Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 686 - 352: Cooling Off_2

"What Old Fourth said isn’t wrong. We just can’t depend on others for this matter. Old Fourth really couldn’t bring himself to ask either," Old Master Lian said, then sighed.

"Dad, Old Fourth only knows how to farm; he doesn’t have the slightest bit of tact. With matters of officialdom, no matter how capable you are, you still need someone to give you a leg up. We’ve made everything clear to Old Fourth—it was just about him passing on a message in front of Master Shen Liu, and he wouldn’t agree. He left without hardly eating his meal. Dad, that was like a slap in your face," Lian Shouren said a bit indignantly.

Old Master Lian’s gaze darkened.

"Old Fourth isn’t that kind of person; he’s just stubborn," Old Master Lian said. He was displeased with Lian Shouxin’s refusal to help, but he didn’t believe that Lian Shouxin would deliberately disrespect him. "That kid, honest as he is, generally takes advice well. But he’s got this stubborn streak; once he’s set on something, really no one can talk him out of it."

Seeing Old Master Lian say this, Lian Shouren quickly winked at Lady Zhou.

"Old man, why not try talking to Old Fourth again? I’ll also beg him; it’s just about him saying a word. As long as he speaks up properly, whether it works out or not, that’s another matter. We’re not saying that our eldest’s position depends solely on him. Just let him say a word. We’ve raised him all these years, just for one word..."

"I’ve said this is the end of it," Old Master Lian waved his hand at Lady Zhou, "What’s destined to come will come, what’s not cannot be forced, ah!"

Old Master Lian let out a sigh and put on his shoes to go down to the ground, leaving the outer room for the garden in the back courtyard to clear his mind.

"If your father has said this, then there’s nothing I can do," Lady Zhou said to Lian Shouren, "In my opinion, this matter was unlikely to succeed. Old Fourth, he just farms and runs a shop; if his words were that valuable, he wouldn’t be where he is now."

With Old Master Lian and Lady Zhou giving up, that path was now thoroughly blocked.

Lian Shouren and Lady Gu exchanged glances, both looking dejected.

The next day, Lian Manman saw Old Master Lian in the courtyard and greeted him with her usual smile. Old Master Lian responded just as he always did, showing no sign of anything amiss. The matter quietly passed, and Lian Manman found nothing strange about it.

Old Master Lian was generally a man concerned with face, understood reason, and valued propriety. As long as they held firmly to reason, it was unlikely that Old Master Lian would force them into doing anything. However, Lady Zhou’s lack of commotion this time was somewhat unexpected to Lian Manman.

...

Winter has its three nines; summer its three periods of intense heat. It was now the time of the most intense heat of the year.

After the midday meal, Lian Shouxin, along with Wu Lang and Xiao Qi, carried the large wooden bed to an open space behind the shop’s backyard. The place was breezy, shaded, and lined with a row of poplar trees. Backed by the wall of the shop’s backyard and in front of their home vegetable garden, it was an ideal spot for cooling off. Lian Manman followed behind, with a large palm-leaf fan in one hand and a rolled-up bamboo mat under her arm. Once Lian Shouxin positioned the bed, she spread the bamboo mat on it and climbed up to sit.

The bed was made by Lian Shouxin, who collected spare wooden pieces leftover from shop construction. Each day as Lian Shouli returned from the mountain, he borrowed carpenter’s tools and within a few days, fashioned the low wooden bed, and then treated it with some paint.

After finishing daily chores, Lady Zhang would take Lian Manman and the others and move the wooden bed to a shaded spot. The ladies would sit on it to enjoy the cool breeze.

"This is much cooler," Lian Manman said, fanning herself with the palm-leaf fan and feeling content.

Xiao Qi also climbed up to sit, but could only stay for a while as he would have to follow Wu Lang to the private school for classes.

Lian Shouxin too rested only briefly before someone came for him.

Lady Zhang and Lian Zhizhi tidied up the shop and then came out carrying the Needle and Thread Basket.

"Manman, here, you forgot the pillow," Lian Zhizhi said, handing a cooling pillow to Lian Manman.

Lian Manman took it with a cheerful smile and placed it on the bamboo mat.

Lady Zhang and Lian Zhizhi then settled on the wooden bed, the three of them chatting idly while working on their sewing. Actually, it was more Lian Manman watching Lady Zhang and Lian Zhizhi sew.

Lian Zhizhi was embroidering a bellyband for Xiao Qi, while Lady Zhang pulled out needle, thread, and a cut length of cloth from the basket, to sew along the edge of a palm-leaf fan.

The fan and the one in Lian Manman’s hand were both newly purchased from the Jinyang Town market. During this season, fans were in high demand, and the fan stalls at Jinyang Town Market were filled with all varieties. There were paper folding fans beloved by scholars and poets, silk fans and brocade fans favored by ladies in their boudoirs, and a variety of grass and bamboo woven fans reflecting the rustic charm of the countryside. But the palm-leaf fan was most popular among the farmworkers.

Palm-leaf fans, also known as palmetto fans, were made from palmetto leaves. Simple in materials and craftsmanship and inexpensive, palm-leaf fans are large, sturdy, and durable. To exaggerate a bit, they could even support an infant a few months old without any issue. In Thirty Mile Camp, nearly every tenant farmer’s home had two or three palm-leaf fans. Even if they were old and the leaves cracked, they couldn’t bear to throw them away, instead using needle and thread to mend them with strips of cloth to continue using. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The Lian Manman family had separated from the main household last autumn, and they did not have any palm-leaf fans among their possessions, so they had to buy new ones.

Tenant farmers would typically sew fabric around the edges of newly purchased palm-leaf fans, a process called "edging," to prevent wear and tear on the edges, making the fans more durable.

**...***

Posting the second update, asking for your support. (To be continued...If you enjoy this work, please consider giving your support by casting recommendation votes or monthly votes at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)