Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 680 - 349: Dipping Vegetables in Sauce_2
"General in Charge of Conquering Invaders, General-in-Chief, how high-ranking are those positions?" Xiao Qi touched his face and asked Shen Qian.
"They are Second Rank officials," Shen Qian replied, pausing for a moment before adding, "Sixth Brother is the fourth person in our family to become General in Charge of Conquering Invaders."
Lian Manman discerned a deeper meaning from Shen Qian’s words. Later, when she asked Mr. Loo, she found out that in the Great Ming Dynasty, the General in Charge of Conquering Invaders, who also led as Liaodong Prefecture’s Commander, was in command of all the military forces in Liaodong Prefecture. That position had always been held by someone from the Shen Family. The Shen Family’s ancestor who rose to prominence from Xiao Shen Tun had followed The Founding Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty, contributed great military exploits in pacifying Liaodong, and thus laid the foundation for the Shen Family’s enterprise.
"Before that, Sixth Brother had always been in the Imperial Guards," Shen Qian added, saying no more.
Lian Manman didn’t continue asking; instead, she took Shen Qian to the patch of land next to the shop that was covered in millet.
"Fatty, you helped us plant this too. Look, it’s grown well, hasn’t it?" Lian Manman pointed at the millet plants and said to Shen Qian.
"Ah. They’ve grown so tall, and they’ve even flowered!" Shen Qian looked up at them for a while, filled with amazement. The millet seedlings he had helped plant had only been up to his knees, but now they had grown taller than two of him stacked on top of each other and he couldn’t even reach the millet heads.
"Manman," at that moment, Lian Zhizhi came over with a basket.
"Sister, what’s up? Did you come looking for us? Is Sixth Master leaving?" Lian Manman asked.
"No, I came out to pick vegetables. Seeing you two hadn’t come back for half the day, I came to check on you," Lian Zhizhi replied.
"Picking vegetables, come on, Fatty, let’s go pick vegetables," Lian Manman said, pulling Shen Qian into the vegetable garden.
"...For these cucumbers, pick the ones that are even and lengthy, pluck those with flowers and thorns, they’re tender and delicious..." Once in the vegetable garden, Lian Manman picked up a basket and directed Fatty Shen on which vegetables to pick.
Fatty Shen enjoyed this task immensely; he would not stray west when Lian Manman pointed east and was especially obedient. Today, he wore a goose-yellow brocade robe with gathered silk flower patterns, moving around the verdant field, and soon his chubby little face became ruddy.
Lian Manman couldn’t resist and lifted her hand to pinch Fatty’s cheek.
She was so used to pinching Xiao Qi’s round cheeks that before she realized Fatty’s cheeks were different from Xiao Qi’s, she had already pinched twice.
The sensation was just as pleasant as squeezing Xiao Qi’s bun-like cheeks!
Shen Qian was in the middle of picking an ear of corn to put into Lian Manman’s basket when she pinched his cheek; he suddenly stopped, looking at Lian Manman, frozen in the midst of his action.
At that moment, Lian Manman felt rather awkward, quickly putting on an expressionless face as if the hand that just pinched someone else’s cheek wasn’t hers.
Fatty Shen looked at Lian Manman with a complex expression.
"Brother Xiao Jiu, look, I caught a praying mantis for you."
Xiao Qi came running over, holding a praying mantis in his hand, which diverted Shen Qian’s attention.
After picking a basket full of fresh vegetables, Lian Manman personally went into the kitchen to prepare them, then she went into a room to ask Shen Qian,
"Fatty, are you hungry? My mother has prepared some food; would you and your Sixth Brother like to have some?"
Shen Qian had already seen the food Lady Zhang and the others prepared. He had had a light breakfast and had only eaten a couple of snacks later. Smelling the fragrance from the kitchen, Shen Qian felt somewhat hungry.
"I’ll go ask Sixth Brother," Shen Qian said and genuinely went to ask Master Shen Liu.
The County Magistrate of Jinyang County, as well as gentlemen from near and far, had all come to deliver their cards, wanting to meet with Shen Liu\. Shen Liu was at Lian’s shop, initially speaking with the County Magistrate. Exactly what was said, Lian Manman wasn’t present to know. She only knew that in the short while, the County Magistrate had prepared a sign and placed it around their cornfield. A notice was also posted, which essentially forbade unauthorized individuals from approaching, warning that theft or damage would be treated as a serious crime and punished severely.
"...They also said they will station someone to watch over it," Lady Zhang told Lian Manman, "We had originally planned to hire more people to guard the green crops in a few days. Now with the County Magistrate’s intervention, our worries have lessened. This favor we owe to Master Shen Liu."
After Shen Qian asked Shen Liu, Shen Liu instructed that the food Lian Manman and her family had prepared be brought over.
Lian Manman and Lady Zhang brought over two large trays and arranged the food on the table.
The variety of dishes was not numerous, but each one was simple and refined.
The first dish was stir-fried fish slices with chili, prepared from fresh silver carp. The slices were cut from the fish’s body and the tiny bones painstakingly removed with toothpicks and tweezers, then coated in egg white and quickly fried in hot oil. They were immediately taken out and then the wok was heated until fragrant. With just a little oil, the fish slices and chili were stir-fried and dished out. The second dish was pine nut corn, made from freshly picked tender corn cobs. The kernels were removed and blanched in boiling water, then quickly drained. The pine nuts were fried in oil, then with a little more oil, the pine nuts and corn were stir-fried together with a light sauce to finish it off.
The third dish was the most abundant in quantity, yet the simplest to make: a dipping vegetable dish that every tenant farmer’s meal included. Fresh and tender cucumbers, eggplants, sweet peppers, green onions, dried tofu, and fresh black soybeans, just found in the field, were cut into small sections and arranged on a large plate. At the center of the plate, a small bowl was placed, filled with bean paste freshly scooped from the pot.
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The first update is here, and there will be a second update tonight. I am looking for pink votes (the story continues. If you like this work, you are welcome to give recommendation votes and monthly votes on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
