By the time Charles got up, it was already dark.

When he had freshened up, he beckoned his servant (one of the few remaining servants in the marquis's house) to prepare the carriage and head straight for breakfast.

Breakfast at Treville's house is quite simple, with white bread and water.

Fran had already sat down at the table, quietly eating bread, and when she saw her brother come to the dining room, she didn't say hello, but just handed me a "Do you remember what you promised me?" Looks.

Charles smiled and nodded. "Leave it to me."

Joy crept up the girl's face, causing a flush on her slightly pale face.

Then, Fran boarded her carriage and went to her teacher's studio to continue the lesson.

She entrusted everything to her brother.

When the light breakfast was finished, Charles stepped out of the house into the courtyard and stepped into the carriage that had been prepared.

"Go to Miss Perriette." He commanded briefly.

Having been there many times, the servant didn't ask much and hurried straight to the sixteenth district to the west.

After a period of jolting, the carriage finally stopped at the door of a mansion outside the Bois de Boulogne.

The mansion occupies a vast area and has an extremely elaborate exterior that is worth a lot of money at first glance. The porter on the other side saw that it was Charles's carriage, so he opened the door and let Charles and the others in.

This is the residence where the famous Lady Caterina de Perriette lived.

In Parisian literary circles, Mademoiselle Perriette was known for her hospitality, as she called her "Blue Stockings", and she liked to entertain poets and writers in her mansion and listen to the history of French literature and new ideas. Over time, this salon became one of the top salons in Parisian literary and publishing circles, and many young writers and poets who were depressed began their journey to fame.

[In the 18th and 19th centuries, there were often young women who organized gatherings to talk to each other about their ideals in life, or to discuss the essays and poems of well-known writers and poets, and Goethe and Byron were the idols of this kind of literary salon, which attracted a large number of female fans. The French jokingly called this literary young woman blue stockings. 】

Yes, Mademoiselle Caterina de Périette was a young woman of letters.

However, in Charles's eyes, she is not an ordinary literary young woman for two main reasons:

First, she has a lot of brains – enough to make her very different from 90 percent of young women in literature.

Second, she was rich enough to make her so different from the 99.99 percent of young women in literature.

A young literary woman with a net worth of millions is no longer a literary young woman, but a well-known literary critic, patron of the arts, and the patron goddess of France's brilliant literary treasures—at least that's what the publishers say.

And today, the charr has come to ask for this patron goddess.

When he walked into the living room of the mansion, Caterina was sitting on the sofa in a loose long dress and was chatting with the guests, and then her eyes showed a slightly playful look in her eyes.

"Oh, our cultist of Turtle Nabas is here, but be careful not to let him turn this place into a battlefield!" Then he gestured for Charles to come and sit on the couch as well. Her joke made the guests laugh.

[Die-hard royalists in Normandy, Brittany and other places in northwestern France often add the letter "Bonaparte" to the letter "u" and deliberately pronounce it as Buonaparte (Buonaparte) as a sign of contempt. Blue stockings are borrowed here to tease and make fun of Charles, who is a "Napoleonist". 】

Caterina had a rather delicate and slender face, her brown eyes matched well with her chestnut hair, and she looked like a traditional delicate lady. However, the thin and straight eyebrows occasionally inadvertently reveal the strong and resolute nature of the owner.

"I'm not here to burn this place to the ground, miss." Charles also deliberately replied seriously.

"Oh, and what is that for?" Caterina chuckled, "Are you here to have fun?" ”

"I'd like that, but I'm sorry......" Charles shook his head, his eyes hinting at him that he was getting serious about something.

"Oh, that's a pity." Caterina understood Charles' eyes, and she smiled apologetically at the guests, who quickly got up to take their leave.

After the guests had left, she instructed her servant to bring two cups of coffee and put them on the coffee table, then made a gesture for the servant to stand down.

Katerina's smile grew wider, and she picked up a cup of coffee and brought it to her lips, her eyes staring playfully at Charles.

"My dear friend, is it time to tell me what you are here for?"

"I'm here to ask you for news." Charles replied dryly.

That's right, under the disguise of being harmless to young literary women, Caterina is an extremely well-informed person, whether in politics and business or otherwise, she can know something that ordinary people don't know.

By extreme chance, Charles discovered the true face of this young lady, and then Charles asked her for information many times, and also sold some information to the other party, so far it is a happy cooperation.

"What kind of news?" Caterina asked calmly.

"A matter of the Marquis de léoland's house." Charles replied directly, "I heard that their youngest daughter was recently sent to a convent. Although this kind of thing is not uncommon to say now, it ...... It is not very common for a daughter to be sent to a convent when she is only fifteen years old, so there must be some reason for this......"

"Huh, hehe," Caterina sneered.

"What's wrong?" Charles was a little confused.

"My friend, when did you fall in love with a girl from another family? That's a strange story. Caterina put the cup back on the plate.

"It's not what you think." Charles denied the other party's speculation, "But looking at you, it seems that you really know something?" ”

Charles looked at the coffee in his hand on the surface, but kept staring at the other party's reaction.

Caterina still had the same unfathomable expression that seemed to be smiling but not smiling.

"You know this better than I do, my friend."

"Huh?" Charles was stunned.

Caterina stood up and walked slowly to the window, looking at the forest in the distance.

"Isn't the Marquis de l'Éorang going to be your relative? Mr. Earl. ”

[The legal heir of the French nobility, before inheriting the title, people use the noble title of one level lower than the title to be inherited, for example, the duke's son will be called a marquis, and the earl's son will be called a viscount]

Charles was taken aback again. "What do you mean?"

Caterina turned slowly and looked at Charles with great affection.

"The eldest son of the Marquis de Léoland, Count Léoland, will soon marry your cousin, Mademoiselle Charlotte de Treville, granddaughter of the Duke of Treville. So you see, their family will soon be your relatives......"

Charles's eyes widened when he heard the news, but after a few moments he was able to control his emotions. "I see." Then he smiled apologetically at the other party, "As you know, although my grandfather and the duke are brothers, they have a very bad relationship with each other, and the two families usually have little contact. So I've just learned about it......"

Caterina had apparently known about this information for a long time, so she just smiled again in response.

Charles picked up the cup again and took a sip, the slightly bitter coffee lingering in his mouth for a moment before flowing into his throat, leaving only a hint of jerkiness on his lips and teeth.

It's a little harder, but it's getting more and more interesting.

Blue Stockings had already walked back to his seat and took a sip of his coffee as well.

"It is said that the marriage between the two families has been finalized, and an announcement will be issued in the near future. However, I can't know more details yet. I don't know very well whether poor Mademoiselle Léolan was sent to the convent because of this. ”

[According to the French wedding customs at that time, men and women should post notices in front of the church before getting married, and the surrounding residents can hold the wedding without objection within ten days. 】

"It seems to be very related." Charles spoke his mind.

However, there is no clue about the specific countermeasures. After a while, Charles decided to ask for help.

"Caterina, my friend, I will not hide it from you: I have been entrusted with the task of taking the poor Miss Léolan out of the convent in ......"

"Must?"

"Yes, it has to be done." Charles replied firmly. "So, I need your help to find out what is the connection between 'the marriage of the family of Léoland to the family of the Duke of Treville' and the fact that 'Mademoiselle de Léoland was sent to the convent'......"

"I'm not being paid...... Caterina looked at Charles with a smirk.

"Of course I'll do everything I can to repay you, but ......" Charles frowned, "I don't have any money right now......"

Caterina suddenly got up and waved her hand in a heroic gesture. "My dear friend, I only want money for others, but for you, I want something more precious than money. Yes, I need your wisdom to finish the manuscript and leave it to me sooner, I have been looking forward to it for a long time, how Madame de Pompadour will defeat her new enemy......"

Charles was a little embarrassed.

Although it was already relatively frugal, the expenses of the Marquis's family were still not small, and the income was very small. In recent years, there has been a growing sense of making ends meet.

Although he is a glorious time-traveler, Charles finds that he has no skills, and what he has learned is completely useless in today's France. So in desperation, he embarked on the path of a writer in the 19th century, specializing in writing some trendy novels for newspapers.

With the gradual stabilization of the times, the glorious and erosive court life of the Louis XIV and Louis XV times of Versailles has once again aroused people's memories and attention. Among female readers, the plots of the favorite concubines and mistresses in the courts of two generations of emperors are particularly sought after - so the French ** novel also flourished and often sold well.

[This is historical fact, not fiction. 】

Speaking of Gong Dou, no country can compare to the Celestial Empire with rich experience, Charles used a pseudonym to transform Gong Dou novels such as Zhen Huan's biography, transplanted them to the French court and then published them to newspapers and publishers, which really became popular and became a well-known cutting-edge writer. And more recently, he has written a book that depicts the life of Madame de Pompadour, the famous mistress of Louis XV.

Blue Stockings is one of the very few people who knows the true identity of this "writer", and has unsurprisingly become a fan of Shire's books, often urging him for the rest of the plot. Perhaps for this reason, she has always been very courteous to Charles.

However, although he earned a lot of francs from this, he was so miserable as a traverser that sometimes he felt extremely miserable when he thought about Charles.

In embarrassment, Charles casually said a few perfunctory words and said goodbye directly.

"Hurry up and finish the ending," until Zuihou, and Blue Stockings did not forget to tell Charles, "Don't waste your wisdom and learn from those shameful bears!" ”

[In 19th-century French theaters, the repertoire of plays generally had a fixed schedule. And when some theater managers decide to adopt a new play because of a need, some of the plays that were first rejected by the theater will be turned out of the pile of paper and staged. At that time, the French drama industry jokingly called this kind of script "bear", which means that it hit a big luck. Later, the concept was applied to other aspects of the literary world and became popular. This is not an invention by the author. 】