Facing Nightingale’s complint, Jero Bonaparte and Empress Augusta both smiled.
After a while, Jero Bonaparte curiously asked, "By the way! Miss Nightingale, why didn’t I see you among the crowd earlier!
Also, shouldn’t you be working at the nursing school! How did you end up here!"
"Your Majesty, please allow to answer your questions one by one!" Nightingale politely replied to Jero Bonaparte.
Jero Bonaparte showed a hint of awkwardness on his face, then waited silently for Nightingale’s answer.
"Please forgive for not attending your welcoming ceremony earlier!" Nightingale first apologized to Jero Bonaparte, then explained, "Earlier, a patient’s condition worsened, so I couldn’t be present!"
"It’s nothing!" Jero Bonaparte shook his head and responded to Nightingale, "Nightingale, you are truly a responsible nurse!
Everyone in this hospital should learn from you!"
"I’m just fulfilling my own responsibilities!" Nightingale humbly replied to Jero Bonaparte.
Subsequently, Nightingale told Jero Bonaparte that she ca to help here when the nursing school was not busy.
Nightingale believed it was better to assist at the charitable hospital than to waste ti sitting in an office.
For Nightingale’s spirit of selfless dedication, Jero Bonaparte and Augusta naturally praised her.
Shortly after, Jero Bonaparte chatted with Nightingale for a while until ti no longer permitted him to stay, and then he and Empress Augusta bid farewell to Nightingale and left.
After leaving Nightingale, Jero Bonaparte made a simple round in the hospital, shaking hands with a small portion of patients lying in beds and offering them encouragent before leaving.
Before leaving the hospital, Jero Bonaparte took out a Bank of France check worth 100,000 francs and handed it to the director.
"Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress has already sponsored us!" The director wanted to refuse Jero Bonaparte’s donation.
"Augusta’s donation only represents Augusta’s personal act; I represent the Imperial Governnt in donating to your charitable hospital! Take it!" Jero Bonaparte said to the charitable hospital director.
The director accepted Jero Bonaparte’s 100,000 franc check and promised Jero Bonaparte that he would do his best to heal every patient.
"Hmm!" Jero Bonaparte nodded, then sincerely said to the director, "My attitude outside the hospital earlier was indeed sowhat rude!
Please don’t take it to heart!"
"Your Majesty, it’s nothing!" The director shook his head and responded to Jero Bonaparte, "You were right! The hospital is responsible for saving lives; it was indeed my dereliction for calling all doctors and nurses out earlier!"
Then, Jero Bonaparte and Augusta left in a carriage under the director’s farewell.
While riding in the carriage, Jero Bonaparte thought of the patients in hospital wards suffering from ailnts and subconsciously let out a sigh.
No matter how much money I spend, it’s only rescuing a small portion.
There are still many troubled people in this era.
"What’s wrong?" Sitting beside him, Augusta was puzzled by Jero Bonaparte’s sigh, so she turned and asked him.
"It’s nothing!" Jero Bonaparte said in a calm tone, while inwardly mocking himself.
Jero! Jero! As the biggest pest of this country, you can still sympathize with those you exploit!
Soon, the carriage stopped at the gate of a welfare institute.
Jero Bonaparte and Empress Augusta alighted from the carriage again; this welfare institute was run by a church, and the managers were several nuns.
At this mont, they were leading a group of children at the welfare institute’s gate, each holding a bouquet of flowers in their hands.
When Jero Bonaparte and Augusta reached the gate, the nun hurriedly ordered the children to run over.
A group of children holding flowers rushed towards Jero Bonaparte and Empress Augusta. Jero Bonaparte hurriedly responded, "Slow down! Don’t fall!"
Despite Jero Bonaparte’s reminder, a child still fell to the ground, scattering the bouquet in his hands.
The nun’s face changed accordingly, and nearby children also slowed their pace, subconsciously looking at the fallen child.
The fallen child lay on the ground, enduring pain, trying to get up. Seeing this, Jero Bonaparte strode to the child’s side, helped him up, then crouched and gently dusted off the child’s dusty clothes while saying in a slightly reprimanding tone, "Didn’t I tell you not to run!"
"But... but..." the child said with a sobbing tone to Jero Bonaparte.
"Be brave! Don’t cry!" Jero Bonaparte encouraged while stroking the child’s head.
The child finally stopped sobbing, then squatted on the ground to pick up the flowers.
Jero Bonaparte also helped the child to gather the flowers, and the fallen flowers on the ground were soon collected by the two of them.
"Your Majesty, here you go!" The child handed the flowers to Jero Bonaparte and said.
"Thank you!" Jero Bonaparte politely replied after receiving the flowers, "But you should call Godfather!"
"Ah?" The child timidly said, "Godfather!"
"Hmm!" Jero Bonaparte gently patted the child’s head again and then looked around all the children present, saying loudly, "Not only am I his godfather, but I’m also the godfather of all of you, of all the children in France who have lost their parents!
You are all children of France, and also the godchildren of the Empress Augusta and myself!
You must rember, you are not alone!"
As Jero Bonaparte’s voice fell, the crowd separated by the Imperial Guard clapped once again.
Among the applause, Jero Bonaparte and Empress Augusta led a group of children into the Welfare Institute.
"Ms. Mary Odense, on behalf of France, I thank you for your dedication to these children!" Jero Bonaparte sincerely said to the nun in front of him, who was nearly 50 years old.
"Your Majesty, this is what I should do! God taught us to..." Maria Odense spoke piously to Jero Bonaparte, reciting tedious scriptures, which Jero Bonaparte patiently listened to.
After that, Jero Bonaparte donated 20,000 francs to the institute under the na of Godfather.
As for why the donations to the Welfare Institute are much less than those to the hospital.
It is naturally because the hospital’s expenses are greater, and 20,000 francs is already the net profit of a small to dium-sized enterprise for a year.
To support a Welfare Institute is more than enough.
"Your Majesty, may God bless you with everlasting health!" Maria Odense said to Jero Bonaparte as she accepted his donation.
"Thanks for your kind words! Ma’am!" Jero Bonaparte said with a smile.
Amid the children’s reluctance to part, Jero Bonaparte and Empress Augusta left the Welfare Institute and headed to another Welfare Institute.
After visiting several Charitable Hospitals and Welfare Institutes in succession, the skies began to darken.
Gazing at the faintly visible stars outside the window, Jero Bonaparte and Augusta boarded the carriage, "Let’s go! To the Paris Opera House!"
The carriage set off once again for the Paris Opera House, and Augusta, slightly fatigued, whispered to Jero Bonaparte: "Why don’t we go another ti?
We’ve been on the move all day, we’re tired! Those generals accompanying us are equally exhausted!!"
"Augusta, the Paris Opera House has specially reserved a box for us! If we don’t go, wouldn’t it be awkward for them?" Jero Bonaparte found an excuse to say to Empress Augusta.
After hearing this, Empress Augusta refrained from further comnts.
anwhile, the carriage gradually drove into the entrance of Leperdier Street, less than 200 ters from the Paris Opera House.
"Look! It’s the tyrant’s carriage!" said the three Piedmontese who were lurking near the Paris Opera House to Orsini.
"I see it!" Orsini gazed at the distant carriage, his expression sowhat complicated, and sighed inwardly, "Everyone, get ready! Once the carriage reaches the designated spot, we’ll act imdiately!"
The carriage slowly arrived near the Paris Opera House, preparing to enter the exclusive entrance designated for it.
At this mont, Orsini issued the order to the three Piedmontese beside him, "Do it!"
The three Piedmontese swiftly sprang into action, firing three bullets that precisely hit the spotlights and the gas lamps along the street.
The carriage imdiately plunged into temporary darkness, leaving only the tail lantern of the carriage. The Imperial Guard responsible for protecting Jero Bonaparte instantly shouted, "Assassins! Protect His Majesty and the Empress!"
The surrounding cavalry quickly closed in around Jero Bonaparte’s carriage, and Jero Bonaparte also swiftly shielded Augusta beneath him, seeing the situation.
After all, he was the mastermind behind this assassination, and he could not allow Augusta to be placed in danger.
Subsequently, the sound of explosions and bullets striking the steel plates emitted around the carriage, but Jero Bonaparte and Empress Augusta did not leave the carriage.
Not until a distant voice shouted, "We’ve caught them!" did Jero Bonaparte release Augusta from his protective embrace.
"It’s all right now!"
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