Chapter 4: Orphans from Today

East End, Whitechapel

Perhaps the most vivid modern impression of the two place names of London's East End and Whitechapel is the description in the complete Sherlock Holmes detective works, as well as the famous "Jack the Ripper" at the end of the 19th century. But in fact, a hundred years before Jack the Ripper first committed murder, at www.biquge.info the end of the eighteenth century, the East End was already one of the dirtiest and most crime-prone slums in London, full of vendors, scruffy-clad pedestrians, ragged beggars, and strange-eyed villains and vagabonds.

The first thing that catches your eye when you walk here is garbage and feces everywhere, as well as stinky gutters with brown liquid. The streets of this block were unpaved, the muddy and dirty ground was full of potholes, almost all of them were filled with sewage, and all kinds of garbage were thrown on the streets, filled with the stench of decay. Many of the stalls are next to smelly gutters and garbage heaps, which are disgusting to look at and even more pungent to smell.

The streets are lined with low, dilapidated brick houses, or even more rudimentary shacks, all cramped, dirty, and poorly ventilated. Residents are spilling dirt everywhere on the streets, and there is no one to control open defecation. Since the water system was still a toy of the aristocracy, it was difficult to even supply drinking water, let alone water for cleaning, so the discharge of sewage and waste was also a major problem. All kinds of garbage accumulate in the neighborhood day after day, and gradually rot and ferment, and in the hot summer, it will emit a strong pungent smell, which is claimed to float from one end of the Thames to the other, seriously damaging people's health. The crowded living environment and poor hygiene conditions led to the rapid growth of viruses and bacteria, resulting in frequent outbreaks of plagues such as typhoid fever and cholera, which made the gentlemen of high society regard this place as purgatory.

In general, in such inferior places, gentlemen and ladies are not seen, but today there are exceptions.

- A middle-aged man and woman, who are obviously dressed in high society, suddenly appear in this dirty world that belongs to the lower class of London.

The man of the two was about fifty years old, and his gray hair was already a little crumbling, but his eyes were very sharp, and he was not tall but had a conspicuous big belly. It was autumn, and he wore a pale gray hunting suit and a short cape, which were of good workmanship and materials, and underneath was a slightly tight leather waistcoat, a pair of black trousers, and a pair of long leather boots that were the envy of the poor.

The woman next to him was in her early forties, wearing a goose-yellow high-waisted dress with white ruffles, a delicately embroidered ribbon tassel hanging from her waist, and long furry gloves on her hands; Her figure was plump and slightly bloated, her appearance was vaguely charming, and she wore a bright crimson feather hat on her head, and when she walked, her long feather headdress also trembled and trembled, which was quite eye-catching.

When they found that they had entered the East End without their servants, the villains and homeless people who roamed the area threw malicious glances at the middle-aged man and woman. But the pistols and short swords that the middle-aged man and woman carried with them and wielded from time to time did not dare to act freely in broad daylight. After all, no matter how fierce a street fighter is, if he is shot at close range, he will still be crippled at least and killed at worst......

- This middle-aged man and woman are the Bennets from the countryside of Longborne, or the infinite space veterans who have entered this plot world.

Although the criminals around them were intimidated by the "couple's" guns and did not dare to make a mistake for the time being, they still had to endure the dark green moss, low-lying shallow pits, gray-black mud, rancid sewage, and the unpleasant smell that almost suffocated them, and they tried to walk on slightly higher ground, but the corners of their skirts and trousers inevitably scratched suspicious filth, which gave them some headaches......

And what made these two infinite space veterans even more troublesome was the severe suppression of various transcendent powers on them by this world.

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“…… I had already tried quietly just now, and all kinds of supernatural forces were restricted in this world. Whether it's a vampire bloodline or a charm spell, whether it's in the countryside or in the city, it can't be activated at all. And those magic props, which are basically out of order. ”

Mrs. Bennet, a veteran who had changed her soul, whispered in her "husband's" ear, "...... It's not a good feeling! ”

“…… Don't worry too much, even if the world suppresses the supernatural forces, then our opponent team will be in the same dilemma. ”

Mr. Bennet replied as calmly as he could, "...... But...... Vampire blood? It doesn't seem like we're using our own body right now, right? ”

“…… I'm afraid it's not what we originally thought, and I can feel it now, my vampire bloodline is clearly still there, but it's just suppressed. It is likely that the Lord God did not replace our bodies, but directly transformed our original bodies into the appearance of the Bennets. ”

Mrs. Bennet explained quietly, a worried look on her face, "...... What can I do now? Originally, I wanted to use the talent of vampire blood and the assistance of magic items to try to contract a few mob leaders as my subordinates, but now it seems that it is all in vain! And according to the convention of team battles, the stronger the team, the later it will enter. Since we entered the plot almost a year earlier than the enemy, the strength of the opponent's team must be much stronger than ours! ”

“…… Of course, I know this kind of common sense. However, in the plot world of classical romance novels like "Pride and Prejudice", even if you enter the scene nearly a year early, what way can you improve your strength? Even if you join the army, it will only be a few months, and you won't be able to climb to a high status, and at my current age, it is estimated that the army may not be willing to accept it. Although the British officer position can be bought with money in these years, even if I really become a junior officer, those soldiers are not my personal army, and they may not be able to command in team battles. ”

Mr. Bennet scratched his unkempt hair in annoyance, "...... It seems that there are no supernatural forces in this world. The only thing we can do to cope with the teamfight, it seems, is to buy a lot of munitions and build fortifications at Longborne's house. ”

“…… Arms of this era? Mrs. Bennet frowned in disgust, "...... The kind of front-loading smoothbore gun that has no rifling, can't hit people at most fifty meters away, and has to take a through strip to poke a bullet into the muzzle? What good can such a do in front of other teams? ”

“…… Although, as you say, they're toys to modern firearms, but they're better than nothing! ”

Mr. Bennet smiled wryly, "...... Previously, we spent too many bonus points on exchanging supernatural bloodlines and magic items, and the only conventional weapon that can be used at the moment is a Mauser pistol, which has not been redeemed for infinite bullets for the sake of savings...... There are less than twenty rounds of ammunition left, and they can't withstand any war of attrition at all - how can we get the modern copper-shelled bullet in England at the end of the eighteenth century? What else can we do if we don't find a way to replenish some arms on the spot? Wait for death or play hand-to-hand combat? Even a smoothbore gun that shoots lead bullets is stronger than a knife, right?

Fortunately, there was no gun ban in Britain in these years, and the squires and nobles regarded hunting as a fashionable entertainment, and it was common sense to buy a gun for self-defense. All pistols, rifles, and even small artillery pieces were sold openly and legally (in this era, maritime piracy was rampant, so the vast majority of merchant ships were armed merchant ships and needed to be armed with at least a few guns). As long as you have money, even arming a private guard is not a problem. Luckily, we still have some money.

If we use the Bennets' savings to buy a few dozen guns, get some more gunpowder back, use this time to train the marksmanship of those newcomers, and turn the house into a street fighting bunker, and dig trenches in the yard, we may be able to barely fight the enemy by then......"

“…… It still feels too reluctant. Let those rookies hold the muskets of the eighteenth century, but I am afraid that it will be difficult to even protect themselves. Mrs. Bennet frowned, "...... If the newcomers die and there are too many negative points, even if we win the team battle, we are in danger of being wiped out. ”

“…… If that doesn't work, then use weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Bennet hesitated for a moment, then said suddenly.

“…… Weapons of mass destruction? Mrs. Bennet blinked in surprise, "...... Did you bring gas bombs with you? ”

“…… Much more dangerous than gas bombs...... Well, even more dangerous than a nuclear bomb. Mr. Bennet sighed and pulled a glowing blue tube from his pocket, "...... Oh, this is it! The loot I brought back from the world of Resident Evil. ”

This is a very complex test tube, with two silver-white metal hoops at the ends, and a transparent glass cylinder in the middle, which is inlaid with two delicate spiral glass tubes, which are regularly intertwined with each other, and some kind of royal blue liquid is flashing fluorescent in the spiral tube.

Although it looked delicate and magnificent, like a glass work, it frightened Mrs. Bennet for a moment.

“…… T virus?! Depend on! How did you come up with the idea to use this thing? It's horrible! Aren't you afraid that this thing will kill us first? ”

“…… First of all, you're a vampire now, and the T-virus shouldn't be able to infect necromancy. Secondly, I have already redeemed the perfect transformation of the biochemical virus on the side of the main god, and the T-virus does not work for me either. In the end, this is the last resort to drag the enemy to the end when there is no way to do so......"

Mr. Bennet calmly explained, reinserting the T-virus test tube back into the inside pocket of his hunting jacket, "...... If I hadn't reached the end of my rope and had no life, I would never have dared to use such a weapon of great destruction casually......"

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Just as the two visitors from another world were whispering this, a large group of plainly dressed housewives came up with a somewhat shabby basket of fresh fish and shrimp they had just bought from the small dock on the Thames. Although these things generally smell unbearably fishy, they are very cheap, and they can be used as a protein supplement, which is also a nutritious food for the poor. Just take the fish and shrimp back and boil them into a thick sauce, and add chopped cabbage to make a home-cooked soup that the working class of London loved to eat in this era.

At this time, a large group of poor housewives crowded the oncoming street, and a few dirty children scurried in the middle...... After passing by the group, Mr. Bennet suddenly realized that something was missing from him.

“…… Damn it! Pickpocketed! He lowered his voice and cursed, as he reached out and touched his empty waist, where a money bag should have been tethered. Then he looked left and right vigilantly, and soon spotted a suspicious figure on the street corner behind him.

After exchanging glances in a tacit manner, Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet turned together and gave chase after the thief. With the tempering of life and death in the infinite space plot world, this seemingly fat and bloated middle-aged couple showed incredible speed and agility, chasing after each other in the twists and turns of the alleys, always biting the target and not letting go...... Then, after a short chase, the battle-hardened Bennets soon stopped the panicked pickpocket in a dead end.

Looking at the little guy curled up in a ball and trembling, the hard-hearted Mr. Bennet sneered, pulled out his dagger and walked up. However, just as he was about to teach the pickpocket a hard lesson, such as cutting off a few of his fingers, everything came to an abrupt end without warning.

——Whether it was the five Bennet sisters at Uncle Gardiner's house on Tian'en Temple Street, or the Bennet couple who were catching thieves in the alleys of the East End, a mechanical and monotonous voice suddenly sounded in everyone's ears: "...... The main god is turned off, the scene is over, and all the reincarnators are forced to pop up! ”

The next moment, the little pickpocket, who was already desperate, was dumbfounded to see that the two broad guys and Mrs. Kuo, who were still chasing him just now, suddenly disappeared without a trace in an instant! Only their clothes, jewelry, and various gadgets fell to the ground in pieces.

Have I met the devil? The thief boy rubbed his eyes incredulously, but there were still only two messy clothes in front of him.

- That's what veterans left behind when they left this world.

As you can imagine, such a strange thing was obviously beyond the thief's thinking ability, and he shivered violently with fear, his body instantly became stiff, and his teeth and bones made a tooth-aching gurgling sound like rusty gears lacking lubrication.

But a moment later, the cold life and great greed still prevailed over the fear in his heart. After scouting at the entrance of the alley and finding that there was no one else in the vicinity, the young thief immediately turned and pounced, and as quickly as he could, put away the clothes and bits and pieces left behind by the Bennets, made a large package with Mrs. Bennet's dress, and crept back to his own nest......

And the T-virus test tube that Mr. Bennet put in his pocket has also become the harvest of this pickpocket in London's East End......

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On this day, the Bennets did not return after they left home, leaving Uncle and Aunt Gardiner worried all night.

The next day, the Bennets were still nowhere to be seen, and Uncle and Aunt Gardiner went around looking for someone in London, but found nothing.

On the third day, Uncle Giardina went to the judge to file a report, but he still didn't get any news, and in fact there could be no news.

A week later, under the sad and compassionate eyes of Uncle and Aunt Gardiner, the Bennet sisters returned to the village of Longborn......

- London in this era was far less peaceful than in later generations, and the crime rate in the East End of London was terrifyingly high, and all kinds of kidnappings, murders, abductions, and robberies were common, much worse than in the days of Sherlock Holmes. If it happened in an inferior neighborhood, the officials didn't even bother to pay attention to it.

And well-dressed and wealthy upper-class gentlemen and wives like the Bennets are clearly the favorite targets of the villains and bandits. Even if Mr. Bennet had a gun, if he was unlucky and not vigilant enough, he might still fall victim to the thief's path.

According to Uncle Gardiner's experience of living in London for many years, the Bennets have been missing for so long and have not even sent back a blackmail letter from the bandits, which means that they were probably killed on the spot by the mob, ransacked and then sunk in the Thames......

Of course, Elizabeth and Jane, who are traversers, both know in their hearts what this is actually all about, so the mood at this time is not only a sense of relief and excitement, but also a kind of confusion and confusion that does not know what the future holds.

- The life-threatening infinite flow of the main god system, as well as the team battle that kills people like chickens, is indeed saying goodbye to them forever now.

But the problem is that, on the other hand, the convenient life in the bustling cities of the modern world is also goodbye to them forever.

From now on, they had to stay in this strange 18th-century English countryside and be Jane Austen's ladies...... I don't know what kind of fate I will face in the future, I don't know what kind of life I can live in the future, and what purpose I should live for......

Mary, Kitty, and Lydia, the three old ladies dressed in maiden skins, seemed to lack a rational understanding of the question, and after returning to the country estate at Longburn, and having made up random nonsense to appease the frightened servants, they went to bed and rested themselves. But Elizabeth couldn't sleep after tossing and turning, and finally climbed onto Jane's bed with a pillow in her arms, and told her about her worries and anxieties about the future.

- As the heads of the family, the Bennets have evaporated from the world, and their own people have also been replaced, and the next development of events may not be completely in line with the plot of the novel "Pride and Prejudice": Lydia, the "little sister" whose soul age is seventy-nine years old, will probably not be abducted by that scumbag officer Wickham again; But he and Jane may not be able to catch the two "national husbands" of Mr. Darcy, who earns 10,000 pounds a year, and Mr. Bingley, who earns 5,000 pounds a year, like the original book...... What's even worse is that due to the relationship of the pit father's "limited heir inheritance", the Bennet family's house and land in Longborne are destined to be taken by the Pastor Collins who is still unknown!

Obviously, even their current life cannot last long, and they are really at a loss as to what to do with their next life journey.

However, although Elizabeth believed that her people might have a bleak future and a bleak fate, Jane's view was far less pessimistic than she was.

“…… Indeed, what you say makes a lot of sense, and if we can't find a rich husband, we'll be swept away and moved to a worse house, and then we may not find an ideal husband among the gentry, and end up as an old girl......"

Jane said calmly, "...... But what if you think about it in a better direction? In any case, we don't need to dig radishes and potatoes from the vegetable patch by hand, wash and prepare feed for the horses, wash a large basin of clothes and petticoats and bed sheets and blankets every day, cook the meals ourselves, clean the house, worry about starvation and cold, and worry about the sudden arrival of war...... Even if there are many unsatisfactory things, our hands do not have to work all day to make ends meet, like the maid in the house.

In the village of Longburn, there were only twenty-four squires and middle-class families who dealt with Mrs. Bennet. But in fact, the number of people living in this land is definitely much more than that. In our house alone, there are more than a dozen of them, including housekeepers, servants, gardeners, grooms, and so on. In fact, a group of people like ours can be called a small minority in the whole country.

Even if the house was eventually taken by the Reverend Collins, we would still have a dowry of five thousand pounds from our 'mother' to live on for a long time. As long as you are cautious and don't be cheated out of money, you won't end up on the streets. If we hadn't traveled to England, to the Squire Bennet's family, but to somewhere else, we might not have been as good as we are now! ”

“…… Belch...... I didn't expect you to be so proficient in the realistic dialectical thinking of 'less than the top, more than the bottom'......"

- Elizabeth had to nod her head and admit that Jane's previous words made a lot of sense. After all, there have been countless facts that have long proved that no matter how difficult your situation is, there are still many people who can live a good life in a far more difficult situation than you: to be honest, compared with those common women on the Internet who travel through novels, such as Qing wear, Ming wear, Tang wear, Republic of China wear, Red Mansion wear, overhead wear, etc., you can wear to the English countryside in the nineteenth century, or in the home of a squire with an annual income of 2,000 pounds, in fact, it is a very good choice.

Here, at least in the homes of the squires who had no worries about food and clothing, the life of unmarried girls was to read books, sew clothes, attend various tea parties, banquets and balls, and then correspond and gossip with their friends, eat, drink, sleep and sleep all day long like a rice worm, and finally find a man to marry...... Except that it's a little too idle. It is basically the most ideal life of a rice worm, compared to the boudoir lady who has crossed into a traditional Chinese family, it is really much happier: no need to wrap your feet, no need to say hello in the morning and evening, no need to lock the door at home and not go out of the door, but you can go shopping, outings, and dance parties more freely. In the UK, there is no need to worry about the threat of war, or even to endure the traditional torture of Western women, the corset.

- During the Napoleonic Wars, because of the strong anti-French sentiment in society, the ladies and ladies of England resisted the custom of corseting their waists from France, and instead wore loose skirts that were more similar to modern women's clothing, as a way to flaunt their patriotism. It wasn't until Britain won the Napoleonic Wars that British upper-class women began to tie their waists like women on the continent, using materials such as whalebone to turn skirts into instruments of torture that could strangle themselves......

Even in terms of marriage and communication, the English squires are more liberal than their Oriental counterparts, although family-arranged marriages are still the mainstream, but the ladies can also meet social standards, with the same sex or the opposite sex to establish friendships, well, if it can develop into a romantic relationship and then get married, it is also a good thing. At least there will be no embarrassment when it comes to the night of candles in the cave room, and the newcomers meet for the first time.

Western upper-class couples generally sleep in separate rooms after marriage in order to respect each other's privacy. Although divorce is difficult to be accepted by society at present, it is not new for couples in high society who lack affection to play their own games after marriage - although this is not a good thing, but at least it symbolizes some kind of equality. And don't worry about the husband constantly marrying concubines or something, men can find mistresses, women can also find mistresses, just look at American dramas like "House of Cards" to know that many modern upper-class couples don't live like this?

Next, Jane pointed out the most ridiculous aspects of Elizabeth's self-pity just now.

“…… And, do you really think that the Bennets, who earn £2,000 a year, are actually poor? ”

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——Although in the plot of the novel "Pride and Prejudice", because of the various ridicule and contempt of the Bennet family by the man's relatives, there is always an illusion that the poor woman is climbing the rich and noble, and "the domineering president falls in love with the poor working girl". But in fact, the Bennet family owned more than 2,000 acres of land (all the more exaggerated considering it was only twenty-five miles from London), had their own estates, forests, rivers and lakes, and were not poor squires with poor economic conditions as some readers mistakenly thought, but a real family of exploiting class tyrants.

It is no exaggeration to say that the five Bennet sisters of this kind of family are also the real Miss Bai Fumei, not some Cinderella. It's just that the man on the other side is richer and more handsome, and his net worth is more exaggerated - Mr. Bentley, who married Jane, has assets of 100,000 pounds. Mr. Darcy, who was married to Elizabeth, owned half the county's land, and a large number of powerful relatives, and the family's estate was as luxurious as a palace...... Therefore, Elizabeth's marriage to Mr. Darcy is indeed a bit high, but it is only a little bit, and it is far from shocking!

So, what was the concept of the Bennet family's annual income of 2,000 pounds in British society at that time?

First of all, it needs to be clear that the modern pound sterling is a large monetary unit, and in the coinage era, the pound sterling is a gold coin minted by precious metals, and the long-term price measured by it is basically stable, although there are high and low market prices, but there is generally no continuous inflation. Therefore, in that era, as long as you had an annual income of thirty to fifty pounds, the family could basically have no worries about food and clothing. It can be seen that the purchasing power of one pound at that time was at least equivalent to 1,000 to 2,000 yuan now, which is definitely not an overestimate.

However, at that time, the British coins were pitifully scarce, and there were only two kinds of shillings and pence below the pound sterling. One pound sterling is equal to twenty shillings, and one shilling is equivalent to twelve pence, and the penny is already the smallest commonly used auxiliary currency in modern Britain, and it cannot be sold for less than one penny. The purchasing power of a penny is about five to ten yuan equivalent to that of modern China...... You can imagine if in today's China, the smallest coin is 10 yuan, the price of goods is in 10 yuan, and there are no smaller coins, then what kind of collapse the market would be - office workers have to buy fritters for breakfast for several people at a time, buy white porridge is enough to support one person to death, housewives have to buy greens, cabbage, radish, sweet potatoes and potatoes in baskets or sacks, because they have to buy at least 10 yuan at a time. Coca-Cola can only sell large bottles, or force consumers to buy three cans at a time because there are no smaller coins...... (Around 1860, Britain issued a "fas" smaller than a penny, but this was more than half a century after the era described in Pride and Prejudice.) ）

In the London market at the end of the eighteenth century, a pound of beef cost about two to four pence, and a pound of marine fish cost one to two pence, similar to the price in modern China. And because of the heavy pollution of the Thames, river fish is basically cheap as if it were given away for free.

Compared with the cheapness of food, the price of various industrial products is relatively expensive due to the underdeveloped level of technology. At that time, there were very few ready-to-wear stores, and the vast majority of Europeans had to go to tailors to make their suits, and they were considered rich to make two new coats a year. And those who are not too generous in the middle class, in order to have a decent dress that can last to attend banquets and balls, have to go to second-hand clothes shops to find second-hand or even third-hand goods that the rich do not want. Because of the high stamp duty levied by the British government, the price of a legal newspaper was as high as one shilling, but the poor who were greedy for money liked to read pirated or illegal tabloids, so that each newspaper cost only one penny. Since the British Empire did not have compulsory education, school fees were expensive. For example, at the famous Eton College, tuition fees are charged on a weekly basis, at least one shilling a week, and students have to purchase textbooks and pen and paper themselves.

After talking about prices, let's talk about income. At that time, a casual worker in the city of London was paid about two or three pennies a day for a twelve-hour work, earning only one or two shillings a week. Regular workers under contract are paid only four to six pence a day under a twelve-hour workday. Overall, in Jane. During the Napoleonic Wars in Austen's novels, the average income of the British working class was only about ten pounds a year. Until the Victorian era, where Sherlock Holmes lived more than 100 years later, the average British worker earned only £25 a year. Moreover, there was neither unemployment insurance nor medical insurance at that time, and ordinary working people had to work every day to support themselves and their families, and if they fell ill, they could face the end of starvation for their entire families.

It can be seen that the annual income of the Bennet family of 2,000 pounds is equivalent to 2 million to 4 million yuan in modern China in terms of purchasing power. The 5,000 pounds dowry that Mrs. Bennet left to her five daughters is equivalent to 5 million to 10 million yuan...... It's really not less.

Jane, therefore, seemed to be more optimistic about the future of life in the English countryside for her own people—in Jane's view, even in the worst case, they would have received two thousand pounds a year in rent for the land before the house and the attached property were taken by the Reverend Collins and swept them away, and at least five thousand pounds of money for the dowry. As long as they don't invest indiscriminately and lose their capital, even if they don't work for the rest of their lives, they can live a so-so life just by eating interest.

(The pound in this era is all gold coins, and basically does not depreciate for the rest of their lives, and there are really many people who live on bank interest.) ）

Even if you feel lonely, empty and cold one day, and you plan to get married and start a family, it is not easy to find a gentleman who is the right person, but as long as you lower some standards and hook up with a few handsome little fresh meat with good looks from the common people, it is not easy to get caught?

In short, thinking that they still have so much property in their hands that they can inherit, they feel that the future should not be too bad.

However, both Jane and Elizabeth were naïve, and in fact, the misery of fate was just beginning to show its fangs......

No matter what era or place, the ideal is very beautiful, but the reality is very cruel.

- In the second month of the Bennets' disappearance, the five Bennet sisters, who had changed their souls, were surprised to find that the family seemed to be running out of money! The sunken Thames ......

Of course, Elizabeth and Jane, who are traversers, both know in their hearts what this is actually all about, so the mood at this time is not only a sense of relief and excitement, but also a kind of confusion and confusion that does not know what the future holds.

- The life-threatening infinite flow of the main god system, as well as the team battle that kills people like chickens, is indeed saying goodbye to them forever now.

But the problem is that, on the other hand, the convenient life in the bustling cities of the modern world is also goodbye to them forever.

From now on, they had to stay in this strange 18th-century English countryside and be Jane Austen's ladies...... I don't know what kind of fate I will face in the future, I don't know what kind of life I can live in the future, and what purpose I should live for......

Mary, Kitty, and Lydia, the three old ladies dressed in maiden skins, seemed to lack a rational understanding of the question, and after returning to the country estate at Longburn, and having made up random nonsense to appease the frightened servants, they went to bed and rested themselves. But Elizabeth couldn't sleep after tossing and turning, and finally climbed onto Jane's bed with a pillow in her arms, and told her about her worries and anxieties about the future.

- As the heads of the family, the Bennets have evaporated from the world, and their own people have also been replaced, and the next development of events may not be completely in line with the plot of the novel "Pride and Prejudice": Lydia, the "little sister" whose soul age is seventy-nine years old, will probably not be abducted by that scumbag officer Wickham again; But he and Jane may not be able to catch the two "national husbands" of Mr. Darcy, who earns 10,000 pounds a year, and Mr. Bingley, who earns 5,000 pounds a year, like the original book...... What's even worse is that due to the relationship of the pit father's "limited heir inheritance", the Bennet family's house and land in Longborne are destined to be taken by the Pastor Collins who is still unknown!

Obviously, even their current life cannot last long, and they are really at a loss as to what to do with their next life journey.

However, although Elizabeth believed that her people might have a bleak future and a bleak fate, Jane's view was far less pessimistic than she was.

“…… Indeed, what you say makes a lot of sense, and if we can't find a rich husband, we'll be swept away and moved to a worse house, and then we may not find an ideal husband among the gentry, and end up as an old girl......"

Jane said calmly, "...... But what if you think about it in a better direction? In any case, we don't need to dig radishes and potatoes from the vegetable patch by hand, wash and prepare feed for the horses, wash a large basin of clothes and petticoats and bed sheets and blankets every day, cook the meals ourselves, clean the house, worry about starvation and cold, and worry about the sudden arrival of war...... Even if there are many unsatisfactory things, our hands do not have to work all day to make ends meet, like the maid in the house.

In the village of Longburn, there were only twenty-four squires and middle-class families who dealt with Mrs. Bennet. But in fact, the number of people living in this land is definitely much more than that. In our house alone, there are more than a dozen of them, including housekeepers, servants, gardeners, grooms, and so on. In fact, a group of people like ours can be called a small minority in the whole country.

Even if the house was eventually taken by the Reverend Collins, we would still have a dowry of five thousand pounds from our 'mother' to live on for a long time. As long as you are cautious and don't be cheated out of money, you won't end up on the streets. If we hadn't traveled to England, to the Squire Bennet's family, but to somewhere else, we might not have been as good as we are now! ”

“…… Belch...... I didn't expect you to be so proficient in the realistic dialectical thinking of 'less than the top, more than the bottom'......"

- Elizabeth had to nod her head and admit that Jane's previous words made a lot of sense. After all, there have been countless facts that have long proved that no matter how difficult your situation is, there are still many people who can live a good life in a far more difficult situation than you: to be honest, compared with those common women on the Internet who travel through novels, such as Qing wear, Ming wear, Tang wear, Republic of China wear, Red Mansion wear, overhead wear, etc., you can wear to the English countryside in the nineteenth century, or in the home of a squire with an annual income of 2,000 pounds, in fact, it is a very good choice.

Here, at least in the homes of the squires who had no worries about food and clothing, the life of unmarried girls was to read books, sew clothes, attend various tea parties, banquets and balls, and then correspond and gossip with their friends, eat, drink, sleep and sleep all day long like a rice worm, and finally find a man to marry...... Except that it's a little too idle. It is basically the most ideal life of a rice worm, compared to the boudoir lady who has crossed into a traditional Chinese family, it is really much happier: no need to wrap your feet, no need to say hello in the morning and evening, no need to lock the door at home and not go out of the door, but you can go shopping, outings, and dance parties more freely. In the UK, there is no need to worry about the threat of war, or even to endure the traditional torture of Western women, the corset.

- During the Napoleonic Wars, because of the strong anti-French sentiment in society, the ladies and ladies of England resisted the custom of corseting their waists from France, and instead wore loose skirts that were more similar to modern women's clothing, as a way to flaunt their patriotism. It wasn't until Britain won the Napoleonic Wars that British upper-class women began to tie their waists like women on the continent, using materials such as whalebone to turn skirts into instruments of torture that could strangle themselves......

Even in terms of marriage and communication, the English squires are more liberal than their Oriental counterparts, although family-arranged marriages are still the mainstream, but the ladies can also meet social standards, with the same sex or the opposite sex to establish friendships, well, if it can develop into a romantic relationship and then get married, it is also a good thing. At least there will be no embarrassment when it comes to the night of candles in the cave room, and the newcomers meet for the first time.

Western upper-class couples generally sleep in separate rooms after marriage in order to respect each other's privacy. Although divorce is difficult to be accepted by society at present, it is not new for couples in high society who lack affection to play their own games after marriage - although this is not a good thing, but at least it symbolizes some kind of equality. And don't worry about the husband constantly marrying concubines or something, men can find mistresses, women can also find mistresses, just look at American dramas like "House of Cards" to know that many modern upper-class couples don't live like this?

Next, Jane pointed out the most ridiculous aspects of Elizabeth's self-pity just now.

“…… And, do you really think that the Bennets, who earn £2,000 a year, are actually poor? ”

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——Although in the plot of the novel "Pride and Prejudice", because of the various ridicule and contempt of the Bennet family by the man's relatives, there is always an illusion that the poor woman is climbing the rich and noble, and "the domineering president falls in love with the poor working girl". But in fact, the Bennet family owned more than 2,000 acres of land (all the more exaggerated considering it was only twenty-five miles from London), had their own estates, forests, rivers and lakes, and were not poor squires with poor economic conditions as some readers mistakenly thought, but a real family of exploiting class tyrants.

It is no exaggeration to say that the five Bennet sisters of this kind of family are also the real Miss Bai Fumei, not some Cinderella. It's just that the man on the other side is richer and more handsome, and his net worth is more exaggerated - Mr. Bentley, who married Jane, has assets of 100,000 pounds. Mr. Darcy, who was married to Elizabeth, owned half the county's land, and a large number of powerful relatives, and the family's estate was as luxurious as a palace...... Therefore, Elizabeth's marriage to Mr. Darcy is indeed a bit high, but it is only a little bit, and it is far from shocking!

So, what was the concept of the Bennet family's annual income of 2,000 pounds in British society at that time?

First of all, it needs to be clear that the modern pound sterling is a large monetary unit, and in the coinage era, the pound sterling is a gold coin minted by precious metals, and the long-term price measured by it is basically stable, although there are high and low market prices, but there is generally no continuous inflation. Therefore, in that era, as long as you had an annual income of thirty to fifty pounds, the family could basically have no worries about food and clothing. It can be seen that the purchasing power of one pound at that time was at least equivalent to 1,000 to 2,000 yuan now, which is definitely not an overestimate.

However, at that time, the British coins were pitifully scarce, and there were only two kinds of shillings and pence below the pound sterling. One pound sterling is equal to twenty shillings, and one shilling is equivalent to twelve pence, and the penny is already the smallest commonly used auxiliary currency in modern Britain, and it cannot be sold for less than one penny. The purchasing power of a penny is about five to ten yuan equivalent to that of modern China...... You can imagine if in today's China, the smallest coin is 10 yuan, the price of goods is in 10 yuan, and there are no smaller coins, then what kind of collapse the market would be - office workers have to buy fritters for breakfast for several people at a time, buy white porridge is enough to support one person to death, housewives have to buy greens, cabbage, radish, sweet potatoes and potatoes in baskets or sacks, because they have to buy at least 10 yuan at a time. Coca-Cola can only sell large bottles, or force consumers to buy three cans at a time because there are no smaller coins...... (Around 1860, Britain issued a "fas" smaller than a penny, but this was more than half a century after the era described in Pride and Prejudice.) ）

In the London market at the end of the eighteenth century, a pound of beef cost about two to four pence, and a pound of marine fish cost one to two pence, similar to the price in modern China. And because of the heavy pollution of the Thames, river fish is basically cheap as if it were given away for free.

Compared with the cheapness of food, the price of various industrial products is relatively expensive due to the underdeveloped level of technology. At that time, there were very few ready-to-wear stores, and the vast majority of Europeans had to go to tailors to make their suits, and they were considered rich to make two new coats a year. And those who are not too generous in the middle class, in order to have a decent dress that can last to attend banquets and balls, have to go to second-hand clothes shops to find second-hand or even third-hand goods that the rich do not want. Because of the high stamp duty levied by the British government, the price of a legal newspaper was as high as one shilling, but the poor who were greedy for money liked to read pirated or illegal tabloids, so that each newspaper cost only one penny. Since the British Empire did not have compulsory education, school fees were expensive. For example, at the famous Eton College, tuition fees are charged on a weekly basis, at least one shilling a week, and students have to purchase textbooks and pen and paper themselves.

After talking about prices, let's talk about income. At that time, a casual worker in the city of London was paid about two or three pennies a day for a twelve-hour work, earning only one or two shillings a week. Regular workers under contract are paid only four to six pence a day under a twelve-hour workday. Overall, in Jane. During the Napoleonic Wars in Austen's novels, the average income of the British working class was only about ten pounds a year. Until the Victorian era, where Sherlock Holmes lived more than 100 years later, the average British worker earned only £25 a year. Moreover, there was neither unemployment insurance nor medical insurance at that time, and ordinary working people had to work every day to support themselves and their families, and if they fell ill, they could face the end of starvation for their entire families.

It can be seen that the annual income of the Bennet family of 2,000 pounds is equivalent to 2 million to 4 million yuan in modern China in terms of purchasing power. The 5,000 pounds dowry that Mrs. Bennet left to her five daughters is equivalent to 5 million to 10 million yuan...... It's really not less.

Jane, therefore, seemed to be more optimistic about the future of life in the English countryside for her own people—in Jane's view, even in the worst case, they would have received two thousand pounds a year in rent for the land before the house and the attached property were taken by the Reverend Collins and swept them away, and at least five thousand pounds of money for the dowry. As long as they don't invest indiscriminately and lose their capital, even if they don't work for the rest of their lives, they can live a so-so life just by eating interest.

(The pound in this era is all gold coins, and basically does not depreciate for the rest of their lives, and there are really many people who live on bank interest.) ）

Even if you feel lonely, empty and cold one day, and you plan to get married and start a family, it is not easy to find a gentleman who is the right person, but as long as you lower some standards and hook up with a few handsome little fresh meat with good looks from the common people, it is not easy to get caught?

In short, thinking that they still have so much property in their hands that they can inherit, they feel that the future should not be too bad.

However, both Jane and Elizabeth were naïve, and in fact, the misery of fate was just beginning to show its fangs......

No matter what era or place, the ideal is very beautiful, but the reality is very cruel.

- In the second month of the Bennets' disappearance, the five Bennet sisters, who had changed their souls, were surprised to find that the family seemed to be running out of money!