Granville's estate

"Tea business?"

Louis thought about it very hard, but he really couldn't remember seeing Alred mention this before.

"I don't think I've seen you mention in your letter that you have such a way to get rich." He reached out and slapped Alred angrily, "This sounds too absurd, don't tell me you didn't hesitate to make up in order to perfunctory me? A non-existent business came out? Among other things, how long has it been since you accepted the principal and manor given to you by the earl, where will there be extra money to invest in some tea business?"

Alred quickly pressed his hand, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Did you forget—I never used up the living expenses my father gave me when I was in college for the past four years!" He said, "My mother left me about five thousand when she died. In French francs, that money is at my disposal, plus my previous savings and living expenses saved every year, it becomes the principal of my investment in this business.”

Louis frowned suspiciously.

"But I never saw you mention it in any of your letters, not a single word."

"Because Sologne Grostedt and I—my law classmate at the University of Paris, who is the son of a flour merchant and knows how to exploit—did not only try the tea business during those years." Al Ryder said, counting with his fingers: "We have tried to get paid by contributing articles to newspapers, also tried to make profits by buying and selling flour, cloth and cheap perfume, and even thought about illegal things like tax evasion ——We tried to dig a tunnel to avoid the customs clearance of goods entering the market outside Paris, but it was unsuccessful, and luckily we were not caught by those patrolmen——Finally he discovered the tea business and found a very stable and reliable agent."

"So you know why I didn't tell you, my dear little Louis," said Alred, shrugging his shoulders. "I know your character, if I knew that when I was studying law at the university, I was also in You won’t be able to sleep with worries about these things. It’s the same with my father. I haven’t said a word to him. To be honest, I’m really afraid of him because of his character of being loyal to the king. When he finds out, he will run to Paris and take me to the police court! However, I don't think these will affect our friendship, there will be no one more worthy of my trust than you, and Sologne and I are now It is a clean business, and no one will know what happened before."

Louis was stunned listening to Alred's narration.

"My Virgin Mary! I always thought you were a law-abiding person, Al!" Louis said, letting go of his hand, and fell back on the bed: "You actually did such an illegal thing, my God, think about it It's scary to think about it, you actually want to confront the tax officer! Fortunately, you were not caught at the time. If someone else found out and left a stain on your passport, your life would be over! How could you have such a terrible thing? Thoughts?"

"Ah, it's nothing. You know, young people always have a hothead. I lost a lot of money because of the perfume business, probably more than 1000 francs." Speaking of this During the thrilling past, Alred was very understated, "But later we found that the risk was too high, and the benefits were not as high as we calculated, so we gave up."

It took Louis a while to recover.

"So what's going on with the tea business you're doing now?" He frowned, "Al, I don't want to question your meaning, but I heard you say that Sologne Grostedt After the story of Mr. almost taking you to prison, I have deep doubts about his character; and according to you, the return rate of this tea business is terrible! How much capital can you invest, The income reached 1 francs. How can there be such a good thing in the world? [-] francs are stored in the bank with the highest interest rate, and the return you can get in a year is only [-] francs. Think about it, what you said Isn’t it frightening compared to the income of the tea business?”

"Oh, Louis, this is Paris!" said Alred, "Paris has never lacked the miracle of getting rich overnight, as long as you are bold enough, you will not be surprised to get any kind of income; besides, Sologne's character is beyond me. It’s still trustworthy, the [-] francs are just the beginning, my goal has always been an annual income of [-] francs, only with such an income can I get a slightly more respectable status in Paris.”

"When you wanted to use the deposit of [-] francs at the beginning, didn't you just want to invest that money in this tea business to achieve your goal?"

"Let's just say this. At that time, we encountered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that required a principal of [-] francs, but all the money on hand that Sologne and I could use was still short of [-] francs, so I asked I asked if the people at the Bank of France could touch the principal, and the people at the bank said that I need my father's consent."

Alred said, and leaned towards Louis: "When I got the answer, I knew that things were in trouble. If I really moved the money, my father would definitely run over from Chablis. I know he In his eyes, doing business is a disgrace to the Granville family, no matter what kind of business it is, so I gave up the idea of ​​using the [-] francs. "

"So how did you solve that problem? What kind of opportunity is the so-called once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?"

Alred thought for a while, but still told the truth.

"I went to the casino and won exactly five thousand francs, and the problem was solved."

This sentence had a greater impact on Louis than the fact that Alred had tried digging tunnels to smuggle goods, and it almost made him jump out of bed.

"Oh my God!" Louie suppressed the exclamation as soon as it came out of his throat. Because he was too emotional, he felt his forehead and face burning.

"Al, you actually go to the casino!" Under the extreme excitement, Louis blurted out hurtful words: "How did you develop such a bad habit?"

For the provinces, such things as "casinos" should not appear in the life of a decent person at all. They can only play a game of sous when playing cards, and it must be agreed that whoever loses the game will get a franc. The ending; the word "casino" is often associated with prodigal sons, and when this word appears, it often means that the prodigal son of a family has lost all his family property and has become a topic of conversation among the people, so it is not to blame Louis for knowing that Al Ryder's reaction when he actually went to the casino was so great.

"Louis!"

Arled gave his friend a hand and pulled the covers up so he wouldn't catch a cold from being exposed to the cold air.

"Listen to me, I have my own measure!" He tried to calm his friend down, "I've only ever gone to casinos where you lose all and leave, and the ones that don't allow IOUs! I don't often Go, that time was really an accident, just an accident. I only brought twenty francs to relax. Before I went, I was ready to borrow four thousand francs from a loan shark. To win such a large sum of money!"

"You still plan to borrow money from usurers!"

It’s okay if he doesn’t say anything, but when it comes to borrowing usury, it just adds fuel to the fire. At this moment, Louis is really angry: “Don’t you know what kind of vampires those Jews who lend usury are? There is a casino on one side. One side is usury, my God, Al, what the hell are you thinking? This is something you should never touch, and you make it so simple, it's as easy as buttering bread! Is there any magic in Paris, Let you treat the devil who should be kept at a distance as a tool you can use? If this continues, I am really worried for the Earl!"

While he was talking, he was about to sit up, throw off the quilt and get out of bed. Before he could move, Alred hugged him first, using his own weight to hold him down and not let him move.

"Louis," Alred's voice softened in the face of his angry friend. He called out to his friend softly, and then he hugged each other for warmth as if they were locked up together in a boarding school. He rested his head on Louis' shoulder.

"Apart from my father and my poor little sister, I guess you're the only one who would be angry with me," he said. "If it was anyone else, they would probably only pay attention to how I won such a large sum of money. Only you would be mad at me." Concerned if I'd lose my hat at the casino."

Like being pricked by a needle, Louis couldn't vent his anger no matter what.

"I'm worried about you, Al," he said.

"I know, I know," said Alred, "I know that casinos and usury are bad things, but for me, my father, and Madeleine—every time I eat at Papa Denis' I think of her in the monastery—for them, I need to get more money, so I have to do a lot of things."

"But look at what you've done!" Louis covered his forehead in pain, "This is not Al in my impression, you have been turned into another person by Paris."

"In many cases, you can only get more money by spending money, Louis." Alred said, "If the Granville family still has an annual income of 40 francs and a large amount of manor land like 30 years ago, I will I can easily establish myself in Paris as my father hoped, but unfortunately I only earn a few thousand francs a year. If I want to get a place in Paris, such a small income is not enough. At this time, I have to take a little risk gone."

"You already have an annual income of 6500 francs. If you manage your estate steadily, you can gradually earn more income. Isn't that enough?"