Chapter 59: Embrace Laziness
There were many ways to take an unconscious person back to their room to sleep. One could carry them, or two people could lift them together. However, carrying them over one’s shoulder like a sack of rice was definitely not one of those ways.
Jasmine was strong enough to carry Bella in a princess carry.
But whenever she thought about carrying Bella like that, the image of Adele carrying her in the same way would pop into her mind. It was… embarrassing. So, Jasmine decided to sling Bella over her shoulder like a sack of rice and carry her back to her room.
She didn’t know where Bella’s room was, so she had to ask along the way. She finally found it after asking several servants. The room had no lock, not in the sense that it wasn’t locked, but that it didn’t have a lock at all. This meant that these servants had no personal space whatsoever.
Jasmine turned the doorknob, opened the door, and entered the room. It was a four-person room, very small and cramped. Four narrow single beds took up most of the space, leaving little room for anything else. There was no closet, and the toilet was probably located at the end of the hallway.
It reminded Jasmine of her middle school dormitory in her previous life, but the conditions here were even worse. At least the dormitory rooms had desks and windows. Here, there was only a small porthole high up on the wall, probably only letting in a sliver of light during the day.
Jasmine could guess the reason: glass was expensive. For servants’ rooms, a small window was enough to ensure they didn’t suffocate. Why waste money on large panes of glass? That was probably Oakham’s thinking.
This shattered Jasmine’s plan to borrow a maid’s bathroom instead of using Adele’s.
Jasmine was speechless. She should have known that with Oakham’s personality, he wouldn’t give the maids single rooms with private bathrooms. She couldn’t bring herself to use a communal bathroom. It wasn’t because she was shy about showing her body in front of other women. It was just that if she had a choice, why would she choose a communal bathroom over a private shower?
And this wasn’t some luxurious bathhouse where she could relax and socialize. It was just a place to wash up.
Jasmine, her plan abandoned, carried Bella into the room. One of the narrow beds was already occupied. With the manor’s current three-shift system, someone else was currently resting in the room. She wasn’t sleeping soundly either.
It was understandable. The bed was only about 90 centimeters wide, more like a camp bed than a single bed. It was so narrow that Jasmine was afraid she would roll off if she turned over. After placing Bella on the bed, the other maid, awakened by the commotion, looked up at Jasmine sleepily.
Upon recognizing the visitor, she sat up in surprise, “Y-you, what are you doing here?”
“Bella fainted from lack of sleep, so I brought her back. Don’t worry about her. Let her sleep until she wakes up.” Jasmine’s control over her strength was precise. She hadn’t used much force, but she had chosen the right angle and moved quickly. She could guarantee that Bella was only knocked unconscious and would have no aftereffects when she woke up.
Hearing Jasmine’s explanation, the maid nodded and yawned. Jasmine didn’t linger. She greeted the maid and left the room. She thought about checking out the communal bathroom but turned around as soon as she entered.
How should she put it? Compared to Adele’s bathroom, the conditions here were truly abysmal. Oakham didn’t care about his servants’ living conditions and wouldn’t give them time to clean their own quarters. Plus, these servants had been living in despair and didn’t care about the cleanliness of the bathroom either.
One could imagine how dirty and chaotic it was.
This wouldn’t do. Living in such an environment, they would definitely get sick. Jasmine frowned. She gathered all the servants who were currently working in the hall and, based on what she had seen and the current workload in the manor, assigned tasks.
Her authority to do so was questionable, of course. After all, Bella was the head maid. What was she? But as Adele’s maid, her status in the eyes of the servants was probably even higher than Bella’s. So, they readily accepted the tasks she assigned.
After finishing with the task assignments, Jasmine began her more ambitious plan: to promote the gospel of laziness.
She even forgot about her ice queen persona as she spoke passionately, “Everyone, what I want to say is this: you don’t have to work so hard. Think about it, there are three shifts, and you’re only one of them, the one working the hardest, at night. And there’s so much work, it’s impossible to finish it all in one day. So, why not be more organized, slow down, and work together to finish it in ten days or half a month?”
“You’re already exhausted. You’ve worked so hard for Oakham for so long. Now that he’s dead, why can’t you rest properly? You all know that your new master, Miss Blake, has implemented a work schedule with breaks. She wants you to rest. So, why are you still working so hard, trying to finish everything in one day?”
“Therefore, we should rest and not work too hard. Working too hard will shorten our lifespans!”
Jasmine was truly concerned for these servants. She didn’t think anything she said was wrong. In her previous life, her words would have been considered toxic positivity, offering no real solutions, only negativity.
But lazy netizens would have treated them as gospel. If reality allowed, who would want to work? One should embrace laziness. Work is never-ending. Every minute you slack off is a minute you earn from your boss.
Jasmine had no qualms about instilling this “unhealthy” ideology in the servants. After her pep talk, she even practiced what she preached, forcing those who were obviously overworking to rest. “What did I just say? Don’t work too hard. Why are you pushing yourselves so hard? You’re still young. Working like this will shorten your lifespans. You don’t want to die before you’re thirty, do you?”
In the past, they would have thought Jasmine was talking nonsense. Dying before thirty… could they even live that long? Even if Oakham hadn’t worked them to death, they would have chosen to die because of this hopeless world.
But things were different now. They had hope. They realized that under Adele’s rule, they would have a better life than before. Maybe… they could actually live that long.
Jasmine happily wreaked havoc, even going to the kitchen to teach the auntie how to cook. But the problem was that she herself knew nothing about cooking. And with the limited ingredients in the servants’ kitchen, she couldn’t do much. She could only sigh and accept reality.
Jasmine stayed downstairs until she finished her second meal before going upstairs to find Adele. Adele had been writing diligently. The tea Jasmine had brewed before leaving was gone, the teapot empty. Although Jasmine’s expression remained neutral, a corner of her heart sank.
Because Adele was working so hard for the sake of humans.
If it were just for her internship, she wouldn’t have to go to such lengths. As Oakham had said, Spark Farm’s original plan was good, and it was doing well, at least in the eyes of the vampire blood bank. If Adele had simply cooperated with Oakham and, with her family’s support, further developed Spark Farm, achieving good results would have been easy.
But Adele hadn’t done that. Not only had she not done that, she had even killed Oakham and started from scratch, practically ruining a good hand. That was the kind of person Adele was. She couldn’t collude with someone like Oakham. She would stand up for the weak and wouldn’t sit idly by.
Again, Adele was truly a good girl.
Seeing Jasmine return, Adele put down her pen and massaged her temples, “Jasmine, how was your time downstairs? Did you have fun?” Jasmine nodded. She had had fun. Seeing her response, Adele smiled slightly.
“I think you’re the one who needs to go out for a walk, Miss. You’ve been cooped up in this room for too long.” Jasmine suggested. Adele was stunned, “But it’ll be dawn soon.”
“Then make it quick.”
Adele muttered, “I’m only agreeing because you asked so nicely,” but she still obediently got up from her seat. Since Jasmine had said “make it quick,” Adele thought about how to be faster. Her solution: jump out the window.
Unlike the castle, the manor wasn’t built on a mountain. It was on flat ground. And although Adele’s room was on an upper floor, the manor only had three floors. This height was nothing to Adele.
Jasmine hadn’t expected Adele to be so direct, nor had she expected to be dragged along for a walk. When Adele scooped her up in a princess carry, she suppressed the urge to resist, wrapping her arms around Adele’s neck, feeling a bit bewildered.
Only when Adele stepped onto the windowsill and jumped out like a bird did Jasmine realize what she was doing.
Adele had expected Jasmine to be frightened by the sudden lift and the jump out the window, maybe even scream. But in reality, Jasmine was incredibly calm, so calm that she remained expressionless even after landing on the ground.
“Jasmine, you’re really no fun.” Adele commented, but she still gently placed Jasmine on the ground. After Jasmine steadied herself, Adele snorted and walked ahead. Jasmine tilted her head, wondering what the young miss was being tsundere about, but she still followed behind.
Their destination was the manor’s small garden. Oakham had been very meticulous about its upkeep, probably wanting to show that he also had a touch of nobility. But in the end, this beautiful garden was left to someone else.
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