Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 326 Petersburg's White Night
By the way, the last time Solovyov paid attention to the White Nights was when he was in Stockholm.

His role as adjutant was somewhat stimulating, but now he felt more fulfilled leading the troops.

After all, when you have something to do, you don’t have time to think about women’s problems.

However, the closer it gets to the summer solstice, the longer the daylight hours become. In areas north of the 48° north latitude, this is considered normal at this time.

That's why curtains are needed even more.

At home at No. 4 Laundry Lane, Solovyov saw this and thought that if he wanted to sleep well, he should not let the light in all the time.

However, his family's situation is a bit special.

Since the temperature started to warm up in the spring, Adela started to build illegal structures on the roof. After all, after Solovyov moved back in, he turned the roof into a platform that could be directly accessed from the attic.

Then, planting flowers on the roof became the characteristic of his house.

Although this girl doesn't sell flowers, she loves flowers!
Solovyov also bought a lot of seeds, including fruits and vegetables, as well as flowers and plants. When Adela had nothing to do, she would stay in the flower shed on the roof, and would only go back to the attic when it was time to sleep.

Therefore, he came to the attic to take a look.

There was no one in front of the piano and the desk, and the attic window was still open, with direct access to the roof from the small balcony outside.

Solovyov himself did not usually come here. After all, this was Adela's boudoir. Although she was nominally a servant, she was more like his stepsister.

As for what the roof looked like, he had only heard about it from Adela before, and once saw it from the top floor of Prince Yusupov's mansion.

A lot of flowers were planted and the space was well arranged. Adela was also commissioned by the Princess's daughter, Catherine, to plant some tulips here.

After all, the tulip mania back then was a typical financial bubble and Ponzi scheme, and those who took over in the end were the real fools.

However, there were a few tulips that Adela grew that looked very peculiar.

When Solovyov came up, he was attracted by the tulips.

“It’s so beautiful.”

"Brother, don't move yet. I'm going to give that pot of flowers to Catherine tomorrow."

"You girl, you really are back to your old ways."

"I like these flowers, and that pot of roses, which belongs to Julia."

"as well as."

Solovyov also saw plants from the poppy family, which he had never liked.

There is no other reason, it’s just that the alkaloids produced are always quite toxic.

In comparison, those flying leaves in the ancient world were nothing.

"Who is this for, then?"

"Katherine's brother Alexander, he's quite interesting."

Solovyov even thought that Adela might have some interest in Alexander Potemkin.

According to Russian marriage rules, except for the royal family, no one cares much about intermarriage between nobles and commoners. Many nobles married actresses and their own housekeepers.

Of course, he just went over the idea in his mind and rejected it.

Maybe she and Ekaterina Potemkina were close friends, so she helped to grow flowers for little Potemkin.

Moreover, young Potemkin was usually not at home. Usually only his wife, Catherine and little Prince Boris lived here.

"How did you and that Sasha meet?"

"When he came back from boarding school, Catherine was hosting a tea party. I was working as a maid that day, and that's how we met."

"Ah, what's your impression of him?"

"Although he was a student at a boarding school, he was wearing the uniform of the Guards."

By the way, Alexander Potemkin was still a registered soldier of the Potemkin Regiment, but he was registered after Solovyov became an adjutant.

Alexander was somewhat of a collector of descendants and relatives of famous generals. Since Potemkin was not married and had no legitimate heirs, he enlisted this child in the Guards.

Besides, when Arkady came back, he did not stay at court, but became an officer.

Most other generals sent their sons to join the army, so there was no need for the emperor to personally intervene.

As for the private school that Xiao Bojiangjin attended, the tuition was shockingly expensive, at 2000 rubles. So the students there were either rich or noble, and all of them were top-notch.

"Mr. Nikolai's school is a damn expensive place. There are never more than 33 students, even..."

The more Solovyov spoke, the more he felt that there was a clear class gap even among the nobility.

Even in the area of ​​private training, people can already feel the gap.

He, who is entirely self-taught, is completely different from them.

"Brother, you seem to be very familiar with that school!"

"Nothing, just on the embankment of the Fontanka Canal. I pass there all the time and know it well. Of course, I know a lot about our neighbors in the street ahead."

As for Mr. Charles Dominique Nicolay, who teaches at the school, since he is a Catholic dean and an old colleague of Mr. Talleyrand, the Catholic atmosphere here is strong. If Vasily Vasilyevich comes back from abroad, he might like this place very much.

However, due to the rising anti-French sentiment in society, it may not be easy for such a school to continue operating here.

Of course, it had little impact on the Italians, such as Catherine's aunt and new uncle, who were not affected.

After all, whether it is Naples or Milan, they are all Italian.

Solovyov also knew that almost all of these French boarding schools would have to move to Odessa with the Duke of Richelieu.

As for the French who were still in Russia, they were the prominent figures who were more affected.

Adela spoke with no accent, and sometimes even the girls who were very close to her didn't notice that she was French.

"only."

Solovyov really didn't think about himself. What he thought in his mind was very different from Adela's.

"Girls have secrets too, brother. What I've revealed to you is only my friendly relationship with Catherine and the others."

As for now, the restless children of Prince Yusupov's family were still greeting Adela on the top floor of their house.

"Hey, Adela!" Little Potemkin said this, and his relationship should be like that of Solovyov and married Elena, just friends, but the genders are reversed.

However, he was wearing the college uniform today, although this was not a requirement in boarding schools.

Solovyov didn't know the details enough, that was the boarding school for children of the upper nobility run by the French, many of whom were members of the Decembrists.

It’s hard to say whether they are friendly forces or people who can mess things up.

It is now daytime, so naturally many people are busy.

Wanting to rest but unable to, this is Solovyov's state. Although he is only 24 years old and full of energy, he can't stand it.
In his opinion, even his penis training + high-intensity compilation and writing may not have caused him more fatigue than the current training.

As for Adela, she went up to the roof to deliver flowers to the Yusupov family.

The Solovyovs' family actually had a small cart that was converted by their servants. If Adela wanted to go back to her old job one day, she could push the cart to Nevsky Avenue.

In addition to the children's requests, there are also the princess's wife's exotic flowers
Although the Princess's wife was definitely not a "shell listing" like Solovyov, the flowers she specifically requested were all related to artillery.

In addition to the tulips her daughter wanted, there were also hyacinths, carnations, cornflowers, oleanders, and
But Xiao Bojiangjin was from the Putian Regiment, and he was not an artilleryman.

"It's enough for Adela to come and give us flowers. Misha, why don't you come too."

This princess' wife was also Prince Potemkin's niece, and the aunt of Bagration's wife. When she spoke to Solovyov, she acted like an elder.

Moreover, he was considered a neighbor, after all, he lived in the alley behind, opposite the house where her servants lived.

"I just went to the roof to take a look. Petersburg is in the middle of a white night now. We need to draw the curtains tightly so that we can fall asleep."

"Yeah, that's true. A little light is not good."

"Ma'am, since Sasha is here, is Borunka (Boris Yusupov) here too?"

"Yes, Mr. Nikolai recently gave them all a holiday."

Although this lady possessed staggering wealth and married into Prince Yusupov's family, whose wealth in St. Petersburg was almost the same as Count Stroganov's, she lived a very simple life.

She owned a lot of jewels, but she withdrew from court life, preferring to live with her children. Even after the couple separated, they did not often live here. The princess lived on the English Embankment, while the prince often went to his estate in Moscow.

The Princess only appears here when her three children are at home.

As for Alexander and Boris who came down from the top floor, it was Boris, who was about to turn eleven, who saluted Solovyov directly.

"But, Borunka, you are not like Sasha, who is a soldier of the Putin Regiment, although not in the regiment."

"Yes, Mr. Colonel."

Xiao Bojiangjin has a different attitude from his half-brother. After all, he should officially join the army at his age.

"If you enlist now, you can still catch up with the battle against the French. But, Sasha, you have never lived in a military camp and your military training is not enough. Go to the reserve army, there you can learn a lot."

"Yes, those of us who are on the roster but have not joined the Legion are willing to follow your example."

"What kind of role model am I? I haven't even learned all the skills from the Grand Marshal."

Although Solovyov was modest in words, he still enjoyed the admiring looks of his juniors.

At the same time, he could not do such a cruel thing as sending the noble children who had not received sufficient training to the battlefield.

It is precisely because of this that the officers and soldiers currently retained in the Guards, based on the opinions of Grand Duke Constantine and the reports of the various regiment commanders, must be fully trained before going on overseas expeditions.

The additional soldiers and officers must at least have received training in the regiment.

The Russian military's service period is relatively long. There are many veterans in the army, and even officers who are too young have received training.

This was not the case when the French invaded later, and a lot of brave young men who had never fought in a battle were added to the army.

As for young Potemkin, he was a good man, and Solovyov was already amazed at his extraordinary generosity towards his friends and servants.

He doesn't look like a member of the Potemkin family. He is simple, straightforward, approachable and polite.

Even when his friends asked him to borrow money, his attitude was always: You don't have to pay it back.

This was something that surprised Solovyov, but what he saw now was still the young Alexander Potemkin, not the retired officer and philanthropist who even had a chivalrous demeanor in the future.

Boris has already noticed that he is indeed eccentric, and everyone in his family is like that.

Every generation of Yusupov can make some big news.

But Solovyov didn't know that after Louisa's sudden death after Belev, it was Boris, who had just returned from abroad, who escorted her coffin all the way back to St. Petersburg.

Well, this kind of fate may be more of a coincidence.

"As for you, Borunka, you are the only child of the prince."

The Princess looked at Solovyov and felt that he was more like a nagging butler.

"But what the children will do in the future is not something that relatives and friends can interfere with."

The lady also signaled the servants to move the flowers away, and then continued: "Baron Sergei can't control you, so don't expect Borunka to listen to you. Besides, he will only listen to you when he wants to play with you."

Typical of Yusupov, he always does things according to his own ideas.

In the future, there will be someone who will participate in the assassination of the evil monk, and that person will be his descendant.

As for the troubles he later encountered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the court, they were too numerous to count.

Also, if you have seen his father, you will always feel that this head looks a bit like Meyer.

And Boris's later portrait.
Although Solovyov saw a handsome boy, he would really become like Meyer in the future.

This is no wonder, his mother's surname is Engelhardt, and you can tell where it comes from just by looking at the surname.

"Also, you can have some drinks now, but no tea or coffee, or you won't be able to sleep."

"How about kvass?"

"That's good, of course. Everyone likes it."

The people in their family were also good to their servants. When Boris inherited the family property, all the serfs of the Yusupov family were freed with a stroke of the pen.

It is no wonder that many of the great nobles in St. Petersburg actually left safely after 1918, and did not eat peanuts as rumored. Some of the noble ladies who had no one to rely on even assigned their former servants to take care of them in their old age.

As long as one is not a person who has done all kinds of evil, there is still room for maneuver, and one can even leave in a dignified manner like the Stroganov family.

(End of this chapter)