Chapter 8 Work-for-Relief
It is much colder in the evening than in the daytime, and your breath turns into white mist in an instant.
Pushing open the door of the bedroom heated by a fireplace and walking out, the sudden change in temperature gave me a shiver.
Olivia smoothed her clothes, frowned, and walked down the stairs in the dark. Now she was familiar with the terrain and no longer felt afraid. On the first day she moved in, she didn't dare to go anywhere alone.
When she reached the hall, she looked out the door again. The yard was still crowded with people, noisy sounds, and several boots stepping on the thick snow.
Olivia caught a glimpse of the cook's figure passing by the door, and became even more curious about what had happened, so she walked straight to the door.
The person who dismounted outside the door was the escort George.
"Madam, the Lord and Knight Stuart are discussing changing the patrol schedule. These are the prey we hunted outside today, so we're sending them back first."
"I see."
Olivia nodded. She saw five soldiers in the distance. They were wearing simple chain mail, tattered leather boots, and carrying simple quivers. Two of them were carrying something black on a wooden frame towards the door, while the other three were each holding a black, howling animal in their hands.
Ah, it’s a wild boar again.
The cook was busy, asking the soldiers to carry the pig to the kitchen in the back. The big one seemed to have brought its family with it, and the small one was caught alive.
They were both fat, but now the big pig was frozen solid and the two of them could hardly lift it.
Olivia went forward to take a look and found that the pig seemed to have no wounds... Well, the wound was on the eye, which must have been caused by two well-aimed arrows, or perhaps it was to save arrows.
Several soldiers were happy that the knight wanted to share some of their meat. Even though they could hardly lift it up, they refused to let go and greeted Olivia one after another.
It is not easy to hunt prey in winter, especially pigs. How much calories can all this fat and meat provide them?
However, Olivia felt a headache when she saw the smelly pork. But the three little ones could still be saved and could be kept in a pen and castrated later. She cheered up again and asked someone to pull the two sheep into the cowshed to stay there for the night, and put the piglets in the sheep pen to stay temporarily.
There are three little pigs, one female and two males. One sow is just enough for breeding, and the rest can be castrated!
After she finished giving the order, she walked out of the sheep pen and saw the soldiers carrying the pigs. Although they were not wearing thick clothes in such heavy snow, sweat still hung on their foreheads.
Olivia was curious and went forward to ask for some information. One of the soldiers said that the adults wanted to train them, so they made them catch piglets alive on their legs. Whoever caught one would get more meat. Anyway, the lady didn't like it. Then several people trained like this all the way back.
Hearing this, she scratched her head.
Perhaps it was because Caesar had never seen her eat a single bite of flavorful meat when they dined together, but she had not expected Caesar to observe her.
This is surprising.
Lucy tidied up the sheep pen and the others put the piglets in.
They were not as docile as sheep and liked to rush around. Lucy asked the soldiers to bring stones from the nearby area to block the wooden door and cracks in the wall of the already simple sheep pen to prevent them from running out.
In the kitchen, it was just meal time for the servants. Because they had been rewarded with food, the stonemason and carpenter were still there, sitting around the fire pit, eating porridge made from oats, but it was definitely more filling than the thin porridge they had at home.
The cook had already put down the bowl. When Olivia came in, she saw her telling Lucy to boil water and asking Adam to get a basin. After draining the blood, she neatly dug out the internal organs, revealing two fingers of fat, which made the stonemason and carpenter stare in amazement.
The prey in this forest are all the property of the lord. They are not allowed to hunt. Even if they are allowed, they cannot afford the swords needed for hunting, let alone the hunting skills. On weekdays, the most they can do is weave fishing nets and go fishing in the lake or river.
However, the lakes and rivers in the village are now frozen, and no fish can be caught.
The weather is getting colder day by day. Last year's harvest was poor. The stonemason has started selling his smoked dried fish in exchange for food, for fear that he will not survive the winter. On weekdays, he can't even smell the smell of oil.
When Olivia entered the kitchen, the cook was butchering a pig, gutting it, and taking out several large pieces of meat to distribute to the soldiers.
When the cook saw her, she wiped her hands and asked her if she wanted to marinate the meat.
Olivia thought about it and asked the cook to marinate only the pig's feet and ribs, and let the rest of the meat air-dry. Seeing the stonemason and carpenter drooling beside her, she did not forget to give them some meat and asked them to take it home and come back to work tomorrow. If she was satisfied with the work, she could get a share of the meat.
After the two left, Olivia also returned to the main house. She thought that the housekeeper would go to town to buy calves tomorrow, and a few pigs had arrived. In the future, they would have to breed chicks. The livestock pen would probably become more and more crowded.
It seems that after repairing the main house, the next thing is to expand the livestock pen. Fortunately, the area behind the house is spacious, so there is space for any construction. However, she doesn't know much about animal husbandry, and the system can only serve as a navigation system here. The chicken coop, cattle and sheep shed, and pigpen cannot be built in the same way, so she has to find help.
However, Christmas is just a few days away, so perhaps she could go back to her parents' home and ask if anyone knows the answer.
In the entire manor, there is a place to live and a place to raise livestock, which are the two most important things and cannot be saved in any way.
Olivia thought about it, opened a new wax board and drew a plan, circling the approximate area where the work would begin.
In this cold winter, she knew that last year's harvest was poor and many villagers could not even get enough to eat. If the weather got colder and there were not enough branches to pick up, maybe they would have to be allowed to cut down trees for warmth, otherwise people would really freeze to death or starve to death.
Not to mention eating meat, the stonemason and the carpenter's eyes almost popped out. It was really unbearable.
However, if she gave away the resources for free, the lords of the neighboring villages would definitely have objections. Everyone else is living off the people's hard work, but you are the only one who makes the people live well. If a knight shows off like this, there will definitely be problems.
It would be better to use work as a relief measure. All the able-bodied men in the village could be called up to the mountains to cut wood. The sturdy wood they got could be used for construction, and the bark and branches could be used for heating the villagers.
In this way, she can build a larger livestock pen, and then start the big work next spring.
As she was thinking, Lucy pushed the door open and told her that Caesar was back and the meal was ready, and asked her to go downstairs to eat.
Olivia came down to the hallway and saw Caesar taking off his armor. He was a tall man, and without the not-so-good-looking armor, only his waist and legs were left.
Caesar seemed to feel the gaze from behind, turned around, and saw his wife looking at him from behind. In her smile, he saw a flash of scrutiny.
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