Chapter 2 James' hobby

  In 1845, Canada had just completed the unification of the top and bottom, and it was the largest overseas colony of the United Kingdom.

Edmond, where the Howlett family is located, is the largest city in Alberta. Although in the eyes of the British aristocrats far away across the ocean, the colonial landowners are by no means qualified to stand shoulder to shoulder with themselves, but it cannot be denied that in this area , the Howlett family is the most powerful, rich and powerful aristocratic lords.

Summer in the Midwest is the hardest. The towering and long Rocky Mountains block the cold tundra climate in the north, and the cool wind in the east also lingers at the foot of the mountains. There are enough ice cubes in the manor room to cool down, even the horse house The big guys here also have such conditions.

   But the pastures, the workers and slaves in the farmland can only let their sweat become the oasis for watering the land.

  Mr. Howlett believes that they are naturally adapted to such an environment, and said that this is very consistent with his consistent "strict and fair" remarks, because most of them are dark-skinned, and they should live under the sun, which is justified.

  James has just adapted to the daily life of some so-called aristocrats in the past few days. He already has a tutor who has begun to teach him writing and arithmetic, accompanied by the guidance of noble etiquette.

  This teacher was hired by Mr. Howlett from London with a high salary. He graduated from Oxford with a bachelor's degree in literature and history. He is also proficient in French and Latin.

  Mr. Howlett cannot allow his grandson, the future heir of the family, to grow up in this land where civilization is missing and become a cowboy who can only harness cattle and shoot guns. The Howlett family wants to become a real British nobleman, and James should have the best education since he was a child, for which he paid a full weekly salary of 13 pounds.

  Every day, little James will learn one hour of arithmetic with Mr. Daniel, one hour of English and history, and one hour each of French and Latin.

  Daniel rarely gave him a 15-minute break in the middle of each class, mainly because James' learning progress and effect have made great progress in the past month.

  Although he has always been a well-behaved and obedient child, it must be said that at this age he is full of curiosity about the outside world, and books are not always as cute as little ponies. It's just that the little maid Rose who has been studying with him in the past has far better grades than James, which makes Mr. Daniel unable to relax his homework.

"Okay James, that's it for today. It's very good, especially the arithmetic. I think you can help Mr. Howlett in a few weeks! French needs to be improved, which is very important in the UK. language."

   "Yes, Mr. Daniel, then I'll go first." After bowing her head in a polite gesture, the little maid Rose O'Hara also raised the corner of her skirt slightly, made a standard lady's salute, and left with James.

"I heard that you can see fireflies over the valley field at night! Master James, do you want to go?" O'Hara, who was shaking bright red hair, looked at James expectantly. There were some freckles on her nose. It is so conspicuous on the skin, but it makes the little girl look very delicate.

   "Sorry, O'Hara, I have to review the homework left by Mr. Daniel tonight, so I can't go with you." James was not moved by the cuteness of his little maid, and responded somewhat laxly.

"It's like this again...you still call me O'Hara now, and it's not something strangers do when they call their surnames!" Hearing the obviously aggrieved and unhappy complaints from the side, James couldn't help comforting him with a headache: "Because O'Hara It sounds cuter and suits you better."

   "Really! Master James, you think I'm cute?" The child's temper became like the weather at sea. There was a storm brewing just now, and now the sky is bright again.

   "Yes, you are the cutest in the manor."

   O'Hara giggled with satisfaction, completely forgot about the fireflies in the valley field, said goodbye to James, and went to the servant's room for dinner.

  Even James, who never had a child in his previous life, is really troubled by this little tail who follows him every day. O'Hara's mother is Mrs. Elizabeth, James' mother's personal maid.

The Howlett family has never used black servants since his brother Tony, who died without meeting him, and the O'Hara mother and daughter came to Canada from Northern Ireland to make a living. A widow took her young daughter through a two-month The voyage to get here is not easy.

Many British civilians with difficult families and no means of sustenance will choose to come to the colonies to serve the rich and manor owners. Although the life here is not as rich as in their hometown, the income is high, and more importantly, they can experience the upper class to some extent. It's like waiting for someone.

   Fortunately, every day James used reading and studying as an excuse to win a lot of time alone in the room in the morning and evening. At the same time, his rapid progress also proved that what he said was true.

Everyone in the manor knows that Master James' greatest hobby is to study hard by himself in his room, otherwise he really can't think of how to explain that as a child of twelve or thirteen years old, he spends four or five hours alone by himself every day, and It's not chasing foals and climbing banyan trees like before.

  James’s real hobby is of course not reading and studying. The level of education in the 19th century was very limited, let alone colonial areas. Even high-achieving students who graduated from Oxford without majoring in mathematics and science can hardly compare with Chinese students with solid basic education in terms of mathematics level in this era.

  Baifeng's English in the previous life was average, but the accumulation of thousands of words has completely exceeded the language level of a child. The only thing that needs to be worked on is the two unfamiliar French and Latin, but it is not difficult to learn the two languages ​​​​seriously, regardless of the childish mentality.

   After dinner, after dealing with the grandfather, his parents chatted and asked, James politely asked if he could go back to the room to study his homework, and Mr. Howlett went upstairs after agreeing with a gratified wrinkled nod, and gently closed the door.

  Standing still, he closed his eyes for a while, let out a long breath, stood with his feet apart and squatted down slightly, with his hands resting on his waist, and stood in the room strangely.

  The doors and windows of the balcony are wide open, facing the bright and numerous moon and stars above the head, and the body slowly rises and falls with breathing. After a long while, the standing body was slightly warmed up, and then he paused to lift his shoulders. The whole person just touched the ground with his toes, stretched his body flat, twisted his spine with the orderly sound of joints, and lowered his body.

   Changed more than a dozen movements like this one after another, and it took a full hour before he stood still and closed his body. After a few random moves, he fell on the bed, thinking about it incessantly.

"For almost a month, I stood the pile method of building the foundation every day, performed a set of Baduanjin in the morning, slapped the joints of the whole body, and practiced the basic Yijingong in the evening. This body is not as unbearable as I imagined. It should be nothing like a healthy child. Two, why have you always been sick for no reason since you were young? Could it really be just a severe allergy? This thing may not be cured by practicing boxing..."

  James lay empty on the bed, planning how to deal with himself in such a strange world.

  Perhaps it was due to his mastery of martial arts, and his mental and psychological cultivation has also reached the state of "exploring" and "knowing the sky", and he is especially adaptable to the surprise of time and space flipping and reincarnating at this moment.

  Besides, although his predecessor had excellent savvy, he was born with a lack of energy and blood and extremely poor bones. In professional western medical terms, he was born with congenital heart disease and kidney failure, and his bones were also very thin and fragile.

  The body of a sick young man who died prematurely was improved by practicing Neijiaquan step by step from light, dark, and refined.

Even so, it is only comparable to the physical functions of ordinary strong and ordinary people, and the heart will be overwhelmed if there is too much force in the dark. And die early.

   Now it looks like the original world has gone back in time for more than 170 years, and it has come to Canada, a very backward British colony in the middle of the 19th century, but at least the family is very good, and it seems that this life has no worries about food and clothing. Although there are some physical problems that I still can't figure out, but it is better than the previous life.

  Boom boom...

   There were two soft muffled sounds, and Elizabeth pushed open the door and asked softly, "Jamie, are you resting?"

  (end of this chapter)