May 7th, Sunday.
After getting up, Valeera found that her mood had improved somewhat.
This is all thanks to Klein.
In the morning, after helping to tidy up some housework, she and Klein tutored Melissa in her homework.
At about three o'clock in the afternoon, they went out together and headed to Welch's residence at 27 Halls Street in the North District.
Welch's residence in Tingen was a single-family house with a garden. Outside the hollow iron gate was a road that could allow four carriages to travel at the same time. There were street lights every fifty meters on both sides of the road.
Valeera and Klein arrived near Welch's house at nearly half past three.
Klein planned to go directly to the front door and ring the doorbell, but Valila reached out and held him back.
"Wait, we need to wait a while, it would be better if we are a few minutes late."
This is a common situation at Loen banquets. Guests would rather be late for a certain amount of time than arrive early, because the host may be busy making final preparations for the banquet. This is not a suitable time to entertain guests. Of course, lateness should be kept to a minimum. Within ten minutes.
After Valeela's explanation, Klein understood that there was such a hidden etiquette.
This made him even more convinced that Valeera's true identity was either rich or noble.
In fact, he didn't know that Valeela was able to understand such detailed etiquette through the reminders from the original book.
A few minutes later, the two walked into the open front door together and were greeted warmly by Welch.
Only then did Klein realize this subtle difference in etiquette.
In the past, when he arrived on time or slightly early, he would always ring the doorbell and be taken into the house by the housekeeper. He never imagined that being just a few minutes late would have such a big difference in treatment.
The two of them had just entered the door, and Ms. Naya arrived at the right time.
The four of them walked into the well-decorated living room, and this special afternoon tea party with only three guests began.
Valila took a look and saw that the desserts on the table included shortbread, carrot cake, fruit caramel pudding, tingen cake, etc. Perhaps because the four people were having a small party, the portions of each dessert were not large; there were three drinks. Likewise, Marquis black tea, Highland coffee and Southwell red wine.
This was much lower in quality than the afternoon tea party hosted by Roger Syndras that he attended, let alone the luxurious afternoon tea hosted by Miss "Justice" Audrey Hall in the original work. Compared to that.
But in Tingen, this kind of afternoon tea is already upscale enough.
The four of them chatted about interesting things in life, historical comments, and women’s aesthetics. Finally, the topic turned to Valeera’s desire to adopt a pet.
Valeela made some casual remarks, and then used the excuse of being impatient to ask Welch to take her to pick out hounds as soon as possible.
So the afternoon tea ended quickly, and several people took a carriage to the northwest suburbs of Tingen City to a manor owned by Sir De Vere.
Late yesterday afternoon, after returning from school, Welch paid a visit to Lord De Vere's house in Golden Sycamore and made a request to buy a hound as a pet.
Welch's father was a banker in Constantinople, had many investments in Tingen, and was quite familiar with Lord De Vere, who opened many factories.
Sir de Vere is a well-known philanthropist in Tingen.
He donated money to establish the "Deville Trust Company" to build apartments for the working class and provide specialized property management, but only charged very low rents.
He himself is indeed worthy of his name, a kind and generous gentleman.
Hearing that he was just buying a hound as a pet, he immediately agreed to Welch's request.
If he is buying in large quantities, he may have to consider the cost, but if it's just one, it won't have any impact.
After confirming the time with Welch, he called the housekeeper in person and told him to send someone to notify the manor deacon to ensure that Welch chose a pet that he was satisfied with.
After more than half an hour and a slightly bumpy dirt road, the carriage drove the four of them into the "Pinecone Manor".
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The manor's deacon, who seemed to be in his forties, had already made arrangements and came over to greet the carriage after it stopped.
"Welcome... several guests to Pinecone Manor. I have received instructions from Sir, understand the needs of several guests, and have made arrangements in advance."
The middle-aged deacon's skin was tanned, the back of his hands looked like dry wood, and his fingers were quite rough. Apart from his attire, he looked like a farmer who had been working for a long time.
He originally wanted to say welcome to Mr. McGovern, but when he saw two men and two women getting off the carriage, he changed his name temporarily.
After asking the guests for their opinions, he took the four of them directly to the racecourse in the manor.
Because of the targeted arrangements made in advance, there was not a single horse on the racecourse at this time. Instead, there were more than twenty hounds of various kinds, fighting and playing on the lawn, trotting leisurely, or lying down quietly. Lying...
The manor's deacon took them to a man in his thirties standing not far away and introduced:
"Several guests, this is Flavio, the dog trainer at the manor. He will help you select a satisfactory hunting dog."
Then, he winked, and the dog trainer Flavio took out a small bamboo whistle and blew it in his mouth, making a rhythmic sound.
"Beep, beep."
When the whistle sounded, almost all the hounds changed their movements and ran towards the dog trainer.
It didn't take long for these lovely people to line up neatly in a small square formation on the lawn in front of a few people.
Of course, not all.
There was a hound with white and gray fur that looked like a husky, wandering closer as if taking a walk, and finally sat in a corner of the formation.
The dog trainer's eyes twitched.
Were it not for the presence of guests, he would have made the unqualified hound suffer.
After leaving enough time for the guests to see the appearance of the coat colors of these hounds, with permission, the dog trainer blew the whistle again to let the group of hounds run.
The husky-like hunting dog was another lazy exception, and its running movements were extremely perfunctory.
This actually attracted Valeela's favor.
In comparison, she felt that those well-trained hounds were like tethered zombies, far inferior to that special hound, which retained its temperament and freedom.
Seeing its loose running posture, Valeela felt that her mood improved a lot.
Just choose it!
She waved to the manor's deacon and said, "I've thought about it, I want that one -"
Valeela almost said "Husky".
Fortunately, she reacted in time and gave it a temporary pet name, "The one who runs the slowest is the one who is ha-bi."
"But miss, it's called Blue."
The manor's deacon smiled, "And as you can see, it hasn't been trained yet."
"I want it. I say it's called Habib, and it's called Habib!"
Valeela showed a rare strong side, which surprised the three classmates who were familiar with her.
"Habi, come here." Valeera waved and called.
Something even more surprising happened to them.
The originally lazy hound pricked up its ears when it heard Valeela's call, ran over quickly, and finally sat at her feet, wagging its tail.
The dog trainer on the side widened his eyes and looked suspicious of life.
In fact, this was the result of Valeera's cheating.
By waving, she opened the "grey vision" and established a "connection" between herself and Habib, forming the most efficient spiritual communication.
"Look, he is the most suitable pet for me," Valeera smiled proudly and asked: "How many gold pounds does this hound cost?"
Now the manor's deacon couldn't say anything more.
In fact, his previous dissuasion was also because he knew that this hound liked to cause damage and was worried that the customer would regret it after buying it back, which led to him being innocently blamed by the knight.
He rubbed the stubble on his chin with rough fingers, thought for a moment, and quoted the price.
"300 pounds."
He saw the questioning looks in Welch and Valeela's eyes, and then explained:
"This is a poorly trained hound, which is why I quoted such a low price."
"Guests, please rest assured that Sir has given complete decision-making power. There will be no problem."
It's just a dog, 300 pounds, and it's still a low price... Klein on the side was directly shocked by the price quoted by the manor's butler.
Next to them, Welch and Naya were smiling, looking at the hound that suddenly became well-behaved at Valeera's feet, and had no special reaction to the manor's deacon's offer.
Valeela took out a women's wallet with a simple pattern from her waist bag, counted 30 10-pound notes, put them in an envelope, handed them to the manor's deacon, and said:
"Although this is somewhat against the rules, I still hope you can help me transfer the money."
"Also, say thank you to Sir for me."
The manor's deacon took the envelope with both hands and said with a smile:
"Wherever, Jazz has told me to provide the greatest convenience to the guests. This is what I should do."
After a few exchanges of words, he led the four of them back the way they came and watched as the four of them and one dog boarded the carriage again and left.
