Thousands of sparks

Chapter 2 The Steam Horse and the Ball
The brown-haired boy was lying on the table, writing a diary with a dip pen. Occasionally, his writing hand would become stiff, and then he put down the dip pen and scratched his head with the ink-stained barrel.

How do you write the word "teach"?

Since traveling to this world ten years ago, Du Shengzhe has had very few opportunities to write his mother tongue.I haven't written Chinese characters for a long time, and I don't have a mobile phone or a dictionary for reference. It has become a common occurrence for me to forget the words when picking up a pen.

[The content of the lesson the day before yesterday was history, let’s not talk about the rationality and significance of teaching history lessons to ten-year-olds, and no matter what relationship history and mechanics can have... But I was shocked again. 】

The boy paused, then dipped the tip of his pen in ink again and wrote, [I really can't figure out how a Western steampunk world can bias the technology tree like this—whose steampunk world can Have the ability to jump in space and start interstellar travel? ! 】

He put down his pen, then sighed, looking at the tall pointed towers and soot-spraying chimneys outside the window, talking to himself.

"The painting style of this world...it's not right."

Due to the problem of painting style, Du Shengzhe lost the motivation to continue writing the diary. Du Shengzhe sat on the leather-wrapped chair for a while, and then closed the diary with complicated gears and screw locking structure.

Pull down the leather-wrapped brass lever on the upper right corner of the desk, the layers of gears engage and rotate, and the steel locking structure securely locks the contents of the desk.

If it weren't for this kind of safe and easy-to-use confidential writing desk, he wouldn't dare to write Chinese characters indiscriminately—if these Chinese characters spread, he might be arrested by some old men in white robes as heretics, and then tied up. To be burned alive on a wooden stake.

After the table was locked, Du Shengzhe suddenly slapped his head.

There is one more important thing that has not been included.

It is said that a gifted female inventor will visit today and she will show her mother "the most important invention of this era".

As a college student who traveled here in his junior year, Du Shengzhe was very interested in this "invention".

"Dusande? It's time for you to change." Just as Du Shengzhe was hesitating whether to open the desk again and reorder the diary, his mother's gentle voice came in from outside the door, "Miss Lorraine has been waiting for you downstairs for a long time Well, keeping a lady waiting is not the behavior of a gentleman."

Du Shengzhe, who is now named "Dusande", blinked and complained in his heart-letting a 12-year-old son date a [-]-year-old girl, isn't this what a baroness should do?

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"Good day, Lord Dusand." After putting on a white shirt, a sapphire blue waistcoat with gold thread, and a black velvet coat, Dusand saw Lorraine in the living room on the first floor, and then stunned.

The 12-year-old Lorraine stood up, and she nodded slightly towards Dusand.

Her golden hair was tied into a bun at the back of her head, and her long and graceful snow-white neck was covered by a white lace scarf.From the window of the living room, the sunlight that sprinkled into the room fell on her hair, as if it had coated her with a layer of gold, which looked extraordinarily dazzling.

"Good day, Miss Lorraine." Dusand coughed lightly to cover up the embarrassment that he had just been shocked.Such a beautiful little girl must have become a big star in her previous life on Earth, right?

Lorraine sat back on the sofa again, and said in a soft tone, "I'm looking forward to today's dance, Lord Dusand, can you be my dance partner today?"

Dusande didn't answer the question directly. He glanced at the maid standing at the door, and then rang the rattle by his hand.

"Please make a cup of tea for Miss Lorraine." With a simple and reasonable excuse, she temporarily dismissed the maid.Afterwards, Dusande tiptoed to the door and closed the heavy oak door completely.Then fell straight into the sofa.

"Your parents didn't come?" Dusand simply put his legs on the armrest of the sofa.The trousers, which were too tight, made him uncomfortable. "The two of them finally gave up on that...absurd plan of marrying you to me?"

"You think too much." Lorraine still maintained a perfect ladylike sitting posture and smiling expression, but the words uttered from her lipsticked mouth had nothing to do with her appearance. "They're under the glass porch of the ballroom right now, and they're actively spreading rumors that the two of us are getting engaged."

Du Sande rolled his eyes, "You also know that they are spreading rumors, so you plan to let them go on like this? You are only 12 years old! It's too early to talk about the engagement, right?"

"The Imperial Code stipulates that with the permission of a guardian, men can marry at the age of 12, and the age of marriage for women is 14. Two years later, you and I will be of the right age." Lorraine chuckled lightly, " It seems to me that Mrs. Androni does not seem to resist this proposal very much."

Dusande rolled his eyes more violently, the ghost knew what his gentle and considerate mother was thinking.

Although Lorraine is beautiful, she is 12 years old... Even if she turns 14 two years later, she is still too early to get married, right?

Married to a beautiful girl who was only 14 years old, Dusande has no doubt that after his death, he will appear in a certain execution range on the earth, and then be shot with a righteous 12.7 caliber heavy machine gun for half an hour.Even when he got married, he was only 12 years old-after all, if you add his inner age, Du Sande is already 34 years old.

He sighed and asked, "Let's not mention their nonsense for now... you will marry me in two years, will you be willing?"

Lorraine was slightly startled and fell silent.After maintaining a somewhat confused smile for nearly half an hour (about seven and a half minutes), she raised her head and said slowly, "If it wasn't with you, then they would definitely send me to a place in Olin Noble family, and then let me go to be a lover of a big nobleman in his 50s. Compared to that situation, I would rather marry you."

After talking about this creepy possibility, Lorraine smiled at Dusand, "But I believe that you will never let me end up like that, right?"

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The fastest way to get to Baroness Androni from Upper Albyn in Newsail is by steam carriage.Take the Duke of Saar Avenue, turn to the east at the largest and most glorious Sunset Square in Albin, and then walk along the cobbled boulevard for four quarters of an hour.

On the boulevard in Albyn there is a steam horse, a steam horse with brass glare all over its body, walking slowly on the cobbled road.The harness went around its body and was connected to a pure white carriage at the rear, and the carriage was inlaid with golden fleur-de-lis decorations.

The wind carried indistinguishable soot and dry leaves across the road.Then, it was directly crushed by a horseshoe that also shone with metallic color.

The strong steam it spewed from its nostrils.The steam was also laced with copious amounts of soot, and the occasional spark that was still burning.The four horseshoes strode forward vigorously, and there were tiny gaps all over the shining horse's body.

Through the gap, one can vaguely see gears meshing with each other and rotating.

"Mr. Coachman, we have to hurry up!" A woman in the carriage shouted loudly, "The dance is about to start, we must hurry to the manor!"

Mr. coachman sitting on the coachman's seat was smoking a pipe, and looked back at the woman who was shouting.He nodded, and then pulled the lever next to the seat, which was also shining in brass.The tie rod that had been rubbed so that it was almost white was torn off forcefully, and the bronze horse, which was full of power, suddenly accelerated the speed of the horse's hooves.

The steam that had spewed out from the nostrils one after another almost formed a straight line after the steam horse ran.

The speed under the horse's hooves became faster and faster, and some small coals that were about to burn out fell out of the square opening under the horse's belly and rolled directly onto the cobblestone road.A small part of them were lucky enough to escape being run over by the four wheels of the carriage, and then they were directly held in the palms of a pair of dirty, chapped hands, covered with soot and snot.

In the eyes of these poor children who still wear shorts and ill-fitting old leather shoes in late autumn, these small burning coals are treasures.Even if the soot on their hands can't completely block the heat, they will never let go of these red elves.

These almost burnt coals fetch at least 7p a pound at corner fuel shops.

This year's Newsail, the winter seems to be particularly difficult.

Of course, the suffering is only for those scattered farmers and ordinary people in the city.Thermal coal at 35 pence per pound is not something they can afford. If they need heating, they can only buy spent coal that has been burned.

Only those middle-class people who have a stable and decent job can overcome the economic pressure and can buy enough thermal coal for a whole week when the weekly salary is paid.

As a price, clubs that could have gone four times a week had to be reduced to twice a week.

People who go to the club for social activities are basically commoners without noble titles.Those nobles who have titles or even their own fiefs and manors have never bothered to enter the club - their social activities will mainly be carried out in their own or other nobles' manors.

Today, the nobles of the entire Newsail region seem to have gathered in Baroness Androni's estate.Steam carriages filled almost the entire square of the manor—among them were a few noble carriages drawn by real horses.A little farther away, there are even two steam airships tied to the airship mooring poles.

Above the airship, there are two off-white floating airbags that are 120 yor (about 150 meters) long and 50 yore (about [-] meters) high.The outer side of the soft airbag is covered with metal pattern decorations-these decorations are also connecting devices to ensure that the airbag can be firmly connected to the hull.

Six huge brass propellers driven by three steam engines can propel this big guy at a speed of twelve miles per hour while carrying 35 people.

This kind of transportation is not very fast, but because it can cut and go straight in the air, and avoid bumps and sewage odors from entering the cabin, which will affect the interest of passengers-so it is very popular with the nobles.

It is a luxury that only real nobles can enjoy.

On the south side of the steam airship mooring pole, the glass corridor of the dance hall is full of people.

"The most important invention of this era?" The nobles in luxurious fur coats were having social activities before entering the ballroom of the manor, and there were many discussions full of doubts-"If there is such an important invention, why did you choose it in Ann Madame Delony's estate?"

"This probably shows that the inventor is a liar." A jazz with two mustaches and a gear zoom clip-on glasses on his right eye made his own judgment, "If it is true as the inventor said 'The most important invention of our time', any sensible person would choose to display it in the Duke's Ballroom first."

The surrounding nobles let out knowing and echoing laughter.Of course, no one will think that Baroness Androni is not wise enough because of this - taking advantage of the opportunity of invention demonstration to prepare a ball, this is a common social method for nobles.The ballroom planned by Baroness Androni is the best place in Newsail for winter use.

During the renovation last year, Baroness Androni's husband ordered engineers to build a combustion chamber dedicated to heating at a position about 500 yor (about [-] meters) west of the ballroom.And the cork-wrapped iron pipes were used to connect the ballroom to the firebox boiler.

As long as the fire is lit the night before the dance, the hot water will conduct heat in the iron pipes in the ground.The next morning, the ballroom will be able to reach a temperature suitable for dancing.

As long as they can participate in the ball here, the nobles actually don't care about whether the invention that is about to be displayed in front of everyone will be a hilarious and crude scam.

(End of this chapter)