Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 102 002 Your Highness, do you want to watch a real storytelling performance?
After entering the Winter Palace, they inevitably had to go to the garage. After arranging the sled, Grand Duke Konstantin helped his wife get out of the car, but the nanny's job was replaced by Solovyov.

"If you get married and have children, you will definitely be a good father."

Sophia fell asleep as if the power was out, with only her little head sticking out. Her face was covered with a mask, as if for fear that the child would catch a cold.

There are many things Solovyov doesn't know. He is now in St. Petersburg, but he is about to become a father.

Sylvia was stroking her belly in her own manor in Milan. She had anticipated the consequences of playing too hard that time, but it was the first time for both sides and they were extremely inexperienced, so she still got hit. This could only be attributed to her excellent physical fitness.

But even if there was an illegitimate child (Russians always call him an "apprentice"), he would not be aware of the situation since he was far away in Italy, and Sylvia would not mention this matter in her letter.

Now, he is in the palace taking care of the baby for his superior in Italy.

Moreover, when walking in the palace, he was not afraid of being laughed at by the old guards of the Putin Regiment. The ones here today were the 2nd Battalion, and when they saw the commander of the 1st Battalion, who was following behind the Grand Duke, they would definitely not laugh out loud. They were all professionally trained.

The only ones who could laugh were the young ladies who were having a ladies' tea party here.

Especially Ekaterina, who was laughing so hard that her body was shaking. She thought it was not funny to see a Guards officer taking care of a baby, but rather strange.

She was the youngest of the "consecutive sisters" and was favored by Queen Maria, so it didn't matter if she was a little unruly.

They were in the reception room, and on the table was the literary section of the Petersburg News. Solovyov knew that he would not be able to escape today.

Because the newspaper serial published today is the content of his translation of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the editor-in-chief had issued an announcement at the beginning that the translator was participating in Marshal Suvorov's expedition, and the translation of this book was temporarily put on hold.

He translated the content on the road, and after coming back, except for the latest one or two which had to be put aside due to progress, he basically updated it in a revenge-style manner for more than a month.

While readers were enjoying the novel very much, some even wrote to the newspaper, asking the author to speed up the process.

Even the owners of 17 Nevsky Prospekt, Count and Countess Stroganov, had received letters urging them to update the series, and some people wrote directly to state that they believed the reason for resuming the series was that one of the entourage after Grand Duke Constantine's return was the translator.

Solovyov knew he could not escape, and taking advantage of the Countess's presence to accompany the Crown Princess, the two young ladies who loved horse riding did not miss the opportunity and directly got the author out of the Countess's mouth.

In other words, Solovyov was usually either on duty or in the officers' rest area in the palace. It was not easy for Catherine to catch him, and she was not forced to work violently.

Whenever they had the chance to meet, Solovyov was always behind Tsar Paul. No matter how much these two relied on their parents' love, they would never do anything too outrageous.

Today was different. This "ladies' tea party" was originally just a few young girls and their maids chatting in the Crown Princess's reception room. Solovyov followed Konstantin and his wife in, and it could be said that he walked into the trap.

"Major, don't run away today. Explain this to us."

As an expert in squeezing Solovyov's surplus value without paying him a kopeck, Maria held the newspaper and asked questions in a very gentle tone. Although her tone and expression were so gentle, there was a dark side in her.

Moreover, she was wearing a pink dress, her lipstick was pink, her fingernails were also painted pink, she took off her shoes, put her feet flat on her indoor shoes, and even painted her toenails pink - this pink seemed to be black when cut open.
Although I was always dragged to the concert hall by her in the past, I could just take out two songs at a time to get by, but when she made up something out of nothing and asked for more, it would scare anyone who saw it.

After all, his translation work has slowed down recently due to his work.

"Your Highness, it seems that you also know that the anonymous translator is me."

"We also heard that you were working on another novel at home. Julie saw it when she came to your house, although it was only a partial excerpt. After reading it, she was so moved that she cried."

Good guy, his home was also attacked, and he had nothing to do so he practiced. Among the books he brought back from Kyakhta, there was also The West Chamber.

This hasn't even brought up the most powerful "The Story of the Stone". Besides, Solovyov himself felt he didn't have the ability to translate it. Even if he got the book, he wouldn't dare to translate it himself. He had to develop some basic knowledge of Chinese studies in Russia before he could start.

Speaking of which, the French are also quite familiar with this matter, as they have quoted a part of Confucius' "The Analects" from Shandong.

Also, even though Julie was pregnant with her husband's child, she was still so restless and followed Mrs. Lebrun around everywhere.

"But Your Highness, the only mature content I can offer is this. Don't let Julie read some of it."

"If you were not an officer of the Imperial Guards appointed by our father, we would have driven you to my sister-in-law's study and only let you do translation work."

This child, Ekaterina, was able to read some legendary stories on her own when she was about ten years old. It seemed that she had the second-year syndrome taking over her mind early on.

After all, most of them are of German descent, but the Russian ancestry from Peter the Great and the Baltic ancestry from Catherine I are causing trouble. In addition, the willfulness passed down from Peter III and Paul always affects these young girls.

"Your Highness, look."

"I think it's a good idea. If the Foreign Affairs College needs a writing expert in the future, you can go."

Constantine is more crude-minded, and he particularly protects his fourth sister. Speaking of which, the relationship between Catherine and her two brothers is very simple. They communicate with each other and exchange small gifts all day long.

"Well, Your Highness, I have to say that translating texts is also a big project, and I did it all by myself, translating novels of hundreds of thousands of words into French or Russian. What Julie saw should be the drama I translated into French, but it was a semi-finished product. Mr. Voltaire used to translate the prince's revenge, and I translated the love story of a college student and the prime minister's daughter. The most interesting part is Miss Cui's bridesmaid, Little Matchmaker."

Speaking of which, the set age of the matchmaker is about the same age as Maria, and no matter how high Cui Yingying's age is raised, it is unlikely to exceed Julie's current age of 19, which is less than 20.

"You have to perform for us."

After Maria said this, Constantine, the second sister-protecting maniac, also began to respond: "I think it's okay. Call Lisa and come to watch this boy's performance."

He patted Solovyov on the shoulder and said, "After all, in all of St. Petersburg, you are the only one who has this ability. You understand Chinese culture, can perform, and are eloquent. You are also in the Guards. It would be no problem for you to tell a story."

In terms of fighting power, if Solovyov really wanted to fight with the Grand Duke, since he was not a heavyweight, no matter how skilled he was, it would be of no use. What's more, the opponent was so familiar with him now, which was an expression of trust.

"Here, I am about to make a fool of myself. However, Your Highnesses, I still need to change my boots into leather shoes or soft shoes that servants wear, otherwise the performance will be awkward."

"That's great, we don't want you to fall." Maria was particularly concerned about Solovyov. If he got an injury at work, it would be difficult to find a "song request machine" to enter the palace in the future. It wasn't for any other reason.

But Konstantin also remembered that Solovyov had been injured once, in the leg.

"Mishka, don't push yourself. Is your leg injury okay? After coming back from Prague, you didn't even play in the second half of the first dance. In the second dance, you went to the Guards barracks to have dinner with the veterans. I'm afraid you've injured your leg again."

Although this Grand Duke was rough, he always took good care of his subordinates whom he admired.

"That's not a big deal, Your Highness. I was wrestling and samboing with someone just a few days ago."

Although Sambo is available now, it is not yet a system.

Since Solovyov said so, Konstantin didn't say anything else, but asked the servant to bring all the props needed for the roll call.

Alexander was away again today; he was in his official residence on the other side of the river, not in the palace, and Tsar Paul had gone to Kronstadt, when the harbor was half frozen, to inspect the maintenance of the naval vessels when they were unattended.

Constantine is the most influential person here and is considered the current "big shot" in the Winter Palace. The Queen herself is not in the palace. Although the Crown Princess or the Grand Duchess should be in charge, both of them have little presence.

The happiest girl in the palace at this time was probably Catherine, but the more sinister one was Maria, who had used Solovyov as free labor countless times.

Although he had no suitable weapons, Solovyov still performed with the lance of the Ulan cavalry. He also had to make sure that the space in the reception room was large enough so that it would be safe for him to wield the lance.

Speaking of which, when it comes to telling the story of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the most exciting part is still the Changbanpo section. However, considering that it was too dangerous and Constantine, who was prone to crazy thinking, didn't know what outrageous things he would do next, he used a spear instead of the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and began to tell the story of passing five levels and killing six generals.

Regardless of whether it was French or Russian, it would certainly not be possible to imitate the old gentleman that Solovyov was best at imitating. He could only use a combination of civil and military tactics to give the outline of the whole story.

Also, due to time constraints, I couldn’t cover that much.

However, it was difficult for these young ladies to see this kind of typical teahouse performance in the palace. But because Solovyov performed the fancy spear very well, they all applauded when it ended.

"It's a wonderful performance, but it's hard for you to hold a spear and make it look like a broadsword."

Constantine found it quite enjoyable and asked the servant beside him to bring some lemonade to quench his thirst.

Speaking of which, it was this rough-and-tumble Grand Duke who took care of him, gave him a seat, and continued chatting about the serial content.

"I think you should speed up the translation and finish the whole book. Before my father goes to sleep, he always listens to Kutaisov reading a passage."

This is not surprising. After all, the Tsar often published his replies to petitions from local nobles and civilians in the Petersburg News, and would let his subordinates read the newspaper. If there were interesting stories in the news or literary editions, he would naturally not miss them.

It can be said that the Tsar was also included in the army, but Paul himself was busy with his daily work and did not know the details, so he just read the content in the newspaper.

But among the sisters in the palace, Catherine, who was relatively unstudy and had the least classes, had plenty of time to make trouble, and she also dragged Maria into it.

"But you can't trust this book completely. The sword General Guan used was not a broadsword. Although there is such a broadsword in the Guandi Temple in China."

"Hey? Didn't you say Guan Yu was a general? Why is there a temple for Emperor Guan?"

Konstantin asked, and Solovyov had to continue what he knew: "During the Song Dynasty in China, the emperor worshipped General Guan for his loyalty and began to confer him the title of king. Before the Qing Dynasty, he was also conferred the title of emperor, and that's how the Guandi Temple came into being."

"I see. After all, in Rome, he was called 'Imperator'. It's not surprising that such a loyal and brave general would be commemorated in this way."

The person who made this explanation was not Constantine, but the Crown Princess who was holding a book and a child at the same time.

"Your Highness, your explanation is different in China and Russia, but the meaning is somewhat the same. The emperor of China should be more like Basilius of Macedonia or Shah of Persia, while the emperor of Europe means commander-in-chief."

"Sister-in-law, you know so much."

"Catherine, if everyone is like you, then you wouldn't know so much. If you don't do your homework, you are still young now, and after a long time, your mother will be unhappy. She has high expectations of you."

Although Catherine admired her sister-in-law and Louisa didn't like to preach, there was a bit of seriousness in her words.

"Let alone studying, etiquette and language cannot be neglected."

Constantine added that he was rather lacking in etiquette, but since he was with the Guards on a daily basis and was second in line, this was not a big problem.

As for Louisa, she was actually very curious about this "strange Chinese book".

"Major, if you are not on duty in the palace, you can come to our tea party and tell us some ancient Chinese legends."

Although His Highness' invitation was gentle in tone, it was difficult to refuse once it was spoken.

"I am willing to serve your highness."

"However, as you just said, we need to point out the parts that are inconsistent with history."

"This is natural. Science is constantly improving, and so is sociology. This morning at the Academy of Sciences, I saw experts from the Petersburg Academy of Sciences studying several fossils and identifying them as ancient crocodiles. This is clearly wrong. Crocodiles don't grow that kind of teeth. Canine teeth are more like those of mammals."

Although Louisa had met the major several times in the past, she was not very familiar with him. However, it was very interesting to see him blushing and talking seriously like an encyclopedia.

This road is so dangerous that you will turn if you are not careful.

(End of this chapter)