Fox of France

After convincing Lavoisier, Joseph can prepare to return to Toulon, but before that, he has to visit Amon's house. Amon was the only son in the family. His family must be very sad to lose him. As a good friend of Amon, it would be fine if Joseph was not in Paris.

So on the second day after signing the contract with Lavoisier, Joseph brought two followers—the neighborhood where Amon's house is located is a wealthy area, and the security is quite good. So it is very safe to take two people and ride in a four-wheeled carriage.

The carriage stopped near Amon's house. Joseph got out of the car, motioned his followers to stay in the car, and then walked towards Amon's house with a bouquet of white lilies in his hands. He knocked on the door lightly, and after a while, he heard footsteps coming in a hurry, then the door opened a crack, a green eye peeked out from the crack, and then the door was pulled open more A large slit exposed Fanny's face.

"Monsieur Bonaparte? You have come to..." said Fanny, and at the same time she saw the bouquet in Joseph's hand.

"Papa and mama don't know about my brother..." said Fanny in a low voice.

"Ah..." Joseph looked at the flower in his hand, and wanted to put it on the ground, but it seemed inappropriate, and it seemed useless to put it behind his back.

"Give it to me," whispered Fanny. At the same time, all the doors were opened.

She took the bouquet from Joseph and hid it behind a table with a broken leg in the concierge. Joseph noticed that Fanny was much thinner than when they met last time, but this made her look even taller.

"Suppose you don't know anything about my brother when you say you came to visit my brother in a moment, please," said Fanny. "Mother is not very well."

"I understand, I understand." Joseph said quickly.

At this time, a middle-aged man's voice came from inside: "Fanny, is there any guest? Who is it?"

Fanny quickly turned her head and shouted inside: "Father, there is a guest, Mr. Bonaparte, my brother's friend."

Then she turned her head again and said to Joseph, "Mr. Bonaparte, please come in with me."

Joseph followed Fanny into the Rococo-style building. Perhaps because of neglect, the house looked more dilapidated than the last time Joseph came. In future generations, on this basis, with a little decoration, maybe Fanny can declare that I have a house of horrors.

Entering the hall, Joseph found that the hall was unexpectedly clean and empty. Although the marble floor was worn out, it was still cleaned very well. The curtains were also very old, and the pattern on them could not be seen clearly, but they were clearly cleaned. As for the emptiness, some of the furniture that was previously placed here is gone.

Fanny seemed to have noticed that Joseph was looking at this place, so she whispered: "These days, bread is too expensive, we can only sell some things..."

"Yes, Miss Fanny, it's not easy for everyone these days." Joseph also sighed. Although he was not short of money or starving after the revolution, the days of being so scared by the guillotine that he couldn't sleep were not easy, right?

"My father is in the small living room. His legs and feet are not very good. He has rheumatism and can hardly walk, so he can only wait for you there. Please understand that this is not our arrogance." Fanny moved Joseph to the small room. Cited by the living room, he explained.

Joseph nodded and said, "I can understand. My father was not in good health when he was still there."

At the same time, he noticed that there seemed to be no servants in the entire small building.

Fanny led Joseph into the little drawing room. The Viscount Charles Lavoisier was sitting on an old elm rocking chair. He was much older than the last time I saw him, his hair was gray and his beard was sparse. An old white blanket was covering his knees, the fur on the blanket was sparse due to the passage of time, and holes where bugs had bitten could even be seen in many places.

"Welcome, Mr. Bonaparte, please forgive me, I can't stand up to greet you. Ah, you are the first friend to visit us in the past six months. Please sit down." Viscount Charles asked Joseph He smiled and said.

Joseph sat down in a high-backed chair beside him.

"Mr. Bonaparte, I heard that you are currently working at the Ministry of War?" Viscount Charles asked Joseph when he saw Joseph sitting down.

"Yes, I'm at the War Department," Joseph replied.

"Ah, that's good. That bastard Amon has gone to the Northern Army now. It seems to be in the Fourth Army. The commander is General Joubert. He is the one who just repelled the Austrians a while ago."

Having said that, a shy smile appeared on Charles' face:

"Mr. Bonaparte, you are Amon's friend. When Amon went to the north, I did not object. A man must make his own decision. What's more, at that time, I felt that although the northern front line was dangerous, But there aren't many more dangerous places in the world than Paris at that time. Don't you think?"

To be honest, Charles' support for his son's decision cannot be miscalculated. Because at that time, Paris was indeed very dangerous, especially for those who had aristocratic status and were too deeply involved in politics.

"You're right," Joseph replied.

"Yes, but Paris is safe now. Robespierre finally had his head cut off. Speaking of which, Robespierre still did some good things. If he didn't snap those Jews, I would In this house, I am afraid that there is not even a single piece of furniture left. Now my creditors are all dead, for this reason, I really should shout Robespierre long live." Viscount Charles smiled, and then coughed violently When he got up, Fanny hurried to get him a glass of water.

"Ah, Fanny, look, you really...you haven't poured a cup of tea for Monsieur Bonaparte yet. Go and pour a cup of tea for Monsieur Bonaparte," said the Viscount Charles reproachfully.

Fanny nodded and went out to pour her tea. Seeing Fanny go away, Charles said to Joseph: "Mr. Bonaparte, just now we said...ah, Paris is safe now, so...so I thought, can you find a way to put the Amon was transferred back from the north. You know, it’s not that I’m not patriotic, but that I only have one son. A few days ago, Aman’s mother had a dream, dreaming..."

"Father, what nonsense are you talking about again! I'm not afraid of being laughed at." A voice rang out, and Charles turned his head and saw Fanny standing behind him holding a teapot.

"Still talking about this kind of dream talk, and I'm not afraid of being laughed at!" Fanny continued while pouring tea for Joseph, "I told you long ago that dreams are fake. Besides, a few days ago , Didn’t you receive a letter from your brother and he sent back the money? My brother is doing well in the north, why do you have to drag him back.”

Just as he was taking the teacup, Joseph noticed that Fanny's hands were already callused—clearly, it was this girl who was working hard to carry the whole family on her shoulders.

"Ah, ah, I don't understand what you young people are thinking!" Charles waved his hands angrily, "One fool is not afraid of death, he can do whatever is dangerous; the other one is almost an old girl by now, really Do not worry!"

"Father!" Fanny was handing the teacup to Joseph at this moment. Hearing this, she handed the teacup into Joseph's hand, stood up straight, and said with a straight face.

"Well, well, my little Fanny is angry. I won't say anything." Charles shook his head. "Well, Monsieur Bonaparte, I've shown you a joke. My house has been in chaos since the Revolution." In a ball... The only good thing is that we don't care about the decency of the nobles anymore. What the hell... Well, Monsieur Bonaparte, you are a big shot now, you can ask Amon and persuade him..."

"If I can, I will." Joseph said, "But you know, Amon is a bit stubborn sometimes. And he has a lot of romantic temperament. I guess my persuasion may not be effective. For example, I My brother is already a general, and he often likes to rush to the front. I can't even control him..."

"Oh, young people are like this, they are disobedient." Charles sighed, "Ah, count Amon, he is not too young now, when I was his age, Amon would have crawled all over the ground. But This bastard is still messing around. Because of him, some of my former friends are no longer with us. Alas, many of my old friends are not here anymore, um, they are all on the guillotine, and they can’t come anymore. If they It’s really here, even though I have rheumatism, I can jump up and run fast.”

Charles suddenly laughed.

"Father, the more you talk, the more outrageous you become." Fanny said with a frown on one side.

"Fanny, Dad hasn't seen anyone other than you and your mother for almost half a year." Charles said, "I'm so happy. More than ten years ago, you couldn't walk, and Charles couldn't walk." When counting, our family has never been so deserted. At that time, your mother's salon was the whole of Paris..."

"Father, don't brag. If you go on talking, you will say that Madam's salon is Madame Dubarry's." Fanny said again.

"Well, Fanny. I didn't mean it that way, but it was a good time to remember... Monsieur Bonaparte, look now, we are deserted here, and my friend is not coming , Amon's friend, there is no one here except you. You see, the house is so deserted that my Fanny is going to be an old maid..."

"dad……"

"Fanny, tell me, when your mother was your age, Charles would have called her mother..."

Old Shire babbled on for a long time, while Joseph accompanied him and listened. It wasn't until almost noon that Old Shire was obviously tired, so Joseph got up to say goodbye. Fanny sent him out, and the two of them had just walked out of the small living room, but Charles' voice came from behind: "Monsieur Bonaparte, tell me, Fanny is a very good girl..."