The early morning at Wayne Manor was as tranquil and peaceful as ever.
Click, click, click.
"Miss Elsa, kindly refrain from gnawing at the garden fence while I'm watering, you're going to wet your freshly groomed hair."
"Alfred, my father had someone bring over fresh arctic sweet shrimp from the docks. Which layer of the fridge do I put them in?"
"Wait, don't store them just yet, let me have a couple first."
"Hey! Jason, you can't eat frozen shrimp first thing in the morning!"
"No, I won't eat. I will go to the garden to see Alfred."
"Young Master Dick, please take Miss Elsa away, and help dry her hair. If you can't find her hair tie, have Harley look for it in the second drawer of Madam Selena's vanity."
"Oh, please, she probably isn't in her room at all. I saw her sneak over to the balcony last night. I bet she and Selena are sleeping soundly."
"You, Harley Quinn, have the audacity to talk! You slid down the roof last night and landed on my balcony! You nearly scared me to death!"
"That was meant to be a surprise. I prepared a gift to celebrate your victory in the ball game, if you don't want it, so be it."
"What good gift can you possibly bring? Another jack-in-the-box, perhaps?"
"Well, do you know that a new arts and crafts bazaar, fabric market, and food street have just opened on Green Street? I've invested in twelve shops there. Four of them are currently under renovation. I was thinking of giving one to you. If you don't want it, then I'll make the call to the renovation team."
"What? You've opened shops there?"
"Are you serious? Is it that popular mansion market? The rent there is so expensive. How could you afford it?"
"Did you forget she's a rich woman? The entire street where your cello lessons are held, belong to her."
"God, does this mean we're going to have a shop? How do we run it? What should we sell?"
Ding dong! Ding dong!
The chattering kids stopped simultaneously, looking with some curiosity towards the mansion's front door.
"Alfred, is there an appointment for a visit?!" Jason, stretching his neck, turned and shouted to the garden behind him.
"No, there isn't. Gentlemen, don't approach the door. Let me go see."
Maintaining his usual vigilance, Alfred cautioned the children to stay away from the door. He hadn't received an appointment from anyone, and even the ever-busy James or Mayor Roy usually wouldn't come visit this early.
The door opened, and standing there was Shearer, much to Alfred's surprise.
"Good morning, Professor." Alfred didn't reproach Professor Shearer for not making an appointment. As someone who, if anything, valued appointments more than anyone else, he wouldn't visit unannounced without a good reason.
"Mr. Wayne is still asleep. Shall I wake him?" asked Alfred, closing the door. The children were incredibly quiet too. It seemed like they were all on the same page as Alfred: was there another murder? Or had there been an incident at the music festival? They were starting to get nervous.
Shearer, however, just sighed and said, "Alfred, have you ever considered upgrading the landline at Wayne Manor to a more responsive satellite phone?"
Alfred was taken aback. He glanced over at the old phone that was always on display in the living room, then back to Shearer. Shearer merely shook his head and said, "I tried calling you three times yesterday: Morning, noon, and night. But I couldn't get through any of the times, so I had to come over."
"My goodness." With an exclamation, Alfred went to check the telephone line, with all the rambunctious children following closely behind, casting curious glances at Shearer as they went.
"Did Elsa chew through the telephone line?" Dick scratched his head. "I saw her playing under the big tree yesterday."
"I most definitely did not. Elsa can talk now," she protested. "I was catching earthworms. Who can't tell the difference between earthworms and telephone lines?"
"Perhaps it's your teeth. I think they might not be completely under your brain's control. Or at least not very well controlled."
Dick wouldn't normally be this sharp-tongued. But just yesterday, when they were sunning by the pond in the garden, Dick's chair had collapsed. There was a bite mark from Elsa's teeth on one of the wooden legs — this had almost become a trademark of Wayne Manor, with few pieces of furniture unmarked.
"That one was too old." Elsa sighed, "Though I may have bitten it, its collapse was definitely not entirely my fault."
They followed Alfred all the way to the garden to check the buried telephone lines. There weren't many structures in the manorial grounds, and they weren't clustered together, so there was usually no backup telephone line. When Alfred saw a patch of scorched earth, he knew there had been another lightning strike here.
He looked up again at the lightning rod, only to find that it had long ago fallen. Everyone's gazes fell on Harley, who shook her head, pointing at the rooftop and saying, "I came down from there. I couldn't have bumped into the lightning rod."
The children brought a ladder and climbed to the roof. Eventually, Jason found a sparrow feather next to the collapsed, damaged lightning rod.
"I don't know how big a scarecrow we need to drive this thing away." Jason held the feather in one hand and the ladder in another, jumping the last two steps.
Everyone gathered around, including Shiller and Alfred. Then Shiller noticed that the feather in Jason's hand was almost as long as his arm.
"I truly apologize, Professor, that I failed to notice these series of accidents in time. Not answering the phone was not my intention."
Shiller stood at the porch entrance and surveyed before asking, "Actually, has Bruce ever told you about his plan to expand and renovate Wayne Manor?"
After pausing a moment, Alfred responded, "Yes, anyone who comes here greatly admires our decor style. However, if they stay a night, they'll realize that it's merely gilded."
"This manor is too old. Despite an initial move, it's one of the earliest buildings in Gotham. Other buildings of similar period that are still well-preserved probably only include the Gotham Cathedral."
"Thanks to Wayne's funding for the cathedral's renovation."
"Yes, as Daniel told me, it was definitely thanks to it. Strong sunlight is a great challenge to the external walls of Gotham's buildings. If it weren't for the previous renovation, we might already see the horrifying scene of the angels shedding their skin."
"Are we going to refurbish the house?" Tim raised one hand, "It should have been done long ago. In fact, ever since I accidentally mentioned that the door of my closet squeaks, my mom worries every day that I might be crushed by it."
Dick had something to say too. He feigned profundity and shook his head, "Although many strange things happened to me, the strangest incident recently is that the cover of my homework book always sticks to the table. I later found out that the varnish on the solid wood table has started to peel off."
"What do you think about this, Alfred?" Shiller asked.
After contemplating a bit, Alfred replied, "Perhaps some appropriate renovations are necessary, but I'm not sure about the expansion part. We don't have any more land."
Alfred's words had an implicit meaning. The South District, where Wayne Manor was located, was already a mature rich area. There was no land left for expansion.
Renovating the manor was also troublesome. The vast majority of the items here were protected by cultural heritage laws, particularly the whole house, which meant they could only make slight modifications, like changing interior furniture and walls, but they couldn't touch the exterior walls and structure.
But the biggest issue with Wayne Manor was that the building's structure was not reasonable. If the architecture layout couldn't be readjusted, it would probably end up reverting to its original state.
So, instead of spending a lot of effort on refurnishing and reconstructing, it might be better to buy a new manor. This way, they could have newer, larger, and more convenient facilities.
"I think the existing manors in Gotham are not sufficient to meet the needs of the Wayne family." Alfred took a deep breath. The cold air of the autumn morning entered his lungs, causing him to sigh a little comfortably. He said, "We looked at the villa evaluation diagrams, but we didn't find any manor that fit the requirements of the Wayne family."
"Of course, we need a lot because we have many family members." When Alfred said this, there wasn't a trace of distress on his face. He was only proud that he could not have more, "The old master and mistress, I mean Thomas and Martha, they both need to return to live here. The quarters for the male and female owner cannot be half-hearted."
"And then of course there's Bruce and Selina. This is even more critical. It determines whether Master Bruce can show his love nest to Selina. Honestly, I think this house is not decent enough in front of Miss Selina."
"It's somewhat too old-fashioned and conservative, which could easily make this lady think of the Wayne family as rigid, strict, and inflexible, which is not a good impression."
"How about buying a plot of land?" Shiller suggested. He said, "With enough space and good scenery, then bring over the construction team from the Gotham renovation project. They have accumulated a wealth of experience and would presumably be able to construct a satisfactory manor."
Alfred nodded his head, obviously also agreeing with Shiller's proposal. Shiller thought for a moment, then continued, "Alfred, no offense meant, and this is also your freedom, but when was your last vacation?"
"I don't need it." Alfred shook his head, "I never thought back then that these good days would come back. Now that I have so many children, I must take care of every one of them."
"But they also make you tense and tired. Looking after children is not an easy job. Their ages and families are all different, making it unimaginably difficult."
"Yes, sometimes it can be hectic. In fact, I should have noticed the telephone line damaged by the lightning strike earlier. But I had many things to take care of, arranging for the construction team to come in, installing water slides, cleaning the pool for kids to play, cleaning the sandbox, washing the swimsuits, and only this morning did I have time to water the plants."
"Perhaps you can introduce a professional butler team to your master. This could greatly enhance efficiency, and you would also have more time to be with the kids."
As a result, Shiller heard Alfred sigh deeply, "If there are any, wouldn't I hire them? Professor Shearer, you should understand the most, the graduates from the past 20 years are all like your butler, Merkel."
Shiller fell silent.
"By the way, Professor, what are you here for?"
"My butler, Merkel, thinks the music festival is interesting, but I have no intention of participating. So, I plan to give him some time off. He said this needs the consent of the referral person."
Shiller and Alfred looked at each other and sighed together.