[Titanic] I can't help myself

The next day, I resumed my long-interrupted study life.Thanks to Bukett's ancestors who had the habit of collecting all kinds of books, I actually found books on economy and agriculture on the bookshelf. Although these words seem a little cloudy, but maybe it's just the beginning The reason why the time is not suitable.

Carl declined Rose's invitation to go for a walk, but offered to inspect the farms in the territory with me, saying that if he knew the conditions of these farms, he might be able to give me more detailed suggestions.To which I readily agree, whether because his advice is always full of practicality, or because I have a legitimate reason to be alone with him.

There are a total of fifteen developed farms in Acton, and less than half of them have been rented out, and among these rented out farms, three farms are still in arrears of rent.In addition to these farms, the land belonging to Acton also has a few wastelands that are not suitable for farming due to the geological environment, and two mountain peaks, and a large piece of unused cultivated land between the mountains. I remember the family land management. According to the records, this piece of arable land was cultivated by people more than 200 or [-] years ago, but because of the low terrain, it suffered heavy losses in a heavy rain that lasted for several days, and no one took it over later.

Because of being too careful, we inspected for a total of four days, visited the tenants, asked about the current situation of the farm, and learned about the prices in the market.When I am in a different mood to do these things that I am not interested in, all these trivial things that I don't know much about show their own charm from another angle.

My mother was very happy about this. She felt that with Carl's help, I "finally became a qualified Earl of Richardmond".

After the inspection, Carl offered his opinion.He thinks that I should not rush to pay off my father’s debts and inheritance tax at once, but try to pay in installments as much as possible, and then use the money to buy tractors, rotary cultivators, combine harvesters and other farming machinery, as well as enough seeds for next year. Adopt intensive planting farming methods, and take all vacant and rent-delinquent farms into self-cultivation.He estimated that after repaying the debts that need to be repaid each year and maintaining the normal operation of the manor, there will be a considerable amount of surplus from the output of these lands.

After a few years, when we have accumulated enough capital, we can raise pigs and cows, which is more profitable than planting, and then reclaim those two mountains to plant fruit trees (“As long as you are determined to destroy the beautiful scenery. ”), and even build less polluting factories on that uncultivable land.

"This sounds... so ideal, Carl." I looked at him uncertainly, "How does it feel like I can become richer than the king overnight."

"You are already rich, Henry, you own more than the average person. From the perspective of entrepreneurship, your starting point is quite high, but you are not good at management. You are one of the earls who own the most land I have ever seen. You Owned even more than some dukes,” Carr said.

"It's not surprising at all. The first earl originated during the War of the Roses, and was canonized as an earl by Henry VII because of his support, so the title of Richardmond has existed longer than most of the existing noble families Our family has also been promoted to Duke in the past 500 years, but was deprived of the title of Duke due to political reasons. After a lot of hardships, we returned to the position of Earl and regained the land belonging to Bukett.” I am a little proud that my ancestors have an aggressive and adventurous spirit, which is always admirable. "My ancestors have a longer time than other families to accumulate wealth. It is very normal for the land to be larger than others. .”

"It sounds like a pretty big story," Carr said.

"Indeed." I nodded, "Our family has never lacked people who dare to bet on political struggles. The third earl once funded Henry VIII's poor The beheaded Queen Anne Boleyn's daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and after Princess Elizabeth became Elizabeth I, the Bookett family began to flourish. This gave great encouragement to future generations, so Bookett's Many of the ancestors were deeply trapped in the political quagmire, trying to gain greater benefits from it, and even if they fell hard because of this, they never gave up."

At this time we were standing under a tree on a taller hillside, looking at the land below that belonged to me, the cold December wind in the clear sunshine, without the biting and hard, "I wish I could also Being able to possess outstanding abilities like them can enable this family to pass on with enough glory, instead of just declining." I sighed.

"Of course not," Carl said, his voice full of absolute certainty and confidence. "It's not too difficult to maintain her glory, as long as you have enough courage and willingness to fight hard. Times change, but It also provides enough opportunities. One day, you will become the richest nobleman in all of Europe."

"Oh my god, you have such confidence in me," I laughed. "It's making me nervous again, but it feels good, at least mentally, I'm not alone."

When he returned to the castle in the evening, Charles came over with a small silver tray containing letters, which also contained a knife for cutting envelopes, "Master, this is a letter that arrived in the afternoon, from Madam Cornwall. "

"Thank you, Charles. This should be a reply letter about the invitation." As I spoke, I picked up the envelope and opened it, muttering, "I hope they will be caught up in something."

Lady Cornwall is Aunt Violet.She expressed her gratitude for our invitation in an overly elegant and tactful wording, and said that she would soon bring her son James, who has inherited the title of Earl of Cornwall, his wife Carol, and daughter Amy Miss Li came to Acton for a party.

It's a pity that the latter paragraph is not an apology for not being able to accept the invitation.

I read the letter with a frown, and rolled my eyes in disgust at the wording and sentence construction in which every letter desperately reveals the message "I am a noble-educated upper-class person".Maybe it was my rebellious cousin James who married a third-rate actress who was not on the stage, which was a big blow to Aunt Violet. Ms. Ren, the symptoms are getting worse now, I'm afraid that others will look down on the Darens family because of that shameful daughter-in-law.

Charles saw my ungentlemanly behavior and coughed lightly.

"Sorry, Charles." I hastily put on the most polite smile, "This is a letter from Aunt Violet. The four of them are going to come to Acton. You go and give this letter to Mom. Take a look," I said in a low voice, "Aunt Violet is getting more and more critical, and I really hope she's well-prepared."

Charles raised his eyebrows, "Okay, master. However, speaking of one's elders like this is not what a nobleman should do."

"My God, I'd rather show respect to the hens on the farm than Aunt Violet." I murmured, picking up another letter, a reply from Patrick Murchland, Viscount Stewart, my father's friend. He also expressed his willingness to accept the invitation.

Replies from Connery's cousins ​​Nicholas and Robert Branson both arrived a few days ago.As for Rose's friend, Ms. Rebecca, it was only after Rose's invitation was successful that I sent out the formal invitation letter, and the reply was just two days away.

After the mother learned that Aunt Violet had accepted the invitation, it was as if she had received a letter of war, and her whole body became more and more motivated.She was full of energy and watched the servants clean the entire castle so it was spotless and sparkling, and kept improving the interior repairs and layouts.

I once saw her sitting gracefully on the sofa, whispering the harshest words to the maid who cleaned the living room, because she found that the huge crystal chandelier in the living room was not as bright as she thought, and she firmly believed that it was The servants were lazy and did not clean up carefully.Although in my opinion, the chandelier has been cleaned to the point of being peeled off.

The servants downstairs seem to dare not speak out, I can only hope that the Christmas gift prepared by Rose can win over people's hearts again, even if it is not from a humanitarian point of view, at least our lives are in their hands. If they spit in our supper, I'm afraid we'll eat it without knowing it.

For such a mother, even Rose obediently hid in the room and read a book, and I also used the excuse of discussing the development of the farm to avoid my mother's sharp edge in the study with Carl.

The tense atmosphere was finally relieved on December [-]th.The guests will come to Acton on this day.

Mother rang the bell before six o'clock, inspected the castle thoroughly for the last time, and after confirming the dishes and drinks for dinner and the seating arrangement, we stood at the door to greet visitors in the afternoon.

The first car to arrive was Aunt Violet.She was a tall, thin woman who wrapped herself in black fur and looked a bit fierce.As soon as she got out of the car, she shouted "My dearest Ruth" with exaggerated enthusiasm and hugged her mother.

At that moment, it was as if the situation of the battle had suddenly come to an end. The mother also kissed Aunt Violet's cheek with a hypocritical smile, saying "I miss you so much" and "I'm so happy". What a close relationship between good sisters.In fact, they are sisters-in-law who have been against each other for more than 20 years.

James followed behind Aunt Violet, still looking like a fool. Although he was neatly dressed, he exuded a frivolous and libertine temperament.His wife, Carol, held his arm tightly, with a too-standard smile on her face.This woman is very beautiful, and her exquisite makeup makes her beautiful as if she walked out of a portrait. The huge gemstone earrings are shining in the sun.Maybe it's still not suitable for this kind of occasion, or because of people like us, she looks very nervous.

Cousin Emily walked last, she completely grasped the essence of her mother's mean expression, half-smile expression, fastidious and slow looking eyes, slow way of speaking, it made me disgusted at the first time To the extreme.

In the car immediately behind them were Cousin Connery, his two children, and Viscount Stuart.