His Excellency the Count of Grandet

Alphonse was taken aback by this sudden statement. "You want to go? Are you kidding?" Although Charles had never expressed his opinion on this matter before, isn't Guillaume very taboo?

Charles immediately guessed the reason, and couldn't help frowning slightly.Even Alphonse reacted so strongly, let alone his father?But he really wanted to go to Saumur—he needed to meet his uncle, who was known as the head of the miser in the world; Everything is first class.If he wanted to get his family's business out of the shadow of Logan and Su Xie, he had better look at the typical successful cases of this era so that he could have a reference for himself.

But it was too early to say such words to Alphonse. "It's been a long time since I went out," Charles curled his lips. "I want to go hunting in Bowen's forest, and maybe visit my dear cousin by the way."

Alphonse glanced at him, thinking he understood why. "So you've already set your sights on a new target?" He asked with interest, but also a little suspiciously, "Have you seen her before? Can inland women be more beautiful than Parisian women?"

Charles just mentioned it casually just now, how did he know that Alphonse wanted to be wrong all of a sudden? "I haven't seen it." He was a little annoyed, "Is there any problem if I want to go to my uncle's house for a while?"

"Of course not!" Alphonse was keenly aware of the change in his tone, and decisively changed the subject: "Then do you want to talk to that Grassin? He should know more about the situation at Saumur, right? "

"Where is he?" asked Charles.

Alphonse snorted. "Over there, a tall blond young man with a pale face. I heard his name is Adolphe de Grassin. His father was an officer in the Imperial Guard and retired due to injury."

Between his words, he was still quite contemptuous.Because Mr. de Grassin's military rank is not high in the first place, and his influence will be even lower after retiring; if it weren't for the aristocratic connections of Mr. de Grassin's family, Adolph would not be able to enter this ball at all.

Charles looked in that direction and found the person easily.Immediately he noticed that there were so-called mainlanders in the circle over there, who could be distinguished from the clothes they wore; it was even more obvious that Parisians didn't like to take the initiative to talk to mainlanders.If he rushed over right now, he might become the focus of the audience. "Forget it," he shook his head, "Uncle has always kept a low profile, I'm afraid he doesn't know much."

This means that it will not pass.Alfond suddenly became happy, and said, "I'll just say, why don't you talk to him?" He touched Charles with his arm, and pointed in another direction, "The Duke of Orleans is here today, why don't we go there? "

Charles was slightly surprised.He had already noticed the most people around the front court just now, and he was wondering who the big shot was, but he didn't expect it to be a duke.

Judging from the information Charles inquired in the first three months, Louis Philip, Duke of Orleans, supported the Jacobins in his early years and was once a major general in Napoleon's army.He was still duke of Chartres until his father was executed by the Jacobin government.Since then, he has been in exile abroad, and did not return to China with Louis XVIII until a few years ago.

This experience is not very special, but the important thing is that this name is really familiar, as if it is a certain king in the future.

"Seriously," Charles stared at Alphonse with a half-smile, "is this the real thing you're talking about?"

Alphonse was quite righteous in the first place—in the current world, who wouldn't be eager to curry favor with someone higher than himself—but he felt guilty for some reason when he was given such a light glance by Charles. "I'm also looking for opportunities for you." He barely found a reason, his face was about to turn red, "The eldest daughter of the Duke of Orleans, Mary, is 14 years old..."

If Alphonse hadn't remembered to keep his voice down, Charles would have ordered him to shut up.But now he can't stand it anymore, "It's okay to go, but don't talk about what you have!"

Alphonse always felt that he was a little older and shouldn't be angry with a young man like Charles, so he readily agreed. "Okay, but why?"

"You think too much," Charles explained helplessly, "it's not my turn to do this kind of thing. With a family background like the Duke's, the daughter will definitely marry a prince from another country." Especially when the Duke of Orleans became king after!

Alphonse naturally didn't know about the king, but he also knew that this was the reason he forced out, and the possibility of it being realized was very small. "I……"

"One more thing, I think you should also know." Charles shook the champagne in his hand, the amber liquid shone brightly in the candlelight, "There is no reason, how can we go over and talk to each other?"

His consideration is very practical.Because of this kind of ball, although many people are invited, people will automatically and spontaneously divide into several parts according to their identities.The ones in the middle are naturally of high status, and the ones on the side are either whispering or low status.Just like Adolph can't come to him to strike up a conversation, he can't casually strike up a conversation with the Duke of Orleans-kneeling and licking are too obvious, people won't talk to you at all, they are just humiliating themselves!

Alphonse looked hesitant to speak, glanced at Charles and then quickly moved away.

"Why didn't you say it this time?" Charles was aroused by his reaction.

"The Duke of Orleans is equipping his army with some necessities." Alphonse approached Shire and said in the lowest voice, "Guns and ammunition, as well as special wine suppliers."

The expression on Charles' face did not change, but his eyebrows were raised slightly.Supplier to the military?This is indeed a good choice.The demand for the army is large and stable, and the credibility is much higher than others; especially the Duke of Orleans, who has a promising future, can't afford it.

"There is only one problem - although it has not been made public, there are already many people who know about it." Alphonse continued, quite distressed. "You also know that everyone is staring at such fat meat!"

Hearing this, Charles looked at the group of people again.Sure enough, he found that most of them were competitors of his Grandet family and the Compang family.And since Alphonse knew it, his father Guillaume had no reason not to know, but Guillaume didn't tell him about it.

That is to say, either Guillaume thinks he can't help, or Guillaume has decided to give up.

But to be honest, the strength of the Grandet family in Paris is really not to the point where the stars are holding the moon, otherwise Guillaume would not have sharpened his head and wanted to sell his son.So Charles felt that the latter possibility was higher.After all, there is already a gap in strength, and Guillaume has a good face, so it is really impossible for him to stalk him to solicit business.

"Your father asked you to come?" Charles asked Alphonse, already knowing it.If I can't do it, I can change my son, and I can't just watch the opportunity slip away!

Alfond suddenly had a bitter face. "He has tried all kinds of methods, and he can't even see anyone who can connect. Today I can only try it. It's good if I can get a sip of soup. But..." He looked around the circle The crowd, shrugging their shoulders, obviously had enough energy to spare.

Charles pondered for a while, and found that his situation was no different from that of Alphonse.If there is a stable sales channel, he doesn't have to worry about what Logan and Su Xie will do, because the funds will definitely return.But he didn't know anyone who could speak in front of His Excellency the Duke; Lafayette was definitely able to speak, but they just exchanged greetings, and it was impossible to ask him.

It's a pity that such a large piece of fat can be seen but not eaten...

On the other side, the Duke of Orleans was surrounded by a group of people, already a little impatient, although he still had a polite smile on his face.Because of his previous experience, he is essentially a typical skeptic, so no matter who it is, it will take a lot of effort to convince him.His suspicions deepened when other people's intentions were so obvious.

Thinking of this, he suddenly thought of what happened a few days ago.That day he was waiting for the king to be summoned in the reception room of the Tuileries Palace. When he was extremely bored, he ran into Victor who also entered the palace at the same time.

A senior aristocrat and a bank tycoon have a very high chance of meeting each other when attending a rally, and the two are fairly familiar with each other.So while they waited, they struck up a conversation.He inadvertently mentioned some annoying things that he had to do—for example, being approached by people either tactfully or bluntly, thinking that he was hiding it well, but in fact the purpose was already written in their eyes.

At this, Victor only smiled inscrutablely.Under his questioning, Victor told the truth——

"That's because you haven't seen a man named Charles Grandet. You can't imagine, it's really an underage young man."

Victor said so, but His Excellency the Duke was quite skeptical.At the same time, he also knew that Victor's eyes were actually higher than his head, which was already considered a compliment.So after thinking about it at this time, he only slightly raised his eyes and asked, "I heard that this is the largest dance party recently?"

The others nodded, not knowing what he was referring to. "That's right, Mr. Nucingen has put in a lot of effort this time!"

"That means that everyone who is supposed to come will come?" the Duke asked again, his tone raised lightly, "Where's Guillaume?"

He said that on purpose.After all, Charles was young, so it was strange to know his identity.But Guillaume is different, people will only think of other aspects when they hear him ask such a question, such as the special wine supplier they are most concerned about.As for whether this will bring trouble to the Grandet family, it is not in the Duke's consideration at all.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.I haven't heard that Guillaume has a personal relationship with His Excellency the Duke?Although they all thought it was a bit strange, the clever man had already walked away quickly to look for Shire.

So when Charles approached in a daze, he immediately noticed that the aura around him was not right, as if everyone was hostile to him.And when he met the gray eyes of the Duke of Orleans, he didn't miss the flickering scrutiny and suspicion——

Wait, he doesn't seem to have done anything to offend His Majesty the future king, right?