Seeing these things, Mo Fei still felt a little disappointment rise within him.
First, the armor in the chest was actually quite valuable. In the past, this suit of iron armor might have been a noble family's heirloom.
In the Middle Ages, these had been strategic goods, not things just anyone could get their hands on.
The problem was that iron left underground for years in cold, damp surroundings inevitably rusted, and its condition deteriorated considerably.
Not to mention that in present-day London, armor like this was no longer primarily worn, but kept as a collector's piece in a noble household. Its condition greatly reduced its value.
As for his mother's jewelry and gems, they might originally have been very valuable, but such things sometimes had a price without finding a buyer. Selling them would not be so simple, and selling them in a hurry would mean accepting much less.
Their storage conditions had also greatly diminished the value of many of the items.
Even the few gems that still looked rather dazzling would no longer fetch an ideal price if he took them out to sell.
Though he felt some regret, these were, after all, the resources his parents had left him to fall back on. They could also serve as startup capital, so he had nothing to complain about.
And so, he began moving the items into the study a little at a time.
They were far heavier than he had imagined. It took about four or five trips to bring everything up.
In the study, he began making a rough appraisal.
As mentioned before, he also made a living by acting as a middleman, and finding buyers and helping sell things was part of his work.
He took even greater care when appraising his own belongings.
As the light in the study gradually brightened, he could see these items more clearly.
They were not top-quality pieces, but many of the details were quite good. For instance, the armor still bore some damaged noble insignia, and there were traces of combat at some of the joints. It had plenty of scratches, but overall, it remained sufficiently intact.
Normally, armor like this represented a family's honor, and they would not sell it even if they died. But the original Mo Fei was no longer there, and the young man inside his body was more of a pragmatist.
With some simple maintenance, a suit of armor like this could still fetch a considerable sum, enough at least to buy a few large farm animals for the orphanage.
For instance, the dairy cows he wanted to buy.
Yes, his first choice after gaining some financial footing was to keep a few dairy cows.
The reason was simple. Tom needed milk for nutrition, and the orphanage's children all needed to grow up healthy. Not to mention that his plans to make better bread to sell would require milk...
So his first measure of its value was how many dairy cows it could buy.
Fortunately, judging purely by the current situation, this suit of armor alone was more than enough.
Of course, that also had to do with the season. It was late autumn, with winter fast approaching, and dairy cows were not so expensive at this time of year.
Many people would worry that cows bought now might die during the bitter winter, but Mo Fei already had a plan.
With some repairs, the stable could shelter large livestock from wind and rain. As long as he insulated it properly, there would be no problem.
That way, he could keep his mother's jewelry for now to deal with future crises.
There would be plenty more things to spend money on later.
His golden finger was the Belief Sublimation System, which could only improve skills he had already mastered. Though he was still unsure how to obtain Belief Points, acquiring skills still depended on his own efforts.
In present-day London, many skills were monopolized, and even learning the rudiments of basic introductory skills cost money.
Since that was the case, he planned to set aside some money and decide how to use it in the future.
Once he had made up his mind, what came next became very simple.
Find a suitable buyer, sell the armor, then choose a suitable seller and buy some dairy cows...
These tasks seemed simple, but at this time, they sometimes required luck. Buying and selling were not particularly clear or transparent affairs. Getting a good price and buying suitable goods really came down to luck.
Fortunately, the merchant association his parents had belonged to still had some useful connections.
In just a week, he sold the armor and used the large sum he received to buy three dairy cows, picking up some wheat seeds and ryegrass seeds as well.
Over that week, he led the children in clearing a good deal of space in the front yard and then cleared a path. As for the areas on either side, he planned to plant ryegrass there in the future as feed for the cows.
He also had the children help him sort the rubbish and waste they cleared out, keeping what was useful and throwing away what was not.
The cows were kept in the former stable, which he had managed to patch up somewhat. Most of his efforts went into insulation and waterproofing; he intended to leave the other repairs until spring next year.
In their shelter, the three dairy cows gradually grew accustomed to their surroundings.
And since he had checked when buying them, they were right in their milk-producing period. Though their yield was not particularly high, they still provided a steady quantity of milk.
The orphanage children's meals also improved greatly during this time.
Though Director Mo Fei had been very kind before and had never been quick to hit or scold the children, he had merely let them live here, like passing guests, never asking anything of them.
But now, though they had work to do every day and sometimes grew very tired, they could feel that this place seemed to have truly become their home, and they experienced a rare sense of belonging.
Aiwen and Lina, the two oldest children here, felt this most clearly.
In just a little over two weeks, the Mo Orphanage that Mo Fei ran had gained a great deal of vitality.
These changes did not make much of an impression on the orphanage's newest member, Tom Riddle. Though he was a wizard, he was still a baby, and the most he could do was cry a little, eat some rice paste, and soil his pants.
Speaking of which, the responsibility of caring for Tom ultimately fell to Jimmy.
He had been the youngest child here apart from Tom.
When everyone else was busy working, there was no one left to look after him, and instead, he took the initiative to shoulder the important task of caring for the baby.
Jimmy also began to grow accustomed to the coldness that appeared in Tom's eyes from time to time. Though he was still a little afraid, he remained careful enough when looking after him.
At first, Aiwen had been somewhat worried, but when he saw that Jimmy's care was a little clumsy yet had no major problems, that fumbling manner reminded him of himself, and his tension eased slightly.
For Mo Fei, there was another piece of good news.
The bowl of old dough starter he had left in his room had fermented very well.
After that bowl of starter had fermented, he took it upon himself to make a meal of steamed buns for the children. Though he still used the rye flour meant for black bread, this time, perhaps because of the steaming, or perhaps because of the old dough starter, things were different.
The steamed buns he made actually had a distinctive flavor, without that chokingly dry, sour, astringent texture.
For a time, this became the children's motivation to work.
Seeing this, Mo Fei also gained greater confidence in his idea of making money through baking.
At the very least, his improved cooking skills really were extraordinary. Even if the children had seen little of the world, they could still tell good from bad.
Time passed quickly when he was busy.
Mo Fei had been the orphanage director for a month now.
In his second month after transmigrating, he received another piece of good news: his golden finger gave him feedback.
He received a payout of Belief Points.
[Detected an increase in the targets' trust in the host. Tallying this month's Belief Point gains.] [Belief Points gained: 0.7]
This gain greatly lifted Mo Fei's spirits. It seemed the children's trust in him had increased once again.
Moreover, the trust points in this system seemed to be tallied monthly.
This was neither good nor bad news, but having something was better than nothing.