Chapter 151 Family Banquet
There was a heavy snowfall in October.
In order to prevent people from freezing to death, Richard had a dozen indentured slaves crowded into a room.
There was a huge influx of people into the territory in August and housing became very scarce.
In order to accommodate these new people, Richard could only let them huddle together for the winter, saving housing, fuel and other resources.
During this period after winter, the territory was relatively peaceful.
Time flies so fast, and in a blink of an eye it’s before the goddess’s birthday.
According to the tradition of the Harland family, the eve of the Birthday of the Goddess is a day for family members to gather.
On this day, William and Bernie took leave early and returned home to reunite with their relatives.
Richard and Sophia also returned to Black River Castle to meet their relatives.
Sophia is more than seven months pregnant and will give birth in late March next year. With the birth of this child, the Haaland family will also welcome a very important new member.
After the banquet started, Richard took the initiative to talk to his two uncles, Bernie and Powell, and asked them for their opinions on Adrian and Tang En's marriage.
Adrian is one year younger than Richard and has reached the age when nobles get married. His marriage should not continue to be delayed.
Neither uncle wanted their son to marry a territorial officer, but both hoped to marry a noble to improve the bloodline of the next generation of the Harland family.
William had three wives. Only Richard's mother had aristocratic blood, and the children she gave birth to were more talented.
Richard and Wendy are both very talented, and Hayden also surpasses Ron.
Bernie and Powell both saw this.
Even though Richard tried to persuade them several times, he could not make them change their opinions.
The situation in the territory was not suitable for the outside nobles to know, so the marriage could only be resolved among the relatives themselves.
Through Richard's introduction, Adrian got engaged to his uncle Roger's daughter, and their wedding date was set in January.
When it comes to marriages between relatives, the Grant Kingdom does not pay attention to seniority.
In order to keep their bloodline pure, some nobles would even let their nephews marry their aunts, uncles and nieces and have children. Even brother-sister marriages were common.
Adrian's engagement went very smoothly, but Tang En's marriage suffered a setback.
Tang En fell in love with Audrey, the daughter of his uncle Soros.
After exchanging the bloodline enlightenment potion from Richard, Audrey successfully awakened the knight's bloodline and is now a trainee knight.
Her blood concentration is better than that of her brother Morgan.
Audrey has outstanding talent and naturally has higher standards, so of course she looks down on Tang En.
Except for Sophia and Soros, none of the relatives of the Harland family have noble ancestry.
Tang En is already twenty years old after the goddess's birthday, and it is not suitable for his marriage to be delayed for too long.
Richard's uncle Soros was willing to come forward and introduce Tang En to Baron Dak's legitimate daughter. If this marriage was successful, Tang En would obviously be in a high position.
At this family dinner, William introduced his new favorite palace lady Kelly to Richard and others.
William and Kelly have been dating for almost a year and a half.
Mrs. Kelly had not attended the family dinner for the Goddess’s birthday last year.
Mrs. Kelly became pregnant this spring and gave birth two months before Sophia.
Because of having a child, Mrs. Kelly's status has improved a lot.
On this year's Goddess's Birthday, William officially introduced this new member to everyone. Through observation, Richard discovered that Ron should be somewhat dissatisfied with William for marrying this palace lady.
Although he didn't show it clearly, Richard vaguely felt a hint of hostility.
This year Ron's position in the Wild Lion Legion has been improved a bit, he has been promoted to the rank of captain, promoted to the main squadron, and he has also advanced to the second level.
Ron's hostility towards the mistress of the family actually lasted for many years.
When he first traveled through time, Richard noticed that he was dissatisfied with his mother.
Later it was discovered that he was dissatisfied with Mrs. Ola.
Now that William has a younger palace wife, he is still dissatisfied with Mrs. Kelly.
Richard didn't even know why he was dissatisfied with his father William?
Isn't it clear to him that, except for Richard's mother, William has overwhelming rights over his other partners.
The relationship between the two parties is not equal.
This young Mrs. Kelly is attracted by William, does she still have the right to refuse?
"Maybe this is the bad nature of people, who dare not resist power."
Richard took a sip of red wine alone and laughed at himself.
This year's family dinner was more luxurious than in previous years, and Olaf designed formal dresses for family members.
Men's attire is based on black and is made of expensive bearskin, worth more than five gold coins each.
Women's dresses use silk, tulle, pearls, and gold threads. The cuts of the dresses are very simple, without any unnecessary decoration to cover up the beautiful curves. Not only does it deliberately highlight the well-developed breasts, but the high-slit skirt is even more attractive. Exposing one thigh completely makes it look particularly sexy.
The production cost of such a female dress is even higher, reaching sixteen gold coins per piece.
A lot of precious food was used at the banquet, including bear paws, abalone, sea cucumbers, and venison. Mrs. Ola also purchased expensive monster meat. Coupled with all kinds of expensive red wine, the food on this table costs at least dozens of gold coins.
The huge living room is lit with magic lamps, which consume magic crystals and magic cores as energy. Not only is it expensive, but the cost of use is also very high, and only the nobles can afford it.
Even the tableware used by everyone is made of gold and silver, and no one knows how much it cost.
A few dozen gold coins are enough for an ordinary family to live for more than ten years.
Looking at the luxurious food at the banquet, Richard suddenly felt like he was freezing to death due to the stench of rich wine and meat.
Before attending the banquet, he also inspected the winter work of the indentured servants in the territory.
Because the intensity of labor in winter was very low, Richard only gave the indentured slaves a ration of one pound per day.
One kilogram of rations is not enough for an adult. They can only eat one dry meal and one thin meal every day, living in a state of hunger.
Although he won't die of cold or starvation, his quality of life is not very good.
Looking at this luxurious banquet, Richard inevitably had some opinions in his mind, thinking it was too extravagant.
"I'm not in charge now, and it's not spending my money, so I'd better bear with it. When I become the leader, this trend should be completely reversed." Richard knew in his heart that hedonism
and comparison were prevalent among the aristocrats. .
Mrs. Ola often attends noble banquets, so she will inevitably be affected.
Moreover, women's vanity is generally stronger than that of men.
"Mrs. Ola comes from a very low background. In order to gain recognition from others, she has to show off her wealth and aristocratic taste. Her father William and third uncle Bernie both have this tendency. Seeing how they enjoy themselves, they don't feel it is a waste at all. , but it feels natural."
Richard shook his head to dispel the distracting thoughts in his heart. After talking with other members of the family, he settled on some things and took Sophia back to his room.
(End of chapter)