Chapter 2495 "The House of Jan Stein"

Jan Stein's wife couldn't tell from the portrait, but she was actually very ill, and owed a lot of money to a pharmacist for her treatment. One day in 1670, the pharmacist rushed in. At Stern's home, all his paintings were searched and auctioned to pay off the debt. That's how the very private painting about his wife came out.

   She is the daughter of a painter who happens to be Stern's teacher. She has nothing but her own face and figure, and a happy family.

There was a time when Stein's work was full of sunshine and wit, with pigeons flying in from distant streets, girls teaching kittens to dance, people taking chamber music lessons, and doctors, patients, and spectators pulling teeth. He became disheartened and stopped painting. Originally the son of a brewer, he finally returned to his old business. He often borrowed alcohol to drown his sorrows. He died at the age of 53, leaving behind more than 400 paintings that were not sold. Paintings, they add up to nothing compared to Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring", a later invaluable painting.

  The biggest feature of his paintings is chaos, but there is harmony in the chaos. The key is that his paintings are cheap, and many people in the era he lived had them in their homes. Despite the tulip mania, and later the Anglo-Dutch War, life in the Netherlands was far from its golden age, and they still put a bouquet of flowers in their home or a painting to add a touch of color to a dull home.

   This attitude to life has created demand for flowers and paintings, and the flower industry in the Netherlands can also be established. Just like some people think that buying flowers is useless, it is better to use the money to buy more affordable things, it is the lifestyle and attitude that everyone chooses.

  When you choose to look at everything with aesthetic eyes, you feel that the world has become different.

She was lucky today. The dark clouds in the sky were like opening a window, and the sun was shining down, forming the Tyndall effect. In addition, there was snow like salt grains, which was very cold on her face, but it was not as cool as the snow in Scotland. The tingling sensation, she closed her eyes for a moment.

  Religion makes people choose to forgive, and she likes Rembrandt's "The Prodigal Son".

  The Queen of the Night chose revenge. The flames of revenge made her do very irrational things, including sacrificing her daughter's happiness and making her a murderer, with blood on her hands.

  Bella loves to torture people, she makes everyone feel bad.

  Choosing "forgive" will certainly be painful for a while, but everyone will feel better, but this "virtue" is very bitter, not as good as "revenge".

   For nobles, honor is their life. In order to protect themselves or their families, etc., they will invite duels. For this reason, many unnecessary deaths are considered stupid.

This is where honor and religion mentioned in The Fable of the Bee contradict each other. Some people tell you that you use patience to fight harm, and some people will tell you that if you don't hate those who hurt you, you will There is no law of survival.

  Religion calls to throw all revenge on God, but honor requires you not to use other people's hands to complete the revenge plan, the only one you can rely on is yourself.

   Regrettably, she does not believe in gods. In addition to reducing the number of warships, Napoleon also implemented a tobacco franchise and a salt tax. These two moneys, plus the reduction in expenses, also have a pension.

  However, tobacco is not as necessary for the French as tea is for the British. It can be tolerated less smoked, or replaced with other things. Although tobacco taxes are high, the total amount is not much.

  Why do the British love tea so much? Another question, why do French people love coffee so much? Why not drink coffee instead of tea?

   Habit is a terrible thing, whether the French use metric units to build bridges or buildings, and the British steel companies use imperial units. In peace, there is no need for so many guns. The military industry is converted to civilian use. In order to meet the needs of customer orders, they have to use metric units. During the war, they have to switch to military industry from civilian use.

  This is an invisible war that takes place in the brains of people. If the priests were so "righteous", there would not be so many people who opposed them and would get rid of their mind control.

   But she is also a person, looking at this world covered with snow, she thinks it is clean, but she does not feel lonely

   When she came to this place, she lost some things, but also learned some things. The bottle of wine was opened, and even the bitter wine had to be drained.

   Fortunately, she did not open that bottle of wine in another world.

   Therefore, she insisted that she would not drink this cup of bitter wine until Puyue, and she would either die of drunkenness or leave the wine table.

   For no other reason, she is really incapable of drinking. If one day she is drunk on the street like Hepburn in "Roman Holiday", she probably won't wait for the "knight" to save her.

   Then she remembered the first time she had moved out of the Palais St. Luke to the Palais de la Trianon, when she had also seen the people at the door welcome them.

   She had fallen asleep on a bench in Luxembourg before that, and was taken back to the suite at the Palais Saint Luke, when he looked...

   "Georgianna!"

   She was taken aback and turned to look at the person who called herself.

   is a middle-aged, fat, half-blind Rutger.

"What's wrong?"

   "Isn't it cold to stand like this all the time?" Rutger asked.

   "Just this cold? Scotland is much colder." She said with a smile, and then she restrained her smile. "We were at your friend's manor that day..."

   "Those people were taken in," Rutger said. "Not in a prison, but in a convent, after all, promised them a merry Christmas."

Georgiana remembered the way those people resisted before, even if it was a simple "house" built of wood, they would protect it, because they were worried that they had really listened to the officials and went to Christmas, and when they came back, everything was leveled, and then That area is about to become a high-end residential area.

   "Everyone should have a home." Georgiana said, "When next spring starts, can they build their own house?"

   "I think it's up to the Belgian parliament to decide this matter. Speaking of houses, what do you think of this place?"

   Rutger waved behind him, and the young man who brought him the briefcase ran over and handed him a map.

   "Look here." Rutger pointed to a location on the map.

  Georgiana made a distinction and found that Rutger was not holding a map of Brussels, but a map of Paris. The place he was referring to was called Baguette, on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, near the Seine.

   "What's wrong with this place?" she asked.

   "I heard you were looking for a place to live..."

  Georgianna pouted.

   "This place used to belong to Marie-Antoine Nate..."

   "You're more and more like a real estate agent," she complained. "I'm looking for an apartment or something. You mean the palace."

   "This place is big enough, and I think the Paris Farmers Association can also have a fixed office location." Rutger said, "It is relatively far from Paris, and the damage is not serious."

  Georgianna glanced at the map again. If she could build a pier, then when she wanted to run, she could follow the waterway, along the Seine to the sea, and then she could take a boat to any place she wanted to go.

The   boat can be used as her "secret room" to put some property in it, no need to secretly transfer jewelry like Marie Antoinette, as long as people can get out.

   Then she thought, hey, she could get a storage ring, because she's a wizard, and Scamander put so many magical beasts in the suitcase.

   Then she glanced at Rutger "How much will it cost me?"

   Rutger smugly put away the map.

   "Isn't there a furniture fair in Sèvres? Bring the furniture, my wife doesn't understand why you're bleaching and re-dyeing those outdated silks."

   "Your wife... oh." Georgiana suddenly understood, if bleaching silk with outdated patterns is more expensive than re-weaving new ones, why bother?

  As for silk with an outdated pattern, even though it is expensive, it has to be thrown away, no one will wear it, let alone in Paris, even an ordinary country girl will be laughed at for wearing it like that.

   White and flawless are the cheapest, and the process of dyeing is also omitted. How happy the cotton merchants should be.

   "She was very interested in fashion when she was in Paris. I prefer to visit enlightenment thinkers. I like Montesquieu's saying that paying taxes is to protect another part of the property..."

   "I don't think anyone thinks paying taxes is a good thing." Georgiana said with a smile, "Yesterday there were people protesting at the Opera House because of the beer tax."

   "Think of those utilities, which ones cost nothing..."

  Georgianna thought of the seawall in Amsterdam. William III, who was only in his 20s at the time, ordered it to be dug up to block the British and French forces. Is such a king in Britain still the king who "has only legislative power but no executive power"?

   The Dutch have unwavering courage, the question is whether they need a king.

   Peacetime is not the same as war, and if Syers’s constitution isn’t playing tricks, she appreciates his division of governing power into wartime and peacetime. It is a pity that Napoleon saw through his tricks and was unwilling to be a "fat pig", and the constitution was voided.

   "Universal love" can also be divided into peacetime and wartime. Unfortunately, she is not the kind of person who thinks love resolves all social conflicts.

It's just that this is not the Middle Ages, nor the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the past, people always lived in a world where those in power used torture, churches, rituals, etc. to declare the main body of power in order to establish their authority. among.

   "Incorruptible" Robespierre, she has heard a lot of negative rumors about him, but are those rumors true?

   Rumors are for the wise, and she ended up where she is now because she followed suit and made a wrong judgment, who made her like "persons who are devoted".

   She is the kind of person who bets on the "sure to win" game, whether it's the South China Sea bubble or the tulip mania. Investors think they can make money, but they don't see or ignore the risks.

   She lost, the important thing is to start over. Perhaps, she does not lack the courage of Theodora's "purple robe is the most beautiful shroud", but sometimes it takes more courage to live than to die.

   Josephine went through such a troubled time, and it was not easy to bring up two children. Even if she did something wrong, it was not an excuse for a woman like Georgiana to take advantage of it.

   Damn you, Georgiana, you never existed.

   In this dream, many of your suppressed emotions are satisfied, and you finally don't have to live in Lily's shadow.

   "What's already" can't win "what's not", she herself is like this, why should she force others.

   After walking for a while, they started to walk back, and when they reached the door of the hotel, a "wonderful" scene appeared.

   She thought it was funny and couldn't help laughing. The young man behind them said something in Rutger's ear, his face was surprised, then expressionless.

   "You took me out for a walk to take me away?" Georgiana asked Rutger.

   "Of course not!" he said angrily, "I like the fresh air in the morning."

  Georgianna shook her head at him, turned around, and walked towards the flustered Miss Campini.

   Yesterday she lost her head and chose this hotel, which happened to be where Miss Campini stayed.

   Now she's awake, or does she think she's awake?

   (end of this chapter)