I was a god in the 18th century

Chapter 15 My English Teacher in the Eighteenth Century

The various exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes that Irving will face at present are also severe enough. For example, with so many windows, he has to pay a large amount of window tax and glass tax.

He has to figure out how to make the money himself.

And this is why there are almost no windows in the houses of poor people - in Britain at this time, there was a window tax.

The first part of the window tax is a fixed 2 shillings for each building; the second part is determined according to the number of windows in the building.

In 1766, the British government amended regulations so that only buildings with seven or more windows had to pay the second part of the tax.

From this point of view, the poor do not need to pay more, and only the rich need to pay, but in practice this is not the case.

Because of the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the rural economy at this time, traditional farming could no longer support small families, and people had to crowd into cities in large numbers to work and earn money.

Such people belong to the urban poor and live in dilapidated apartments. The window tax is based on the building. In order to avoid taxes, the landlord sealed up the extra windows in the house.

In modern Britain, you can still see the sealed windows in many remaining old buildings.

What looks like a unique building actually seals the dignity of the common people.

In Europe during this period, people had to pay to enjoy the sunshine, and every breath was filled with blood and tears.

People who live in humid, dark, and small places without sunlight will naturally suffer from diseases.

At all times, at home and abroad, people at the bottom have lived miserable lives. Du Fu's famous saying, "The wine and meat in the rich family smells bad, and the bones on the road are frozen to death" will always exist.

After giving kerosene, flour, and butter to the little people, Xia Qingdai took off her clothes and lay on the bed.

Lying on her side, she could just see the scene inside through the glass window of the castle, but the people inside could not see her.

Owen is a young man with a good sense of morality. After receiving the gift from God, he is not stingy about sharing it.

Just like yesterday's beef and lettuce, today's flour and butter, he also sent his servants to distribute a share to his tenants.

Traditionally, only tenants paid rent to the landlord. This year, the new heir to the villa shared meat and vegetables for two days in a row, and today he even came to share flour!
  Everyone was so moved that they almost cried!

Everyone can survive this winter! I originally thought that many people would starve to death this year. Many people were already numbly waiting to die. I didn't expect that there would be such a timely help.

Some tenants who lived nearby knew that this was a sacred object given by the patron saint of the new owner, while those who lived far away also heard the news from others.

Everyone is full of gratitude to the new owner and invisible patron saint of Fukui Villa.

The death of Mr. Irving Sr. was celebrated with great joy. Thanks to his death, Fukuoka Villa can usher in this new atmosphere.

Owen's uncle passed away in November this year, and his four daughters were unable to inherit this "restricted inheritance estate" stipulated in the law.

As the only male heir of this generation of the Irving family, Irving, who was far away in Canada, received the notice and immediately decided to drop everything and return to China across the ocean to inherit the Floating Green Villa that the Irving family had inherited for more than a hundred years.

Britain has followed the primogeniture system of aristocrats since the Middle Ages. It mainly involves inheritance of noble titles and limited inheritance of real estate, including manors, land, etc., as is the case with Fucui Villa.

The reason why this land can only be inherited by men is because there is an obligation to serve on this land.

Although this obligation to serve has long since been abolished, the land can still only be inherited by the male members of the family.

In a family that owns this kind of real estate, if there are multiple sons, the eldest son usually inherits the family property, and the second son joins the army or becomes a church pastor.

Owen's father was the second son and received nothing as an adult. He only received a pitiful sum of money and left the Villa. His father served as a soldier for a while, but was injured and retired. He then became a pastor through someone's recommendation to make a living.

Things changed, and by Owen's generation, the uncle's family had four daughters and no son.

Although his father only has one child, he is a boy, so he can come back to inherit the family property.

Now the land and other real estate, including Fucui Villa, have become his.

Overnight, he went from a penniless poor boy to a new farmer.

Mr. Owen Sr. died suddenly. A heavy snowfall this year made him infected with wind and cold. Unfortunately, he passed away unexpectedly last month. As a result, he had no time to arrange for his wife and daughter to develop a relationship with the future heir to the family property.

Because of the grudges between their predecessors, the relationship between the two families was very bad and they never communicated with each other.

Before Owen's grandfather passed away, he told his eldest son to take care of his younger son. The eldest son agreed but failed to do so under the instigation of his wife, especially when it came to money.

When Owen's mother was having difficulty giving birth, his father came to the villa to ask his eldest brother for help and went to the city to hire a famous doctor. How could Old Irving be willing to spend this money? Not only did he not help, but he was also humiliated by Mrs. Old Irving. Later, Irving's mother died in childbirth, and the two parties stopped communicating with each other.

The young couple at that time had no idea that they would not be able to give birth to a son, and they did not take their brother's family seriously, leaving no way out.

Old Irving's three daughters were now married one after another. When he died of illness, only the youngest daughter was left to be married.

Because they had no friendship with the heir, his wife and youngest daughter had to move out of Fucui Villa after his death and go to live with his eldest daughter to free up the Villa for the new owner of the Villa.

So now there is no trace of the former owner in the manor, only Irving is the master.

Xia Qingdai watched the maids in the castle kneading dough, as if they wanted to make snacks, but their skill at kneading dough was really outrageous.

As a girl who has been cooking for herself since the fourth grade (her brother is in college), Xia Qingdai's cooking is fast and good, and she really can't bear to look at the maid's skills.

Xia Qingdai can be regarded as a master of cooking among Chinese people. At least no one in the same grade can compare with her. Facing a British maid who is famous for her dark cuisine, isn't that a dimensionality-reducing blow?

No, you can’t look more. Just look at others.

Xia Qingdai glanced at the villain below, and finally focused on Owen who was holding a book.

Seeing Owen reading, Xia Qingdai suddenly remembered that she wanted him to be her tutor before, so she felt heartbroken, stood up, and reached out to press the roof of the castle.

There was a sudden change, and when she opened her eyes again, Xia Qingdai had arrived on the sofa in front of the fireplace in the castle.

Not far away from her, it was Owen who was looking at her in confusion, with a book in his hand.

Xia Qingdai didn't realize it was a bit cold until she entered the castle through time travel. She came directly from the bed!

Owen was very observant and immediately picked up a nightgown folded on the sofa and handed it to her: "Miss Xia, this is for you."

"Thank you." Xia Qingdai reached out and took it and put it on. The nightgown was for men. It was too big, but it was also very warm.

After putting on the clothes, Xia Qingdai told Owen straight to the point that she hoped he could teach her English.

Owen was surprised when he heard this. Do you still need to learn English in heaven? Yesterday he thought that his father could not see God because he prayed in English!
  　The inheritance setting in this chapter is the same as the law in British history. Don't accuse me of being patriarchal. In addition, it is not that daughters cannot inherit property, it is just that certain plots of land that limit heirs cannot.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)