Chapter 2: First Arrival in London 2: A New Beginning
Reina pulled open the heavy curtains, and the morning sun mixed with fresh air poured into the room.
Although the Industrial Revolution was in full swing at the beginning of the 19th century, London had not yet become the foggy and sunless city it would become after the middle of the century.
Mrs. Johnson was combing Heather's hair. She smoothed down Heather's long, wavy, brown-red hair, which looked like a flowing golden-brown river in the morning light. She neatly twisted her hair into a bud at the back of her head, revealing her delicate jawline.
Mrs. Johnson is a taciturn French woman who looks stern and simple, but she is well versed in all the latest fashions in clothing and makeup, and has a deep understanding of jewelry accessories.
She was the wife of Mr. Johnson, the steward of the Lawrence family. They had no children and considered protecting the Lawrence family their lifelong ideal. Therefore, even though the Lawrence family no longer existed and their real estate and land in France had been divided up by the upper class and civil movement leaders, the Johnsons still loyally escorted Heather all the way back home.
Heather can only vaguely see part of the original owner's memory now, but it can be seen that Mrs. Johnson, who is cold on the outside but warm on the inside, has established a good relationship with the original owner in the past twelve years.
So during the first week after she arrived, when she was weak from the high fever, Heather would occasionally feel that Mrs. Johnson's deep, clear eyes had seen through everything.
Even after dying once, Heather's personality is no longer as lonely and quiet as it was in college. After deciding to live a relaxed and happy life, she gradually becomes what a young girl should be.
But it was obvious that it was difficult for an ordinary young person who had just arrived to pretend to be the confident, mature and sociable lady who had been a countess for twelve years.
After getting over the initial panic, Heather put aside her worries about being exposed. After all, the excuse of a drastic personality change could fool most people, and Mrs. Johnson, who might have noticed the difference, remained as loyal and attentive to Heather as ever. She even silently held her in her arms until she calmed down when she woke up in horror from a nightmare.
"Madam, you look very good. With this pair of medium-sized agate earrings, you are more dazzling than all the ladies on the street." Mrs. Johnson's meticulous expression always makes those who are praised by her sincerely happy.
Heather couldn't help but smile: "Dear Jenny, you are always partial to me."
Looking at the beautiful, vibrant face in the mirror, Heather felt as if a little music box figure danced inside her. Perhaps it was because she was becoming more and more satisfied with herself, she felt that the face in the mirror could star in a modern movie and become an English rose.
At this moment, there was the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and a seven-year-old girl in a lace dress rushed in.
"Aunt Heather, did you sleep well? Come down quickly, there's a letter for you!"
"Good morning, little Lily." Heather took the chubby little girl into her arms and went downstairs with her to have breakfast. Lily was the youngest daughter of the Gardners. She was a little shy by nature, but she loved her new aunt very much. She always managed to overcome her shyness and follow Heather closely.
Hazel placed Lily on a chair at the dining table, and Mrs. Gardner just returned to the table with the letter, and the maid began to set out breakfast in an orderly manner.
"Good morning brother, good morning Grace."
Heather undoubtedly has a harmonious family of origin.
The elder brother Henry Gardner is a well-educated and elegant gentleman who does business in London. He is a decent man who is good at socializing but makes people feel neither humble nor arrogant, and is a warm and respectable person.
My sister-in-law Grace Gardner is a kind, intelligent and elegant woman. She had only been in contact with the original Heather for a few years, but now she immediately accepted her sister who had suddenly come to her without reservation after many years of no news.
She is very emotional and empathizes with Heather's experiences, which allows Heather, who is unfamiliar with the place, to quickly integrate into this happy family.
Mrs. Gardner handed the unopened letter to Hazel. "Here's your sister's letter. She must be taking you to Longbourn. Oh, my dear Hazel, you really should stay with your brother for a while. I'm so sorry to leave you, and your nephews and nieces will be sorry to leave you too."
Lily immediately pouts and throws herself onto Hazel's lap, yelling at her aunt not to leave.
Mrs. Gardner pretended to complain, "Lily, you've only known your aunt for two weeks and you've already become her little follower." Then she turned to Hazel and said, "But I don't want you to leave for too long. Longbourn is indeed more beautiful than the city these past few months. It's a good place to relax, but it will be cold later. It's more fun to go back to London for Christmas."
Mrs. Gardner truly liked this sister, whom she had only met a few times. Compared to her husband's older sister, who often left her speechless, she preferred this sister who was steady but not dull, who had her own opinions but was also considerate. Although they had only been together for a few weeks, the children were already close to her and were willing to gather around their aunt to listen to stories.
Mrs. Gardner felt deep down that Heather had a gift for being approachable.
Heather held Lily on her lap and said, "I will definitely be back for Christmas. I haven't spent Christmas in London in years. Besides, my brother-in-law and I haven't spent much time together, so I don't want to disturb my sister's family for too long."
Mrs. Gardner smiled playfully and said, "That's nothing. Your brother-in-law is not a mean person, he just prefers quietness. There are already six women in his family. If there is one more, Mr. Bennett will have to hide in the study every day for a long time."
Heather couldn't help but laugh softly. Mrs. Gardner's description reminded her of Mr. Bennett who was tortured by his wife in the original book.
As someone who had read Pride and Prejudice as extracurricular reading in high school, although not a die-hard fan, when Heather heard the words Gardner, Bennett, Longbourn, and five daughters for the first time, she immediately realized that she might have traveled into the world of Pride and Prejudice.
In a chat with her brother and sister-in-law, Heather discovered that she had become the aunt of the protagonist sisters in the original novel, but her life trajectory was completely different from the original novel.
Hazel only remembered the general plot of Pride and Prejudice, and had no intention of getting involved in the protagonists' stories. She just wanted to cherish her hard-earned second life and live happily.
However, she finally had the chance to travel into a famous novel, and she couldn't let the opportunity to observe it up close go to waste. In addition, she really needed to leave London and think about her future in a relatively quiet and uncrowded place, so she took the initiative to suggest going to her sister's house in the countryside to relax.
Heather couldn't help laughing and retorted, "Sister Grace, I'm not that kind of noisy little girl."
"I don't know how you maintain your appearance. You are only five years younger than me, but you look like my eldest daughter. But your temperament is much more reserved than before you got married. You must have experienced a lot of hardships." Mrs. Gardner sighed as she looked at Heather's face without a single wrinkle.
"My dear, you look much the same as you did when we first got married." Mr. Gardner couldn't help but interrupt, and then said to Hazel, "Your sister has five daughters to raise at home, and she has to prepare clothes and jewelry for their social life and weddings. It's not easy. She may be harsh in her words, but she always thinks about us brothers and sisters. I'll give you 500 pounds of pocket money, and you can secretly give some to your sister when the time comes. She will definitely be very happy to see you."
Mr. Gardner knew his sister's character very well. Although her pity for Heather prevailed at the moment, if Heather lived in Longbourn for a few months, her fussy nature would inevitably cause conflicts and embarrassment.
Mrs. Gardner also said, "Take it. Although you said you took some valuables from Lord Lawrence's study before leaving, you certainly couldn't take care of too much in such an emergency. Your brother should give you pocket money."
Heather knew that her brother and sister-in-law had misunderstood her. In fact, she had just figured out her true financial situation. When she thought about how she had transformed from a poor college student who couldn't find a job into a wealthy woman in London who no one cared about, Heather felt as happy as walking on clouds these days.
She guiltily hoped that the real Heather would be able to tolerate the wealth gap a little if she traveled to the 21st century. Although she was penniless, the house left by her parents would be demolished next year. She hoped that she would have the funds to live a happy life in the 21st century.
Thinking of this, Heather hurriedly asked the maids to take a few nephews and nieces to go out to play in the garden first, and said to the Gardners, "I was also confused the first week after arriving. I was busy getting to know the neighbors and packing my luggage. It was only in the past two days that I really settled the account of Earl Lawrence's estate."
Heather imitated the Countess's behavior in her memory and raised her eyebrows in a somewhat ostentatious manner. "If it's legally recognized, this time I'm going to become one of the richest single women in London." After saying this, she couldn't pretend anymore and couldn't help but laugh childishly.
Mrs. Gardner asked curiously, "Didn't they say that his land and property in France were divided up? Did he buy you a lot of jewelry?"
Heather felt that her sister-in-law overestimated the love in this marriage: "He didn't spend that much money on me, but Grace, you guessed part of it right, he does have a lot of priceless jewelry."
"My late husband was different from other nobles. He didn't enjoy hoarding land or buying manors, but rather amassing various collections. Furthermore, he disliked displaying them, crowding all his precious items into his large, two-story study. Except when he was out looking for new collections, he'd retreat into that room and avoid interacting with anyone. Before his death, even I, a Countess for over a decade, couldn't figure out the exact value of those items, let alone outsiders."
In her past marriage, the original owner had gnashed her teeth at her husband's coldness and aloofness. Without his support, even a countess would have found it difficult to shine in many social situations. After all, this was an era of hereditary aristocracy. Later, during the years-long turmoil targeting the aristocracy, she lived in even greater fear.
But this all turned out to be a good thing after the Earl's death.
Except for the butler Johnson and his wife who broke into the study door with Heather, no one knew how valuable the house was, so no one stopped the poor, naive earl's widow from leaving France with a pile of boxes filled with various "dresses". They just divided up the earl's real estate in France in the spirit of "humanitarianism".
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