I was a god in the 18th century

Chapter 18 Christmas Eve (two chapters in one)

Xia Qingdai finished delivering the cheese, thought for a while, put on her school uniform jacket again, pressed the roof of the castle, and entered the world of the castle again, returning to the sofa she left before.

At this time, the servants were moving the huge cheese on the trailer, and Owen returned to the dining room and continued his breakfast.

When Xia Qingdai walked outside the castle, a gust of cold wind blew by, and she couldn't help but tighten her collar.

There was still snow falling on her head, but Xia Qingdai didn't care and just let it rain.

She wanted to get out of the confines of the glass jar and see what kind of world was outside.

As a result, she found that when she reached the border, she could no longer get out. There was an invisible wall blocking her.

It seems that even after becoming a villain, her range of actions is still limited to the area around the castle that she can see.

This made Xia Qingdai a little disappointed, but there was nothing she could do.

She couldn't even look out, she could only see the fog around her, as if she was trapped in Novice Village.

Since she couldn't get out, Xia Qingdai quickly returned to Owen's castle.

There was heavy snow falling outside, and the howling wind was bitingly cold.

Although she likes snow, she can't stand the cold, and a jacket seems useless in snowy weather!
  When Owen returned to the living room after breakfast, he saw Xia Qingdai who had been waiting here.

"Hi, good morning, I'm here to learn English."

Owen naturally didn't say anything.

The two moved to the study room to start a new day of private lessons.

Xia Qingdai cherishes such learning opportunities very much. She can earn as many points as possible before the spring exam!
  At the same time at Tao Le Manor, the girls of the Brown family were discussing the new heir to Fortress.

"Did you hear about it? The new heir to Fortress Villa is a recently retired military officer. It seems that no one has taken care of his property yet. Now he only has male servants working on his farm." The person who spoke was Fang Ling of the Brown family. The eldest daughter, Amy, is eighteen years old.

"Is he good-looking? How much income does he make every year?" asked the seventeen-year-old second lady Marianne.

Amy replied: "Based on the property he inherited, he should have an income of nearly two thousand pounds per year."

"Far water can't quench the near thirst, and he's having a hard time this winter. I heard that his aunt emptied the cellar of the Villa, but now the flour outside has been sold for 0.9 pence per quart (about 28 liters), and there is no food left. That's quite annoying." Marianne immediately commented.

In non-disaster years, the selling price of wheat is only 2.8 pence per kilogram. Snow disasters have increased food prices tenfold.

Amy felt the same, and sighed with regret: "Hey, it seems that there won't be a dance party at Fortress this Christmas."

"Oh, yes, I'm very sorry. It seems that it will take some time for us to get to know our new neighbor." Marianne shrugged.

After a while, Amy murmured again: "Maybe we can ask mom to invite him to our house for a meal."

Marianne burst out laughing: "Oh, Amy, my sister, don't think about it! We have to support relatives this year, how can we have any food left to treat guests? This damn weather has reduced the harvest in the farm." Half of it!"

Amy sighed: "You are right, then we can only wait. Just survive this winter!"

The last time Owen came to visit their father at Tao Le Manor, unfortunately they were not at home and were attending a tea party at their newlywed friend's house.

When they got home and learned that Owen had come to visit, both sisters expressed great regret!

They have reached the age where they can go out and socialize, but they have yet to meet an outstanding young man with enough wealth to propose to them. It would be a lie to say that they are not in a hurry.

For every country girl with a small dowry, the bachelor who inherited the ancestral property is worth getting to know.

After all, in this world, their dignity for the rest of their lives depends largely on their marriage.

If they want to be decent ladies, they can't go out and work.

Because all the jobs that women can do in society today are undignified and even degenerate, and are things that lower-class people can do.

Whether they are salespersons in department stores, female workers in factories, bank clerks, nurses in hospitals, etc., although they are free women, their social evaluation is extremely low. And in most cases the remuneration you can get is extremely low, barely enough to survive.

Capital has been full of exploitation and sin since the first day it came into the world, and cannot be moral.

A job that is slightly better for women is to be a tutor, but that is basically considered a maid by default.

Having said that, in this era, being able to work as a maid in the family of a powerful squire and noble is already a rare and good job for the people at the bottom.

Of course, for ladies, this is definitely not a pleasant thing, and it means that the class has been downgraded.

From this we can see how important a gentleman husband with social status and stable income is to girls.

Just like the discussions among the girls in Taole Villa, the most popular topic among the neighbors near Taole Villa recently is also about Owen, the owner of Fortress Villa who has recently inherited a large fortune.

With an income of nearly two thousand pounds a year, he was not very rich, but it was enough for a gentleman to live a decent life.

Even though he may be having a hard time this winter, neighbors still have high hopes for the bachelor.

But in the end, everyone discovered that they had guessed wrong. The new owner of Floating Green Villa's life this year was not as difficult as they thought.

He asked his servant to deliver the news that a dance would be held on Christmas Eve, which the neighbors were looking forward to very much.

There are not many opportunities for everyone to have fun these days, especially in such a cold and food-deficient winter.

Therefore, every festival is always eagerly anticipated by people.

Compared with the lighthearted topics in a squire's family, the topics in a farmer's family are much more serious, especially for those who can't pay their rent this year.

The snowstorm caused the coldest temperature at night to reach minus 12 degrees, turning the streets into huge skating rinks. The streets were deserted than ever before, and people were trapped in their homes and unable to go out.

If the family has enough food, the heavy snow will be the cream that embellishes everything, and the glaciers will be the pure tears of the earth. Appreciating the snowy scenery from the window, you can also sigh, "The jade trees and flowers are as beautiful as a fairyland."

But if you lack food, clothing, and heating equipment such as firewood and charcoal, it will be miserable.

A blizzard that swept across the UK last night collapsed more than just a small wooden house next to Fortress.

In the villages near Ifla town alone, dozens of farmers lost their homes, which they relied on to protect themselves from wind and rain.

Under the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty at the same time and space, if there was such a snow disaster, the court would immediately transport grain and grass from various places to provide disaster relief.

There will also be female members of the gentry class who take the initiative to give out porridge, distribute clothing, etc. Even if it is just to gain fame, it is always a good deed.

They will never sit idly by in a snowstorm. The nobles still wear a layer of service for the country and the people, and they will still do their best on the surface, even if it is not perfect. But the capitalist aristocrats here really don’t care about the life and death of the bottom class!

If there is a snowstorm and there is a shortage of food, of course food prices will skyrocket!
  What, these are all poor people who can’t afford food? Those profit-seeking businessmen would definitely not transport food here!

As a result, food shortages worsened and food prices continued to skyrocket.

In just a few days, a shocking number of people froze and starved to death.

The pastor of the church was so busy that he had no time to comfort the souls of the dead. In the end, they could only wrap them up and bury them in the mountains.

*
  On Friday night, Xia Qingdai went home carrying several express boxes.

Tomorrow is Christmas, and she plans to give some Christmas gifts to her "English teacher" and "math teacher" and feed the little people in Lilliput.

For this shopping trip, she saved her food expenses.

The stuck bug strategy is effective. You will be as full as if you went to the castle for breakfast and late night snacks. This can indeed save some ingredients. Even for lunch and dinner, she was at school, so there was no way to get stuck.

Another regret is that the processed food in the castle can only be eaten in the stomach and cannot be taken out.

The lettuce, cheese, etc. that she put into the castle herself can be taken out, but it will still be the same, it will not change with her own changes, and it will not be the same as the clothes she is wearing.

The things she bought today were all for Christmas.

She has a moderate interest in Christmas, mainly for her little people.

For people in the castle in the 18th century, Christmas was a big holiday, equivalent to the Chinese Spring Festival.

Moreover, on Christmas Eve, there will be a dance held at Fucui Villa. At that time, the young sons and daughters of the squire living nearby will come over. Xia Qingdai is still looking forward to this.

For this purpose, she bought two apples, six strawberries, six seedless oranges, a ball of cotton, a piece of rabbit fur, a mini cake, a pair of Christmas snowman candles with a height of 5cm*4cm in diameter, a pair of Christmas snowman candles with a height of 13cm*long A 5.3cm solar garden light costs a total of yuan.

In addition, Xia Qingdai also cut a piece of beef as big as her thumb.

On Christmas Eve, beef is also a must.

When Xia Qingdai hurriedly washed up and got into the bedroom, Xia Shanglu looked at her strangely and muttered: "Is it so cold? Have you gone back to the room to do your homework now?"

In the past, Xia Qingdai never brought her homework back to her room no matter whether it was cold or hot, because she said the sleeping and studying areas must be separated, otherwise efficiency would be low.

But in the past few days, Xia Shanglu always got into the room as soon as Xia Qingdai came back, and specifically told him not to ask her to have supper, because she wouldn't eat it.

My sister is an adult. After entering the room at night, Xia Shanglu will not enter her room unless there are special circumstances. So although I felt a little strange, that was all.

After entering the room, Xia Qingdai immediately placed the things she bought in the courtyard in front of the castle.

Big Mac apples and oranges that are taller than a person, strawberries half the size of a person, snow-white cotton as small as a small house, furs as big as a mat, beautiful Big Mac snowman candles, and the wooden top of a Christmas tree Small glass room!
  These are all gods from heaven!
  This Christmas, there is no Santa Claus to bring gifts to everyone, but there is true God to bless everyone!

Santa Claus is imaginary, but the Eastern God is real!

Xia Qingdai smiled and said to Owen: "These are given to you as a Christmas gift."

Owen bowed deeply: "Thank God."

Although the servants could not see the God in the clouds, they followed Owen in bowing and praying, saying nondescript words of thanks to the true God.

For some reason, these pious prayer sounds penetrated into Xia Qingdai's ears, and she felt an indescribable feeling of comfort.

After the process of praying and thanking him, Owen raised his voice to the servants in the yard: "This is the Christmas gift given to me by the Eastern God. Now cut the strawberries and apples into pieces, move the cakes into the house, and move the oranges and cotton into the cellar. The glass houses were dragged to both ends of the yard.”

"Okay, Mr. Owen!"

Owen then whispered to Lim: "Go and give the apple chunks and strawberry chunks to all the farmers in the village later. Let everyone have a happy holiday today."

"Okay, Mr. Owen, I'll do it right away!" Lim was used to the new owner's generosity to lowly peasants.

These farmers who rent Mr. Owen’s farm might have been frozen and starved to death in this particularly cold winter, but now they can still eat the fruits of heaven. Thank God!

Seeing the little people below getting busy because of the gifts she gave, Xia Qingdai's mood suddenly improved.

Her eyes habitually scanned the interior of the glass jar, and when she saw the ruins of the collapsed farm warehouse, Xia Qingdai suddenly remembered that there was something else in her schoolbag, and quickly took it out again.

This is a box of exquisite ornaments of a rustic retro wooden house, which was brought back by Xia Qingdai's deskmate and her father when he went on a business trip.

My deskmate was impatient to assemble such a gadget, so he gave it to Xia Qingdai as a Christmas gift.

This thing has a mortise and tenon structure, a solid wood spliced ​​roof, round arches, and light-leak windows embedded in glass. The body of the house is made of basswood plywood, and the roof and bottom bracket are all pure solid wood.

It takes patience to put this thing together, but fortunately, Xia Qingdai didn't lack it at all, and she finished it after half an hour of work.

The whole wooden house is exquisite and cute, full of details, and Xia Qingdai couldn't put it down.

After playing with it for a while, Xia Qingdai stretched out her hand at the original site of Fucui Farm's collapse, cleared out a flat and clean piece of land, and then put the single-family cabin down.

Her actions alerted several families on the edge of the farm, who peeped through the cracks in their doors.

In their eyes, it was just a pair of invisible hands smoothing the ground, and then airborne a beautiful wooden house.

"A miracle! This is a miracle!" the person hiding in the house murmured.

For some reason, everyone's knees weakened and they knelt down and began to pray.

Xia Qingdai moved to the sky above the castle again and called to Owen: "Owen, I have put a house on your farm. Please let all the tenants living in dilapidated houses nearby move in. Don't let another tragic tragedy happen."

As long as the villain lives under her sight, in Xia Qingdai's heart, he is different from others and is considered a direct descendant.

Irving, who was still instructing his servants to think of ways to move the glass house, immediately stopped when he heard this and responded: "Thank God, I will order someone to do it immediately."

"it is good."

If Xia Qingdai had money, she would like to buy a few more wooden houses for the poor little farmers to live in, and eliminate the remaining shabby houses in the glass jar.

But she checked on Taobao on her mobile phone and found that a wooden house of the same style cost nearly 100 yuan each, which was too expensive for Xia Qingdai, who was still a student.

She didn't dare to spend money randomly, she could only wait until she thought of a way to make money later.

(End of this chapter)