Chapter 408 Ms. Will
In the other world, it is March in the new calendar year 1033.
It was a week ago that the Prosperous Church delegation left for home. The event was reported in both Innadri Weekly and Adler Weekly, but it did not attract much attention from local people... After all, foreign delegations are too far away from the lives of ordinary people, and most people are more concerned about new things that are closer to them and can be used as topics for small talk.
For example, the new radio drama "Caddy's Farm" launched by Innadri Radio.
Ms. Will, who was visiting her relatives in Innadri on the weekend, brought her own radio with her when she boarded the ship at the port of Duta City, intending to listen to this cheerful story again while on the ship.
Tarantin's new product is a handheld full-band radio with a calendar, clock, calculator and emergency light. It comes with a pair of wired headphones and a retractable antenna on the top. Two batteries can last for a month. It is the most popular "trendy toy" among Rhine people recently...
The radio itself costs six silver coins, and a pair of replacement batteries costs only five copper coins. Unlike traditional radios that cost several or even dozens of gold coins, this product is affordable for most people. It is also so small and stylish that it is naturally popular. People from the neighboring royal capital and Odysseus will go to Inadi or Adler to buy it, while people from more distant places, such as Tachia, will entrust mercenaries or bounty associations to buy it on their behalf. Even with the shipping cost, it is still more cost-effective than traditional radios.
...After all, this thing can be made to order in any small electronics factory in China, and the wholesale price is less than 60 yuan. It would be a shame to sell it too expensive...
When Ms. Will boarded the passenger ship and walked into the cabin to look for a seat, she saw several well-dressed young people and middle-aged men wearing headphones. They had exquisite and beautiful handheld radios on the table in front of them, and they were proudly showing off to those who had not been able to buy this popular product.
Ms. Will was not shameless enough to attract attention. She found her seat, sat down, put away her luggage, hid the radio in her coat pocket, and covered the headphone cord with her collar. Only then did she calm down and listen to the radio while silently thinking about how to deal with the things at home when she got home.
Becoming a clerk in the Logistics Department was unimaginable for Ms. Will a year ago. She had never received a proper education, let alone entered a regular college. Her hometown was in the countryside of Newin Town, and she had a lot of brothers and sisters at home. Not to mention that the elders could not afford to pay for the children's education, even if they wanted to, it would not be her turn.
Ms. Weir was able to read because her parents sent her to work as a maid in a private school in the town of Newin when she was just fourteen years old.
While the children in the town were sitting in the classroom listening to the lessons, she was outside mopping the floor and cleaning the windows, attending classes intermittently while working. She also used her fingers dipped in water to write and draw on the table, and learned the most basic writing.
When Ms. Will was seventeen, the Gerry family next door to the private classroom suddenly became rich, and Mr. Gerry had to go to work at the city hall in the city.
Mrs. Gerry dismissed the original servants and proudly announced that she would find a cultured housekeeper to avoid embarrassment in the city. When Ms. Will heard the news, she hesitated for two days and then mustered up the courage to find one herself.
After attending classes for a few years, Ms. Will could stutter out the slogans on milk advertising leaflets and knew how to write her own name. Mrs. Gerry hired her because she did not demand a high salary and looked too precocious, not at all like a girl.
Ms. Will followed the Gerry family to the city. In the first few years, she had to do all the work by herself. Later, after Mr. Gerry entered the secretarial department and his annual salary increased, Mrs. Gerry hired a maid, and Ms. Will was able to breathe a little.
Mrs. Gerry is the kind of person who can't stand seeing others running around doing nothing. Even if Ms. Will has free time, she can't leave the Gerry house at will. When Mrs. Gerry doesn't need to take her to parties , Ms. Will can only spend her time reading Mr. Gerry's newspapers and books.
It was also because of her long-term reading of newspapers that Ms. Will saw the precarious situation of the Gerry family earlier than Mrs. Gerry... During the days when Mr. Gerry's temperament became more and more irritable and anxious, Ms. Will had already guessed that the Gerry family might not be able to stay in the city any longer.
After all, the rent in the Granser district is very expensive, and Mrs. Gerry is a person who loves to enjoy life and spends money without restraint. As the housekeeper, Ms. Will knows very well that the Gerry family does not have much money saved... Once Mr. Gerry loses his job at the city hall, his current life will be difficult to guarantee.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before Ms. Will's bad premonition came true. Mr. Gerry was fired by the city hall, received a "severance pay" of one month's salary, and returned home in disgrace.
Mrs. Gerry found it hard to accept the reality. After a big quarrel with Mr. Gerry, she cheered herself up and went around looking for the wives of her good friends, hoping to find someone to intercede for Mr. Gerry to return to City Hall. Unfortunately, she spent a lot of money but didn't see any results.
Having no choice but to accept reality, the Gerrys had to give up their house in Granser Street, send away their maid Claire and housekeeper Ms. Will, pack up their things and return to Newin.
Ms. Will did not spend money recklessly over the years. She saved all her income except for the part she sent home, but she had never tried living alone outside. She either worked in a private classroom or for the Gerry family. After staying in a small hotel in the city for several days, she still could not find a family willing to hire her, and she gradually became anxious.
She didn't want to go back to the countryside in Newin Town. She knew too well her position in the family... Her family would care about the money she sent back, but not much about her as a person; if she went back with the money she had saved, she would not be able to keep it, and her family would just find someone to marry her off.
After all, she is already 27 years old. If a woman of this age is not married in the countryside, she will be like a monster in the eyes of outsiders.
When Ms. Will was worried, Claire, the maid who left the Gerry family on the same day, came to see her.
This timid little girl who worked as a maid, after being sent away by the Gerry family, actually had the courage to go to the City Hall and ask if they wanted a job. She was actually noticed by the Logistics Department of the City Hall and was retained.
Ms. Will was surprised, and what surprised her even more was that Claire, who had settled down in the Logistics Department, was still thinking about her.
" In the past, when Mrs. Gerry got angry with me, you would always yell at me louder and more fiercely and ask me to work. I knew you wanted to get rid of me. You were always picky about my clothes because you didn't want me to be criticized by the lady. When the lady punished me by not allowing me to eat dinner, you would always prepare a sumptuous supper for the gentleman that night and bring the leftover dishes to me to clean... I know all this, ma'am. You are a gentle person."
When Claire, with freckles on her face, said these words with a smile, Ms. Will's eyes couldn't help but turn red - she thought that this country girl, who was clumsy and always disliked by Mrs. Gerry, just like her when she first came to the Gerry family, would not understand her intentions.
Thinking back to Claire who had taken her to report to the City Hall, Ms. Will's serious and old-fashioned face, which made people involuntarily recall a governess or a strict housekeeper, unconsciously showed a warm smile.
After being transferred to Adler, she was so busy with work that she might not even be free on weekends. This time, she finally squeezed out some time but had to go home to take care of things. Otherwise, Ms. Will really wanted to go to Innadri City to chat with Claire.
Pulling herself away from her memories, Ms. Will noticed that the mother and daughter sitting opposite her, the daughter who seemed to be a few years younger than her, were curiously staring at the radio antenna sticking out of Ms. Will's coat pocket.
"Don't stare at others, it's so rude." The gray-haired mother noticed Ms. Will's gaze and quickly pulled her daughter, then smiled at Ms. Will embarrassedly.
"It's okay." Ms. Will took off one of her headphones and subconsciously showed the professional smile she was required to practice after working in the Logistics Department. Although this smile made Ms. Will look a little majestic, "You two... don't look like people from the Rhine?"
Although they were also sitting in the cabin of the passenger ship, the mother and daughter had taller shoulders than Ms. Will, who was already considered tall among Southern women. Their facial features were not as soft as those of the people in the Eastern Kingdom. Their brows were deeper and their facial lines were harder.
"Yes, ma'am, we are from Kenya." The daughter, noticing her own faux pas, bowed slightly apologetically.
"The Kenyan Empire? That place is very far away. It must be difficult to get here?" Ms. Will said in astonishment.
The Kenyan Empire and the eastern countries are separated by Middle-earth, and the war in Middle-earth has lasted for nearly two hundred years; the Kenyans seen in the eastern kingdoms are mostly adventurers, mercenaries, or other professional strongmen, and ordinary Kenyans are extremely rare.
"Yes, ma'am. We changed routes several times and even took a ship. You know, Middle-earth was not peaceful back then." The daughter, who was very interested in chatting with Ms. Will, said, "If Mr. Jasper didn't know how to bypass Middle-earth, my mother and I would have no idea how to get to the Eastern Kingdoms."
Ms. Will subconsciously turned her head and saw a tall and strong man with a weapon sitting next to her, who nodded to her in a friendly manner.
At this point, the daughter asked again, "Ma'am, are you working at the City Hall?"
Ms. Will was stunned, and then she looked down at herself before she realized...the other party was not looking at the radio in her coat pocket at first, but at the city hall clerk uniform inside her coat.
In order to ensure that her family would take her words seriously when she returned to her hometown in the countryside of Newing Town, Ms. Will deliberately wore a uniform when she returned home; for ordinary people, especially country people, people wearing city hall uniforms speak with more authority.
"Yes, I work as a clerk in the Logistics Department of Innadri City Hall. Now I have been transferred to Dutata City to assist with the work here. My name is Will." Ms. Will introduced herself with a smile. She felt more proud to be noticed because of her identity as a clerk in the City Hall than to be noticed while listening to the radio in public.
The Kenyan mother and daughter across the table suddenly became excited. The daughter, who looked a few years younger than Ms. Will, said with excitement and expectation: "Ms. Will, do you know a man named Hal Maxwell? He is my cousin."
