[Pride and Prejudice] Mary's Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 7 Anxious Mary

Mary finally went to the study to find Mr. Bennet and directly asked about the inheritance of the family property.

Mr. Bennet was very astonished. He put down the new book he had been reading and waved to Mary. When Mary came to him, he gently stroked Mary's back and said in a low voice, "So you are at breakfast. Time to ask about the dowry, isn't it? Did someone say something at the dance yesterday?"

Mary extracted a summary of the conversation between Mrs. Wells and Mrs. Cook. Before she finished, Mr. Bennet laughed at himself: "People are always used to talk about other people's misfortune. , you have to get used to Mary, if you don't provide a little gossip for your neighbors, then your character will definitely be questioned."

Mr. Bennet asked Mary to sit next to him. He looked at Mary with stern eyes, and his voice was gentle but firm: "Our family's estate belongs to limited inheritance, and limited inheritance is..."

"I understand the meaning of limited inheritance, you don't need to explain... I have read many legal books."

Mr. Bennet raised one eyebrow and said in surprise: "Your reading range is really wide, which saves me a lot of tongue. Back then, I thought I would definitely have a son to inherit the family property. When Lydia I have been born for a long time and I still firmly believe that. I may not be able to save too much dowry for my daughters, but they will have a large amount of pocket money every year before they get married, and they can also get my subsidies after they get married. If my son inherits the manor, every year It's natural to give a little to my sisters. But if I don't have sons, it's a different story. I'm sorry I didn't fully realize this until a few years ago. I think it should be done earlier for my daughters. Good plan, so I learned from others and found a small textile factory in the north to invest..." Mr. Bennet sighed at this point, his expression and tone were very sad, "That factory is When it caught fire, all the investment money was wasted.”

Mary couldn't help showing sympathy for Mr. Bennet when she heard this. It's really unfortunate that so many people have made a lot of money by investing in factories, but he caught fire, but at this time the factory does have safety measures If it is not in place, the fire hazard is very serious, and reports of fires can often be seen in newspapers.

"So we don't have a lot of pounds left for a dowry, do we?"

"I'm afraid so. I don't have much money left, and I'm too scared to save them."

"I always thought Jane was the heir to our family."

Mr. Bennet looked complicated: "Under normal circumstances, it should be so. If a person has no son, then the family property should belong to his daughter, but our family is not."

"Does Jane know?"

"Yes, of course." Mr. Bennet stood up and went to the window, where Jane and Elizabeth were playing cricket in the garden, "It's no secret that everyone in Meryton knows it, only you will be shocked. ’ he said to Mary, smiling over his shoulder.

Yes, this is a very normal thing for a native Englishman, but Mary has been fixed by herself and has never thought about it. After all, who would have thought about it, Mr. Bennet never thought about it before. I didn't expect it to end like this.

During the whole day, Mary was a little depressed. During dinner, Elizabeth asked her: "You have been listless all day. Are you uncomfortable?"

"No," Mary forced a smile, "I'm just worrying about our future. I always thought that Jane was the heir of our family. I just found out today that she is not. Our family will be inherited by an outsider in the future. It really makes me sad."

Unexpectedly, her words aroused Mrs. Bennet's anger: "Stop talking, Mary. This is simply unreasonable. How could there be such a situation in England that one's own property cannot be left to one's own daughter. When I think of this My nerves would jump and my whole head would explode."

"What does that mean, and why can't I understand it?" put in Kitty, who had never heard of it before, and was bewildered by what Mary and Mama were saying.

Elizabeth briefly explained the limited inheritance to everyone, and both Kitty and Lydia were shocked. They didn't know that everything in the family would be taken away by strangers.Mr. Bennet comforted her and said, "Don't worry, it doesn't make much difference to you. It's just that the inheritance that should be inherited by your brothers is inherited by a stranger. It doesn't make any difference to you."

After hearing this, Kitty and Lydia felt relieved immediately, and started talking and laughing heartlessly again, but Mrs. Bennet was still very angry: "Is there a big difference here?" She was so angry that her appetite was full. Nothing, throwing down the knife and fork and walking away.

Elizabeth sighed, and she felt the sigh echoing in her heart until Mary lay on the bed.

Mary always thought that after being reborn into a middle-class family, she must not be reduced to the situation in her previous life where she lived without a fixed place and had little food and clothing.For this reason, she is often anxious and distracted, sometimes staring at one place for a long time unconsciously until she is interrupted.

Mary is a very insecure person. In her previous life, she struggled from having nothing to owning a house. Although she is second-hand, it is still a nest.In this life, I was finally reborn into a rich family, so I can't live a worse life than my previous life, right?

That day Mary was staring out the window in a daze again. Jane and Elizabeth came together. Elizabeth asked softly, "You've been very strange recently, and you've always been worried. Is there anything bothering you?"

Mary didn't know what to say, she opened her mouth, and finally said frankly, "Yes, I've been very sad recently, and I'm thinking about how we can make money."

Jane was surprised to hear this answer, and she couldn't help laughing: "Mary, honey, we're actually not that poor."

"Then did you think of a way?" Elizabeth asked curiously.

"Oh, maybe it's okay to open a restaurant, or make an invention and apply for a patent or something." Mary said.

"It's feasible for you to open a restaurant. Our Mary's food is still very popular with the guests." Elizabeth said pertinently, "But I'm curious what kind of inventions and creations you have that you can apply for patents to make a fortune?"

"Pencils, soap, glass, mirrors, steam engines..." Mary said slowly, she only thought of these at the moment.

Her words made Elizabeth laugh out loud, and she even shed tears: "Then you have to be born 100 years earlier, and the history of glass is even longer."

"Yes," Mary admitted in frustration. These days, she tried to recall something that could be "invented" by her in this era, but this was the period of the Industrial Revolution, and many epoch-making things were manufactured. The so-called new inventions pieced together from a large number of time-travel novels should not be embarrassing.

"You're too young, Mary, for that's not what you're supposed to do," said Jane.

Mary sighed: "This is what worries me. I am too young. Even if I am as old as you, I will not be run by my father to do these things. These also require capital."

Elizabeth laughed for a while and stopped. She said to Mary seriously: "I know what you are worried about. I have been worried like you. In the past few months, you have awakened more than Jane and I. Be early. Listen, Mary, we are destined not to inherit our father's fortune, nor do we have much dowry, we are worse than many people, but at the same time we are better than many people, so don't dwell on how unfortunate we are. People You can live what kind of life you have, there is nothing to worry about, and whether you live comfortably is not measured by money." She paused, and then said: "I believe that people's property may have something to do with it. They are different, but the happiness that people are looking for in life is mostly the same, even if the happiness is not measurable. We have to learn to enjoy life instead of letting life play us."

These words made Mary suddenly wake up from a dream. She never expected that a girl as young as Elizabeth could say such profound words. No wonder Bennet loves Elizabeth so much, and always said that she is a thinker and independent person. Girl, this makes Mary, who has always considered herself an adult and has a mature soul, feel ashamed.That’s right, she can live whatever kind of property she has. In her previous life, she was born as an orphan. After graduating from high school, she can still enjoy herself. She slowly accumulated her own family business from nothing. There is no reason why she can’t do it in another place. .What's more, her current situation is many times better than her previous life, so it is even more unnecessary to worry about it.In vain, she has always boasted that she is mature, and she is proud of it, but she has fallen into such a confusion, which Elizabeth, who is only 12 years old, has not seen clearly.

At this time, Jane said: "Stop worrying about money anymore, it's the most unworthy thing, we haven't reached that point yet."

Mary blushed and said to the two sisters: "I always thought that Jane would inherit the family business, and I would stay at home forever as an old girl. A good and generous sister like Jane would definitely tolerate me as a free-living sister. But suddenly I was told that it was impossible to do so, and that I would be kicked out of the place where I grew up. I was very shocked and disappointed. I have no way out, so I feel panic and at a loss."

She amused Elizabeth again, and Elizabeth laughed and said: "I am two years older than you, Mary, I have never considered whether I am going to be a disgusting old girl, so don't think so, now It's too early to think about that."

Mary winked at Elizabeth and said, "But it's not too early for that girl who is two years older than you to think about it now, is she?"

Jane blushed immediately, and she said with some embarrassment, "I haven't thought about that issue yet."

"Then you can start thinking about it now." Elizabeth winked at Jane.

The author has something to say:

I'm sorry, my son was sick yesterday, and I didn't bother to update the text. I wanted to say hello to everyone and ask for a leave, but the Internet at home is not strong, and my son always looks for me.

In the future, I will try my best to update at least five days a week, from Monday to Friday, depending on the situation on Saturday, and not on Sunday.