to see the world.

Napoleon's face was full of disapproval, but from his eyes, Joseph could see that Napoleon was actually a little moved, and those words were just a dead duck's mouth. So while Napoleon was thinking about this matter, he quickly ate a few more pieces of meat.

After seeing off his younger brother, Joseph still continued the last course at the Louis the Great School. This morning, just after finishing a rhetoric class, Joseph walked out of the classroom and met Amon head-on.

"Ah, isn't that our great scientist?" Amon came over with a big smile, "Hey, I didn't expect that you could write such a paper! Hey, buddy, you have to make it up to me, because of pointing, I don't know how hard I have been living these days. You don't know, my uncle is praising your talent every day these days, and my father is using you to educate me 24 hours a day... ...Because of you, my heart has been greatly hurt these days..."

"Ah, Amon." Joseph said, "I sympathize with you, but as I said before, parents always like to praise other people's children in front of their own children, but when they are writing a will and dealing with their own When inheriting the inheritance, you will always only remember the stupid children in your own family. So, this matter is actually nothing, and you don’t need to worry about it at all.”

"What I said needs to be compensated is more than that." Amon shook his head and said, "I have seen this kind of situation a lot! But, damn it, yesterday, just yesterday, my lovely Fanny also asked Thinking of you, and saying I'd love to see you. And the damn old man didn't object. My God! This really hurts me... No, you have to make it up to me."

Fanny is Amon's younger sister. Amon has always loved her very much, and always likes to show off that he has such a girl in front of others. But if any cronies express their desire to get to know this lovely girl, Amon will immediately turn against him. Because Amang knows very well that his cronies and friends are just as unreliable as him and cannot be entrusted to them for life. These guys should also have self-knowledge and know what kind of girls they should not get close to. And such a guy actually dared to ask to get to know Fanny on the premise that he knew that Fanny was Amon's sister. It was not just a matter of having bad intentions for his sister, but it also showed that he didn't treat Amon at all. Mang is a friend. So Amon naturally turned against those guys without hesitation.

"My friend," Joseph said, "Since your sister is involved, this is indeed a reasonable request. Well, tell me, what kind of compensation do you need from me?"

"So straightforward?" Amon's eyes widened, and suddenly he reached out and grabbed Joseph's shoulder, "You really want to see my Fanny?"

"No. Not at all." Joseph replied immediately.

"Well," Amon let go of his hand, but he suddenly reacted and said, "You don't feel honored? You don't want to see the lovely Fanny?"

"There's something wrong with your head!" Joseph cursed.

"You are right, my friend." Amon did not refute, but sighed, and continued, "I also know that my attitude is not right when it comes to such things, but I just can't control myself .”

"Actually, it's nothing." Joseph comforted him, "You can still be saved, don't give up on treatment—well, actually, I want to say, well, your sister is really lucky to have an older brother who can protect him so much. But now this In this era, there are too many irresponsible playboys."

"However, among my friends, you are still rare. You are not a particularly bastard or dangerous, and you are more like a gentleman. Therefore, I think you can tolerate a little bit if you are a little closer to Fanny." ..."

"That's wrong, Amon." Joseph said, "That's not what you should say. Don't you hate 'a gentleman' the most? Hahaha..."

"Well, I'm a dud, come on. Well, the night after tomorrow, it's my sister Fanny's sixteenth birthday. We've had some friends over to our house to celebrate her. I think, I Among my best friends, you are the only one who is a little more human... How about it, do you have time? You are not allowed to say that you don't have time, I understand you, you have nothing to do right now. I have already guaranteed it."

"The day after tomorrow?" Joseph looked up at the sky. "These days should be sunny. I still have time to send my clothes to be washed."

"Hey, Joseph, you just got a bonus of six hundred francs, don't you plan to get another suit? You need at least four sets of these clothes to ensure rotation. But... you don't have much social activities, basically Will go to those salons, but at least two sets."

"I'm short of money." Joseph shook his head and said.

"My uncle said that even if you are short of money now, you will definitely be richer than him in the future." Amon said.

"So, what gifts do I need to bring there?" Joseph asked.

"No, no need." Amon said, "It's good if you can come."

...

Regarding Amon's father inviting him to their house, and Amon's faintly revealing meaning, Joseph thought about it carefully, and it was actually very reasonable.

The Lavoisier family is an aristocrat in Paris. Although the title is not high, it is only a viscount. But the nobles in Paris are always very proud, not to mention "Corsican nobles" like Joseph, even "provincial nobles" are just synonymous with ignorant bumpkins in their eyes. If it had been decades earlier, a person of Joseph's status would not be qualified to be a guest of their family.

However, today is not the same as it was a few decades ago. Over the years, the economic situation in France has not been very good, which has also affected the income of the nobles. Everything in Paris is expensive, and it is not easy to live in it. The nobles in Paris, especially the minor nobles in Paris, are generally having a hard time these days. Armand's father and the great chemist Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier were cousins. Compared with the big chemists who are good at business, the economic situation of Amon's family is much worse. Although they have aristocratic status, the output of limited land can't support the expenses of Amon's family at all, especially in this family. , and the premise of two dudes. If it weren't for the frequent help from his cousins, Amon's family would have been in deep debt by now.

Now Amon's younger sister has grown up gradually. In the small aristocratic families of this period, in order to preserve their property and status, other sons except the eldest son often could not get any property, and could only become lawyers, businessmen, artists and the like. Live on your own skills. As for the daughter, there is no guarantee. Generally speaking, if a daughter of a noble family wants to marry a nobleman of comparable status, she must provide a large dowry. This is a very heavy burden for many noble families. Therefore, in order to save dowry money, some aristocratic families would reduce the dowry, marry their daughters to other provinces, or even send their daughters to monasteries directly.

From previous conversations, Joseph knew that Amon's sister Fanny was very popular in the family. Both Amon and Amon's father like this daughter very much. Now that the daughter is grown up, her marriage has become a matter of great concern to everyone. If you want to find a suitable family for her, Aman's family simply can't afford so much dowry money to marry a bumpkin from another province? Neither A'mon nor A'mon's father found it difficult to accept. As for the monastery, if anyone dares to mention this road in front of Amon, Amon will definitely throw his gloves on that person's face without hesitation!

Joseph thought about his situation again, and it seemed that he was actually pretty good. He is also a nobleman, although he is only a Corsican nobleman, but he is still a nobleman anyway. He has no money and no status at present, but his future development is quite promising. If Amon and his family marry Fanny to him, first of all, they will definitely not need to pay much dowry. And I am also a person that Amon understands and trusts, and with the great chemist's evaluation of him, I don't have to worry about Fanny's life being difficult after she really marries him in the future. Thinking about it this way, Joseph felt that the invitation from Amon's family to him was understandable.

Two days later, Joseph put on his only formal suit, took a public carriage, and arrived at Armand's home on Lepartier Street. After getting off the car not far from Amon's house, Joseph looked around and saw the ruins of the famous Royal Opera House at a glance.

This opera house is the one in the famous musical "Phantom of the Opera" in later generations. It was built in 1671 but destroyed in a fire in 1763. It wasn't until the Second Empire that the opera house was rebuilt. But now, there is only a piece of ruins after the fire.

Amon's home is next to the ruins. As an aristocrat, his house is not small. There is a small two-story building and two gardens one in front and one in the back.

According to the address, Joseph came to the door. At this time, the sound of music could be faintly heard from the small building. At the door, a servant is waiting to greet the guests. Joseph stepped forward and revealed his identity to him. The servant immediately went in to report, and after a while he saw Amon coming out with a smile on his face.