THE LORD'S LADY FROM THE EAST

The next day, Wei Wei woke up early.

Her sleep schedule had stabilized recently due to the lack of nightlife and the inability to stay up late. Unlike the nobles, who typically didn't rise until nearly ten o'clock, she was up by six or seven almost every day.

Given that the West had no clocks and relied on sundials for timekeeping, Wei Wei's precise grasp of time came from the system's announcements.

She had once considered whether she should try to get a pocket watch or some other timekeeping device from the system. Still, after much deliberation, she decided against it.

The maids had grown accustomed to her early rising, and shortly after she woke up, there was a knock at the door.

In response to Wei Wei's call, Qin and Penny entered with washing tools.

In addition to the usual face-washing tools, there were now toothbrushes and toothpaste.

The toothbrush handles were carved by a carpenter—a slender piece of wood, flattened at one end with two rows of holes drilled into it. These holes were filled with horsehair, which was softer than pig bristles, and then secured at the back.

To prevent the bristles from falling out, Wei Wei had experimented many times before succeeding.

Of course, with toothbrushes came toothpaste. Thanks to the system, Wei Wei, who was well-versed in medicine, remembered the formula for toothpowder in traditional Chinese medicine. Unfortunately, not all the ingredients could be found in Sardinson County, so she turned to the encyclopedia library and found an ancient Egyptian recipe: 1% ounce of rock salt and dried iris flowers, 2% ounce of mint, and 20 peppercorns ground into powder. When mixed with saliva, the powder would turn into a paste, which could be considered the earliest form of toothpaste.

There were other recipes, but this one was the easiest to make. However, peppercorns were expensive, making them suitable for emergency use but too extravagant for regular use. Therefore, Wei Wei planned to study European herbal medicine once she had some free time to find a suitable substitute.

After all, the medical knowledge she had acquired from the system was tailored to the East, and the herbs she knew were native to that region. To make her medical skills useful in the West, she needed to familiarize herself with the local herbs.

Once again, she was grateful for the encyclopedia library—it was truly a treasure trove.

Because the newly made toothpaste was too expensive, Wei Wei gave the first batch, along with toothbrushes, to Felix and Dolores. She wasn't sure if Felix had used his yet, but Dolores loved it and even gifted Wei Wei a handkerchief she had embroidered herself.

After brushing her teeth and washing her face, Wei Wei touched her fair, smooth skin and thought that, in addition to finding a substitute for toothpaste, she should also start researching skincare and cosmetics soon.

When she first moved into Sardinson Castle, the maids had prepared various cosmetics and skincare products popular among noblewomen for her, but Wei Wei didn't dare use them. While she wasn't sure about the other ingredients, she knew that both Eastern and Western cosmetics of the time often contained lead. If she didn't want to poison herself, it was best to avoid them entirely.

After finishing her morning routine, Wei Wei put on her cloak and veil and went downstairs.

At this hour, Dolores was still asleep. Since Wei Wei had things to do, she ate a quick breakfast and then asked where the butler was.

Although the butler didn't need to attend to Felix's every need in his absence, he was still very busy managing the castle's servants.

Fortunately, when Wei Wei went to look for him, he was just about to inform her that the items she had asked the slaves to collect the previous day were ready.

"According to your instructions, they've been placed in the open area outside the castle."

Outside the castle was a moat, and beyond that, for safety reasons, the land had not been cultivated. Wei Wei had specifically asked them to pile up the collected weeds and straw in this open area.

The butler wanted to accompany her, but he was too busy, so he assigned a male servant and two slaves to assist Wei Wei instead.

Qin and Penny remained in the castle, while Wei Wei, accompanied by the male servant and the two slaves, took some digging tools and left the castle.

The process of making fire manure was simple: find a flat area, pile up a conical mound of soil, dig a hollow in the centre, fill it with the collected weeds and straw, cover it with soil, leaving only the ends exposed, and then set it on fire.

This was Wei Wei's first time doing this—of course, the people with her wouldn't let her do the physical work, so the two slaves handled the labour while she provided verbal instructions. However, she had thoroughly researched the process beforehand and knew that the soil couldn't be too lumpy or too fine. The firewood had to be dry, but the material buried in the soil needed to be semi-damp—not too dry, as it would burn too quickly and reduce the fertilizer's effectiveness, and not too wet, as it would extinguish the fire and require starting over.

Knowing the theory was one thing, but putting it into practice was another. To account for this, Wei Wei had the slaves prepare several fire manure piles, each with slight variations, hoping that at least one would turn out right.

However, because so many piles were burning at once, the smoke was overwhelming. Even with her veil, Wei Wei couldn't stop coughing and had to retreat to a more upwind location to avoid the smoke.

She also felt a bit guilty—the smoke was so thick that if she hadn't warned everyone, the people in the castle might have thought there was a fire.

Moreover, she had chosen a spot close to the castle. While she had considered the wind direction, the fire manure would need to burn for several days. If the wind changed direction, the guards on the castle walls would likely be choked by the smoke.

Since these initial piles were just experiments, Wei Wei turned to the male servant and said, "The smoke is too heavy and might disturb the people in the castle. Let's move to a more open area for the next batch."

"Of course, miss. I'll arrange for the materials to be moved right away."

The male servant was a man of action. He quickly returned to the castle, fetched a cart, and with the help of a few slaves, transported the remaining materials to a new location.

Wei Wei initially wanted to follow, but the male servant advised her, "Miss, the smoke is quite strong. Perhaps you should return to the castle and rest. I'll oversee things here."

Wei Wei took a closer look at him and realized he was a distant relative of Butler Barton. She recalled that Barton had called him Ward earlier.

Since the smoke was already bothering her, Wei Wei didn't insist on staying. She explained everything she knew about making fire manure to Ward, entrusted him with the task, and then returned to the castle.

Back at the castle, she didn't rest. Instead, she went to the kitchen and carried the seeds she had brought back the previous day to the garden.

The castle's garden was spacious, with all the plants neatly trimmed and meticulously maintained by the gardeners.

Wei Wei had the servants carry the selected seeds to the garden, and she borrowed an apron from one of the maids. She planned to ask the gardener for some tools to plant a portion of the seeds in the garden for seedling cultivation.

She had informed the butler in advance, and since Felix had instructed him not to refuse such simple requests, he had agreed. However, the butler had initially assumed Wei Wei wanted to plant some flowers she liked in the garden. It wasn't until he overheard her conversation with the steward the previous day that he realized she wasn't planting flowers.

At the moment, though, the butler was busy with his work and unaware that Wei Wei had returned, so he couldn't arrange for anyone to assist her.

Wei Wei, however, felt she could manage on her own. She wasn't planning to plant a full field—just seedling cultivation—and she believed she could handle it by herself.

When she went to borrow tools, the gardener, upon learning what she intended to do, immediately offered to help.

The castle's garden was maintained by the gardener, Terence, and his family of seven. When Wei Wei first learned that Terence had five children—three boys and two girls—she was surprised. Having grown up as an only child with divorced parents and raised by her grandparents, she wasn't used to such large families.

Later, she realized that this was the norm for the time. Both nobles and commoners were eager to have many children because child mortality was high, and having more children increased the chances that at least some would survive to adulthood.

"If it doesn't interfere with your work," Wei Wei said.

"Of course not, miss. We're happy to assist you," Terence replied.

Wei Wei looked at the family. The oldest boy appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen, while the youngest girl was about eight. Wei Wei often strolled through the garden with Dolores and knew that all of Terence's children helped with the gardening. Even the youngest girl was quite capable.

"Then let the children help me," Wei Wei said. "I don't have much work, and their assistance will be enough."

"Of course, miss," Terence said, quickly instructing the children to listen carefully and follow Wei Wei with the tools.

Wei Wei had already marked out a section of the garden. The grass there had been cleared, and the exposed soil was fertile enough that she didn't need to add fertilizer, which was why she had chosen that spot.

Terence had already tilled the soil for her, so the children's task was simply to dig holes, scatter the seeds, cover them with a thin layer of soil, and water them according to Wei Wei's instructions.

Wei Wei had many seeds that required seedling cultivation before planting, but not all crops were suitable for sowing at this time. Moreover, Sardinson's temperatures were relatively low. It was already late March, with daytime temperatures around 18 degrees Celsius and night-time temperatures dropping to 12 degrees, which was too cold for many heat-loving crops.

Fortunately, while the temperatures weren't high, this time of year saw little rain, and when it did rain, it was usually a drizzle—"spring rain as precious as oil." Therefore, sudden drastic temperature drops were unlikely.

After some consideration, Wei Wei decided to start with corn and sweet potatoes.

Corn was typically planted in March. While modern farmers often used plastic mulch to keep the seedlings warm, Wei Wei believed that Sardinson's current temperatures were suitable for corn seedlings, as long as there wasn't an unexpected cold snap.

Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, were usually planted in the warmer months of April or May, but the current weather wasn't entirely unsuitable. They might grow more slowly, but Wei Wei had the system's assurance that the miniature sweet potatoes she had would grow. She wanted to plant them while the system's after-sales service was still valid, so she could seek help if any issues arose.