Inspiration

"Arrogance! Truly, a cursed arrogance." Clearly, Armand had understood Joseph's words.

"Perhaps it isn't arrogance," Joseph mused after a moment. "But rather isolation—the isolation between the upper and lower classes. The people of France are filled with fury toward the upper echelons, yet those at the top may not even be aware of it, or perhaps they cannot feel it at all. The King and Queen are surrounded by fawning sycophants, living in a place where they cannot see the bottom, and no other voices can reach their ears, so they continue to act as they please. This is terrible, for it leads to explosive consequences. If accumulated anger is not channeled, once it erupts, it inevitably brings devastating results. It is like a flood breaching a dam. At such a time, art should actually serve two purposes: one is to warn the upper classes, making them realize the danger, as art is one of the few ways to make the upper classes notice the lower ones. The other is to soothe the lower classes. For instance, Mr. Beaumarchais's The Marriage of Figaro actually strives to accomplish such a task. His satire of Count Almaviva is a warning to the upper classes, while his decision to let Figaro find happiness in the play is, in a sense, a form of comfort for the lower classes. However, it seems his warning lacks sufficient weight; it does not appear to have truly alerted the upper classes, and as for the soothing effect, that is hard to say. That is why the theater troupe has further increased the power of the satire, but as of now, the play has been running for several months, and nothing has happened to the troupe; I suspect it is still ineffective."

Everyone nodded upon hearing this. Only Fanny seemed not to have understood, so she asked:

"Then, Mr. Bonaparte, if something were to happen to the theater troupe, would that mean it was effective?"

"No matter what happens, even if the members of the troupe were all rounded up and thrown into the Bastille to feed the rats, or even if they were all beheaded one by one, it would at least show that the upper classes care about these things. As it stands now, after so much time, there is not a single ripple; this can only mean that those at the top do not care at all," Joseph replied.

"In that case, The Marriage of Figaro is still not sharp enough," Samuel said.

"Joseph, perhaps we should write a more provocative script. Let me think, what should we write..." Armand began to ponder.

"How about the story of Charles I? The English king who had his head chopped off," Joseph suggested. He knew that if history did not undergo major changes, the French King Louis XVI would, like Charles I, eventually be beheaded for treason.

"That is too blatant," Samuel shook his head. "If we write that, you and Armand might really be thrown into the Bastille to feed the rats. Besides, there are not many troupes that would dare to perform something so sharp. I think if we really want to write something, we should write about the independence of North America. That was also a resistance against a tyrant."

"That seems good," Armand said. "Samuel, you have personal experience; you can help us."

"But North America is isolated across the sea. And considering the role France played in North American independence, if we write about that, the King might even think we are singing his praises," Joseph said.

"How is that possible? The King is not a fool," Samuel countered.

"Nothing is impossible. The King may not be, but some of the guys around him will confuse him and mislead him. Even the scripts and performances His Majesty sees may not necessarily be the genuine ones," Joseph shook his head. Such methods of hoodwinking those above, in his view, were simply too easy.

"Good heavens, how did you think of that? Joseph, you have the potential to be a treacherous minister," Armand looked at Joseph, shaking his head incessantly.

"You cannot insult me like that," Joseph widened his eyes, putting on an indignant expression to retort. "You must know, how could someone like me be a mere treacherous minister? At the very least, I should be a grand treacherous minister."

Once these words were out, everyone burst into laughter, and even Fanny, who had been worried at first due to Joseph's stern tone, laughed heartily without regard for her image.

Armand clutched his stomach and pounded the armrest of his chair, and only after a long while did he say: "Joseph, I apologize to you. You won't be a treacherous minister; you will be a great clown... Hahahaha!"

After everyone laughed for a while, Armand added: "Stop laughing, seriously, do you have any other suggestions? I mean for my new play."

"How about writing about Spartacus?" Fanny suddenly spoke up. "Hmm, Spartacus is a resistance from the bottom; that cannot be changed, and... and the historical records about him are very brief, which leaves plenty of room for free creation. It should be a good choice!"

Since Fanny had spoken, Armand immediately expressed his support: "I think it's good. I can almost immediately think of a series of brilliant plot points. Hmm, for example, how Spartacus fights a tiger in the arena, and for another example..."

"And for another example, we could have Spartacus, having already earned the status of a free man through his victories in the arena, decide that all people are born free. He could believe that overthrowing the slave system where people oppress and exploit others is the duty of every good person. Therefore, although he has won his own freedom, he is not satisfied with that, but instead throws himself into the struggle to liberate all slaves!" Joseph, with the mindset of someone who enjoys watching the chaos, added.

"Yes, yes! We can also use Spartacus's mouth to say, 'All men are born equal; the pursuit of freedom and happiness and the resistance against oppression are sacred and inalienable rights,'" Samuel also hurriedly chimed in.

"Do you intend to have Spartacus from thousands of years ago recite the North American Declaration of Independence? That is going a bit too far," Fanny said.

"What else can we do? Do you want him to recite the Gospels?" Samuel said. "Although Spartacus lived thousands of years ago, we are writing about him to make him voice the things we need to say in our modern times."

"Mr. Fermat is right," Joseph agreed. "All history is contemporary history. The interpretation of history has always served reality. If you ask me, perhaps we can be even bolder. After the Battle of Apulia, Crassus nailed more than six thousand captured slaves to crosses. We can fully represent this scene on stage, arranging the slaves nailed to the crosses in the same pose as Christ on the cross, and at this moment, we could even have a choir sing a hymn of the rebels."

"This... Joseph... I remember your godfather is a bishop," Armand was somewhat dumbfounded.

"The bishop also believes that the current church has deviated from the spirit of Christ in many places," Joseph said without changing his expression.

"I actually think Mr. Bonaparte's idea is very creative. I think if Mr. Voltaire were still alive, he would definitely love this idea. Hmm, Mr. Bonaparte, are you skilled in music?" Fanny asked with sparkling eyes.

Joseph heard this, smiled, and said: "In terms of music, I am practically illiterate."

"Is that so?" Fanny said with some disappointment. "We are all a bunch of musical illiterates here; who could we find to compose this hymn for the rebels?"

"Fanny, that is not difficult. We just need to write the lyrics and then find a musician to set them to music," Armand said. "Of course, good lyrics and good music are not easy to come by. Hmm, I am now filled with the desire to create."

"Brother, your creative desire won't last even a week," Fanny said with a smile.

"You are right, Fanny. If I didn't have this flaw, I would definitely become the new Sophocles. However, I will try my best to control myself. Also, Joseph, you must help me," Armand said.

"If I have time, I will try my best," Joseph said. "But at least recently, I'm afraid I can't be of much help. You know, I've been quite busy lately."

"Mr. Bonaparte, what have you been busy with lately?" Samuel asked.

"Joseph has an important experiment to conduct recently," Armand said. "It seems to be about how to measure the speed of light. My uncle praised the design of this experiment as very ingenious. Besides, he also has to make some preparations for becoming a mathematics teacher at the Paris Military Academy. Hmm, Joseph, your younger brother is studying at the Paris Military Academy, right? Does he know you are about to become his teacher? What was his reaction?"

"I haven't told him yet," Joseph said. "Because I want to see what his reaction will be when he suddenly discovers that his math teacher is me in the classroom."

"I can imagine it; that would definitely be very interesting," Fanny laughed.

Thus, the topic turned back to how to play tricks on one's brothers. Fanny provided quite a few suggestions, which she claimed were many of the ones her brother had used to trick her in the past.

Everyone became enthusiastic, one after another offering Joseph suggestions on how to prank his brother. If the butler hadn't come to remind them that dinner was ready, who knows how many more bad ideas this bunch would have come up with.

"Alright, let's go to the dining room," Viscount Lavoisier stood up and said. "I just got a few bottles of excellent wine..."

The rules for dinner at Armand's house were completely different from those at Joseph's. There were no rigid rules at all; even while eating, everyone could still chat and laugh. They rambled from Viscount Lavoisier's red wine to Ceylon black tea, then to Mediterranean mackerel, and then somehow to Nile crocodiles and hippos. However, the French are truly worthy of being the foodies of Europe; no matter how much they rambled, the topics always revolved around only three things: Is it edible? Is it delicious? How do you eat it? It must be said that in this regard, the French are very much like the Chinese.