Just as Joseph had thought, he found Napoleon in the cave without incident. When he found Napoleon, the troublemaker was sitting on a rock, looking out at the rain and mist of the sea.

"My stupid brother, what are you doing there?" Joseph shouted.

"Nothing." Napoleon stood up lazily, "I was thinking, maybe I should put a book in this hole." In this way, after running here in the future, there is something to do. Okay, Joseph, I suppose it shouldn't be a big deal, right? I should be able to go home. ”

Napoleon's last sentence was not in a questioning tone, but in a declarative tone.

"Basically." Joseph said, "But how can you be so sure?" ”

"If it's not over and I can't go back yet, you should have come with food, not empty-handed like this." Napoleon replied, and then he asked, "Joseph, how did it end?" ”

"You had only been running for a few minutes before Paul woke up." Joseph said, "Of course, Carlo was still very angry, and he said to Giovanni that when he caught you, he would whip you hard." But after Giovanni left, Polina said to him, "You hit Paul because you saw her braiding." After Polina said this, I see that our father, though he didn't say it explicitly, didn't seem to be too angry with you. He even said to me, 'Joseph', you are my eldest son, why didn't you rush to the front when something happened? Alas, if only you could neutralize Napoleon. ”

Joseph said as he imitated his father's appearance, which made Napoleon laugh. He said, "So, I should be fine?" ”

"It's basically fine." Joseph said, "Two sentences at most." If it weren't for Polina this time, you'd be in good hands. My stupid brother, your method has some effects, but there has always been a problem, that is, it is difficult to control the proportions, and it is easy to overdo it. ”

"It's better to get beaten up than to be beaten by others because of shrinking back." Napoleon said indifferently.

"Alright, come back with me. Everyone's hungry, but Mom and Polina insist on waiting for you to come back before eating. Joseph said, "When you go back, your father will scold you, and you admit your mistake, and then we can all eat." Hurry up, I'm already hungry! ”

When the two men returned home, just as Joseph had said, Carlo only scolded Napoleon with a straight face, and did not take out the horsewhip. And Napoleon, who had been angry with Joseph for a long time, reflected on his mistakes to his father very meekly, and promised that if there was such a thing in the future, he would control his emotions and never be so heavy.

"As a man in the family, you should take the initiative to protect women. But also be measured. After Napoleon had finished speaking, Carlo said with great satisfaction, "But you must move quickly, Joseph, you are not as good as Napoleon." I know that you have been influenced in many ways by Bishop Minière, who is a good man, a holy man, but neither your mother nor I want to see you a priest. ”

"Alright, Carlo." Letizia frowned slightly, "It's time for your speech to end, the children are hungry." ”

"Okay." Kano smiled. Bring your hands together. They put their hands together and began their pre-dinner prayers: "Blessing us, Lord, with the food and all the blessings we enjoy. because of Christ our Lord. Amen. ”

After eating, Carlo led everyone to complete the after-dinner prayer. This is a common rule for almost everyone in this era. But Joseph always thought: "If I were God, I would be harassed by so many people every day, and I would feel like I was going crazy." ”

There was no entertainment in those days, it was winter, it was dark early, and generally after dinner, Carlo would read a passage from the Bible or something, and then it would be dark and everyone could say goodnight to each other.

This time, however, Carlo did not bring out the Bible, but said to everyone, "Sit down here for a moment, and I have something to tell you." ”

Everyone continued to sit in their chairs and listen.

"Joseph, Napoleon, you two are not too young, and you should learn something. I have a friend, Mr. Armand de Fois, who came to our house last time. He's going back to France now, and he can take you with him to France, to go to school in France, to learn French. Then, based on your performance in secondary school, decide what you want to do next. ”

Monsieur Armand de Fois, as soon as he heard the name, an image popped up in Joseph's head: a large man with a freckled red face, about as tall as himself, but almost twice as wide as himself. Especially the beer belly, Joseph suspected that he couldn't see his toes when he lowered his head.

He was a relative of the Doge of Corsica, worked in the legal department of Corsica, and was Carlo's superior. Like all guys with a "virtue" in their name, this guy's job is actually to take money without doing anything. And his daily routine is almost wandering around with a fishing rod. Carlo had been an adjutant to Pauli, the leader of the Corsican Resistance, and it stands to reason that such a person would have been difficult to gain the trust of the French authorities. But because he had a good relationship with this Monsieur Fois, not only was his status as an "Italian nobleman" recognized, (of course, this recognition was only on paperwork, but if he really went to France, especially in Paris, his count, few people would take it seriously.) He also became a member of the French government in Corsica.

Now that Monsieur Foix was leaving Corsica, Carlo entrusted him with introducing his two sons to a French aristocratic school. Carlo knew that in Corsica, there was not much future for Corsicans, and that France was the place where the opportunities really could be offered.

"What do you do when you learn French? The Frenchman ......" Napoleon said halfway, looked into Carlo's eyes, and closed his mouth.

"Remember, the future of the family depends on you." Carlo finally said, "Napoleon, to France, don't talk nonsense. ”

Napoleon did not speak, but the reluctance on his face was visible to even a fool.

"Joseph, you talk to Napoleon in a moment, don't get into trouble when you get to France." Carlo said again.

That night, no one knew what Joseph had said to Napoleon, but after dawn Napoleon showed a completely different interest in going to France to learn French.

"I want to go to the heart of the enemy, to observe them at the closest distance, to understand them. This will help Corsica gain freedom. Privately, Napoleon said this to his sister Polina.

Mr. Foix would not return to France for more than a month, so Carlo took advantage of this time to hire a young man named Valentin to tutor his two sons, so that they could master some French before they left for France.

Valentin was a young man not yet twenty years old, who was said to have studied at the University of Paris, but he did not graduate from there. Later, in order to make a living, he came to Corsica. He is a typical southerner, with white skin, black hair, and blue eyes. Always smiling when he speaks, and generally a very cute lad.

It's just that he has his own job, and teaching the two Bonaparte brothers French can only be done after work. In order to allow the brothers to master as much French as possible, Carlo, who had always been frugal, allowed the brothers to light an oil lamp in the evening to study.

Italian and French are actually very similar, and the Corsican dialect is a language in between, although the Corsican dialect is closer to Italian. Therefore, for Joseph and Napoleon, who mastered the Corsican dialect, it was really not particularly difficult to basically master general French in more than a month.

More than a month passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye it was time to leave Corsica.

Early that morning, after breakfast, Carlo and his family went to Mr. Fois's house to meet him. People in that era went to bed early, so they generally got up early. Mr. Fuwa's house was also busy, and a butler was directing a group of servants to throw all sorts of things into the wagon.

As for Mr. Fuwa, he stood alone, with no nostalgia on his face for leaving the place where he had lived for several years, nor the slightest hint of joy that he was about to return to his hometown. As if it had nothing to do with him. It was only after he saw Carlo's family that he showed a smiling face, strode over and greeted: "Hi, Carlo, and Joseph and Napoleon, you guys are early." ”

"Mr. Fuwa, early." Joseph hastened to reply in French. But Napoleon remained silent.

"Ah, Joseph, your French pronunciation is still a bit Italian, but it doesn't really matter, there are quite a few people in Toulon with this accent. Ah, Napoleon is still very shy. Be generous, be generous. Hahahaha......"

Apparently, Foix took Napoleon's hostility to the French as his shyness. Little did he know that the reason why this little man was willing to go to France to study was to understand France so that he could one day defeat France and win the independence of Corsica. At least for this time, Napoleon was a staunch Corsican DL element.