Being a Life Player in the Middle Ages

Because Mia said she wanted to stay, Martha's mood improved visibly, and she even happily said that she would buy more food tomorrow to make a big meal to celebrate.

John, who was usually silent, gave Mia a rare, somewhat stiff smile and said to her, "Welcome. I'm glad you stayed."

Mia was also very happy. Although she had made the decision and had heard Martha's request to stay, she was still excited about their clear welcome gesture.

After dinner, Martha simply left the cleaning up to her husband and left with the bucket of clothes and another bucket for water. Mia followed with a wooden basin with a stick and soap for washing clothes.

The soap here is different from the one used in later generations. It is made from a mixture of animal fat, oil and salt. It is expensive and difficult to make. Generally, only nobles can afford it. The one in Martha's house is what they use when they take a bath. As for washing clothes, the people of the East Bai Empire continued the tradition of the ancient Romans and used urine mixed with wood ash to wash.

Yes, you heard it right, it means using urine to wash clothes. Even in ancient Rome, people would use urine to rinse their mouths and brush their teeth.

Mia naturally couldn't stand such disgusting detergents. Fortunately, Mia's family was not poor and the clothes she wore every day were washed with soap.

Martha saw her rejection, and knew that the girl who could take out a Nomisma as rent and food expenses would not be short of soap at home, so she took the soap at home to wash clothes for Mia.

Mia didn't refuse. She was going to go back and buy a piece to return to Martha.

The two walked side by side, and along the way Martha introduced to Mia who lived in the houses on the street and what shops were opened there.

Oppetus Street is a main artery. The city of Constantibourg was built in the name of "New Rome", and its design was completely modeled after the city of Rome. At the beginning of its design, the city placed special emphasis on the layout of the streets, introducing the concepts of "main arteries" and "secondary arteries", and forming an orderly urban traffic network. This layout not only facilitates traffic management, but also enhances the overall beauty of the city.

The main arterial roads are the widest and most important passages in the city. They are often straight and spacious, while the secondary arterial roads are narrow and winding. Many places even have stairs, making it impossible for vehicles to pass through. This causes headaches for citizens who drive and forces them to take detours.

Constantiburg is located on a small hill. The terrain here means that the heights of different areas of the city are not the same. Therefore, when the city was first built, all the main roads were east-west with relatively flat terrain, while the secondary roads were much more complicated. Although there were also flat east-west streets, most of them were north-south with a large difference in terrain.

Oppets Street is a main east-west artery, and the street that intersects with Oppets Street is a secondary artery. In fact, a main artery can basically be built from one end of the city to the other, so it will intersect with many secondary arteries along the way, and there will be public buildings at every intersection, because in this city, public buildings are built as an accessory to the streets.

Compared with the secondary roads, the main roads are also cleaner. Although there is inevitably a lot of livestock feces left on the road and the smell is not pleasant, because there is no rain, the sources of the stench are still in clumps and have not turned into mud that affects the road conditions. Mia can barely avoid it.

The public pool they were going to was located at the intersection of the streets and was a small city square.

The square is not very big and is built in a circular shape. In the center is a public pool, which is also a fountain pool. In the middle of the pool is a sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding a baby. Water flows out from the gap of the circular base under her feet and falls into the pool below.

There weren't many people in the square in the evening. Martha pointed at the square and introduced Mia: "There's a market here every once in a while. The next one will be the day after tomorrow. I'll take you there then. There will be a lot of good things you don't usually see."

But what Mia cared more about was that next to the square, there was a magnificent building in typical Roman style.

But it is neither a palace nor a temple or church, it is a public bath.

Public baths were also a type of public building found in cities throughout the East Basilica, for use by both the rich and the poor, and the fees were very low, so low that in Constantiburg, admission to such public baths was even free, and even slaves could go in to bathe. However, only public baths were free to use, and other independent baths and ancillary facilities still had to be charged.

Martha noticed her gaze and said, understandingly, "Want to take a bath?"

Mia nodded. She had been in a coma for the first three days since she traveled through time, and Martha had wiped her body for her. In the past few days since she woke up, she had wiped herself and had not really taken a bath. She always felt that her body was not very clean. Now that she saw a public bath, how could she not be tempted?

However, this public bathhouse is closed at night, so Mia could only look away regretfully.

Martha patted her head and smiled, "Bayad said you're going out with him tomorrow morning, so let's come here and take a bath together tomorrow afternoon."

Mia nodded happily.

They squatted by the pool and started washing clothes. Mia's clothes were already clean and had no stains on them, so the heavier outerwear and cloaks only needed to be smeared with soap and beaten with a wooden stick.

These woolen clothes became very heavy after absorbing water, and it took two people to wring them out. After washing, Mia was exhausted and out of breath. Martha teased her that it was obvious that she was not cut out for work.

Mia wanted to retort that she was actually very good at housework, but modern clothes were washed directly in the washing machine and did not need to be wrung out manually or beaten with a wooden stick. Moreover, she was still small and a rich girl who had never done any work. It was normal for her to have little strength as she could not lift anything with her hands or carry anything on her shoulders.

While washing clothes, Martha naturally saw the petticoat and underwear that she had modified. The rose embroidery on the chest of the former amazed her. Martha herself also had some embroidery skills. It can be said that every girl from a well-off family would learn it when she was young, but she had never seen such a delicate and unique embroidery pattern. It did not look like the style of the Dongbai Empire at first glance.

The latter's strange shape made her confused.

Martha picked up one of the drawstring panties and looked at it carefully. "What are these? Pants?"

The shape of the underwear was so obvious that she couldn't fail to recognize it. She was just wondering why the pants were so short.

Mia remained calm. "These are underwear. They're worn next to the body, just like a petticoat. My father said there's a country in the East where people wear underwear under their clothes. It protects their private parts and prevents exposure."

The East Bai Empire was once a powerful empire that spanned Asia, Europe, and Africa, turning the Mediterranean into an inland sea. Although it has declined in recent years and its territory has shrunk a lot, people from different countries live in this country. Although the East Bai people have continued many traditions of ancient Greece and Rome, it has also undergone its own changes.

Pants, which were considered a custom of Eastern barbarians in ancient Rome, were accepted in the Eastern Basilisk Empire. In recent years, men have gradually started to wear pants, and even the emperor of the empire is no exception. Even some women who pursue novelty will wear them. However, the women's outer robes are too long, so whether they are free to wear pants or not is known to them and the people around them.

However, such women obviously do not include Martha and the former Little Mia. The former is older and has long been accustomed to the old clothes. She is not without acceptance of new things, but she will not try them unless someone specifically recommends them. In Little Mia's case, her mother is Greek and a bit stubborn. She does not like the customs from the East, so naturally she will not prepare pants for her daughter.

Moreover, the climate of the Dongbai Empire is generally hot. Except for winter, wearing trousers under a robe in other seasons is really stuffy, and many people are not used to it. Men can shorten their robes after wearing trousers, but women's robes have strict requirements on the length, so pants that are mainly used for keeping warm are actually not necessary for them. They only need petticoats.

But now seeing the shorts made by Mia, Martha felt that it would be nice to have a pair of such pants, which would not be too hot to wear but could provide some protection.

She studied the pattern of the underwear and said, "I'll make a pair and try it out later."

Mia actively recommended herself: "I can help you with this. I made this myself."

Martha widened her eyes in surprise at her words. Although the underwear looked simple, the stitches on it were very fine, and it was obvious that the maker had excellent tailoring skills. She didn't expect that Mia made it herself.

Although she was a little skeptical, Martha said happily, "Then let's do it together."

She thought she could make a few pairs of such pants for her husband, but since they were made for John, it would be inappropriate to let Mia make them.

They took the washed and wrung-out clothes back with them, and Martha also filled the buckets she had brought with water and carried them back. Mia wanted to help, but unfortunately they were too heavy for her to lift, so she could only carry the lighter wooden basin containing the washed clothes.

The washed clothes were hung out to dry on the clothesline in the backyard.

The night is very calm tonight, with no wind and no clouds. The moon hangs high in the sky, illuminating the earth.

In the room, Mia stood in front of the window admiring the moonlight. Her room faced the backyard. Downstairs was Martha and her husband's bedroom. Here, she could vaguely hear the couple discussing whether to change her room, such as another room on the second floor.

"The attic is still a little small, and there's nothing in it."

"Let's ask Mia what she thinks tomorrow."

When asked about this the next morning, Mia shook her head and rejected the suggestion of changing rooms.

Martha's house is relatively large among ordinary people. Not counting the yard, the house alone covers an area of ​​60 square meters. Ordinary people's houses are generally only about 30 square meters, and they are bungalows. Martha's house is a three-story building.

However, the actual space inside the house is smaller than the floor area, and there are not many rooms. Not only is the first floor divided into two, the second and third floors also have the same layout. Moreover, because there are corridors on the second and third floors, plus the area occupied by the walls, these rooms are smaller than the first floor. Of course, this smallness is only relative to the downstairs. In terms of room area, it is still very spacious, at least about 20 square meters. Modern people's bedrooms are not necessarily that big.

So even though the attic ceiling looked a bit depressing, Mia was quite satisfied with the attic she lived in and didn't want to go through the trouble of moving to other rooms because all the rooms except this attic were used as storage rooms - she felt that the attic she lived in should have been used to store items before, but Martha and the others had moved their things away while she was unconscious - if she wanted to move in, she would need to clean out the things inside first.

Otherwise, she would rather move to the room next to the attic, away from Martha and the others' bedroom, so that she wouldn't have to worry about sound insulation and move around the room with caution.

But there is no way, the current conditions are like this, and Martha's house has been there for decades. The wooden floor is prone to creaking due to the aging of the house, which is unavoidable.