Chapter 411 Everything Starts in Winter (Part 1)

In winter, the branches of the tree are dry and gray, and the branches look denser than the most fashionable combs in the fashion stores on Badgley Street. The rough spots and scars become denser along the thicker branches, and they are connected to the trunk.

Under the tree, ladies wearing woolen skirts and fur shawls hold handbags. When they step on the scattered soil beside the flower bed, they frown their carefully painted eyebrows. They exhale lightly, and the white mist is frozen in the cold air when it comes out from between their beautiful lips.

Just as they and their companions complained about the weather, the newspaper boy riding a bicycle quickly passed by the street, bringing a gust of wind, making the corners of their clothes dance. They looked back with wide eyes, but only saw the newspaper boy's slightly bad smile.

"Dinglingling--" the bicycle bell rang softly, and with a "pop", a slightly worn boot stepped on the snow, and a hand wearing thick gloves reached into the arms of his coat, took out a newspaper, and threw it into the mailbox.

The newsboy grabbed the end of his gloves and pulled them, then pulled his sleeves forward. He shrugged, as if he felt a little cold, but still reached out and slapped the bell on the mailbox.

Just as he sighed, held the handlebars of the bicycle, and stepped on the pedals, he suddenly looked up at the house number and stopped.

Not long after, a man dressed as a butler came out of the gate of the manor, holding an old-fashioned newspaper clip and a small brown paper bag in his hand.

The newsboy saw him, sat on the bicycle, supported himself with one foot, rubbed his hands, and exhaled a white mist.

The butler walked up, took out the newspaper that the newsboy had just delivered, clamped it with a newspaper clip, and then handed the brown paper bag in his hand to the newsboy.

The newsboy took off one of his gloves and used his fingers to open the mouth of the brown paper bag. As soon as he opened it, thick hot steam came out. A closer look revealed an apple pie inside. The soft center was still making a puffing sound, which showed that it had just been heated in the fireplace.

The newsboy folded the brown paper bag neatly, stuffed it into his coat without caring that the apple pie was hot, and then smiled and said to the housekeeper: "Thank Professor Rodriguez for me. He is such a good man!"

The housekeeper also smiled, looked at the little newsboy in front of him who was only a little over ten years old, waved to him, and then watched him pedaling hard and disappear at the end of the street.

He turned around, pushed open the gate of the manor, walked through the front garden and the front hall, walked straight inside, then climbed the stairs, crossed the corridor bridge on the second floor, and came to the study at the back. He knocked on the door, and a calm and powerful voice came from inside: "Come in."

He pushed open the door and saw the afternoon sun shining on the floor of the study, leaving the shape of the window lattice and illuminating the fibers of the carpet.

When he walked in, he heard the "rustling" sound of the radio, and then there came the most common voice in the city:

"...Shockingly, Gorbachev officially signed the order for a large-scale disarmament yesterday. It is not difficult for us to see from this move that the giant bear in the distance has gradually weakened and can't stand alone..."...

"In this winter, the people there are living an extremely cold life. They are about to lose all their initiative, and even the army they were most proud of can't be saved..."

"Gorbachev, an heir who was once worshiped on the altar, but Without showing any talent that matches its reputation, where will this great country go in the future? We can only wait and see..."

A hand reached for the button of the radio, and with a "click", the news broadcast inside stopped. Schiller took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, leaned back in his chair and said, "Thank you, Merkel, did you hear the news just now?"

"Yes, sir." The butler called Merkel turned around and took out the iron for ironing newspapers from the small storage room next to the study. He answered with his back to Schiller.

"How do you think things will develop? Will it be as he said?"

Merkel paused when he unfolded the newspaper. He looked up at Schiller and found that Schiller had taken out a medical record and was writing again. Merkel lowered his head and said while ironing the newspaper: "To be honest, I don't know. I have never had any opinion on this, sir."

Schiller put on his glasses again. While examining the words he wrote, he said: "To be honest, when I asked Alfred to introduce me to a butler, I didn't expect that he would find someone so young."

"I thought that butlers were born like Alfred, with white hair and elegant temperament." Schiller smiled, and Merkel also smiled. He said: "Sir, butlers in the butler school tend to find patrons who are close to their own age, and patrons also like to find butlers who are close to their own age."

"If the butler is too young, not only will he not be a helper, he may also be a burden. But if the butler is too old, some family parents will worry that they will control their children."

"But..." Merkel shook his head and said, "Hereditary butlers are different. They are deeply trusted by the family. They often assist their grandfathers, then their fathers, and then their sons. If there is a chance, they may also assist their grandsons..."

"Which butler school did you graduate from?"

Merkel shook his head again and smiled and said, "Butler schools are different from universities. There is no graduation distinction. When I was a sophomore in London, I was spotted by an old butler from a hereditary butler family and became his apprentice."

"There is a manor in the south of England that is dedicated to teaching new butlers like us. There are about six or seven people like me. We call it a butler school."

"So, you still have an apprenticeship system?" Schiller asked.

Merkel nodded and said, "Everyone who wants to join this industry knows that the hereditary butler family controls all the connections. If you want to become a qualified butler, you can only learn from them."

"So, you are the first generation of the hereditary butler family?"

Merkel smiled and said, "Thank you for your kind words."

Just then, the doorbell rang again. It passed through the empty hall and dim corridor of the manor and reached the study room, which was already a little dull. …

Merkel hung up the iron, spread the newspaper, and then turned around and left to greet the upcoming guests.

When he pushed open the door of the manor, he saw a rather low-key black classic car parked outside. The car door opened, and Alfred came out holding Elsa. He put Elsa down first, and then went to open the door for Dick who was still in the car.

Both children, one big and one small, were wearing thick winter clothes. Dick tried to pull away the scarf that covered half of his face, and then said, "Is this the teacher's home? This is too luxurious!"

Merkel hurried over to help Chalfred pick up Aisha. Alfred turned around and wrapped Dick's scarf around him, and the two walked towards the manor together.

When they arrived at the hall, the children were allowed to take off their scarves, hats and gloves. Merkel hung the clothes he took off on the hangers one by one. Alfred looked around the manor and said to Merkel, "You have been working for a week, how do you feel?"

"Very good." Merkel nodded and said, "Mr. Rodriguez is much easier to get along with than I thought."

"It's the same point, Merkel, don't express your opinions about the people you serve casually." Alfred raised his eyelids, rolled his eyes up, and looked at Merkel.

The butler was indeed very young. Although he looked like he was in his thirties, it was actually because he dressed like an old man. In fact, he was only 28 years old this year and had only been trained for a short time.

However, he looked honest and calm. At first glance, he felt that he was trustworthy. Alfred walked over, patted him on the shoulder and said, "You are born to do this job."

"Thank you, Mr. Pennyworth. I thought it would take a long time for me to get my first job. After all..." Merkel shook her head and said, "Nowadays, many people don't trust young butlers."

They led the two children up the stairs. As they walked, Alfred said, "I heard from Bruce that the professor is a very kind person, so I recommended you to him. A customer older than you is more likely to tolerate some minor shortcomings."

"To be honest, I did mess up some things this week." Merkel sighed and said a little embarrassedly: "Mr. Rodriguez is used to sleeping late, and I can't sleep too early, but this will make me a little distracted when I work during the day. Last time, I almost broke a globe on the desk..."

"Also, he told me that every time the newsboys come to deliver newspapers, I must bring some food to them, but I forgot once..."

"It's okay, Merkel, this is all very normal, just a little mistake, you dare not imagine how much trouble I caused when I first started working as a butler."

As he said, Alfred talked about some interesting things that happened when he just met Thomas Wayne, and they both laughed.

Dick held Aisha's hand from behind and said, "The British accent is really hard to understand, isn't it?"

"Wow wow wow! Wow!"

"What? You want to learn it? That won't work. Then I won't understand you anymore, right?"...

Soon, Merkel walked to Schiller's study door and knocked. After Schiller answered, he opened the door and walked in.

Alfred walked up first, opened his suitcase, and took out a gift box that was exquisitely but not exaggerated. He said:

"I have heard of you for a long time, Professor Rodriguez. I just heard from the radio this morning that your new achievement won another award..."

"I think such good news is worth celebrating, so I brought a little gift."

"Just consider it as a commemoration of the academic dream that I didn't take away from the rainy day in London."

As he spoke, the old man turned down his mouth, revealing a funny and sad expression, which made everyone laugh. Schiller took the gift box and handed it to Merkel.

Merkel opened the gift box, revealing several hardcover copies of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". Alfred stroked his palm gently and said, "Originally, I suggested to Bruce that he give Shakespeare, but he said that maybe you would like this more."

Schiller took the books from Merkel, stroked the gold-plated words on the cover, and said with a smile, "I didn't know that Bruce knew me so well. Usually, he has a better relationship with Professor Victor, which makes me a little jealous."

Alfred also smiled, he turned around and pulled Dick and Aisha over. Dick stared at Xile timidly, as if he was a little afraid of this teacher-like figure.

"In fact, I also know that Bruce should have caused a lot of trouble. His mind has always been a little too active, but I think Dick should be a good student. Although he entered school relatively late, his grades in various subjects are good..."

Schiller squatted down, looked at Dick level, looked into his eyes, and then said: "I can see that this is an obedient child."

Then he touched Dick's head, stood up again, looked at Alfred and said: "As I wrote in my reply to you before, he and his sister can come here for three hours of classes every week in the future."

"I will teach Dick grammar and some relatively basic psychology and sociology knowledge."

"As for Aisha, as we agreed before, I will give her some basic sensory training to promote the development of her language system as much as possible..."

"Then I'll trouble you, Professor Rodriguez."