Lady of the Lord From the East

The residents gave wedding gifts. Since they couldn't invite everyone to the celebration, Wei Wei felt it was necessary to at least give a gift.

When it comes to the return gift you can get when you go to a wedding wine, for ordinary people, it is nothing more than a pack of cigarettes and a box of wedding candy.

There are no cigarettes, but she thinks they can have candy, but not too much.

But it sounds like a luxury to others.

That's candy, candy that only rich people can eat!

Even now they have mastered the craft of making sugar with malt in Sardinson County, but the malt sugar was originally used to make lemon jam, and after a winter, the stored wheat was either used to grind flour to make pasta or made into malt sugar. The jam is almost used up, and now the wheat in Sardinson County is purchased from other regions, and it is too extravagant to use it to make sugar and distribute it to the residents.

Not only the housekeeper thought so, but the other servants who heard Wei Wei's words had the same idea. Even Felix had a feeling that it would be too much at the beginning.

But he quickly reacted, in fact, this does not seem to be such a luxury to them.

In other places, it is rare, and the sugar sold only by merchants from other foreign countries is a commodity as precious as honey. Even if one person distributes one piece according to Wei Wei, with the number of more than 40,000 residents in Satinson, The money to buy sugar can almost make an ordinary noble go bankrupt.

But here are other people for whom sugar is not so precious.

Although maltose is not as sweet as sugar brought by foreign merchants, it is still a precious sugar.

Moreover, the production method of maltose is simple, and the materials are not used much. About two catties of wheat can make one catty of maltose. If the size of a piece of sugar is calculated as ten grams, then one catty of solidified and cooled maltose can be cut into fifty Candy cane, and the maximum number of his subjects is about 40,000. One piece per person consumes no more than 2,000 catties of wheat.

Two thousand catties of wheat is a lot for ordinary people, but it is actually nothing more than an acre and a half of fields, and the price required is not even the cost of a day for the castle.

In this way, let alone a piece of candy, it would definitely not be a burden for him to send more.

Felix's side is connected, but the others haven't turned their minds. The reason is that maltose is not sold as a separate commodity. It is one of the raw materials Wei Wei used to make lemon jam because she didn't want to waste it. Lemon jam is sold at the price of sugar, so naturally, everyone's perception of sugar is still "very expensive, very expensive, and expensive ordinary people can't afford it at all".

So Wei Wei said it was natural to use sugar as a return gift, but other people were taken aback by the actual sugar price and completely forgot the actual situation.

It was Felix who wanted to understand something and reminded them: "We are not short of sugar now." The servants responded one after another.

Yes, they are not short of sugar, not only are they not short of sugar, but also have more. Although lemons and oranges are out of season, the castle will no longer continue to boil sugar in large quantities to make jams, but the kitchen will occasionally make some for cooking. Not to mention that the knights who stay behind can often get sweet food, even their servants can drink a bowl of sweet water a week.

So, there is no shortage of sugar.

Butler Patton, who had reacted, responded immediately: "Okay, madam, I will arrange for someone to prepare it. Is it right? How much do you think is appropriate?"

Unexpectedly, Wei Wei waved his hand: "No, this time we will do something else."

In her opinion, maltose is not worth much, and using this as a gift in return, even if it is a pound per person, she feels that it is cheap for the occupiers. After all, many of the wedding gifts they received today are the family and hard work of the occupiers. , let her use this as a gift in return, she is guilty.

Compared with maltose, you have to use the sugar boiled with beets as a gift, which is much sweeter than maltose.

Just before she found out that there was a southern merchant selling sugar beets in the capital, she wrapped up several carts of the other party's goods and let the serf convoy bring them back together, and made an agreement with the merchant to continue to provide supplies to Sardinson. Goods, now use these beets to boil sugar to give gifts to the residents, and by the way, they can also open up the market.

At this time, there was a lot of people talking, and she didn't continue to talk, but just sold it off and aroused everyone's curiosity.

However, they also realized that now is not the time to talk, Felix has to arrange the team members, the housekeeper will naturally follow to help, and Wei Wei has no plans to rest, she can't wait to go to the back garden to see her precious plants them.

Mrs. Nancy followed her and reported the situation of these plants to her. During this period of time, the owners were away, so the Bartons naturally had to pay more attention to the large and small affairs in the castle, knowing that the plants in the back garden belonged to Wei Wei Honey, Mrs. Nancy will also check with the gardener regularly.

"When the weather was the coldest, although we moved the plants indoors, it was a pity that some of the plants didn't survive."

Wei Wei is also mentally prepared for this. Although the seeds given to her by the system are all optimized cold-resistant varieties, to ensure that these seeds can survive smoothly even during the Little Ice Age, but Sardinesburg has a northern climate. , There are many tropical varieties in the seeds, and it is impossible to adapt to the weather here, and it is an era without greenhouses, so it is inevitable that they will not survive.

For example, the coffee tree native to Africa and the rubber tree native to the Amazon forest, which she planted did not expect them to really grow, but it was just a fluke.

Wei Wei arrived in the back garden. The two hired gardeners and the Terrance family were already waiting there, but compared to the excitement and excitement of the other servants when they saw the master's return, their expressions could be regarded as fearful, even frightened. Some more.

Although they knew that Wei Wei was a gentle hostess, how could they not be afraid after so many plants died in their care.

Fortunately, Wei Wei did not mean to blame them. She walked into the experimental field in the fence. Before the winter, many crops had been harvested and many places had been vacated. After she was gone, the gardeners followed her. He instructed to dig out all the plants that are afraid of cold before snowing, put them in flower pots and transfer them indoors, and the place looks even more empty.

However, those plants that have not been dug up are resistant to cold and are not afraid of snow. Although most of the leaves have fallen off, some greenery will appear on the branches after the weather warms up. Vitality is very strong.

The removed plants are naturally not here. Those plants will be moved indoors at night to prevent low temperature, and they will be moved out to bask in the sun during the day when the weather is good. For convenience, they are naturally placed in the open space close to the room.

Wei Wei went over and looked at it. Originally, many tropical species did not grow very well in the beginning, and even some seeds did not germinate. Now it has been frozen for a winter, and it is even more impossible to germinate. Even if they do, they will grow because of the low temperature. Not bad, most of them are dead now, leaving only a few scattered ones who are still stubbornly fighting against fate.

After discovering that even tropical plants such as coffee, cocoa and bananas still have so many saplings that survived the cold winter stubbornly, although they look like malnourished little ones growing in pots at this time, it is enough to make Wei Wei Wei was surprised.

And those plants that are still in the pot, but obviously have no vitality, although it is regrettable, it is not too surprising.

So she said to a few apprehensive gardeners and gardeners: "You are doing very well. I thought none of these plants would survive, but now I am very satisfied with this result. You can go to Butler Patton to collect the reward later. ."

It's not their fault that Sardinson Castle is not suitable for growing these tropical plants. After a while, she has to go to Melk, the furthest town in Sardinson County, and if it is true, as Felix said, the climate is better than here. If so, just buy a piece of land and get these tropical plants there, it's better than living in Sardinesburg.

Unexpectedly, so many plants died. Instead of being scolded by the hostess, they were praised. Terrence and others were overjoyed, and they all said that they did not do well and could not be her reward.

Wei Wei felt that they had really done a good job, and they might not have achieved this result if they changed her.

After a few more words of encouragement, she asked the gardeners to dispose of the dead plants, and the rest of the things were done as they were.

Although the weather has begun to warm up now, it is still necessary to pay attention, lest one bad, another plant die.

After not staying in the garden for too long, Wei Wei returned to the castle. Mrs. Nancy asked her if she needed to go back to her room to rest first. Wei Wei shook her head. Although she was very tired from traveling by boat, she spent most of her time in the carriage. I don't want to rest at all right now.

"Are the people who were sent back in place properly? What about the goods that were sent back?"

Mrs. Nancy nodded and replied: "It has been arranged, and the goods have been put into storage, and there is nothing missing."

Wei Wei: "How did those people arrange it?"

Mrs. Nancy told him that Felix had planned to buy people long before he set off, so he greeted the manor stewards in advance and asked them to notify the serf villages and take advantage of the free time in winter to spend time around the villages. Build some more houses.

After those serfs arrived, they were assigned to different villages, which was also to prevent them from causing trouble when they got together.

Wei Wei frowned: "Those children are also separated? They are all still young, and it may be difficult to live alone."

"No, they are staying at the church now and are being looked after by Father Matthew and a few servants." Mrs. Nancy explained: "Because we didn't expect so many children before, we didn't consider this aspect. The demand led to insufficient preparation, and even the house was not enough. Fortunately, Father Matthew took the initiative to hear that he wanted to help, so he put all the children with him, and when the convoy came back, he brought a letter from Lord Earl, which has now been asked. People from the road construction team allocated their staff to build another place to house these children."

"Is it a church?" Wei Wei was relieved to hear that it was in a church. She also often went to the church next to the castle. It was a big place and was built according to the standards of cathedrals in the city. There are bench seats for hundreds of people, not to mention other ancillary areas, allowing more than 200 children to live in it, and the place is much more spacious than the previous house Allen provided.

But this matter was proposed by Father Matthew, Wei Wei was a little surprised. That priest is not a person who likes to take matters into his own hands, and he usually has a very low sense of presence. He knows that Felix does not like the church. The reason is, so Wei Wei didn't expect that he would take the initiative to help take care of those children.

"Father Matthew likes children very much." Compared with her masters, Mrs. Nancy is a devout believer and has always admired Father Matthew: "He seems to be more energetic recently."

Father Matthew is very old. With his qualifications and age, he can even run for the Pope, but this old man went to a rural place like Sardinson, which is a bit strange, but it can be seen that he Really came to enjoy the old age.

Father Matthew's life was not very good this winter. His age is not suitable for winter. Fortunately, Father's body is still strong and has no pain and no pain through the winter, but he looks more old and haggard than before. .

But after the serf was sent, the priest who offered to take care of the children suddenly became better, and even his smile was more kind than before, and he really took good care of the children.

"You mean Father Matthew is teaching children to read?"

Mrs. Nancy nodded: "Yes, this is the order of the earl's letter. Let us arrange a literate person for those children to teach them to learn. We originally planned to send several servants to take turns to the class, but the priest took the initiative to ask when he knew about it. to help."

Although it is very strange why the Count asked them to find a teacher for a group of serf children, but this was the master's order, and the housekeepers naturally followed it meticulously.

Wei Wei frowned. She didn't think that Father Matthew couldn't teach children. On the contrary, since this priest could become a bishop, his knowledge would not be too bad.

What she was worried about was that the priest had taught a group of believers. After all, Wei Wei really rejected the current church. It would not be a good thing if the people under their command eventually turned to the church.

"What is he teaching?"

"According to the request of the Count, I am currently learning Chinese." Mrs. Nancy said, "I heard that many serfs recently hoped to send their children over to study together."

Ordinary people can't go to school, and their chance to receive education is basically only to send their children to the church to be taught by priests. Of course, to do so requires parents to provide some donations for the church.

And this is an opportunity only for free people. Serfs do not have the consent of their lords, so it is impossible for them to send their children to study.

So after seeing the treatment of these children, they naturally want to send their own children to study, even if they just learn some words and arithmetic, they may become their strengths in the future, so that they have the opportunity to be appreciated by the count.

Therefore, the church has been very lively recently. There are serfs who come to the door with things every day, but Father Matthew did not agree to any of them. He just said that he would wait for the count to come back and ask him for his opinion.

"I see, I'll discuss this with Phil." Phil is Felix's nickname. Wei Wei changed it a long time ago, but she doesn't call him that in front of others. It was in the castle, and she called it out very smoothly.

After asking about the serfs, Wei Wei asked about her house again.

The house that has been built for more than half a year should be almost built in time.

"It is indeed almost finished, but Pierre Architect is a man of excellence. He is doing the final repairs. I heard that it will take about half a month to hand over the house."

Wei Wei was a little curious and wanted to take a look, but since she said it wasn't completely done, she should wait until the house was handed over to welcome the surprise.

After that, Wei Wei learned about what happened in the castle during her absence. Now that she is the mistress of the Williams family, it has become her duty to ask these questions. In the future, everything in the castle will be She is in charge.

Wei Wei: Suddenly I feel the burden on my body is getting heavier and heavier.

Everything is going well in Sardinson this winter. Even the little miss Caroline is in good health. Mrs. Nancy takes good care of it according to Wei Wei's advice. The child has survived this winter smoothly and has grown up Years old, now a two-year-old baby.

Speaking of the children she took care of, Mrs. Nancy smiled all over her face: "Little Miss has grown up a lot, her face is a little fleshy, and she doesn't like to cry, she smiles like an angel."

The rest of the people in the castle are also doing well. Felix made a lot of money last year. He is also a generous lord. He can give better treatment to the people who agree to Wei Wei's suggestion, not to mention the castle. People who get along with each other day and night, whether they are soldiers or servants, their wages have increased a little, and in winter, everyone has bought new clothes, so not only does everyone work more actively, but no one gets sick this winter. Had a good time.

After Wei Wei straightened out the castle, Felix settled the soldiers of Allen, stopped by to see the mercenaries who were still in the castle, and dealt with some urgent documents. return.

Like Wei Wei, the Earl didn't even have time to change his clothes after being busy for a long time. Fortunately, he was not wearing armor and was wearing a warm robe. When he came back, he came directly to Wei Wei and waited until he saw the man sitting in the lounge. After Wei Wei, she casually went to the vacant seat beside Wei Wei, put her arms around her and kissed her and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Speaking of the castle, everything is basically fine." Wei Wei looked at Felix's dusty appearance, thinking that he was also very tired and didn't push anyone away.

Mrs. Nancy picked up the other servants and left, leaving the place to the two masters.

As soon as the others left, Felix let himself go even more, he stuck to Wei Wei, swayed to and fro, and said in a tone that didn't match his appearance, which seemed like a complaint but was actually coquettish: "This journey is really exhausting. I’m here, and I won’t be able to rest when I come back, there are a lot of documents in the study that I need to deal with.”

Wei Wei got a headache from his shaking: "So what?"

"So can you handle it with me?"

Felix really didn't like to deal with those documents, there were so many things and he didn't think he could handle it alone.

In the past, Wei Wei avoided touching Felix's official business, but now her identity is different, she will naturally not refuse, but thinking about her tomorrow's arrangements, she said: "I have to ask Candy tomorrow morning. I'll deal with it at first, and I'll help you in the afternoon."

As long as she is willing to help, he can afford to wait for a long time.

Wei Wei remembered what she said before: "By the way, about the priest, I always feel uneasy about letting him teach the children, and the priest may not be able to handle it because he is too old, so I plan to let Qin teach them. , to share some of the work with the priest."

Qin was the first to teach those children, and in their hearts, she must have an extraordinary status, just like Penny, who was the first to take care of them.

"I have to pick a few more people who can take care of children and read with Qin. It's too tiring to teach only the two of them for so many children."

While the priest hadn't kidnapped the children's hearts to the church, she had to control people, but Wei Wei hoped that she could choose some talented people to teach carefully, and cultivate a group of loyal talents for Sardinson County. .

"So when the basic literacy is similar to arithmetic, you can send someone to pick them up. If there are suitable martial arts students, they will be trained. Talents always need to develop in many ways."

Felix was a little confused: "But most of those children are girls."

"What's wrong with the girls? Do you think girls can't practice martial arts?" Wei Wei gave him a sideways look: "I don't want them to be soldiers, but if they are really talented, they can be trained for me and Dolores. Female bodyguards are also good, or do you think it would be more appropriate to have some male servants by our side?"

She knew very well how to persuade Felix by grasping his weakness.

Of course it's a female bodyguard!

Sure enough, as soon as he mentioned this kind of thing, Felix's entanglement was immediately abandoned by him. He had been in the capital for so long, and he had seen a lot of secret meetings between noble ladies and the servants around him, and even the ones he knew. Many of those knights had an ambiguous relationship with the wives of the nobles they were loyal to. Although he didn't think Wei Wei was such a person, it was necessary to take precautions.

So a female bodyguard or something would definitely reassure him more than putting a knight by her side!

Thinking of this, Felix convinced himself that he didn't think there was anything wrong with women practicing martial arts. Instead, he felt that such a person could train more. After all, Wei Wei almost had an accident before, but it scared him, and This kind of thing is likely to happen again, so Felix can feel at ease by putting more people around Wei Wei to protect her.

"But you sent your maid to take care of those children, what about you?" Felix asked an important question and suggested, "I think you still need to add a few more maids, two It’s still too little, like if there’s a little thing right now, there’s no one around you available.”

Moreover, she is now the hostess of the castle, and there are only two personal maids by her side.

Wei Wei felt that what he said was very reasonable, and nodded: "Then I'll see if there are any suitable ones, and add two more."

But before adding people, she had to talk to Qin and Penny, lest they think too much, but she knew that Qin's wish was to become a housekeeper, and she herself did have such potential. But it is a temporary thing, she will come back sooner or later.

The author has something to say: Wei Wei: I seem to have forgotten something?

Felix: Yes?

Butler: Madam, you forgot that the castle is currently severely understaffed, and all the newly bought servants have been hired as workers! ! !