xymnovel Chapter 158 Christmas Eve in Robin City
Chapter 158 Christmas Eve in Robin City
Chapter 158 Christmas Eve in Robin City
12 month 24 day.
At 1 p.m., at 114 Jason Road, Robintown Wharf Industrial Complex, Blake Wyatt, who had just finished get off work at the steel mill, knocked on his front door with a large piece of beef wrapped in brown paper in his right hand and a bag of apples in his left.
"Ah! Darling! You're back!"
His wife, Laura, opened the door. She was wearing an apron and holding a short stick covered in flour. Seeing the beef and apples her husband was carrying, she couldn't help but ask, "Did you buy these apples at the market? I heard the cannery is making apple preserves and has been buying apples—how did you get them?"
Blake handed the beef and apples to his wife, kissed her forehead, and explained with a smile, "—These are apples and meat from the factory, they're free. You forgot, today is Christmas Eve, all the factories are closed this afternoon!"
"How could I forget? I left work early today too!"
Laura rolled her eyes at her husband, put the things away, and then pointed to the noodles on the kitchen counter downstairs, smiling gently.
"I made hand-pulled noodles and chili egg sauce. Yesterday, when I was learning from Maria at her house, she told me that this recipe came from Your Excellency's kitchen and is a dish of Eastern nobility —"
Blake glanced at the noodles, then sat down on the sofa in the living room, rubbing his hands together and smiling at his wife, "Then I'll have to try it. The Eastern food in the factory canteen is quite good!"
Oriental white bread, dumplings, steamed buns, and all sorts of stir-fries—perhaps only an Oriental nobleman like Your Excellency would know how to cook so many delicious dishes!
Upon hearing this, Laura clasped her hands together, rested them on her chin, closed her eyes, and prayed devoutly.
"May God bless you!"
"Yes! God bless you."
Blake nodded, then looked around the living room and asked, "Where are the children? Isn't it supposed to be a half-day school? Haven't they finished yet?"
"I'm not sure, they should be back soon, right?"
Laura, turning back to the kitchen to continue rolling out dough, said without looking back, "Mike and Chris are big kids now, they'll bring Scarlett back from school."
Blake hummed in agreement, then leaned back on the sofa, watching his wife busy in the kitchen and the first-floor living room that she had tidied up spotlessly. A feeling called happiness welled up in his heart.
Strictly speaking, this house is not their "home," but only a temporary residence for their family of five.
Six months ago, 36-year-old Blake Wyatt, along with his wife Laura, two sons Mike and Chris, and young daughter Scarlett, boarded a Providence Shipping ship in the Port of Bristol.
After a 48-day sea voyage, the family arrived in the New World in early August and began a new life in Robin City.
According to the immigration and employment contract that Black signed with Robin Trading Company, he became a steel engineer at Robin Steelworks, responsible for producing steel and high-quality knives, with a monthly salary of £8.60.
This income is more than double what he earned as a worker at the Sheffield Crucible Steel Works.
In addition, the family now lives in a two-story house and only needs to pay 6 shillings in rent each month.
Because Blake usually eats in the steel mill's canteen, the tuition fees for his three children are very low, and his wife Laura works in a textile factory, earning £2.60 a month, which is enough to cover their daily expenses.
Now their family can save about £7 a month—which is unimaginable in the UK!
While in Sheffield, England, Blake Wyatt was skilled at producing high-quality steel and various knives, but he had no bargaining power or the right to raise his salary with his boss.
Because throughout Sheffield, skilled crucible steelworkers like him are not everywhere, but every workshop and factory has a few master craftsmen of similar skill. And all the guild owners in Sheffield adhere to a tacit agreement that the maximum monthly salary for a skilled worker is £4!
Higher wages would allow these skilled workers to accumulate enough capital to start new workshops and cultivate new competitors.
This is not good news for any boss.
When Blake Wyatt was young, he didn't understand why his wages were always just enough to support himself and his family. He thought it was because he wasn't working hard enough and his boss couldn't see his progress, so he worked hard, studied the technology diligently, and for a period of time lived and ate at the factory.
It wasn't until he was over thirty, and after he had become a skilled craftsman, that his salary remained unchanged for many years. He finally realized that the harder he worked and the more skilled he became, the more profit he would generate for his boss, Mr. Gray, making the latter's estate bigger and the carriages more luxurious, while his salary would remain at £4, with no possibility of increasing.
So even though he later mastered a few tricks to improve the quality of steel, he was unwilling to share them to help Mr. Gray make more money, because it was pointless.
He thought his life would continue like this, doing his best to support his family, letting his two sons inherit his skills and positions in Mr. Gray's workshop, and saving up a dowry for his youngest daughter, Scarlett. That would be the end of his mission.
But God played a joke on him—Brody Ross, his neighbor on the same street, a petty thief, didn't want to work hard and preferred to dream of getting rich.
Ten years ago, Brody Ross left Sheffield for London to "seek new opportunities," and when he returned to Sheffield, although he was still not a millionaire, he brought a bombshell.
Sir Robin, who discovered allicin, wanted to recruit a group of skilled steelworkers to North America. All skilled workers would have their monthly salary at least doubled, and each family could also obtain land in North America at a low price. Their children could also receive a formal education and have the opportunity to become doctors, lawyers, and engineers in the future.
Blake Wyatt instinctively didn't believe Brody Ross, but he had to believe it after Pastor Ethan of Sheffield Baptist Church confirmed its veracity.
Unlike Anglican pastors who only knew how to ask for money, Baptist pastors were highly respected among the working class in Sheffield, and Blake himself was a Baptist.
The whole family immigrated to North America to work for Sir Robin—a difficult decision for Black, who was used to the stable life in Sheffield.
He heard that the North American colonies were at war with the Native Americans and that there were all sorts of terrible diseases, all of which were risks that had to be considered, but Brody Ross made up his mind with just one sentence.
"—Blake! Do you want Mike and Chris to end up like you, dealing only with molten iron? Sign the immigration contract, and they can receive a real education and become respectable gentlemen!"
Making Mike and Chris respectable gentlemen—Blake simply couldn't refuse this offer!
He knew very well that if they stayed in England, his family simply wouldn't be able to save enough money to provide their children with a formal education, because there are no miracles in England: a nobleman's son will always be a nobleman, a boss's son will always be a boss, and a worker's son will always be a worker.
So he signed his name on the contract and, along with sixteen other skilled steelworkers who had made the same choice, sailed with their families to North America, to Robin City, the city that belonged to Sir Robin.
Everything he experienced in Robin City exceeded his best expectations.
It's not just about doubled income, but also about being truly treated as a human being with respect.
Lord Robin delivered on all his promises: a decent place to live, the children's education, even working no more than ten hours a day, and the occasional surprises—like the apples and beef he had just brought back, and an option document hidden in his jacket pocket!