Chapter 82

I hummed as I made my way to the new plot of land. I carried a basket full of dishes for the ones who had been working since early in the morning.

The basket contained four dishes of shredded pork mixed with pickled vegetables, like onions parsnips and carrots, and boiled potatoes. As beverage, I also made juice with lemons and oranges. Since it was too sour, I added water and sugar and a bit of salt.

Since they were going to keep working even in the afternoon, I made sure their dishes were very loaded with food. My portion was smaller compared to theirs, yet I was just going to keep sewing and not exert strength.

"Food's here!" I called out to the working men who paused their actions and started walking towards me.

To eat, I chose a place that had a fallen tree trunk so we could sit. I made sure it could hold our weight, and that it did not move that much to comfortably eat. Of course, I was going to accompany them. 

I passed each of them some wet towels I had prepared so they could clean some of the grime from going around cutting weed and shrubs. The towels did end up very dirty after they cleaned their faces, necks and hands. 

Once the food was served and we were ready to dig in, I curiously looked at Joseph and Felix. "How did it go in the Office?" Joseph's face turned a bit pinched while Felix lowered his face. "Were you not able to register the land?"

Joseph put his plate down and looked up at me. "There weren't any problems..." He trailed off. He was clearly unsure on how to share their real experience. I did not press him.

I did not have to. "Those people in the offices are so mean!" Felix exclaimed, finally unable to hold back any longer. "They kept us there, askin' over 'nd over where we got the money ta buy the land!" Exalted, he even reverted back to the way he used to speak.

The change of their way of speaking had not been deliberate. It must have been because we have been together for close to two months that we inevitably ended up imitating each other. My pronunciation was not affected, just the way they sometimes lilted some words or heavily dropped the volume of their voice on the last word of a sentence, making it difficult to hear.

"What did you say?" I really wanted to know if Ethan had to be the one to actually do the whole process as the eldest brother.

"We said it was given. They asked by who. We said our Wife. They went to check if we were actually married. Since there was no marriage, they wanted to call the authorities. We said it was our future Wife that lived with us. They asked your name and all that..." Joseph continued, but suddenly closed his mouth and looked away guiltily. 

"What?" I asked, confused.

Felix fidgeted before taking a deep breath. "Since we couldn't say the truth, we… we said it had been an exchange..." I still did not understand.

Luckily, Lucas noticed my confusion and elaborated on the matter. "Bought from someone."

Oh…

Well, I guess it was the most logical way to explain my situation to the government offices. It was one thing to pretend to have a marriage arrangement with the villagers; they believed everything one said. However, these offices had the paperwork. 

They had the name and surname of each person living in town and in nearby villages.

Since I was found in the wild, and had no identification as to who I was, it was hard to prove I was a law-abiding citizen and not some ruffian or illegal immigrant that posed a threat to others.

It was the first time I thought being an amnesiac had its drawbacks. If I knew who I was, where I came from, then… Well, it was best not to think in 'what ifs'.

When I felt a hand on my thigh, I looked up at Lucas' apologetic expression. Not only him, even Joseph and Felix expressed the same on their faces.

I smiled at them. "You did what you had to do." I tried to reassure them. "Anyway, were you able to do the registration?" That was the most important part.

"We did. They just made too many questions, and the whole thing lasted longer than we expected." Joseph nodded.

"Did you have problems when reading or writing?" The day before, after the whole argument about buying the land ended, I gifted a shocked Felix a notebook and a pencil for him to practice. He cried some happy tears and immediately started using them.

He copied the land and trading deeds into his notebook and asked the meaning of the words that were unknown to him.

And, since he had wanted to be prepared for the registration, he pulled an unwilling Joseph to practice, too. That was how Lucas and I stayed outside after our bath, and how Ethan found us.

After my question, the two went from downcast to smug. 

"Those guys were very surprised we could write and read." Joseph devilishly smirked.

Felix right out laughed. "I even heard someone say: 'but, they're villagers'. Teaches them to not look down on village people!" He puffed his chest in pride, bragging about his great feat. 

I could not help but give him a kiss.

"Unfair." Joseph joked.

"Knowing you, Felix must have done everything." I rolled my eyes at him. 

"I did." Felix nodded. 

Then, the usual argument between the two started.

After eating, we went to our respective jobs. They continued cleaning. With how full of weeds and shrubbery the plot of land was, then they expected to take the rest of the afternoon and even the next day to finish.

On my end, I had to finish sewing my dress. I had been going at it from dawn till dusk and I was proud to say that the part of the skirt was finally done. It was completely done with Sateen, covered with Organdy.

However, the Organdy was not sewn to cover the whole skirt. At the front, the hem reached a little bit above my knees, then it flowed and flared around, continuing the cut in a diagonal line to completely cover the part at the back. 

The skirt was going to be sewn to the top part. Though, that would be at the end because I wanted to decorate it. Maybe embroider some red flowers on the Sateen. I had to see how that would look by doing it in a separate strip of Sateen.

I even wanted to be risky with the top. Make the part that covered my torso with Sateen, and the neckline and sleeves with embroidered Organdy. All the embroidered parts would be done with red thread; to not end up with just a plain white dress.

Just imagining it made me boil in excitement, so I enthusiastically started cutting the fabric for the top. When I had all the pieces cut, the afternoon was almost over.

I hurried to start making dinner. With how much work the brothers had to do, and do it fast as we needed to start planting vegetables, I told them to not worry about making the meals and just focus on the plot of land.

I sauteed some vegetables in the fat that remained from the pork from lunch. That was a tip Corey gave me. She had said David, her husband, used fat from meat to cook other dishes to give them a different flavor than using plain salt and herbs.

It sounded counterproductive to her oil business, yet she said that olive oil could be used to fry and as dressing in salads. It had other uses, too.

After hearing me ask about lavender oil, she did some research and discovered how to make it. I guess she was soon going to be selling it in her stall. 

With all the lavender planted in the flower bed, I was thinking of making my own. I just needed to buy the oil from Corey. Maybe I could even sell her some stalks of lavender for her to make the lavender oil. 

Business opportunities were coming, so I was sure we would be fine in the nearby future. What came next only time would tell.