90 – Att.i.tude Towards Life
Liszt originally didn"t want to disturb the town"s lively atmosphere, but alas, he still couldn"t hold back and made a trip to the commercial area, where he watched a skit.
On the stage, clowns were juggling small bulls, spitting fire, or somersaulting.
In his opinion, it was nothing new, yet the town"s residents applauded happily. Liszt wanted to go up and perform the cups and b.a.l.l.s magic crick, to let these people from another world experience the charm of China"s ancient culture and tradition.
But of course.
He could merely entertain this idea in his mind as aristocrats could not do things that were beneath them.
Moreover, as there were wizards in this world, magic tricks didn"t look anything special.
After finishing watching a skit, he left the commercial area and went to the town"s administrative office lest the fief"s residents be uncomfortable. With the lord in front of them, they would not be able to relax, and when speaking, they would try not to make noise.
Although he left, but he didn"t stop paying attention to the caravan.
He was currently listening to Isaiah reporting the prices of the goods the caravan had brought, particularly paying attention to the prices of production goods and daily necessities.
“Fifty silver coins for a foal, this price is too high, right?” He frowned before inquiring.
After all, in the deal with Levis, he had only spent twenty silver coins per serf.
“It is indeed very expensive. Sir Baron, the Coral Island is far from the continent and has no suitable breeding areas. The production of horses is limited. Therefore, their price is always high. Even on the Blue Dragon Island, the price of horses is not much different. On the continent, however, a foal might cost just a few silver coins.”
The archipelago state was composed of islands and was naturally not suitable for raising horses.
Liszt understood this, but was unwilling to accept it for a moment. When he gave Old Grandet three gold coins, he had thought that he could buy a lot of goods.
But now, it seemed that the money would only be enough to purchase six foals.
“How many livestock younglings did the caravan bring?” Asked Liszt. He was a bit disappointed. He originally wanted swallow all the the livestock younglings, but now it seemed that it was just a pipe dream.
Except for him, the commoners unfortunately didn"t had the purchasing power.
“They have five foals, two calves, three lambs, eight piglets, six puppies, five kittens, and ten bunnies.”
“I gave Old Grandet three gold coins, but it seems to be to no avail. He can"t buy more than a few livestock.” At this moment, he was eager to sell the black pearls and exchange the money for livestock. Not taking seafood into account, meat was the most nutritious food. He wished he could eat it every day.
With little to no breeding of livestock in his fief, where would he get the meat from to eat everyday?!
“Three gold coins can"t buy many livestock, that"s true, but you can buy quite a lot of other goods. The caravan brought a lot of specialty products from outside.”
“However, I told Old Grandet to prioritize horses. With five foals, two gold and fifty silver coins would be spent, that would nearly deplete the castle"s funds.” Liszt still had two gold coins left. He thought that perhaps he should take them also out and spend them on a few more livestock.
Isaiah said with a smile: “Sir Baron, I"ve read the trading record. Old Grandet had only purchased two foals. The other three were purchased by other people.”
“By whom?”
“John Shoulderpole bought one. I"m sure that you still remember him.”
“It turned out to be the serf that farms tomatoes. I rewarded him with one gold coin, so he obviously could afford it. What about the other two?”
“Blair"s family bought one and Marcus bought the other one – Gort had lent him the money.”
Liszt"s mood turned for the better. All the horses were purchased, and although the castle hadn"t purchased all of them, but it was good enough that they would stay in the Flower Town. If necessary, the horses could be requisitioned at will.
But soon, he couldn"t help but smile.
He felt that his field of view was too shallow, only casting his gaze on the few livestock brought by the caravan. And after selling the black pearls, he would go to other cities to purchase more livestock. This was his original plan. However, did it mean that he could purchase the things that he wanted so long as he had gold coins?
“Isaiah, how big do you think the caravan"s turnover will be today?”
“About six gold coins, I guess.”
“A turnover of six gold coins, I think that many of the caravan"s peddlers would want to come back next time.”
“This is only a metter of course. Peddlers are like flies, any place where they can make money is indispensable for them.” Said Isaiah with contempt. This was an unparalleled sense of superiority the aristocratic cla.s.s had over the commoner cla.s.s, which was accompanied by the desire to combat the rising momentum of commoners.
No matter the cla.s.s, the aristocracy wouldn"t permit anyone to sway their rule.
At times, aristocrats felt like they were being provoked by merchants -some of them were even wealthier than aristocrats. Money was all powerful. There was no lack of aristocrats, about to go bankrupt, that would marry their daughters off to merchants, take the daughters of merchants as their madams, or other similar humiliating incidents.
Liszt smiled.
Regarding the merchant cla.s.s, his ideas were in line with the aristocracy – both of support and opposition.
……
Back at the castle.
At lunch time. Although he told the kitchen that a steak would suffice, that there was no need to make the meal sumptuous, but when it was time to take the meal, there still was meat, vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, milk, and white bread as per usual.
“Mrs. Abby didn"t go out to take a stroll?”
“Master, Mrs. Abby did go out, but half an hour later, she returned to the kitchen. Perhaps the town was to lively and she wasn"t used to it, or she wasn"t able to take a break from her work in the kitchen – she is too dedicated, always busying herself.”
“Tell her that I don"t consider raising the salary for the time being. Therefore, she doesn"t need to busy herself that much. She should have her own life.”
Although he had adapted to and liked the aristocratic ident.i.ty.
But Liszt still retained the conscientiousness of a modern person from another world, hoping that even servants could have their own lives instead of completely dedicating themselves to the lord. Life shouldn"t be just work, work, and even more work, but should also encompa.s.s the entire range of human feelings as well as a family.
Carter waited upon Liszt as he ate.
Saying: “For a cook, the kitchen is their life; for a servant, the castle is their life. Master, you don"t have to keep thinking about us. Everyday, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, servants are busy from dawn till dusk; in life, everyone has to do their part.”
That was quite philosophical.
Liszt was left speechless.
His train of thought was still divorced from this world and this era. There was an urge to pursue freedom inside him. But in this world, the concept of cla.s.s was already deeply ingrained inside every person"s bones.
Could servants that weren"t working still be called servants?!
Could aristocrats that weren"t enjoying themselves still be called aristocrats?!
Thinking about this, he didn"t refute or correct Carter. And on the contrary, although he may have some qualms, but he still felt quite good about it. If everyone though like that, than the life of aristocrats would be even more comfortable and stable. Such people were great!
Just as he finished lunch and was ready to tease Tremblingwoods and Blessedcurls before taking a nap.
Gort suddenly came from the town on horseback. After seeing Liszt, he immediately handed the other a wine-bottle-shaped metallic bottle: “Sir, take a look at this. Oyster settlement"s fisherman picked it up from the sea, they believe it to be made out of gold. However, after inspecting it, it doesn"t look like gold.”