1836: I Became a Literary Giant in Great Britain

The newspaper prominently featured this international news item.

In London, England, Lord Michel opened a mega-factory. This factory is extremely large, employing seven or eight hundred workers. More importantly, Lord Michel implements a 10-hour workday and provides workers with workplace injury insurance...

This news made young Friedrich's eyes widen.

Why is it that I recognize every single word in this news article, but when they're put together, they become something I can't understand?

Not only did his favorite author, Lord Michel, open a factory, but Lord Michel also implemented a 10-hour workday and workers' compensation benefits in the factory.

Is this 10-hour workday and work injury insurance what I understand it to be?

Lord Michel's 10-hour workday reminded him of a famous British factory reformer.

Robert Irving.

That's right, he was the famous pioneer of utopianism in later generations.

Decades ago, Mr. Irwin implemented a series of reforms at the New Lanark cotton mill in Scotland.

This includes reducing working hours.

Owen initially wanted to reduce factory hours from thirteen or fourteen hours to around ten, but his idea raised concerns among his partners. However, compared to other factories in Britain, the New Lanark cotton mill still saw a significant reduction in working hours...

And this man's slogans were even more radical than the 10-hour exercise...

"Eight hours of work, eight hours of entertainment, and eight hours of rest."

Let alone now, even in many later generations, this requirement has not been met.

This gentleman also conducted a series of experiments in his factory, such as eliminating most child labor. He even renovated workers' housing and built a school... The entire New Lanark cotton mill was less a factory and more an experimental community of industrial utopia.

However, this gentleman also had many shortcomings; for example, his management style was quite paternalistic. For instance, in this factory, each worker's performance was displayed using a color-coded system. White represented excellent, while black represented poor, allowing managers to see the workers' performance at a glance…

However, Kyrie Irving has now squandered his fortune on his famous "New Harmony Community" experiment in the United States. He even sold his stake in the New Lanark factory in Scotland...

However, what surprised the young Friedrich was not the similarity between Lord Michel and Robert Irwin.

Rather, he instinctively felt that Lord Michel dared to implement such welfare policies.

His factory must have a very high production efficiency or profit margin.

This made him wonder what methods Mr. Michel had used to make the factory's profit margin so high.

Just like Mr. Irving in the past.

Contrary to popular belief that Irving's reduction of working hours would inevitably lead to losses, a truly counterintuitive conclusion is that New Lanark did not become a loss-making charity factory after Irving lowered the hours. On the contrary, the factory has maintained a remarkably strong profitability over the long term...

Of course, this is just one example... because the New Lanark factory itself is a very profitable factory. It's a large cotton mill built on the Clyde River, possessing considerable water resources. And the cotton textile industry itself has very high profit margins these days, sometimes exceeding 20%.

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This made Friedrich quite fond of Lord Michel.

Who exactly is this person? On the one hand, he can write such wonderful stories and poems, and on the other hand, he is also quite adept at running a factory.

Fortunately, he remembered something his father had told him before.

The family, together with their partners, established a new factory in Manchester, England.

My father had mentioned that he would take me to England in a few months to familiarize myself with the business there.

Yes, Engels had already established a cooperative relationship with his partners in Manchester as early as 1837, and the two sides planned to expand their existing cotton yarn and thread business... Therefore, Friedrich did not go to England only in 1842; he had already visited England once before, in 1838...

Friedrich hadn't initially had high hopes for this trip to England. But after seeing the news about Lord Michael, he suddenly felt a surge of anticipation for the journey...

This must be quite an interesting trip...

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While the young Friedrich was envisioning his trip to Britain based on international news.

Michelle and Michael, however, went to Oxford.

It's not exactly close to London, but it's not far either, about 100 miles away.

Even by horse-drawn carriage, it would take a full seven or eight hours.

Michelle and Michael certainly weren't just doing this for fun.

In fact, they came to Oxfordshire entirely because of one person.

An old friend.

.......

The scenery in Oxford is quite different from that in London.

The Isis River flowed gently across the meadows outside the city. Although the water wasn't clear, it certainly wasn't smelly. It was just a normal light green water in the countryside.

Michelle boarded a small boat, the oars slicing through the water, stirring up seaweed and fine silt. In the distance, almost endless pastures stretched out, with a few cows grazing peacefully. The city of Oxford in the distance appeared quite small, with only the greyish-white college buildings and spires occasionally peeking through the treetops…

It's a very peaceful English countryside scene.

Besides Mai Ke, there was a lady and a little girl on the small boat.

Yes, that woman was Michael's kind relative from the countryside.

Ms. Miranda Carroll.

The woman had gray hair, but a kind face. She exuded an unusual charm.

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Michelle had heard Michael talk about this Ms. Miranda. She'd heard she was an excellent teacher in London. Unfortunately, her family suffered a tragedy; her children died in an accident. That's why she gave away all her wealth to start a school in the countryside.

In a sense, this Ms. Miranda projected her longing for her children onto them.

And this little girl is none other than Emily from back then.

A year later, Emily had blossomed into an even more beautiful young woman. Thanks to excellent nutrition and Ms. Miranda's meticulous care, she grew as fast as a willow branch.

But you can still vaguely see the shadow of that little girl from back then.

Yes, Michelle and Michael certainly couldn't just abandon Emily after sending her to the countryside.

Although they had paid their tuition for several years, thanks to Michael's connection.

But Michelle also knew very well that although he trusted his relative Michael's character, human nature could not be tested, and he could not entrust Emily's future to the kindness of his relative Michael.

Emily has already suffered one misfortune; she cannot suffer a second.

Therefore, they usually keep track of Emily's situation.

The only official website address for this novel is: ".". The website owner has only this one website, and other websites may be discontinued at any time.

In fact, every month, Ms. Miranda would keep Michael and Michelle informed of Emily's situation through letters.

Now that Michelle finally has some free time, he decided to go with Michael to the countryside near Oxford to visit Emily.

I'll also take a vacation for myself.

After all, he had been in this world for so long, and apart from his hometown and London, he hadn't yet visited any other places in England.

In Oxford, boating with friends is a great way to relax.

After all, the rivers here haven't become open, stinking sewers like the Thames in London... they're just like normal rivers in the English countryside.

In short, Michelle is in a very relaxed mood right now.

Emily also told Michelle about many interesting things that happened during her year at the country school.

Here, she could almost completely forget her past in London and made good friends. Ms. Miranda also cared deeply for them.

The shadows of the past have vanished completely.

Michelle also told Emily about some of the changes that had taken place in London that year.

After hearing so many interesting stories from Mr. Michel this year.

Emily's eyes were full of anticipation and longing.

"Mr. Michel, could you tell me a story?"

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"Of course, no problem. Not just one story, but several stories, Michelle can tell them all."

Before Michelle could even answer, Michael had already taken it all on.

Michelle smiled and nodded naturally. Who could refuse a cute little girl's request?

However, this situation reminded him of a famous story in literary history.

It was also on a ship in Oxford, and it was also about telling stories to little girls. Perhaps this story could reach modern-day England sooner.

With this in mind, Michelle paused for a moment to prepare before beginning to tell the story.

"I do have a story here about a little girl named Alice who accidentally went down a rabbit hole..."

Under Emily's expectant gaze, Michelle began to tell the story to everyone.

Alice sat with her sister on the riverbank for quite some time. Gradually, she grew sleepy and bored, and there was nothing to do. She peeked once or twice at the book her sister was reading, but it had neither illustrations nor dialogue.

"What use is a book if it has neither pictures nor people talking?" Alice thought to herself.

"She was lost in thought, but the intense heat made her drowsy and her mind not quite sharp. She was wondering if it was worth getting up to pick daisies just to make a daisy wreath. Just then, a pink-eyed white rabbit darted past her..."

Yes, the story Michelle is telling is one of the most classic British fairy tales, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

In a way, the origin of this story and the current situation are quite coincidental.

The author, Lewis Carroll, whose real name was Charles Lutway Dawson, was a mathematics teacher at Christ Church College, Oxford, and also an amateur writer.

On July 4, 1862, he traveled by boat with the three daughters of Henry Liddell, the principal of Christ Church College, and a clergyman.

To help the three girls pass the time, Carole improvised an absurd adventure story about a little girl named Alice.

Ten-year-old Alice loved the story so much that she asked Carol to write it down.

This is the original source of this work.......

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