[Pride and Prejudice] Rich Lady

Elizabeth is very similar to her father, Mr. Bennet, that is, unimportant and difficult things, they usually choose to put them aside for a few days.Sometimes I think of it suddenly, but I still don’t do it with a little interest.

The matter now refers to Mr. William's letter.

Mr. William did leave an address on the envelope, but Elizabeth was unsure whether to reply.Because it doesn't make sense, and they haven't even had a friendship before.Just as the lady was about to put this letter behind her, Mr. William's second letter arrived.

Laura was still helping to get it, and she urged her friend to write back: "This lady is very sincere, Lizzie. She wants to be your friend, and she may have already regarded you as a friend. If she is okay, That shouldn't be such a disappointment to a lady's friendship. If you don't want to make friends with her, you should write back and tell her."

The name and address on the envelope glued with white paper are in delicate and soft handwriting, making it look like it was written by a lady, which obviously misled Miss Laura.

Elizabeth didn't know whether to thank Mr. William for his thoroughness, or to praise him for his talent: this fancy copper plate handwriting was excellent, and it was obviously written by a well-educated lady.Mr. William's imitation is very similar, and he can't find any flaws if he looks carefully.

But then Elizabeth felt a little soft-hearted. For some reason, she remembered that she satirized Mr. Darcy before, implying that he was hanging on Miss Bingley. 'Now my approach seems to be a bit similar. 'Elizabeth thought,' what's more, Mr. William is indeed sincere. Even if I don't want to have more contacts with Mr. Strange, I should write back and tell him. '

Mr. William's letter was as interesting as ever. To be honest, Elizabeth could not see any admiration or pursuit from his letter.But it's not that the lady is being sentimental: a gentleman who met once, racked his brains to remember the little information revealed during the conversation between the two, and then wrote two long letters tirelessly. Shouldn't he doubt his intentions?

Elizabeth wrote back the letter. She thanked Mr. William first, and then told him tactfully that she was busy with schoolwork this semester and did not have much time to take care of other things. Finally, she asked Mr. William to forgive her offense.

Elizabeth watched the letter being delivered by the maid, and decided that the trouble was over.Then she began to work on her and her friend's business with one heart and one mind.

Before the end of the Easter holiday, Elizabeth wrote to Laura: After all, Longbourne is in the country, and there are not many materials for making Ming Dynasty dim sum, and there is nowhere to buy them; and Mrs. Bennet does not allow her daughters to stay in the kitchen. She was very persistent on one point. Elizabeth only tried to make pea yellow once, but the finished product was not satisfactory.

After returning to Taurus College, the ladies are even more reluctant to step into the kitchen. Mrs. Judith requires the students to maintain a ladylike demeanor at all times-the only time when they have access to fresh ingredients is only in this lady's class, Judith The wife sometimes orders the maids to bring all kinds of wine and ingredients to the breakfast room. Her teaching is: a qualified lady does not need to know how to cook food, but must know how to taste; whether she can easily judge the quality of wine and food, As well as the freshness and quality of the ingredients, you can see people's taste.

In addition, the courses in the summer semester were indeed a lot heavier, and some Elizabeths were in a hurry when they came into contact with them for the first time.So her and Laura's Ming-style dessert shop progressed slowly.

Fortunately, with the help of friends, after a month, Elizabeth finally smoothed out the course: Latin and Greek are not too difficult to learn after getting started, but it is not too difficult for her to practice writing and learn grammar and rhetoric. As for French, dance, piano, appreciation of classical art and continental architecture, European painting art, and taste of famous music and drama, Elizabeth felt that these courses were like college elective courses in her previous life, and they were always more popular than professional courses—at least Elizabeth enjoyed these courses. , the ladies generally have some foundation, and it is very interesting to communicate with each other.

In late May, they once again had plenty of time to devote themselves to the property.

But dessert making is still a big problem. Elizabeth can occasionally show off her skills in Mrs. Zhang’s kitchen, but it’s hard to quantify the skills: if they want to open a shop, they must make adequate preparations, such as teaching the cook how to make these pastries practice.

There's nothing harder than cooking a cookbook, Elizabeth thought.She is used to a little, a handful, and an appropriate amount of flower growers, but people here don't accept it well. Laura pointed to the straw paper written by Elizabeth and asked, "What is the appropriate amount? One teaspoon, one tablespoon, or half a cup, an ounce?"

Elizabeth had no choice but to try to slow down. Every step must be measured by something before continuing.But this is even more unsuitable for Mrs. Zhang's kitchen. Mrs. Zhang likes her very much, but many of Elizabeth's dim sum recipes do not come from this respectable lady. Besides, Mrs. Zhang likes to cook food by hand, so she can't occupy it The kitchen refused the owner to use it.

"I have a house near St. Paul's, Lizzie, and what do you think we'll leave college for on Saturday afternoon and come back before Sunday dinner?" said Laura.

"The King Charles spaniel that Daisy helped you find, we can also keep it there temporarily, with a maid to help take care of it. Don't you want to see your little pet from time to time?" Miss Cliff tempted.

"Of course I would, but dear Laura, are you sure we're safe in that house, given that we don't want a ladylike cook?" Elizabeth shook her head. "The housekeeper, the maid, and possibly the governess and gardener, I recall you mentioning that the house was your mother's property, and that Lord Cliff lived there for some time?"

Laura spread her hands, "This house belongs to me now, but the Cliff family will not give me any other property."

"You guessed it right. There was a housekeeper and a servant, but my governess has been disliked. Except for the salon lover. The baron is always so ruthless."

Elizabeth once heard Laura mention the governess she hated.She deceived Laura, and the purpose of her gentle and patient teaching was all on the young lady's father—the cold and staid Baron Cliff, but he liked women who were kind and caring.And the baron has no integrity, he also agrees with the current upper-class gentlemen's view of "raising an elegant lover other than a legal spouse", and is willing to implement it.So Miss Laura suffered a great humiliation, and the estrangement between her and her father became deeper and deeper after that.

"I can't think of any other way except this place." Laura was also worried.

"Honey, your words remind me!" Elizabeth sat up straight and asked with bright eyes, "How about I buy an apartment? Houses with gardens and stables are not easy to buy, but smaller private apartments are not. It will be too difficult."

Laura froze for a moment, "Do you have that much guinea? Lizzie, an apartment with a proper kitchen won't be cheap, it will cost at least three hundred pounds. I thought you would leave the money we made before to family?"

The two ladies have different investments in the store, Laura has more, while Elizabeth has technical supplements.Now Miss Laura's purse was going to be empty, and there was nothing she could do to help her friend.

"I kept some, but I still have a lot. I heard about an apartment sale in Chipside in March. The price was about 3 pounds. I can afford it." Elizabeth rummaged and found her cupboard. The money bag in the bag, the two ladies dumped it on the round table, counting the coins very seriously.

"A total of 382 pounds and 72 shillings." Laura let out a breath, and she couldn't help but wondered when she was happy: "Doesn't your father think that the lady shouldn't have so much cash in her hand? My mother only needs more than one year of pocket money. A hundred pounds, the baron will not be very happy, he would rather she spend the money than see his wife has a certain amount of cash in his hand." The baroness is very obedient to her husband, although she has the habit of saving, but always When it exceeds fifty pounds, the whole number is given to the sons.

"You tell me that your future dowry is only one thousand pounds?" She was very puzzled, such a large sum of money would have been taken back by Mr. Cliff long ago.Is it really unbelievable that Mr. Bennet originally only prepared a dowry of a thousand pounds for his daughter, but allowed Lizzie to hold nearly four hundred pounds?

"In fact, my dowry has doubled." The exact amount is uncertain.

Elizabeth smiled and said: "It's all thanks to my father. He has long wanted to give his daughters more property, but you know that our family's estate is only limited to male heirs." Even if there is no their clothing store, Mr. Bennet is also there Trying his best to increase the income of the farm, he is fulfilling his promise and working hard for his daughters.

"You have a younger brother?" Laura thought of this first.

Laura guessed again: "Or which of your sisters married the distant relative who will inherit the property. He is a selfless and kind person and decided to compensate you?"

Immediately, she was amused by herself, shook her head and said, "There can be no such noble fools. So, it's the former? But I've never heard you mention it!"

Elizabeth pressed her eyebrows, although she might be about to have one, but now: "Of course not, Laura, your guess is too outrageous. I mean that Mr. Bennet is doing his best to increase the income of the farm. In fact, he has already done some. He personally consults on every sale on the farm, which not only saves us a lot of investment, but also makes a profit when we clear out the stock - the turnips and carrots harvested after Christmas last year are in good condition, and the new Buyers are very satisfied. Spring vegetables are always scarce, and my dad has clearly gotten the hang of it."

"But it's four hundred pounds!" cried her friend. "If it had been me, I would have collected the whole amount for you. To be honest, even eighty pounds is too generous. Even Daisy, her The captain's father loved her so much, and she never had more than two hundred pounds in her purse."

Laura had been skeptical long before Elizabeth was about to tell her father about the kite business.The baroness thought that gentlemen were always the same, that Lizzie's father, though he loved her very much, would not let her have too much money--this seemed to touch a certain sensitive nerve in the gentlemen, and make them feel that their authority was offended.

But Mr. Bennet has indeed put away large sums of money for his daughter, such as the gold and the set of Ming Dynasty jewelry.Some of these hundreds of pounds were left by Elizabeth before going home as expenses for this semester, and some were pocket money given by the Bennets and Aunt Gardner, and the rest was taken home by her. Go unspent pounds.

"This is not surprising. Mr. Bennet is an open-minded man. He was not prepared to accept his daughter's money, but after our persuasion, he took out a sum of money to buy a shop and collect rent as one of our properties. "Elizabeth revealed in a small way that too many people are involved in the business of the Bennet family, and she is not qualified to tell others about it, and Laura is only interested in her own business.

But in the case of the sewing machine factory, it can be said that Mr. Jared is first and foremost their agent. "Mr. Jared's sewing machine factory will still have some income, but that will have to wait until the end of the year..."

As expected, Laura was not very interested. She waved her hand to signal her friend not to tell her the inside story.The dear Baroness was now full of admiration for Mr. Bennet, and she took Elizabeth's hand, and murmured: "Good Lizzie, if you had a brother, I should marry him! If only he His character is just like your father's."

"Hey!" Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, "Dear Miss Laura, haven't you noticed that we are digressing? Please don't fantasize about Mr. Bennet, even if I have a little brother, you are too different—— The children are all good-looking, so they all have a problem of liking beautiful women, are you sure that they will still be youthful in 20 years, like now?"

"Okay, let's get down to business, shall we?"

Laura looked Elizabeth's face carefully, and suddenly took her arm and sighed: "What a handsome gentleman Mr. Bennet must be! Oh, Lizzie, if only you were a man, really!"

"As long as you have money, everything will be fine. We will go to the labor market tomorrow, and it only takes half a day to get things done there, as long as you have money."

Since the baroness left Clark's mansion, as time passed, her nature was exposed more thoroughly.Elizabeth almost didn't know that arrogant, quiet, expressionless noble lady.

Early the next morning, the two ladies did drive to Chipside, where there was a labor market nearby.The operators are well-informed, and as long as they tip a few shillings, they can get the information they need.

Chipside is one of the busiest streets in London. Most of the houses here are narrower, and independent three-story or two-story small buildings are crowded and interspersed or located on the small street behind the shops. .

Fortunately, there is a private water supply company here, which supplies water at fixed times three times a week, and residents can go to public water intakes to get water.Or pay a little tip to the water company's little laborer who will fill up your storage tank.

Elizabeth has seen the water quality, and it is still clear and translucent, and she heard the water supply company boast that this is the best water the Thames has obtained.Although the two ladies had doubts, they couldn't help sighing that it was fortunate that the dessert shop was chosen near the banks of the Thames River, which is the best water source that London can get.

At the end of the street where the public water intake is turned, and barely within the limits of Chipside Street, Elizabeth settled on a three-story apartment of brick and stone, with high ceilings, large windows, and a little Ancient Roman style.Fortunately, this apartment has a small back garden, and there is a large cistern dug to the right of the vestibule gate.

This is so desirable.

It's just that the price is on the high side, a full hundred pounds more expensive than the real estate transaction that Elizabeth heard about before.The two ladies visited the house carefully, and immediately settled the deal with the landlady.The landlady readily tore off the rental and sale paper pasted on the wooden door, looked at the two ladies with generous words and deeds and elegant postures in amazement, and secretly guessed their origins.

The author has something to say: Lizzie has a house in London!

No matter where a flower grower is, he always has a house complex~

One hundred small red envelopes for comments in this chapter.The fish will go out to purchase today, so if there is a change, please come and take a look at [-]:[-]~

Fish as much as possible, after all, the update is late.

Note: The water situation in London in the 18th and 19th centuries was worrying.Britain had private water supply companies in the 17th century, but the water quality of these companies could not be guaranteed.At that time, the residents along the river took water directly from the river, and the neighborhoods near the Thames used hand pumps to pump the water from the Thames (this was already a neighborhood with good conditions. Many companies will say that their company's water is drawn from the Thames River), and the urban areas with rivers in the courtyard will use water supplied by private water supply companies.At that time, these water supply companies basically did not have disinfection and filtration technology, so the water quality could not be guaranteed, and the British public health movement had not yet emerged in the early 1815th century.