At a quarter past nine o'clock in the evening Berlin time, the dinner of the Imperial Palace officially began, and the male and female guests took their seats according to the pre-arranged seats. Due to the large number of people at this dinner, there were several long solid wood tables for the guests to sit at the ball.

Of course, the most central place of the whole dinner was reserved for the most important guests of the ball, His Majesty the Emperor and Empress of the Second German Empire, Her Majesty Eugénie, the eternal Empress of the Second French Empire from England, His Royal Highness Rudolf, the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Prime Minister of Hungary, Count Andráş, Prince of Prussia, the "Prince of Blood" Karl and Princess Anna, the Duke of Lauenburg, Chancellor Bismarck, who was about to ascend the throne as Prince Battenberg of Bulgaria. Princess Mary of Spain, Duke of Alba, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse, and Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, who was annexed in the Prussian-Danish War, from North Germany, and Prince William, Princess Victoria, and Joey as companions.

Originally, according to Joey's strict court schedule, the underage Joey should have rested in the bedroom early like his two younger sisters. But in view of today's special circumstances, Joey was allowed by his mother to attend the ball, and as for attending the dinner, the crown princess neither agreed nor disagreed.

But Joey had already thought of a rhetoric, there was such a special guest at the ball today, and I, as a friend of the same age, must fulfill the duties of the little master of the palace and not be rude, so that Her Royal Highness Princess Alba is satisfied.

The Crown Prince and the Crown Princess, as hosts of the banquet, sat at both ends of the long table, starting from the right hand of Crown Prince Frederick, first of all Her Majesty the Honourable Empress Augustus, followed by Her Majesty Empress Eugenie, Prince Karl of Prussia, Elizabeth and William, Joy and Mary; Starting with the right hand of the Crown Princess, first of all, His Majesty the Honourable Kaiser Wilhelm I, followed by Prince Anna, Crown Prince Rudolf and Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, Chancellor Bismarck, Count Andráhi, Princess Victoria and Prince Battenberg.

The whole principle of sitting follows the principle of the right hand in the nineteenth century, with the most honorable person sitting on the right hand of the man and woman, the visiting husband and wife sitting separately, the couple or young man and woman sitting together, and the person who has a conflict should be separated.

Of course, there is also an implicit rule, the closer the guest is to the male and female hosts, the more important they are, and the person sitting in the middle of the long table is either too familiar to be greeted, or too troublesome to be greeted.

This dinner of the Imperial Palace is naturally a French seafood banquet organized by Queen Augusta behind the scenes, and the chef is still Franzken, the queen chef who has lived in France for many years.

First of all, Chef Franzken prepared an aperitif and a small snack for all his guests. There are two types of aperitifs, Chardonnay Champagne from the Champagne region of France and Seckert Champagne (sparkling wine) from Germany.

Of course, the current time is Europe in 1879, not after the signing of the Treaty of Madrid in 1891 under the leadership of the French, Europe only recognizes that only three kinds of sparkling wine from the French Champagne region can be called Champagne, so now everyone is still in the era of default sparkling wine is champagne.

The champagne glasses are frozen glasses, tall champagne glasses that have just been frozen by Chef Franzken.

Chardonnay Champagne from France, as soon as it is poured into the glass, fine bubbles float upwards in groups and strings, they are tiny but shiny, and they reach the top like meteors through the golden liquid. The bubbles form a neatly arranged and delicate "cordon" around the walls of the glass, which then disperses to form a golden yellow with the champagne.

Sparkling wine from Germany is a different flavor, the light green Sekt sparkling wine in the champagne glass slightly covered with frost mist, the crystal clear, the emerald color refracted by the candlelight alone is already a human appetite.

Of course, even if it is sparkling wine, the crown princess is not allowed to touch Joy and Mary, and under the nose of the crown princess, Joy and Mary only have two simple glasses of juice in front of them.

With snacks such as salted almonds, salted olives and baking soda crackers on the table, guests began to chat with each other over the long aperitifs of a French meal. According to the tradition of the nineteenth-century aristocracy, the five aspects of work, money, health, religion and sex should be avoided at the dinner table, and the topics must be light-hearted and humorous, so that the conversation at the table is either music and drama, or gossip about who is married to whom, who is going to marry whom, and of course the most popular topics are always humorous jokes.

Poles and Slavs are the objects of joke that Europeans like to joke about, but Gypsies (Jim people) are the objects of ridicule throughout Europe, regardless of class. Of course, in this regard, Joey also has a bit of a white-left view, thinking that it is okay to ridicule Jim, but there should be no discrimination. But in reality, the jokes about gypsy at the dinner table are basically not the slightest bit politically correct, according to Joey's previous life.

Stunned by two jokes about gypsy, Joey decides not to let them taint his young and pure heart.

Mary also disliked such jokes, and muttered quietly, "There are no lowly peoples, only lowly discrimination and prejudice." Mary looked at Joey with a surprised look on her face and said proudly, "Stupid duck, don't you think women are not worthy to talk about politics!" ”

"No, no, Mary, I think you're right! That's the most correct thing I've heard at the dinner table tonight. Joey complimented sincerely.

A smile hung on Mary's brow, "Of course, I think Gypsies also have their own problems, and we must admit that their vagrancy, theft and child trafficking are very shameful things, but legal matters must be punished by law, and simple discrimination cannot solve any problems." ”

"Well said, Mary. You know, I also hate Gypsies very much, especially since they use the logic that I am weak and I am reasonable, and go around in Europe to cheat special interests. Joey happily agreed.

"Special interests? What are the special interests of the Gypsies in Europe? Joey, you won't accept the racist fallacy of the Frenchman Gobinow, like my fellow Frenchman, will you? Mary stared at Joey unceremoniously with big blue eyes, and if Joey revealed something incorrect, Mary might have eaten Joey.

"Nope!" The more critical the moment, Fang showed Joy's true colors as a graduate student in psychology, and Joy said without changing his face, "I just think that Gypsies are discriminated against because of environmental problems, and they also have their own problems." Mary, I think so, if a person wants to change, he may only need a change of thought, and the change of a group may rise to the level of sociology, and it needs the help of society. But I fear that the Gypsies will turn this social help into a benefit that can be cheated, and that's what I want to say, fear of being cheated out of a special benefit. ”

Mary tilted her head and blinked, and after a moment of obvious thought, she nodded, "I like the neutral point of view, I don't like the leftist view that is now popular in Europe, and I don't like the right view that is popular now, and your point of view is quite neutral." Joey, your political views are quite qualified in my opinion. ”

Taking advantage of Mary's turn to drink juice, Joey secretly wiped the sweat from her palms, "Oh my God, I didn't expect Mary to be a beautiful political woman, with looks and thoughts, I really like it....."

And Princess Victoria, who eavesdropped on Mary and Joey's conversation while talking to others, had a smile on her lips.

The old prime minister sat in the middle of the long table, and according to table manners, the importance of belonging was neither high nor low, but it was the most difficult to communicate with the host. The old prime minister looked at the table full of people chatting happily, and could only laugh at himself, "Fortunately, no one likes me at this table, even if someone likes me, I don't have anything to gossip about, the French meal is delicious, but this long aperitif time is really boring." ”

The old prime minister picked up the champagne glass in front of him, and slowly observed the faces of everyone at the table through the cover of the glass.

"The Empress of the Imperial Liberals seems to have forgiven her son. Hehe, if this continues, Prince Alexander and the Bishop of the Adolf-Stockk court will be in trouble. Well, it should be said that the prince of the Russian court in Germany and the famous anti-Semitic bishop are going to be in trouble, hehe, I don't know what is going to happen, and I really look forward to it. Prime Minister Bismarck took a sip of champagne, and the aroma of flowers and citrus immediately filled the old prime minister's mouth, "Oh..... The French are really good at winemaking, and even in agriculture! Chancellor Bismarck exclaimed sincerely.

After sighing, Bismarck turned her gaze to Empress Eugenie, but found that Empress Eugenie's mind was obviously not on the conversation, she glanced at the other end of the table from time to time, Bismarck followed her gaze, but found that Empress Eugenie's granddaughter, Princess Alba, was chatting with Joey.

This scene is immediately clear without the old prime minister's deep thought, "Hehe, although this little guy believes in the crooked reasoning and heresy of socialism, which makes me very unhappy, but I am very happy to find a French princess, especially the granddaughter of this domineering queen." Well, there are no Germans in history who can marry a French woman, and this Princess Alba is obviously a beautiful embryo, if a German marries a French beauty, hehe, I can't wait to see the French left, oh, it should be the stinky face of all French people. ”

The prime minister, who was in a good mood, took a sip of champagne with satisfaction, and felt more and more that this French champagne with a fruity aroma could match the heroic heart of a Prussian man.

The old prime minister's eyes turned to Karl, the "blood prince" who was having a warm conversation with Empress Augusta and the crown prince, looking at the German war knife among the four founding heroes of the German Empire, the old chancellor's thoughts couldn't help but drift to the morning information, "Don't say, letting Prince Karl come back from Alsace is really a crooked move." Put the sharpest Prussian knives back in their scabbards, and the French will surely be even more emboldened by this time. Come on Frenchmen, don't let me down, just like you did in 1871! ”

"But...," the old chancellor suddenly moved in his heart, "His Royal Highness Prince Karl's closest friend is Crown Prince Frederick, let him come back as the Attorney General....." The old chancellor glanced to the left, and glanced at William I, who was also smiling with his daughter-in-law, Crown Princess Victoria, "I still underestimate my emperor, and I actually know how to find someone to help my son." Well, if your son doesn't do his job well, I will still criticize him impartially. If he can accept it, it means that he will not be worse than your father after he succeeds to the throne. Otherwise, the ship would be in danger. ”

During the interval when the attendant poured champagne again for the old prime minister, Bismarck looked at William and Elizabeth, who were in love with each other, and now even the blind man could see that they were now in love, and he couldn't help but smile in his heart, "If Prince Alexander saw this scene, he would probably have hanged himself." ”

For the sake of their Orthodox cause, the Hessian family was always proud to marry into Russia, and Alexander, in order to make his niece more familiar with the life of the royal court, could marry the Romanov family as soon as possible, and took Elizabeth into the Charlottenburg Palace under the pretext that the Grand Duchess of Hesse was suffering from diphtheria. I don't know if I learned the royal etiquette well, but I first found myself a Prussian husband, which makes people laugh when they think about it. ”

"It's just that someone asked me to recommend it to Crown Princess Victoria, what about the princess of Elm from Schleswig-Holstein?" Prime Minister Bismarck leaned back a little, glanced at the princess who was sitting on his left, looking at William with a look of spring love, and was in an extremely healthy body, and couldn't help but have a headache.

"Find someone to find out about Princess Elizabeth, and if she is full of liberal ideas like her aunt, Crown Princess Victoria, help Prince Alexander marry her to Russia, and let her go to the Russians! If, like this elm tower, it follows the Prussian tradition, then I am glad to see it come to pass. Chancellor Bismarck secretly made up his mind.

At this time, Count Andráhi, who was sitting on the right hand of the old prime minister, leaned over and whispered to the old prime minister, "Otto, next to me, the motives of the future Bulgarian Grand Duke are not so simple! ”

"Joey, you're right, this Prince Battenberg is not a good man."

In the chat with Joey, Mary unconsciously talked about the absent-minded time when Joey was at the beginning of the Corti Rong dance just now. After listening to Joey's whispered explanation, Mary immediately affirmed Joey's negative speculation about Prince Battenberg.

"This Prince Battenberg, although he has a pretended hot conversation with your sister." Mary looked at the future king of Bulgaria, who was diagonally with her at the table, and whispered to Joey, "But his eyes have been looking for a beautiful lady." That's what he was dancing on the dance floor just now, and when he found it, he started to harass you with his eyebrows. The most disgusting thing is that he dared to be so rude to me just now! ”

After careful observation for a moment, Joey said angrily, "This bastard! And so it was! ”

Joey's gaze immediately fell on Battenberg like a knife!