Chapter 106:
After Felix left, his part of the work was temporarily handed over to Wei Wei. Fortunately, many people in Sardinson County during this period have come to them. There are stewards and servants in the manor to help, and there are foreigners outside the manor. Wei Wei only needs to take care of the overall situation, decide the things that are difficult for the people below to handle by herself, look at the documents every day to sign their names, occasionally summon the stewards to ask questions and hold a meeting, and other people are responsible for practical matters. Similar to the big boss of the company.
She also did these things before, except that Felix was mainly responsible for communicating with his subordinates, and now she has become herself, there is almost no difference.
However, apart from the work of correcting documents, the upcoming autumn harvest and the civil service exam originally scheduled to be held in September are the things that cost her even more energy.
She really can't be busy by herself. The former is okay to say that the main people who are busy with the autumn harvest are the people and the tax collectors. It is not Wei Wei's turn to do the physical work, but the civil servants are different from the beginning. Content and process, she had already decided on with Felix, but Felix was not there, and he had to check the selection, so Wei Wei sent another announcement to postpone the civil service exam until October. Wait until Felix gets back.
No one is dissatisfied with this announcement, especially those who have come from out of town to prepare for the exam. The delay means that they will stay here for a while longer. Recently, prices in Sardinson County have increased, especially rent. , Even if you live in a BB, the daily consumption is a lot, and the housing supply is scarce. Many people can't live in Dingle, so they can only choose other small villages. If it is cheap, those who are not rich will choose to live in the village.
But compared to the few dissatisfied people, more people felt a sense of relief, probably feeling like "there will be more waves, no, it will take longer to prepare", and the fact that students were unexpectedly prepared on the eve of their exams. Notification of postponement should be about the same.
In particular, the new announcement also specifically explained the test process and the bias of the test content, so that people who didn't know what the test would be like have a direction to prepare for.
The autumn harvest has started. With the bumper wheat harvest in the past, everyone is more motivated this time. Various factories have to stop work again, and let the workers go home to participate in the autumn harvest. Even children three or five years old have to help, even if they are only with adults. It is also good to pick up the grain left in the field or watch the dried grain not be eaten by the birds. The older ones have to undertake the work of cooking for the family, taking care of the housework and taking care of the livestock. There is almost no time for rest.
But busy is busy, happy is happy, no matter how tired, as long as they look at the various grains that are more than in previous years, they can wake up with a smile when they sleep.
"In the past, when I was harvesting in autumn, I was both happy and worried. I was happy that the hard work of the year was not in vain. I was worried that the food I received was not enough for a family's old snacks. Now I am just happy and not worried. The food I harvested this year will be handed in. The tax is enough for our family to eat until the next year!"
"Yes, I used to live a tight life every day, and I didn't dare to eat more, because I was afraid that I would starve to death if I couldn't find enough food in winter, but now it's better. Now, I can sell a portion of the food if I can't finish it, and I plan to sell a portion of it when the food is harvested, add a few sets of winter clothes for the adults and children at home, and stock up more firewood, so I won't be afraid of the cold this winter."
"That's right, I also plan to sell some of it. The castle posted an announcement to collect all kinds of food, and the price was higher than those of the merchants who received the food. It would be a pity not to sell it now.
" Originally, they planned to not sell the remaining grain after paying the tax and put them at home to eat by themselves. They have experienced hunger and know how uncomfortable it is. Now that they have grain in their hands, they are reluctant to sell it. To eat, only a small number of people who need money to buy life items will be ready to sell part of it.
But the purchase price offered by the castle is indeed very good. Although this price is 20% lower than the market price, it is also a bit higher than the price quoted by the merchants who purchased grain in previous years.
And they also know that the castle comes out to collect corn and oatmeal, the food that the nobles do not eat is prepared for the people who serve and work for the earl, and now most of the people in Sardinson are working for the earl, they You can eat at least one meal of food prepared by the castle every day, so when everyone sells food, there is a mentality of "this is for the future self", and they always feel that they have earned it.
And this kind of thinking is also contagious. Those who have sold food and others gossip, and those who didn't have the will to be moved, take the extra food at home to sell it in the castle.
When the castle finally bought enough food, they stopped collecting food, and other merchants who received food also raised their prices, but when they saw that the castle was no longer receiving food, they immediately lowered the price, even lower than the price. In previous years, it was even lower, which made those who estimated that the price might rise again, so they did not sell grain and chose to wait and see for a while at a loss. At this time, the price will not go up at all, and the chicken will not be lost. For rice, you can only accept the new grain price, or you can keep the grain to eat by yourself, but in fact, so much grain will not be eaten by next year, and it will become stale grain after a long time. The location of the new food can make these people suffer a little.
After suffering a loss once, they also learned to be good. Later, when they encounter the castle to collect food, one is more active than the other. The excess food is exchanged for money, and the coins are exchanged, and then they go shopping with the coins and add things to the home. , the flow of money drives the enthusiasm of the merchants and creates more business opportunities, and the castle can take this opportunity to receive more business taxes and recover some of the money, which indirectly reduces the cost of purchasing food and buying more food. cycle, self-contained.
In this busy season, Wei Wei is so busy that her feet don't touch the ground, and the affairs inside and outside the castle are piled on her body. Sometimes she is too busy to even eat, and the leisurely afternoon tea in the past has naturally been cancelled. , even listening to other people's reports during the walking time that he insisted on every day, he didn't care about his facts at all.
So it wasn't until Penny hesitantly asked her if there was any discomfort in her body that she was shocked that her menstrual period had not come this month.
Among all the maids, Penny is the only one who does not take care of other jobs for a long time and is only responsible for taking care of her, so she has always been in charge of preparing the supplies for Wei Wei during menstruation, but this month Penny is, as usual, The supplies were prepared as well, but Wei Wei didn't wait until Wei Wei used them. She was a little worried and had to ask.
As for what to worry about, even if she is an unmarried girl who has been a maid in the castle for so long, she will hear the housekeeper chanting from time to time recently, so she naturally knows what might happen if her menstrual period doesn't come.
Wei Wei, who is healthier than anyone else, has always had a very accurate period. She has never messed up once in this year in the Middle Ages, but now, her period has been delayed by a week, and her body has no previous physiological period. Looking at some of the reactions to come, there doesn't seem to be any sign of it coming in the next few days.
Given that her health has always been good, Wei Wei had to suspect that she might be pregnant.
And nine times out of ten, it was the result of Felix's struggles in the days before he left.
She felt her pulse immediately, but unfortunately, the month was too shallow to see anything.
But that didn't stop her from making some preparations first.
"Don't tell anyone about it for now," she told Penny.
"My lady who will keep it a secret." The current Penny is not the Penny of the past. Although she still likes gossip, she will never say anything about the master as long as she receives an order to seal it up. I will listen now. After Wei Wei's instructions, she immediately agreed with a little excitement and anticipation.
Her eyes looked expectantly at Wei Wei's flat stomach as if she had seen that there was about to be a little life there that would bring joy and new life to the castle.
Although the pregnancy has not been confirmed, Wei Wei has made some changes to this. She has everything in her life and diet, her work arrangement is more reasonable and healthy, and her work and rest are more stable. Don't stay up late.
Others didn't feel the difference. They didn't know that the three meals of the hostess had the effect of protecting the fetus. They just thought that her taste had changed recently. I also prepared the same soup for myself to drink, just because Wei Wei has been eating and drinking for a few days, does the person look more beautiful?
When Wei Wei just crossed over, her body was a female doctor in the game. This doctor's body was only sixteen years old, young and attractive, with the youthful and slender characteristics of a girl. She lived in Sardinson for a year. She has grown taller and her body is also developing. She is not as plump as European women, but there is meat where there should be meat. The curve is perfect, and the clothes are a little slimmer, which can highlight her good figure and charm. Graceful and charming.
On the contrary, her face has not changed, she is still very small and beautiful, but when she smiles, she has a special temperament that is a mixture of grace and gentleness, which should be similar to her in Western eyes. Lai's young appearance doesn't quite match, but when placed on her, it is indescribably harmonious, as if she should be like this.
In the past, although everyone said that their hostess was beautiful, they still loved each other. Many people could name who they liked more. The most beautiful ones were different from each other, but after seeing Wei Wei wearing them. After wearing snow-white wedding dresses, swinging fans, and elegantly chatting and laughing with people, their aesthetics have become unified, and more and more people think that their hostess should be the most beautiful woman in Prady.
Even Queen Mirabelle, who had always been proud of her beauty, had to admit it, which made her even more jealous.
After seeing Wei Wei dressed up like that, the Queen's initial goodwill towards Wei Wei disappeared immediately. She was not a good-tempered woman. During that time, the queen did not suffer any loss, which created her selfishness and willfulness. Even if she was not favoured in recent years, she did not learn to restrain her temper. Instead, she became more and more violent and became more violent in private. His behaviour has always been criticized and talked about by the nobles.
Such a queen with almost only a good-looking face is not a person who can be deep friends. Countess Nelson has reminded Wei Wei of this more than once, and the facts have proved that she is right.
Although the birthday gift Wei Wei gave her, Queen Mirabelle had a bit of a favourable impression of her at the beginning, but when Wei Wei was in the limelight, this favour disappeared, and it soon turned into a sense of crisis and a sense of threat. jealousy.
In the beginning, when Wei Wei left the capital, the queen was somewhat at ease for a while. During that time, she enjoyed the king's change of heart. Everywhere she went, a bunch of people flattered her and welcomed her again. honour.
But the good times did not last long, and this kind of favour obtained by relying on appearance was as short-lived as before. After the initial fresh period, the king's favour for her began to fade again, and this faded with Sardinson County. Cosmetics produced began to be sold in the capital, and dropped to a minimum.
King Prady, like other nobles, is not devoted. If he can get along with Mila Belle, his sister-in-law when the former queen is seriously ill, he will naturally have other mistresses after his relationship with her becomes cold. In fact, In the years when Mirabelle was not favoured, the king had no less than three mistresses. Even when she regained favour, those mistresses did not disappear, but only temporarily reduced her sense of existence.
Now they're making a comeback, trying to steal Queen Mirabelle's favour once again with Sardinson's more youthful face and the latest fashion.
How could Mirabelle be willing to fall out of favour again? She tried her best to snatch the king with her mistresses and tried her best to keep her favour. At the same time, she hated Wei Wei who indirectly caused this situation and even surpassed her. Countess Nelson has been fighting against her all year round.
Indirectly, as Wei Wei's husband, Felix also received a certain degree of anger from the queen.
Fortunately, Felix came to the King's Capital this time only to meet the King and investigate the kidnapping incident. The schedule was very full. Except for a few entertainments that could not be pushed away, he did not attend any banquets. The banquets Queen could attend, except for the special occasion of the King. The only ones that benefited were the royal family themselves, and there were no major events in the royal family this season. Plus Wei Wei didn't come this time, she couldn't even invite people over to make things difficult, so she could only be angry in private. Itchy, because the king valued Felix, had to act friendly to him.
Nothing made her more depressed than this. For this reason, the bad-tempered queen didn't know how many things she smashed in private, and how many servants she punished for it.
Felix could feel that the queen she occasionally met was not looking at him right. It was not the kind of flirtation with a hint of ambiguity in the past, but a deeper level of hostility. For a knight with rich combat experience, this hostility is simply a candlelight in the sun. Although it is not conspicuous, it is not invisible.
However, the hostility of the queen did not affect Felix. His audience was smoother than ever before, probably because of the sugar recipe he presented before, and the king was more kind to him as if he was entertaining one. Like his own son and nephew, he even invited him to live in the palace for a long time, which can be said to be an honour that nobles look forward to very much.
Of course, Felix refused in the end. He said that he had some personal matters to deal with when he came to the capital this time, and it was not suitable for him to live in the palace. By the way, in the conversation between only two people, he revealed that he was still investigating the previous kidnapping incident. , and has made new progress.
After the king heard it, he did not continue to invite him, but just took care of his married life.
Saying this, the smile on Felix's face became a little more real: "We are very good, she is the best wife."
And the gifts that Felix brought are very popular, he naturally won't just prepare I bought a bunch of corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes, and of course, there are also expensive luxury goods bought from merchants, the most special of which is an oil painting.
Oil painting appeared in the 15th century. Before that, tempera painting was popular in Europe. It was a kind of painting painted with egg yolk or egg white mixed with pigments. It was mostly painted on a drawing board covered with gypsum. Renaissance.
That is to say, in the thirteenth century, not to mention oil painting, even tempera painting was only about to appear before it appeared.
The painting techniques of this period did not have the rich colours and three-dimensional texture of later oil paintings, with a certain sense of exaggeration and artistry, and the level of realism was not high.
And Satinson's first oil painting was done by Wei Wei. She had studied painting, and she was also a little involved in oil painting. Although there was no oil painting at this time, there were still many types of pigments. Wei Wei bought it by the way when she was making eyeshadow. After arriving at a lot of paint, I mixed some myself and painted a landscape painting of Fort Sardinson on a whim. Not to mention how good the painting is, but the realistic and colourful painting is very refreshing.
After seeing the landscape painting that was now hanging in their bedroom, Felix asked Wei Wei to paint a double portrait of them in an almost coquettish way. Wei Wei herself felt that this proposal was a good idea, and it happened to be in the Shortly after the wedding date, I simply drafted and prepared to draw a wedding photo, using the image of their marriage.
After all, when it comes to the corridors of the castle, isn't it just a piece of oil painting that is so real and scary, with supernatural colours?
It's a pity that I was too busy afterwards. The half-person-height painting is still only a semi-finished product. The completion time seems to be far away. I still stay in the studio and wait for the master to complete it when he is free.
But that didn't stop Felix from finding an artist to paint a portrait of the king with the same tools.
The painter Felix hired was not a famous painter, and he couldn't put so much effort into finding someone to paint the king. Wei Wei was almost the same. If this portrait was in the eyes of a professional, it would at most be A barely qualified novice painting, but for people who have never seen oil painting, it is still very bluffing.
At least the king liked it very much, especially when the painter made the king more youthful and mighty. As soon as he saw the painting, he couldn't wait to have it hung behind his throne so that anyone who came to see him in the future would be able to see his mighty side.
Of course, the king did not ignore the particularly inconspicuous items in the pile of gifts, even though the paintings attracted most of the attention.
"These are the crops that my wife brought from the silk country. They taste great and produce good yields. Your Majesty can plant them in the coming year. Maybe there will be a surprise waiting for you in autumn.
" Dried sweet potatoes and vermicelli, these two kinds of food taste very popular, few people will not like it, the king said happily after tasting it that he will look at it in the next year.
When Felix heard him order the sergeant to take the seeds and keep them well, and when they were planted in the garden next spring, he knew that he didn't value these crops, but just regarded them as rarities from foreign countries for viewing.
Felix didn't remind him at all about this. Those crops themselves are not amazing. If he wants to watch them, he will be disappointed, but since they are planted in the garden, it is obvious that the gardener will be more attentive. As long as you plant according to the manual, the results will not be too bad.
In return for the gift, the generous king gave him some gold and silver, and then turned around and told him a message.
"You know, the countries next door to us are always at war, and recently one of them finally broke itself, the country was divided up by other people, and their nationals fled in large numbers, and a large part went to Prady Here, you can bring some back if you need it."
Europeans in this period did not have much concept of a country, they only knew their lords, and the concept of a country was very vague, even because the nobles fought each other, the territory The ownership rights of the lords change frequently. Many lords don't care which lord they belong to. They only care about whether the tax will increase or not, and whether they will be dragged into the battlefield. Whoever the lord is, no one cares about who the king is.
Of course, if the new lord is particularly bad, there will still be a lot of people fleeing. The serfs can't escape, but the free people run very fast, especially when the country is divided up and the nobles are too busy to take care of themselves, they are afraid of being dragged into the army. The freedmen of the people fled to other more peaceful and stable places for the first time.
The country that broke the country this time is not far from Prady, and a small part of its territory is linked together. As the representative of a powerful country in this region, the Prady Empire is not a king who likes war. Stable development has naturally become a good place in the hearts of fugitives.
But the Prady people are still very xenophobic. They don't welcome the church, and they also don't like people from other countries. However, in the beginning, the soldiers at the border did not take care of it, allowing these foreigners to enter the Prady Empire smoothly and want to go to the capital. They could not be driven away, and they were not accepted by the noble lords of various regions but were driven or captured as slaves by them.
Those people are still gathering in the border county at this time, and the number of them is increasing, to the extent that they will endanger the surrounding villages and towns. King Prady is also very worried that these people will eventually become savages or robbers and destroy his country. When Felix came to the capital, he remembered that Felix had taken a bunch of poor people from the capital, and he had been buying people from the slave market, so he told him the news and planned to let him take away a group of refugees. And the more the better.