The heroine of the healing department is very rigid [Pride and Prejudice]

Thompson stood outside the door, sweating. He was originally a red-skinned man, but his face now looked whiter than a marble sculpture.

"Something went wrong with our business."

Thompson panted heavily. He was also one of the shareholders of the fire extinguisher. Although he didn't hold many shares, it was all his belongings.

He was sitting on the sofa in the living room of Bennet Manor, holding a cup of black tea in his hand, but his hands were shaking so much that he spilled the tea on his maroon nylon trousers.

"There's something wrong with Duke John's order. The bags are full of holes and the bamboo tubes are full of cracks. He's suing us now before the Lord Chancellor."

"How could this be?" Mr. Bennet gasped, grasping the armrest of the sofa tightly, his knuckles turning white.

Although he didn't throw all his belongings in like Thompson did, once the judge ordered them to pay compensation, he would not be able to pay the money even if he sold the Bennet estate.Besides, he only manages the house on behalf of the family, and it cannot be regarded as his real property.

Wrapped in a blanket, Mary lay prone on the railing on the second floor, eavesdropping on her father's conversation.

Thompson said that Heathcliff had rushed to London overnight to check the situation, but in any case they would definitely lose money on this deal.

Before they delivered the goods, they had obviously checked many times, and there was nothing wrong with those leather and bamboo tubes.Besides, there were no such problems in the previous batches of goods, except for the batch that was given to the Duke.

This was their biggest order, and if the deal was successful, Heathcliff's factory could be expanded by half.

As Mary listened, she felt chills all over her body. According to her father's intention, if they couldn't pay the compensation from the court, they would lose their house.

Mrs. Bennet also came out at some point. Her hair was loose, her eyes were black and blue, her chest was heaving violently, and her fingernails were deeply embedded in her palms.

"Don't worry, baby, your father will find a solution." Mrs. Bennet hugged Mary's shoulders, her body trembling slightly, not knowing who she was comforting.

Regrettably, Mr. Bennet did not come up with a solution as Mrs. hoped.Heathcliff returned from London with even more unfortunate news.

The damage to that batch of goods was so severe that they lost even the function of making scraps, and could only be reduced to a pile of garbage.

This means that there will be nothing left of the money they invested.Duke John insisted on going to court rather than settle the matter privately because the matter would embarrass him in front of his colleagues.

He originally held a grand bonfire party, and planned to show the new gadget of "fire extinguisher" to the other nobles at the end, but what he took out of the box was a bunch of bags with holes, and almost cracked bags. Pieces of bamboo tubes.

After several days of thinking, Mr. Bennet finally decided to tell everyone the bad news.

He first expressed his sincere thanks to Ms. Gray for her education of Mary during this time.Then they said with regret that they could no longer continue to employ her as promised, but they were willing to pay an additional three months' wages as compensation.

After seeing off Ms. Gray, Mr. Bennet gathered the family in the living room.He sighed heavily and drank a full glass of gin before he began to speak.

"Our family is going through a particularly difficult phase. As the only man in the family, I have to say, it's my responsibility."

"Some troubles have arisen in my business with Mr. Heathcliff, which has brought us into financial distress. I have lost all my capital and will probably have to pay reparations."

"So, in the next period of time, we must reduce our expenses." Having said that, Mr. Bennet sighed again, and looked at his wife and daughters with guilt.

"As you have seen, I have dismissed Mrs. Gray. To-morrow the cook and maid will be gone."

"We can cook by ourselves, and we can also do our own laundry and tidy up the room." Jane said first. "Dad, I will take good care of my mother and sisters, don't worry."

Mr. Bennet nodded, looking suddenly ten years older.He patted Jane on the shoulder, and the shame in his eyes became more obvious.Jane has reached the age of marriage. He originally wanted to use the money he earned from this business to add some dowry to his daughter, but now he can't even come up with 1000 pounds.

"We can borrow money from Bentley." Emily said suddenly, "He is so rich, he will definitely give generously." She originally wanted to say, borrow money from Darcy, but then thought about it, in case Bennet didn't make it What to do with Darcy's money.

You know, she is going to be Mrs. Darcy in the future, isn't Darcy's money her money.She couldn't let Darcy help the Bennets fill this big hole.

Jane suddenly became very embarrassed, and she lowered her head in shame, neither wanting to borrow money from her sweetheart, nor embarrassing her father.

But Mr. Bennet has no intention of borrowing money from Mr. Bingley. On the one hand, it is for Jane's dignity, and on the other hand, it is also for his own face.

He had studied at Luo University for three years, and he had something called "strength of character" in him, which prevented him from borrowing money, especially from someone who might become his son-in-law in the future.

Early the next morning, the cook also boarded the carriage carrying the box.Before leaving, she deliberately prepared food for nearly a week and left it in the kitchen, and taught everyone some simple cooking skills.

The bread was baked by the cook in advance, and it was not difficult to fry sausages, boiled eggs, and boiled soybeans. With the tuna in the can, Mary and her sisters made a pretty good breakfast.There was canned beef and baked potatoes for lunch, and Elizabeth cooked some bacon.At first, everyone was very happy, thinking that leaving the cook was not a very serious matter, and also found that cooking by themselves was also a very interesting thing.

But soon, they had to change their minds.

For no one could bear to eat baked potatoes and tinned meat every day, and the cook ran out of bread and jam.Thinking that their sisters were still growing and could not eat canned food and bacon all the time, Mary and Elizabeth wanted to try frying some veal steaks, but they were not only burnt, but they were both splashed with hot oil on their arms.

So, there were still only canned and baked potatoes on the lunch table this day, a pot of clam soup with a strange taste and color, and mushy veal steak.

Even so, Mr. Bennet raved about every plate of food.Lydia prodded the darkened steak on her plate with her fork, and finally gave up trying and got herself a bowl of clam chowder.

"..."

Lydia's face turned green, and she stretched her neck to swallow the soup a second before Mary was about to rush over to help her vomit.She pursed her mouth, holding back the complaints that slipped to her mouth.

Sure enough, cooking is not fun.

Emily stared at the food on the table speechlessly, feeling like she was out of luck. She missed burgers, pizza, and chicken wraps with ketchup.

Fortunately, there were still some bread and fruit left in the space, so she could have some supper when she went back.Emily wrung her fingers to figure out how much food left in the space could last, and whether it could survive the Bennet family's financial crisis.

If she couldn't, and Darcy didn't come to marry her, she'd have to think of something else.But she didn't have enough money in her hands.Damn it, she shouldn't have been bluffed by Mary in the first place, and gave away those blueprints for nothing, which made Thompson and the others cheaper.Humph, they deserved their financial crisis.

If she sold them directly to London, she would definitely make a lot of money. As for whether the leather and bamboo tubes went wrong, it was none of her business, after all, she was only providing ideas.

can not do well?That's the supplier's problem.

Compared with cooking, tidying up the house is much easier. Although I occasionally iron a small hole in the skirt, it is harmless.Mary suddenly realized the importance of women's reds, and now they couldn't afford a tailor, and all skirts, shawls and small coats, even gloves, had to be made by themselves.

But even so, she didn't miss Ms. Gray.

The summer passed quickly, and there was a lot of cicada shells in Bennet's garden. Those translucent brown shells were scattered on the gravel road and dirt ground after the rain, reflecting a little bit of sunlight.

Mary had grown up and up for some reason, she was well over an inch taller than she was at this time last year, and had to have some new clothes made.

It's just that although her own female celebrity has made progress in the past few days, it is still far from enough to make clothes.

Elizabeth took the initiative to undertake this somewhat onerous task. It took half a month to make two cotton and linen dresses for her sister.One piece of turmeric, one piece of bay red, and two circles of small white lace are embedded on the hem of the skirt.

"Simply beautiful, Izzy," mary couldn't help admiring, circling in front of the mirror in her new dress.

Elizabeth also made two bows for her sisters, Catherine and Lydia, from leftover scraps from the dress.They are also very happy. If it was half a year ago, Lydia would never have looked down on this kind of bow tie made by herself, but now she is very happy.

Mary suddenly felt sad. She and her two older sisters lived a life of prosperity for more than ten or twenty years, but the younger sisters were only eleven or twelve years old. If their family could not overcome this difficulty, what would the younger sisters do?The sisters have also reached the age of marriage...

Mary found that she was reborn as lonely. All kinds of accidents would always occur in this life, which caught her off guard.

On this day, just as Mary was sweeping cicada shells in the yard with a broom for the third time, Thompson knocked on the door again.Compared with the last time, he was thinner, and with the baggy old clothes covering his body, he looked a little funny and a little pathetic.

"The court asked us to pay the full compensation within two months, otherwise we will be sent to prison."