Flowers, Swords and France

While Fran was talking to her friend, her brother was just as she said, staying in his room. Of course, this brother was not as leisurely as his younger sister.

He was reading a letter now.

This was a letter he had just received at a designated place, and the letter was also brought by a special person.

After opening it, the letter looked ordinary at first glance, just a greeting, but after Charles took out some words and reassembled them in the order agreed in advance, the content he really wanted to convey to him was revealed.

"An important meeting will be held in Anlais on the 11th. Please be sure to attend on time. There will be important people present. After arriving at the place, you will receive new instructions. It is top secret."

After reading it, Charles burned the whole letter as usual, and then he sat back in his chair and fell into deep thought.

The content of the letter was simple, and the meaning was of course clear - a few days later, important cadres of the Bonapartist faction will hold a very important meeting in Anlais, a small town not far from Paris.

The fact that he could receive this letter was obviously proof that Charles, or the family of the Marquis de Treville, had been regarded as important core members of the Bonapartist faction.

However, after reading it, Charles was also somewhat puzzled.

Not long ago, the royalists were ambushed by the government and the military police when they held a secret meeting. Since Charles already knew about it, then the people above must have known about it. In this case, why did they decide to call their important members to hold a meeting at this juncture? Aren't they worried that they would repeat the mistakes of the royalists and be wiped out by the government?

No, they would definitely be afraid.

However, since they were afraid and still did it, there must be some extremely important things to discuss or convey, so important that they had to take this risk. In addition, the phrase "important people will be present" is also very imaginative - Charles thought about it and could only come to this conclusion, so he was also looking forward to the secret meeting in a few days.

While he was still immersed in his thoughts, the door of the room was suddenly knocked.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The knock was very heavy.

Charles glanced around him in a very short time.

The secret letter he just received had been burned, leaving no ashes. There was nothing else suspicious around him.

Very good.

"Who is it? What's wrong?" After confirming that there was nothing unusual, Charles asked.

In fact, he knew in his heart that there was only one person in this mansion who could and would knock on his door like this.

"It's me."

As expected, it was his silly sister.

"Oh, Fran, what's the matter?" Charles asked softly.

"Ms. Leoran, I came to visit today."

"Oh, then have fun." Charles answered casually.

"We have been playing for a while." Fran's tone was a little impatient. "We are tired of playing other things, so Mary suggested that you continue to teach her how to play chess... Okay, stop talking nonsense, come out quickly, she is waiting for you in the small reception room."

"Play chess? But..."

"Okay, don't worry about it. It's rare for someone to come and play once, don't make them unhappy." Fran interrupted him directly, "That's it, hurry up!"

Charles sighed softly, he really had no way to deal with this sister.

Well, there is nothing to do now, so just treat it as entertainment to pass the time.

He looked around carefully again, and finally confirmed that there was absolutely no mistake, then he re-adjusted his clothes and opened the door.

Fran was waiting at the door, and Charles patted her head gently.

"Let's go."

"I told you not to pat my head all the time!" Fran said angrily again, and pushed her brother's hand away with force, her face full of anger.

"Hahaha..." Charles laughed loudly, and then walked towards the reception room downstairs.

"You're so slow, you've kept others waiting for a long time." His sister followed closely behind him, gritting her teeth and making a point.

"You didn't wait long, did you? I came out not long after knocking on the door, unless you had been delayed for a long time before that." Charles refuted his sister's fallacy, and then praised her friend. "By the way, Miss Leoran is quite serious about learning chess, and her progress is really fast. At first I thought she was just joking... I didn't expect that she really had the perseverance to learn. It's rare for girls nowadays to be able to do this."

"How rare can it be." Fran seemed to have made up her mind to sing a different tune from Charles today, even if it sounded like she was attacking and belittling her friend. "It's just moving the chess pieces..."

"Well said, it's just moving the chess pieces!" Charles glanced at his sister who was following him, "Some people have spent several years but still haven't learned it. It turns out that there is a gap between people."

Fran seemed to be irritated by Charles's blatant ridicule and stepped lightly on Charles' heel. "Go!"

Speaking of which, this is also a sad thing for Charles.

Since Fran saw Charles fall in love with chess when she was a child, she often pestered her brother and asked him to teach her how to play chess. Charles naturally taught her everything he knew, but the result was...somewhat tragic.

Even at her request, Ciel patiently taught her many times, but as a result, after several years, she had made little progress, and often made some basic mistakes, which was really disappointing. What's even more troublesome is that she doesn't seem to admit defeat and often resorts to it, making Ciel dumbfounded.

There were many times when Fran became so angry that she directly turned the chessboard upside down in order to get a "draw" - in fact, Ciel had already conceded a lot at that time - Ciel would always wonder if he had not The gift of teaching others how to play chess.

Fortunately, judging from the progress of Miss Marquis Leolan, Charles has finally regained his lost self-confidence. In this sense, what this young lady brings is not all trouble.

But... this also shows that this sister is indeed too stupid...

Ciel couldn't help but look back at his sister with pity.

After arriving at the small reception room, Miss Marquis was already waiting there.

"Good morning, Miss Leorain." Charles glanced at the other party, "It seems that you have been looking very good recently, you are shining brightly."

Mary seemed a little happy to see Charles noticing her new outfit. "Really? This is my new choice. Doesn't it look good?"

"You're just here to play at a friend's house. Are you dressed too formally?" Charles replied with a smile, "But of course, she is really pretty. It is a great achievement for me to have such a beautiful girl as my student." "

"After all, I have already started reading, so I should learn from Chengren as soon as possible..." Mary smiled apologetically. "Thank you for the compliment."

Read the original article in Liu#9@书/吧!

"He never praises people casually," Fran took over. "So, Mary, feel free to be happy! It does look good!"

"You're welcome." Charles sat across from her, "Let's get started."

After the game started, Charles was not distracted and began to explain the moves in detail to the opponent while playing chess.

"A strong enough opponent will not waste his chess pieces easily, so if you encounter a chess piece that seems to be easy to capture, don't be too busy to act, think more about whether there is something hidden behind it. , because it is very likely to be a trap..." Charles picked up a chess piece and took a step, "Look, Under the current layout, if I take this step, it seems that you can eat a horse for nothing, but if you really take this step, I will do this... this... and then this..." Then Charles continued to demonstrate After a few moves, "I can checkmate you within a few moves. This is a classic set move that you must keep in mind."

Mary watched Charles's steps carefully, and then replayed the steps herself.

"The same is true in life. Sometimes things that seem easy to get, if you accept them without thinking, will end up paying a high price later..." Ciel sighed.

"Let's just play chess. You always like to talk so much..." Fran, who was sitting on the side of the chessboard, muttered.

Ciel smiled and didn't care.

"But, I think it makes sense." Mary replied solemnly. "This kind of thing happens often in the world... For example, our ancestors once thought that they were born to have everything without having to fulfill any obligations. They were arrogant and extravagant without any scruples, and did not regard the grievances of the people as anything. It happened, but the result was..."

She stopped talking at this point, but the two brothers and sisters also understood what she meant.

Then all three fell silent. In this era, when it comes to this topic, the smart descendants of French nobles will always remain silent.

"Let's play a real game. I'll give you a horse." After teaching for a while, Ciel suggested.

"Okay!" The other party readily agreed.

So the two sides rearranged their chess pieces and started playing chess.

After many careful lessons, the Marquis's chess skills have really improved a lot. In addition, after giving up a big piece at the beginning, Mary chose a tactic of constantly attacking and forcing Charles to deal with it. It was quite difficult, and for a moment I felt like I was too exhausted to fight back. Under heavy pressure, he had to use all his energy to fight.

At the beginning, the three of them chatted occasionally, but later the two players devoted all their attention to the game and gradually stopped talking. Only Fran kept talking, as if to liven up the atmosphere.

"By the way, brother, how was Charlotte's conversation with you that day?" Fran asked suddenly as if she remembered something.

"It's not that good. I said hello, reminded her and then left. After you finished talking to her, I didn't say much to her before she left. This is also good, as it saves embarrassment..." Charles Answer casually.

Wait... He came to his senses. Is this something that should be mentioned in front of outsiders? Really!

He couldn't help but glare at Fran, and Fran looked away.

Charles regained his energy, and after a lot of effort, he found a way to deal with it. With the help of a small trap, he ate one of the opponent's knights, and then slowly restored the situation. Finally, he conceived an ingenious company to checkmate the Marquis.

"Finally we won!" Charles breathed a sigh of relief, luckily he saved his face. "Miss Leolan, I must admit that you are really talented and have made great progress."

"It's a pity that we still lost." Mary sighed.

"It's okay, you just have no experience because you are a beginner, and you will be even better in the future." Charles continued to praise, "Unlike some people, who have studied for so long but have not made any progress, which is really embarrassing for me."

Before Fran jumped up, Charles took out his pocket watch to check the time. "Ah, it's getting late, I have something to do later, let's stop here today..." Then he stood up and nodded to the two girls, and then walked out of the reception room.

After her brother left, Fran also breathed a sigh of relief.

Then she looked at her friend, and then fiddled with the chess pieces with her hands, and put them back to the chessboard situation just now. "Mary, when you played here just now, if you just did this... and then... and then..., my brother would lose the queen, and you would win no matter how you play next."

Mary looked at Fran's moves carefully, and then exclaimed. "Really! Fran, you are so amazing!"

After being praised by her friends, Fran's face was slightly red, she shook her head gently, and smiled. "No, it's just a coincidence..."

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