Flowers, Swords and France

When Charles got up, it was already bright.

After washing up, he asked his servant (one of the few remaining servants in the Marquis's house) to prepare the carriage, and then went straight to breakfast.

The breakfast at the Treville family was quite simple, just white bread with water.

Fran had already sat at the dining table, eating bread quietly. When she saw her brother coming to the dining room, she did not greet him, but just gave him a look that said, "Do you remember what you promised me?"

Charles smiled and nodded. "Leave it to me."

A happy expression climbed onto the girl's face, causing a blush on her slightly pale face.

Then, Fran got on her carriage and went to her teacher's studio to continue today's class.

She entrusted everything to her brother.

After finishing the simple breakfast, Charles walked out of the house into the courtyard and stepped onto the prepared carriage.

"Go to Miss Perriette." He gave a brief instruction.

Since they had been there many times, the servants did not ask any questions and headed straight to the 16th district in the west.

After a period of bumps, the carriage finally stopped at the door of a mansion outside the Bois de Boulogne.

The mansion covers a large area and its exterior is extremely exquisite. It is worth a lot of money at first glance. When the other party's doorman saw that it was Charles's carriage, he opened the door and let Charles and others in.

This is the mansion where the famous Miss Catherine de Perriette lives.

In the literary circles of Paris, Miss Perriette has always been known for her hospitality. Just like her nickname "Blue Stockings", she likes to entertain poets and writers in her mansion and listen to everyone talk about the history and new trends of French literature. Over time, this salon became one of the top salons in the Parisian literary and publishing circles. Many frustrated young writers and poets began their journey to fame here.

[In the 18th and 19th centuries, some young women often organized gatherings to discuss their ideals in life or the articles and poems of famous writers and poets. Goethe and Byron were idols of such literary salons, attracting a large number of female fans. The French jokingly called such literary young women blue stockings. ]

Yes, Miss Catherine de Perriette is a literary young woman.

However, in Charles' eyes, she is not an ordinary literary young woman, mainly for two reasons:

First, she is very smart - this is enough to make her completely different from 90% of literary young women.

Second, she is very rich - this is enough to make her completely different from 99.99% of literary young women.

A literary young woman with a net worth of millions can no longer be regarded as a literary young woman, but a well-known literary critic, art patron, and the patron goddess of France's brilliant literary treasures - at least that's what the publishers said.

And today, Charles came here just to ask for help from this patron goddess.

When he walked into the living room of the mansion, Catherine, who was sitting on the sofa in a loose long dress and chatting with the guests, turned her head, and then her eyes showed a kind and slightly playful look.

"Oh, our follower of Napoleon is here, be careful not to let him turn this place into a battlefield!" Then she gestured to Charles to sit on the sofa here. Her joke made the guests laugh. \u003ce), to show contempt. Blue stockings are borrowed here to tease and make fun of Charles, who is a "Napoleonist". 】

Catherine has a very delicate and slender face. Her brown eyes and chestnut hair match very well. She looks like a traditional delicate lady. However, her thin, straight and upright eyebrows occasionally reveal the strong and resolute nature of the owner inadvertently.

"I didn't come here to burn this place down today, miss." Charles also deliberately answered seriously.

"Oh, then what is it for?" Caterina smiled lightly, "Is it to have fun here?"

"I hope so, but it's a pity..." Charles shook his head and hinted to him with his eyes that he had something serious to do now.

"Oh, that's a pity." Caterina understood Charles's eyes, she smiled apologetically to the guests, and the guests quickly got up and said goodbye.

After the guests left, she asked her servants to bring two cups of coffee and put them on the coffee table, and then gestured for the servants to leave.

Caterina's smile became more intense, she picked up a cup of coffee and brought it to her lips, but her eyes stared at Charles playfully.

"My dear friend, now it's time to tell me why you are here?"

"I came to ask you for information." Charles answered straightforwardly.

Yes, under the disguise of a harmless literary young woman, Caterina is a very well-informed person. Whether it is the political, business or other aspects, she can know some things that ordinary people don't know.

By chance, Charles discovered the true identity of this young lady, and then he asked her for information many times, and also sold some information to her. So far, the cooperation has been pleasant.

"What kind of information?" Caterina asked calmly.

"It's about the Marquis Leoran's family." Charles answered directly, "I heard that their little daughter was recently sent to a monastery. Although this kind of thing is not uncommon nowadays, it is not common to send a daughter to a monastery when she is only fifteen years old. I guess there must be some reason behind it..."

"Hehehe" Catalina suddenly chuckled.

"What's wrong?" Charles was a little confused.

"My friend, when did you fall in love with another girl? This is a strange news." Catalina put the cup back on the saucer.

"It's not what you think." Charles denied the other party's guess, "But from the look of you, it seems that you really know something?"

Charles looked at the coffee in his hand on the surface, but his eyes were always on the other party's reaction.

Catalina still had that half-smile, unfathomable expression.

"You should know this better than me, my friend."

"Huh?" Charles was a little surprised.

Catalina stood up, walked slowly to the window, and looked at the scenery of the forest in the distance.

"Will the Marquis de Léoran become your relative, Mr. Count?"

[Before inheriting the title, the legal heir of the French nobility is honored with a lower-rank noble title. For example, the son of a duke is called a marquis, and the son of a count is called a viscount]

Charles was surprised again. "What do you mean?"

Catherine turned around slowly and looked at Charles very kindly.

The original text is available at Six # 9 @Books/Bar!

"The eldest son of the Marquis de Léoran, the Count de Léoran, will marry your cousin, Miss Charlotte de Treville, the granddaughter of the Duke of Treville, in the near future. So you see, their family will soon be your relatives..."

After hearing this news, Charles' eyes suddenly widened, but he controlled his emotions after a moment. "I see." Then he smiled at the other party apologetically, "As you know, although my grandfather and the Duke are brothers, their relationship is not good, and the two families rarely interact. So I just learned this news..."

Catherine obviously knew this information a long time ago, so she just smiled again as a response.

Charles took the cup again and took a sip. The slightly bitter coffee stayed in his mouth for a moment and then flowed into his throat, leaving only a bit of rawness on the lips and teeth.

Things are a bit difficult, but they are getting more and more interesting.

Blue stockings has walked back to her seat and also took a sip of coffee.

"It is said that the marriage of the two families has been finalized and a notice will be issued in the near future. However, I can't know more details for the time being. As for whether poor Miss Leoran was sent to the monastery because of this incident, I don't know too much."

[According to the French wedding customs at that time, men and women had to post a notice in front of the church before getting married, and the wedding could be held within ten days if the surrounding residents had no objections. 】

"It seems that it should be very related." Charles made his own judgment.

However, he had no idea of ​​a specific countermeasure. After a while, Charles decided to ask for help.

"Catherine, my friend, I won't hide it from you: I was entrusted by someone to fight for justice and rescue this poor Miss Leoran from the convent..."

"Must you?"

"Yes, I must do it." Charles answered firmly. "So, I need your help to find out the connection between the two things of 'the marriage between the Leoran family and the Duke of Treville' and 'Miss Leoran was sent to the convent'..."

"My reward is not low..." Caterina looked at Charles with a smile.

"Of course I will do my best to repay you, but..." Charles frowned, "I don't have money now..."

Catherine suddenly laughed and waved her hand to make a heroic gesture. "My dear friend, I only want money for others, but for you, I want something more precious than money. Yes, I need your wisdom. Please finish the manuscript and give it to me as soon as possible. I have been looking forward to it for a long time. How Madame Pompadour defeated another new enemy of hers..."

Charles was a little embarrassed.

Although they were relatively frugal, the expenses of the Marquis's family were still not small, and the income was very small. In recent years, they have increasingly felt that their income is not enough to cover their expenses.

Although he was a glorious time traveler, Charles found that he had no special skills and what he learned was completely useless in today's France. So in desperation, he embarked on the path of a 19th-century writer, specializing in writing some trendy novels for newspapers.

As the times gradually stabilized, the glorious and decadent Versailles court life in the era of Louis XIV and Louis XV once again aroused people's memories and attention. Among female readers, the plot of the favorite concubines and mistresses in the courts of two generations of emperors competing for favor was particularly popular - so French ** novels also flourished and often sold well.

【This is historical fact, not fiction. 】

Speaking of palace fighting, no country can compare to the rich experience of the Celestial Empire. Charles used a pseudonym to change the appearance of palace fighting novels such as The Legend of Zhen Huan, transplanted them to the French court, and then published them to newspapers and publishers. He really became a well-known new writer. The book he is writing recently is about the rise and fall of Madame Pompadour, the famous mistress of Louis XV.

Blue Stockings is one of the very few people who know the true identity of this "writer", and she has become a fan of Charles's books incredibly, often asking him for the following plots. Perhaps for this reason, she has always been very kind to Charles and treated him very courteously.

However, although he earned a lot of francs from this, he was obviously a time traveler and had such a miserable life. Sometimes when he thought about Charles, he felt that he was extremely miserable.

In a state of embarrassment, Charles made a few perfunctory remarks and left directly.

"Hurry up and finish writing the ending," Blue Stockings did not forget to remind Charles until the end, "Don't waste your wisdom and learn from those shameful bears!"

[In 19th century French theaters, the plays performed generally had a fixed schedule. When some theater managers decided to adopt new scripts for some reason, some scripts that were rejected by the theater would be turned out from the paper pile and performed. At that time, the French dramatist community jokingly called this kind of script "bear", which means that it was a stroke of luck. Later, this concept was applied to other aspects of the literary world and became popular. This is not fabricated by the author. ]

;