Rimbaud's girl

She turned wildly in her mind: what is he doing here?Who told him where I live?Are things done in Dijon?Why didn't Louis' people keep an eye on him?

Captain Rimbaud looked around the living room, he didn't look at it greedily like a country bumpkin entering the city, and felt strange about everything. "Vitale." His voice was neither high nor low, very serious as a soldier.

"Captain Rimbaud."

"You should call me 'Father'."

"Father, are you here?" She said calmly and without emotion.

"I'll come and see you. I hear you're a famous writer now."

Vitaly immediately frowned: Although "Journal de Shangri-La" and "Le Figaro" are mainly published in the Paris area, you should be able to read them in Dijon, but that was all in February. He only thought of "Victoria" now. Is Tally Rimbaud" his daughter?Maybe it was because of seeing Arthur's name?Hard to say.

"I should go and see Monsieur Flaubert."

"No, sir is not in good health, and I don't see any guests now."

Captain Rimbaud said bluntly: "I am not an ordinary guest, I am your father!"

She immediately turned red with grievance, "I've never seen you since I was born, and you haven't even hugged me!"

The butler behind her looked at her in surprise, and then at Captain Rimbaud.

Captain Rimbaud was a little embarrassed, "But I'm still your father."

Vitaly thought that according to her wishes, Mrs. Rimbaud would have divorced him a long time ago.But, in a small town like Charleville, abandoned women will be ridiculed even more, and widows will gain sympathy.

"My mother told people she was a widow, and I thought my father was dead."

"Your mother... how is she?"

Vitaly shook her head lightly, "She's not good, she raised four children by herself."

He frowned impatiently, "Is that what she told you?"

"You were not in our life. Other children have fathers, but we don't."

"It was your mother who drove me away!"

Vitaly was surprised: "Really? I thought there was a quarrel between husband and wife, and one of them said 'fuck off', that was just an angry thing, and it can't be taken seriously. Did you visit us afterwards? Do you remember that you have four children ?”

Captain Rimbaud seemed to be trying to suppress his anger, "I miss you very much, but your mother won't let me see you."

Well, that's something Mrs Rimbaud might have done.But just like he ran hundreds of kilometers to find her now, as long as he wants to see the children, he can find a chance to meet them.

Vitaly slowed down her tone, "Come in and have a seat." She turned and went back to the living room, "Madeleine, bring a pot of coffee."

Captain Rimbaud looked after her.The last time I saw her, she was just a skinny girl under 13 years old, now...she has grown up, looks very healthy, eats well, and dresses well; the manor looks rich, not too He has inquired about rich people. The Flaubert family is not aristocratic, but they can be regarded as a wealthy family in the local area and are respected; in addition, Gustave Flaubert is a famous writer, from Rouen. Very proud of Flaubert.

Vitaly sat on the sofa and motioned for him to sit on the opposite sofa.

After all, Captain Rimbaud has been a soldier for many years. Even though he has been retired for many years, he still maintains good habits and looks upright.

"How are you doing here?" This is just looking for something to say, an awkward chat.

"Very good, Mr. Flaubert is very kind to me. You didn't come to see me just to see how I was doing, did you? If you have anything to say, you can just say it."

Captain Rimbaud glanced at the butler who came in and stood behind the sofa.

"Mr. Boyle is the butler, and he knows everything."

Captain Rimbaud looked embarrassed, and pretended to cough, "It's like this, I'm in business now, but you also know that a while ago, the economy was in a downturn, I lost some money, and the capital turnover was not open, I thought that if it was like this It would be a pity to withdraw the rest of the investment, so I want to ask if you have any money in hand, and lend me tens of thousands of francs."

Vitaly thought that what he said was really high-sounding. The investigation report didn't say that he still had any investment business. The reason for borrowing money is really clever!This is compared to owing a butt of gambling debts or being jumped by a fairy, and being forced to pay for debts, it sounds much better in name!

"Does my father think I am someone with tens of thousands of francs? I am only 16 years old, and I am still underage."

"You should have a lot of royalties. I heard people say that you got thousands of royalties from the newspaper."

She thought to herself, who has such a big mouth? "Then I don't have tens of thousands."

"Mr. Flaubert likes you so much, can't you ask him to borrow some?" Captain Rimbaud was ashamed.Once this psychological barrier has passed, I feel much more relaxed, "I think this house is worth hundreds of thousands of francs, but I just want tens of thousands."

"This is the house of the Flaubert family." Vitaly said calmly, and even found it a little funny.

"But you are already a student of Mr. Flaubert, so it shouldn't be a problem for you to borrow some money from him."

Mr. Boyle, the housekeeper, was stunned.

"Mr. has been very good to me. He didn't ask for my tuition, gave me back my living expenses, and taught me my studies. Even my father can't do better than him. My father, you put the matter of 'borrowing money' The idea is too beautiful. Well, even if you lose money in business, let me ask you, what kind of business do you do? Who are your partners? How many partners are there? How much is the principal? How much is the annual profit? How to distribute dividends? ? How much is the annual dividend? I lend you 3 francs, how much interest can I get every year? How many years to pay it off?"

Captain Rimbaud stood up from the sofa and said excitedly: "You are my daughter, all your money should be mine!" Said it should be given to him.

Vitaly was taken aback and shouted nervously, "Mr. Boyle!"

The butler walked around from behind the sofa and said seriously, "Captain Rimbaud!"

"You are my daughter, and your surname is Rimbaud!" Captain Rimbaud continued excitedly: "I am your father, and I have the right to supervise all your income! And Arthur! Didn't Arthur publish a collection of poems? Where is his money? It all belongs to me!"

Vitaly thought that he probably felt that the appearance of a "benevolent father" was really impossible, so he simply married her.

"You only have the right to supervise our property, but not the right to use it. I have checked the legal terms," ​​she raised her face, "and you have no right to supervise our royalties. Don't think that you are my biological father, Give me your surname, I should obediently listen to you, I'm not that stupid!"

"I'm your father! Vitaly, when you were a child, I would hug you whenever I went home. You were very small and thin, and you cried very softly. I was worried that you would not survive, like your sister. In that way... I have already lost a daughter, and I can't lose you anymore."

oops!This is the beginning of playing the family card again.

indifferent.

"You don't have to tell me this. Want money, no. Paco, Paco!"

The burly Paco soon appeared at the door of the living room.

"Please get him out!"

Paco walked over.

Captain Rimbaud was furious, "Vitale! I am your father after all!"

"Don't mention money to me, I might call you 'Father'."

Captain Rimbaud probably didn't expect that she wouldn't listen to her kind words, and that patriarchal power couldn't suppress her.

"If you don't want to pay, then I have to go to court to sue you."

"It's said that the legal provisions only support the supervision right, and you can't get the manuscript fee." She kindly reminded, "If my mother and uncle give me the land in Luoshi Village, you can get the supervision right of the field, but the rent of the land is yours. I can't get it. They are still alive, I have nothing in my name, and you can't get anything. I don't care to go to the court, I will cry in front of the judge that you abandoned us more than ten years ago, you Let's see if a judge will judge you to win!"

Captain Rimbaud blushed with anger.

Although Paco was asked to drive Captain Rimbaud out, he didn't really drive him away. After a while, the housekeeper arranged for Captain Rimbaud to live in the servant's room next to the main house.

Vitaly didn't feel any sense of "victory" in her heart, she just felt tired.She still hasn't figured out why Captain Rimbaud came here suddenly. Judging from his tone, did he go to the newspaper office to find out her address?If he said it was her father, someone might tell him.Speaking of Arthur's collection of poems, one was published last year and one this year, both under his real name. How did he find out that this young Rimbaud was his son now?So it was because he didn't think of exercising his father's rights at that time, but now because of being forced to pay, he thought of them?

Annoyed, she hastily wrote a telegram, asking her servant to go immediately to the telegraph office in Rouen and send a telegram to Marseilles.

Since he came to ask for money, she quickly thought of several feasible plans in her mind. When he came, they didn't have to go to Dijon, and they just took the opportunity to mention this matter to him.Originally, she planned to meet him when he was being forced to pay his debts, and to help him settle his debts in exchange for his consent.She could have saved herself from such trouble, Captain Rimbaud might have agreed immediately and would not ask her for money, but it is too unreliable to pin her hopes on the "conscience" of an unreliable scumbag and unreliable father No, she would rather solve this problem by means.

Even if Captain Rimbaud agreed to the adoption without any additional conditions at the time, there is still the possibility that he will ask the siblings before they die, either for money, or for them to support their half-brothers. Brother, any request would make her feel disgusted.So in her opinion, it is the best choice to use means and money to settle all possible troubles in the future.

She took out the manuscript paper and listed her conditions: money can be given, but he is required not to ask for money at any time in the future, and if she wants a better cemetery, she agrees that her elder brother Frederick's In the name of buying a cemetery for his father in the best cemetery in Dijon; under no circumstances in the future can he request the custody of the children's property; the four children will not give him any maintenance unless he transfers the previous ten Years of child support paid in full; his legal children will not bear any costs of his mistress and illegitimate children;

She put down her pen, thought about it, and deleted the article about the mistress and the illegitimate child, so as not to let him know that she already knew about the illegitimate child.In addition, in view of the current legal provisions, there is such a thing as "paying debts from the father to the son". In case Captain Rimbaud borrows a lot of usury and cannot afford to repay them after selling them, you need to consult a lawyer before making a plan. In addition, wives and legitimate children do not have the obligation to raise illegitimate children. Captain Rimbaud is 60 years old, and he doesn't know how many years he can live. If Lucas died before he was 16, none of them would think about it. To take care of that child's life.

Anyway, it's hemp -->>

Annoying, very troublesome.

She figured she'd better go talk to the Flauberts' lawyer.

The housekeeper came to ask her to go upstairs to see Flaubert, so she went upstairs and told Flaubert what she thought.

Flaubert looked down on men who abandoned their wives and children.He himself made it very clear that because he got a bad disease, he would never marry, he would not harm an innocent woman, and he would not pass the bad disease to his children.Although there was no concept of "heredity" at that time, and the doctor did not know that syphilis would be passed on to future generations, he flatly rejected all possibilities based on the idea of ​​not taking chances.He felt that he was still a good man, a man of morality, but Captain Rimbaud, who had abandoned his wife and son, was too sorry for his dignity as a man of the imperial family.

He fully agrees with Vitaly's hidden worries. Since Captain Rimbaud is here, this problem must be solved once and for all. Generally speaking, this problem can be solved with money.He is currently in a tight financial situation, but if he really wants to make up again, he can still save tens of thousands of francs.

Vitaly was very moved, "This is a matter between our siblings and him. My mother still has tens of thousands of francs in savings. I can solve this problem, but I still need to discuss it with a lawyer."

Flaubert wrote immediately, asking the lawyer to come to the estate tomorrow.

The lawyer came the next day.

Vitaly, the lawyer, and Captain Rimbaud stayed in the study all day, finalizing the terms one by one.

Captain Rimbaud no longer tried to impress his daughter with any family affection, and seemed to have learned that Vitaly would not be shaken.He opened his mouth and asked for 10 francs.

Vitaly almost died of anger: "I can't earn 10 francs in my life!"

"You will inherit this manor in the future." Although Captain Rimbaud was surprised by the lawyer's suggestion that Flaubert wanted to adopt Vitaly, he immediately figured it out. He could take the opportunity to ask for more money.

"The manor can't be sold. You want me to pay so much money now, but I don't have it."

"I can also accept payment in installments. Otherwise, you can add that after my death in the future, you will have to pick up Lucas."

"Lucas? Who?"

"Your brother."

Vitaly pretended to be shocked, and said angrily: "Who did you have a bastard with?" The Rouen slang she said was still "bastard", and Captain Rimbaud could understand it.

"Vitale! That's your brother!" Captain Rimbaud was displeased.

"He is not my mother's child, we are qualified to be named Rimbaud."

Captain Rimbaud didn't care whether he was embarrassed or not at the moment, "He is half of your blood relationship."

"He is only worthy of being my servant." Vitaly rolled her eyes violently.

"You can do whatever you want, his biological mother—" Captain Rimbaud frowned, "After I die, that woman will leave Lucas and run away alone, and then I will let him come to you, don't let him He's starving to death. If he's willing to study, you send him to a public school. I don't worry about him."

Vitaly had no idea, "You can't let go of your illegitimate child, but have you ever thought about how hard it is for mother to take care of the four of us alone? Why don't you ever worry that we will not survive? Will we have no money to go to school?" So he It's not unexpected, it's just that they can't think of their brothers and sisters; it's not that there is no father's love, but this father's love will not be given to their brothers and sisters.Thinking about it, I really want to cry for my brothers and sisters.

"That's different. Your mother is very strong. She can raise you both without me."

Listen, what bullshit is this! 24k pure gold slag male classic quotations.

"So, do strong women deserve to be abandoned?"

"That's not what I mean... If you are willing to raise Lucas, I can only ask for 3 francs."

Lost more than half in one fell swoop, this scumbag father really has negotiating skills.So he also knew that it would cost less than 10 francs, and the lion opened his mouth just to ask her to agree to another clause that she would not have considered at all.

Vitaly's psychological price was originally 2 to 3, but she couldn't agree too readily, and had to act like she was thinking hard.

After more than ten minutes, she said: "1." The skill of negotiation is to lower the price severely.He asked for a lot of money and paid back the money on the spot.

"3."

"No money, you go to court."

"You promised to take care of Lucas."

Vitaly said reluctantly: "Mother will die of anger, she will scold me."

"Your mother is definitely not willing, but you are different. You will have a manor in the future, and you won't care about raising another one. Vitaly, I am not a good father to you, so I want to try my best to be nice to Lucas , but I am old and may die soon, and I am worried about him. Vitaly, I know you will be fine, Arthur... and you will be fine, then I You can die in peace."

Vitaly rolled her eyes mentally again.

"1, I promise to take care of Lucas until he is 5 years old. At 16 years old, he can be an apprentice and support himself without any problem."

"Don't let him do too much tiring work. If he can read and read, let him learn a good job that can support himself, his wife and children in the future."

"Don't ask too much." She said coldly, "When I think of another woman's blood on his body, I feel disgusted."

Without waiting for Captain Rimbaud to say anything, she immediately said to the lawyer: "Hurry up and write an official legal document and sign it tonight. Do you need witnesses? I'll send someone to the village to find two farmers who can read."

The lawyer was writing legal documents in the study, and Vitaly brought Captain Rimbaud out, "Go back to your room, and I will have someone bring you dinner." She didn't want to eat at the same table with him, she was tired of thinking about it .

"Vitale, you've grown up." The father had to admit that this daughter was too shrewd and good at negotiating. "In the future... don't take your anger on me at Lucas, he is a sensible boy, you will like him."

"I'll never like him. But what I promised you, I'll do."

"In the future, when you become Miss Flaubert, everyone will only know your surname Flaubert, and will not remember your surname Rimbaud."

Vitaly was eating alone in the dining room, and just finished eating half, the servant came to report that a young master of Mandarian was looking for her.

"Ask him to come in." She was quite surprised: judging from the time, he should have set off from Marseilles yesterday before she sent someone to send a telegram.

The tall slender boy walked into the restaurant briskly, "Vitale."

"Call me Miss Rimbaud."

Louis grinned, "It's better to call you Vitaly."

"What are you doing here? Captain Rimbaud is here."

He sat down, "I know."

She couldn't help staring at him. "What did your man do? How did you get him to leave Dijon and come to me?"

She was suspicious, "Did your people tell him that he can still ask his children for money?"

Louie didn't say yes, but he didn't say no either.

Vitaly thought he was a little strange, but didn't continue thinking, "Where's the money?"

"here."

"how many?"

"More than 3."

"Is it only more than 3?"

"Actually, it was more than 5, and I took 2."

"Where did he get the money?"

"house."

"No debt?"

"It seems not."

If there is no debt, he can take out more than 5 yuan, which is not a lot.Louis took 2 yuan, which is not much, and finding someone to do things requires money, so it is impossible not to spend a single franc.

She called the maid and brought him a supper.

"I have never been to Rouen, but the manor is quite easy to find, but I made two mistakes on the road, otherwise I would have arrived in the afternoon."

"Since we're here, let's stay a few more days. Arthur will come back at the end of June. He said he wants to go to Marseilles for the summer."

Louis was very happy, "That would be great! I can live here until the end of June, and I will write a letter later to ask someone to prepare a house for you. My father has a very good villa by the sea, and it is very convenient to live with a family." Spacious!"

"Not only me and Arthur, but also Gabriel, my boyfriend." She pretended to mention Gabriel casually.

Louis froze immediately, "You, your boyfriend?"

"I'm almost 17, is it weird to have a boyfriend?"

"No...why didn't you say that last time?"

"You didn't ask."

He shouted angrily, "Why would I suddenly ask you if you have a boyfriend!" He stood up abruptly.

"Sit down!" She glared at him.

Louis had no choice but to sit down obediently, with an aggrieved expression, "You didn't say that! I am willing to entertain you and your brother, but not your boyfriend."

His eye circles were red, and he made a pitiful cry, "I like you, Vitaly, that's the kind of liking, I want to be your boyfriend, and I don't want to see Gabriel."

"No, you are too young." Vitaly refused calmly.

"When I'm 18 you won't think I'm too young."

"Or not."

"If you don't promise me, I, I won't give you the money."

Vitaly stared at him: Scoundrel! **!

He calmed down a little now, and said slyly: "You probably won't get married before the age of 18, so, just wait until I grow up, my father said that I can have an annuity at the age of 18, and I can get it after graduating from college. Shares in the company, I will be very rich, the profit brought back by a boat is at least 10 francs, and you can live the life you want, whatever you want. Mother has a lot of jewelry, and when the time comes those It's all yours."

Vitaly smiled, "Listen to what you said! Your wealth is in the future, why should I spend time waiting for you to become rich?"

The author has something to say: *The next chapter will deal with scumbags.