He Opened A Matchmaking Agency In 18Th Century London [EN]: Chapter 77

77. Luck

With Noah Nelson’s help, Tae-oh gathered about a dozen male and female slaves needed for the coffee farm.

Noah’s eye for people was better than expected.

The slaves he recommended were mostly in good spirits and spoke English well.

At the time, sugarcane farms often sold off older slaves at bargain prices because the labor force of those over thirty noticeably declined due to the demanding nature of sugarcane farming.

Thanks to this, Tae-oh easily acquired experienced and skilled slaves at a low price.

Having completed these preparations, Tae-oh headed to the coffee farm in Blue Mountain with Noah Nelson, Jooba, and the dozen or so slaves.

◈ Jamaica Blue Mountain, Theo Sanderson Coffee Farm.

The farm was relatively well-equipped with basic residences and facilities.

Moreover, Martin, the chief manager of Palmer’s farm, had reinforced the structures, so there seemed to be no major problems with accommodations.

Although there was no independent space for Tae-oh to stay, he didn’t mind much since he was planning to leave for London anyway.

He could use the manager’s building when needed, and staying at Lord Gray’s house was sufficient most of the time.

Noah Nelson, after inspecting the manager’s residence, was quite surprised.

“Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen a manager’s residence this nice attached to a farm.”

Noah was very satisfied as he looked around the manager’s building where he would be living.

The building, intricately built of wood, was new and had two additional rooms besides the living room, making it a spacious and sufficient space for Noah, who had been living in a small studio apartment.

Bang- Thud-

In the black slave quarters directly opposite the manager’s building, everyone was busy moving in luggage and belongings and repairing necessary parts.

However, the slaves’ expressions were full of bright energy.

As Tae-oh gazed at the slaves who were moving in with pleasure, Noah, who came up beside him, spoke.

“It seems like they’ve brought in almost all the luggage now.”

“Good work. Anyway, I’m glad the slaves’ expressions are bright.”

“Yes. It can’t be helped. Other slaves are the same, but especially Samson and Peter over there have only worked on John Depo’s farm, so this place will probably feel like heaven to them.”

Tae-oh looked at Noah with a puzzled expression.

“This place is heaven? Why is that?”

“In the case of sugarcane, if it isn’t made into sugarcane juice within 24 hours of harvesting, it deteriorates and becomes completely useless. Therefore, slaves are forced to work as hard as possible in a short period of time to make sugar as quickly as possible. You can think of it as being overworked almost all day long.

Most other sugarcane farms are in similar situations, but in particular, the work at John Depo’s farm, where Samson and Peter worked, was notorious for being harsh.”

Tae-oh looked at Samson, who was limping on one leg, and asked.

“So, Samson’s leg became like that while cutting sugarcane?”

Noah smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“It wasn’t like that while cutting sugarcane. It happened during the process of making sugarcane juice.”

“What do you mean?”

“To make sugarcane into sugar, you must first cut the sugarcane, bring it in, put it in a compression machine, crush it, and squeeze out the juice. The force of the compressor is naturally tremendous enough to press the tough sugarcane stalks to make juice.

But if you accidentally get your hand or foot caught in it…”

Sugarcane factories usually have mountains of sugarcane that must be processed within a few hours, so the compressor ran non-stop for over 18 hours.

If a slave working at this time was careless or fell asleep due to fatigue, their hand or foot would be sucked into the compressor and crushed in the blink of an eye.

In this case, the compressor must be broken to remove the hand or foot caught in the compressor.

However, most farm managers chose to cut off the limbs of the black slaves who were caught instead of breaking the compressor.

Due to the nature of sugarcane factories, where losses are enormous as time is delayed, they saw it as much more profitable to cut off the limbs of black slaves and continue running the compressor.

Samson’s one foot was cut off in that process.

“Hey, Peter! Put the shelf on top of that!”

Samson was smiling brightly and busy organizing the slave quarters with other black people.

Tae-oh brought Samson, who had a disability, from John Depo’s farm because of Noah’s advice.

Although Samson had one leg crippled, his skills as a carpenter were tremendous.

Noah praised him, saying that he could build a large house with just a hammer in his hand.

A skilled carpenter is a necessary presence in factory operation, so he was selected, and seeing him maintaining the slave quarters while limping, he thought he had made a good choice.

Moreover, despite having his leg cut off and doing hard work, his innate optimistic disposition was enough to attract Tae-oh’s heart.

Tae-oh’s gaze shifted to Peter this time.

Peter was a slave who was put up for sale from the same farm as Samson, but at first, he had no intention of picking him.

Because he looked too thin and weak.

However, he liked his eyes and emotions, so after exchanging a few words out of curiosity, Tae-oh immediately chose Peter.

Because he immediately recognized that he had a very bright mind.

Coffee farms do not require as much labor as sugarcane farms.

However, Tae-oh chose Peter without hesitation because he thought he needed a worker who was more delicate and dealt wisely according to the situation.

Noah asked Tae-oh, who was looking at the black people with a pleased expression, in an anxious voice.

“Um, Lord Sanderson… what about Mr. Spencer?”

Tae-oh visited Mr. Spencer’s house three times before coming up to the coffee farm.

But he couldn’t meet him in the end.

As Noah said, Mr. Spencer seemed to be living as if he had cut off ties with coffee.

“For now, Martin is going to visit him this morning. Martin has a wide network in Jamaica, so we should have expectations.”

“Yes. I hope it goes well.”

If he can’t connect with Mr. Spencer, he needs to find another coffee expert as soon as possible.

But he still couldn’t let go of his attachment to Mr. Spencer.

“Okay. Anyway, Noah, you’re going to have to work hard for a few days while I’m down there.”

“Yes, don’t worry and go do your work. I’ll have everything prepared.”

After confirming that the coffee farm’s residence was roughly organized, Tae-oh prepared to go down to Lord Gray’s house.

Noah and a dozen black slaves came out to see him off as he went down the mountain.

Tae-oh patted each of the black slaves on the shoulder and smiled.

He felt sorry for their difficult lives, which he had only seen in history books, but he also hoped that they would do their best for the coffee farm.

Human emotions are contained even in a simple handshake.

It was just that Tae-oh’s hand gently patted their backs or shoulders, but the sincerity conveyed through his fingertips was giving their hearts a human impression.

Instead of the usual insults and whippings, the new owner’s words and actions, which warmly embraced them, had the power to soothe the slaves’ emotions.

For the black slaves in the colony, it was the first time they had received humane treatment from a white man.

“Noah, if you need anything, write it down from time to time. And give it to me when I come next time.”

“Yes, Lord Sanderson.”

Noah and the slaves greeted Tae-oh, who was waving his hand and going down the farm, in their own ways.

In just a few days, Tae-oh was drawing out a strong will and loyalty from them.

Without even a single whipping.

◈ Lord Kenneth Gray’s Mansion

Tae-oh was able to arrive at Lord Gray’s house late in the afternoon.

But when he came into the house, Lady Gray was talking with a woman in the living room.

Tae-oh only bowed to avoid disturbing their conversation and tried to pass by.

But,

“Lord Sanderson! Just a moment.”

“?”

Lady Gray hurriedly got up from the sofa and approached Tae-oh.

“Madam, what’s wrong?”

“Well… that is… that lady has an urgent request for Lord Sanderson…”

According to Lady Gray, the visiting lady had been waiting for Tae-oh for several hours.

As Tae-oh made eye contact, the lady who was sitting stood up abruptly and approached.

“Lord Sanderson, hello?”

A middle-aged woman dressed in an elegant suit and coat greeted Tae-oh politely.

Tae-oh remembered her face.

“Hello? You were Lady Butler, right?”

The middle-aged woman was surprised and pleased that Tae-oh remembered even her exact last name.

“Oh my, you remembered me.”

“Ah, yes. I remember.”

She was the wife of a farm owner named Joseph Butler, who ran a very large sugarcane farm.

He knew that the size of the farm was almost 400 hectares [~1000 acres], and the number of black slaves was over 350.

The annual sugar production alone was at least 800 large barrels, making it a very large farm and one of the top three richest in this area.

However, the reason Tae-oh remembered Lady Butler was not simply because of her assets.

It was because of her daughter, Miss Elisa Butler, who was next to her.

Among the women who were trying to look good that day, Elisa, with her particularly sullen expression and tired face, stood out in Tae-oh’s eyes and naturally remained in his memory for a long time.

Miss Elisa Butler was born and raised in Jamaica, but her education level was good, and her appearance and personality seemed excellent.

However, Elisa’s expression, who followed Lady Butler, did not show any anticipation or curiosity about marriage.

She just answered briefly to the questions and kept avoiding eye contact.

He could quickly notice from her subtle expressions and gestures that she was very heartbroken and in a very sad state.

‘When you see such a depressed expression in a marriage-related setting, there is a high probability that you have a crush on someone of the opposite sex and are struggling because of problems in that relationship…’

Moreover, when answering, she showed an unusual symptom of repeatedly twitching a specific part of her face.

It may have looked like just a brief muscle spasm to the average person, but it was unusual in Tae-oh’s eyes, and that made her remain more clearly in his memory.

Lady Butler carefully watched Tae-oh’s reaction and cautiously stated the purpose of her visit.

“Lord Sanderson, the thing is… we are planning to send our daughter to London around the end of this year and have her married there.

But living in Jamaica and choosing a suitable match in London was not as easy as it sounds, and we were worried because we couldn’t trust ordinary matchmakers at all.”

As expected, she came for marriage counseling.

“Madam. I’m really sorry that you came all the way here, but… it seems difficult to introduce you right now.”

“……”

“I’m just starting a coffee farm right now. I think it will take about a month or two for the farm to stabilize at first. Can I consult with you after that?”

“Ah… I see. You have such circumstances. Well… I understand. It can’t be helped.”

Lady Butler bowed her head deeply with a very disappointed expression and went back to sit on the sofa.

‘I think I heard that Elisa is not even twenty years old yet, why is she so disappointed? She’s not an old maid, but seeing her trying to send her to London quickly, there must be some story with her daughter.’

As he was about to turn around, someone called out to Tae-oh from behind.

“Lord Sanderson!”

When he turned around, Martin was coming into the house with Lord Gray.

“Mr. Martin. Lord Gray.”

Tae-oh greeted them happily.

“I thought you hadn’t come down from the coffee farm yet, but I’m glad you came.”

“Yes. I just arrived. By the way… how was it? Did you meet Mr. Spencer today?”

Martin shook his head with a bitter expression.

“He seems to be definitely at home, but no matter how much I say I want to see him, he just says he’s not there.”

“Even though I didn’t bring up coffee, why won’t he even meet me?”

“Well.”

When Martin couldn’t answer, Lord Gray next to him guessed the reason.

“Perhaps it was annoying because everyone who comes to see Mr. Spencer asks for coffee-related work. There were many people who wanted to change sugarcane farms to coffee farms at one time. He’s the only one who really knows about coffee in Jamaica.”

Tae-oh let out a short sigh.

“Hoo- Then, I guess I have to give up on persuading Mr. Spencer. Now that I’ve even hired farm workers, I should find another way quickly.”

But it was then.

Lady Butler, who was sitting on the sofa, got up awkwardly and asked.

“Excuse me, but… is the Mr. Spencer you’re trying to meet… by any chance, David Spencer?”

“Do you know Mr. Spencer, Madam? He used to run a coffee farm?”

Lady Butler nodded her head greatly at Martin’s question.

“Coffee? Then that seems right! He’s the one who came from Saint-Domingue [present-day Haiti] ten years ago after running a coffee farm, right?”

“Ah… that’s right!”

As Tae-oh was surprised, Lady Butler said with sparkling eyes.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but if Lord Sanderson has to meet Mr. Spencer, I think I can connect you?”

“Yes? You, Madam?”

“Yes. Mr. Spencer owes my husband a great favor, so he would jump up and run over even in his sleep if it’s my husband’s word, hoho. Do you have something to ask him?”

“…Ah, yes. That is…”

That’s how an unexpected stroke of luck was reaching out to Tae-oh.