During dinner, Joseph told Napoleon that in nine days he 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, he could find a way to get a vacation and he could bring him along to see the world then.
Napoleon was full of disbelief, but from his eyes, Joseph could see that Napoleon was actually quite a bit tempted, and that those words were nothing more than a duck dying. So while Napoleon thinking about this matter of time, hurry will eat a few more pieces of meat.
Sent away his brother, Joseph or continue in Louis the Great school to continue the last section of the course. That morning, having just finished a lesson in rhetoric, Joseph walked out of the classroom and came face to face with Amand.
"Ah, isn't that our great scientist?" Armand walked over with a big grin, "Hey, I can't believe you could write a paper like that! Hey man, you have to make it up to me, because of Fingers sake, I don't know how hard my days are these days. You don't know, these days my uncle praises your talent every day, and my father-sama is even taking you to educate me twenty-four hours a day ... It's because of you that these days, my mind has suffered a great deal of 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 own estates, they'll always remember only the stupid kid's in their own family. So it's really nothing, you don't even need to get upset about it."
"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 damned old man actually didn't object. My goodness! This is really breaking my heart ... No, you have to make it up to me."
Fanny was Ah Mang's sister, Ah Mang had always favored this sister very much and always liked to show off in front of others that he had such a sister. But if any of his fox friends expressed their wish to get to know this cute girl, Ah Mang would immediately flip out with him. Because Ah Mang knows very well that his friends are all unreliable and unreliable like him, these guys should know what kind of girls they shouldn't get close to. And for such a guy to actually dare to offer to get to know Fanny even though he knew that she was Amang's sister, it was not just a matter of having bad intentions towards his own sister, but it also showed that he didn't consider Amang as a friend at all. So naturally, Amang 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, tell me what compensation is required of me!"
"So dry?" 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.
"Well," Armand let go, but then he suddenly responded, "And you're not even honored? I can't believe you don't 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 really nothing." Joseph reassured him, "You're still saved, don't give up on your treatment - well, actually, I was going to say, well, your sister is blessed to have an older brother who's so capable of defending him. But there are so many irresponsible playboys in this day and age."
"But to say, among those friends of mine, you're kind of a rare one who isn't particularly assholeish or dangerous, and is a bit more like a decent guy. So, you're a little closer to Fanny, and 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 has invited some friends over to our house to celebrate her. I think, among my fox and dog friends, only you are slightly more like a person ... How about it, have you got time? It's not allowed to say you don't have time, I know you, you don't have anything at all going on right now. I've already made a promise."
"Day after tomorrow?" Joseph looked up at the sky, "It's supposed to be sunny for a few days. I still have time to send that suit of mine to the cleaners."
"Hey Joseph, you just got a six hundred franc bonus, aren't you going to get another formal outfit? It's a good idea to have at least four sets of those to keep in rotation. But ... you don't socialize much 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 said that even though you are short of money now, you will definitely be richer than him in the future." Armand said.
"So, what gifts do I need to bring over?" Joseph asked.
"No need, no need." Amand said, "It's good that you came."
...
In response to Amand's father's invitation to their home, and Amand's vaguely revealing intentions, Joseph actually made sense when he thought about it.
The Lavoisier family was a Parisian aristocrat, although the title was not high, just a mere viscount. But the Parisian nobility is always very proud, not to mention Joseph such as "Corsican nobility", even "provincial nobility" in their eyes is only a synonym for ignorant bumpkin. If there were a few decades earlier, a person of Joseph's status would not have been qualified to be the guest of honor at their home.
However, today is different from a few decades ago. Over the years, the economic situation in France was not so good, which also affected the income of the nobles. All things are expensive in Paris, and it is not easy to live there. The Parisian aristocracy, especially the lesser aristocrats of Paris, are generally having a hard time today. Amand's father and the great chemist Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier were cousins. Compared to the great chemist who was good at business, the financial situation of Amand's family was much worse. Although they had the status of nobility, the output of the limited fields could not support the expenses of Amand and his family, especially in this family, there were two playboys in the premise. If not for the help from their cousins, the family would have been in debt by now.
Now Armand's younger sister was also growing up. In order to keep the family fortune and status of a small noble family during this period, the sons other than the eldest son were often unable to get any family fortune and could only become such as lawyers, merchants, artists, and the like. Relying on their own skills to support themselves. As for the daughters, there was even less security. Generally speaking, a daughter of a noble family would have to come up with a large dowry if she wanted to marry a noble of comparable status. This was a very heavy burden for many noble families. Therefore, in order to save dowry money, some noble families would reduce the dowry and marry their daughters off to the provinces, or even simply let their daughters enter a convent directly.
From previous conversations, Joseph knew that Amang's sister Fanny was very favored in the family. Both Amand and Amand's father loved this daughter very much. Now that this daughter was also older, her marriage became a matter of concern for everyone. If you want to find a family for her, but Amang's family simply can not get so much dowry money to marry a provincial bumpkin? Both Amang and Amang's father found it hard to accept. As for the convent and all that, if anyone dared to mention this path in front of Amang, then Amang would definitely throw his gloves in that person's face without hesitation!
When Joseph thought about his own situation again, it actually seemed to be quite good. He was also an aristocrat, albeit only a Corsican aristocrat, but at least he was considered an aristocrat. He didn't have much money or status at the moment, but the future was quite promising. If Amang and his family married Fanny to himself, first of all, he definitely didn't have to pay much dowry. And as he was also someone that Armand knew and trusted, coupled with the comment that the Grand Chemist had made about him, there was no need to worry about Fanny not having a good time in the future after she really married him. With this in mind, Joseph felt that this invitation from Amang and his family was understandable.
Two days later, Joseph put on his only set of formal clothes, took a public carriage, and arrived at Armand's house on Le Paltier Street. Getting out of the carriage not far from the entrance of the Armand house, Joseph looked in all directions and saw at once the ruins of the famous Royal Opera House.
This opera house was the same one that was featured in the famous musical "Phantom of the Opera" in later years. It was built in 1671, but was destroyed in a fire in 1763. It wasn't until the Second Empire that this opera house was rebuilt. Today, there are only ruins after the fire.
Amand's house was next to these ruins. As an aristocrat, his house was not small, with a small two-story building, and two gardens in the front and back.
Following the address, Joseph came to the door. By this time, the sound of music was already faintly emanating from the small building. At the door, there was a servant waiting there to greet the guests. Joseph walked up and identified himself to him. The servant immediately went in to inform him, and in a short while, he saw Armand come out from inside with a smile on his face.