Chapter 9 Shrimp and Pig Heart
Spring in St. Petersburg is always very short, as if winter turns into summer in the blink of an eye.
A month has passed since the assassination of the Tsar. The body of Ya Er has been sorted and is still placed in the Winter Palace. A large amount of ice has been placed in the coffin where the body was stored to prevent the body from rotting. Members of the royal families attending the funeral are Arrive in St. Petersburg one after another.
George's family has moved out of the Winter Palace and returned to their previous house. This is a palace built by Ya Er for Catherine. Although not as large as the Winter Palace, it is equally tall and magnificent. It is located in On the banks of the beautiful Neva River, George spent his childhood here.
Ekaterina was first arranged by Ya Er to be a female official next to the queen for two years.
During these two years, Yaer built the palace for Catherine and named it after her.
This is an English-style palace mixed with Russian pastoral style. Facing the Neva River, it has a county building and a high tower. It has three independent gardens and a total of 45 rooms. Each room is decorated It is so beautiful that Ekaterina lived here until she officially got married to Ya Er.
Maria didn’t want to see Catherine at Alexander’s coronation ceremony, so after Alexander’s funeral, Catherine was going to France. This palace was also regarded by Catherine as The final gift was given to George and remains privately owned by him.
Counting it this way, George also has a lot of private property. In addition to vineyards in France and this palace, George also has a farm outside St. Petersburg and near Moscow. These are all gifts from Asia. Ekaterina's gift was transferred to George by Ekaterina.
Ekaterina was full of guilt for leaving George in St. Petersburg, so she was doing her best to compensate George.
Alexander did fulfill his promise, and George went to the Winter Palace every day to study with Nicholas.
Ekaterina was worried about this arrangement because Nikolai was four years older than George and the course schedule would definitely be different. Ekaterina was worried that George would not be able to keep up with Nikolai’s studies. progress, thereby affecting George's grades.
George was not too worried about this problem.
The knowledge system of the 19th century cannot be compared with the era of knowledge explosion in the 21st century.
George graduated from college anyway. Although most of the knowledge he learned in school has been returned to the teacher, the remaining part is enough.
When it comes to learning this kind of thing, you have to see who you compare with.
Compared with the professors at St. Petersburg University, George may be inferior.
Nicholas——
George can say without humility, come on, come on, let you have half a brain.
Like George and other princes of his generation, Alexander arranged a very intensive curriculum for Nicholas, with complicated subjects such as language, military, economics, mathematics, law and so on. Alexander did not expect Nicholas to become a genius in all subjects. , at least have a considerable degree of understanding, the crown prince cannot be ignorant.
To Alexander's disappointment, Nicholas was not very talented in learning.
It’s not like Nicholas started systematic learning on his first day. Like George, he received early education for many years. However, Nicholas’s learning progress is not very fast, and the courses are also greatly reduced compared with George’s. In language In this regard, Nikolay has only just begun to learn French and German.
George is already proficient in communicating with professors in French and German.
Alexander had high hopes for Nicholas, and the teachers he invited for Nicholas were all famous professors from institutions of higher learning. The professors who taught French and German were Duboret and Lanson respectively, both of whom George was familiar with. , because George's former French and German professors were also them.
“Long time no see George, are you okay?” On the first day of French class, Gustave Lanson was surprised when he saw George.
George's grades are always very good, which makes the professors feel a sense of accomplishment. Who doesn't love such a student?
Compared with George, Nicholas is a headache for the professors.
Nicola always lacks concentration during class, looks left and right, and picks his nose when impatient. The professors had very relaxed requirements for Nicholas. They would not embarrass the crown prince when setting up courses, let alone exams, so Nicholas never left any performance records during his studies.
"I'm fine. I've finished watching "Les Misérables" that you asked me to watch. What should I watch next?" George likes Lanson very much. He is a student of the Collège de France. Professor of Literature.
"How do you feel?" Lanson smiled, holding a book of poems by Victor Hugo in his arms, trying to use Hugo to inspire Nicolas' interest in learning French.
"Well, it's very profound--" George fully learned his lesson and said too much to make mistakes.
Just these two sentences have already attracted a look of surprise from Nicholas. George now regrets that he should not have mentioned "Les Misérables" just now.
I just finished reading it. If I wanted to continue reading, I would go to the study and mention "Les Misérables" in front of Nicholas. Wouldn't it be a slap in the face?
Fortunately, Nicholas is not a narrow-minded person. He still respects George as his uncle and does not mind that George steals his limelight. Instead, he is very grateful to George for helping him attract firepower.
"Uncle George, what is "Les Misérables"?" Nicholas's brother, another George, was full of curiosity.
There are many children in the royal family, and there are only a few commonly used names. Every family has boys named Alexander and Nicholas, and there are many girls named Catherine and Maria. The chance of having the same name is very high. .
"Georgi, be quiet, we are going to start class-" Lanson came to George's rescue in time.
Although he has passed the elementary learning stage, George is still very serious in class.
Nicola seems to be serious, but if you observe carefully, you will find that Nikolai's sight is straight, looking straight ahead, and not following Langson's pointer at all.
Georgi, who is one year older than George, is very smart and very expressive. Whenever Langson asks a question, Georgi is always the first to answer.
George finally learned to hide his clumsiness. Unless Lanson asked a question, George said nothing. When answering questions, he also cherished his words and refused to say a word more.
Finally, when get out of class was over, Nikolay jumped up from his seat like a mummy resurrected: "Let's go to the game!"
Georgi didn't speak at the moment, speaking expectantly. Look at George.
What else could George do? He could only nod in agreement.
The game room is on the east side of the second floor. It is all used by the Nicholas brothers and includes a reception room, dining room, bedroom, gym and game room.
The playroom is fully stocked with toys and puppets, as well as military drums and gun racks for rifles.
The rifle here must be out of bullets.
There is also a bugle with tassels hanging on the gun rack. Next to it are swings, rings, sand piles for wrestling, and a small train that can be driven.
"Uncle George, have you ever played with these?" Georgi showed George his new toy excitedly.
George's smile was forced.
This was originally George's playroom. These toys used to belong to George. Do you think George has ever played with them?
This little bastard is so bad, with a shrimp and a pig’s heart.
(End of this chapter)