Flowers, Swords and France

After a brief chat, Ciel left Karion's secret residence. Of course, he couldn't take away a large number of heavy "antiques" on the spot. Of course, Carlyon would not be stupid enough to store a large amount of goods in his residence. He wrote a note to Charles and asked Charles to arrive at that time. Go to a secret location to receive the goods, and then it’s up to him to do whatever he wants.

Since the chat in Calyon took much longer than expected, in order to rush for time, he quickly called a taxi and drove all the way. Finally, he arrived at Miss Perriette's house before the scheduled time. Mansion - Before leaving his home, he received another invitation from the lady in blue stockings, and the time was scheduled for tonight.

After walking into the lady's living room, Charles was shocked to find that several guests had already arrived, and the costumes were all kinds of strange, and the age groups were also different. There were old and young. It didn't look like a political rally at all, but it looked like... …

Look, it looks like some boring salon.

"You are finally here, Mr. Treville." After seeing him come in, Miss Perriette, dressed in fine clothes and holding a precious ivory fan in her hand, walked to the door and greeted him with a smile. .

"What's going on?" Charles asked in a low voice, "I thought it was something big."

"Of course this is a big event..." Miss Perriette replied with a smile, "Tonight's guests are all people in the literary world who have gained some fame recently. It took me a lot of effort to summon you all."

After hearing her answer, Ciel's expression became a little strange.

"I always thought that literature and so on were just a mask to hide myself in your eyes and an excuse to make friends from all walks of life."

"No, you are wrong about me." The lady in blue stockings gently slapped her left hand with the fan, and the fan bones made a rhythmic sound. "This is my real hobby."

"Then what do you need me to do?"

"You just need to sit with them and have a good chat with them. Remember, you are not a rebel today, but a writer who has become famous in recent years and can also work part-time as a literary critic."

"Okay, if you are serious." Under the other party's insistence, Ciel had no choice but to agree. Anyway, there is no harm in chatting with someone, even if it is with a group of literati.

"Charles, I'm very happy now." Miss Perriette smiled even happier, her eyes seemed to be on fire, shining with the unique enthusiasm of a collector when he encounters a long-cherished collection. "I can't help but be happy when I think that I have brought together so many stars of the French literary world to speak freely today, yes, very... very happy."

"I hope you can still retain some sense." Charles shrugged indifferently and followed her in.

After seeing Charles walking in, chatting and laughing with the owner of the room, the originally relatively harmonious atmosphere in the living room instantly became a little solemn, and the eyes of several young writers looking at Charles became even more unkind. .

However, Ciel also understood their thoughts. Miss Perriette was beautiful, and even aside from that, "she was rich, very rich" was enough to make her the object of almost every frustrated writer's heart. Think about it, doesn’t a woman who is rich and loves literature look like the goddess God created for writers?

No wonder Charles had already heard that several young writers had been constantly courting this "patron goddess of French literature", and it was said that some people had written several large poems dedicated to her.

After walking together in front of everyone, the host introduced Ciel to the guests sitting around the sofa.

"Everyone, let me introduce to you, this is Mr. Zweil." Zweil is the pen name used by Charles.

"oh?"

"So it's him?"

"Much younger than expected!"

"I really didn't expect..."

………………

A series of exclamations and whispers suddenly came to mind.

Ciel quickly bowed and saluted the others.

Although Charles did not regard himself as a well-known writer, this scene of "everyone seemed to know me" still made him feel a little proud.

"Everyone knows that Mr. Zweil is usually very low-key. He doesn't like to attend parties very much and rarely shows up. Today I spent a lot of effort to invite him..." Miss Blue Stockings was still smiling, " If anyone wants an autograph, please do so as soon as possible..."

The smile on Ciel's face suddenly disappeared.

Doesn't this make me hate you? To praise me so much in front of a group of literati, it was obvious that he had bad intentions and wanted to be laughed at.

He hurriedly explained: "Dear Miss Perriette, what you say is really too much of a compliment to me. Besides, how am I qualified to sign autographs for the seniors here? You should wait for me to ask for autographs..."

However, it is obvious that Miss Blue Stockings' goal has been achieved.

"Is this Mr. Zweil who writes books about women? My fourteen-year-old niece likes to read them very much. Mr. Zweil, are you free later? I'm going to get an autograph for her. I think your book is quite good. It’s suitable for people of this age group.” A young man said to Ciel with a smile, as if he was not mocking Ciel.

There was a dull smile among several people.

To their surprise, Ciel did not fight back, but just replied with a smile, as if he did not hear the ridicule inside.

"Thank you, sir. I'll sign it later. Say hello to your niece for me."

Anyway, it is a way to make money, and making money is more important than anything else. As for ridicule, Ciel is thick-skinned enough and will never take it seriously.

Then Charles glanced at Miss Blue Stockings, but she obviously didn't take it seriously and still looked at the writers present with a smile.

Seeing that Charles was so low-key and did not deliberately show any intimacy with Miss Periette, the other writers finally relaxed their attitude. Later, during their chat, Charles also had a very gentle attitude and did not express any opinions. , just adding a few words from time to time to add a bit of atmosphere.

After a while, everyone began to chat about contemporary literature.

"Mr. Zwier, who do you think is the best among contemporary writers?" Miss Perriette suddenly asked Charles.

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

Obviously she had no good intentions in asking this question and wanted to cause everyone to argue.

"Monsieur de Balzac," Charles replied without hesitation.

After hearing this answer, no one else found fault. After all, in this era, Balzac's status in the French literary world is unquestionable. Even people who don't like him can rarely give reasons for others to dislike him. he.

"Of course Mr. Balzac is well-deserved, but he rarely writes now due to health reasons. Do you have any other candidates besides her?" Seeing that this question did not cause any waves, Miss Perriette continued with a smile. Ask. "Is it Mr. Mérimée? Or Mr. Dumas? Or Ms. George Sand? Or is it someone else...?"

"Well..." Charles pondered for a moment, and finally gave his answer regardless of other people's looks, "I think Mr. Hugo is very good."

His answer indeed triggered the effect Miss Blue Stockings wanted, and the atmosphere suddenly became lively. The eyes of several other people looking at Charles also became a little sharp.

"Hugo?" A young writer suddenly laughed, then curled his lips with a look of disdain, "He used to have some ability, but now he is completely out of date. Politics has long since exhausted him. He has already begun to dry up. The inspiration, he’s gone now.”

Since ancient times, literati have been the most contemptuous of each other. When a group of writers discuss a famous writer, they rarely have anything good to say.

How did that joke come about? "Every writer who has exhausted his talents and has a bleak future will eventually end up becoming a literary critic. If he cannot make a living as a writer, at least he can still make a living as an author."

At this time, Victor Hugo's ideological level was not at all high enough to say in Les Misérables that "there are three problems at every stage of the century: poverty makes men miserable, hunger makes women degenerate, and darkness makes children weak." The height of inspiring words of wisdom is actually at a low ebb.

The publication of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in 1831 made him famous, and he was considered the next superstar in the literary world. However, he went on a high and low career since then, and never published a better work. In the following years, his works After being adapted into screenplays, "The Devil of Iceland" and "The Garrison" were completely unsuccessful in their release (massive deaths, huge crowds), and were even strongly booed by the audience. It gives people the impression that "Victor Hugo is just a shooting star in the literary world, and he has exhausted his talents."

However, although his literary creation was at a low ebb, his career was very smooth at this time, and he could even be said to be at the pinnacle of his life.

In 1841, Hugo was finally elected as a member of the French Academy, and in 1845, King Louis-Philippe canonized him as a member of the House of Peers - the highest political status he achieved in his life. Perhaps because his official career was so smooth, his literary career was somewhat bumpy. But after he fell into despair and was repeatedly exiled and underestimated, he wrote the masterpiece "Les Misérables" and became a literary giant. Maybe life is so wonderful?

This is all a story for later.

In any case, nowadays, a person who was born as a writer can achieve such great achievements step by step and successfully transform into a politician. It is no wonder that he is deeply jealous of the writers here.

"No matter what you say, I think Mr. Hugo will shine again in the future." Charles was too lazy to argue with others, but directly expressed his opinion.

As soon as he finished speaking, a servant suddenly walked in to inform his master.

"Mr. Victor Hugo has arrived!"

The living room instantly fell into a bigger commotion than before. Only the owner of the room remained calm. She smiled and clapped her hands with a fan.

"Ah, today's guests have finally arrived!" (To be continued.)