Besides the items mentioned above, Charles Bennett also thought of some other things, but unfortunately, all of them were limited by one condition or another, making it impossible to bring in enough money to support his family in the short term. Thinking about having a vast treasure trove in his mind, yet being unable to realize it due to various real-world constraints, Charles Bennett couldn’t help but feel a bit discouraged. However, for the sake of keeping his family from going hungry, Charles Bennett could only force himself to perk up and go over everything around him that could be put to use. In the end, he finally came up with a feasible solution.

This solution had nothing to do with the knowledge he brought from his previous life; the main factor was still the large mansion owned by the Zhou family. Although this mansion had long been mortgaged to Charles Bennett’s prospective father-in-law, Mr. Walker, for some reason—perhaps out of pride or something else—the other party had always claimed he would not take back the mansion. So, nominally, the mansion still belonged to Charles Bennett.

Since the mansion was still his, Charles Bennett found a way to make money: divide the mansion into several courtyards and rent them out separately. After all, with such a large estate, there was no way Charles Bennett and Mrs. Walker and the few others could possibly use all the space. Now that there were no servants or maids to manage the place, if it remained uninhabited, the entire estate would likely fall into disrepair. More importantly, renting out the rooms would incur almost no cost, and the rent could even be collected in advance—this was the aspect Charles Bennett valued most.

With this thought, Charles Bennett jumped out of bed, hastily threw on some clothes, and ran to a courtyard at the front of the estate. This was where Steward Evans lived, and Steward Evans was the person most familiar with the Zhou family’s affairs. If Charles Bennett wanted to rent out the rooms, he naturally had to ask for his opinion first.

Steward Evans was highly respected in the Zhou household and had always enjoyed special treatment. For example, unlike the other servants, he didn’t have to live with them but had his own separate courtyard. Charles Bennett didn’t even bother to knock and walked straight into Steward Evans’s room.

However, upon entering, Charles Bennett found the entire room in chaos. Several large trunks had been overturned on the floor, with clothes scattered everywhere. There was even a big pair of red underpants draped over an open trunk lid, fluttering seductively in the breeze. As for Steward Evans, he was wearing only a thin shirt, his whole body bulging with fat, rummaging through the boxes. Because of his size, his movements were clumsy, and he was already drenched in sweat, looking as if he were taking a sauna.

“Steward Evans, what are you doing? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of leaving the Zhou household too?” Seeing the state of the room, Charles Bennett couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy. This chubby old man, despite his age, had an astonishing appetite. The combined food intake of Charles Bennett, Mrs. Walker, and the other two was at most equal to that of the old man alone. If he was willing to leave, Charles Bennett’s burden would be much lighter.

Hearing someone behind him, Steward Evans quickly turned around. When he saw it was Charles Bennett, he breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his face, and panted, “Young master, this old servant has always said: alive, I am a man of the Zhou household; dead, I am a ghost of the Zhou household. How could I leave you at a time like this?”

“Then what are you doing?” Charles Bennett pointed at the mess of trunks and cabinets on the floor, with clothes and bedding all jumbled together—no matter how you looked at it, it seemed like someone was packing up to leave.

Realizing Charles Bennett had misunderstood, Steward Evans hurriedly explained, “Young master, you’re overthinking it. Seeing the state of the household, I just wanted to find something valuable to pawn, at least enough to get us through this winter. Look at this padded jacket—this was a reward from the old master back in the day. The outer layer is smooth silk, and the cotton inside is thick. I’ve never even worn it. There are also some silk clothes; if we take them to the pawnshop, we should be able to get some money.”

The Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to leave his descendants a solid empire, set detailed regulations for every aspect of the Ming dynasty—even specifying what clothes people in different professions could wear. For example, merchants were forbidden to wear silk, and servants and entertainers couldn’t wear fur. These rules were unreasonable and difficult to enforce, so they were only implemented for a short time in the early Ming. Later, even the court itself didn’t care anymore.

Because of this, in some wealthy merchant families, not only did the merchants wear silk, but even the servants could wear silk clothes. Given Steward Evans’s status in the Zhou household, it was perfectly normal for him to have a silk-padded jacket. Even the big red underpants nearby were made of silk.

Charles Bennett took the padded jacket Steward Evans handed him and examined it. The outer layer was indeed silk, and the workmanship was quite good. Although it was a bit old, it had been well preserved and was still thick. However, it probably wouldn’t fetch much at a greedy pawnshop. As for the other silk clothes, including the big red underpants, all together they were probably worth less than the padded jacket.

“Speaking of clothes, I just remembered—there are several large trunks in the side room of my courtyard with quite a few of my clothes inside. Steward Evans, you should pick out some valuable ones to pawn later, and then buy some grain. At the very least, we can’t let the household run out of food!” Charles Bennett said at this point.