"Trouble!" Jero Bonaparte nodded and replied to the elderly woman.
"No need to be polite, sir!" The elderly woman, with a kindly smile on her wrinkled face, then asked Jero Bonaparte if he would like to add so sugar or milk.
"Add so sugar! Not too sweet!" Jero Bonaparte replied to the elderly woman with a smile.
After a while, the elderly woman respectfully handed a cup of coffee to Jero Bonaparte, softly advising, "Sir, please wait a mont before drinking it!"
Jero Bonaparte acknowledged with a "hmm" and then began to discuss Marguerite with the elderly woman.
The elderly woman told Jero Bonaparte that Marguerite had t a prince from the Kingdom of Belgium a few days ago, and the two were rapidly developing their relationship.
"However, from what I’ve observed, it seems that Miss Marguerite doesn’t really like that prince! It appears that she communicated with him under certain pressures!" the elderly woman said to Jero Bonaparte, and then secretly glanced at Jero Bonaparte from the corner of her eye.
Jero Bonaparte’s face showed a hint of sha, knowing that Marguerite’s relationship with Leopold was entirely due to his own despicable manipulation of France’s grand principles to force her.
"Nevertheless, that prince was very generous! He paid our miss a significant amount of money!" the elderly woman continued to respond to Jero Bonaparte.
"Isn’t that akin to... being kept!" Jero Bonaparte realized that saying "solicitation" was inappropriate, so he quickly corrected himself.
"Sir, in Paris, being kept is considered fortunate!" the elderly woman replied to Jero Bonaparte in a knowing tone, "Many people, even if they want to be kept, don’t have the opportunity! Like our upstairs residents, they dream of being kept!"
"The upstairs residents?" Jero Bonaparte’s expression froze, and he imdiately asked the elderly woman about the residents two floors up.
The elderly woman pointed to the ceiling above her head and replied to Jero Bonaparte: "Our next floor is mostly occupied by floating interns and junior accountants in Paris, and so dancers with beautiful dreams and students from the Outer Province!
They all yearn for the chance to rise to prominence, dancers hope to be recognized by dignitaries and beco respected noblewon overnight.
Students from the Outer Province hope to enter high society through the study of law.
Indeed, in our country, law is one of the shortcuts to high society. (The fastest route is journalism)
However, I bet the success of each one of them is very slim!
Paris is a city full of dreams and hope, yet also one brimming with sadness and despair.
I have lived in Paris for almost 30 years and have never seen anyone truly take flight!
The vast majority of dancers will muddle through their youth; the luckier ones will save enough for their dowry and leave Paris, returning to marry an honest person. The less fortunate ones will succumb to illness.
And those aspiring future lawyers will live out their lives through one lawsuit after another..."
Jero Bonaparte quietly listened to the elderly woman’s speech and then responded: "Old lady, isn’t that a bit too pessimistic on your part?"
"Pessimistic?" The elderly woman smiled slightly and said to Jero Bonaparte: "Sir, I guess you’re an aristocrat with a notable background!"
"Hmm? What makes you say that!" Jero Bonaparte asked the elderly woman.
"These eyes of mine haven’t aged like my body!" The elderly woman pointed confidently to her own eyes and replied to Jero Bonaparte.
"Well, you could say that!" Jero Bonaparte ambiguously responded to the elderly woman, "But what does that have to do with what I just said!"
"Sir, because you are an aristocrat, the education and path you received from birth were quite different from those people upstairs, one could say that from birth you were destined to stand at a height that so people can’t reach in a lifeti!
Therefore, the information you receive varies greatly from theirs!
Pardon an old woman’s frankness, but we in the eyes of aristocrats of your level might just be a series of numbers!" the elderly woman replied to Jero Bonaparte.
Indeed, when the secretariat recently presented the disaster situation in various provinces (the floods in August and September) before Jero Bonaparte, upon seeing the number of deaths, Jero Bonaparte was relieved that fewer than a thousand had died.
Considering more deeply, it was truly terrifying how hundreds of vibrant lives were swept away by sudden floods.
Each of these people affected their family’s harmony, and the disappearance of hundreds ans at least one to two thousand people grieving.
Yet the fluctuations caused by these numbers at that ti did not hit Jero Bonaparte as hard as witnessing soldier deaths in person on the Cria Peninsula.
"You are right!" Jero Bonaparte nodded and acknowledged the old woman’s words.
"What you see are just rows of numbers, while we can feel it all!" the old woman responded to Jero Bonaparte, "Sir, it’s not that I’m pessimistic, but we live in a pessimistic world!"
With that, the old woman bowed to Jero Bonaparte and said, "I was being a bit talkative just now, please forgive !"
"Madam, you spoke very well!" Jero Bonaparte replied kindly to the old woman and then continued to ask, "By the way, you haven’t said what the top two floors are!"
"The top two floors, ah!" the old woman sighed and replied to Jero Bonaparte, "If the floor below still holds so hope of staying in Paris, then the top two floors have absolutely no hope at all!
The fifth floor houses female workers from a nearby textile factory, and the sixth floor houses construction workers working nearby! They usually squeeze five or six people into a small room, and because they don’t need anyone to serve them, the monthly rent is very low.
(Landlords in Paris often act as both servants and waitstaff, and without anyone serving them, the rent is particularly cheap. The ’Old Gao’ is a typical example.)
Every day they are among the first to leave in the morning and the last to return at night as well!"
"That’s really hardworking!" Jero Bonaparte remarked.
"Hardworking? What’s the use of being hardworking! If hard work could lead to wealth, then they would be the richest people in the world!
Unfortunately, they get up early and stay up late every day to earn only about 3-5 francs. (Each worker earns about 1600 francs annually, while female workers earn 80% of that, which is 1200 francs.)
Their annual salary isn’t even enough to cover Miss Marguerite’s monthly expenses!" The old woman lanted the fate of the top two floors, "To be honest, sir, I once had certain prejudices against those people, thinking their existence was a blemish on Paris!
But as I interacted with them more, I realized they are just like us, with similar dreams!
Our city cannot do without them, yet many people in our city still see them as a blemish on Paris, wanting to drive them out completely!"
"Ah!" Jero Bonaparte sighed and said to the old woman, "People can never fully understand each other!"
Then, Jero Bonaparte casually asked the old woman for her opinion on the Empire.
In his view, the old woman should be one of those discontent with the Empire’s rule.
"To be honest, I am quite satisfied with the Emperor’s rule!" The old woman’s response was beyond Jero Bonaparte’s expectations.
"Why?" Jero Bonaparte asked curiously.
"Sir, I have experienced the Bourbon Dynasty (this refers to both generations of the Bourbons, which to ordinary people, seed no different from each other), and their wages were nearly 20% lower compared to now, while the cost of living was even higher than now!
So, if I had to choose from three, I would rather choose the current Empire!"
"What about the Republic?" Jero Bonaparte asked the old woman again.
"The Republic? Are you referring to the regi that couldn’t even regulate prices effectively?" the old woman answered Jero Bonaparte in a disdainful tone, "Sir, forgive my bluntness, no regi was worse than that one!"
While Jero Bonaparte was talking with the old woman, there was a knock at the door.
"This ti it should be Miss Marguerite!" the old woman said to Jero Bonaparte, then got up to open the door.
When the old woman opened the door, Marguerite happened to be standing at the doorstep.
"Miss, the guest is already here!" the old woman said to Marguerite.
"Guest!" Marguerite hesitated for a few seconds, then looked behind the old woman.
Jero Bonaparte stood up, pointed at his wig and fake beard as if signaling to Marguerite, and Marguerite quickly understood and nodded, "That’s right!"
Then Marguerite entered the room, and Jero Bonaparte hurriedly shook hands with Marguerite and took the initiative to speak, "Miss Marguerite, do you rember ! I am Jero Patterson!"
"Mr. Patterson, I of course rember you!" Marguerite replied to Jero Bonaparte accordingly.
Next, Jero Bonaparte gave the prepared birthday gift to Marguerite and personally put it on for her.
Afterwards, Jero Bonaparte and Marguerite enjoyed a sumptuous lunch together, which also fulfilled Marguerite’s wish.
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