Chapter 40 Dr. Jones
With the social changes brought about by the emergence of the steam engine, Langton City has expanded its urban area several times in less than a hundred years.
A considerable part of these newly expanded urban areas were built spontaneously by new citizens who were transformed from farmers who lost their land. They lack effective municipal planning and also lack supporting living facilities.
Dirty and messy, this is the first impression given by these new urban areas.
After all, the expansion of Langton's municipal departments has not kept pace with the development of the city. Ensuring environmental sanitation and social security in the aristocratic and wealthy areas is already a task that requires their full efforts.
As for these civilian areas? It is all they can do to set up a management department in a city district, set up a water supply point for each street, and arrange for horse-drawn carriages to transport accumulated garbage and excrement instead of piling them on the streets.
And this is because the noble gentlemen felt that Langton City, as the capital of the empire, would damage the image of the empire if the outer cities were filled with sewage and feces, so they allocated a special sum of money. some.
However, with the development of Langton, some old towns that have been established for a long time have undergone some changes.
After all, those who caught up with the changing times in the early days have reaped the dividends of the changing times and made some money in their pockets. They are planning to renovate their own stores and factories to improve the business environment and attract more people. It is also appropriate to improve the living conditions of the guests.
So these places are relatively less dirty. There are not only brick sidewalks on both sides of the streets, but also paved with gravel, so they won't look like muddy ponds when it rains.
The houses on the streets have also been replaced by solid houses made of bricks and stones, instead of the leaky piles of rocks in the past, or even worse wooden shacks.
Even the streets are cleaned by dedicated personnel hired by the merchants. It looks like a wealthy area.
However, the background is insufficient. The windows of the buildings on both sides of the street are still wooden fences, not the glass windows of real wealthy areas. The difference between the two is enough to see that these areas are called new cities. What a difference there is between it and the real wealthy area of Langton.
Not to mention being compared with the truly wealthy aristocratic district of Langton.
But even so, for the small businessmen who live here and the middle-income people who have a decent formal job, this place has also distinguished them from the "lower people" in the civilian areas, so that They can call themselves the so-called middle class.
They began to imitate the consumption and life of the upper class, gritting their teeth and buying expensive fashionable clothes and luxury goods that they may need to save for a year to afford. They imitated the aristocratic lifestyle, euphemistically known as "Life mood", thinking that one has stepped into the threshold of upper class society.
However, in fact, for the real upper class, they are not worth mentioning at all, or the upper class does not accept them.
Their so-called "sentiment of life" is nothing more than a kind of self-entertainment.
The reason is also very simple. For the truly rich and aristocratic, they never feel how great they are just because of a piece of clothing.
Clothes become fashionable because they wear them, not because they wear them.
Moreover, for the so-called middle class, luxuries that require saving for a year to afford are just daily consumption for the aristocrats. You can't say that a person who can buy one piece of clothing a year has the same consumption level as a person who can buy a hundred items a month, right?
Although for the nobles and wealthy businessmen, it is only in the past few decades that they have lived a truly luxurious life, it does not prevent them from looking down on these unreasonable things. To put it nicely, it’s the so-called middle class that rises above the crowd.
But existence is reasonable, and the middle class and new urban areas will not disappear because the nobles and rich look down upon them.
On the contrary, they have gradually increased in Langton City and even have the tendency to form a new class.
So much so that when James helped Perficott meet with the exploration team, they chose a cafe in the new city instead of the more respectable wealthy area or the aristocratic area that was more in line with Perficott's status.
But Purficott doesn't care about this. Although she is from a noble family, she is not particular about these so-called extravagances.
Although in order to be comfortable, all her underwear is made of luxurious oriental silk, and the clothes she often wears are also luxurious materials such as velvet and high-count wool. She has a unique Langton style when traveling. A portion of the Alchemy Carriage.
But if you just look at Perfectcott’s style, you really can’t feel the luxury.
Although the cane she carries is inlaid with the Philosopher's Stone, the pocket watch hanging on her chest can buy a street in the new city.
"Salute to you, the Honorable Lady Brandlis." A well-dressed middle-aged gentleman with glasses and a bookish look on his face greeted Purficott.
Perfect also nodded to him in a friendly manner and called his name accurately: "Hello Dr. Henry Jones, I have read your research article on Eastern Civilization, and I have to say It's wonderfully written, although there are some minor errors."
At this point, a smile appeared on Purficott's face and he said meaningfully to Dr. Jones: "I want to care. I shouldn’t have personally been to the Eastern countries. The content described in the article comes from those so-called adventurers who have been to the East?”
“Ah, I have indeed never been to the East. Is it so obvious? ?" Dr. Jones raised his eyebrows slightly embarrassed, but still had a smile on his face.
This is not Purficott exposing his shortcomings, but just a means of chatting to get closer.
"It's very simple. When you visit other people's homes in Eastern countries, there is usually no hostess to entertain you. Being able to let you see the female family members at home is called 'family-friendly' in the East." Purficott He smiled and pointed out some minor loopholes in Dr. Jones's article, and then said: "Of course, there are special circumstances, but under normal circumstances, it is still difficult to meet other people's female relatives.
In particular, it is rare for someone like Victor to have dinner with the other party's family members. If I remember correctly, according to the customs of Eastern countries, female family members cannot serve at the table unless your relationship with the host's family is close enough. And it’s a private visit, not an official visit.”
“Is that so? It seems that I really need to conduct an on-site visit when I write an article next time.” Dr. Jones said very generously. Now comes the point of this meeting: "I wonder if Her Majesty the Baroness is willing to sponsor?"
(End of this chapter)