The Bonaparte family is a very traditional Corsican family. This also means that in their family, women are not very in charge. Letizia was a good wife, a good mother, and even in the most difficult times, she could always bear it silently. But she is also a very traditional Corsican woman, and she is silent when it comes to an idea.

So after Carlo's death, almost all the decisions in the family had to be made by Joseph. When the younger siblings asked their mother about something, she always said, "Go and ask your brother and see what he says." Just like in the past, when Carlo was still around, she said to the children, "Go ask your daddy."

So Joseph immediately got busy, first arranging his father's funeral, and then dealing with the inheritance and debts. Fortunately, there is still an uncle to help in these matters, and the presence of Bishop Minière also makes people who want to take advantage of the lack of adult men in this family have a lot of worries. So these things are going very well.

By the third day after the funeral, all the things that had been left over were basically taken care of. That night, Joseph called his mother, uncle, and several younger siblings together.

"Mom, uncle, and brothers and sisters. My father's funeral, and related matters, have basically come to an end today. "After the loss of my father, the situation in our family has changed a lot. There will certainly be a big change in the way we used to live. We have to adapt to these changes and prepare for them. Now, let me tell you about the changes that may have taken place in our family. ”

Everyone listened in silence to Joseph.

"After my father died, his salary was gone. As you know, our family's land is very small and our production is very limited, and if it were not for my father's salary in the Governor's Palace, our family's income would have been reduced to one-third of what it had been if it had not been for the little land that had been left of our family. This means that we are barely able to make ends meet. Younger brothers and sisters, there will be problems with your pocket money and even your education funds.

Napoleon, you studied at a military school, and when you graduate in the future, you will naturally go to serve in the army. It doesn't cost much to go to a military school. But I'm afraid the pocket money you gave will be canceled. ”

"There's no problem with that." Napoleon said.

"I know what you've done in the past few years." Joseph went on to say, "You are very good at math, geography, and history. But I was disappointed with your language scores. ”

"Mathematics, geography, history are all useful in war. Language ...... "Napoleon was somewhat unconvinced

"My stupid brother, words are also a tool of battle!" Joseph glanced at Napoleon and said, "Don't you know how Octavian defeated Brustu back then?" The ability to use language has been indispensable for a good general since ancient times. ”

Hearing Joseph use Emperor Octavian as an example, Napoleon stopped refuting it.

But Joseph was not willing to let Napoleon go, and he continued to stare at Napoleon and said, "For example, our family is in trouble for the time being. In order to earn more money to support the other younger brothers' studies, we had to have someone who could step up and take over from my father.

You know, I've got one year left to graduate. But now, we're having a hard time. If I drop out of school now, I can find something to do, and of course, my income will be much lower than my father's. If we can continue to do it for a year and wait until I graduate and then find a job, then we can probably double my income, of course, it is still not as good as when my father was still around. But this number can barely support the life of the family.

Obviously, dropping out of school now is not the best option for me or my family in the long run. But we can't ignore the life in front of us. So I had a flexible plan. I have a classmate named Armand, who is a nephew of Monsieur Lavoisier. Napoleon, I mentioned this guy in my letter to you. He had a lot of things on hand that he could transfer to me to do when he translated the script and poetry. In this way, I can continue to study while also have some income, plus my classmate Lucien can also lend me some money, if the family is more frugal, it should not be a problem to support me for a year.

Of course, if Napoleon's language scores are better, maybe you can join in and do what you can, which can be regarded as a help for the family, and I can also make it a little easier. However, with your current achievements, I don't dare to leave such a thing to you. ”

"I know, I'll work on that in the future." Napoleon bowed his head.

Then Joseph turned to his other brothers.

"Lucien, though you are still young. But you also have to know that you are also the man in the family, and you have to study hard. Although our family has the title of aristocracy, it is not one of the aristocrats in France who can eat lying down without doing anything. The men in our family must have skills. Lucien, do you know where the skills of those outstanding characters come from? It all comes from learning and overcoming difficulties. You're also at an age where it's time to get some education. I will try my best to ensure that your education will not be affected by financial difficulties, but you must work hard yourself.

Louie, you are the same. Wait until next year, when I graduate, and get a good job. If possible, I would take both you and Lucien to Paris for an education. In terms of educational environment, Paris is, after all, much stronger than Corsica. ”

"Joseph, I'm graduating at the end of the year. But now I have the opportunity to be selected to be sent to the Paris Military Academy, where I can get a higher position and better development after graduation. I don't know......" Napoleon began.

"My stupid brother. What is there to hesitate about such a thing? Are you, with your insignificant wisdom, doubting your brother's ability to provide for the family? All you have to do is go to the Paris Military Academy, and I'll take care of the matter for now. Joseph replied.

"Joseph, where am I stupid? I just ......" Napoleon made a rare protest against this "stupid" phrase that Joseph gave himself.

"Oh?" Joseph immediately said, "Napoleon, your geometry is the most prominent of all subjects. Do you need me to give you a question so that you can get to know yourself correctly? ”

Napoleon was stunned, and after a while he said stupidly: "Joseph, you are not a good person. ”

……

After spending a few days and basically arranging things at home, I set off again and returned to Paris. During these days, and along the way, whenever he had free time, even if it was only ten minutes or so, Joseph took the time to translate what he had in hand, and the next morning in Paris, Joseph first went to school to cancel his vacation, and then went to Armand and handed him a volume of manuscripts.

"This is a translation of "Timon of Athens", you see if there is anything that needs to be changed, and I will change it." Joseph said to Armand.

"Joseph, you managed to get this thing out so quickly?" Armand was taken aback and said, "This is impossible for me to do without more than half a year." ”

"You're slow because you're finely done. And I did it quickly, but it was a lot rougher. Joseph said.

"Joseph, I love to hear what you say. However, I know for myself that I am slow not because of finesse, but because I am too lazy to do things, like the lazy kings of history (a series of kings of the Franks in the seventh century who did not care about the affairs of the state). You, on the other hand, are a hardworking person. Moreover, the translation of literary works is actually best done in one go. In this way, emotion and momentum can be coherent. Well, I'll take a look when I have time. As for the cost, I'll give it to you in a few days. ”

Armand had always delayed his work, and he said that the fee would be paid in a few days, so Joseph was ready to wait for half a month. Unexpectedly, however, only three days later, Armand handed over to Joseph the commission for the translation of the work, fifty francs.

"Joseph, the quality of the manuscript is good. If you can continue to maintain this quality and speed, you will earn six hundred francs a year. Plus your scholarship, by the way, how many younger brothers do you have? ”

"Four, three of them have reached the age of education. But the biggest one is in military school, and like me, he doesn't need to spend money. Joseph replied.

"Ah, then there are only two younger brothers who need your money...... "Ah, that's not enough." For this money, Joseph, you can't drink beer anymore, and as for foie gras, you have to say goodbye to them. You can't even put cream on the bread you eat, you can only eat one lamb chop a month, and you have to eat this lamb chop for three days, the first day you eat the meat on the lamb chops, the second day you eat the fat of the lamb chops, and the third day you gnaw on the bones. When you are at work, you can't smoke to refresh yourself, you can't use black tea to refresh yourself, you can only use the lowest grade coffee, and the portion must be limited...... Oh my God, can't you have one more brother? ”

Joseph replied: "In our Corsica there is a saying, 'When it comes time to deal with foxes, we know that there are too few hounds; When it came time to deal with the enemy, I realized that there were too few brothers. So we Corsicans never complain about too many brothers, never about too many friends. ”

"That's an interesting statement." "It's just that it's too verbose, but it can be refined a little more." Ah, maybe it's the taste that changed after you translated it from the Corsican dialect into French. I think that's how your translation is, although it is very accurate, but a lot of it is a bit verbose. If it were me, this sentence, I would translate it like this. We have a saying in Corsica that says, 'Dogs hate less when they use them.'" ’”