Thomas left the study feeling a sense of loss. When he went downstairs, he stopped at the turn of the stairs and wanted to take out a cigarette to light it, only to find that the cigarette was hidden under the pillow.
Mr. Carter, the steward, it is strictly forbidden for servants to smoke in the castle.
"Thomas, what are you doing hiding here?" A maid came up downstairs, about thirty years old, wearing a black and white maid skirt, carrying a mop and bucket in her hand.
"nothing."
"Master, won't you let me serve you?"
Thomas patted the wall annoyedly: "Maggie, tell me why the master doesn't like me. Although I haven't been a valet before, I was the first valet for Viscount Roosevelt. I am qualified for this job. .”
"How do I know that? I'm not a maid in Tulip Castle, and I've never seen the master before."
"I'm just asking you, is there anything I've done that isn't enough?"
"You should ask Mr. Carter, or Mrs. Mawson... and I don't think you have anything to worry about. The master has only three servants, Jesse is an assistant, Tom is clumsy, and he can't serve the master at all. Maybe the master is like that, In this small town, there is no one better suited to be a valet than you."
Thomas cheered up a little: "Yeah, I heard that the master is in Tulip Castle, and he is not taken seriously by the earl. Maybe he has been just a Baron of Flower Town all his life, living in a poor country."
"Maybe."
"Mai Qian, do you regret following the master to come here?"
"I don't care. No matter how bad the life in the castle is, it's better than going back to the farm and starving to death. I've already sold myself to the master, so there's no need to think about whether I regret it or not."
Thomas was about to speak when someone interrupted him: "Don't you need to work, Thomas and Maggie, pay attention to your behavior and don't whisper outside your bedroom and kitchen!" Walking up the stairs, someone came It was Carter, the steward of this humble little castle.
Holding a bunch of keys and a bottle of red wine in his hand, he was inspecting the entire castle.
"Okay, Mr. Carter, I'm going to work right now." Thomas and Maisie left in a hurry, each busy with their own affairs.
If the minor nobles are the servants of the great nobles, then the male servants and female servants are also the servants of the steward. The aristocratic system has always been so hierarchical.
Although the castle is small, there is a lot of work.
Even if only a nobleman like Liszt needs to serve, the daily workload is huge. For example, sanitation, every morning and night, we have to clean the inside and outside. There is also laundry, hot water, food preparation, and toilet cleaning. Most of the work is handed over to the servants and maids.
But this does not mean that Carter does not need to work. On the contrary, in addition to managing the servants, Carter is also responsible for welcoming guests, serving wine, supervising serving dishes, sending and receiving letters, keeping high-end tableware, managing the underground wine cellar, and taking care of the most important guests. .
Old Carter is already fifty years old this year, and in this era where the average age is less than fifty-five, he is already an octogenarian.
Dangdang.
He knocked on the study door.
"Please come in." Liszt's gentle voice sounded from inside the door, with a "steel accent" popular in the upper class. In the Iron Ridge Kingdom and its subordinate countries, countless nobles honored the iron accent.
Old Carter took a deep breath.
In Tulip Castle, he didn't have much dealings with Liszt, and he was mainly in charge of one of the earl's other courts. At Liszt's coming-of-age ceremony a while ago, the earl assigned him to Liszt as the butler. The position has been promoted, butler is the ultimate goal of all servants.
But the pay has definitely gone down.
It's just that Carter didn't complain at all. Thirty-five years have passed since he sold himself to join the Tulip family at the age of fifteen. He was single and unmarried. He had long regarded himself as a member of the Tulip family.
If he can follow the descendants of the Tulip family, Baron Liszt, through the last few years of his life, it will undoubtedly be a happy ending.
"My lord, reading at night hurts your eyes. You have to pay more attention. No matter how many candles there are, it's not as bright as the sun in the daytime."
Liszt smiled slightly, moved his eyes away from the thick leather book on the table, and looked at the somewhat old housekeeper: "Mr. Carter, have you checked all the rooms?"
"Except for the room where the servants still have to work, the other rooms have been locked."
"Very good, then, let's have a drink together." Liszt has noticed the red wine in Carter's hand. The nobles are so addicted to alcohol that they have formed an unwritten practice. Have a few drinks together and chat about the castle.
Liszt didn't like to drink, but his predecessor liked to drink so much that his body needed it.
However, the alcohol content here is very low, unless he is drunk like beer, it is difficult to get him drunk.
A glass of red wine per person.
Touched lightly.
Shaking, Liszt took a sip: "Can the expenses in the castle support this year's tax revenue?"
"I'm afraid it's a bit difficult. You didn't bring much wine from Tulip Castle, and you don't have much wheat flour. The location of Huahua Town is very remote, and no caravan is willing to come. Even if we have gold coins, it is difficult to buy wheat and wine. But The good news is that there are a lot of wild fruits in Bramble Ridge, so don’t worry about not having any fruits to eat.”
Liszt was not valued by the earl, so naturally he didn't get much when the family was separated.
According to his memory, when his sister Li Weila separated, there were thirty carriages packed in the carriage, but he... didn't have a carriage, only a few horses and a team of peasants carrying some luggage.
The treatment is very different.
There was too much resentment in Qian Qian's body and mind, but to him, this was not a big deal, after all, he was not the Earl's real son. At most, when father and son meet, they struggle with how to show their intimacy, which is quite embarrassing.
"It's impossible without wheat." Liszt put down his wine glass and said in an unquestionable tone, "Flower Town must develop as soon as possible, and the trade route must be opened up!"
The staple food here is bread.
If you don't have white bread made of wheat, you have to eat rough and unpalatable brown bread made of rye and oats. Liszt could no longer eat his favorite hometown dishes, and if he couldn't eat delicate white bread, he would starve to death.
"It's not easy to open up trade routes. Thorn Ridge is too dangerous."
"Don't worry about this, I will solve it. The future of Huahua Town will not be restricted by poverty, and the castle will not be so simple, without even a name." Liszt said solemnly.
Only a magnificent castle can have a name, such as Liszt's castle, it is said that the castle is flattering, and if you name it, you will be laughed at by other nobles.
"Has the elf worm been taken care of?"
"Very well, sir."
"That's good."
A glass of wine is finished.
Old Carter said goodbye wisely: "Master, go to bed early, I wish you a good night."
"Good night to you too, Mr. Carter."
After Carter left, Liszt read for a while the thick leather book about the customs of the Grand Duchy of Sapphire. The book was very thick, about the thickness of a dictionary. But the content is actually very little. The thick leather paper is not ashamed of its name. Its thickness is almost as thick as pigskin.
"How was paper invented?" Liszt recalled. He found that his memory was not bad, and he could remember the papermaking process that he had seen on the Internet. There are still many ways to get rich.”
In a trance, he became distracted again.
Sure enough, a serpentine pattern composed of smoke appeared in front of his eyes again.
"Mission: As a lord, you need to know everything about the territory. Please visit Huahua Town to understand the crisis in the territory and prepare for future development. Reward: The sublimation of fighting spirit."