Chapter 57: Bonus
As Jasmine had expected, the moment the human workers saw Adele, their eyes widened in surprise, and they turned to look at her one after another.
This scene wasn’t as synchronized as when vampires had stared at Jasmine. After all, humans couldn’t sense Adele’s presence before she entered and instantly turn their heads in unison the moment she opened the door, creating a horror movie atmosphere.
They were all quietly eating their meals, only turning their heads to see what was happening when they heard gasps or surprised murmurs from others.
Upon noticing Adele, they also reacted with surprise, alerting others to the unusual event.
Adele, however, was unfazed by their stares. She even looked around with interest. The servants’ dining hall in the manor seemed clean enough, but it couldn’t compare to the dining halls at the school or the Blake castle. Mainly because there was no segregation, with men and women eating together, and the space was small and cramped.
Jasmine didn’t see these as problems. As long as the environment wasn’t dirty and chaotic, it was fine. On the contrary, the place was clean, showing that the manor servants were diligent. She walked towards the serving window, Adele following closely behind, curiously observing her actions.
Jasmine picked up a wooden tray and approached the window. The middle-aged woman inside served her a set meal. In this resource-scarce area, there were no choices for Jasmine. She could only accept whatever the woman served her. Although Jasmine called her “auntie,” the woman was actually only around forty years old.
After receiving her meal, Jasmine carried the tray and found an empty table to sit down. Adele followed and sat beside her.
Bella was efficient and had probably already arranged the shift rotations, so the dining hall wasn’t crowded. There were plenty of empty seats, so they didn’t have to worry about others losing their appetites upon seeing Adele at their table.
As a proper maid, Jasmine should have carefully wiped down the chair for Adele before she sat down. After all, this was where “lowly humans” sat, potentially carrying “human bacteria.” Fastidious vampires were particularly concerned about such things. But Jasmine was focused on eating and didn’t care about Adele.
Besides, Adele wasn’t the type to care about such things either.
Compared to whether the chair she was sitting on had been used by other humans, she was more interested in what Jasmine was eating. The wooden tray held several bowls. One bowl contained thick oatmeal, which was Jasmine’s staple food. To be honest, Jasmine didn’t like oatmeal, bread, or anything like that. She preferred white rice. But she had transmigrated to a world with limited resources. Forget about white rice, having oatmeal was already a luxury.
If this were a true medieval setting, she might be eating chaff.
Besides the oatmeal, there was a small bowl with two fishcakes. Although she hadn’t tasted them yet, Jasmine figured they wouldn’t be too bad. There was also a portion of stewed potatoes and pork, and some vegetables. The combination of meat and vegetables was quite good.
But in Adele’s eyes, it was completely unacceptable. The last time she had seen Jasmine eat was on the airship, when she had made things difficult for the manager, demanding human food in the vampire restaurant. Although Adele’s request had been unreasonable, the manager had fulfilled it. He had no choice. It was the Blake young lady’s order.
There were also human chefs in the vampire restaurant. When asked to prepare human food, he had readily agreed. He was a skilled chef, and the dishes he had prepared were both beautiful and delicious, with exquisite presentation.
Even the cutlery was a matching set of metal utensils.
In contrast, Jasmine’s bowls and spoons were made of wood. Unfinished wooden bowls were popular in Jasmine’s previous life, but here, they were considered low-class. And without the craftsmanship of her previous world, the bowls and chopsticks here were crudely made, with rough edges and splinters. The mushy food in these unattractive bowls looked even less appetizing.
Adele hesitated. She wanted to tell Jasmine not to eat it, but she didn’t know what else Jasmine could eat. She could only watch as Jasmine picked up a spoonful of oatmeal and put it in her mouth.
Jasmine ate the oatmeal with a completely neutral expression. After all, the quality wasn’t good, and she didn’t like it. If it had been mixed with milk or something, she might have enjoyed it a bit more. But it was just plain oatmeal with water. After a few bites of oatmeal, Jasmine tried a fishcake. The fish was probably just an ordinary river fish caught from a nearby river. The cake was made from barley flour. The combination was edible.
But compared to other chefs, the skill was definitely lacking. The same went for the stewed potatoes and pork. The kitchen auntie had used pork, and the pork hadn’t been properly treated. The strong smell… there were no seasonings to mask the gaminess. Jasmine took one bite and didn’t touch it again. She ate to enjoy herself, not to torture her taste buds.
After finishing her meal, Jasmine carried her tray to the designated area. As she turned around, another maid also came over with her tray. The maid glanced at Jasmine’s untouched stewed potatoes and pork, and her expression changed dramatically.
Just from her expression, Jasmine could guess what she was thinking. She was probably thinking that people who served high-ranking nobles were indeed different, even leaving meat uneaten because they found the food unpalatable. This might cause misunderstandings and create a rift between Jasmine and the manor servants. The maid might even spread this around the manor, but Jasmine couldn’t force herself to eat something she didn’t like.
Jasmine simply nodded at the maid and then rejoined Adele, who was waiting for her.
Back in their room, Adele asked, “Was the food really that bad?”
Jasmine hesitated for a moment, then nodded, “Yes, it wasn’t good. The pork had a strong gamy smell. It was unpalatable.” Vampires also found pork unpalatable. Even if they ate raw meat, they chose beef, not pork. Hearing this, Adele sighed heavily and fell into deep thought.
What was she going to do with Jasmine, who was so delicate? If she didn’t like the food, she didn’t like it. She couldn’t force her to eat, just like she couldn’t force herself to eat things she didn’t like. But Jasmine had only eaten a little. She hadn’t eaten anything since last night. What was she going to do? And she wouldn’t be able to eat much in the future either, because she clearly didn’t like the food.
Adele wouldn’t force Jasmine. She herself was the type who would rather just drink artificial blood than eat something she didn’t like. How could she force Jasmine to eat food she didn’t enjoy?
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Although Adele hadn’t learned this saying, she understood the principle instinctively. If Jasmine knew, she would be very pleased. But what Jasmine didn’t know was that Adele was already considering finding a professional chef to cook for her. Or finding someone in the manor who was interested in cooking and sending them for training.
Adele, having come up with a brilliant solution, thought that Jasmine would just have to endure for a few more days. She took out a piece of paper and wrote a letter to the liaison officer her father had assigned to her, asking him to find a human chef. She was willing to pay a high price for it. After finishing the letter, Adele summoned Bella to discuss business.
When Bella was called to the room, she first nodded to Jasmine as a greeting. Jasmine nodded back and invited her in. They discussed matters in the drawing-room. It couldn’t be helped, as Adele’s small study was gone. Jasmine thought that the manor was so large, they could easily spare a room downstairs for meetings.
Adele explained her reward system to Bella in detail and said that the servants had done a good job these past two days. She wanted to reward them, starting with Bella, whom she praised and rewarded with a sum of cash. The amount wasn’t much, but Bella was stunned. Unlike Jasmine, who worked for a noble and actually received a salary, humans who served low-ranking vampires in remote areas probably never owned any personal property in their lives.
Her reaction confused Adele, “Do you think it’s too little?”
Adele was puzzled. The amount wasn’t much, but it wasn’t insignificant either. She had given Bella 20 yuan in cash, about half of what her mother usually rewarded their servants. When the servants performed well, the Blake lady would reward them with cash or other gifts. If it was cash, the amount was usually 400 yuan. This was a remote area, after all, and Oakham’s secret stash wasn’t that large. She felt that 20 yuan was appropriate, even a bit generous.
Hearing Adele’s question, Bella snapped out of her daze. She instinctively shook her head, “No… it’s just…” Bella hesitated for a moment, then decided to be honest, “Before this, I had never received a single penny. Oakham…” She struggled with how to address Oakham, finally deciding to err on the side of caution and add “Mister.”
“Mr. Oakham didn’t allow us to have personal property. Working for him was our honor, and we shouldn’t ask for more.”
In fact, many years ago, humans who worked for vampires didn’t receive any payment. But the Council of Elders, after listening to the suggestions of some human advisors, started giving humans wages to make them more loyal and dedicated to serving vampires. Over time, this system had become established and was widely practiced among nobles.
Seeing lowly humans groveling for a few pieces of paper pleased the vampires.
Jasmine actually felt that this was a good thing for humans. Being allowed to own personal property was a significant improvement in their status. Some members of the Human Resistance Army considered those advisors to be traitors for further improving the banking system and developing things like airships, but Jasmine felt that they might be fighting for humans in a different way.
After all, there was a saying in her previous life: “To be physically in Cao Cao’s camp, but with one’s heart in Han’s.”
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T/N:
The saying “身在曹营心在汉 (shēn zài cáo yíng xīn zài hàn),” literally “body in Cao Cao’s camp, heart in Han’s,” is a Chinese idiom that describes someone who is outwardly loyal to one side but secretly supports another.
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Cao Cao (曹操): Was a powerful warlord during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He was known for his ambition and ruthlessness.
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Han (汉): Refers to the Han dynasty, which was in decline during the Three Kingdoms period.
The idiom originates from the story of Xu Shu (徐庶), a brilliant strategist who was forced to serve Cao Cao but remained loyal to the Han dynasty in his heart.
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