Brothers

Before the sun had even risen the next day, Joseph was already up out of habit. In this era, there was no internet, no games, and not even electric lights. Ordinary families could not afford candles, let alone oil lamps, so once night fell, they were plunged into total darkness. Joseph, who in his previous life had been accustomed to going to bed well after eleven, had now adopted the healthy habit of early to bed and early to rise. In fact, most people in this era lived exactly like this.

Joseph dressed and stepped out of his room into the church courtyard. The sun had yet to crest the horizon; the eastern sky had not even begun to pale, and a sliver of a waning moon along with a few lingering stars still hung in the black-velvet firmament. It was mid-December, or "Nivôse" if one were to use the later Republican Calendar. Although it wasn't snowing in Paris and the weather wasn't particularly cold, a layer of white frost already coated the rooftops and the courtyard in the early morning.

A sturdy figure was swinging an axe to chop firewood in the yard. Joseph knew this was Father Jean-Jacques, who exercised this way every morning.

"Good morning, Father!" Joseph walked over and greeted him.

"Ah, Joseph, good morning." The priest tossed the axe aside, straightened his back, and smiled at Joseph. "Going out for a run?"

"Yes, circling the church," Joseph replied. "Twenty laps, and it will be just time for breakfast."

"And your brother?" Father Jean-Jacques asked.

"He's up too, washing his face. He'll be out to join me shortly. By the way, Father, we'd like to treat you to a good meal at noon. I promise there won't be any mishaps this time!" Joseph said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Wonderful! That sounds great!" Father Jean-Jacques replied.

At that moment, Napoleon emerged from the back. His personality was not as easygoing as Joseph's, so he merely nodded at Father Jean-Jacques before following Joseph out the door.

The two began to run along the path beside the church. Since entering military school, Napoleon had grown in physical fitness, even if his stature remained short. He immediately picked up the pace, trying to shake off Joseph and claim victory.

But Joseph had no intention of letting him have his way.

"You think you can outrun me with those short little legs?" Joseph accelerated as well. Since transmigrating to this era, Joseph knew that the level of medical care was appallingly low. Even a minor cold could cost a person their life. Therefore, strengthening his body and boosting his immunity had become Joseph's primary means of survival. Although Lycée Louis-le-Grand did not have the rigorous physical requirements of a military academy, Joseph had never slackened his exercise routine. Plus, with his longer limbs, he held a clear innate advantage over Napoleon in running. How could he let Napoleon, whom he had always kept in check, get ahead of him?

Joseph sped up, and in just a few strides, he was back in front of Napoleon. Then, Napoleon began to accelerate again...

"Damn it... if it weren't for your longer legs... this time..." Napoleon panted, hunched over, speaking in broken gasps. The rising sun dyed the white mist puffing from his nose and mouth a pale red.

"Losing is losing... what's the point of making excuses... though... though beating you this time... was... was quite a bit harder than before." Joseph replied, also breathing heavily.

Yes, Joseph believed he had to suppress Napoleon in as many areas as possible. This wasn't out of a petty desire to win, but to ensure that in the future, he would have enough persuasive power to pull the brakes on Napoleon.

"Alright, caught your breath?" Joseph asked. "If you have, I have something to tell you."

"I've been fine for a while," Napoleon said, straightening up and walking forward.

"I just won the grand prize for my essay," Joseph said, feigning calm. "Six hundred francs in prize money, so we can have a feast to celebrate at noon."

"Your essay won?" Napoleon was startled and stopped in his tracks.

"Of course. Is there any problem your big brother can't solve?" Joseph said, looking quite smug.

"What did you write about?" Napoleon asked. "Why did you win instead of me?"

"Because I may have overturned one of Sir Newton's assertions."

"What? How is that possible?!" Napoleon stared at Joseph, eyes wide, trying to catch a hint of a joke on his face. However, he noticed only that insufferable, smug look.

"I discovered a phenomenon that suggests the nature of light is closer to Hooke's view—that it is a wave, not a particle," Joseph replied.

"Is that all?" Napoleon said, feigning disdain. "I thought you'd overturned the Three Laws."

"The Three Laws aren't going anywhere in the short term," Joseph shook his head.

"Not going anywhere in the short term?" Napoleon was surprised again. He shook his head and said, "You mean you've already found flaws in the Three Laws, but just don't have the evidence to overturn them yet?"

"No," Joseph shook his head. "Where would there be any obvious flaws in Sir Newton's Three Laws? I just don't want to believe in them, out of faith."

"Out of faith? Does that mean the Three Laws didn't leave room for God?"

"No, that's not it," Joseph shook his head. "I just cannot accept absolute fatalism. That kind of rhetoric makes me feel like life has no meaning at all."

"What does that have to do with fatalism?" Napoleon clearly hadn't caught on.

"Ah, my foolish brother. You truly lack the talent of a great scholar," Joseph said. "According to Newton's Three Laws, we can view the current state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future. If a wise man could know the position of every natural force and every object in the universe at a given moment, and if he could analyze that data, the motion of everything from the largest celestial body to the smallest particle would be contained within a single simple formula. To such a wise man, nothing would be ambiguous, and the future would appear before him just as the past does. Everything is already destined, just like Oedipus facing that terrible prophecy—he could not resist it no matter what, because even his resistance was merely a part of his destiny. If I truly believed in the Three Laws, what meaning would my life have?"

This argument was completely unexpected for Napoleon. He frowned and thought for a long time, then shook his head. "I haven't found the problem with your logic yet, but there must be one. Otherwise, this conclusion is just too... wait! Joseph, aren't you a devout believer? Isn't God that wise man? God is omniscient and omnipotent. Yet you can't even accept omniscience—you hypocrite."

By the end, Napoleon was laughing heartily, seemingly proud to have caught his brother in a contradiction.

"That's a different matter entirely," Joseph said. "Besides, I smell a whiff of Calvin in your words, you heretic!" Joseph responded with a laugh as well.

Calvin was a key leader of the Reformation and a major proponent of determinism in philosophy and theology. France, however, was Catholic territory, and to the Church, Calvin was a heretic. Now that Napoleon was equating God's omniscience with predestination, Joseph retorted by calling him a Calvinist heretic.

The two teased each other for a while before heading back to the church.

After breakfast, Joseph casually tested Napoleon on his studies, had him carefully read the award-winning essay, and then demonstrated the two experiments involved.

"I'm starting to believe your point of view," Napoleon said. "Are there any problems with this conclusion?"

"Of course," Joseph replied. "Every wave requires a medium for propagation, but there are many questions regarding what exactly the medium for light is. For instance, the speed of light is extremely fast—though the exact value remains to be measured, its immense speed is indisputable. For a wave to travel at such a speed, its medium would need to have incredible rigidity. Yet, we move through such a medium every day and have never felt any resistance from this 'luminiferous ether.' In short, there are many problems here, but I believe that as research deepens, this issue will eventually be resolved, though perhaps not in the way we currently imagine."

"It's a pity," Napoleon said. "Although I'm very interested in this, I have to admit that, for the time being, I have no ideas at all."

"My foolish brother, you must understand that everyone's talents are different. Some people may be naturally stronger in certain areas, but not necessarily in others. For example, when it comes to mathematics and other natural sciences, I think you're likely not as good as me, but perhaps in other areas, you might surpass me. For instance, if there were a small hole, you might be able to crawl through it, while I likely wouldn't."

Listening to Joseph's serious tone earlier, Napoleon had felt a bit touched. Honestly, although he was conceited and believed he had great talent in math and science, Napoleon was not one to deceive himself. While he wouldn't admit it aloud, in his heart, he knew he couldn't match his brother's talent in these fields, which often left him feeling quite frustrated. Joseph's earlier words had been truly heartwarming, but who knew he would follow it up with that crack about crawling through a dog hole? It made Napoleon so angry he wanted to punch him.

"Joseph, you really are a piece of work," Napoleon said.

"Haha..." Joseph laughed triumphantly. "Besides, considering the difference in our sizes, you definitely won't be able to out-eat me when we have meat at noon."