Chapter 47: The Baron's Debt to His Children; The Scoundrel Son; Spicy Teeth...
Vivian first went to the mayor's mansion and showed him the letter of entrustment from the Lord of Eton City. Then she went to the baron's mansion and introduced herself and her mission.
Time is tight and the task is heavy; there can be no more delay.
Fortunately, after the harvest festival, Baron Edmundson would immediately head back to his home in Eton to order custom-made winter ball dresses for the unmarried young ladies in his household.
"Miss Vivian, please move to the guest room and rest for a while. We will depart immediately after we have checked all the items."
Claire's polite demeanor perfectly demonstrated the excellent manners of a gentleman.
"You're too kind, Steward Claire. I'll just sit here."
Vivian gave a polite smile.
"Manager Claire, the master is looking for you!"
"I'll take my leave now. Please feel free to move around in the living room."
“Steward Claire, the Baron really can’t do without you for a moment.”
Vivian joked, and Claire clearly enjoyed it. She specially instructed the maid to bring Vivian pastries and black tea, the kind served to honored guests.
Vivian ate her pastries, looking at the magnificent mansion with mixed feelings.
While people in small mountain villages still live by the rhythm of sunrise and sunset, using candles for light, this place is already using the latest creation of the dwarf master: a crystal lamp that uses energy stones to provide power for illumination.
This type of lamp is brighter and more stable; it can keep burning as long as enough energy stones are provided.
She had only seen her in the city lord's study and meeting room.
The novel applications of energy stone ore are bound to spark a new round of competition among nations.
Vivian pondered, her thoughts drifting further and further away.
The servants moved back and forth within the mansion, loading the baron's family's luggage into the carriages to prevent the expensive silks and laces from getting wet during the journey.
The jewelry sent by the mayor was already placed around the baroness's neck.
Her three daughters, beautiful and elegant like larks, had changed into dresses suitable for their journey and followed behind their mother.
Surrounded by maids, the group boarded the same carriage.
The Baroness's relative's son, who was also her eldest daughter's fiancé, strolled leisurely beside the Baron.
Vivian stood up to greet the two people who were walking towards her.
"Your Excellency, how is the city lord doing lately?"
When the Baron met the young city lord, he always saw Vivian by his side, so he treated Vivian with great humility.
"The city lord is in good health, Baron, you need not worry. Is it time to depart now?"
Vivian handled the social interactions with ease.
"Yes. Everything is ready, and we will depart immediately. We would be grateful for your assistance in escorting us this time."
"It's nothing, it's what I should do."
The Baron walked ahead and boarded the first carriage, and Vivian also mounted her horse.
The baron's family's procession moved at a faster pace, so they were in front, followed by a long line of mule carts and oxcarts carrying grain.
The knights of Rosen Town followed on both sides of the grain wagons, while Vivian, wearing an ordinary cloak, hid herself in the group for protection.
The long, serpentine procession marched further and further away towards Eton City. Vivian turned back for one last, deep look at the place where she had grown up, before continuing her journey into the distance.
...
By the afternoon, the starch had already settled.
Ray and Neil scooped out the slightly yellowish water from the top, leaving only the milky white, non-Newtonian starchy liquid at the bottom, and left it to dry in the sun.
A 50-pound batch of potatoes can yield about 10 pounds of potato starch, and sweet potatoes yield about the same amount. After being dried in the sun, the moisture evaporates, leaving even less starch.
Yesterday, Lai cooked all the dregs that he had sifted out with gauze and fed them to the family's big yellow dog.
While Ray and Neil were busy, intermittent noises could be heard coming from outside the yard.
Neil stopped what he was doing and carefully listened to the sounds outside.
"Brother, it sounds like Grandpa Guge is cursing."
Lai also put down what he was doing and listened carefully for a while.
"Get out of here! I'll pretend I never had a son like you!"
Old Guge's angry voice rang out.
In my memory, Old Guge has always been a very easy-going person. What could have happened to make him so angry?
Lei couldn't help but wonder.
"Brother, let's go over there and see what's going on. Grandpa Guge, don't let anyone bully you anymore."
"Okay, let's go."
The two quickly washed their hands and went to Old Guge's house.
A covered mule cart was parked in front of Guge's house, and a middle-aged man was standing in front of the gate with a boy.
The man was talking incessantly, and various things that had been thrown out were scattered on the ground.
"Dad, I'm your own son, and this is your great-grandson! How could you treat us like this?!"
The middle-aged man was fine until he opened his mouth, and Old Guge's temper flared up instantly.
"Your own son? Where were you when your sister was forced to marry a traveling merchant? Where were you when your mother passed away?"
"Dad, let me explain!"
"Explanation? Get out of here! Go cool off somewhere else! I don't have what you're looking for!"
The middle-aged man lowered his head, his eyes flickering slightly, as if he was plotting something else, but he quickly composed himself and continued to play the emotional card.
All of this was observed by Ray.
"Mangle, quickly call him Great-Grandpa. Haven't you always admired him and wanted to meet him?"
The child looked timidly at Gu Ge and called him "Great-Grandpa".
A hint of reluctance flashed in Gu Ge's eyes, but he still resolutely shooed the middle-aged man away.
"Get out! If you don't leave, I'll unleash my dogs on you!"
More and more villagers gathered around, pointing and whispering about the middle-aged man. Unable to do anything else, the man took the child back to the car.
"Take all your belongings with you too!"
The middle-aged man suppressed his anger and picked up the items one by one, smiling obsequiously as he spoke.
"Dad, please calm down. I'll come see you again in a while."
"roll!"
"Okay, let's go now."
The middle-aged man turned around, his smile vanished, and he left the small mountain village with Manle.
Lai stepped forward to help Old Guge clean up the mess on the ground. The villagers comforted Old Guge for a few words and then dispersed.
"well."
Old Guge's face was full of helplessness.
"No need to bother. Leniel, come in and have a seat."
Lai and Neil followed Old Gug into the living room, where some uneaten fruit and cookies were still on the table.
"That unfilial son married the boss's daughter in the city and never came back. Later, Frey fell very ill, and he heard from somewhere that Frey had a precious gem, so he brought his youngest child home to deceive her."
“Frey forgave him out of consideration for their blood ties, but little did she expect that a few months later, he would take the jewel and disappear with the child.”
Old Guge narrated calmly, as if he were telling the story of a stranger, whether out of relief or because he was truly heartbroken.
"Frey's condition, which had been improving, worsened again because of this incident. She held on for half a month, but eventually passed away. Before she closed her eyes, she was still talking about her children."
Lei listened quietly to Gug's story.
At that moment, what he needed more was listening than comfort.
"He came this time because he thought I had some treasures that I hadn't brought out yet. What treasures? Just a few stones to keep as souvenirs. And he's been eyeing those for decades. The only valuable ruby he had was already taken by him to give to someone else."
Gug looked at Lai and Neil.
"You are all obedient children. If I suddenly pass away one day, Ray, I will leave everything to you. Keep what is useful, and burn everything else to the ground."
Old Gug's sudden turn of events startled Lai.
"Don't say that. You're at least a few decades away from living. Keep all your things for yourself. I believe your daughter will come back someday."
"Yes, Grandpa Guge can live to be two hundred! Three hundred!"
When Guge mentioned his youngest daughter who had run away, his face was full of sorrow.
"It's been decades, and there hasn't been a single letter. We don't even know if they're alive or dead..."
Ray chatted with Gug for a while longer, and other elderly people from the village also came to visit him. Ray then took Neil back to his own home.
Neil remained silent and lost in thought the whole way, but when they arrived at his home, he finally spoke seriously.
"Brother, I'll take care of you when you get old! And if your nephews and nieces are unfilial in the future, I'll teach them a lesson for you!"
Leisparta.
He hasn't even considered marriage, so where did this little nephew or niece come from?
Neil sometimes really does overthink things.
"Your brother doesn't need to support him, nor does he need children. I'll be content if you can support yourself when you grow up."
"All right."
Neil pouted.
My brother doesn't want me to support him, but I'm going to! He spends money so extravagantly, he'll never save any money. I'm going to earn lots of gold coins to support him!
Neil made up his mind.
...
Kenny drove the mule cart, his face filled with resentment and fierceness.
He took his grandson to stay at a hotel in town; he still had some things to take care of.
Manler couldn't understand why his grandfather, who was always respected by everyone in the family, had been scolded by his great-grandfather today.
"Grandpa, doesn't Great-Grandpa like us?"
Manle's fair and clean little face was full of innocence.
"No, Manler, your great-grandfather liked you."
Kenny smoothed down the little tuft of hair on Manler's head.
Grandpa will make him spit out all his treasures to you.
...
The starch clumps together and takes a long time to dry, so Lai used a knife to cut them into pieces, turned them over, and moved them to a sunnier spot to dry in the sun.
In the afternoon, Lamb brought a pot of cooked sausages to Ray's house.
"Brother, these sausages come in two flavors. The one tied with white string is garlic flavor, and the one tied with black string is salt flavor. Just hang them in a well-ventilated place on the roof."
"Okay, I understand."
Lamb left after delivering the items.
If the bird eggs at home weren't still not fully pickled, Lai would have sent them to Linda long ago.
The family's long-toothed beasts hadn't finished eating, so in the evening, Lai turned them all into spicy food.
Spicy long-toothed beast, paired with cool fruit wine, tastes wonderful.
It's similar to pairing fried chicken with beer or duck with a lemon.
Lei set up a small table outside and Neil ate meat while enjoying the gentle breeze, while the big yellow dog occasionally managed to snag a few bones.
Strangely enough, it could actually eat spicy food. Neil accidentally dropped a piece of long-toothed beast meat, and it ate it all without batting an eye.
One has to marvel at the power of the Warcraft bloodline. Even with only one-eighth of it, it's still far stronger than ordinary animals.
-----------------------
The author says: People know that on the other side of the Casa continent is a boundless blue sea, but what they don't know is that in the middle of the sea there is another landmass and countless small islands.
Dragons, beastmen, and some native humans live on this desolate land.
They have always lived a harmonious life, without disturbing each other.
One day, an underwater volcano suddenly erupted, causing crustal shifts and a massive tsunami. This chain reaction eventually awakened a giant volcano on a small island.
This volcano had been dormant for hundreds of years, and the surrounding area was already covered with lush vegetation. No one expected that it would awaken one day.
Thick black smoke billowed from the volcano's crater, and soon after, black volcanic ash covered several nearby islands.
Suddenly, with a deafening roar, the giant volcano erupted.
Scalding lava and rocks were ejected, instantly destroying the island's ecosystem.
(to be continued)
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