Red and Black

Author: Adapted by Zhao Daxin | Illustrations by Gao Yan, Wu Guanying, Lin Yuan, Li Ke
China Mainland
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: Villeuil is a beautiful small town in France. After Napoleon's "Hundred Days" failed, the Bourbon monarchy returned for a second time, and the local nobleman Monsieur de Rênal became the mayor of the town. Monsieur de Rênal was a seemingly busy and imposing figure. But if you got to know him, you would discover that his only talent was in making others repay their debts on time, while when he owed someone a debt, he would always try to delay repayment as much as possible.
That day, Monsieur de Rênal, with the demeanor of a diplomat, told his wife, "I have decided to hire Julien Sorel, who is proficient in Latin, as a private tutor for the children. They have become too mischievous. Besides, Valenod's four-wheeled carriage has been added with two fine horses, looking magnificent. But Valenod still hasn't hired a private tutor!"
The next morning, Monsieur de Rênal found Julien's father, the carpenter, old Sorel, and told him of his decision. Old Sorel was both surprised and delighted, thinking that another opportunity to get rich had come. Six years ago, he had greatly extorted Monsieur de Rênal by taking advantage of the mayor's urgent need to build a garden house and the piece of land he needed. Monsieur de Rênal agreed to pay three hundred francs in wages annually, which later increased to thirty-five francs per month, not including food and clothing.
"My son might do better elsewhere!" Old Sorel said with cunning eyes fixed on the mayor. "To make it a round number, it should be raised to thirty-six francs."
After some negotiation, Monsieur de Rênal reluctantly made a concession. Old Sorel found Julien, who was engrossed in reading a book. Due to the noise of sawing wood, he did not hear his father's call. Old Sorel threw the book viciously into the river with a punch and then struck Julien's head with another vicious punch. P1-P6