"This is a gift. I congratulate you on finding your first job in life. Although I do not possess your talent, I know that you are the most solid force and the most reliable pillar of the church. Jenkins, congratulations."
As he looked at the smiling old man, Jenkins suddenly felt the need to cry. He had not felt such care for a long time.
He resolved to visit the old man in church more often and pinned the brooch carefully to his chest.
The old man sent Jenkins to the door of the church. On the way there, the acquaintances of the original owner greeted him again and again. The bishop took the opportunity to announce that Jenkins had finally found a decent job after his persuasion. The Williamettes have a close relationship with the church. They are the most devout family, so many church members know about Jenkins.
After they had said goodbye to the old man and gone out into the street, it was already evening. The red clouds in the sky were as beautiful as fire, and the citizens who had finished work or were come home from work were also ending their day tired.
Some children playing ran barefoot in front of Jenkins . The carriage bells rang from afar to remind the pedestrians. The gentleman in the hat held his nose and looked after the drunk, who disappeared into the deep alley, with some disgust. The weather was fine today, so you could see the thick chimneys in the distance and the black smoke that was still rising.
"Welcome to this world, Jenkins."
He stopped and said to himself in his heart.
[The church is located in the center of Nolan. As for location, it's nowhere near Jenkins' house.
Jenkins stared alone into the sunset for a while, thought about everything that belonged to the original owner, and decided to live a different life from now on.
This body is already 20 years old, which is enough for a poor man to become a father in that time, but Jenkins still behaves like a child. This applies not only to his life with his parents, but also to his appearance and behavior in all areas.
He was stunned for a while and decided to go back by carriage. The original owner did not come here often, and his memory of the way back was very vague. Besides, is not he rich now?
He walked along the road for a while and found an empty carriage at the next junction. The coachman with the dark hat eyed Jenkins suspiciously for a while until he saw the silver brooch on his chest.
"It seems that I am despised."
Jenkins thought in his heart.
Nolan City is the most developed coastal city in the Kingdom of Fidictli. Not only is it the mouth of many rivers, it is also an excellent deep sea port. Although you can not freeze all year round, the city is always bustling even in the coldest winter.
The urban area has grown ever larger in recent years. The constant influx of bankrupt farmers and speculators has caused the slums in the lower city to grow larger and larger; and the capitalists and nobles have made enough profits and hope that there will be more stores and entertainment venues in the city for them to enjoy.
"This is the best of times and the worst of times"
Jenkins said to himself in his heart. The coachman here did not have the nagging habit that the cab driver had in his former life. After half an hour of silence, the carriage stopped at the junction with Privet Drive. Jenkins also tested it while driving and found that the green ability could indeed activate the emblem, which was a sapling.
After the carriage stopped, he stuck his head out of the carriage. Good thing there were no known neighbors.
He took a green banknote worth a gold pound out of his pocket. The coachman looked at it carefully, then rummaged in his pocket for a while and gave them two blue 10-shilling bills with the Queen's head on them and a 1-shilling silver coin. Of course it was impure silver.
12 pence = 1 shilling, 24 shillings = 1 gold pound. It is not only grammar that prevents the poor from moving up to a higher class. The mathematical conversion is enough to erect a barrier for the middle class. Jenkins lives at number 7 Privet Drive, a three-story building with its own small garden.
"Do not be nervous."
Jenkins Williamette, the second son of the Williamette family, has an older brother and a younger brother. Today, the Williamette family is middle class. The head of the family, Robert Williamette, ran a grocery store outside the harbor in the early years. He sent Jenkins' older brother to college By making money from those sailors.
Two years ago, Mr. Williamette envied those "lucky people" who became rich overnight through precise investments. Against the opposition of his family, he followed the trend of these crazy times, withdrew most of his fortune accumulated over the years and invested with others in a marine mineral that "might" be found in the shallow sea off Nolan City.
The wealth of the nouveau riche is only accidental, and Robert's end, of course, is that he loses all his money.
But Mr. Williamette's luck is that among the "gamblers" who invest in sea minerals, there are not just small shopkeepers like him. Mr. Smith, a tycoon who had traveled from the royal capital of Beldiran to invest, recognized Williamette's talent and decided to hire him in his company.
After a year, the former owner of a small grocery store was even promoted to team leader of the Nolan branch of the Smith Union Mining Company. This seemed strange to Jenkins, but he could not know what others want to get from their family.
Although he was only a small sales team leader, everyone in the mining company knew how much money the sales department had.
The Williamettees, who had made a fortune through this series of "coincidences", not only moved from the Edilan District where they originally lived to the Sabin District, but also successfully sent their youngest son to [Nolan Private Third Preparatory College], which is exclusively for the nobility.
The Edilan District is an area in Nolan City that is only slightly better than the slums, while the people in the Sabin District are all true middle-class gentlemen. And the point that Ms. Williamettes satisfied the most was that all the residents of Sabin District had steam pipes. Compared to the eldest and youngest sons of the Williamette family, the second son, Jenkins Williamette, make worried about the old Williamette. He was not very industrious and did not want to follow in his older brother. He hung around with these bad friends every day.
After repeated unsuccessful coaxing, Mr. Williamette simply let Jenkins roam the streets all day, planning to let him learn a trade in the future so that he could earn a living and, if he was lucky, marry a pretty middle-class girl.