Joseph rubbed his ears and put down the draft of the “France-Austria Trade Agreement,” frowning as he looked towards the huge French windows.
The windows were tightly closed, but they still couldn’t block out the tsunami-like cheers coming from the Palace of Versailles Square.
He then remembered that today was the final day of the Star of France competition, and he shook his head as he stood up, realizing that if he wanted to work, he’d have to go to the Tuileries Palace.
Eman hurried over, bowing and saying, “Your Highness, Queen Mary’s people have come to urge you, the competition is about to begin.”
Joseph nodded and stretched, allowing his servants to help him change into a different outfit before he hurried toward the square. After all, there was nothing else to do, so he might as well go and keep his mother company at the contest. She was particularly fond of such events.
As he stepped out of the main entrance of the Palace of Versailles, he heard the noisy voices in the Marble Courtyard, “No, you need to add more emotion! Especially the part about your father’s death…”
“At that time, to keep me dancing, my father had to work five jobs a day, busy until midnight before he could sleep, and then up again at five in the morning to go to the workshop.”
“Although I don’t have a right hand, no family, and hardly any friends, I still have my voice, and singing is everything to me…”
“Truly! That day I heard the voice of God… so I picked myself back up, bravely returned to the qualifying round, and finally succeeded! Thank the Lord!”
Joseph smiled and shook his head, knowing that these were the contestants, and the Marble Courtyard was currently being used as their preparation area.
To maximize the impact of the competition’s stories, he had specifically requested all contestants to share a part of their story before the competition, the more tear-jerking the better.
What he hadn’t anticipated was the extraordinary perceptiveness of the 18th-century French people; after just a few rounds, everyone realized the importance of “pre-competition stories”—when two contestants were close in singing and dancing abilities, it was the degree of emotional stirring of their stories that determined the winner. Even a story heart-wrenching enough was more crucial than actual talent.
Consequently, the contestants’ stories became more and more spectacular, and it was rumored that playwrights had begun to specialize in writing “pre-competition stories” to make money.
And this had greatly increased the heat of the competition, which was now not only a sensation throughout France, but the talk of virtually all of Europe.
The organizing committee of the Star of France had even compiled these contestants’ stories into booklets for sale, with the qualifying rounds version already in its third issue, selling astoundingly well.
The temporarily constructed wooden spectator stands surrounded the large stage in the middle of the Versailles Palace Square in a circle. According to the design, there were more than 5,000 seats, but at this moment, each spot was crammed with two people, with still a large part of the audience standing around the outside, craning their necks towards the stage.
To accommodate the Star of France competition, Paris City Hall had even specifically requested that all workshops and shops give their employees at least one day off during the three days of the finals. This significantly increased the number of spectators.
Joseph, via a path cleared by the guards among the crowd, arrived at the VIP area of the spectator stands. The people along the way, realizing that it was the Crown Prince, bowed respectfully to him.
Joseph sat down next to Queen Mary, casually chatting about the state of the competition, and couldn’t help but recall the last time he watched the fencing match with Clementine on Louis XVI’s birthday. It felt like such an occasion was only properly atmospheric with a little girl chattering away beside him.
However, his cousin’s return to Austria had also been a relief for him; he was genuinely afraid that Queen Mary would forcibly make a match from the Matchmaking Scroll, leading to an incestuous marriage for him. As someone familiar with modern genetics, that would be an absolute disaster in his life…
A loud burst of horns sounded around, accompanied by drumbeats and the sound of a harpsichord, as Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio, sister of Louis XVI and the Countess of Provence, came to the center of the stage to announce the official start of the finals of the Star of France.
Then, the host recounted the twists and turns of the qualifying rounds, encouraging the contestants to perform at their best…
The stands were packed with hundreds of international journalists, frantically recording the progress of the competition on their notepads. The contest was now the focus of public attention—whichever newspaper got their stories out fastest would see the highest sales.
The French people who came to watch the competition were so excited that they couldn’t stop cheering, or they were moved to tears by the performers, fully immersing themselves in a carnival feast.
All the hardships and gloom of ordinary days were forgotten in this moment, completely wiped away.
Actually, ever since the preliminaries started two months ago, their lives had been filled with various performers and highly acclaimed songs and dances.
It could be said that, during this period, the French people were the happiest group in all of Europe. Now, unless they were on the brink of starvation, even if someone incited them to revolt, they simply wouldn’t care.
Joseph gazed at the young performers singing and dancing on stage and then glanced at the tens of thousands of citizens around him who were intoxicated with delight, and he couldn’t help but nod to himself, “The entertainment routines from the future sure work well.”
He immediately thought that, once the Star of France was over, maybe they should continue with a national sports festival or even a European one.
Yes, promoting popular sports among the common folk would not only enable them to exercise but also provide an outlet for venting their emotions.
It might even stimulate the economy.
He immediately reviewed the sports of the era—horseback riding, fencing, tennis, golf…
They all seemed to be noble sports, with perhaps only cricket being something that could be promoted among the commoners.
He sighed. Well, it looked like he would have to “invent” football himself.
However, for the people of this era, a football made of cowhide stitching was still not something the common man could afford.
Joseph planned in his mind to have the treasury spend some money to purchase public footballs for each parish for everyone’s use.
A smile played at the corner of his mouth. In that case, maybe he could see his beloved World Cup as soon as the eighteenth century!
And what about the possibility of an early appearance of the French football league? The idea of forming his own professional team was even a little exciting… The Paris Crown Prince’s Team? Just the thought of it made him a little thrilled…
Together with the “Louis Prize” evaluation and awards ceremony that had already been scheduled on the agenda, and the upcoming Paris Fashion Week among other events, France had a series of grand festivities almost non-stop throughout the year.
Joseph suddenly slapped his thigh. Well, in that case, the property prices in Paris would definitely rise again, and he had to arrange new real estate projects quickly. It would be perfect to combine them with the Paris-Versailles Palace integration project and develop the wasteland in between—there was money to be made!
…
Three days later.
The Star of France competition came to a close, and Oriean Tona, a commoner from Brittany, ultimately won the championship.
The runner-up was a merchant from Paris, and the third place went to a little clerk from Bordeaux.
It wasn’t that the commoners were exceptionally strong, but rather that most of the nobles haughtily refused to compete alongside commoners and thus did not sign up.
However, when the nobles at the Palace of Versailles saw Tona being awarded the trophy and 30,000 livres in prize money by the Countess of Provence in the midst of cheering thousands, and his subsequent joining of the court orchestra, every one of them regretted deeply and silently resolved to participate in next year’s Star of France! What was the face of nobility worth compared to 30,000 livres?