The Famous Painting "Child of Divine Grace"

Barnabe never imagined that he, as the court Imperial Chef to His Crown Prince of France, would one day be Cooking for Sans-culottes on the streets of Paris. 💢♣ 🐺👍

However, this was the Crown Prince's order, and 14 other royal Imperial Chef shared the same fate.

Barnabe held the peeled Potato in place with a special fork, and with a knife in his right hand, he began to cut it with dazzling skill.

Then he skewered the Potato on an iron skewer, pulled it apart evenly, and the Potato was transformed into a curled whirlwind shape.

He fried the string of "whirlwinds" in the oil for a while, then took them out, sprinkled them with various seasonings, and then stuck them on a perforated wooden board.

The assistant immediately raised his head and announced loudly to the passersby, "The most popular royal delicacy— the Spiral Potato Tower! His Majesty the benevolent Crown Prince invites everyone to sample it for free!"

The tent used for Cooking was surrounded by people, all desperately sniffing the aroma of the "Spiral Potato Tower," but no one came up to take any food.

That's a "Devil from the underworld"—eating it will give you lung disease or leprosy!

After some time, a little boy, covered in dirt and with his hair matted together, came over, staring at the Potato skewers and swallowing hard.

Finally, driven by hunger, he grabbed the skewer and took a big bite.

Fragrant!

The little tramp's eyes widened; this was even tastier than the brown bread the kind lady had given him at Christmas.

Ignoring the pitying looks from the crowd, he ate three skewers in one go. Only when he was worried about being scolded did he reluctantly turn around and leave.

Before long, a few more dirty children arrived and devoured the rest of the Spiral Potato Tower.

The onlookers shook their heads and sighed, as if these children were about to turn into corpses.

"Newspapers for sale!" At the street corner not far away, a newsboy waved the latest issue of the * Paris Business Daily *, shouting, "Read the paper! 2 suede a copy. The latest novel, an adventurer traverses the Caribbean Sea, winning wealth and beauty!"

Someone bought a newspaper, read the latest issue of ""Refining the Firmament"" first, then flipped to page three and was immediately drawn to the new novel there.

It's about an adventurer nicknamed "Popeye" who sails his fast ship, the Black Pearl, across the Caribbean Sea on an adventure.

What's most appealing is that this "Popeye" has a unique physique; whenever he eats Potato, he instantly becomes incredibly strong, allowing him to easily solve all his problems...

Versailles Palace.

Under Brienne's personal supervision, the plan to promote Potato cultivation was completed in less than three days.

Joseph and Brienne arrived at the Petit Trianon early in the morning with the planning documents.

In the garden outside the Queen's Bedchamber, Queen Mary gave her son a warm hug, looking extremely happy. "My dear Joseph, I was just about to send someone to Paris to call you back."

She turned to Count de Berninac and said, "Please have Madam Lebrun come here for a moment, and tell her the Crown Prince is also here. Oh, and make sure she takes the painting with her."

Joseph had heard of the name and knew that she was a famous court painter who had painted many portraits of the King and Queen.

He looked at the Queen with a puzzled expression. "Mother, why did you send Madam Lebrun here?"

The Queen smiled and said, "Madam Lebrun has conceived a wonderful painting about you, entitled ' The Child of Divine Grace.' Oh, I'm sure you'll love it."

"Oh, alright..." For some reason, Joseph suddenly had a bad feeling, but he quickly got to the point, "By the way, Mother, Archbishop Brienne and I have something important to tell you."

"Oh? What is it?"

Brienne hurriedly handed the plan to the Queen, saying, "Your Majesty, according to the analysis of Count Lamarck and several other scholars, there will be another drought this year, and it is very likely to be more severe than before."

Queen Mary immediately looked worried. "Do you have any good solutions?"

Brienne hurriedly replied, "It was His Crown Prince who came up with the idea. We can promote Potato throughout the country and take advantage of this crop's extremely high yield to reduce the possibility of Famine."

After listening to his detailed explanation of the Potato promotion plan, the Queen nodded and said, "In Austria, people used Potato to cope with Famine. Joseph must have carefully studied the advantages and disadvantages of many countries' systems and flexibly applied the beneficial parts to France."

She took the pen from the maid beside her, signed the document, and muttered with a smirk, "Just as Madam Lebrun depicted, my Joseph is exceptionally gifted; he must be blessed by the Lord."

Joseph hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. If he had known, he should have come to get the Queen's signature three days ago; there was no need to wait for the detailed plans to be completed.

Keep in mind that there is only a little over a month left before Wheat planting. Once farmers have planted the Wheat, it is absolutely impossible for them to dig it up and plant Potato instead.

Transporting Potato from northeastern France to the South provinces would likely take only a month, so time was extremely tight.

The Queen handed the document back to Brienne, and then a middle-aged woman with an elegant demeanor walked over and bowed to the Queen, Joseph, and Brienne in turn.

Queen Mary smiled and nodded, then instructed, "Madam Lebrun, quickly show your painting to the Crown Prince; I can't wait any longer."

"Yes." Madam Lebrun immediately gestured to her assistants behind her. Several young men hurriedly and carefully brought over a picture frame that was nearly as tall as a person and removed the dust cloth covering it.

Joseph froze the moment he saw the painting—the upper part of the painting depicted God floating in mid-air, holding a lamb in one hand and an unknown book in the other, with dazzling light shining behind him.

At God's feet stood a richly dressed young man, his hands in prayer, his face filled with piety, listening intently to the sacred teachings.

And that boy's appearance... wasn't it just like myself...?

Joseph felt like he was digging his toes out of his skin. How could Madam Lebrun have created such an embarrassing work?!

Queen Mary smiled brightly and said, "Joseph, this painting is a gift from me to you. You can hang it in your Reception Room."

Ah! No! -- Joseph's heart was pounding. Seeing this thing every day would definitely give him embarrassment sickness!

Madam Lebrun, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid it will take a few more days. Strictly speaking, this painting is not yet finished; I still need to refine some details."

Joseph breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this and quickly said, "You must refine it as much as possible; don't worry about the timeframe."

Brienne, observing the painting, nodded in approval and said, "Madam Lebrun, your painting skills are simply superb! I can feel the holy aura of the Child of Divine Grace in this painting. The Child of Divine Grace will ultimately be praised by the world because of this!"

Feeling a sacred aura? Joseph suddenly had a thought. That's right! People in this era love to use oil paintings to promote religion. In people's minds, the content of the oil paintings is almost a reflection of real events.

That's why the Queen cared so much about and appreciated this painting.

Perhaps this is the best way to dispel the France people's superstition about Potato!

An image flashed into his mind almost instantly.

Joseph casually made the sign of the cross on his chest—he had done this so often since transmigrating that it had become a conditioned reflex—and thought to himself: God, it seems I'll have to trouble you to speak on my behalf in this matter.

(End of this chapter)