Mr. Foix is recovering quickly. And that's normal. It's just seasickness. It's the kind of condition that is not bad after not having a good night's sleep. So they went on their way early the next morning, and after a long day of bumping about in four-wheeled carriages, the party finally reached Marseilles, a major town in the south of France.
Both Joseph and his brother were placed in the École d'Orton, an aristocratic secondary school in Marseille, to study French. It was an aristocratic school; naturally, the students were all aristocrats, though only 'provincial aristocrats'. But even the 'provincial aristocracy' is far more 'aristocratic' than the 'Corsican aristocracy'. Other than that, it was almost crushing these two poor boys from Corsica in terms of life doings alone.
At first, when it became known that two poor noble Corsican students were coming to their school, the students were generally interested and welcoming. It wasn't because they were hospitable but because having two bumpkins in the school was also something that seemed interesting to the noble students. It's as if none of the ladies and gentlemen were looking up to the poor people who are ignorant and ill-informed, but everyone would look forward in anticipation when they came to visit. The children of the 'foreign aristocracy' in the school also desperately needed some ignorant and ill-informed noble to make fun of to enrich their empty and boring after-school life. However, they themselves would have been regarded as 'country bumpkins' when they were among the great aristocrats of Paris.
The image of the two men when they first arrived at École d'Orton was also very much in line with the expectations of the aristocratic students at the school. The sea had brought up both men, and both had grown wild and coarse so that their faces were dark and red, and their skins far less delicate than those of his schoolfellows and, at first glance, full of the characteristics of the lower classes. Coupled with the apparent difference in height between the two men, Joseph was tall and thin, while Napoleon was short and stout. If placed in China, the height difference between the two brothers might remind people of Wu Da and Wu Er in Water Margin, and here, the students immediately gave each of them a nickname: One is called Don Quixote, the other Sancho. Until many years later, when Joseph wrote letters to Napoleon, he would sometimes jokingly refer to him as 'my dear Sancho' and end them with 'Don Quixote de La Mancha'. Napoleon would write back, calling himself 'Don Quixote' and referring to Joseph as 'Sancho'. For he felt that, as far as the character was concerned, he was nearer to the knight who fought with the gusts of the windmill, while the sensible Joseph was nearer to Sancho.
The two do have a lot to offer the students of this school as well. First is the accent when they speak. Those noble students in the school, although they are all provincials, but can all speak a mouth with some Parisian flavor of French. The two brothers, well, the older brother Joseph, is still a little bit better in his French, although there is also a serious accent problem, but at least it is still considered French. But not so his younger brother Napoleon, whose French not only had a severe Corsican accent but even had so many Corsican words in it that it was hardly quite French. That's why one of the favorite things those bored students in the class like to do is to imitate the accents of the two brothers, as well as some of their actions that seem rustic to these aristocratic children.
Generally speaking, the more shallow a person is, and the less capable he is, the more he likes to laugh at certain defects of other people and take pleasure in them, especially if the person is going to be clearly superior to himself in terms of ability.
Although Napoleon did not speak French very well, both he and Joseph were quite outstanding in their studies. Naturally, Joseph did not need to be told that it would not be difficult for a traverser from the twenty-first century, who possessed far more knowledge than that of this era, to pose as a hegemonic student in an aristocratic school. Even more, for him, how to conceal his knowledge that was too much beyond his time was the thing that caused him more headaches. Basically, he could easily crush everyone in the school in terms of academic performance, except for subjects like art.
As for Napoleon, although there is no Joseph's brain of those cheating stuff, but he was born smart. Plus, since learning from Joseph about knowledge, especially math, geography, history, and physics knowledge, for the war is important, he is very serious about learning, especially for studying these subjects, and war is closely related to the study of the subject's attitude. Napoleon's natural intelligence and serious attitude toward his studies made him excel in those subjects in which the "provincial nobility" students were so far behind Napoleon, and in almost all subjects except the languages they spoke, they were far behind Joseph.
After being suppressed by these two brothers on an intellectual level, these noble classmates began to enjoy malignantly imitating the brothers' colloquialisms more and more. At first, they targeted Joseph. It was only natural; Joseph was tall, though currently thinner and looking a bit like a bamboo pole, but that was just a by-product of the teenager's rapid growth in height, and who among the young didn't want to grow larger and taller? Moreover, Joseph's looks were good, though his face was slightly darker. Add to that the fact that he's pretty much at the top of his game in every subject, and you say, why wouldn't a guy like that just quickly go to hell?
However, the noble classmates soon gave up on Joseph as a target because whenever they deliberately provoked him in front of him, mimicking his accent and whatnot, they never got what they hoped for in return. They wanted to see Joseph panic or rage in the face of these moves, and whichever of these came back would give them connoisseurship and bring them endless pleasure.
However, Joseph's reaction was completely outside their expectations. When they played their routine in front of Joseph, Joseph did not show trepidation or anger but enjoyed their performance with a smile on his face, and he looked at them as if he were looking at monkeys in a circus.
Naturally, such a reaction could not bring them joy, so they focused more on Napoleon. Napoleon clearly had more weaknesses than Joseph. Napoleon was shorter, had a heavier accent, and had more tanned features. More importantly, Napoleon's reaction was a little funnier. They could easily appreciate his anger whenever they provoked Napoleon in this way.
But they soon realized that it wasn't going to be fun to irritate Napoleon anymore. It's not the same as provoking Joseph; provoking Joseph, while you don't get pleasure, at least there's no danger. But, once he felt offended, Napoleon did not hesitate to launch a counterattack, and he did so in the manner of the worst of men, that is, by using violence, punching, kicking, and even biting his teeth.
The young masters inside the school were all taller than Napoleon, but they all lacked the training to engage in this type of fighting. Fighting skills were also mandatory for nobles, but that meant fighting with a sword. (At that time, it was still popular to solve problems by dueling, and the fighting technique using the rapier became a mandatory skill for the nobles. Of course, as far as those middle schoolers at École d'Orton are concerned, they're not old enough to control a weapon like the rapier, so they usually learn more small sword techniques.) As for the unarmed, barbarian fighting style of fighting with fists, nails, and teeth, they knew nothing about it. And Napoleon was so crafty that it hurt to hit someone, but it didn't leave anything too noticeable. And once the teacher came, Napoleon acted more tragic and aggrieved than the one beaten.
As it turned out, everyone realized that none of Joseph and his brother were all that fun, to the point that they were not fun and made them all sorts of uncomfortable. So, fewer people actively came to mess with the brothers, but on the other hand, the two brothers were isolated from their classmates. But neither Joseph nor Napoleon gave a damn about this isolation.
"This is a bunch of guys who are doomed to history. It's not worth investing even the slightest bit of energy in them. Thinking that such a fellow would later be in the upper echelons of France, when I was visiting Toulon. The anxiety created by the sight of those warships vanished. What's more, you know that I'm not going to be in this school for too long. Mr. Louvre, who teaches math, told me that the school could recommend a student to go to the Military Academy in Brienne this year, a publicly funded military academy, where I would be able to learn a variety of military techniques. If Joseph doesn't compete with me, (Joseph, an over-ambitious fellow with his heart set on those schools in Paris and the University of Paris, doesn't think how old he is. Besides, how could my family afford to pay for a school like the University of Paris?) I felt sure that I would be able to get the spot, since the other spoiled, womanizing sons of nobility weren't even going to study there. Yet I feel like this is the best school for me." This is what Napoleon had to say about those of his classmates at École d'Orton in a letter he wrote to his father many years later during one of his attacks with the opening of Napoleon the Great's letters.
As the letter states, Napoleon won't be able to continue his studies at École d'Orton for much longer. Maybe at the tail end of spring, he'll transfer to Brienne Military Academy. As for his brother Joseph, he was indeed, at this time, as Napoleon said, preoccupied with the Louis-le-Grand in Paris. This school is the best secondary school in the whole of France, and what's more, it has the highest number of scholarships in the whole of France for students who excel in their studies. These scholarships can fully support all the normal expenses of a student's studies and life in Paris. For example, Robespierre, who was to reign supreme in the future, received a full six hundred francs when he graduated from the Louis-le-Grand.