Flowers, Swords and France

The banquet between the president and his entourage and the mayor did not end until midnight. When Charles returned to the high-end hotel arranged for them by the mayor, it was already early in the morning, so he fell asleep quickly.

However, he did not swim in his dream for long, as a rapid knock on the door woke him up. He vaguely opened his eyes and found that it was just after early morning, and he only felt a sense of irritability.

"Who is it! What's wrong!" He shouted loudly, "Come to me again at noon!"

His angry shout was met with a calm reply.

"Ciel, it's me."

It was Albert's voice.

"Albert? You can actually get up so early!" Charles was a little surprised, but he calmed down, got up and opened the door.

"What do you want from me? You have to come so early..." After welcoming him in, Ciel yawned.

To his surprise, Albert's expression was very solemn, completely devoid of his usual frivolity.

"My friend, there is something important, otherwise I wouldn't bother you at this time."

Ciel shook his head, driving away the last remaining drunkenness from his mind.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Albert's expression was very strange, as if he was hesitant to speak, which made Charles feel even more strange. However, he said nothing more and quietly waited for the other party to speak.

After a while, Albert finally regained his apparent calm,

"Char, come with me to my hometown. I have some urgent matters to deal with."

"Huh? What?" Charles felt as if he heard wrongly.

"I want to go home. Please come with me," Albert repeated.

"Why? Suddenly you said that and I can't understand the situation..." Charles was simply confused by him, but seeing how serious his expression was, he couldn't help but become serious too. "Okay, then when do you plan to go?"

"Now, if I may," replied Albert.

Charles looked at Albert again, and after confirming the other man's firm will, he nodded slightly.

"Okay, give me half an hour, and I'll ask someone to prepare the carriage. By the way, I want to say something to Mr. President's entourage."

He didn't ask why. He didn't need to ask about Albert's request.

Half an hour later. Charles's carriage left the hotel with the two young men.

In the carriage, Albert kept looking out the window, as if he was worried. Charles wanted to ask Albert several times what emergency happened at home, but he looked at the other person's appearance. Just held back and said nothing. The two of them walked forward in silence.

The domain of the Marquis de Foat-Grauil is the city of Saumur in the Department of Main-et-Loire. It was not particularly far from Le Havre. After about ten hours of galloping, they arrived at Saumur at dusk.

Albert was finally no longer silent at this time. He kept giving directions to the coachman, making the carriage zigzag along the country roads, bypassing patches of farmland and heading towards his family's manor.

However. To Ciel's surprise, there was no passion in his voice. He doesn't look like a wanderer who has finally returned home after many years. Instead, he seems strangely indifferent. His face, which was originally very fair, now looks increasingly pale.

This is not surprising, as he usually looks very indifferent when mentioning his home in front of Charles.

So, why?

Since you don't want to go home so much, why did you suddenly come back today and drag me back with you?

Charles was very puzzled by what Albert had done today, but he still said nothing.

After an unknown amount of time, the carriage finally stopped and they arrived in front of a manor. Then, tired from the journey, the two people stepped out of the carriage.

With the last remaining sunlight, what appeared in front of him was the lawn in the garden, dotted with several green trees, countless roses and flowers of various colors. The old black railings surrounding the terrace stood high on other terraces. The other end of the terrace , facing the fence gate, is a wooden building built against the adjacent wall. The pillars of the wooden building are completely covered with jasmine, golden silver vine, grapevine and clematis. A multi-story stone house stands in the middle of the small garden at the top. In front of the house are arched steps covered with grapevines. Not far from the manor, there is the trickle of the Valois River.

It's really a nice place, Albert grew up here.

At this time, the servants of the manor also discovered Albert and others, and they all exclaimed, "The young master is back!" Some people came to greet them, while others rushed back to the mansion, obviously wanting to report to the owner inside - —It can be seen that Albert’s return today was so sudden that even his own relatives didn’t know about it?

The servants kept saying hello to Albert. It was obvious that the young master had a good impression on them, but Albert walked forward in silence, occasionally answering a few questions.

Soon, they arrived at the mansion together.

When he came to the hall of the mansion, Charles suddenly felt as if he had arrived in the seventeenth century again. This hall is full of ancient atmosphere, enough to be moved into a museum in its entirety. The elbow-high walls are made of chestnut wood. There is a piece of exquisite leather hanging on the wall, but the gilding on the pattern has peeled off, glowing slightly dark red. The ceiling of the hall has been painted and gilded, and the splicing is very delicate. However, the gold has peeled off and is difficult to distinguish, and only some outlines can be barely seen. The stone above the large fireplace was carved with patterns, while several shotguns and swords hung on the walls.

"It's a very old place, isn't it?" While Charles was still observing the furnishings in the hall, Albert spoke again, with a hint of sarcasm in his smile, "Charles, when Parisians come here, they will only think that this place is too old. Should it be put in a museum?”

Just as Charles was about to answer, suddenly, a voice came from the stairs.

"Hey! Look! This son of mine actually wants to come back for a visit at this time!"

Charles followed the sound and saw that a middle-aged man was walking down the stairs in a hurry. It seemed that he was the contemporary Marquis de Foat-Gray.

The face of the middle-aged man is very delicate. His hair also has some natural curls, and he can still find some remnants of his handsomeness when he was young. He was wearing a very well-tailored coat that looked like it might have been made by a Parisian designer—with such a description, he was worthy of being Albert's father.

However, after meeting his long-lost son, his expression was very cold, and his pale face looked like he was wearing a delicate mask.

"Bring a friend with you!" After seeing Ciel. he added.

Then the Marquis nodded coolly to Charles, like a king receiving his courtiers.

Ciel quickly bowed to the other party.

in France today. There are always some such nobles in other provinces, whose family background is unknown even dozens of miles away, but in the province they are considered unquestionable and are favored and admired by the villagers. They are bred into a self-righteous arrogance. I always feel like I belong to the first-class family in this country, but in fact, it seems so ridiculous to Parisians! They obviously can only live in the countryside, but they always feel that they have the style of the Wang family. Although calculating the family tree may actually have something to do with the Wang family - but in this day and age, who would care?

However, he was Albert's father after all. Even though he was such an old man, Charles didn't care to give him some courtesy.

The middle-aged man walked over slowly and stood opposite the two Alberts.

"Albert. I admit that you gave me a surprise," he said, showing no joy at all. "But I think you should tell me why you came back so suddenly and silently."

"My father, I haven't been back for many years, so today I suddenly thought of coming back to see you..." Albert sneered and said to his father. He was very respectful in words, but his expression showed no respect at all. , "I feel relieved to see that you are still as healthy as ever."

"Oh, thank you for your concern. I'm fine." My father replied coldly, "What about you? Are you going to be the same as before, wandering around Paris all day? If you continue to behave like this, I think you will be ahead of me. Go see God."

"Thanks to your favor, I have been able to get ahead a little bit," Albert still sneered, "Now I have a position with a salary of twenty-four thousand a year, and other income. Although it is nothing, I can finally go out. Meet people.”

After hearing his son's answer, the Marquis frowned slightly, as if he was surprised.

"Are you kidding..."

"He's right, sir." Charles suddenly helped him, "He has now found a good job in the government. Twenty-four thousand a year is just a salary. Thanks to you, your My son has already made his mark."

The confrontation between father and son from the moment they met made Charles understand that Albert did not have much respect for his father, so he did not intend to be polite to the Marquis and directly supported Albert.

"You see, I am disappointed?" Albert smiled again.

The Marquis's face became even more ugly, and then he glared at Charles, as if he was dissatisfied with his sudden interruption, but of course Charles didn't care.

"I haven't asked you your surname yet, sir?" he asked Charles coldly, as if he had made up his mind that he would never look at him again as soon as he confirmed that he was not of noble birth.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you, he is Mr. Charles de Treville," Albert said, pointing to Charles unhurriedly. "He is a direct descendant of Duke Treville, and he is also my classmate and friend. I brought him here to relax today."

Although his tone was deliberately calm, the Marquis was immediately moved. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly and he looked at Charles in disbelief, as if this well-dressed young man had suddenly become some great big shot. , the originally delicate mask was instantly shattered.

De Treville! A surname is like a magic wand, causing such a big change in front of these people. Charles himself did not expect this.

"It turns out he is a descendant of the Treville family. How disrespectful." A slight smile appeared on the Marquis's face, and he pointed to a chair rather solicitously, "Please sit down, sir."

Then he called his servants. "Hurry and prepare dinner for the two gentlemen."

ha! Didn't you originally plan to let us have dinner?

"My great-grandfather was an official in the palace. During the Seven Years' War, he followed Marshal Richelieu to Germany. At that time, he was a colleague of the Duke of Treville! How glorious France was in that era!" At the dining table, the Marquis talked about the history of his ancestors with great interest. These are the old nobles who like to talk about these things the most. "In the era of Louis XIV, my ancestor also served the late king in the palace. At that time, he was also taken care of by the Duke."

Charles was tired and hungry, so at first he just used those old-fashioned silverware to concentrate on eating, and occasionally said a few words. But seeing that the Marquis was about to talk about Louis XIII, he quickly opened his mouth.

"When I was in Paris, I also heard the elders tell anecdotes about the de Foa-Glaï family. So I made friends with Albert a long time ago in school."

"Really?" The Marquis seemed very happy that someone (especially the dignitaries in Paris) remembered their surnames. "I said, how could anyone not know our ancient family? Albert also inherited this surname. He was able to get along well in Paris?"

Albert just snorted softly. Then he continued to eat.

"So, you look so young and promising, I wonder where you are now?" The Marquis ignored his son and asked Charles again.

"Actually, I didn't do anything..." Charles was about to evade the question, but Albert suddenly spoke.

"Charles is amazing. Don't look at his young age. In fact, he is already a big official. I am working under him now." Albert ignored Charles's eyes. He kept talking, "This gentleman. Don't underestimate him because he is young. He is really a great man. You know? The government has just established a new railway department, and he is now the state secretary of the railway department."

The original text is available at 6 # 9 @shu/bar!

"State secretary!" the father repeated, as if he was really shocked.

As if this was not enough, Albert added, "His appointment was personally promoted by the president. The president thinks highly of him, so he has always taken good care of him. Everyone says that he has a bright future!"

"Heh..."

Charles was embarrassed and felt very embarrassed.

However, in addition to embarrassment, he felt more strange.

Although Albert was a little frivolous on weekdays, he was not a person who liked to show off. So why did he want to brag about himself in front of his father today? It seemed that he deliberately wanted to brag about his friend's power in front of his father. Was he trying to show how well he was doing, or did he have other purposes?

Also, for some reason, Charles felt that the Marquis seemed to have an indescribable anxiety, as if he was very uneasy about his son and his sudden visit, so he showed extraordinary diligence, as if he was deliberately trying to please him.

Why is this?

He buried these questions in his heart, ready to ask Albert for clarification later.

But Albert didn't seem to want to explain anything to him.

At night, Charles was taken to the guest's room by the servant to prepare for bed.

The furnishings in the room were very old, and faded items were everywhere. Although the mattress and sheets were newly replaced, Charles always felt that it was full of the cold and gloomy smell of the old building, which was very uncomfortable.

But he was too tired, so he didn't care about this feeling and lay down on the bed to rest.

However, as if deliberately against him, the door of the room knocked gently again.

Charles' heart was filled with anger.

Albert, is it you again? Are you going to let people sleep!

However, he calmed down immediately.

It was good that he could understand the whole story earlier, so as not to be confused like now.

So he ran to open the door immediately.

However, to his surprise, the person who came was not Albert, but his father.

"Good evening, Mr. Treville." He greeted with a smile.

"Good evening, sir." Although Charles was surprised, he also nodded.

"Is it convenient for you to talk to me?" The Marquis's expression was a little nervous.

"Okay." Charles nodded after thinking for a moment.

After entering, the Marquis had changed his previous attentive style and looked at Charles quite seriously.

"Mr. de Treville, I think you should not interfere in the affairs between me and my son."

"He and I are good friends," his tone made Charles a little dissatisfied. But Charles still answered politely. "When he needs my help, I can't stand idly by."

"What a good friendship!" The Marquis sneered and sighed, "Then how much benefit did he promise you?"

"Benefits?" Charles raised his eyebrows.

"Why hide it at this time!" The Marquis suddenly changed his tone. He became attentive again, "But it's good this way. I thought about it, it's actually a good thing that he brought someone like you here. We might be able to get more out of it... As long as you can help us."

"What do you mean?" Charles still felt confused.

"Hey! Why are you pretending to be confused at this time!" The Marquis sneered, "My bastard son. I brought you back all of a sudden. Didn't he just want to use your power to prop up the situation? Didn't he just want to follow Germany?" -Would you like to get an extra piece of the pie from Mrs. Pengfeng?”

"Mrs. De-Pengfeng?" Charles asked again.

"This bastard son. He actually kept a secret from you!" The Marquis looked at Charles until he was sure that he really didn't know anything, then he cursed angrily, and then he explained to Charles. "That Mrs. De-Pengfeng. She is a widow. She is a well-known rich man here. She is in very poor health and is about to die now. Moreover, she has no heirs and no relatives in her husband's family... "

"After she died, there was no heir to the property?" Charles finally understood something.

"Yes, that's right." The Marquis nodded, "That's a huge fortune. I heard it's 30 million!"

He rubbed his hands excitedly, "This large sum of money is about to fall into the hands of the government. Who can't be jealous? Everyone wants to dig some out of it and let less money be used by the government. Sin, there’s nothing wrong with that?”

[France’s Civil Code at the time stipulated that after the death of the property owner, if no qualified heir could be found among relatives, all property would be directly confiscated. 】

"Oh, so that's it." Ciel let out a long sigh.

"Originally we just wanted to dig a little bit from it, but now that a big shot like you has come over, why don't we do something big?" The Marquis continued to encourage, "Think about it, then But what a fortune! Don't worry about that bastard son and just follow us, Mr. Treville?"

His eyes were filled with the desire for money, and he looked as if he was in a daze.

The magic of money has been so terrible since ancient times.

Ciel, however, remained calm.

For him now, money is of course very important, but it is not as important as friendship with Albert. After thinking about it for a while, he decided to find out what Albert wanted to do first.

If Albert really wanted to make a fortune out of it, he wouldn't mind doing a little favor. However, looking at the way he looked before, something didn't seem right.

"I understand." After making up his mind, he nodded gently, thinking about the Marquis's nagging, "I will consider your proposal carefully, sir. It is already very late, please let me rest first. "

"Okay, okay, you have a good rest. I will discuss the details with you tomorrow!" The Marquis looked very happy and planned to leave.

"By the way, do you know anything else about Mrs. De-Pengfeng?" Before he left, Charles suddenly remembered something and asked again. "I don't know this guy at all."

"She? She is a good person with a kind heart. She has donated a lot of money. Everyone here knows her." The Marquis replied casually, "Her maiden name was Grandet, and she later married Mr. de Pengfeng. That's the director of the court. Eugénie Grandet, yes, she was called this when she was in her natal family... I haven't used it for decades, and I can't even remember it, ha!" The Marquis frowned, okay! As if recalling something, "Not many people remember her dad now. Hey! He was great back then! He was very good at business and made a lot of money. Everyone knows that he is a rich man. . He exploited everyone in this city... Haha, you have never seen his stinginess... He wanted to steal the gold from the priest until he died..."

Charles didn't listen much to the Marquis's rambling narration. He seemed to have seen an outline of the truth, but he seemed to be unable to see anything clearly.

Thirty million inheritance, Albert, what on earth do you want to do?

Until the moment he fell asleep again, Ciel was still thinking about this issue. (To be continued...)

ps: According to the original work, Eugenie Grandet was born in 1796, and she was already 53 years old. It had been 30 years since she got married and became a widow. With the way she lived, it should be normal for her to be in her twilight years and about to die.

When her father died, he left her an inheritance of 19 million. She spent 2 million to pay off her cousin's debt, leaving 17 million left. Considering that she often donates to charity, it should not be surprising that her wealth has only increased to 30 million in 30 years.