Chapter 58: Fifty-eight Mansion Design
There were many people in the hall, most of whom had seen him in some big stores in town.
Olivia was led by the waiter to sit in a high-backed chair at the front of the table on the far left.
She looked around. This long table could seat thirty people in two rows, and there were not many people at the front.
There were five or six people sitting in the middle and at the back, and their seats seemed to be arranged in different levels.
The table was covered with linen, and three chairs apart stood a two-branched candlestick and a bronze chalice-shaped flower pot with a few early lilies and primroses in it.
In the aisle behind, there is a semicircular high-legged table at a distance. On the table is an incense burner with spices roasting in it, emitting a faint fragrance.
After a while, people were finally arranged around Olivia, all of whom were people she knew, such as Mrs. Baudelaire, Mrs. Stewart and Mrs. Real.
Mrs. Real was the organizer of the party, and she didn't come from outside, but from the kitchen.
She greeted a few people with a smile, and then went to arrange seats for the members personally.
Olivia chatted with Mrs. Bordello and asked her how much money she was going to take.
Mrs. Baudelaire said, “I’m not going to pay much.
Everyone knows that this is the Baroness looking for a way to make money."
Mrs. Baudel glanced up at Mrs. Real and said, "She's here to get us to be tied up."
"How much are you prepared to pay?"
Olivia cried poorly, "My family is renovating our house, and the money is flowing like water. I don't have much to give. I'd rather send a few people to help the caravan."
It seems that everyone knows what is going on. Podor shook his head.
"Forget it, just consider it as a free meal." Mrs. Baudelaire snorted.
Mrs. Stuart listened to the two people mumbling, but said nothing. She looked up and asked Olivia how the house was being built and when it would be completed.
"It will be mid-June before we can clean up and live in it. By then, I will definitely invite you to be my guests."
Mrs. Stuart agreed.
After a while, most of the people around me were seated and the dishes began to be placed on the table.
No wonder Mrs. Baudelaire said she wanted to have a free meal. The scale of this banquet was even more luxurious than the Baroness’ birthday party.
There were a total of six dishes, two soups, four desserts, two staple foods, and two plates of fruit. Olivia took a quick look and saw that among the desserts, there were cream puffs she had made herself.
She asked the waiter to bring one, and after observing it for a while, she found that it was completely different. The skin was made of dead dough and the inside was stuffed with yogurt.
But the taste is still okay.
Among the six main courses, there are three red meat dishes and three white meat dishes. As for soup, there is truffle soup and one dried oyster soup.
The red meats served on the market nowadays are just cattle, sheep and deer. They are roasted with various condiments, or boiled and eaten with a kind of green sauce mixed with mustard. Even in summer, the temperature here is not hot, so there is no need to worry about getting a sore throat after eating.
White meat includes poultry and fresh fish. It is not popular to eat shrimp and crabs now.
Olivia saw a dish of honey-glazed pigeon, which she had also seen in the Baron's Mansion.
As for fruits, there are raspberries, strawberries, and a kind of sour fruit with black skin, all of which are produced locally in spring.
As soon as the meal arrived, the waiter brought over several buckets filled with crushed ice, used it to cool down the wine, and poured it around for everyone.
After the wine was poured, Mrs. Real and the main leaders of the Chamber of Commerce began to speak in turn.
The general meaning is that for the sake of everyone's collective interests, let's go out and do business together in the future. This is safe and convenient.
Every month, the twelve main members of the Chamber of Commerce take the lead and lead the team to the south.
The Narsi family, who own the weaving workshop, took the lead in going to the south this June. They probably wanted to recruit dozens of helpers. If anyone had goods, they could ask the Narsi family to take them with them and pay 10% of the profit. They also needed mules, horses, and cart frames. If anyone was willing to provide these, they could share 20% of the profit.
In order to transport goods with his caravan, the goods must be worth at least thirty gold coins.
If you want to own a share of his fabrics, you have to pay at least thirty gold coins to get a 10% share.
Old Narsi said that his cloth could be sold for at least double the price in the south and was well worth the investment.
Olivia listened for a long time, and Mrs. Baudelaire said she would wait until the grain was harvested in September before participating.
After the twelve people had finished recruiting merchants, during the banquet, few people in the room paid attention to eating and drinking. They were all running around the table, asking questions, communicating, and there were also small merchants who went around greeting people and swiping their faces.
Olivia was not interested in this caravan, thinking it was a bit unreliable, so she didn't plan to pay a penny.
As she was concentrating on her meal, and almost finished, a small businessman, brought by a waiter, came over and introduced himself to her.
The merchant was called Pant, a wood dealer. He was well-dressed and young, and he was not embarrassed in such an occasion.
"I heard that you have a vast territory and many forests. I would like to rent your fifty acres of woodland to build a sawmill. I wonder if you are willing to do so."
Olivia was sitting at the table when the businessman came over with a glass of wine to ask questions. Although she had never seen this businessman before, the Chamber of Commerce only invited locals, so she started to ask for his desired price.
"Forty gold coins a year, I'll rent it for five years, what do you think?" Pant said.
In total, the annual rent for each acre of forest is eight silver coins, which is not too low.
A typical small sawmill has about ten workers and is responsible for 50 acres of forest. It takes four to five years to process all the timber from the 50 acres of forest.
Five years later, there were 200 gold coins.
Olivia shook her head and told him to find another place.
If she was greedy and short of money, forty gold coins a year would be considered good, but now she is not short of money, so forty gold coins may not be necessary, so as to avoid the land being wasted.
However, Olivia was suddenly stunned.
Yes, if her financial situation was normal like other families, she should have agreed to the businessman's offer when faced with this sure-win deal.
She reacted and suddenly realized that this might be a test.
So, Olivia clicked on the Panter character card and flipped through it.
This Pant was a one-star "intelligence" talent with a "cunning" personality. He moved to Lavosen last year to open a lumber mill and was originally from Kalon Town.
His character, Cary, clearly stated that he had a close relationship with Baron Fores and was related to him, and that he was investigating the whereabouts of a sum of money and letters.
Olivia twitched the corners of her mouth for some reason.
This open-book game is fun.
She cleared her throat and called out to Pant's back, calling him back.
"Well, I won't say it's too high. If you are willing to pay forty-five gold coins a year for five years in one lump sum, I will rent the land to you."
Pant had just taken two steps and was beginning to become suspicious, but when he was called back and heard what Olivia said afterwards, his suspicions disappeared.
However, he still has to do business as usual.
Toxon might have hidden the money and the letter somewhere in the manor. He must find out their whereabouts and secretly take them away and destroy them after finding them.
So, Pant nodded, looking happy:
"Madam, you are so straightforward. I agree to the price. I will go to your manor another day to give you the money and divide the land."
Olivia responded.
"Well, I've been busy with the estate lately, and the house isn't finished yet. Come back at the end of June."
Pant agreed.
Forty-five years equals two hundred and twenty-five gold coins for five years.
After getting the money, I'll set up the sawmill and then find an opportunity to deal with Pant.
Even if Baron Fores becomes suspicious and sends people disguised as bandits to rob and rob, or kill people to silence them like he did when he burned down Toxon Manor, there is no need to be afraid.
Not to mention the current defenses in the manor and the defensive capabilities of the new house, just look at the cheats in her hand. If someone wants to burn her house down, it probably won't be that easy.
Moreover, if he continued to act so brazenly, Baron Berggru would definitely break up with him.
Afterwards, as the party was about to end, Olivia talked with her aunt and Letilan again.
Neither my aunt nor Letilen planned to join next month's caravan. It felt unrealistic and the idea of a money-making scheme was written all over their faces.
Narcissa said, "I want to wait a few months until the livestock farm takes over and then sell a few sheep."
However, there are still many people who are eager to join this time. Most likely, they are not doing it to make real money, but to build connections and establish networks so that they can make a living in this place in the future.
For example, there are several merchants who run dyeing factories and sell dyes, and old Narcy is their big customer.
After having a free meal, the food was delicious, so Olivia didn't say anything bad and went straight home.
A few days later, the weather gradually became warmer. Olivia took the opportunity to inspect the crops in the fields and went to Toksun Manor in four trips to transfer all the gold coins and boxes back.
Since the small treasury couldn't hold it all, she stuffed it into her dowry box, which was usually locked with a big padlock, and only she knew where the key was.
After finishing these things, the first floor of the house being built in front was gradually completed, and the second floor wall was started to be built.
At this time, the doors and windows that the carpenter has been making since the beginning of the work can be installed in the first floor of the house, and the stone walls can also be leveled and decorated with yellow mud and gypsum powder.
The first floor of Olivia's house was originally sealed on both sides, but now the dining room and prayer room are connected to the watchtower and are connected.
You can go to the houses on the other sides through the corridor on the first floor of the watchtower.
The side where Olivia lives now is to the north, and the servants call it the North Wing. The other east, south, and west wings are similar.
The main door is located in the south wing, and behind the south wing is the small foyer, living room, and dining room.
Because there was a church nearby, the prayer room was naturally eliminated.
The first floor of the east and west wings will have a long and narrow corridor, which will be divided into four rooms of 15 square meters each.
Because it is on the first floor, in order to improve the defense, the windows are made very small, and there is not much light except for the south wing of the gate.
The details of the arrangement were fine-tuned by the architect and are as follows.
In the east wing, there is a kitchen at the front, connected to a servant's hall, and a storage room and a wine storage room at the back.
The storage room is Graya's office, where daily supplies are stored.
The wine storage room is the butler's office, where precious items sent from various places are stored, not just wine.
Let these two housekeepers watch over it personally.
The west wing has four servants' rooms, which are all the servants' rooms in the manor and are only used for the stewards in various places.
The first was for the housekeeper and his wife, and the second for Lucy and George.
In other words, they have been slaves for generations, so it is normal for them to be treated better. They deserve to have a separate room and a sense of belonging.
The third room is the men's dormitory, where only Ethan and Adam live at the moment. There is an empty bed, and perhaps Jacob will move in.
The fourth room is currently empty, as the maids all go back to their own homes every day.
Olivia's idea was to convert it into a maid's dormitory that could accommodate three people.
Each person has a table, a wardrobe and a single bed.
Fifteen square meters is just enough to fit it in.
If there are too many servants in the future, I will appoint three stewards to take charge of the affairs and let them live in this room.
The remaining servants from the manor would go back to their homes after finishing their work every day and checking in.
As for the north wing, it still has the old layout and has not been changed. It will be converted into three rooms and the stairwell will be removed, leaving only the single passage to the south wing.
Olivia's current idea for these three rooms is to use them as living rooms for receiving close guests and as small dining rooms for use only by close friends.
The remaining room will be used as a study without books, and two boxes will be used to store official documents.
It also allows Caesar to place armor, bows, and badges.
Olivia thought that this place would also be suitable for her to plot something with the NPCs.
Since the decoration of the first floor began, Olivia has been staying at home every day for the past two days to keep an eye on it.
Especially the kitchen decoration.
In her design, the 15-square-meter small kitchen is divided into four areas according to function.
First, there was a row of stoves next to the windows.
There are three stoves in total. The first one is a large earthen stove that she must keep for cooking, frying, stir-frying, deep-frying and steaming.
The second stove is the bread oven. This oven is also large enough to roast five chickens at a time. It can be used to bake desserts and barbecue.
The first two stoves are a combination of Chinese and Western styles. The last one is specifically used for boiling water and shares the same chimney with the first two stoves.
Normally, as long as you fill the pot with water, even if you don’t add firewood, the pot of well water will no longer be cold by the time you finish cooking in the kitchen.
There are also a few small niches under the water stove for drying frozen meat and using it as a microwave oven.
Not only had the architect seen this design, but Theresa and Narcissa had never seen it in their entire lives. But when they saw it later, they praised it and planned to learn it and renovate their own kitchens.
In addition to the stove, there are three large stone troughs on the wall near the door of the kitchen, one of which is shallower and is used for washing vegetables.
The other two stone troughs were dug deeper and took the stonemasons three or four days to make. They have a capacity of about 50 liters.
One was used to store water for washing vegetables, and the other served as half a refrigerator to store bacon, covering the stone slab to isolate it from the air.
In addition to this fixed stove and stone trough, a person-high modular wooden cabinet should be placed on the west wall of the kitchen.
The wooden cabinet is inlaid with six locked doors. When each door is opened, there are eight small drawers and a large grid.
Small drawers can be used to store spices, ingredients, various tools, and pots and pans.
The eight large compartments can hold several bags of flour and clay pots for storing butter, pickled eggs, pickles, and cured meats.
In the middle of the kitchen, there should be a long table to be used as a chopping board for cutting vegetables.
Olivia watched the craftsman work in the kitchen for a few days until the stove, the most important thing to her, was perfect, and then she relaxed.
However, this was only the first step in a long journey, and she started to look at the decoration and furnishings of the second most important place in the whole house.
South Wing Hall.
The original gate of the manor was very dilapidated and had no porch.
This time, a decent and simple gabled porch was built in the south wing, with two doorposts, both made of beige marble and polished smooth.
It looks somewhat like a monastery temple, which fits her pious personality and aesthetics.
Under the porch are two painted dark brown carved wooden arched doors. The doors are three meters high and two meters wide, surrounded by an iron frame and installed with door nails, which provide a certain defensive function.
As for the porch outside, there were only two steps paved with gravel, and anyone walking on them would make a noise.
This is also an ancient method of preventing assassins.
Entering the foyer and looking around, you will see clean white everywhere.
The floor was of white granite, the walls were plastered and had parapets, and not a trace of stone could be seen.
There should be semicircular tables at the four corners of the hallway to display vases and candlesticks.
The main function of the small foyer is to house the stairs.
On the inner side of the foyer, there is a stone staircase with a rich design.
This staircase is a work of inspiration by Loschi. When viewed from the door, it looks like the letter X.
This staircase has two entrances. After walking up seven steps, there is a platform. After walking up seven steps on both sides, you will reach the corridor on the second floor.
The foundation stone is made of smooth stone and the handrails are also made of stone.
In the middle of the staircase exit, there is a life-size statue of the God of Creation, which was bought in the town.
Anyone who walks in through the gate will be attracted by the statue at first sight and feel awe.
Olivia was satisfied with the small hallway, and continued to go to the left and right sides, ordering the servants to arrange tables, chairs and benches in the living room and dining room.
Some of the furniture was delivered first, including a long table, high-backed chairs, and a small round table.
Olivia also has her own little thoughts in these areas.
The traditional lobby in the gaming world is usually a truly empty hall, with items only being put in there when needed.
In her previous life, Olivia loved watching a fantasy drama set in the Middle Ages and was very interested in the throne that symbolized power.
I also really like watching the scenes in the drama where the family members discuss matters in the hall.
So she decorated it in that style and had two throne-like chairs custom-made at a furniture workshop.
Chairs were placed against the walls in the hall, with a small round table in the middle and two semi-circular tables on both sides, which were used to place the most beautiful vases and incense burners.
A large embroidered felt was hung on the wall behind the chair as decoration, and the embroidery was also based on the theme of gods.
On both sides of the room, there are five simple high-backed wooden chairs, and a small table between every two wooden chairs.
Her house is very beautiful, yet not lacking in status, nor extravagant or too fancy.
Even architects feel that it has a symmetrical aesthetic and is a place where you can feel a strong magnetic field as soon as you walk in.
As for the restaurant, it is similar to every household, it’s just a matter of what kind of decorations are placed.
Most of the vases Olivia bought in town were made of copper and enameled.
Using iron makes you look poor, and using silver is something only the Baron's mansion uses.
Knight family life within this system must be careful not to overstep the boundaries.
Therefore, most knights now use copper-based cloisonné enamelware and enameled glass bottles in their homes.
But if he is a wealthy businessman from a self-cultivating farmer's hometown, then it doesn't matter.
Gold and silver items can also be used, as long as you have money to buy them, no one will care whether you exceed the limit or not.
But generally, any merchant with a little bit of common sense would not use gold or silver utensils, even if he had money, but would use ordinary copper bottles, tin bottles, or glass bottles.
Since everything has a set order, there is no need for her to break it, and all decorations should be arranged as per the rules as possible.
…
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