Chapter 54: Nine to Five
“Work under the sun?”
Adele raised her hand, the end of the pencil resting against her lips. She clearly didn’t understand. As a vampire who was inherently averse to sunlight, Adele naturally assumed that no creature would enjoy working under the sun.
There were so many otherworldly beings in this world. Not just vampires, but also werewolves, medusas, liches, gargoyles, and other such creatures, all of whom preferred to be active at night rather than during the day. So, Adele found it hard to comprehend. She even thought that humans were also nocturnal creatures.
It was just that unlike vampires, they weren’t killed by the sun, similar to werewolves and other such beings.
“Do humans actually like sunlight?”
Adele murmured. After receiving Jasmine’s confirmation, she made a mental note of it.
Of course, humans loved daytime, and sunlight was very beneficial to them. If you were feeling down, just bask in the sun. The warm rays would dispel the coldness and bring warmth to your heart. If you had osteoporosis or were in poor health, just bask in the sun. In short, sunlight was like a panacea. Basking in the sun was good for your health.
Conversely, if you stayed in dark corners all day, avoiding the sun, you would eventually get sick.
After learning this, Adele immediately added it to her notebook. She didn’t even consider what she would do when she needed to inspect the farm if the humans’ working hours were shifted to daytime.
In Adele’s mind, those were minor details. Although she couldn’t go out during the day, she could have the supervisors report to her at night. She wasn’t embarrassed by this, because in her plan, the supervisors would receive better treatment, so sacrificing some of their time was understandable.
Only one question bothered Adele, “But what about the manor? I’m only active at night. If the servants all work during the day and sleep at night, who will serve me?” As a noble, although she had compassion for the weak, she still believed that a noble needed servants to attend to her.
This, too, was easily solved.
“Miss Adele, you don’t actually need much help on a daily basis. To be precise, I’ve been the only one taking care of you. I can adjust my schedule to match yours. You don’t have to worry about that. I understand that as a noble, you need more servants around you, but in reality, you don’t use that many. For this, we can arrange a three-shift system.”
Adele blushed when Jasmine said, “I’ve been the only one taking care of you.” She thought about it, and it was true. Basically, only Jasmine was always by her side. At school, it went without saying. The school only allowed students to bring one attendant, and she had only brought Jasmine.
Even at the castle, Adele didn’t need that many servants. She was mostly looking for Jasmine anyway.
After recovering from her momentary embarrassment, she became very curious about the “three-shift system” Jasmine had proposed.
“What is a three-shift system?”
Jasmine explained simply, “It’s a rotating shift system with day, evening, and night shifts.” With this arrangement, there would always be servants working at the manor, regardless of the time. Although there would only be one-third of the staff on duty at any given time, and even fewer after accounting for those on break, it would be enough in practice.
Adele felt that Jasmine’s proposal was excellent. After thinking about it, she nodded, “I think this plan is feasible. I’ll refine it further and discuss it with the manor servants after returning from the farm.”
While they were talking, the steward had prepared the carriage, and Bella came to inform Adele that they were ready to depart.
Adele left with Jasmine, and the three of them, including Bella, got into the carriage. The steward sat in front, driving the carriage. The farm wasn’t far from the manor. After traveling on the relatively smooth road for about twenty minutes, they could see the farmland. After another fifteen minutes on the road through the fields, they reached the area where the human farm workers lived.
As they entered the farmland, Adele saw humans working in the fields through the carriage window. They were bent over, tending to the crops. Seeing the carriage passing by, they stopped their work and bowed deeply.
Oakham must have really enjoyed seeing others bow before him. Otherwise, these humans wouldn’t have done such a thing. They probably wished they could be invisible to him.
Besides those working in the fields, there were also people tending to the livestock. Each person looked different, but they all had one thing in common: they were all thin, their eyes dull and lifeless.
The carriage arrived at the center of the farm, where the human workers lived. The houses were lined up in rows, resembling shipping containers. The living conditions for humans at Spark Farm were even worse than in other places. Jasmine had been to many farms. The one near the school, for example, was much better than Spark Farm. Yuan Hang, a member of the outpost, even had his own small house.
But here, there were over a hundred and twenty humans, yet only about twenty small, box-like houses. This meant that at least six people had to share each house.
However, there was one house that was grand and luxurious, built in the same style as Oakham’s manor. The steward explained that this was Oakham’s office. Jasmine sighed. No wonder it looked so extravagant. It was definitely built by Oakham for himself.
Adele wrinkled her nose. She had been feeling uncomfortable ever since they arrived at the farm. The smell was simply unbearable. Not only was there the stench of animal manure, but the human workers also reeked. Jasmine timely reminded her, “People get sick if the environment is too dirty and unsanitary.”
Adele was alarmed. She told Jasmine to stay in the carriage and even wanted the steward to take her back to the manor. But Jasmine disobeyed and jumped off the carriage, following Adele. Adele had no choice but to decide to finish their business quickly and then leave. She couldn’t let Jasmine get sick.
She also thought that they had to improve the environment. Otherwise, not only would the humans get sick, but Jasmine, who often accompanied her, might also be infected.
With this thought in mind, Adele didn’t even bother going to Oakham’s office. She could already imagine the strong smell of blood inside. She asked the steward to set up a platform at the farm and summon the supervisors first, then call for the other farm workers later.
The steward was efficient. He quickly set up a platform and even brought over several new chairs that didn’t smell. Soon after Adele sat down, the farm supervisors arrived. To be honest, although they were called supervisors, their mental and physical conditions seemed no different from those of the ordinary workers.
Adele, sitting in her chair, told the people before her to sit down as well. They looked apprehensive and even trembled when they heard Adele’s words. Adele was a typical vampire in appearance: silver hair, crimson eyes, pointed ears, and an exceptionally beautiful face, all clear signs of her vampiric nature.
The humans working on the farm couldn’t tell the difference between low-ranking vampires and nobles, but they knew that both the farm manager and the young lady before them were fearsome vampires. Now that Adele was asking them to sit down, they not only didn’t dare to move, but they were also afraid that the moment they sat down, this monster would chop off their heads.
It was Bella who spoke up, “Sit down. Miss Blake will be displeased if you don’t.”
Only then did the supervisors cautiously sit down. Although Adele felt that this forceful approach wasn’t ideal, since they had all obediently sat down, she wouldn’t criticize them.
She first confirmed the information the steward had reported to her with the supervisors, getting their confirmation and correcting some minor details. Then, satisfied, she nodded.
Adele got straight to the point, telling the supervisors her identity, “My name is Adele Blake. You can address me as Miss Blake, just like Bella. I will be managing the farm for the foreseeable future. The former manager, Mr. Oakham, has been sentenced to death for violating vampire regulations. If you feel that I’m doing anything wrong, you can appeal to the Council of Elders.”
They were already shocked to hear that Oakham had been sentenced to death. And then she said they could appeal to the Council of Elders if they felt she was doing something wrong… They wouldn’t dare! Oakham, that terrifying monster, had been killed by this woman before them. How could they possibly resist her?
They could only tremble and lower their heads. Even saying “We wouldn’t dare” was something they wouldn’t dare to do.
Adele didn’t care whether they would actually appeal to the Council of Elders. She continued, “Also, I have changed the name of the farm from ‘Oakham Farm’ to ‘Spark Farm.’”
Since the former manager was dead, whether the farm’s name was changed or not didn’t really matter to these humans. This time, they nodded, indicating that they understood and were listening to Adele.
After finishing with the formalities, Adele got down to business, “Based on my understanding, Oakham’s previous management system was flawed and inefficient, with unclear division of labor. So, I will be changing his management system.”
Hearing something directly related to their lives, the supervisors perked up, afraid of missing any information and also fearing harsher treatment. But as Adele spoke, they felt that either their ears were deceiving them, or this vampire was crazy.
Listen to what she was saying:
“Sixteen-hour workdays are too long. You can’t possibly get proper rest with such a schedule. I’m changing it to eight hours. You will start work at 9:00 am and finish at 5:00 pm. You will also have two days off each week.”
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