Charlotte followed Mrs. Lucas to the gate, just in time to see Sir Lucas and Maria disembarking from the carriage. Several people hurried to meet her, and Charlotte saved Maria: "Welcome home, dear." ”

Maria returned Charlotte with a smile and said, "My dear sister, why are you so enthusiastic, is it because of the gift I brought you?" ”

Charlotte smiled in response to her sister's quip, "Yes, we're looking forward to your gift." ”

"So what are you waiting for? Let's go back to the living room and open the gifts. Mary smiled and instructed the servants to carry the boxes behind the carriage into the drawing-room, and everyone returned to the drawing-room. Maria distributed the box to everyone in the family, and it contained gifts that she and Sir Lucas had brought to the family.

Mrs. Lucas did not open the gifts, and could not wait to tell Sir Lucas about the new occupants of Nizhfeld Manor.

Sir Lucas said very cheerfully, "Well, to-morrow I will visit the rich young gentleman at the Manor de Nigerfeld, and in a few days we will have another ball at our house to entertain him." ”

Mrs. Lucas said happily, "Oh, dear, you are so good. ”

Albert, the youngest son of the Lucas family, asked, "Father, second sister, why did you come back so late?" Didn't this trip to London go well? ”

"It went well, of course it worked." Sir Lucas said happily, "The screen embroidered by Mary caused a sensation in the aristocratic circles of London, and many people vied for it. Guess how much that four-leaf floor screen sold for? ”

Eldest son, Auston: "Five hundred pounds? ”

Youngest daughter Theresa: "Eight hundred pounds? ”

Youngest son Albert: "A thousand pounds? ”

Eldest daughter Charlotte: "I heard that embroidery in the East sells very expensive. Although we know that the screen was embroidered by Mary, others do not know that the price given should not be cheap. Daddy, it can't be three thousand pounds, right? ”

Sir Lucas laughed: "My dear, it is ten thousand pounds, more than two times more than three thousand." ”

Charlotte and the others all took a breath of cold air. 10,000 pounds, that's a lot of money!

"Oh, Maria, you're amazing." Mrs. Lucas praised Maria, "You are a genius, you can learn to master oriental embroidery by merely looking at it, and there is no girl in the whole British Empire who is more intelligent and capable than you." ”

Maria smiled, could she say that she didn't learn Oriental embroidery at a glance, but seemed to know Oriental embroidery skills in her previous life, so it would be easy to get started? - Ma is still the daughter of an embroidery girl in the mortal world before entering the cultivation realm, and learned embroidery from her mother since she was a child, and began to cultivate the truth by chance.

Sir Lucas coughed and said, "On the way back, I have discussed with Maria what to do with the money. Of them, three thousand pounds, our Mary gave to our husband and wife as the living expenses of the whole family. Charlotte, Theresa, Auston and Albert are a thousand pounds each, but they cannot be given to you now, and your mother will help you keep them for your dowry and the cost of your marriage. The remaining three thousand pounds belonged to Mary and was at her disposal. ”

"Oh, Maria, you're such a good man." Theresa cheered.

Charlotte said to Maria gratefully, "Thank you, Maria. ”

Alston and Albert protested: "Why can't we use that money now?" ”

Sir Lucas: "Who told you that you are not married?" Auston, you're not too young, it's time to find a young lady to marry. ”

Alston muttered, "It's not like Charlotte isn't married. ”

"Alston." Sir Lucas shouted angrily, and the rest of the group looked at Auston with disapproval.

Auston shrunk his shoulders, not daring to speak again.

Charlotte was sad, but thoughtfully changed the subject, and asked Sir Lucas, "Dad, if everything is going well, why are you coming back late?" ”

Sir Lucas said, "That's because the kind Mary saved someone on the way." ”

"Saving people?" Everyone else was curious, "Who was saved?" ”

Sir Lucas said: "It is not clear. ”

Charlotte wondered, "You saved someone, didn't you ask the person's name?" ”

Sir Lucas said: "When we left, the man had not yet awakened. ”

"Huh? Before anyone woke up, you left? Mrs. Lucas said, "How can you save only half of the people?" ”

"Rest assured, my dear madam, we are not only half saving people." Sir Lucas said, "The wounded man's servant came to the door, and we were sure that they were the wounded's servants before leaving. Thinking that we were just helping others and not expecting anything in return, Mary left without asking the names of the injured or leaving our names. ”

"Oh, dear Mr. Lucas, dear Mary, you are all good and good people, and God will bless you."

……

While the Lucas family was talking about the wounded, the wounded were also talking about Sir Lucas and Maria.

"Have you found out who saved me?" The young man sitting on the bed asked. Although his face was pale because of his body, it did not detract from his momentum and nobility in the slightest.

"Your Highness, the man who rescued you is Sir Lucas, who lives in Meriton, and his second daughter." The butler-like man replied.

"A knight in a small town?" The young man known as His Highness said, "I have a kind heart, and when my injuries are healed, I will personally go to Meritun to thank them." ”

"Your Highness, no." The housekeeper hurriedly stopped, "You have a valuable status, how can you go to such a small place?" also personally came to thank Lucas, who held him up too much. ”

"Richard, they saved my life." Young man.

"Uh......" was right, and Richard didn't dare to stop the young man anymore.

"By the way, the medicine I applied that day, but did the research get results?" The young man asked again.

Richard replied, "Dr. Karis said that the medicine you applied at that time, Your Highness, was very similar to the ointment made from herbs from the East, and no one in your country would make it. ”

"No wonder it works so well. Was it an oriental ointment? The young man said, "The Lucas family is just a knight in the town, how can they afford such a miraculous ointment?" ”

Richard said, "I didn't buy it, I thought it was Miss Maria who made it herself." ”

"Do it yourself?" The young man was surprised, "How could he, a young girl, make an oriental ointment?" ”

Richard said, "Your Highness, according to our investigation, this Miss Maria is a genius. She was very fond of reading when she was a child, and spent all her time reading except for sleeping and eating, and Sir and Mrs. Lucas used to worry that she would become a nerd. Later, she felt that she should know everything, so she gave up and continued to read like a demon. It was during that time that Miss Maria learned the development of ointments and oriental embroidery. ”

The young man asked with interest, "Miss Maria also embroiders?" ”

Richard said: "Yes, a four-panel floor screen that was in the limelight in London lately was embroidered by Miss Maria. ”

"Didn't you say that this screen was brought from the East?" The young man asked.

Richard said: "This is Sir Lucas's statement to the outside world, but he doesn't want people to know that he uses his daughter's work to sell it for money to subsidize other children." Just like the painting signed by Mr. Reese a few years ago, it was also painted by Miss Maria, and Mr. Lucas sold it under someone else's name. ”

"I didn't want people to know that I was living on my daughter." The young man said, "Miss Maria is indeed a genius, what else can she do?" ”

Richard said: "Miss Maria is fluent in six languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Mandarin; Horsemanship is more exquisite than that of men; I danced very well and played the piano very well. ”

"Oh, what a learned lady. I think I've taken an interest in her, and when my wounds heal, I'll have to see this young lady of genius with my own eyes. The young man's eyes were full of interest.

Richard bowed his head. He couldn't say for sure if there would be another commoner-born hostess, but if it was Miss Maria, he thought he would accept it. After all, this young lady is too good, enough to cover her background.

……

Sir Lucas went to Nigerfell Manor the next day to meet his new neighbour, and on the third day the owner of the estate paid a return visit to Lucas's house. In order to entertain the guests, Charlotte personally went to the kitchen to prepare delicious meals. The meal was provided by Maria, who was fed up with tasteless potatoes and blood-stained steaks, and burst into the memory of a recipe that might have been from a past life.

The two sisters were all responsible for the housework, and the two would not let her into the kitchen, so she told them the recipe and instructed them to cook at the kitchen door. Charlotte and Theresa learned a good hand at cooking, especially Charlotte, who was attentive and cooked meals that were even more delicious than Theresa's. However, the two were responsible for the family's usual meals, and when the Lucas family held a ball, a large amount of food could only be prepared by the servants, so except for the two older ladies of the Bennet family, who had a good relationship with Charlotte, who had eaten at the Lucas house and knew that their friends had a good hand, the rest of the people did not know how good the Lucas family's two daughters were at cooking. Even if Mrs. Lucas always showed off her two daughters' cooking skills to others, the rest of the people would only say that Lucas was putting gold on her daughter's face.

Good cooking? How good can it be? The people of the country, accustomed to the dark diet of potatoes and beef, have no idea what the real cuisine is like. If they had eaten it once, they would have been captured, and Charlotte would not have to worry about getting married. There will definitely be gentlemen who marry her for the sake of food. It's a pity that the Lucas family didn't know how powerful the lure of food was, and Charlotte wasted years of her youth in vain.