Flowers, Swords and France

"Come on! I'm not afraid of you!"

In the small room, Miss Treville, whom everyone regarded as gentle and approachable, shouted at her cousin without hesitation, and she no longer had the silence of the past.

However, even though she became so abnormal, Charlotte didn't panic at all. She just sat on the chair and watched her sister-in-law going crazy. There seemed to be a kind of "Look, I knew you would be like this" hidden in her smile. "The joke.

"That bastard father snitched on you? Well, whatever, I don't care, I hate him and wouldn't want to be his daughter, what's wrong with that? Yes, I did swing an ax at that bastard, but I I still love grandpa, and this will not affect the relationship between us at all." Fran's chest heaved violently, but she finally regained her composure, "Even if you want to punish me, you shouldn't tell me to call me brother. Come on! Punish me however you want."

"I'm afraid you didn't force your father to write this document for this purpose, right? Forget it, let's not pursue this..." Charlotte asked sarcastically, "Besides, at this time, you still want to Did your elders come in as helpers? Don’t you think about it, could I just come here without permission?”

This rhetorical question immediately made Fran speechless.

That's right. If her brother didn't agree, how could she come here and be so arrogant to her? This must be a foregone conclusion.

Even at this time, wouldn't he come to personally punish me... He wouldn't even give me the last bit of hope.

Her heart sank into the ice cave again, her whole body felt limp, and it was even difficult to breathe.

Suddenly, she raised her head and looked at Charlotte with hatred, "It's all your fault...it's all your fault...it's all your fault!"

She really hated Charlotte.

Originally, she spent an unknown amount of effort to mend the previous rift between the two siblings and get back together. However, as soon as this hateful woman came back, she reported the truth, and then her hard work during this period was wasted again... From hope to

Until this moment, she still didn't feel there was anything wrong with her doing something to her father.

"All of this. All of this is your fault... We were living a good life, but you had to come over and steal my brother! And then you came to me to show off your power... You are so vicious!" Fran said, While crying, he stared at Charlotte without showing any signs of weakness. "Also, you can punish me as you wish, but don't even think about me begging you! I would rather die than bend the knee to you!"

"Huh, whatever you want, I didn't expect you to have any remorse." Because he was angered by Fran's words. So Charlotte stared at her hatefully, "I don't want to say anything more to you. God will naturally curse your evil desires, and you will be corrected by purgatory in due time!"

After a pause, because she felt that she had lost control of her family, she controlled her anger again, "Forget it, I don't need to waste any more words with you, now I will tell you the punishment. ——Originally, we planned to let you slowly accept gifts from your grandfather this year, and gradually take control of what you deserve. That share of property. However, in view of your recent performance, we have determined that you have not grown up enough to manage yourself, so we will temporarily withhold this share of property, and you can only receive an allowance. This punishment has no time limit and will not end until we determine that you can handle yourself.”

Fran listened quietly with tears in her eyes at first, but the more she listened, the more she felt something was wrong.

What kind of punishment is this?

Withholding the money you deserve, so that you can't live independently and live a life that you can spend freely, may be a terrible punishment for some people-perhaps most people. But to her, this is not a big deal at all. She is not a person who likes to spend money. On the contrary, she is willing to separate the family from her brother.

Even if sometimes she needs money urgently due to certain circumstances, with her understanding of her brother. Nor did she believe he would be generous.

If the brother is really angry, his punishment will not be so arbitrary, but much more severe - such as being locked up.

It was like being pulled up from the bottom of the water, and her breathing became smooth again.

"Is this all the punishment?" Fran asked.

"In addition to the above, you must also write a letter of repentance and promise not to do similar things again in the future. In particular, you are not allowed to do anything detrimental to this family." Charlotte replied with a straight face, just like the person who had just She was not the one who sent her cousin to death. "If you dare to do it again, I guarantee you will regret it. No one will forgive you by then. I think everyone has tolerated your willfulness enough. You can’t keep squandering that tolerance.”

I just don’t want you to say that! Fran wanted to refute this, but she was afraid that the punishment would be increased and destroy her remaining hope, so she stopped refuting and endured it silently.

When the silence lasted for a long time, Charlotte nodded slightly.

"Okay, since you don't object, then I will treat you as accepting this punishment. You can write a letter of repentance later, and hand it over to us when you have it written. I hope you can do what we want. I wish to sincerely examine myself for my faults.”

Fran continued to remain silent and did not express any objection. This was not difficult for her. She has been writing letters for people for so long, and she has already mastered the words. She can write as many copies of letters of repentance as she wants, as sincere as she wants - of course, it is impossible to give up her obsession. .

"Did you just tell me two things?" After a moment, she remembered something again. "So what's the other thing?"

"The one just now was a bad thing for you, and the other one is not a good thing or a bad thing for you... It's just a request. It depends on whether you want to agree to it or not."

"Please tell me, can it be worse?" Fran asked.

"Just recently, Charles and I planned to fund the establishment of a charity association related to art." Charlotte lowered her voice, "The purpose of the entire association is to make its own contribution to the art cause of our country. Sponsor those talented artists and collect some art by the way. We all know that you have some talent for painting, and you are a family member, so we want you to be responsible for this."

"Huh?" Fran didn't understand for a moment, "Sponsor art? You?"

She blinked. Charlotte looked at her in disbelief.

This could never be Charlotte's idea, because she knew that Charlotte was arrogant, but knew nothing about art such as painting, sculpture, music, and even looked down on those who were engaged in art.

Charlotte was a little uncomfortable with this look, because it was indeed not her idea. She just helped her husband to inform Fran. To get rid of the embarrassment, she continued.

"Our family is obviously the best in this country, but it has always been disrespected in this troubled country, especially Charles. Because of helping Bonaparte, Charles's reputation is bad enough. Those little People are jealous of him every day and spread rumors to slander him, so even if he does this, others will not buy his fault. The people in this country are so bad! So, we have to find a way to restore our reputation and at least let a group of people have influence! Strong people say good things about us.”

"So you just sponsor those artists?" Fran seemed to understand her brother's thinking. "My brother wants me to discover those artists with potential, support them when they are poor, and then let them sing our family's hymn?"

"That's what I mean." Charlotte nodded.

Just when Fran was glad that she knew her brother so well. A new blow came again. "But this is only a small part of the intention, not even the main intention."

"What?" Fran was surprised. "What does this mean?"

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

"Actually, it's all very simple to put it bluntly. You know it yourself, those weird works of art, those paintings, sculptures, they are all vain things..."

"These are not just vain ideas! They are all the crystallization of personal genius." Fran interrupted her, "Only people who are uneducated and vain do not understand the value of art."

"Those paintings and sculptures are all frivolous things. God knows their true value. Some of them may embody the brilliance of genius. But most of them, in my opinion, are just children playing with mud." Ignore it. Following Fran's rebuttal, Charlotte continued firmly, "Most artists are mediocre in intelligence. When someone praises them, they are great. When no one cares about them, they are worthless!"

"You are prejudiced!" Fran couldn't help but protested again because she was dissatisfied with her words. "It is true that many artists are in poverty, but that is just because they have not recognized their talents!"

"Whatever you think." Charlotte spread her hands, but did not intend to change her discriminatory attitude, "But. There is no doubt that you can notice a problem, that is, the value of art fluctuates greatly, and some things at this moment Very valuable things depreciate significantly after a short period of time, but some seemingly ordinary things can cause a sensation throughout Europe."

"That's true." Fran nodded, but she still couldn't figure out what her brother's plan was.

"Let's put it this way, we have a lot of incoming and outgoing accounts, and it's difficult to write them clearly on the account books, or even if they are written on the account books, they can't be seen in the light, so... Charles thought that we could use this feature of the artwork to This characteristic is used to conceal the flow of money. We use some shady money to buy a worthless painting, so that a large amount of money can be properly pocketed. By using the opposite method, we You can also transfer a large amount of money without anyone noticing..."

"That is to say, we need to use this method to manage some money that cannot be seen in the light, right?"

Through Charlotte's explanation that she was obviously learning and selling now, Fran finally understood what her brother meant.

Using art transactions to cover up the flow of black money, laundering bribes, allowing the stolen money to flow freely, and unknowingly mobilize a large amount of money.

She was surprised to find that even now, she didn't fully understand what was going on in her brother's head.

This amazing wisdom is so amazing!

"You understand correctly, that's pretty much what it means." Charlotte nodded, "Charles thinks that in a few years, there will be rich people everywhere buying worthless paintings, and our family is just taking advantage of it. , and you can also gain a good reputation in the art world. Of course, most of this reputation can only be enjoyed by you. Charles will never do anything to please, and I don’t even bother to please those stupid people!”

Tears welled up in Fran's eyes again, but this time they were out of joy.

She finally understood her brother's thoughts.

After her "good performance" during this period, her brother finally forgave her and complied with her request, allowing her to participate in his business.

Maybe it will dirty my hands, but so what?

I just want to!

"If you don't want to, we can find someone else..."

"No, let me do it, only I can do this!" Fran shouted loudly. (~^~)