A group of three people crossed the ravine, their figures gradually receding into the distance.

Chapter Three: Master Becomes Slave

When the sky was filled with rosy clouds, Nathaniel Brooks arrived at the The Clark Estate in the city. Of course, now it should be renamed The Brooks Estate. The plaque “庶士居” that Samuel Clark, in his pretentious elegance, had named after a line from the Book of Songs, had already been taken down. Mr. Bennett had once joked with a smile that if the new master wanted to name the main hall, the calligraphy of Magistrate Dong of Shouzhou was quite good, and he could ask him to write it for the lord.

Because the The Clark Estate was located in Donghai City, this residence was only of standard size. However, the lakeside villa by Ming Lake, built in the style of a Jiangnan manor, was quite splendid and unique, with pavilions and towers. The main residence in Donghai City, though renovated many times, never dared to overstep the norms. Ordinary citizens in Donghai City, according to regulations, could have a courtyard of several mu, while the The Clark Estate occupied nearly ten mu, with three layers of courtyards, painted corridors and carved pillars. Even the window paper was made of fine oiled paper, painted with flying birds and insects, exquisitely beautiful.

Sitting on a low couch in the study, Nathaniel Brooks began to feel a bit unaccustomed to this low furniture. He thought to himself that in the north, high-legged furniture like folding stools had already appeared. When he had time, he would make some tables and chairs similar to those of later generations.

But sitting on the soft couch reading for a long time, Nathaniel Brooks suddenly felt that, for resting or sleeping, this kind of lifestyle was actually quite nice. However, for receiving guests, it would still be more convenient to have tall tables and chairs in the living room.

In the study, the floor was covered with mats, and a low table in the corner held various scrolls. Nathaniel Brooks was flipping through the account books left by Mr. Bennett.

The The Clark Family estate included 956 mu of top-grade farmland, 200 mu of medium-grade, and an astonishing 3,000 mu of low-grade land.

The top and medium-grade fields were in the suburbs.

Those 3,000 mu of low-grade land were all in the northern Huangchuan area.

Of course, in reality, all taxes in the territory were now allocated by himself, so how much land the The Clark Family owned was not that important to him anymore.

He continued reading.

There were also several shops in the city, a pawnshop (the prototype of a modern pawnshop), as well as rice, salt, and silk stores—quite a variety, monopolizing nearly half of Donghai City's commerce.

Unexpectedly, this Samuel Clark really was the city's number one tycoon.

Reading further, there were also two hundred strings of cash, one hundred and fifty bolts of fine brocade, three hundred bolts of silk, some gold and silver, two hundred shi of rice, forty shi of beans, and various amounts of wine, sugar, oil, and so on.

The The Clark Family’s money, goods, and grain stores certainly held more than this, but such visible wealth would naturally have some portion confiscated and entered into the Haizhou state treasury, so what was left looked rather neat and rounded.

At the end was the number of slaves. Left to Nathaniel Brooks were thirteen male slaves and nineteen female slaves. Judging by their names, among the The Clark Family women who were made slaves, there were four: one wife, two concubines, and another who had long lived in Samuel Clark’s residence as a niece and had been adopted as a daughter by Samuel Clark, but was now unfortunately demoted to a personal maid. As for Samuel Clark’s two concubines and several maids, they all lived in the villa, while the main wife, The Foster Family, had always lived in the city residence.

Nathaniel Brooks sighed softly in his heart. In this world, starting a business was hard, but keeping it was even harder. A single misstep could mean utter ruin, even implicating one’s family and descendants.

From a certain perspective, this Samuel Clark was rather pitiful.

As for Samuel Clark’s wife, concubines, and female relatives, they were even more pitiable.

In a world like this, if you weren’t the biggest, it seemed you were never truly safe.

Putting down the account book, Nathaniel Brooks pondered for a while, then looked at the blue-clad young servant standing respectfully by the study door and said, “Go and invite Mrs. Foster here.”

The blue-clad servant, Andrew Brooks, was a baizhi, that is, an official slave assigned to Nathaniel Brooks, the lord of the state. He had just started serving Nathaniel Brooks today, but was full of energy, hoping to win the favor of this new lord.

Donghai County had been made a fief, and before him stood a sovereign. Within his own territory, the lord had the power of life and death, no different from the emperor.

Serving this lord felt completely different from serving the county magistrate before.

Standing to the side, Andrew Brooks didn’t even dare to breathe loudly.

Hearing Nathaniel Brooks’s command, Andrew Brooks was slightly startled. The Foster Family was addressed as “Madam”? It seemed that this former mistress of the The Clark Estate held a high position in the lord’s eyes.

The blue-clad servant responded, a faint ambiguous smile appearing at the corner of his mouth, and hurried off.

Nathaniel Brooks picked up an ancient book again, flipping through it idly. Before long, he heard footsteps, and The Foster Family’s gentle voice sounded: “Grace Foster greets the Lord of Donghai!”

The Foster Family stood by the door with her head bowed, her feelings extremely complicated.

She and the other female slaves had all been confined in the back courtyard, anxiously waiting. When Andrew Brooks delivered the message that the lord summoned her, as she came out, Andrew Brooks congratulated her, saying that the lord addressed her as “Madam,” which meant he valued her, and she would surely not suffer much.

Andrew Brooks had also served Samuel Clark as a baizhi before. Though his words were tactful, they made The Foster Family feel deeply ashamed, especially since he was a former servant, now watching her become the slave of a strange man. This was even more humiliating. When she entered the study, Andrew Brooks closed the door from outside, making her heart skip a beat.

So, the man on the couch was the new lord? Unexpectedly, the new arrival was not a county magistrate, but the county had become a fief, and a lord had come. In Donghai, this lord’s power was as great as the emperor’s. To serve a ruler was like serving a tiger—she wondered, what kind of temper did he have?