Chapter 1630 1632【Arrival in France】
"Cheng Cheng, when you get there, call me back immediately." Feng Jingyao instructed his daughter, and then looked at Xiang Nan, "Ah Wen, help me take good care of Cheng Cheng, be more tolerant of her, and understand her more."
"Don't worry, Dad, I will." Feng Chengcheng nodded.
"Don't worry, uncle, I will take good care of Cheng Cheng." Xiang Nan also nodded, and then the two boarded a ship and headed to France together.
The ship departs from the Shanghai River, passes through Xiangjiang, Saigon, and Singapore, crosses the Indian Ocean, crosses the Arabian Gulf, passes through the Suez Canal, enters the Mediterranean Sea, and finally lands in Marseille, France. The journey lasts forty days.
Because of this, Cheng Cheng, who was still very excited when he first boarded the ship, entered the Indian Ocean, and could only see the vast sea for several days, blowing the bitter sea wind, being dizzy and unable to eat because of the shaking of the ship , When I couldn't sleep, I cried so much that I felt heartbroken.
Fortunately, Xiang Nan is proficient in medical skills, and he helped her with massage and acupuncture, which relieved her symptoms. Otherwise, she might never dare to take a boat again.
But in fact, they are not bad, sitting in first class, with comfortable beds, fresh air, wide vision, and high-quality service.
It is even worse for the passengers on the bottom floor, who are not qualified to go to the deck to breathe fresh air.
There are only a few hundred people crowded in a small space, breathing dirty air, enduring huge bumps, and the bites of mosquitoes, rats and ants. Compared with the VIPs in the first class, the treatment is not a little worse.
…
After arriving in Marseille, the two then took the train to Paris.
Xianan is proficient in French, English, Spanish and other languages, which brings great convenience to their journey. Otherwise, communication alone would be a problem, let alone survival and development.
Feng Chengcheng was surprised by this. She knew that Xiang Nan had gone to college and was a talented person, but she didn't expect that his talent was so high.
English, French, Spanish, acupuncture and massage, ship sailing, marine information, all of them are very clear, which really surprised her.
"Wen Qiang, you are really amazing." She looked at him admiringly and said.
"I promised your father that I would take good care of you. Of course I can't break my promise." Xiang Nan laughed.
After arriving in Paris, the two are studying preparatory courses at Saint-Martin Middle School, learning French and various subjects. French preparatory courses, in the form of Chinese high schools, study the content of undergraduate courses, and the difficulty of the exam is similar to that of the college entrance examination.
The difference is that, in addition to the test scores, the usual performance of the students is also tested, and they also need to pass written and oral tests before they can enter the ideal university.
Overall, competition is fierce.
Xiang Nan studied physics in the preparatory course, which will help his future development.
Feng Chengcheng chose French literature. She likes reading novels, prose, and poetry, and is very interested in literary creation.
…
The two are still in Paris, renting a one-bedroom and one-living room together, buying furniture and decorating, buying paint and painting by themselves, and turning it into a small nest of love.
After finishing his work, Cheng Cheng was busy taking French lessons. Xiang Nan writes his own novels, occasionally goes shopping and watches movies, and lives a leisurely life.
In 2008, life in France was still very good. After World War I, France, one of the victorious countries, received 269 billion gold marks from Germany in war reparations, equivalent to about 96,000 tons of gold.
In addition, the two lands of Alsace and Lorraine that were cut off during the Franco-Prussian War were also taken back, with a total of 15,000 square kilometers of territory and a population of 1.5 million. That is, the two places mentioned in the junior high school text "The Last Lesson".
It is precisely because of this that although France experienced World War I and suffered heavy losses, France recovered very quickly. From 2001 to 2009, the value of industrial output more than doubled, more than that of Britain and Germany combined.
Total foreign trade increased by 50%, accounting for 6% of global foreign trade. Moreover, the urban population has increased significantly, and the country has successfully transformed from an agricultural-industrial country to an industrial-agricultural country.
Because of this, the French economy seems to be prosperous and thriving.
However, Xiang Nan knows that good fortune depends on misfortune. Behind the economic prosperity, there are oppressed workers, impoverished farmers, and bullied colonies.
In other words, the oil and water of the working people has been squeezed dry by the capitalists.
Therefore, the threat of economic crisis is getting closer.
Xiang Nan also knew this, so he tried to find ways to make money and keep more cash. Otherwise, when the economic crisis comes, even the banks will go bankrupt.
At that time, it will be troublesome.
…
Xiang Nan's first novel was "The Old Man and the Sea".
After this 40,000-word novella was published in the literary magazine "Europa", it did not cause much repercussions.
The reason was that surrealist literature was more popular in the French literary world at that time. It advocates the overthrow of all traditional writing techniques, completely disrupts people's way of thinking and expression, and attempts to achieve amazing results with meaningless words.
Xiang Nan's "The Old Man and the Sea" is a more realistic work. Moreover, the old man went through hardships and did not bring back the tuna he caught. The ending of this tragedy did not quite suit the tastes of French readers.
After all, the French economy is now thriving. It is called the golden age of capitalism. The middle class has cars and every household lives in apartments. How can they like this kind of suffering novels.
Although this novel did not win a lot of praise as Xiang Nan expected, and helped him to become famous in the French literary world, it still brought Xiang Nan a reward of 500 francs.
After that, Xiang Nan changed his creative thinking. He studied the current bestseller list in the French literary world, pondered the preferences of the French middle class, and then began to create "The Hobbit".
This kind of fantasy novel has rich imagination, story twists and turns, thrilling and bizarre, can bring readers a different reading experience, and I believe it will meet the tastes of the middle class.
"The Hobbit" was originally a work created by the famous British writer Ronald Tolkien in 1930. He was a professor at Oxford University at the time, and when he was correcting students' exam papers, he accidentally wrote "In Bag End lived a hobbit~" in the blank space.
From then on, the inspiration was out of control, and finally let him complete this work. This novel has since created a new genre of literature—fantasy literature, so Tolkien is also known as the father of fantasy literature.
Afterwards, "The Hobbit" gave birth to a masterpiece with millions of words - "Lord of the Rings". This book is a classic of fantasy literature, and has a well-known influence in European and American countries, comparable to the status of "Journey to the West" in China.
(end of this chapter)