Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 664 - 341: Heavy Rain_2

There was also one thing, she couldn’t ride a horse!

"I’ll lift you up." Seeing that Lian Manman was a head shorter than the Snowflake Piebald Horse, Xi Bao came over, reached out his arms to lift Lian Manman onto the horse.

He truly was a rash young man.

"Ah, I’m going home, stay away from me." Lian Manman glared fiercely at Xi Bao, brushed him off, and ran towards the old house.

When she reached the front gate, Lian Manman looked back and saw that Xi Bao hadn’t followed her. Maybe it was her "stay away from me," or perhaps it was the look she gave just now that rooted Xi Bao to the spot, oblivious even to the rainwater falling on him.

Lian Manman only took one look, then pushed open the door, walked into the courtyard, and casually closed the gate behind her. After two steps into the yard, she swiftly turned back, peeked through the crack in the door, and saw Xi Bao mount the horse and, carried by the Snowflake Piebald Horse, slowly ride away.

Only then did Lian Manman breathe a sigh of relief and return to the West Wing Room.

There’s a saying that June weather is as fickle as a child’s face. The morning was still sunny, but just after noon, it began to rain, and the rain grew heavier, pouring down without any sign of letting up.

Lian Shouxin and Lady Zhang returned home first, followed by Wu Lang and Xiao Qi after school at the private classroom.

The yard quickly filled with water, and wind-swept raindrops pelted against the window sills. The Lian Family’s windows, pasted with white paper, couldn’t withstand the rain.

Old Master Lian came out from the Upper Room, leading people to lower the rainproof curtains rolled up at the top of the windows.

Lady Zhang, Lian Shouxin, Wu Lang, and Xiao Qi also brought down the rainproof curtains on the windows of the West Wing Room, covering the windows tightly.

These rainproof curtains were homemade by the tenant farmers. They involved stripping the leaves from sorghum stalks and then using strong thick threads to tightly string the stalks together, similar to a curtain of strands. Some farmstead families used curtains woven from grass, but those were more labor-intensive to make, so most families used the sorghum stalk rain curtains.

Once the rain curtains covered the windows, no longer could rainwater reach the window paper, but they also blocked out most of the light.

The room darkened all at once.

With nothing to do, the family didn’t turn on any lights and simply sat around the kang bed chatting.

"Dad, Mom, you see, I was saying we should use glazed windows for the new house. If we used glazed windows, they would let in light and would not need curtains when it rains, since glass doesn’t mind being wet, and that also saves us from covering up the windows like this," Lian Manman suggested.

When building a new house, Lian Manman proposed using glazed windows. Lian Shouxin hesitated, as glazed windows were significantly more expensive than the ordinary wooden lattice windows, costing several times more. The Lian Family’s current house only had two small glazed windows installed in the Upper Room East Room by the kang bed, where Old Master Lian usually rested.

"Glazed windows are good, but they’re too expensive," Lian Shouxin said, a bit reluctant to spend the money.

"Dad, it costs money every year to paste the window paper. Using glazed windows would save the money spent on pasting, right?" Lian Manman said with a smile.

"How much does window paper cost compared to a glazed window?" Lady Zhang laughed, "If you could convince your dad of that, then his last few months in business would have been for nothing."

"Dad, glazed windows are expensive, but they look nice, brighten the room, and keep out drafts. If we’re building a house, we should do it properly, spending money where it’s needed," Lian Manman argued.

"Dad, let’s just use glazed windows," Wu Lang said.

"Alright, we’ll use glazed windows," Lian Shouxin agreed.

"To buy the glass, we need to go to the county town and I heard we have to order in advance," Lady Zhang said.

"That’s easy to handle," Lian Manman winked at Lian Zhizhi, "Tomorrow, we’ll just talk to Brother Jiaxing, and we’ll get whatever we ask for."

Lian Zhizhi’s face turned slightly red again.

Lian Manman watched and couldn’t help but chuckle to herself.

The rain continued until night, and by the next morning, it had eased up a bit. While eating breakfast, Lian Manman wondered whether Xi Bao and the others would still go to the temple fair with such weather.

In mid-June, Lian Lanlan came from the county town, saying she had found a good match for Lian Xiuxiu and took both Lady Zhou and Lian Xiuxiu into the town to meet the match. Lady Gu, accompanied by Lian Duoduo, followed them as well.

At this time, the farmstead families were enjoying the most abundant season of the year for vegetables and fruits.

Spikey green cucumbers, shiny young eggplants, and sweet hot peppers, all of which could be eaten raw after a wash, were abundant. Tender green beans and potatoes were also ready for harvest—just a small piece of fatty pork was needed to stew a large pot of potatoes and beans until mouthwateringly aromatic. And if a layer of white wheat buns were steamed on top, it would be perfect.

The thing that pleased Lian Manman most was that the corn in the vegetable garden was ripe.

The corn in the vegetable garden had been planted earlier than the field corn; when the field corn just began to sprout, the garden corn was already as high as Lian Manman’s waist. Now, while most of the field corn had just formed ears, the garden corn was ready to eat.

Fully mature corn means the kernels are plump and hard. The garden corn had filled out but wasn’t hard yet, making it the perfect time for boiled corn.

Lian Manman had been keeping an eye on the corn’s growth and eagerly anticipating this moment. Yet now, faced with ears of plump corn, she hesitated.

To eat or not to eat!

***......***

Here’s one update, asking for your pink votes.

I’ll strive for a second update tonight. These past few days have been busy, and Ruoyan’s health also hasn’t been great. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)