Chapter 240: New Year Preparations

Chapter 240: New Year Preparations

Opening the box and seeing a large stack of 10 notes inside, xio was stunned, even holding her breath. After a while, she managed to suppress her excitement and waved her hand repeatedly, saying, "Fors, did you see this? It's 1,000!"

Attracted by the sound, Fors came over and, seeing the 1,000 in the box, said enviously, "So much money, xio, you didn't sell yourself to Mr. Hastur, did you?"

"What are you talking about? I earned this money through my own efforts!"

xio proudly recounted her cooperation with Hastur to Fors.

She had thought that getting a couple of hundred pounds would be a lot, but she never expected it to be 1,000!

Previously, when she was spreading information, she also took the opportunity to sell a lot of data, earning about 80. Now, she had another large sum of money.

She was so excited that she didn't know how to spend it and was sure she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

"Obviously, Mr. Hastur took pity on you and gave you some work to do."

"Hmph, you can keep being envious. This is 1,000, which is equivalent to all the royalties for one of your books, right?"

"..."

Fors didn't answer. The royalties for one of her books were not that much, usually a few hundred pounds, and she had never received more than 1,000 pound notes in royalties.

xio squinted her eyes with a smile and patted her chest, saying, "Don't worry, I won't forget you. I'll cover all the expenses for this New Year!"

"Really?"

"Of course, it's true. I'm planning to spend 100 pound notes to have a lavish New Year."

Their New Year celebrations had always been modest, depending on their earnings.

If they earned more that year, they would spend a bit more to have a good New Year. If they earned less, they would buy some food and stay at home, watching others in new clothes going out to play.

In the past, Fors had always contributed more money, while xio had little savings and was always aiming for promotion, so she didn't dare to spend recklessly.

"I've always wanted to buy a new dress."

"One dress isn't enough. You need at least three sets of New Year clothes!"

xio generously offered to cover all these expenses as a New Year gift for Fors.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go shopping now!"

"Let's go, and don't save money for me today!"

xio led Fors out happily.

On the other side, as the New Year approached, Leonard, who finally had a break, listened to his teammates discussing how to spend the New Year and quietly moved aside, not joining the conversation.

He had always been alone. When he was in Tingen, he could at least spend the New Year with the captain, as neither of them had families and they could stay at the Night Watchers' base together.

But this year, he was in Backlund.

Although Klein was with him, Klein's brother and sister were coming from Tingen to spend the New Year in Backlund in a couple of days.

During this time, Klein had been busy setting up the new house, showing great importance and anticipation for the New Year.

Although Klein had invited him to spend the New Year together, he didn't want to intrude on their family reunion, as they hadn't seen each other for almost half a year and surely had a lot to talk about.

"Sigh, old man, I'll have to spend the New Year with you this year."

"Hehe, if you hadn't refused back then, you could have had a new family by now."

"... Old man, can you stop mentioning her? I'm really afraid of running into her again."

"The New Year, I remember this holiday became more important because of Roselle. He seemed to like this holiday a lot."

"Related to Emperor Roselle?"

"During his reign, he organized many interesting activities every New Year and even required factories to give employees a seven-day holiday so they could also celebrate the New Year."

Listening to the old man recounting history, Leonard didn't feel so lonely anymore.

In the West District.

After finishing a day's work, Klein returned to his newly rented house in the South Bridge District.

It was also a townhouse with three bedrooms, two living rooms, and three bathrooms, slightly smaller than the one he rented in Tingen.

There was no choice; the housing prices in Backlund were too high. The rent for a similar house was about 1.5 times that in Tingen.

Although he had some extra income recently, it wasn't enough to buy a new house, so he had to rent for now. By next year, he should have saved enough to buy a new house.

He hoped to buy a small villa, a place that truly belonged to him, where living would be comfortable.

After walking around the house a few times, Klein listed the things he still needed to buy on paper.

In two days, Benson and Melissa would arrive in Backlund, and he wanted to set up their rooms as a small surprise for them.

Besides setting up the rooms, he also needed to prepare some New Year goods. Celebrating the New Year required some food, didn't it?

As for spending money?

Working hard all year was for the joy of these few days of the New Year, wasn't it?

Money was saved to be used at times like this.

"Currently, the daytime temperature in Backlund is generally around minus seven or eight degrees, and it gets colder at night. I must prepare a warm set of clothes for Melissa before she arrives, or she'll find various excuses to refuse."

"When Benson arrives in Backlund and passes the civil service exam, he'll need a new formal suit, along with a tie, pocket watch, and cane."

"As for myself... I can buy a set of casual clothes. After all, buying summer clothes in winter saves a lot of money."

"For food, beef, fish, and pork should be the main dishes. I can also prepare some of Backlund's specialty dishes for Benson and Melissa to try."

"During the New Year, I can take them to the Queen's District, the most lively place in Backlund during the New Year."

Klein couldn't help but smile. Celebrating the New Year felt almost unreal.

Fortunately, he had a home here and family to spend the New Year with.

...

At the Hall Earl's residence.

Audrey watched the busy maids, feeling a surge of indescribable emotions.

After this New Year, she would officially become an adult.

In noble circles, once a young lady came of age, her family would soon arrange a marriage for her, and within two or three years, she would be married.

Every time she thought about this, she felt a bit resistant to growing up.

But adulthood seemed to have a magical allure, making people yearn for it.

Even though it was just a year's difference, being an adult and being a minor were very different in many ways.

Generally, after coming of age, parents wouldn't be too strict about their private lives, giving them more freedom. In many matters, they wouldn't prohibit this or that but would let them try more and quickly get used to the new rules of adulthood.

Even in matters of relationships, parents would start to turn a blind eye, and some even encouraged them to meet outstanding young nobles.

Once they found someone suitable and assessed each other's family backgrounds, they would arrange a lifelong marriage.

These were the personal experiences of some noble young ladies she met at tea parties.

Although they often complained, their smiles were bright.

It seemed that they didn't resist adulthood but were happy to accept their new identity.

Feeling a bit troubled, Audrey looked at Susie, who was lying on the ground as usual, and couldn't help but sigh.

Susie's life was sometimes enviable. It seemed to have no worries, and New Year or other holidays made no difference to it.

It could eat as many bones this year as it did last year.

Its only concern might be how much delicious food it could eat during the New Year.

"Woof?"

Sensing Audrey's gaze, Susie lifted her head slightly and glanced at her.

"It's nothing, you can continue sleeping."

Susie buried her head again, closing her eyes to think.

This year was different for it. In the past, it would really be sleeping, but now, it was thinking about profound questions beyond a dog's life, like where dogs come from and where they should go.

Who am I?

What is a dog, and how is it different from humans?

What goals should a thinking dog set for its life?

There were too many questions worth pondering, and it wanted to ask Audrey for answers.

But it understood that in terms of reading, it had surpassed Audrey by far.

After all, it read some of Emperor Roselle's works every day, learning from his knowledge and spirit.

Meanwhile, Audrey had to learn things she didn't like, such as dancing, social etiquette, musical instruments, painting, various languages, and even politics and history.

Comparing the two, it felt much happier than Audrey.

As for this year's New Year gift, it had already decided. It wanted a complete set of Emperor Roselle's philosophical works.

(End of Chapter)