[Comprehensive Classics] Different Jane

Although Jane felt that it was impolite for Mrs. Bennet to show off like this, Mrs. Bennet had her own words. She put her hips on her hips and educated her daughters earnestly: "You are all as boring as your father, how do people know you are good?" girl?"

Mr. Bennet was shot innocently, he coughed, "My dear wife, don't use me as an example."

Mrs. Bennet waved her hand insincerely, "I'm sorry, but don't interrupt, my dear Mr. Bennet." Then she said to her daughters: "As the so-called good things have to be shouted, you think those who have Qian's wives don't like to boast about themselves? No, she doesn't say it herself, but some people are willing to boast about their money. We don't have money, so we have to do it ourselves. Of course, unmarried girls can't do that It doesn't matter, Mommy will let everyone know that the five girls in our family are all unmatched by others."

After Mrs. Bennet finished her passionate speech, several girls applauded together.

Elizabeth gave Mr. Bennet a very speechless look. The father and daughter felt very much in sync at this moment.

Leaving aside the rude part, Jane felt that what Mrs. Bennet meant was correct, but this kind of straightforward words would be more or less the same when dealing with country gentry and wives of the same level who like to gossip and brag, but if there are unfamiliar people If not, then it really does not conform to the etiquette of this era at all.

This is also one of the reasons why Mr. Darcy looked down on the Bennet family so much later.

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Bennet didn't care, "Hey, who is going to come from our country place?" Mrs. Bennet gathered up her woolen shawl and concentrated on the work at hand, "If there are outsiders, we will come." Certainly not."

"But you said that in front of Aunt Gardner, wouldn't it embarrass Uncle?" Jane sat in front of Mrs. Bennet and helped her wind the yarn.

At first, Mrs. Bennet thought that Jane was making a big deal out of a molehill, but that was her own brother. How could an outsider be closer than her?After listening to Jane say a few more words, she felt that it made sense. Her younger brother lived in London. If the younger sister-in-law told her gossip to her London neighbors, wouldn't she be ashamed to London? ……no!

"Okay, I'll pay attention." Mrs. Bennet was still young at this time, and her face was still very important. She wound up the ball of yarn and threw it into the basket. "Elizabeth and Mary, they are what?"

"They're reading, let's teach Catherine and Lydia how to write."

"Oh, very good." Mrs. Bennet picked up another wool loop and hung it on Jane's hand, "Everyone has been very obedient recently, thanks to you, Jane."

Jane raised her eyebrows, "Actually, Liz and Mary take Catherine and Lydia more often."

"Liz? Well, I'll be fine if that girl doesn't get angry." Mrs. Bennet touched Jane's face, "You are the proudest child of me and your daddy, look at your cute little face."

This is not a lie, Mrs. Bennet really thinks so, Jane is the first child of her and Mr. Bennet, she will always remember the first time she was pregnant and gave birth to Jane. kind of mood.And Jane never let them down, both cute and capable, she is the best child in the Bennet family.

Jane's efforts are still very effective, at least in terms of educating her younger sisters, she still has a lot of say in front of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet.But this is clearly not enough.What Jane wants to change is the ending of everyone in the family. It is useless to just change the character of a few younger sisters.

Jane always remembered that this era was very unfriendly to women.

Leaving aside the improprieties, Mrs. Bennet's desire to marry her daughters to a rich man was indeed for the good of her daughters.

Jane found a book about inheritance law in Mr. Bennet's study room, and there was a page in it that clearly stated—this page was almost torn by Mr. Bennet—that their family's land was subject to limited inheritance rights The constraints can only be inherited by men, which includes not only the cultivated land, but also the house they currently live in.

That is to say, if Mr. Bennet dies, Mrs. Bennet and Miss Bennet will not only lose all the property in the family, but also be kicked out of the house.The only thing they can take with them is their dowry, but only if the Miss Bennets get married before Mr. Bennet dies.

Here again I have to mention the dowry.

In terms of market prices, [-] to [-] pounds is an average dowry, but if Mr. Bennet prepares [-] pounds for each daughter, it means that he must prepare [-] pounds.This is a lot of pressure on Mr. Bennet, which means that the Bennet family will have to go without food or drink for at least five years to save enough dowries for all their daughters.

So if they live like this, or a better life, they really need to find a wealthy husband.

This is probably why Mr. Bennet gave up hiring an agent to manage the land himself... In short, it can save a lot of money.

But Jane found that Mr. Bennet really had no talent for accounting books.It was the autumn when she was 12 years old, another new harvest season, one day Jane went to Mr. Bennet's study to invite him to dinner, when Mr. Bennet was struggling to settle accounts.Jane stood behind Mr. Bennet and looked at it for a while, and found that his ledger was very confused.

Jane: "...＝＝" Did our life in the past depend on luck?

Jane wanted to help, but she couldn't explain why she did it. _(:з)∠)_

Ugh………

Fortunately, Jane remembered that there were several books on accounting on the shelf.

Jane: I just said how could Daddy buy such a book, he doesn't like mathematics at all (found out from Mr. Bennet's childhood mathematics textbook).

"You want to read this book?" Mr. Bennet was very puzzled, "Jane, can you understand it? This is not a primary school mathematics textbook."

"But Daddy, I hope I can help you." Jane took down the book and flipped through it, and found that there were traces of frequent flipping in a few very practical pages.

Jane: "...==" Dad, do you have to cram your feet every year?

Mr. Bennet was still very skeptical, "It's hard, Jane... well, well, my dear Jane, if you don't understand, please feel free to come to me."

Jane: "Okay, Daddy." Are you sure it will be useful to find you, Daddy? ╭(╯^╰)╮

Of course, Jane does not intend to "study" alone, so she naturally wants to share such a rare opportunity with her younger sisters.

To Jane's surprise, Elizabeth and Mary learned fairly quickly, and they both showed a certain talent for accounting.

Jane was a little surprised. Anyway, this talent is definitely not inherited from Mr. Bennet, so...is it inherited from Mrs. Bennet? !

Wow, I can't think of it... But it's okay to think about it. Mrs. Bennet is very good at running the house, and her younger brother, Jane's uncle, Mr. Gardner, is a very famous person in London. Businessman, how can it be possible without two brushes.

It was only noon today, and Mr. Bennet came back. He also brought back two full sacks and threw them in the kitchen.Mrs. Bennet came over and asked, "My dear Mr. Bennet, what did you bring back with two bags?"

"It's small potatoes, there's no way, that guy Will won't add these two bags no matter what, so I had to bring them back and eat them ourselves." Mr. Bennet cut the rope tied to the mouth of the sack with a knife, and a big Small piles of potatoes rolled out...the largest could fit in the palm of Mary, who was ten years old, and the smallest was no bigger than Mr. Bennet's finger.

"But sir." May said, standing beside him, "what can you do with such a small potato? You can't even peel it."

"Then we'll just eat the skin." Mr. Bennet has no choice but to throw it away, it's too wasteful.

"What did you bring back, Dad?" Elizabeth and Mary went into the kitchen.

"These potatoes are really small." Mary squatted down and picked the pile of potatoes. Following the tradition of the Bennet family (starting with Jane), she also started to do things in the kitchen this year.

"This kind of potato is inedible." Elizabeth also picked up a slender finger-like potato with a strange shape from the ground.

"Choose one, pick out the big ones and eat them. If it doesn't work, feed them to the pigs." Mr. Bennet felt a little distressed. A bag of potatoes weighs more than 100 catties. Two bags here weigh about three or four hundred catties. .It would be a loss if I couldn't buy the money, and I used it to feed the pigs... What a waste.

"What! So many? All of them!?" Mrs. Bennet's face was livid. This simply increased her workload.

"It can't be helped," said Mr. Bennet.

Well now, the Miss Bennets' study and play were all interrupted, and all the women crowded together in the kitchen, round two large buckets, surrounded by piles of potatoes.Potatoes that are relatively large, or have fewer buds and grow more regularly are thrown into one bucket, and those small potatoes with many buds or oddly shaped potatoes are thrown into another bucket.

At the beginning, everyone thought it was quite interesting, but this kind of picking work was mechanical and boring, and it also made people's backs ache.After picking out a bucket of edible potatoes, Lydia began to frequently throw the small inedible potatoes and the small edible potatoes into the wrong bucket. ．

"Mummy, let May wash these potatoes for the pigs first," Jane said.

"Eh, eh? What? Oh, why wash it? It's all for pigs anyway." Mrs. Bennet straightened her waist. They had already picked a lot of potatoes, but the small potatoes around them didn't seem to be in the slightest. No less the same.

"Mom, potato sprouts are poisonous. What if you feed the pigs to death if you don't cook them well?" Jane said helplessly.

"Oh, that can't be done. May, you wash and mud these potatoes, and then feed them to the pigs after they are cooked." Mrs. Bennet said hastily.

"Mum, don't you need to cook all at once?" Mary threw a small potato casually, but she threw it into the wrong bucket. She thought for a while before realizing it.

When eating in the evening, everyone was exhausted, and they didn't have any complaints about the baked potatoes on the plate. After all, this is the fastest and most effortless food. Thinking that they will continue to face these difficult potatoes tomorrow, everyone can't help but feel anxious. I don't even have the strength to hold a fork.

"Jane, aren't you going to bed yet?" Elizabeth changed her pajamas and saw that Jane was still sewing something by the faint candlelight, which made Elizabeth very surprised. You know, Jane always advocated that it was dark I don't read books and don't become female celebrities.

"Well, I'll sew a pair of gloves." Jane didn't even raise her head, her hands moved quickly.

Elizabeth jumped out of bed and walked over to see, God, what is this?Can this thing also be called a glove?

"Of course, doesn't it have five fingers?" Jane replied, and it turned out that Elizabeth had just said the words.

While speaking, Jane had finished sewing, she cut off the thread and packed up the things.Elizabeth picked up the pair of gloves, this, these gloves are really too crude, they are completely made of some large rags, and they have not been turned over at all, and the cloth ends are all facing the outside.Except for the thumb, the other four fingers are not divided into lengths, shorts, and thicknesses, and they are not even divided into front and back... Oh no, they are divided into front and back, because the front of the glove is simply sewn with a layer of rough emery cloth, which is what Al used when doing carpentry. The roughest kind for sanding wood.

"What... is this for?" Elizabeth threw down the glove in disgust.

Jane tried the glove on, and it was so big that a man's hand could fit in it. "You didn't understand this?" Jane rubbed her hands together, and the emery cloth made a harsh "chacha" sound.

"Oh, that's enough, stop." Elizabeth felt her goosebumps rise.

"I'm going to use this to peel potatoes tomorrow. It's more convenient than peeling with a knife, and it doesn't waste anything, just like this." Jane took off her gloves and gestured again.

Elizabeth's eyes lit up, "You have a really good brain, Jane." Elizabeth understood what Jane meant. It must be troublesome and tiring to peel such a small potato with a knife, and it will be much faster to grind off the skin with emery cloth. Yes, just use a knife to process it a little bit.

"I also asked my dad to make something, and I want to try to see if I can make something new." Jane said while changing clothes.

"What are you going to do? A new way to eat potatoes? Please Jane, you gotta think about it, I've had enough of all kinds of baked potatoes and boiled potatoes, I bet that's what Mommy thinks, let's go with Pigs eat the same thing... nasty." Elizabeth grimaced.

"Uh..." Jane didn't think of it before, but...thinking of today she told Mommy not to forget to cook the potatoes before feeding the pigs...

Elizabeth obviously thought of this too, and the two girls looked at each other, then laughed together.

"Well, I'll try, and I have to admit that I personally hate baked potatoes and boiled potatoes." Jane climbed into bed and asked Elizabeth, "Are you asleep, Liz?"

"Yes, all right."

"Then I'll blow out the candles. Good night."

"Good night."

The two were silent all night.