Flowers, Swords and France

Because no one dared to disturb the Minister, the Treville siblings practiced billiards in the lounge.

They quickly mastered the tricks of swinging and exerting force, but Fran pretended to be confused and her movements were very clumsy, so Charles had to teach her patiently. The two of them stuck together intimately, talking and laughing, and they seemed to be completely oblivious in their trance, and they didn't even feel the passage of time.

However, they lived in the real world after all. At three o'clock in the afternoon, seeing that time could not be dragged on, Gaston had to interrupt them and remind the Minister that he had to follow the schedule now.

"Oh, it's already this time!" Charles was also surprised to look at his pocket watch, and then had to look at his sister apologetically, "I'm sorry... I can only stop here today..."

"It's okay, sir, this is just entertainment, you can't delay your schedule for it." Fran smiled happily, because she had had enough fun in the past two hours, "I have to thank you, I have always been so clumsy, but you are still willing to teach me so patiently..."

"What are you talking about? Isn't this what I should do?" Charles smiled and shook his head, then put the cue under the table. "Okay, let's go together."

Then, the brother and sister came to the hall again.

After a full meal at lunch time, today's guests took a good rest in the club's box according to their preferences, so now everyone is full of energy, no longer as gloomy as before.

And the young Alphonse de Rothschild is even more so. He swept away his previous anger and anger, became calm again, and regained his composure in the past, talking and laughing in a low voice with the people next to him.

After Fran's negotiation, he understood that the Treville family had no intention of breaking up with his family, and also understood that the situation was not irreversible, so he had made up his mind and was eager to try.

As soon as he saw the Treville brothers and sisters appear together, he immediately stood up, and then politely saluted the brother and sister in front of everyone, with a happy face as if the quarrel just now was just an illusion.

And he behaved like this, of course, for others to see, the purpose is to announce to others that he has abandoned his past grudges with the Minister.

His attitude changed so quickly that those who originally expected the Rothschild family to take the lead in challenging Minister Treville so that they could share a share of the spoils were greatly disappointed. They didn't know what kind of compromise the two families had made in private just now, so they were inevitably uneasy.

But no matter how uneasy they were, now that the biggest opposition had surrendered, the others did not dare to show any disobedience to the Minister. Instead, they greeted the Minister with the same enthusiasm. For a while, the atmosphere in the hall of the club was as warm as before, and everyone was talking and laughing, fearing that they would cause dissatisfaction with the Minister.

Charles was very pleased to see that after the Rothschild family was generally subdued, his idea and decision were finally implemented. Although there were certainly many people who were dissatisfied in their hearts, as long as they could not hinder him with their actions, Charles did not care.

When everyone was talking, the waiters came in carefully again, and then served wine to everyone, and Charles picked up the wine glass and drank the wine. Even Fran drank a little wine to meet the occasion, so her face turned red.

"By the way, since everyone is here today, I just happen to have an important thing to inform everyone..." Taking advantage of the wine, Charles suddenly stood up and said loudly to the group of people.

The noisy voices gradually stopped, and all eyes were focused on Charles.

Charles glanced at Fran, then made a gesture, and she hurriedly stood up.

In the eyes of everyone, the brother and sister stood side by side, and their outstanding appearance made people admire them.

"I guess, by now, everyone has a clear idea of ​​who she is. Yes, she is my sister, Miss de Treville." Charles pointed at Fran, and then faced everyone, "Many of you here know her, but I think I still have to introduce her to you seriously, because you may have many opportunities to deal with her in the future, so it is good for everyone to get to know each other earlier..."

No one was surprised by Charles' words. Even those who didn't know the inside story knew that Minister Treville brought his sister here on purpose, of course, not just for her to visit this seemingly magnificent but actually smoky place.

Not going beyond everyone's expectations, Charles continued, "Through the efforts of the imperial government and everyone over the past few years, we have established a huge industrial system, and the railway has changed the face of the entire empire. Of course, in this series During the progress, we have unfortunately seen some unpleasant setbacks. The biggest reason for these setbacks is the poor communication between the government and the industry... Therefore, in order to To strengthen communication and coordination between the government and the Railway Federation, in order to improve the efficiency of work, and in order to allow the empire's railway industry to continue to flourish at the previous speed, I have decided to recommend some capable candidates to join the Federation to promote the realization of these goals. ...And I thought about it and finally decided on a few candidates, such as the former Minister of Railways, Count de Dillion, and one of them...she."

Then, he emphasized it again, "Of course, she is still young, so she only does some coordination paperwork and reports to me regularly. She will never interfere with your actions. Please take care of me in the future." With her, this young man can grow up as quickly as possible..."

Although Ciel's words were gentle and gentle, they sounded heavy in the hearts of many people.

Obviously, the minister's words like "improving work efficiency and strengthening communication and coordination" are just excuses. He sees that the resources controlled by the Railway Federation are getting bigger and bigger, so he wants to send his cronies to the front to make it clear that he will join. Come to the Federation to help yourself control this industry organization.

Although Count Dilion is a well-known good friend of the Minister, he is the former Minister of Railways after all, so even if he is stuffed in, it can be said to be justified, but he actually wants to force his sister to be stuffed in. When you come in, you really feel like you can't even laugh.

On the surface, he said it very casually, just responsible for paperwork, but for such a large organization, daily paperwork is very important, and he also specifically emphasized that she would report to him regularly, which is tantamount to showing that Your Excellency, the Minister, is determined to install a monitor within the Federation, who can monitor internal movements at any time, and he doesn't even bother to cover it up.

However, although everyone was dumbfounded that Your Excellency the Minister actually assigned such an important responsibility to a young woman, if you think about it carefully, Your Excellency the Minister has no brothers, only this sister, so giving him such an important responsibility does not seem particularly shocking.

Besides, even if you are dissatisfied, who can go out and express your objections?

"Of course, this is just my personal opinion. Whether I can accept her joining depends on the federation's internal vote." The smile on Ciel's face became thicker and thicker. "I personally hope that the vote will pass, but I can understand if it fails...but I ask everyone to sympathize with the difficulties we are facing now and help me get through the difficult days ahead, thank you."

Although no one responded, he was certainly sure that no one would object whether it was a vote within the federation here or in the future.

After making this announcement, expressing his thoughts, Ciel did not waste time and looked at Fran again. "Come on, Miss Treville, get to know everyone."

"Okay, sir." Fran nodded immediately.

Then, she followed Charles and walked to everyone present to say hello one by one. The people next to her also hurriedly took out their business cards and handed them to Miss Treville, for fear of appearing disrespectful in front of the Minister. neglect.

Because she drank a few glasses of wine and was a little excited, Fran's face turned a little red, and her fair and rosy skin coupled with her flowing golden hair made her even more beautiful. When he walked in front of Alphonse, the young man also stood up, and then bowed to Fran gracefully.

"Miss, you are so beautiful!"

"Thank you for your compliment." Fran's face became even redder.

"Since you already know me, I don't need to give you my business card..." Alphonse still smiled, and then picked up two glasses of wine from the side, "How about we clink glasses?"

"Okay, sir." Although she no longer wanted to drink, Fran still took the glass.

The two touched each other lightly, and then Fran drank half the glass in one breath.

"It's really good!" Alphonse raised his eyebrows, and then drank it all in one gulp.

In this way, accompanied by Ciel, Fran made her first appearance. Ciel made it clear in an unambiguous way that she would be his agent from now on. Some of the people present felt that she was just a vase, purely serving as the eyes and ears of the minister; while some thought that she was not a trivial person and was not someone who could be dealt with casually. But no matter what they think, Miss de Treville has become someone they have to deal with carefully.

As sunset approached, the club finally ended with the guests and hosts enjoying themselves, and horse-drawn carriages sped out of this inconspicuous building.

At this time, the Treville brothers and sisters were also preparing to leave, but because they drank a lot of wine, Fran's steps were crooked and her whole body became soft.

For the sake of his sister's image, Ciel had to support her, so she clung to Ciel's side, and Ciel felt that her whole body was hot.

"Drink less in the future. This is not your specialty." When he came to the door, Charles couldn't help but persuade his sister.

"Okay, I know, sir... I'm just too happy today..." Fran hugged her brother's shoulders and answered incoherently, "I'm really happy... really, really happy..."

"Okay, I know you're happy, no need to say it." Charles couldn't help but sigh. He was really a little confused. He quickly looked at Mary, "Take her back and take good care of her along the way."

"Okay, sir, leave it to me!" Mary agreed.

When they said this, they had already arrived in front of the carriage. Charles walked to the door of the carriage and prepared to send her to the carriage.

But just as he stepped on the pedal, Fran suddenly raised her head and pecked him directly on the lips, without caring about the presence of others.

Then, she left Charles' arms with a red face.

"Goodbye, sir!"

Charles was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly, and Mary also laughed.

The original text is in the six # 9 @book/bar!

When the carriage left, Fran kept looking behind the window, waving to him until she could no longer see him, and Charles stood at the door, watching her leave.

When she was no longer visible, Charles returned to his carriage and set off on his journey home.

When he returned to his grand mansion, night had fallen.

Because he was a minister and often had to go on business trips, his family was used to his irregular schedule. Every night, dinner would be prepared at the same time, and the meals would be reheated every once in a while so that the minister could enjoy the meal immediately when he returned.

But today, when he just came back and was about to go directly to the restaurant for dinner, he found that the servant's expression seemed a little strange, so he stopped.

"What's wrong? Is there anything?"

"Madam is waiting for you to eat in the restaurant, sir." The servant replied after hesitating for a moment.

"Huh? Didn't she eat first?" Charles was very surprised. "Didn't anyone persuade her to eat first?"

Because Charlotte always ate first if he couldn't get back at dinner time, and he didn't want his wife to wait for him all the time - not to mention that she was pregnant now, so there was no need to disrupt the meal time because of him.

"Madam didn't eat first, she...she said she would wait for you." The servant was hesitant to speak.

From his expression, Charles felt something.

"Did she lose her temper?"

"Yes, sir." The other party nodded immediately.

"...Sorry." Charles sighed, "Women will be a little bit worse when they are pregnant, you should be more patient recently."

Perhaps because of her pregnancy, Charlotte has been very anxious recently, repeatedly scolding the servants around her, making everyone nervous and even silent. Everyone is secretly looking forward to Charles coming back early to make Madam feel better.

"Sir, of course we all know this, and we all hope that the lady can give birth early and safely, so if she just blames us, of course we won't have any complaints..." The servant bowed and stopped talking.

"Why, are you angry with other people?" Charles was even more puzzled, "No... Are you angry with me?"

"I dare not say that, sir." The servant's face drooped even lower.

"...Oh, I understand." Charles couldn't help but sigh again.

He wanted to ask more, but found that the other party just lowered his head and dared not say anything.

To the servant, the master is undoubtedly in power, but he is so busy and has no time to manage the housework, so the lady still has the final say at home. If he says more, who can protect him when the lady gets angry? He has fulfilled his duty by reminding the master in this way.

"Forget it, let's go over. Since the lady is waiting for me, I can't let her wait any longer." After a moment of silence, Charles started again.

He soon came to the restaurant, and sure enough, Charlotte was sitting there, and there were many dishes in front of her, but the tableware showed no signs of being moved.

She had been pregnant for several months, and her belly was very big, but this did not diminish her beauty. Under the candlelight, her fair cheeks seemed to shine.

"Charlotte! What's wrong?" Charles cheered up, showed a gentle smile, and walked to his wife. "Why haven't you eaten yet?"

"I'm waiting for you, Your Excellency the Minister." Charlotte replied unhappily, "You have been wandering outside these days, can't you honor your wife with a good meal?"

"I'm sorry, dear." Charlotte said this, and Charles felt a little guilty, and hurriedly walked to Charlotte and sat down.

These days, Charles first went to Fontainebleau, and even after returning, he was busy everywhere these two days, so it was indeed a long time since he had accompanied his wife for dinner.

He took his wife's hand and kneaded it a few times in a flattering manner, "Now that I'm back, please forgive me."

"You are very busy, if I force you to accompany me all the time, wouldn't I be unkind?" Charlotte glared at him, "I dare not disobey you like this."

"Okay, Charlotte, don't say that..." Charles felt a little uncomfortable with his wife's sarcasm, but he could only comfort her with gentle words, "Let's have dinner together, don't be angry! I really couldn't accompany you during this period, but I won't be so busy in the next period of time. I will stay with you until our next child is born..."

"I'm not angry." Under Charles' caress and consolation, Charlotte finally calmed down a lot. After all, she just missed her husband too much, so she was resentful in her heart, "I just don't understand some things, so I want to ask you-"

"What is it?" Charles' heart trembled, but his hands did not stop.

"Why did you let her be a director without telling me in advance?" Charlotte turned her head, even with a stern face, her face was so beautiful, but her tone was very unkind, "I understand the truth, but is there no one around us who can be trusted? Even if my father comes out of retirement, he is better than her, right? Why must it be her? Why don't you ask me first?!"