At dinner, Joseph told Napoleon that in nine days, Joseph would be going to the French Academy of Sciences for an experiment to measure the speed of light. He told Napoleon that if he was interested, Napoleon could find a way to get a vacation, and then he could take him with him to see the world.
Napoleon was full of disbelief, but from his eyes, Joseph could see that Napoleon was actually quite a bit ticked off and that those words were nothing more than a duck dying. So, while Napoleon contemplated the matter, he hastened to put a few more pieces of meat on the table.
After sending his brother away, Joseph still continued the last part of his course at the Louis-le-Grand. That morning, having just finished a rhetoric class, Joseph walked out of the classroom and came face to face with Armand.
"Ah, if it isn't our great scientist." Armand walked over with a big grin, "Hey, I can't believe you can write a paper like that! Hey, man, you gotta make it up to me. I'm having a hell of a time these days because of this pointing. You don't know, these days my uncle praises your talent every day, and my lord father even takes about you to educate me twenty-four hours a day ... It's because of you that these days, my mind has suffered a huge damage ..."
"Ah, Armand." Joseph said, "I sympathize with you, but like I said before, parents always like to praise other people's children in front of their own, but when they're writing their wills and dealing with their estates, they'll always remember only the stupid kid's in their own family. So it's really nothing, and you don't need to be bothered by it at all."
"I'm talking about needing to be compensated for a lot more than that." Armand shook his head and said, "I've seen this happen a lot! But, damn, yesterday, just yesterday, my lovely Fanny actually asked about you too, and said she'd love to meet you. And the damn old man actually doesn't object. My goodness! This is really breaking my heart ... No, you have to make it up to me."
Fanny is Armand's sister. Armand has always favored this sister very much and always likes to show off in front of others that he has such a sister. But if any of his foxy friends expressed a wish to get to know the cute girl, Armand would immediately flip out with him. Armand knows very well that his fox friends are all guys who are just as unreliable as he is and can't be trusted with their lives, and these guys themselves should have the self-awareness to know what kind of maidens they shouldn't be near. And for a guy like that to actually have the audacity to offer to get to know Fanny when he knows she's Armand's sister, it's not just a matter of having bad intentions towards his own sister. It also shows that he doesn't think of Armand as a friend at all. So naturally, Armand wouldn't hesitate to turn the tables on those guys.
"My friend," Joseph said, "since the matter involves your sister, this is indeed a reasonable request. Well, you tell me what kind of compensation I need to make!"
"So done?" Armand's eyes widened, and suddenly, he reached out and grabbed Joseph by the shoulders, "You're dying to meet my Fanny?"
"No. Not at all." Joseph replied immediately.
"Uh-huh," Armand said as he let go, but then he suddenly responded: "How dare you not feel honored? How dare you not want to meet the lovely Fanny?"
"You're sick in the head!" Joseph scolded.
"You're right, my friend." Instead of retorting, Armand sighed and continued, "I know that I'm not quite right when it comes to these kinds of things, but I just can't help myself."
"It's nothing really." Joseph reassured him, "You're still salvable, don't give up on your treatment - well, actually, I was going to say, well, your sister is blessed to have a brother who defends her so well. But there are so many irresponsible playboys in this era."
"But I have to say, among those friends of mine, you're one of the rare ones who aren't particularly assholish or dangerous, more like a decent guy a little bit. So, if you get a little closer to Fanny, I think it's slightly more tolerable ..."
"That's not right, Armand." Joseph said, "That's not what you're supposed to say, don't you hate 'decent people'? Hahaha ..."
"Well, I'm a man of my word, all right. Well, the night after tomorrow, it's my sister Fanny's sixteenth birthday. Our family invited some friends over to our house to celebrate her. I think you are the only one of my fox friends who is slightly more human ... How about it, do you have time? Not allowed to say no time, I know you, you have nothing at all going on right now. I've already made the call."
"The day after tomorrow?" Joseph looked up at the sky, "It's supposed to be sunny for a couple days. I still have time to send that suit of mine off to be washed."
"Hey, Joseph, you just got a six hundred franc bonus, aren't you going to get another formal outfit? You should have at least four sets of these to keep them in rotation. But ... you socialize less and basically don't go to those salons, but you should have at least two sets."
"I'm short of money." Joseph shook his head.
"My uncle says that even though you are short of money now, you will surely be richer than him in the future." Armand said.
"So, what gifts do I need to bring over?" Joseph asked.
"No need, no need." Armand said, "It's good that you're here."
...
In response to Armand's father's invitation to their home and Armand's vaguely revealing intentions, Joseph actually thought about it, and it made sense.
The Lavoisier family is a Parisian aristocracy, though not highly titled, merely a viscount. But the Parisian aristocrats, not to mention Joseph, are always very proud, such as the "Corsican nobility". Even the "provincial nobility" in their eyes is only a synonym for the uninitiated bumpkin. If it had been a few decades earlier, someone of Joseph's stature wouldn't have been qualified to be a guest of honor at their home.
However, today is not the same as decades ago. Over the years, the French economy has not been doing so well, which has affected the nobles' income. All things are expensive in Paris, and it is not easy to live there. Parisian aristocrats, especially the lesser Parisian aristocrats, are generally having a hard time these days. Armand's father and the great chemist Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier were cousins. Compared to the great chemists who were good at running a business, the financial situation of the Armand family was a lot worse. Although they had a noble status, the output of the limited fields could not support the expenses of Armand and their family, especially on the premise that there were also two playboys in this family. If it weren't for the help they could get from their cousins on a regular basis, Armand and his family would have been in debt by this time.
Now Armand's sister is growing up. In order to preserve their family fortune and status, small noble families of this period often prevented all but the eldest son from receiving any of the family fortune. They had to become, for example, lawyers, merchants, artists, and the like. Support themselves on their own skills. As for the daughter, that's even less of a guarantee. Generally speaking, a daughter of a noble family who wanted to marry a nobleman of comparable status had to come up with a large dowry. This is a very heavy burden for many noble families. Therefore, to save dowry money, some noble families would reduce the dowry and marry their daughters off to the provinces or even simply let them enter the convent directly.
From previous conversations, Joseph knew that Fanny, Armand's sister, was a favorite in the family. Both Armand and Armand's father loved to have this girl. Now that this girl is also older, her marriage has become a matter of great concern for everyone. What if they want to find a suitable family for her, but Armand's family simply can't come up with that much dowry money to marry a bumpkin from the provinces? Both Armand and Armand's father found it hard to accept. As for the abbey and all that, if anyone dared to mention this path in front of Armand, then Armand would surely throw his gloves in that person's face without hesitation!
When Joseph thought about his own situation again, it actually seemed to be pretty good. He was also an aristocrat, just a Corsican aristocrat, but an aristocrat at least. Joseph doesn't have much money or status at the moment, but the future looks quite promising. If Armand and his family married Fanny himself, surely he wouldn't have to pay much dowry. And since he himself was someone that Armand knew and trusted, plus that comment that the great chemist had made about him, he didn't have to worry about Fanny having a bad time in the future after she did marry him. Considered in this way, Joseph felt that this invitation to himself from Armand and his family was understandable.
Two days later, Joseph put on his only set of formal clothes and took a public carriage to Armand's house in Le Garnier. Getting out of the carriage not far from the door of Armand's house, Joseph looked in all directions and caught a glimpse of the ruins of the famous Royal Opera House.
This opera house is the same one that was featured in the famous latter-day musical The Phantom of the Opera. It was built in 1671 but was destroyed by a fire in 1763. The opera house was not rebuilt until the Second Empire. Instead, today, there is nothing more than a ruin after the fire has burned.
Armand's home is next to this ruin. As a nobleman, his house was not small, with a small two-story building and two gardens in one front and one back.
Following the address, Joseph came to the door. By this time, the sound of music had come faintly from the small building. At the door, a servant waited to greet the guests. Joseph stepped forward and identified himself to him. That servant immediately went in to inform the public, and in a short while, he saw Armand come out from inside with a smile on his face.