Joey sat in the carriage returning from Charlottenburg Palace to the palace with a tired face.

After hearing that he was going to school last night, according to Joey's plan, during the day, Joey should have visited several famous shopping streets in Berlin, especially the century-old chocolate shops on Friedrichstrasse. Joey's favorite chocolate shop in later generations, Mocellos and Celeti, is on this street, and it is naturally the bigwigs William who are willing to pay for Joey.

But the plan didn't change quickly, and just as he was about to leave the house in the morning, Joey's grandmother, Her Majesty the Queen, sent someone to pick him up at the palace because Joey had fulfilled his promise to train him in a four-hour court dance etiquette class this week. In the sympathetic eyes of the insiders who knew about Joey's plan today, Joey had to change his clothes and obediently get into the carriage.

Inside the Charlottenburg Palace, Hall of Mirrors.

Her Majesty the Queen is like a proud swan pointing out Joey's proper dancing stance.

"Chest up, head up, belly tuck, hip lift, chin back, little Joey." Her Majesty kept correcting Joey's stance until she felt that Joey had satisfied herself. "Joey, today you are going to learn a classic French court dance, small dance steps. This is a dignified, elegant, graceful, symmetrical dance. Look closely, I'll show you a show first. ”

As the piano plays Bach's minuet in G minor, the queen slides onto the dance floor on tiptoe like a proud peacock, between rhythmic knee bending and uprightness, her arms swing up and down rhythmically with the music, in the soothing rhythm, the light rotation of the toes, with the rotation of the dance steps, the movement of the dance outlines a perfect figure-8 dance composition on the dance floor.

After a song, the queen returned to Joey's side and asked, "Little Joey, what have you learned?" ”

"Stand on your toes, spread your arms, curtsy, and turn together... Well, it seems like that's all. Joey replied.

"Very good, sure enough, it's smart little Joey, let's start learning beat by beat." The queen was glad that Joey had a good understanding, and seemed to be the material for learning to dance.

But it turns out that understanding alone does not mean that you can master a skill.

"Joey, straighten your upper body."

"Joey, bend your knees, don't forget to bend your knees."

"Don't stiffen your arms, swing them, not like sticks, but to the rhythm of the music!"

'Joey, make your feet in a figure-eight shape.... Oh my God, not to make you walk around like a duck! ’

The more criticism, the more mistakes Joey makes, the higher the Queen's blood pressure, and the higher the blood pressure, the more mistakes Joey makes. A vicious circle is formed.

The queen held her forehead and pointed at Joey and said, "Joey, you little fool is practicing by yourself first, I really can't stand you anymore, I want to go and take a rest." And I'll let the kitchen prepare today's lunch, and I'll be back in 45 minutes, and if you still dance like a stupid duck in the first quarter, you'll be hungry at noon! ”

Joey is now aggrieved like Little Red Riding Hood, the minuet looks simple, and the movements are not complicated, but the first time he learns, he requires himself to dance dignified and graceful... It's too hard, isn't it? I practiced dancing for more than two hours in the morning, and I was in the stage of growing my body, so if Joey didn't eat at noon.... As soon as I thought of this, my stomach was bubbling with sour water and began to protest.

"Okay, in order not to go hungry, I have to continue practicing." Joey can only cheer himself up constantly to settle his stomach protest.

I don't know how long later, the door of the Hall of Mirrors was quietly opened, and a figure flashed into the room, and then sat quietly on a chair by the wall and watched Joey dance.

In the pianist's minuet in G minor, Joey became more and more annoyed the more he danced, and finally he didn't want to think about how to dance the minuet anymore, but began to listen to the guidance of his inner little Waldemar's memory, twisted his body freely, and danced an awkward dance at will. In other words, this awkward dance is actually more like jazz dance music that follows the slow and gentle rhythm of the music, listens to the natural expression of feelings in the heart, and flicks the fingers to gently sway the body to the rhythm of the music.

It seemed that the jazz dance steps were still a little less intense, Joey began to swing his body sharply again, shook his head and danced a swing dance, twisted for a while, and still felt unable to vent the depression in his heart, when Joey just wanted to try to dance the ghost step dance.

A crisp and bright voice suddenly sounded in his ears, "What kind of dance is this?" ”

Sunlight shines through the windows of the Hall of Mirrors on the pale blue wall with silver accents, and a sunny girl in a pink crewneck dress with small black spots, a goose-yellow long-sleeved knit sweater, and a pair of white leather sneakers on her white socks is sitting upright on a chair against the wall.

Under her chestnut shawl blonde hair with bangs, there are curved eyebrows and a pair of big lake blue eyes that are born to smile, although the pink mouth is a little big, but with a straight and straight nose, it is so harmonious, and the peach-colored skin is crystal clear in the sun.

Joey, who was in a trance by this dazzling girl, wanted to explain honestly, this was just an awkward dance that he danced casually, but somehow he said a sentence in French that he couldn't believe, "You, Frenchman?" ”

The smile faded like a cloud covering the sun, and the girl proudly raised her head and shot back in French, "You, German!" ”

"It's embarrassing!" Not only is it embarrassing to dance by yourself, but the way I greet a strange girl for the first time in this world is also so embarrassing. Joey scratched his head and suddenly saw his backpack on the chair.

"I'm sorry, but I mean that you are really beautiful, just like the French." Joey stole a glance at the girl, whose face was no longer cloudy, and asked, "Do you like chocolate?" With that, he opened his backpack, opened a tin box of chocolates, and handed it to her.

"I mean, I'm here to see a German dancing like a duck." The girl looked at Joey with an embarrassed face, then at the chocolate handed over, and then the corners of her mouth curled, and then the big blue eyes of the lake smiled. The smile was like sunlight piercing the clouds, and Joey couldn't help but giggle as he looked at it.

"Celeti chocolate, you German taste pretty good." The girl delicately picked out a piece of chocolate with her hand, squinted and elegantly put it into her mouth, and a smile slipped through the corners of her mouth.

"Can you not call me German, I said I knew I was wrong, I was rude just now." Joey scratched his head again.

"People who don't take the initiative to introduce their names in front of ladies are also rude now." The girl winked at Joey.

Joey got up, straightened up in front of the girl, stroked her chest with her left hand, leaned forward and swung her right hand back, left foot slightly forward, and bowed to the girl in a standard French court bow, "Dear young lady, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Joachim Friedrich Ernst Waldemar, you can call me Joey if you wish." Again, I sincerely ask for your forgiveness for my rudeness. ”

The girl also stood up at the same time, her knees slightly bent gracefully, her right foot crossed with her left foot, gently lifted the hem of her skirt with both hands, and curtsied at Joey in a standard French court lady's curtsy, and said crisply, "Dear Royal Highness Prince, I am Beatrice Marina Louise Vismain, and I can forgive you for your little rudeness now." ”

"Hey" Joey continued to pick up the chocolate box on the chair without looking at it, picked one up and put it in his mouth, then handed the whole box to Mary's hand, sat on the chair and asked with a smile, "Hey, Marina, can you call me Mary?" Who told you to watch a stupid duck dance? ”

"It's Her Royal Highness the Prince's grandmother, Her Majesty Queen Augusta."

"Mary, can you not call me His Royal Highness the Prince, you can call me Joey."

"Your Royal Highness, we haven't gotten acquainted with each other yet, so we can call each other by nicknames." Mary ate the second chocolate gracefully, not looking at Joey at all.

"Mary, I've shared my best chocolates with you, we should be friends now." Joey continued to flicker with a sly heart.

"Your Royal Highness, but you won't tell me what kind of dance you danced just now, what kind of friend is this." Mary continued to eat her chocolate intently and gracefully.

"Oh," Joey looked a little embarrassed, "Tell her there's jazz and swing dancing in it... She must have asked what jazz and swing dancing were, but they were decades before they became popular, and that was a problem. But why did I jazz and swing just now? Ah, Waldemar has a lot of secrets. ”

Mary glanced at Joey's tangled expression and gently wiped her lips with a handkerchief, "Your Royal Highness the Prince, you see, we are not as familiar as you say, am I right?" ”

"Mary, I can tell you, but I need you to keep this secret for me." Joey said a little mysteriously.

"I don't dare to know the secret of His Royal Highness the Prince." Mary said with a pretended seriousness.

"Who the heavens forgive, this is really a disturbing annoyance." Joey sighed inwardly and spread his hands, "Well, Mary, I don't have any secrets here. ”

"Well, in that case, I would like to know what this dance is called?" A smile tugged at the corners of Mary's mouth.

"Mary, this is the year before last I was in a pub in London, and I saw American sailors dancing to the music, and they told me that they were just dancing to jazz music, and they didn't know what it was called."

"A pub in London?" Mary tilted her head, a hint of disbelief in her eyes.

"The year before last, my family went to London to visit my grandmother." Joey lowered his voice, "William and Henry and I sneaked out of Buckingham Palace and secretly went to the tavern. It's true, trust me. ”

Mary stared at Joey with big lake-blue eyes for a few seconds, then suddenly the corners of her eyes bent, and she wrinkled her nose and smiled, "I believe in you, Joey." ”

Under the sunny smile, Joey's heart jumped a few more times. After skipping, Joey couldn't help but laugh at himself, "What a person, how old is it, so no.... But she's so good-looking. ”

"Joey, if you can teach me how to jump. In return, I can also teach the stupid duckling how to do a good minuet. ”

This moment made Joey feel that in fact, learning minuet to be stupid is not necessarily a bad thing.