After drinking tea and exchanging some unimportant pleasantries, when the atmosphere was just right, Nan Yi asked the school beauty to bring over two gift boxes.
Nan Yi took the gift box, pointed the front of the gift box towards himself and opened the lid, then turned the gift box and pointed the front of the gift box towards Deepak, "This is a gift that Sophie and I prepared for you two, please accept it."
What Nan Yi prepared for Fatiya was Jili Lake silk, which is the best silk in the country. The dragon robes and phoenix clothes in the Ming and Qing dynasties were made of Jili Lake silk.
Good things are never cheap. The silk enough to make two saris cost Nan Yi several thousand dollars.
What was prepared for Deepak was much simpler. It was a traditional Chinese version of the "Tagore Special Issue of Novel Monthly" with Tagore's autograph on the title page. Nan Yi spent a full fifty cents to buy it at a bookstall in Beijing. The book must be authentic. A large number of copies were printed at the time, and many have been passed down. It is hard to say whether the signature is real or not.
Deepak thanked him, picked up the book and took a look at the bare cover with only a few red characters written in the middle. Then he turned the title page and saw Tagore's portrait and the handwritten Devanagari script below the portrait. His expressionless face immediately turned into joy.
"Mr. Adam, is this the Chinese version of Rabindranath Tagore's poems?"
"Yes, it was translated by several famous modern poets in China at the time, including Hamilton Xu."
"Very quietly I take my leave, As quietly as I came here. Hamilton is a poet I like very much. Unfortunately, he doesn't write many poems in English." Deepak said regretfully after reading the first two lines of "A Farewell to Cambridge".
After knowing that Deepak had studied classical literature at the University of London, Nan Yi decided on a gift for him. He then called London to inquire whether Xu Zhimo would be taught in classes on this major. He got a positive answer, which led to today's conversation.
There are no coincidences, only silent intelligence gathering and careful preparation behind the scenes.
"What a coincidence! My grandmother and Hamilton lived in the same era. She also liked Hamilton's poems. Influenced by her, I also like them. I have collected two poetry collections by Hamilton, both of which are signed by him. Mr. Tivedi, as a fellow enthusiast, I can give you one."
"That's great, Mr. Adam, thank you very much."
Deepak's face showed an expression of inexplicable joy. It seemed that his liking for Xu Zhimo was not just a polite remark. Nan Yi thought about calling Beijing as soon as possible to have someone look for him. It shouldn't be too difficult to find him.
"Mr. Adam, I like this silk very much." After Deepak thanked him, Fatia, who was playing with the silk just now, also thanked him.
"Mrs. Tiwidi, you're welcome." Nan Yi said to Fatia, and then said to Deepak, "Mr. Tiwidi, Sophie and I are tired from the journey, so we want to go to the room to wash up first."
"Sorry, it's my mistake. I'll have someone send you two over."
After Deepak finished speaking, he clapped his hands, and the butler that Nan Yi had just met walked up to him...
After a while, Nan Yi and Sophie Marceau were led to the guest room by two maids who were about twelve or thirteen years old, and accompanied by a group of servants behind them.
Two little maids followed into the room, and the rest of the group stayed outside the door.
As soon as she entered the room, Sophie Marceau looked around and walked towards the bathroom she had chosen. Before entering the door, she turned around and waved to Nan Yi.
Nan Yi stepped forward, and Sophie Marceau pulled him into the bathroom and closed the door.
"Adam, there are twelve people in total, eight men and four women. Are they here to serve us or to monitor us?"
"Don't think too much. It's here to serve us. Take a look, what's missing?" Nan Yi said, pointing to the flush toilet.
"What's missing?" Sophie Marceau looked where Nan Yi pointed and soon shouted, "Ah, there's no toilet paper, Adam, you won't let us use our hands, will you?"
"No, the two maids outside are here to serve us. Of course, I don't need them to provide that kind of service. There is toilet paper in the car, and the school beauty will bring it to us later."
Sophie Marceau said with emotion: "What a decadent aristocratic life. That kind of work is done for you."
Nan Yi turned on the faucet on the washstand, took out a paper card from his pocket, unfolded it, tore off three test papers one by one, soaked them in the faucet, and compared them with the three color cards on the paper card.
"The water quality is good, it should be mountain spring water, you can use it with confidence."
"Adam, you're too careful."
"Uh-huh, you first, I'll wait for you outside."
Nan Yi walked out of the bathroom and glanced at the two maids who were standing by the wall with their heads down without moving. Then he asked in English, "Who among you can speak English?"
"Master Adam, I can." One of the maids shook her head slightly, still keeping her head down.
"What's your name?"
"Adam sir, my name is Saran Shah."
"Oh, Saran, that's a nice name, and you speak English very well. Did you learn it in school, or did Mr. Tivedi teach you?"
"No, my lady taught me."
"Are you Mrs. Tividi's maid?"
"Yes, Master Adam."
"I'm a little thirsty, could you please get me a glass of milk?"
When Nan Yi said the word "milk", he did not say "Milk", but "Satin". This word means silk, but it is slang in London and is usually used to refer to milk.
"Master Adam, please wait a moment, I'll get it for you." Saran responded and walked out of the guest room.
After a few words of communication, Nan Yi had a basic judgment about Saran: she was Fatia's personal maid, and should be a very caring one, who was carefully trained and might have lived in London for a period of time.
As for why Saran was sent here, Nan Yi couldn't tell whether he was valued or was being treated lightly.
After a while, Sophie Marceau came out of the bathroom, and Nan Yi took her place and searched the entire bathroom. When he didn't find anything unusual, he washed his face and walked out of the bathroom.
In the guest room, Saran was already waiting outside with milk. At the same time, the housekeeper was chatting with Sophie Marceau in the guest room.
"Adam, this is Butler Amit, he's here to invite us to have Chinese food."
"Butler Amit, please go out and wait for a moment. Sophie and I will change our clothes and come out soon. Saran, please take her out and wait as well."
After Nan Yi sent the three people out, he didn't say anything. He directly helped Sophie Marceau choose a suitable set of clothes from the suitcase. Then he made a zipper mouth-sealing gesture to Sophie Marceau and pointed to the bathroom.
Sophie Marceau nodded, took the clothes from Nan Yi and walked into the bathroom.
Nan Yi stood still and looked at the ceiling, four walls and the decorations on the walls of the guest room. He also carefully observed the holes on the TV. When he didn't see any abnormal holes, he opened his suitcase and took out a black lipstick-shaped anti-bug device from the secret compartment. He pressed a button on it and walked around the guest room with the anti-bug device in his hand.
When it got close to the bedside lamp, the indicator light on the anti-bug device emitted an orange-red light. It continued to move, and the telephone on the desk and the TV against the wall in the center of the room also emitted an orange-red light.
"Fuck you, you're really good at pretending. Once you pretend, you can pretend three times."
Nan Yi muttered inwardly, took out a set of clothes from the suitcase and changed into them, then adjusted the anti-eavesdropping device to a slight vibration mode and put it in his pocket.
After Sophie Marceau came out of the bathroom, Nan Yi and she walked out of the guest room and followed Butler Amit to the dining room.
The dining room is very luxurious, a large open space of more than 300 square meters. The walls are lined with shelves in a certain pattern, and on the shelves are placed various golden ornaments, mainly cobras, as well as other gods or ancient generals.
I can't tell whether it is copper or gold without playing with it, but based on the nature of Indians, it shouldn't be copper, at most it's gold of a lower purity.
With the dining table in the center of the dining room as the center, there are twelve flat ornaments hanging on the twelve pillars carved with intricate patterns. Nan Yi looked at the ornaments on several of the pillars and recognized a few of them. By analogy, he knew that the twelve ornaments should be the twelve Indian zodiac signs - rat, ox, lion, rabbit, Mahoraka [snake], Naga [dragon], horse, sheep, monkey, Garuda, dog, and pig.
Nan Yi once saw an article by Tiegu Guo in an old newspaper at a used bookstall. He said in uncertain terms that the concept of the twelve zodiac signs first appeared in ancient Babylon.
Withdrawing their gaze, Nan Yi and Sophie Marceau walked straight to the dining table.
The dining table is very large, about eight meters long and two meters and sixty meters wide. There is a wide variety of dishes on the table. Except for pork and beef, mainstream Indian and Western dishes can be seen on the table.
"The rich are feasting and drinking, but the poor are freezing to death on the streets. If this table is given to my children, they can have two meals with balanced nutrition."
"Ah, Mr. Tiwedi, the lunch is really rich." Nan Yi praised exaggeratedly and walked towards Deepak.
"Mr. Adam, you are my distinguished guest. It is my duty to entertain you with the most abundant food." Deepak walked towards Nan Yi and arranged seats for Nan Yi and Sophie Marceau. "How about we drink Bombay Sapphire at noon?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Tivedi, but I can't handle blue food or drinks."
"I should be the one to say sorry. Blue drinks are indeed hard to accept. How about Beefeater?"
"Can."
Deepak naturally didn't need to do the job of pouring the wine himself, as everything was done by the butler Amit. After the wine was poured, Deepak and his wife first toasted Nan Yi and the other person, and then they chatted about "London".
During the chat, Nan Yi learned some information that he didn't know before.
For example, Deepak and Fateya met in London and they are also alumni. Fateya's maiden name is Singh. The Singh family went to Manchester to develop early and now has a lot of business there.
The Tiwidi family and the Singh family are old friends, and Jacky spent his childhood and youth in the Singh family.
After arriving at Tividi Manor, Nan Yi hasn't seen Jackie. Logically, he was not here just now, so he should be here now for dinner. But he still hasn't shown up. This gave Nan Yi a feeling that the relationship between the uncle and nephew might not be very good.
With this feeling, there are endless possibilities as to who installed the bug in the room.
“Mr. Tiwedi, can I visit your tea garden tomorrow morning?”
"Of course, we have to go to the tea garden early. We have to leave before seven in the morning, otherwise it will be too hot."
"It's okay. I'm used to getting up early. In the afternoon, Sophie and I want to go around the village. We'd like to trouble Mr. Tividi to arrange a guide for us. Ah, Saran is a good one."
"Mr. Adam, I'd better let me personally accompany you on the tour." Deepak said politely.
"It's better not to bother Mr. Tivedi. I believe your trip will cause quite a stir. We just want to experience the characteristics of rural India and don't want to disturb the villagers too much."
"Haha, that's right. My presence in the village will affect your travel experience. So, I will arrange transportation for you and people to protect you."
"Thanks."
After nearly three hours of lunch, Nan Yi and Sophie Marceau returned to the guest room for a rest. When it was three o'clock in the afternoon, they were taken to the hall of the manor by Saran.
There were already quite a few people waiting in the hall, eight middle-aged and young men wearing red cloth bags on their heads, dressed in white and holding sticks in their hands, as well as a man and a woman who looked very strong. Nan Yi took a casual glance and found that the calluses on their palms were very thick, and their knees were pitch black with thick calluses and patina.
At that moment, Nan Yi had some guesses about the means of transportation that Deepak mentioned. This man and woman should be the legendary "human mules". As the name suggests, they treat people like mules.
Human mules crawl on all fours, and people sit on their backs, and they crawl on the ground, just like riding a big horse, the only difference is that one kind treats people like animals, while the other kind enjoys family happiness.
Human mules are not uncommon. Nan Yi also knows of human elephants with people sitting on their necks; human horses, on their backs. He has also heard that people who are used to the treatment of buses with drivers now need a driver even when riding a bicycle.
Nan Yi would not over-interpret the human mule. As long as the wages were paid, it was also a service job. However, riding on a person's back was not necessarily more comfortable than walking on your own.
"Saran, we don't need any transportation, let's just walk to the village."
"Yes, Master Adam."
Saran whispered a few words to the two human mules, and the human mule saluted to Nan Yi and the other man and retreated.
Ganges Village seemed very large. Saran led Nan Yi and his party to walk in one direction for more than ten minutes without meeting anyone or passing any buildings. Nan Yi looked ahead and thought that if they wanted to reach the place with buildings, it would take at least half an hour at their pace.
"Saran, how big is Ganga Village?"
"It's not very big, only 160 square miles, 120 square miles of which belong to my master." Saran replied calmly.
"Fuck, who did you learn this from? You're really good at showing off. 120 square miles, minus the places where people live, the mountains and roads, there are only 300,000 acres of land left for planting, it's not a big scale."
Nan Yi said with a grumble in his heart, "Does Mr. Tiwedi have any land elsewhere?"
"some."
"oh."
Nan Yi did not ask about the area again, as that would be too deliberate.
Following Saran and continuing forward, after five minutes, crops began to appear on the roadside. They should not belong to the Tividi family. The seedlings could be seen to be burnt yellow and the ground was cracked. Nan Yi asked someone to go into the field and pull out a piece of soil.
Hold it in your hand and observe the soil. You can find that the thickness of the dry soil below the surface is almost 1.5 centimeters. If you don't irrigate it for two days, the yield will definitely decrease. If you don't irrigate it for four days, the crops will basically be ruined.
Throwing the soil back into the field, Nan Yi looked around and found that the conditions in the nearby fields were similar. There were no canals or ditches beside the fields. This meant that the only way to irrigate was to use the "cross-field method", which meant that water borrowed from other people's fields.
The path required is very wide. No one is willing to dig a ditch specifically for other families to use for irrigation. The water can only overflow the fields upstream and then flow to the next field. The land is so dry that the loss during irrigation is really incalculable.
Perhaps 5 cubic meters of water are needed for irrigation, and the loss on the road will reach thousands of cubic meters.
This is on the premise that others are willing to lend you the way. If you are not popular and others are unwilling to lend you the way, then you can only carry water or carry it on your head.
While Nan Yi was thinking about it, he saw a woman carrying a ceramic water pitcher on her head. She came to the edge of a field, poured the water in the pitcher into the field, and then left shaking the jingling bells.
Nan Yi went forward and took a look at the edge of the field. There was an area in the field where the soil looked relatively moist, but there was no water on the surface. It was estimated that the woman had only made a few trips there.
Saran was a little puzzled. Why was this distinguished master always obsessed with crops, and they were the crops of the untouchables? He said he came to the village just to see the crops?
"Saran, is there a stream or pond nearby?"
"There are several ponds and streams two miles away. They belong to my master and are not for the use of untouchables. Anyone else who wants to use them must pay."
“Are all the landowners around here Dalits?”
"Yes, they are all untouchables."
"Your family is also from Ganges Village?"
"Yes, my family's land is next to the stream, so we never lack water." Saran said proudly, "If the land lacks water, we just need to open the water outlet to release water. It's very convenient."
"Oh, who's in your family?"
"Dad, mom, mom, two older brothers, three younger brothers, and a younger sister."
"Your family all work for Mr. Tivedi's?"
"No, my father works for the master, my mother farms at home, and my brothers and sisters are all studying. They will work for the master after they graduate. My eldest brother is at Imperial College, my second brother is at Manchester University, and my younger siblings are at the village school."
"Your family is amazing." Nan Yi gave a thumbs up and praised.
"Thank you for the compliment, Master Adam." Saran said devoutly, "Everything is given by the master."
"Little girl, I am now doubting who your master is."
Nan Yi now has some guesses that Saran in front of him should be Fatia's confidant, and her family's good life may not necessarily be given by Deepak on his own initiative, but may very well be instigated by Fatia behind the scenes.
"Adam, did you see the bell on that woman just now?" Sophie Marceau walked up and asked after seeing Nan Yi and Saran finished their conversation.
"See, do you like it?"
“I feel so special.”
"Once you understand its purpose, you won't feel that way anymore."
Sophie Marceau asked: "What is it for?"
"Dalits, another name for untouchables, ring the bell to let others know they are here, and those who want to avoid them should do so quickly."
"It's so unfair to them."
"Yeah."
"Adam, you seem to be indifferent to this kind of thing. Don't you think this phenomenon is unfair to Dalits?"
"Ahaha, Flat Shoes has become a human rights fighter. Very good, I want to get closer to you. Let's start by not going against each other's will. Don't wake me up at night, OK?"
Sophie Marceau sneered: "Haha, Adam, change the other party to a woman. You shouldn't go against a woman's will."
The two of them laughed and joked all the way as they followed Saran towards the direction of the building complex. After walking for another ten minutes, they came to a small stream. The stream was not too wide, only about three meters. The water was clear and flowed fast, with no floating objects on the water.
There was a deliberately dug depression beside the stream, and a cow with shiny fur was tied there, soaking contentedly in the puddle, chewing non-stop with its mouth.
When Saran saw the cow, she apologized to Nan Yi and the other man and walked towards the cow. When she got close, the cow saw her and came out of the water and walked to her side.
Saran first saluted the cow with his hands clasped together, then combed the cow's hair, murmuring something while combing.
"Adam, Saran is so loving, this cow should be her pet."
"It's hard to say, maybe it's her elder."
Nan Yi remembered that when Saran introduced her family just now, she used the awkward term "Mom, Mom". If her father had two wives, he could have admitted it openly. It was not uncommon to have multiple wives , and no one would laugh at you, unless one of the wives was not a human being.
"elder?"
"Yes, there are destiny rules in Indian religions... Well, let's put it this way. For example, a man and a woman want to get married, but once the two of them are together, the woman will become the man's wife and bad luck or a curse will befall her. In order to resolve this, the man will first marry a cow or a tree and make them his wife, and vice versa."
"You mean, this is Saran's mother?"
"Very likely."
"Adam, how do you know? Didn't you say you didn't travel much since you came to India?"
"As long as you can transfer your enthusiasm for thinking about that kind of thing to reading books and newspapers, you will also understand India better, and you can show off in front of me."
"Ha, you read just to show off?"
“We are different.”
"It's different, I'm on top and you're on the bottom." Sophie Marceau said meaningfully.
"Don't say unhealthy things in broad daylight."
“Ahaha…”
"Master Adam, let's walk faster. There is a filthy place ahead. If we stay here for too long, we will be unlucky." Saran said to Nan Yi after taking care of the cow.
There is a small woods on the opposite side of the stream, with a few scattered big trees, as well as many low small trees and shrubs. In rural fields, such places are usually used as places to defecate.
"Saran, in the early morning, there will be many women in the area ahead?"
"Not only in the early morning, but also in the evening, some women from the village come here at these two times every day."
"Oh, how many places like this are there in the village?"
"More than twenty."
"Well, how many miles does a woman have to walk round trip?"
"Yes, such a place cannot be too close to the village, otherwise the villagers will have objections."
“How many small villages or settlements are Ganges Village divided into?”
The area of ​​more than 400 square kilometers is almost as large as a small county town. According to India's population density, there are at least 400,000 people living here, and it is unlikely that they live together in a concentrated area.
"I'm not sure. There are 20 settlements on the owner's land, and each settlement has more than 20,000 people."
"Do they work for Mr. Tivedi, or are they tenants?"
"Most of them are tenants. There are only about 30,000 people working for my master."
"What percentage of the rent do tenants receive?"
“Thirty percent.”
"Is it the same for every tenant, or is it that different rents are collected according to the different conditions of the land? Will the rents of tenants with higher yields be reduced?"
"It's different. There is a complicated algorithm. The rent rate for good land will be higher, and the rent rate for bad land will be lower. The higher the output of the tenant, the lower the rent rate he needs to pay. Master Adam, that piece of land is my family's land..." Saran said, and suddenly glared at him, "Damned untouchable, how dare he..."
Saran snatched the stick from a "bodyguard", grabbed the hem of her sari with one hand, and angrily trotted towards her own land.
After a while, she stood at the edge of her own land, pointing a stick at a head in the rice seedlings and yelling. The head was awakened by her yelling, stood up, and came to her side nervously.
Whoosh…whoosh whoosh…
The wooden sticks fell on the "human head" like a storm. Saran did not hold back at all and did not make any move to avoid the vital parts. Seven out of eight sticks hit the vital parts.
"Do you still find her friendly now?"
"Adam, did that man do something unforgivable?"
"Yes, he did something unforgivable. He actually dared to shit in someone else's field." Nan Yi said sarcastically and sadly.
“Dalit?”
"Um."
"If the fighting continues, someone will be beaten to death. I'll go and try to stop them." Sophie Marceau said as she was about to step forward.
Nan Yi grabbed Sophie Marceau's arm, pursed his lips and said, "No need, look, it has stopped. The patient won't die. He will recover in half a month if he can go to the hospital for proper treatment."
"Don't lie to me. How can a Dalit have money to go to the hospital? No, I want to give him some money." Sophie Marceau said as she tried to break free from Nan Yi's hand.
"Don't go, let the school beauty take you there later."
Nan Yi said, letting go of Sophie Marceau's hand, walked up to the school beauty, and whispered to her: "Has the person who delivered the report left?"
“We have already set out.”
"Contact Puran and ask her to come quietly and give some money to the Dalit. Find out a little about the Tiwidi couple from him. If possible, develop him into an informant."
"clear."
After Saran had vented her anger, she returned to Nan Yi and the others, and she changed from the impetuous Hu Sanniang back to the gentle and elegant Mrs. Lin.
"Adam sir, ahead is Kabir, the second settlement of Ganga Village. There is a well on the outskirts of Kabir. The water in the well is very sweet."
"Then go and have a look."
Passing through the green farmland, Nan Yi actually didn't see much color in it. He looked at his watch and it was almost four o'clock in the afternoon. The sun was not strong in the sky and there was a slight breeze, so it was not too uncomfortable to work outside.
While walking on the road, insects would occasionally pass by in front of their eyes, and would also stay on their shoulders, arms, and backs. Nan Yi bulged his hands into the shape of a hill and caught a rice planthopper from Sophie Marceau's arm. Judging from the color of its back, it should be a brown planthopper.
Snap, pinching them to death with his fingernails, Nan Yi continued to make moves, catching brown planthoppers and white-backed planthoppers from Sophie Marceau and himself.
Before he even entered the rice fields, there were already so many rice leafhoppers. After walking a few steps, Nan Yi's face would be covered with some invisible stuff, which was a bit sticky. He had to wipe his face and pat his hair from time to time.
What is invisible is the spider silk. They will go to where there are many insects to make their webs.
Nan Yi glanced into the rice field and saw seven or eight thin and soft silver reflections in an area of ​​about ten square meters.
"Saran, whose land is this?"
"Master Adam, these are all private lands of the villagers. Some of them were passed down from their ancestors or bought with money, and some were given to us servants by our masters. My family's land was given by our master."
“Are there any villagers in the village who have more land?”
"Yes, their land is upstream of the stream, near my master's land."
Nan Yi nodded, walked to the edge of a rice field, reached into the water, dug out some silt, brought it to his mouth, licked it with his tongue, and felt it.
"It doesn't have a strong earthy smell, no fishy smell, no astringency, and a bit of a grainy texture." Nan Yi muttered to himself, and tested the stickiness of the silt again, "It's not too sticky. This rice field is soaked in water all year round, and fertilizer is rarely applied. It hasn't been visited by earthworms for a long time, and the fertilizer is about to run out.
Lazy bones, the insect pests are so severe. If you don't have money to buy pesticides, you can go out and drive them away manually. It can at least help. The poorer you are, the lazier you are. The lazier you are, the poorer you are. No, I have to do something good. Don't let them lie down. Drive them all to the city to struggle.
I could have bought three or five houses and rented them out, or I could have caught up with the Internet era and become an Internet tycoon with an estimated net worth of hundreds of billions of dollars. God bless me, Buddha have mercy on me, and I have done a great deed.”
Sophie Marceau walked over to Nan Yi who was enjoying himself and teased, "Adam, is it delicious?"
Nan Yi put his hand to Sophie Marceau's mouth and said, "It's delicious, would you like some?"
"No, I'll watch you eat."
"I'm not hungry now. I'll dig some and take it back to eat slowly." Nan Yi waved to the school beauty and said, "Give me two bottles of mineral water."
Taking the mineral water from the school beauty, Nan Yi opened a bottle and drank two sips, then poured out the water in the bottle, put some soil sample into the bottle, opened another bottle, washed his hands, filled half a bottle with water from the rice field, tightened the bottle cap, and handed the bottle back to the school beauty.
"I'll give it to the person who delivers the report later and take it back to the city for testing."
Saran saw all of Nan Yi's actions. She felt that Master Adam in front of her was more and more strange. She heard from her wife that he was a high-level lackey working for big capitalists, but he didn't look like that. He looked more like a farmer who knew how to grow crops.
After the episode, the group continued to walk towards Kabir. After a while, they entered the village and saw the sweet well that Saran mentioned.
The well mouth is very large, the water looks very deep and clear, the well wall looks very smooth, and there is no moss. It is a very clean well and should be a holy well.
There were many pieces of cloth tied to the branches of a small tree near the well, and the trunk was painted with colorful paint.