Flowers, Swords and France

When Charles woke up from his sleep, the whole room was bright. It took him a while to regain consciousness, and then he slowly opened his eyes. Under the influence of alcohol, there was still a trace of pain in his mind.

Slowly, he recalled everything that happened last night - his sister ran into this room late at night and made her request.

Is this a dream? He asked himself, secretly wondering if all this was just an illusion after drinking.

And everything that happened last night seemed like a dream to him at this moment.

Without thinking about anything else, he moved the quilt and wanted to get out of bed.

As he did this, the smell of alcohol all over his body hit his nose, which was really pungent, making him frown.

He decided to go wash up first and change clothes by the way.

At the same time, he felt that this was new evidence that he was just dreaming last night. Even he himself was uncomfortable with such a pungent smell, so how could Fran, who always loved cleanliness, take him into her arms without caring?

Charles couldn't help but smile bitterly, then got up and slowly changed his clothes.

Just then, there was a slight knock at the door.

"Who is it?" he asked hurriedly.

"It's me!" Fran's crisp voice came from outside the door.

"Oh, wait a minute!" Charles hurriedly sped up and changed his clothes again.

After he had dressed up again, he asked Fran to come in.

After getting his brother's permission. Fran gently opened the door and walked in. Today, she was still wearing a white dress with a smile on her face. She looked even less like she was about to cry last night.

"Sir, you got up too late today too!" She complained in a seemingly unhappy tone, but the smile on her face made her look more like she was acting like a spoiled child, "We've been waiting for you for a long time!"

"Really? Didn't I tell you a long time ago that if I don't come by the time for dinner, you can just ignore me and eat first?" Charles was a little surprised.

After hearing his answer, Fran's smile suddenly darkened. She stared at Charles, looking a little nervous.

"Have you forgotten what you promised me last night? I've been waiting for you there for a long time!"

Oh, it seems that last night was not a dream! Charles sighed in his heart. So. His sister really walked into his room late at night and asked him to let her learn to manage household affairs!

"Oh, how could I forget!" Although he was a little shocked in his heart. But on the surface, he still pretended to be nothing. He smiled and patted her head, "Don't worry, I will teach you well later, until you don't want to learn anymore!"

"No way!" Fran protested, then quickly stepped back, letting her head escape from Charles's hand, and then she looked at Charles with a blush, "Then please hurry up. We have been waiting for a long time!"

After saying that, without waiting for Charles to reply, she turned around and ran out of the room.

There is really no way... Charles smiled bitterly and shook his head, then went to the small bathroom next to the bedroom and cleaned himself carefully, then, dressed neatly, he walked out of his room with the morning spirit that young people have.

Because the meal time had long passed, there was no one sitting in the restaurant, and the bread had long been cold. Charles didn't care, and he just casually dealt with it with milk.

Then, he went straight to the small reception room next to the restaurant, intending to fulfill his promise - just as he promised his sister last night, he really had nothing important to arrange this morning, and it was not a waste to use his rare leisure time to teach his sister.

As soon as he entered the door, he found his sister sitting on the seat beside the chessboard, waiting anxiously. And the Marquis de Léoran, her sister's female companion, was also sitting next to her sister, smiling and greeting him.

Charles also smiled, then walked forward and sat on the seat opposite the chessboard.

"Miss Treville, are you ready?"

"Ready, sir." She nodded quickly.

The chess pieces that had been placed on the table had been carefully put away, and there were several account books on top, which recorded the financial matters of the Marquis Treville's mansion in recent years.

Charles took the account books directly and explained them to Fran one by one.

Because the Marquis of Treville has been losing energy in recent years, and he is afraid of being embezzled and pocketed, Charles has been in charge of the Marquis's finances in recent years. He even wrote and summarized many of the data in the account book by himself, so he is certainly familiar with it.

Then again, young nobles of his age, except for Albert, who is a playboy who doesn't care about tomorrow's affairs, have almost all started to learn how to control finances? So it's not surprising.

"This amount is the kitchen expense. This is the biggest black hole in our family. A large amount of money leaks from here every year. You see... This amount is the maintenance fee of the mansion. Fortunately, the house is still young. Because of the relationship, this expenditure is not large... This amount is the cost of equipment, your clothes, shoes and socks, and mine. These expenditures are all recorded here, and they add up to a lot... This amount is It’s your tuition fee. Take a look. In the past two years, it has been for your interest. Interesting, how much did we spend? But Miss, you don’t have to worry about it, this is all as it should be, I enjoy it... Recently, because of the winter, we also bought a lot of firewood, which is high-quality firewood sent from other provinces. Each car is about two hundred francs... Also, these are the salaries of the servants, who have served us for many years, not just because of their loyalty..." He first slowly told the details of the expenditures one by one. My sister listened.

The originally boring and scrawled words and numbers slowly gave an intuitive impression to the two girls under his explanation.

Fran followed Charles's gestures and listened quietly to his explanation. He kept looking at the account books and occasionally asked some questions of his own. It was obvious that he was studying very seriously.

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

"It may be a bit complicated. You don't need to learn them all right away." Seeing Fran's obvious difficulty, Charles smiled and comforted, "You just need to learn the type and name of each expenditure and remember it, and then when you encounter similar situations in the future After that, just record each new expenditure under the same category and take inventory every month." Then he patted his sister on the head again. Another word of encouragement. "Now this family will be left to you!"

But Fran was still looking at these account books carefully, carefully calculating the family's various expenses in her mind. For the first time in her life, the girl was vaguely aware of it. How difficult it is to maintain the ordinary life she takes for granted, and how many people desperately want to enjoy it but are always out of reach. And this was something that Ciel had always tried hard to avoid letting her know.

"I may have spoken too fast. Sorry..." Looking at my sister who was still a little confused. Charles smiled apologetically, "Didn't you understand something? Point it out and we'll start over from there..."

"No, you made it very clear." Fran suddenly raised her head, with extremely sincere gratitude in her eyes. "I have worked hard for you for so many years, brother! Don't worry, I will help you in the future!"

Ciel originally wanted to say something more modest, but he looked at his sister's eyes. He chose to continue smiling and then remained silent

Everything I paid for. Aren’t they all worth it? he asked himself secretly.

"Hey... now even the most noble prince's wife has to learn how to take care of the housework by herself." The Marquis sitting next to Fran also sighed softly, expressing encouragement and praise for Fran, but also hiding her secrets. With some unspeakable melancholy, "We can no longer imitate Duke Richelieu..."

"Even he has to go to the Bastille to eat coarse bread." Charles replied sarcastically to the Marquis, "Miss, our ancestors have squandered enough, and future generations have to swallow the wine brewed by their ancestors. The poisonous wine until they gave up this country to others! So now they have no choice but to live with every penny spent..."

After hearing what Charles said, the two girls also fell into a long silence. It was obvious that they understood the weight of it.

After a while, Ciel broke the silence again.

"Now that I've told you about the sad outlay, let me tell you about the joyful incoming part? Miss Treville?" he asked with a smile.

"Okay!" Fran quickly replied with a smile.

Then, Ciel's explanation continued.

He was talking, and the two girls listened carefully, and time passed by unconsciously. Maybe for some of them, this was a different kind of happy moment?

If not for Charlotte's unexpected visit, perhaps this would have been a happy time indeed. . )