Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 659 - 339: Beginning of the Dog Days_1
Because of Lian Shouren’s matter, the Lian Family Main House was very joyous and bustling for a few days. Everyone was looking forward to the wonderful changes this would bring to their lives in the future and eagerly awaiting even greater good news.
The silver coins sent by Song Hailong were in Lady Zhou’s care. The valuables that had been gathered from Lian Shouren’s room that day, including the silver coins, were all left in Lady Zhou’s hands, leaving only the clothes and fabric for Lady Gu and the others to take back.
Old Master Lian and Lady Zhou learned from past lessons and planned to keep complete control over the income and expenses of silver coins. They also tightly controlled the comings and goings of Lian Shouren, Lian Jizu, Lady Gu, and Lady Chiang, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law duo.
Naturally, there were those who were dissatisfied, but they could not change anything. Most of the Lian family members were content and happy.
All of this had little impact on Lian Manman’s family. With the steady monthly income from the breakfast shop, they began to build their own estate bit by bit.
The first step was to dig a canal from the riverbank to bring water into their farmstead. The canal was dug openly and covered with bluestone after completion. It first passed through the vegetable garden, then a newly dug reservoir, then across the homestead, meandering through their estate, and finally flowing back into the river.
At the river’s entry point, a watergate was also built to control the flow of water during the flood season. The main purpose of the canal was to irrigate the vegetable garden and the plants and trees within the estate. Another goal was to bring a stream of living water into the mansion they planned to build. The reservoir in the vegetable garden also served as a sedimentation pool, ensuring the water flowing into the mansion was even clearer after settling.
The blueprint for the estate was drawn up with the help of Mr. Loo. He integrated the ideas of Lian Manman’s family, added his knowledge of Feng Shui, and the final plan was decided upon after discussion, to Lian Manman’s delight.
The core structure of the estate was naturally the residence, with the vegetable garden in front. Passing through the garden, one would directly reach the backyard of the breakfast shop. Trees would be planted all around the residence, including a mixed forest along the river, and more fruit trees would be planted behind the house.
The main courtyard was essentially designed in the traditional rural household structure, with additional east and west outer courtyards set to include a threshing ground, livestock pens, pigsties, chicken coops, duck coops, a root cellar, and the Pickled Vegetable Workshop among others.
As the beginning of the hot season approached, with each day growing hotter, the cicada’s calls could be heard from outside the window every morning, only ceasing at night. These days, Lian Shouxin was leading people in building the canal. Lady Zhang and Lian Manman’s mother-daughter team were also very busy.
Their chickens and ducks were well-fed, and with the arrival of the hot season, these young chickens and ducks had started laying eggs.
Lian Manman’s chickens were still raised in the old house, and most eggs were laid in the chicken coop, which Zhizhi would pick up as she was generally home watching over the house. As for the ducks, they laid their eggs in the mixed forest by the river, where Wu Lang and Xiao Qi had made comfortable grass nests for them. Xiao Qi had taken on the task of collecting duck eggs, and the first thing he did upon returning from school each day was to take a small basket and collect eggs from the forest. The more duck eggs he found, the happier Xiao Qi became. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
The first batch of eggs laid by the young chickens and ducks were quite small, which had Lian Manman worried. Only after the size of the second and third eggs increased did she feel relieved.
Lady Zhang, on the other hand, adored these tiny chicken eggs.
"Don’t laugh at their small size; these are the first eggs laid by the chickens, the most nutritious ones." In farm families, a chicken’s first laying is referred to as the "grand opening," similar to a business starting its operations.
Lady Zhang divided the small chicken eggs into several portions, one for Wang Youheng, one for Wu Jiaxing’s house, both of which Wu Lang and Xiao Qi took along when they went to town for school.
The last portion was kept for their own family. Mr. Loo worked hard teaching, Wu Lang and Xiao Qi were drained by studying, Lian Shouxin was tired from managing the shop and leading the canal digging, and both Zhizhi and Lian Manman were growing and needed nutrition.
One morning, Lian Manman woke up to find herself served a bowl of poached eggs made from the first eggs laid by the chickens. Despite their small size, the yolks weren’t small at all and were golden in color. Lady Zhang had even added sugar to the water. The eggs tasted delicious.
"Are they good?" Lady Zhang asked with a smile, watching Lian Manman eat with relish.
"Delicious," nodded Lian Manman.
"This year, I’m not planning to sell the eggs laid by our chickens and ducks. Let’s keep them all for our own family." Lady Zhang said. Farm households generally didn’t indulge in their own eggs, as a few of them could be sold at the market for much-needed household supplies like oil and salt. Accumulating more eggs could even be exchanged for some yards of flowered cloth to make new clothes for the family.
