Chapter 2426: Sonia (III)

Sonia began packing her bag for going out.

This was a ladies' crossbody bag sewn from deerskin, large enough to fit several 16-kai-sized books and albums. Its style was modeled after a certain luxury brand from the old timeline. The bag clasp was bronze with two ornate monogram letters: LU.

In the bag's lower left corner, a donkey head and 82 shield badge were sewn on, proclaiming this bag's noble origins.

In Lingao and other places where naturalized citizens gathered, whether men or women, everyone was accustomed to carrying bags. This type of bag started as canvas and iron-buckle military crossbody bags used by the Fubo Army. Later, some were issued to naturalized citizen cadres and Fangcaodi students. Because they were convenient to carry, these canvas crossbody bags gradually became popular. Not only did naturalized citizens commonly use them, but quite a few natives also found these bags convenient for going out and purchased them. The clothing factory produced them in large quantities. Later, backpacks were successively introduced, including various styles and materials.

This trend wasn't limited to areas under Senate rule. In regions with more contact with Senate merchants, many natives also used them.

Senator Hong's No. 82 naturally acutely captured this trend. After all, in luxury goods, bags were always one of the largest categories. And the purchasing power displayed by the Senators' maids wouldn't let him miss this business opportunity. So he quickly collaborated with the garment factory, expanded the original leather goods workshop into a bag factory, and began producing several bag products. Different brands and product lines were divided by customer groups. Besides targeting naturalized citizens, there were product lines specifically for export: some specifically for selling to the Ming, some targeting the European market, and some specifically for Southeast Asian, Japanese, and other markets. Design and material selection varied. All achieved good results.

The bag Sonia used was a recent gift from Lin Hanlong when she took up her position at the Natural History Museum. In terms of price alone, it belonged to the top tier of Hong Huangnan's No. 82 product lines. Calculated against the average wage of ordinary naturalized citizens, it reached fantasy levels. It was also a hot topic when maids gathered at No. 43. But Sonia felt nothing about this: since Senators were the elite of this country, what was there to discuss about their family members and mistresses using the best things?

To spare Lin Huanyu's feelings, Lin Hanlong had simultaneously given her an LU bag as well. This bag style, with its larger capacity, convenient portability, and sturdy, waterproof calfskin material, was generally taken by maids when going out shopping for groceries.

In her bag, Sonia packed two large towels—one of her favorite Australian products; a pair of soft-soled shoes; exercise clothing; a change of clothes... These were all odds and ends she needed for her fitness class. She also packed two premium calfskin-covered notebooks from No. 43 and a Dragon Gold Mark I fountain pen.

She wore ordinary outerwear, not wearing the distinctive maid uniform. Sonia greatly resented this "servant livery" and avoided wearing it whenever possible.

After finishing packing, Sonia gave instructions to the nanny, kissed her sleeping daughter, and walked out of the Lin household.

Close to noon, the dormitory area was very quiet. The maids had mostly returned home to busy themselves; the Senators had basically all gone out. This let her breathe a sigh of relief—although she had been here for years and the earlier curiosity about European maids had faded, each time she came out of the house and walked through the dormitory area, she would still attract everyone's attention.

She registered her outing at the service office and requested a rickshaw. As a life secretary, she couldn't use a carriage. Actually, even Senators didn't enjoy using carriages—for short trips, rickshaws were mostly used. Therefore, the Chief of Staff Office had established a dedicated vehicle team in the dormitory area, equipped with several carriages and rickshaws ready for use at any time.

As soon as Sonia got on the rickshaw, she told the driver to open the sunshade and lower the curtain.

The rickshaw quickly left the dormitory area, proceeded along the main road, and soon arrived at the stadium by the Wenlan River. Because of her special status, the driver took her through an inconspicuous dedicated entrance.

As soon as she stepped off, Chief of Staff Office service personnel came to receive her. The Wenlan River Stadium's fitness room was actually only open to Senators and life secretaries. For most naturalized citizens and natives, they couldn't afford to consume precious calories, nor could they supplement the large amounts of protein required for fitness.

The stadium fitness room's manager was concurrently held by Chen Sigeng. As the only fitness coach and nutrition expert among Senators, providing fitness services to Senators and their families was naturally his duty.

When the fitness room was first established, the policy of "adapting to local conditions" was set. Chen Sigeng believed that the old timeline approach shouldn't be copied wholesale. After all, in this timeline, both protein and fat were scarce commodities. There was neither the ability to add too much nor the need to excessively reduce. So the old timeline's "fat loss and muscle gain" type of strength training programs didn't need to be broadly promoted—only for special-needs groups like soldiers. For ordinary Senators and family members, the main focus should be stretching muscles and bones and training posture. Therefore, besides strength training, programs like body shaping, yoga, and aerobics were added, as well as traditional health exercises like Five Animals Play and Baduanjin.

As soon as the fitness room opened, it was widely welcomed by Senators. Most Senators, although not too interested in exercising themselves, were very enthusiastic about sending their maids for fitness.

Lin Hanlong was no exception. So as soon as Sonia arrived at the Lin household, she was required to take fitness courses. Although she was a beauty, her posture hadn't been trained, and her figure and body shape weren't particularly fit.

Sonia was initially very resistant to such training but complied out of concern for her status. Gradually, she came to somewhat enjoy fitness: after exercising, her body was lighter and more agile than before, her energy was more abundant, and her strength had also increased considerably. As for her master praising that her posture was more fit than before and such, she personally didn't feel much—she just felt that her muscles had increased.

At this moment, the fitness room was sparsely populated. Most maids who came to exercise wouldn't arrive until the afternoon. As for Senators, they basically had to wait until evening.

The training programs provided here wouldn't be bad even by 21st-century standards. For equipment, the machinery factory had followed blueprints to try to copy and restore various fitness equipment. Although the appearance was somewhat rough, the basic functions were all there. Supporting facilities like changing rooms, shower rooms, sauna rooms, and massage rooms were all complete. The only shortcoming was no dedicated swimming pool.

"Sonia!" A female trainer greeted her. "Same as usual today?"

"Yes, the usual."

"Do you still have urinary urgency issues?"

"Not anymore," Sonia said. "The exercises helped."

"We'll do another phase of posture training to consolidate," the female trainer said. "Go warm up first."

The fitness trainers here were all personally trained by Chen Sigeng and others. Their professionalism wasn't inferior to their counterparts in the old timeline—the key was that they had no course-selling KPI assessments and could focus on their profession. Besides serving Senators and family members, these male and female trainers also had to provide fitness and physical education services for Fangcaodi students, soldiers, and factory workers—currently mainly teaching various exercise routines.

Sonia was a regular here and didn't need trainer guidance. She went to the changing room on her own to change into loose exercise clothes. Her daily exercise started with cardio warm-up. Since there was no treadmill here, generally five minutes of slow-pace jump rope was used for warm-up.

After warm-up, she entered strength training. Generally, maids didn't do strength training, but Sonia did some appropriately—after all, she frequently went on expeditions and needed abundant physical strength. So she was one of the few maids who persistently did strength training. For this reason, the Lin household's consumption of various fish was considerably higher than other Senator households.

After half an hour of strength training and a brief rest, she began aerobic exercise training. After this complete routine, it took about an hour and a half. Then she would go to the massage room for a trainer to give her a full-body massage to relax muscles. Finally, she would go to the bathroom for a nice hot bath.

"Although I'm not in the Sultan's harem, it seems about the same," Sonia thought when she immersed her freshly rinsed body in the steaming, fragrant hinoki wood bathtub, enjoying the pleasant sensation of the hot water infused with essential oils soothing her sore muscles. There was suddenly a touch of sadness at the bottom of her heart. All the enjoyments the Australians so unstintingly provided her were nothing but admiration for her flesh. When she first left her family, gave up marriage, returned to Lisbon from Brazil, full of longing joined the guild to sail and adventure... all of this seemed like something from very, very long ago. That "Lisbon female naturalist" of the past no longer existed.

Sonia felt somewhat melancholy. Honestly speaking, she had few complaints about her current life. After all, her master loved her very much. Not to mention the various enjoyments he provided in daily life—not only could she not have enjoyed them in her original family, even in English or Portuguese noble mansions they wouldn't necessarily be available. And coming to Lingao, encountering the Australians, had opened a door to a hall of knowledge that made her tremble. The knowledge in this hall was deep as the ocean. Many things that countless sages past and present had puzzled over without answers all had answers here. Not at all mysterious, even openly taught.

Where did their knowledge come from? And why did they come here? The longer Sonia lived among the Australians, the stronger the doubt and fear in her heart grew. But when swimming through the ocean of Australian knowledge, she also vaguely had a feeling of "being sold here as a slave was actually a lucky thing." Of course, she absolutely wouldn't allow such thoughts to surface.

(End of Chapter)