Chapter 27: Supplies Distributed
A long day and night passed, and it was another cloudy day with snow. Olivia was woken up by the kitten running around on the bed.
It had long silver fur, which she had carefully scrubbed and cleaned. She also fed it meat every day. Occasionally, Adam would feed it small fish from the stream. It grew very smooth and was a lot bigger than when it first came home.
At this moment, it was stepping on her and meowing. After combing its hair at night, it usually curled up in the chair by the fireplace and fell asleep.
At first, Caesar didn't like this little animal, but in the past two days, combing the cat's hair has become his regular job after he returns home.
Olivia took advantage of the early morning when no one was competing with her and held the kitten and sucked on it for a long time.
All the rat holes in the manor have been filled up. Anything can freeze to death in the winter. This little guy is very clean and smells of firewood from being roasted by the fire.
Finally, the kitten couldn't stand her clutches anymore and ran away. Olivia then got up and went to the window to check the changes in the weather today.
As a local boss, she may not be able to cook or weave, but she must be able to observe the weather conditions.
Climate change usually determines many things. Like Lucy said, if there is too much snow in winter, there will be abundant grass and water in the spring of the following year, and the cattle and sheep will be fat. However, first, the cattle and sheep must survive the winter.
It was snowing outside, but the sky was still gloomy and I couldn't see the edge of the woods in the distance.
She stretched out her hand to catch it, and the snowball fell on her palm. It could be seen that the diameter of the snow seeds was a circle larger than yesterday's. Fortunately, the density of the snow was not high.
Judging from the situation, there should be only a handful of snow accumulated today, which will not affect the horses' travel.
If the snow was deep enough to reach the horses' calves, the soldiers wouldn't have to go out on patrol; no living creature could stay outdoors for an hour in such extreme weather.
The time each year that requires such high-intensity patrols day and night at the border is actually not long, starting from when the river freezes and ending in March when the ice melts after the blizzard.
She closed the window tightly, returned to the fireplace, took a half-heated pot of water to the bathroom, washed her face, and applied a hot compress for a while.
After changing clothes, Lucy appeared outside the bedroom door like a robot refreshed to complete a mission, walked in with a plate of food and put it on the table.
She held the dinner tray and reported the situation in the manor as usual.
"Ma'am, early this morning, before you woke up, I received Christmas presents from Mrs. Toxon, Mrs. Baskin, and Mrs. Stewart."
"Oh? What did they give us?" Olivia scooped up the oatmeal with milk with a spoon.
Lucy smiled, "Of course it was the mistletoe wreath and the bread. The ladies all sent the same, and I gave the same in return."
Olivia then remembered that she had heard her mother say that on this traditional festival, people had to exchange mistletoe wreaths and bread with their neighbors, as these two things symbolized peace and abundance.
The estates where Mrs. Stuart, Mrs. Toxon, and Mrs. Baskin lived were located just to the east, west, and south of Olivia's house.
Although the four families were all managed by one baron, their fiefdoms were adjacent to each other.
However, everyone's fiefdom covered more than ten hectares of land, which was equivalent to the size of a university town.
Most of the country is rugged valleys and forests, and their estates and village gathering places are in the flat areas suitable for farming.
So the distance is quite far, and it takes at least dozens of minutes to walk to visit their manor.
However, the exchanges between them were not so frequent in winter. The harvest was poor this autumn, and now no one has much food in stock. They are even more afraid that their neighbors will use them as an excuse to steal food.
Lucy continued, "When George went to town with my father this morning, I went to the chicken coop and saw that two eggs had begun to peck."
"So fast?" Olivia was a little surprised.
This is much faster than they both expected.
A total of about fifty eggs were left for the hens to hatch. According to Lucy's prediction, more than half of them should survive in the end.
"I've already added another layer of hay to the incubator, but I don't know if it will get even colder this year."
Olivia saw Lucy's hesitant expression and immediately gave instructions.
"If the snow gets thicker in a few days, and the chicks hatch, we'll put them in boxes and move them into the main house for the night."
The hall is usually empty, as stone walls can always insulate heat better than wooden walls.
When next spring comes, she will build a mud-walled house at the back. This kind of house will be warm in winter and cool in summer, suitable for housing hatched chicks.
Lucy agreed, and just as she was about to leave, Olivia called her back:
"I suspect the weather will get colder and colder, and there might even be a snowstorm.
While it's still easy to transport these two days, move the feed from the hay barn on the hillside into the old cowshed in advance. If the snow gets heavy, you won't have to go so far to dig it up."
She has been observing for so many days. In fact, the current weather is very strange. The system might play tricks on her. She would be too passive at that time. It is better to prepare in advance.
Isn’t this how it’s played out in novels and TV dramas?
Wherever the protagonist is, all sorts of messes happen.
The firelight from the fireplace reflected in Olivia's eyes, revealing a sadness that Lucy couldn't understand.
"Okay, I'll do it today." Lucy left the bedroom with the tray.
After a simple breakfast, Olivia turned on the system, took a look around as usual, checked the progress of the task, and closed it again.
She continued knitting woolen socks, and the first pair she finished was crooked and thrown to Caesar, who had no autonomy in wearing them.
She has completely mastered the essence of knitting socks and plans to knit a pair of socks for herself, her parents and sisters as gifts to replace the thin cloth socks she has now.
It's almost finished.
Speaking of this, my mother mentioned that after the holidays, mid-December is the Baroness's birthday.
I may not be able to go at that time, but I must find a way to deliver the gifts.
It is estimated that each knight's wife will carefully prepare a gift for the Baroness.
Olivia selfishly wanted to make a good impression on the Baroness and was still debating whether to prepare food or something to use.
However, the Baroness enjoys the support of the entire Lavosen. What good things has she not seen?
Even if Olivia could do something fancy with the materials she had at hand, it would not be enough for her to stand out in this regard.
The Baroness usually wears furs, she can't possibly give her a knitted sweater, right?
It seems that we have to start with food.
The existing supplies in the manor are indeed suitable for making desserts.
She also went to the market in Lavosen and took a look around. The food here was indeed nothing eye-catching. The desserts were very rough, and the market was filled with all kinds of biscuits and candied fruits.
It would be more helpful if we could send some desserts to the Baroness on her birthday.
How about making a box of ice cream puffs and sending them to the Baroness?
This was one of the few desserts Olivia could make in her previous life, and she happened to have the tools and ingredients now.
The process was cumbersome, time-consuming, labor-intensive, easily damaged, and difficult to replicate. If the Baroness wanted to eat it, she would have to ask her for the recipe again. After a few attempts, she became proficient in it.
She was thinking, and in the blink of an eye it was noon.
The butler and his squire, George, set out for town at dawn today.
After purchasing everything, I rushed back without stopping. When I got back to the manor, it was just before lunch.
They went to the town in a horse-drawn cart and returned with a full load. They parked the cart in the backyard, tied up the donkey they brought back, and then moved the things off the cart one by one.
Olivia heard the sound and came down to give orders.
"Put these leathers and felts in the dining room, and these bows in the longhouse for now."
She picked up a ready-made bow bought from a weapons store and pulled it one by one with great effort to check the quality. They were very good. None of them could be pulled at all, but they were very resilient.
Olivia nodded with satisfaction. It seemed to be a good product.
George unloaded another large wooden box from the cart, which contained several sets of ready-made chain mail bought from the blacksmith shop.
The mainstream style is a mixture of chain mail and lamellar armor. Pure chain mail is more affordable. Nobles generally have highly skilled blacksmiths who often make plate armor with intricate patterns.
"Ma'am, where do we put these?" George asked her.
"Also put it in the longhouse. You will go to the village later and ask the soldiers' families to come and collect it. Each of them will have a set of mail armor and a bow."
Just as George had moved his things away, the steward came to report the total detailed account. After buying the donkey, there were still some silver coins left.
"You take the rest."
Olivia was very generous. She glanced at the box and saw that in addition to the things she wanted, there was also a short knife like a dagger, so she asked where it came from.
"It's a gift from the chainmail."
Olivia took the short blade for herself, intending to keep it for her own use, such as peeling apples next year.
As the housekeeper spoke, he continued to tell her that the price of cowhide was cheaper than usual.
"Why not take this opportunity to stock up and sell it next summer when the price goes up?"
It is known that the butler has a talent in this area.
Olivia nodded heavily. "Very good. Come to my place later to get the money. I'll have someone stock up on a few dozen tomorrow."
Hearing this, the butler was stunned for a moment. He was just making a suggestion, but he didn't expect the lady to take it so seriously and immediately regret it.
"Ma'am, why don't you reconsider this? What if the price isn't stable next year?"
"Isn't it cheap now? Let's stock up. We can use it ourselves even if we can't sell it. If we keep worrying about this and that, how can we make money?
Jock, you have to trust your own judgment."
After she said that, the housekeeper could only hesitantly agree and became more cautious.
"Then stock up on twenty first. It will be hard to sell more than that," the housekeeper advised.
"Well, you can do whatever you want."
Olivia didn't care, as she had enough money in her pocket. She called Lucy over, took some scissors, and went to the hall to divide the felt and cowhide.
According to the amount needed for a pair of leather boots and two felt coats, they cut out a large batch of them in large quantities.
The plan was to let the soldiers' families take away the bows and chain mail, and ask them to sew boots, wooden helmets, quivers and felt coats at home, which were not difficult to make.
Not only can the soldiers wear them, there will probably be some left over, saving the manor the trouble of mobilizing manpower.
After distributing the five sets, there was still a lot of cowhide and felt left, which was probably enough to recruit five more soldiers.
"Let's move these into the attic."
Olivia said to Lucy.
After waiting downstairs for a while, George called the soldiers' families.
Most of them were their wives and mothers, all of them wearing thin clothes and layers of linen to keep warm. They all shrank back when they saw her and didn't say a word.
Olivia didn't bother to act nice, she just asked them to get the items and take them back to have them made as needed.
These are all defense supplies for their own family, so they will definitely not slack off.
After dealing with these things, she went to the backyard to check the tied donkey.
…
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