Rimbaud's girl

Vitaly was in a hurry, "Don't sell it! The manor is your ancestral property, so it cannot be sold!" She said childishly, "I just renovated the manor, even I am reluctant to sell it. $Party% novel"

Flaubert smiled, "You child."

"What about borrowing from relatives?"

"I can't borrow that much." He shook his head.

"But it's impossible for the manor to find a buyer right away. Or, take the real estate title certificate and get a mortgage loan from the bank?"

"The manor is worth less than 30."

"You can borrow as much as you can. What about the real estate certificate of the Conmanville family?" The Conmanville family must also have small assets, otherwise Flaubert would not have married his niece.

Mrs. Conmanville said sadly, "It has already been mortgaged."

Vitaly frowned, "So, he doesn't have a penny left?"

Mrs. Conmanville nodded.

Vitaly Fu: That is to say, Conmanville has paid all his belongings, and still owes 38?amazing!

Her mind was a little confused, and she couldn't think of any quick way to get money, "I'll ask the lawyer and the bank tomorrow to mortgage the real estate first. Even if I want to sell the manor, it's impossible for someone to buy it right away. Don't worry about it." Time to sell."

"Take a look at the real estate title certificate." Flaubert took out a file bag from the hidden compartment next to the bed and handed it to her.

She took the file bag, "Let me first calculate what valuable items I have at home, and I will make a list for you today."

She said goodbye and left.

Flaubert was unwell and had to comfort his niece.Caroline grew up with her uncle. Speaking of which, they were father and daughter. If something happened to her family, Flaubert would give her a hand even if he gave up all his property.

I'm so envious.Although Caroline lost her parents since she was a child, she is very happy to have a loving grandmother and uncle.

She went to the study, took out the account books at home, and took another manuscript paper to list the items that could be sold.The manor has a lot of real estate, and the fields are rented out. The rent of several thousand francs is collected every year. After offsetting the personnel, maintenance and daily expenses of the manor, there will be a surplus of about 3000 francs a year. This money must be deposited in the bank Yes, the deposit of 7 francs is the savings of the past 20 years; the old Flaubert’s savings, of course, were distributed to his children after his death. The second son Gustave Flaubert got the manor, the eldest son and others The 3 married daughters got several properties and most of the cash, and Mrs. Caroline should get cash as well;

When Mrs. Caroline passed away, Vitaly only arranged for the funeral, and did not handle her estate. Presumably, it was distributed to her children; Flaubert’s brothers and sisters have their own families, and they can still borrow money. But the amount will not be very large. She is going to persuade Flaubert to borrow money from his brothers and sisters; then mortgage the manor to the bank, see if he can sell some of the property, and scrape together 30 francs.

Sad people!

She doesn't plan to sell paintings right now, and it's not like you can find buyers immediately if you want to sell art. Besides, impressionist paintings are generally worthless now, so she can buy them boldly.Gabriel was rich, but not as much as 30 francs. The only person she knew who could come up with a huge sum of 30 francs at once was Crown Prince Eugene.

But it's impossible for her to suddenly ask him to borrow such a large sum of money. Their relationship is not good enough to borrow a huge sum of money.

She thought about it distractedly for a while.

Damn Conmanville!She became annoyed.Doing investment business is inherently risky, and prudent people should not invest all their money in it. However, there are people who are blindly optimistic, always think that they are smart and will never lose money, and it is useless to scold him now. .

She doesn't understand the laws of this era very well. In the past, there were debtors' prisons in France. Of course, it would be disreputable to go to prison if you can't pay your debts; it seems that there is no law about bankruptcy?Divorce seems inevitable, right?

Such a big event suddenly fell from the sky, which made it impossible for her to keep calm and calm.

It was impossible to hide such an important matter from the servants, and the servants were all discussing in private, what would they do if the master sold the manor?A change of master would surely require a change of servants, who might all have to leave.

Vincent van Gogh soon learned of this.

His first thought was also a mortgage.

"That's the only way to go." Vitaly sighed.

"Or, let's see if there are any valuable works of art or antiques in the manor."

She shook her head, "We've all seen it several times, except for the Titian—"

The old Flaubert was not a collector of art, but there was a small piece of Titian's "Venus in the Mirror" in the manor. Vitaly liked it very much and was reluctant to sell it. Now I am afraid I have to sell it.

She was sad for a while, and tried her best, "It seems that I have to hurry up and copy it. Take the sketch I copied back to Paris tomorrow and ask if anyone wants to buy it."

I have Titian's original works at home, so of course I have to copy them if I have nothing to do. Copying master works is a must for painters.

No matter how valuable Titian's paintings are, they can only be sold for tens of thousands of francs at most, which is still not enough.Titian's original works plus land, a house in Rouen, and a seaside villa in Le Havre made another 7 francs.

She took the list and went upstairs to report to Flaubert, and Flaubert asked her to take out a jewelry box from the desk drawer and asked her to take the jewelry in the box to Paris to sell.

"Go and ask Mrs. Beverly if you can buy it." He whispered, "This is left by Mrs. Caroline. I thought that when you get married in a few years, I would ask you to pick a few—" "

"Sir—" Vitaly felt sorry for him.She didn't care about these jewelry, but she felt that such a good old man should not encounter such a thing.

"Don't be sad, it's not that life is difficult, we have to live in a bridge hole." He pretended to be relaxed, "When we move to Paris, maybe I can write a good script. You won't have to worry about living expenses for a year."

But in fact, they all knew that it was absolutely impossible with his flawless temperament of a perfectionist.

Before, Vitaly never thought that Flaubert would have to sell his property, so he spent a lot of money on buying paintings. She thought that in the future, Flaubert would probably leave the manor to Mrs. Conmanville. A lot of inheritance; if the manor has to be mortgaged, or even sold, she will find a way to get out the paintings bought by her. If Flaubert really moves to live in Paris in the future, he will rely on royalties for income It is impossible to make a living. Most of them can do well by selling paintings. Selling a few paintings a year is enough for living expenses.

Mrs. Conmanville, still tear-stained, took a velvet bag from under her skirt and handed it to Vitaly, but said nothing.

poor woman!

Conmanville was stupid, but it was only a matter of money, and if there were any sex problems, she wouldn't bother with his family.Of course, men in this era generally don’t think cheating and cheating are serious problems, just like Flaubert, they don’t think it’s a big problem to find prostitutes to solve their biological needs—wait a minute!So Paco refused to say what kind of disease the master had, was it because of a venereal disease?syphilis?

She realized later, suddenly realized.

Flaubert was tall and strong, but he had been ill on and off, what she thought was epilepsy and advancing age, and it now appeared that his health problems were serious.Syphilis is also a highly contagious sexually transmitted disease in the 21st century. Only after the introduction of penicillin can cured cases be found. However, because of the strong camouflage of early syphilis, many patients do not realize that they are infected with syphilis, which delays treatment.

There is no penicillin yet, so how are syphilis patients treated at this time?

She was troubled by the discovery of the secret.

She went back to the study.

Syphilis is a venereal disease, that is to say, the risk of infection can be greatly reduced without sexual contact, so she has nothing to worry about.But yes, syphilis obviously greatly reduces the lifespan of patients, which is not very good.She wondered if she should take Flaubert to a doctor who specialized in syphilis?But he might feel too ashamed?

Vincent came in and asked her if she was going to Paris tomorrow. He saw the servants packing her luggage.

She said absently, "I will go to Paris with you tomorrow."

She thought of something and looked at Vincent suspiciously.

"What's wrong with you? Looking at me like that?"

"Where are your cigarettes?"

The young van Gogh was a fashionable young man who smoked, drank, and occasionally had a glass of absinthe.He took out a cigarette box and a matchbox from his coat pocket and put them on the desk.

Machine-rolled cigarettes, filters have not yet been invented.She opened the silver cigarette case and took out a cigarette.Vincent picked up the matchbox, struck a match, and lit a cigarette for her.

"Have you ever been to a brothel?" She asked abruptly through the thin smoke.

Vincent was taken aback, "What, what?"

"You men, don't you think it has nothing to do with sleeping with prostitutes?"

He immediately blushed from embarrassment, and the freckles on his face became more obvious, "You, you are a lady, you shouldn't ask such a question!"

"It's very expensive to have a mistress. If you don't have tens of thousands of francs a year, don't think you can have a good mistress." She frowned: so Flaubert's savings are only the rent of the manor. "Madame Bovary" has always been a bestseller, but She has never seen the royalties, they just used them to support his mistress, and he is not really "supporting" his mistress. "Prostitutes are much cheaper. I heard that there are prostitutes for only a few francs in hotels near the train station."

Vincent looked embarrassed to cover her mouth, "You shouldn't know this."

"Any man with a good brain should not go to a prostitute." She said bluntly: "Do you know about syphilis? You should go to those church sanitariums to see what people with syphilis look like. You guys man--"

She took a few puffs of cigarette in boredom. -->>

Flaubert was a mentally handicapped young man many years ago. Since he got sick, he started a relatively ascetic lifestyle, but we can still see clues from letters from some friends. He occasionally went to brothels, and there were long-term mistress.His character is not bad, he is not married to harm others, and he does not want to give birth to offspring with syphilis, so he can be regarded as a pretty good man in this era.

Vincent didn't know why she suddenly mentioned venereal disease. After thinking for a while, he figured it out, and asked carefully in a low voice, "Mr. Flaubert?"

Vitaly didn't answer him, but just opened the jewelry box, took out the jewelry one by one, and placed them on the desk, "You ask the servant to take down Titian's painting and put it in a wooden box."

At noon, Vitaly, Vincent, and Mrs. Commanville had lunch together.

All three of them were preoccupied and finished eating in silence, hardly speaking.

In the afternoon, Flaubert took his niece to the city of Rouen to find Mr. Da Flaubert.

Vitaly arranged for servants to accompany the car, and after they left, they found a housekeeper.

"Don't worry about the manor. I will try my best to keep the manor, but... I may fire a few people, or rent out the manor. If you rent it out, your jobs will be kept. You tell the servants to stop talking about it, it's not yet necessary When selling the manor."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Ask Paco to come see me."

After a while, Paco came.

Paco was physically strong in order to be able to move Flaubert when he had a seizure or seizure.

"Miss."

"Bring the master's second medical record. I already know what disease he has. Go and get it. I want to see how he is treated."

Paco froze for a moment, "Master said, I won't let you know."

"I already know, and you still keep it from me? Wouldn't the master live a few more years?" She stared at him sternly, "Don't talk nonsense, go get it."

The medical records are quite detailed, most of which were written by Flaubert himself. In fact, it is a diary of medical treatment. It has been recorded since he was in his 20s.According to his description, the treatment of syphilis is really a very painful and terrifying thing. In the early days, he scrubbed the affected area with mercury, which is mercury, so he caused syphilitic epilepsy because of syphilis, and then it may be because of mercury treatment, there will be mercury Damage from poisoning; both syphilis and mercury can cause damage to the nervous system, and Flaubert's undiagnosed mental illness was also likely caused by syphilis or mercury poisoning.

So, the momentary physical pleasure is exchanged for decades of physical pain. What is the man trying to do? !

She wrote to Gabriel worriedly, asking him to ensure that he would never be contaminated by any wronged women, that his body and mind must be pure, and that he would never be allowed to lose his virginity lightly.After writing the letter, do you feel that you are asking too much?But, really scary!She didn't want to risk being infected with syphilis!

Then it occurred to her how bold Flaubert's unknown mistress was!And those married women are really bold!Except for congenital syphilis, the vast majority of female patients are infected by husbands, lovers, and guests. Although they already have condoms, most of them are for contraception; even if doctors warn patients that sexual contact can transmit sexually transmitted diseases, they can The vast majority of men don't know how to take preventive measures; women don't know how to take preventive measures, because most women don't know the relevant knowledge at all.

She was very worried.He also wrote a letter to Arthur, warning him to keep himself clean. If he met a girl from a decent family, he would be engaged and married, and there would be no problem at all;

well!She knew that an unmarried girl in this era should not talk about venereal diseases with her brother and boyfriend, but it was impossible for her to hold back.

As for Vincent van Gogh, his life story is widely talked about in later generations, and he is one of the most famous syphilis patients in the world.Some people think that his illness affected his painting style, and the irreproducible passion shown in his paintings is all because syphilis has damaged his brain.

However, a great painter does not need to mess up his brain to paint immortal paintings.

Vitaly's mood continued to be bad. The next day, she went to Rouen train station and didn't talk to Vincent much on the way.

Vincent thought depressingly: She knows too much!Úrsula would not understand this.

Then he sighed inwardly: So, she is not Úrsula.

She wasn't much of a "lady," and no lady would tell anyone about a whore.

His mind was a little messed up, and Vitaly, who was not like a "lady", did not compromise her charm at all, but made him feel that she was a different girl.

It doesn't fit his imagination of "wife", but living with her will definitely not be boring.

He had read a book called "Love" and concluded from it: a woman should be docile, she should run a house like his mother; she should have several children, don't disobey her husband; Take care of his wife, because women are inherently "weak"; a man wants to be his wife's "master", transform her, create her, and make her a qualified "good wife and mother".

All his affection for Ursula stemmed from his belief that she would be a "good wife and mother".But for Vitaly, he never thought of "reforming her", "creating her", or even becoming "her master".

Mrs. Beverly bought most of the jewelry and gave a very generous price.The few remaining jewelry were not very valuable, so Vitaly put them away and prepared to take them back.

Vincent showed Titian's original work to Uncle Vincent, who was a rich art dealer and gave him a fair price and a cash check.

Vitaly did not return to Rouen immediately, but stayed in Paris for more than a week, looking around at houses.

In Paris in the spring of 1875, the vacancy rate was still as high as 60%. It was very convenient to rent or buy a house, as long as you had money.She didn't think about buying a house before because there was no demand.Flaubert will not leave the estate, and she will most likely live in London in the future.

The real estate of the Oran family is gone, but there are still several properties in France, and a whole villa in Paris with a good location. Gabriel is willing to let Arthur live in his London apartment because Arthur It was her own brother, she didn't think she could talk to Gabriel about it, and Flaubert probably didn't want to live in her boyfriend's house, after all, it was more comfortable to live in his own house.

Vincent accompanied her to look at the house, and the agent thought they were looking at the newlywed house and selling it hard.

Vitaly looks at houses during the day and writes novels in the hotel at night.The room price of the hotel is 6 francs a day, which is considered to be a medium-grade hotel, which is probably equivalent to a three-star hotel in later generations. The standard room in the best hotel in Paris is 12 francs a day.She has some money now, so she won't go to a hotel with poor conditions anymore.

However, because of a bad mood, the writing progress was slow.

The daily "Shangri-La" has already issued a notice for her new serial, but it has been changed to a weekly serial, and the people in Paris are looking forward to her new book.

Everything is difficult at the beginning. With a debut novel that sparked a lot of discussion, the second one should not be too bad.

What to write?Difficulty.

Write about a poor painter who is down and out and ends up dying by suicide or homicide?

Or, a literary young man who was sentenced for homosexuality and finally died in a foreign country?

Or a talented poet who can't get rid of his own class and is trapped in money?

Both are typical, but none of them seem to fit.

Or, to put it another way, the wife who has been married for years only to find out that her husband is gay or bisexual.

The lover of the gifted poet.

Live-in mistress of a poor painter.

Still not good.

In the middle of looking at the house, Vincent was forced to see a church sanatorium in the suburbs of Paris, which housed patients waiting to die in the late stage of syphilis. Both were terrified.After reading it, Vitaly didn’t sleep well for several nights, and wrote a letter to Gabriel worriedly, emphasizing the physical damage and great pain of terminal patients. When the effect of the medicine wears off, she will cry out in pain, as if it will ease the pain a little.

She wrote so vividly that Gabriel turned pale with fright when he received the letter.He showed the letter to Arthur, and both young men were quite frightened.

Cough cough, this matter, although Vitaly came to talk to them, it is a bit weird, but her worry is correct, she also said to the two of them in the letter that they should supervise each other and not allow the other party to go out and mess around.

Arthur wrote back to his sister, promising to protect the chastity of his future brother-in-law; not to be outdone, Gabriel immediately wrote back to his girlfriend, saying don't worry, he promised to be obedient, and he would be optimistic about his future brother-in-law.

While in Paris, Vitaly also visited Guy de Maupassant.

Maupassant has a "de" in his name, which suggests he was born into the aristocracy, but the Maupassant family has begun to decline, and he needs to go out to work; he is a handsome young man, 24 years old, turning 25 in a few months.

Maupassant's uncle, Poitvin, was a good friend of Flaubert's youth. Poitvin died of illness when he was very young. Flaubert was very sad, and wrote a letter to his friend's sister, telling the relationship between him and Poitvin So deep that later biographers think that they have some ambiguous feelings; the young Maupassant went to middle school in Rouen and once went to the Croiswa Manor, but he had not decided to become a writer at that time; he met Fauci again in Paris the year before last. Lou Bai, he just started writing then.

The motivation, of course, is that writing can earn some manuscript fees and improve the quality of life.

There is nothing wrong with the raw drive for money.