aristocratic engagement

Darcy boarded the ship and left.

The sails were beating, the ship was sailing far away, and circles of ripples were drawn on the water.Annie withdrew her gaze, and also withdrew the inexplicable melancholy in her heart.

After coming to this world, her world is very small, and this is the first time that she sends someone on a long journey in person.

Annie shook her head, leaving behind the depression that didn't belong to her.

"Shall we go back now? It's already past lunch time, but the kitchen must have left a light meal for us." Du Li asked behind her.

Annie's eyes turned slightly, and she saw the family who were still there. The crowd of seeing off people had gradually faded away, but they were still looking at the direction in which the boat was leaving.Annie's gaze met the two Miss Bennet, and both of them smiled, turned around and said a few words to their family members, and then walked towards Annie.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Jane, Liz." She nodded to them as she spoke, "Are you here to see you off? Mr. Gardner greeted Darcy just now."

Jane nodded: "Your cousin Darcy is also going on a long trip? Is the destination also France? Uncle Gardner is going to buy goods there. He goes out every year and brings us some gifts along the way."

"Yes." Annie didn't say much, and they had nothing to say after greeting each other.

Liz blinked, looked at the lonely maid and coachman behind her, and suddenly proposed an invitation: "Annie, have you had lunch? If not, would you like to come with us?"

Anne subconsciously wanted to refuse, but when Mr. Bennet came forward, he raised his eyebrows when he heard the invitation from his daughters. He didn't seem surprised, and said to Annie: "Please don't feel embarrassed, I and I My family is planning to go back to Longbourn in two days, and Jane and Liz have been saying that they want to invite their new friends to dinner, and I have already agreed."

Annie couldn't resist the persistence of the two little girls, so she agreed.

She looked back at Du Li and the driver who was waiting on the side. The driver immediately said that he could just find some place to eat, but he insisted that she should not go back to the Earl's Mansion before her, otherwise the Earl and his wife would definitely blame him for his negligence.

"Mrs. Gardner won't mind entertaining one more guest." Mr. Bennet decided to invite the coachman and Dolly to go with him.

Annie nodded in agreement.

Both Jane and Liz were invited by Anne to sit in the carriage of the Earl's Mansion.A group of people quickly walked through the streets of London and came to the place where the Gardners lived.

This time it was no longer the shop, but a street that was very unfamiliar to Annie.

"Last time, I told you that my uncle bought a new house, and it's here." Jane and Liz jumped out of the car, and pointed Annie to the surrounding scenery, "All the rich people like uncle live here , next door is the home of a textile factory owner, and the owner on the other side... I don’t know what his identity is, but I heard that he will move in soon.”

Annie nodded, knowing in her heart that this is where the so-called "emerging capital" and "middle class" gather and live.

The surrounding environment is livable. Although it is still early spring and the trees and flowers have just sprouted new buds, there is a faint smell of green grass and soil in the air.

Anne praised a few words sincerely, which made Mrs. Gardner laugh again and again, and warmly invited her to come in and rest quickly, and thoughtfully asked the servant to immediately arrange to pull the carriage of the Earl's Mansion to the backyard with the coachman to feed the fodder.As soon as they entered the yard, the other three Bennet daughters rushed out of the house excitedly.Mrs. Bennet hugged her little daughter and walked into the house, while Mary and Katie happily followed the carriage to tease the horses.

Du Li followed behind Annie and walked towards the door.

Just as he was about to pass through the doorway, the door of the house on the other side whose owner was unknown was opened.

Mrs. Gardner looked over immediately, and saw the young man in the door looking in this direction and suddenly opened his mouth wide in surprise.

"Miss de Bourgh! I didn't expect to see you here!" The man left behind the butler who kept talking to him, and walked towards here with a face full of joy.

Annie also raised her eyebrows, and nodded in surprise: "Mr. Alan Edgerton. Do you... do you live here? We just met yesterday, but I didn't expect to meet again today."

"Do you know each other?" Liz and Jane looked surprised.

Didn't expect Anne to know so many people as a lady?She's only as big as Liz!

Jane and Liz lived in Longbourn since they were young, but they would come to live at their uncle's house in London for half a month every year. Even so, they knew very little about London.They knew that Anne was coming to London for the first time, but she had already gotten to know her aunt's neighbor before they did?

"This is the grandson of the Duke of Bridgewater." Anne introduced them, and introduced Jane and Liz to Ellen.

"The Duke's grandson? Isn't that the future..." Jane immediately covered her mouth.The grandson of the duke still bought a house here and intends to settle down here. Couldn't it explain his identity?A second son who cannot inherit the family property.

Alan was not angry, just smiled, and said to Annie: "I just met you in the duke's mansion yesterday, and I can't talk too much with you. This is not a good thing for you." Pointing to the house behind her, "I'm about to move out, and I want to invite you to be a warm house guest. I wonder if you can give me this honor..."

Annie made a embarrassed look: "If I were still in London."

Anne had understood Mrs. Edgerton's meaning at yesterday's tea party.To be honest, she felt that this seemed normal intellectually, but she was inevitably offended emotionally.She didn't dare to say whether Alan thought the same way, but the lovely Mrs. Jayton clearly wanted to "get rid of the family".

It was for this reason that Annie didn't want to get involved with Alan's enthusiasm once or twice.

I don't know if Alan understood what she meant, his face was a little stiff, but he quickly recovered his demeanor, and said goodbye to Anne and the two Miss Bennet.

This little episode did not disturb their mood.

A group of people walked into the restaurant, and the tableware was already set on the table.Annie was arranged to sit in the position of a distinguished guest, and she didn't refuse - it was really unnecessary, humility is a virtue, but it also depends on where it is.When she sat down, Mrs. Dougardner breathed a sigh of relief.

Mrs. Gardner's children did not show up at the dinner table, and Mrs. Gardner even "facilely" left after a brief lunch.

"I still need to take care of the store. Miss de Bourgh, please don't mind my leaving the table, and don't feel restrained. There are desserts and tea in the kitchen, please enjoy them." After she finished speaking, she left Li, quietly leave.

Jane and Liz glanced at each other, both a little uncomfortable.

While listening to Mr. Bennet's eloquent talk, Anne secretly lamented Mrs. Gardner's "knowledge of etiquette"——As the lady of the jazz family, Anne has a distinguished status. In fact, she is the daughter of the Bennet family's daughters today. Guests, not Gardner's guests.It would be extremely impolite for Mr. Gardiner to invite Miss de Bourgh to dine at his house.

The identities of a businessman and a landlord are different. Even Mrs. Gardner, the owner of this house, left quietly knowingly and wisely, unwilling to leave a bad impression on her in-laws in front of the guests.

"...Spring will begin soon, and it's a good time to plant seeds. It's a pity that Mr. Williams's field can only be so empty. It's a pity."

"Dear Mr. Bennet, I really don't understand why Mr. Williams doesn't take good care of his property. His land is so vast that he can grow at least two or three thousand pounds a year by just planting anything. Income!" Mrs. Bennet yelled puzzledly, "I say, if I have another son, I must give up that piece of land—"

"Honey!" Mr. Bennet interrupted his wife, and said lightly, "For your health, I will not make you suffer like that again. Williams is getting old, and his wife and children are in the accident Lost his life, he told us that he just wanted to sell the land all at once, so that he could live a comfortable life with the money... The taxes have been getting higher and higher in the past two years. maintain lifehood."

"Hmph, if he hadn't been so absurd when he was young, he wouldn't have ended up like this now! Even the tenants are unwilling to rent his land. If this continues, I think those fertile lands will become wasteland!"

Mrs. Bennet clicked her tongue regretfully.

Annie blinked her eyes, and raised a question that had been buried in her heart for a long time: "Why are the tenants unwilling to rent that...Mr. The land is fertile, not the kind of wasteland that still needs to be laboriously fertilized. I can't think of any other reason to let the tenants who depend on the land for their livelihood miss such a good opportunity."

"Miss de Bourgh, you don't know! That Mr. Williams has always had a bad reputation among his tenants. When he was young, he acted recklessly and raised the land rent at will. One year there was a plague of locusts, but he asked the tenants to pay more money." Pay some money to cover his loss! What absurdity!"

Mrs. Bennet drank a glass of water, and lowered her voice as if telling a story: "Ah, Mr. Bennet, do you still remember what a terrible night it was? Those tenants were panicked by the locust plague and their income dropped sharply. There is no food left! They gathered together, held up shovels, and smashed the gate of Netherfield Garden. The young Mrs. Williams fled from the back door in a hurry with her child in her arms, but she was discovered by a few huge hounds... ..."

"Ah!" The two girls were frightened by this eerie story, and could not imagine what would happen next.

"The Mrs. Williams fell from the carriage while escaping with the child in her arms. She was trampled by the horse and bitten by the hunting dogs. By the time people arrived, she was already dying."

Annie frowned tightly, unable to imagine how bloody the scene was.

"Where is that Mr. Williams? Did he just escape the revenge of his tenants?"

"No one knows how they and Mr. Williams negotiated in private. In short, the leading tenant was unlucky and left Hertfordshire. The others would rather rent further away than William. Mr. Mus's land. At first, he found some people from other places...but then he was so addicted to gambling in Meryton that he couldn't even pay his wages." Mr. Bennet took the last sip Cha, smiled slightly at the daughters, "Okay, let's hear the story here, and you all know the other things."

Annie fought a cold war.

that land...

TBC.

作者有话要说：虚构了一个故事……灵感来源于以前看过的旧时杂谈（？）感谢在2020-10-0623:21:30~2020-10-0722:35:26期间为我投出霸王票或灌溉营养液的小天使哦~

Thanks to the little angel who threw the landmine: one piece like a deer returning to the forest;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!