[Pride and Prejudice] Mary's Pride and Prejudice

No.16: At Jane's Social Ball

After a year of operation, the food store has achieved very good results. The net profit in the first year reached 320 pounds, which made Mrs. Bennet overjoyed.After Mary's one-year operation, the family's expenditure this year has decreased by 70 pounds compared with last year. Although it did not reach the expected 200 pounds, Mr. Bennet didn't care at all. Who made a big event happen at home this year? -Jane 17 She is [-] years old, and her social ball will be held this year. Naturally, the family's expenditure is not as high as usual, but this year, instead of increasing the expenditure, it has decreased, which is enough to surprise Mr. Bennet.

Mr. Bennet couldn't help asking Mary about the secrets of accumulating property, and Mary didn't mean to keep it secret at all: centralized procurement, which can reduce the purchase price; reduce circulation - because of abundant human resources, so purchase more raw materials and semi-finished products, Their cheese, jam, chili sauce, salad dressing, etc. are all made by themselves. Mary pays Mrs. Strong an extra £[-] a year for this, but it is still a good deal.In addition, there are many saving tips, all kinds of trivial things make Mr. Bennet dumbfounded, Mary has learned the cost control of enterprises in her previous life, and using these to manage a family is the same.

Three months before Jane's social dance, Mary and Elizabeth accompanied Jane to London to purchase clothing and jewelry. Mary had also been to London before, but this time she had a heart to investigate the market, so she paid extra attention to observation and prudence.At this time, London has become a city that never sleeps. During the social season, people here dance all night until the early morning.By the window facing the street, you can hear the sound of cars rattling outside at any time. Even if it is not a social season, the flow of people in London does not decrease, and there is a lot of noise everywhere. Oxford Street and Bond Street are always crowded with shopping carts.There are nearly 100 million people here, which is a huge market!

After returning from London, Mary was making plans to open a store in London.There is one problem that cannot be avoided in this plan, and that is funding.The cost of opening a store in London will be much higher than that of Meriton, and the rent will quadruple, as well as labor and raw materials.In addition, there is Mr. Bennet, who is the head of the family, and Mr. Bennet's consent must be obtained to open a shop in London.

"You are an ambitious man my boy, but a lady of fourteen should not be concerned only with money, go and see the clothes and jewelry you brought back from London, or talk about some lace and ornaments, I am afraid of you Be Harpagon or Sherlock, and you won't be able to marry," Bennet said after hearing Mary's idea of ​​opening a store in London.

"Father, I think that according to the customs of this society, when a gentleman marries a wife, most of them don't care about their wife's hobbies and tastes, but use the dowry as the basis." Mary said slowly.

"Yes," Mr. Bennet agreed wholeheartedly, "but taste and taste matter too, my little Mary, and I'd rather be told you're a silly, stupid girl like the others than hear them say When you are all about money, people around you will laugh at you and say bad things about you! Although I think everyone has an obligation to provide his neighbors with something to talk about, let's not be too different!"

"We have to earn more money, Dad. This is related to whether we will sleep on the streets after being evicted from our homes in the future."

"You don't know Mary with your mind." Mr. Bennet said self-righteously.

Mary doesn't care about these specious things said by Mr. Bennet. She believes that Mr. Bennet will never object after the deal is done.So, recently, she has been writing and drawing on paper to formulate as detailed regulations as possible. After nearly two years of exploration, Meridon's food store has been completely on the right track. She just needs to make appropriate adjustments and copy these to London. Yes: In Meridon, Alice is in charge of managing the store. Mary goes to town several times a month, and Alice will report to her on the business situation. Mary will make adjustments to the business situation according to the specific situation, and then Mary will report the financial situation Summary to Mr. Bennet.Mary puts in an average of three to five days of working time in this store every month, no more than 40 hours, and Mr. Bennet only needs to spare two hours a month to look at the income and expenditure situation, Mary thinks This model can also be replicated to London stores, they are only 30 or [-] miles away from London, and it is enough to take a week out of a month to go to London for inspection. If you find a trustworthy manager, then simply sit in Longbourne It is completely feasible for the family to receive the report every month, and then write letters to remotely command.Now there are more than [-] types of food in the grocery store. The signature dish potato chips is cheap and has always been popular, while fried fish and fried chicken have become signature dishes because of their unique flavors.If you take these to London, as long as you find a good location and a good manager, you will definitely get several times or even ten times more profit than Meriton.

In fact, since that day, Mr. Bennet has also been thinking about opening a shop in London. Although running a business would be ridiculed, a gentleman like him who owns a piece of real estate can continue to live in the country as long as he doesn’t run a cheap business himself. The country life that people envy, who cares where your money comes from?His youngest daughter, Lydia, was eleven years old, and he and Mrs. Bennet had tacitly given up hope of a male heir.If his daughters cannot inherit his family property after his death in the future, then everything in Langborn will be inherited by the narrow-minded and grumpy cousin he hates the most. He can't embrace that man and the son he raised any unrealistic hopes.Therefore, if he has the opportunity to accumulate some additional property for these daughters during his lifetime, it is really his bounden duty as a father.

So after a short while, Uncle Gardiner in London received a letter from Mr. Bennet, asking him to do him a great favor in finding a store and a reliable manager. It doesn't matter if you take your time. If he can't find it in the near future, please let him put this matter aside for the time being, and don't delay coming to Meryton to attend Jane's social ball.

Ever since Jane came back from London with her two younger sisters loaded with fine clothes and jewelry, Mrs. Bennet was a little impatient to hold the ball. She was probably a little nervous. She was nervous all day long, either wanting to change the guest list or Changing the menu of the banquet made Jane a little restless.

Elizabeth and Mary pulled Jane out to relax, and they decided to take Jane to the public dance hall. After Kitty and Lydia sincerely asked, several older sisters also agreed to temporarily end their Latin courses. Go play together in the afternoon.The governess was also happy to have a holiday, and this governess was Miss White.

Originally, the girls in the Bennet family had no tutors, and they all studied by themselves or asked a teacher to teach them a certain aspect of knowledge.The tuition paid to several teachers was enough for the Bennet family to hire a full-time tutor.

And Kitty and Lydia didn't have any interest in learning, they were only willing to learn spelling from Jane, and the rest of the time was completely spent on crazy fun. Once children of this age were not disciplined, they would immediately be unable to discipline them.Mary suggested to hire a tutor for them, no matter when and where, it is always a good thing to learn more knowledge, and someone to discipline them.Miss White is not only an excellent piano teacher, but also some French and Latin, and can also teach painting. She has her own family in Meriton, so she is not willing to work as a full-time tutor in other people's homes, but Mary gives The tuition fee is very generous, which is more than what she earns from giving lessons everywhere, and Mary allows her to take lessons only five days a week, and she can go home every day after finishing lessons, so it is beneficial to both parties, Miss White immediately agreed down.

After a period of study, Kitty and Lydia have greatly improved their words and deeds. Although they are still a little unruly, they can already pretend to be outside.

Several people went to Meridon's public dance hall. In addition to being a meeting place for people, it also has the function of teaching people to dance.Both Jane and Elizabeth learned to dance here, and Mary also reached the age of learning to dance. Mrs. Bennet wanted to send her and Kitty to study together, but Mary thought it was unnecessary. She had seen many balls, and the two The two older sisters can dance, so they can ask Jane and Elizabeth to teach them in their spare time. This was strongly opposed by Kitty. She had been looking forward to dancing with many people in the public ballroom, so Mary had to let her and Lydia dance together. to learn.Anyway, she definitely doesn't like to come here and circle around strangers.Her argument made Jane and Elizabeth, who had come here to circle around strangers, speechless.

Now Mary has to come here with her two sisters even if she doesn't want to-Mr. Bennet has rented the place next month to hold a ball for Jane.Kitty and Lydia immediately went to a side hall next to it, where many younger boys and girls learned to dance. This kind of occasion was not serious, and it was more about playing than studying, so Mary didn't like to come. She doesn't want to come and play with those immature children!

Recently, every time Mrs. Bennet comes here, she has to ask about the preparations for the dance in every detail, so the Mr. Supervisor took the trouble to introduce the band, the waiter, the decoration, and even the garden where the roses in the vase come from. It was clear that such a situation did not relax Jane at all. Seeing this, Elizabeth had to pull her out, and the three of them walked towards the circulation library again.

Elizabeth said: "Why are you so nervous, you will be able to dance as you want at the ball soon, if you fall in love with a certain gentleman at first sight, you can invite him to our house, this is a new life, Jane, you should Excited, but the only thing that shouldn’t be panic.”

Jane clasped her hands together: "I don't know why, but I'm always afraid of making a fool of myself at the dance. What if I dance the wrong steps? What if I forget the steps because of nervousness? What if I make a fool of myself?"

Mary burst out laughing: "Speaking of being ugly, do you still remember Miss Jessica from the Wells family? Because she was too strong, she used a corset to strangle herself so hard that she couldn't breathe. She didn't eat for two days, and she fainted on top of her cousin while dancing, and nearly died when Mr. Lawrence was pressed down. Mr. Wells couldn't pull him alone, and finally found two men to hold Will He was rescued when Miss Sting lifted him up. It was the funniest thing ever, and the next day the cousin who would have married her was back in London."

Jane's eyes widened: "Stop talking, I'm even more nervous. It's been several years and you're still talking about it. If I were to make a fool of myself, I'd be talked about for a long time. Miss Wells is so strong. , although she was crying very sad at the time, she was able to come out and walk around as a guest the next day. She treated this matter very freely, which is her preciousness, so she also married a nice young man in the end, It was Mr Lawrence who didn't know her well enough."

Elizabeth nodded: "So you don't have to be nervous. Before Miss Wells' jokes are forgotten, you don't have to worry about your jokes overshadowing her. You don't wear corsets."

"You don't have to go on a diet either," Mary went on, and she and Elizabeth laughed together.

Jane also slowly calmed down. She felt that what her sister said was right. Although it was a bit unkind to say Miss Wells in this way, she really didn't have to worry that she would make a bigger joke than that, so it was fine. Worried?

But what to do if I'm still worried? !

Time passed in Jane's repeated entanglements, and the day of the dance finally came.The Bennet family packed up early and came to the public ballroom. Aunt Philip and Uncle Gardiner were waiting here early this year. Aunt Philip's house in Meryton.

As soon as Jane got out of the car, she heard Aunt Philip exclaim: "Oh - my God - my Jane, you are so beautiful."