It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

Li Cheng nodded: "That's right."

Susie was immediately taken aback, revealing an "I knew it" expression: "Then I'll be unemployed, won't I?"

Li Cheng didn't quite understand: "What does it matter? At worst, I'll give you a severance package and you can go wherever you want and do whatever you want. Isn't that more comfortable than running errands here?"

"But all I know is farming, milking cows, and sewing!"

Susie looked desperate: "If you don't want me, I'll be looked down upon for being clumsy even if I work as a personal maid. Besides, I've been asking around these past few days, and the pay for odd jobs as a maid is so low, I can't even afford a hotel! I might as well go home and farm!"

This reminded Li Cheng that he had previously overlooked this survival issue.

So he looked at Susie in front of him and carefully studied her personal resume.

Susie, female, age not asked but estimated to be 16 or 7. Educationally, she's at the level of just learning to read. Her greatest skills are farming and milking, and she's also considered quite daring.

Aside from running errands and doing odd jobs, she's practically clumsy and prone to breaking things like a vase. Aside from being fairly pretty, her only redeeming quality is her figure... ahem, hold on. Using one's position of power to coerce a young girl into submission—what's the difference between that and being a beast?

Li Cheng silently recited his moral principles, then asked, "Let me ask you first, are you planning to stay by my side and never leave?"

Susie recalled the restaurant Li Cheng had taken her to the day before yesterday, the beautiful new clothes she wore, the princess she had seen in person, and the boast Li Cheng had made to her that hadn't yet come true—that she would see her in a few years, but she wanted to see her as soon as possible.

The experiences of the past few days had dazzled the country girl, so Susie nodded firmly: "I want to follow you."

"Okay, I understand, but to be honest, it's quite difficult..."

Li Cheng stroked his chin and pondered, "It wouldn't be right if you did nothing, but if you did the same work as everyone else and I paid you more, it wouldn't seem right to others either—you need to work harder."

effort?

Susie seemed to have made a connection to something. After a fierce internal struggle, she reached her hand, trembling slightly, towards her skirt: "I, I..."

"Stop!"

Seeing Susie's expression, Li Cheng knew she had misunderstood: "Stop right there! What I meant was that you need to work hard to improve yourself, understand? Don't you think you're useless at everything right now?"

Susie: "Huh?"

"Huh what?"

Li Cheng glared at her: "Don't you know your own situation? After this is over, find a direction to work towards. I'm not going to let you just coast along, you know?"

"You need to enrich yourself first, so that you can better exert your light and heat, and better exploit... cough cough, I mean, realize your own value, instead of being reduced to a lowly maid doing chores."

"You were curious about those airplanes and cannons I mentioned, weren't you? You've taught yourself to read, so your learning ability seems pretty good. I'll get you a couple of basic chemistry books later..."

"You should study more at such a young age, instead of thinking about becoming a maid or servant all day long. That's a dead-end job..."

Chapter 156 Comparing Who's More Suitable

Susie imagined many ways Li Cheng would deal with her, including the worst and most indescribable ones, but reading was something she never thought of at all—in this era, sending children to school was a losing proposition, unlike modern times where even a security guard needs to have a college degree.

Therefore, she thought Li Cheng was just joking, so she relaxed and went out for a stroll.

However, the very next day, Susie realized she was wrong, terribly wrong. Because Li Cheng had somehow managed to get her a basic chemistry book, and even personally gave her a two-hour introductory lesson!

Inside the hotel room, Li Cheng stood directly in front of the wooden table, acting as a temporary teacher.

Now that he brought Susie out of the countryside, he must arrange a way out for her. He can't really let her become a maid—it's not that he discriminates against maids, but he just thinks that would be quite irresponsible.

Li Cheng: "In summary, chemistry is a natural science that mainly studies the composition, properties, structure and laws of change of matter at the molecular and atomic levels, and creates substances that did not originally exist in nature."

Susie: "...?"

Li Cheng tapped the table: "Be serious. If I hadn't been idle these past few days and too afraid to go out, do you think I would have had the chance to listen to my lectures? The last time I lectured was two months ago, and I almost moved several students to tears. Now they run away as soon as they see me."

Susie touched the maid outfit she insisted on wearing, glanced at the textbooks on the table, and muttered, "But something just doesn't feel right. Why do you want me to study? Studying doesn't earn money..."

Li Cheng: "There's nothing wrong with it. And you need to realize one thing: you're not studying for me now. Although you might be thrown into the lab to do manual labor depending on the situation, you're still studying for your own future, for your parents' expectations, and for the rise of England."

Susie: "I still feel something's not right... Come to think of it, aren't you a wizard? Why didn't you teach me alchemy or something, but instead taught me this thing called chemistry?"

Li Cheng looked inscrutable: "Chemistry is actually no different from alchemy. The so-called turning stone into gold involves changes in atomic nuclei, which can be achieved using an atomic collider."

Susie: "Turning stone into gold?!"

Although I don't understand it, it sounds pretty impressive. Maybe I should give it a try? It's like turning lead into gold! Once I learn this chemistry and build that particle collider, I won't have to worry about money anymore.

A bright light immediately shone in Susie's eyes, giving her motivation for the future.

......

For the next two days, Li Cheng worked part-time as a teacher at the hotel, giving Susie 20 hours of extra lessons, almost driving her to the brink of collapse, until Veronica finally sent someone to contact her... and incidentally delivered a set of male servant clothes.

It was still a hotel room.

"Alas, I never imagined that after a lifetime of wisdom, I would end up like this."

Li Cheng looked at himself in the metal mirror and sighed deeply, "Even in a servant's outfit, I'm still pretty handsome."

Susie circled around him, scrutinizing Li Cheng, who looked much more capable in his new servant's attire, her eyes filled with curiosity.

Finally, she thought of something and stood side by side with Li Cheng in front of the mirror, showing off her maid outfit that she hadn't changed since: "Look at you, this outfit of yours looks so good with my maid outfit."

"Nonsense, you're wearing a maid outfit, and I'm wearing a male servant outfit. How could we not match?"

Li Cheng tapped her on the head: "I have to go out for a bit. Go back to your room and review what we talked about yesterday. I'll test you when I get back."

After saying that, he left on his own, leaving Susie heartbroken in the room.

Susie used to think she was pretty smart, able to learn so many words without going to school, and she was quite proud of it. But these past two days, she feels overwhelmed, as a bunch of unfamiliar and incomprehensible things have been crammed into her head.

In fact, Susie's situation is very common. Most people in reality think they are very smart when they are young, and that there is nothing they can't learn as long as they are willing to learn.

This self-confidence usually develops over time, until at some point one realizes that one is just one of the masses... Depending on each person's actual intelligence, this point may come sooner or later, but generally even the relatively intelligent ones will come to terms with reality after entering university.

The most typical example is the group of people who ranked at the bottom in the Tsinghua University entrance exam, even though they were among the top students in their previous schools.

"Ugh."

Having faced reality, Susie sighed deeply, glancing wistfully at the textbooks on the table, then down at her maid outfit, puffing out her cheeks as she said:

"It's better to have a relationship with the master, like that senior suggested. Anyway, this wizard is so rich and good-looking."

......

While Susie was falling into a daze of school, Li Cheng arrived at the agreed-upon place. Holly was already waiting there, bored out of her mind, looking up at the sky covered with a layer of dark clouds—London was still overcast today.

"puff--"

However, Holly was amused by Li Cheng's appearance dressed as a male servant as soon as they met.

Li Cheng rolled his eyes at her: "What's so funny? Haven't you ever seen a male servant before?"

Holly certainly couldn't have been unfamiliar with male servants, but seeing the relatively familiar Li Cheng suddenly dressed as a male servant, she couldn't help but laugh, feeling a sense of 'you've finally met your match'.

She suppressed a laugh: "It's alright, it's alright, let's go quickly, His Highness has been waiting for a long time."

“Qi”.

Li Cheng scoffed and then followed.

Today is the day Veronica will meet Queen Catherine... well, perhaps we should use a different title depending on the situation.

(By the way, what should the king's mother be called? How exactly should the term "queen mother" be translated?)

In short, Veronica is going to see her mother today and have tea and a chat with her.

In England, the practice of drinking tea was first introduced by Queen Catherine of Aragon from Portugal. Her dowry included 221 pounds of black tea and exquisite Chinese tea sets. At that time, black tea was as valuable as silver, and the new queen's elegant way of brewing and drinking it set an example for the nobility to follow.

On the way to the palace, the two exchanged information briefly again.

Veronica said first, "I'll try to bring up my brother's matter later, and that should help me figure things out."

Li Cheng nodded: "It's up to you. I'll be listening in too. Also, is Edward acting strangely?"

Veronica shook her head: "No, he has been busy taking over the king's work and preparing for the coronation."

Li Cheng recalled some words he vaguely heard at the time: "Afterwards, I recalled what had happened before, and remembered that there was a batch of smuggling ships some time ago. I suspected that it might be related to Edward."

Veronica thought for a moment: "I've heard about this. I heard that a group of Catholics were smuggling gunpowder and arrested some people. Later, because of... that incident, it was eventually dropped."

That matter refers to the death of Charles II, but Veronica had some difficulty saying it herself, so she used "that matter" as a substitute.

"Catholicism smuggling gunpowder?"

Li Cheng wiped away his cold sweat; he truly hadn't expected this to involve such a serious matter.

However, he soon had a guess: "I suspect that Edward may be related to Catholics. He may have received their support, or perhaps it was their exposure that made Edward so anxious."

Veronique was puzzled: "This sounds a bit strange... Why would he contact the Catholic Church? That would only exacerbate sectarian conflicts within the country. If he becomes king, the state religion is unlikely to support him."

Li Cheng shook his head: "Maybe he really is a Catholic, haha... There are so many mysteries. Hopefully, we can get some useful clues this time."

Veronica: "Hopefully so. If we don't get any leads this time, we'll have to try contacting Duke Scott."

Li Cheng: "Who is he? Is he reliable?"

Veronique: "He was the Duke whom the King trusted most, and the first person to stand up and maintain order on the day the King had the accident. If it weren't for him, the situation might have been even more chaotic... Moreover, he was also a staunch believer in the State Church."

Li Cheng: "Understood."

The conversation came to an end, but after a two-second silence, Veronica suddenly changed the subject and said, "This dress suits you very well."

Speaking of which, Li Cheng thought this servant outfit was quite form-fitting, and he wondered how it was such a coincidence that someone else had the same size.

"It's alright, it doesn't really matter what you wear."

Li Cheng glanced down at his servant's outfit, then looked at Veronique's elaborate and exquisite court dress: "I think you're more suitable."

Veronica shook her head: "It's different. To me, this is normal attire, but it gives people a fresh feeling when you wear it."

Li Cheng suddenly had a brain fart: "Why don't you also change into a male servant outfit and see who suits you better?"

Don't ask why it's a male maid outfit. These days, maid outfits are everywhere for work, and I'm tired of seeing them all the time. Only those old-school anime fans wearing maid outfits can rekindle Li Cheng's interest in them.

?

Is this even comparable? Why don't you try wearing a skirt...? Veronica's forehead twitched: "Hehe, there's really no need for that."

.......

Hampton Court Palace.

I returned to the king's palace, only to find it had undergone a complete transformation.

Edward hadn't officially moved in yet, but he was gradually spending more and more nights at Hampton Court Palace. Veronica even made a point of visiting her mother on a day when he wasn't there.

Led by servants, the group soon arrived in the garden, where Queen Catherine was already waiting.