Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 689 - 353 Spicy Foreigner_1

The fan in Lian Manman’s hands, edged with coarse cloth, was prepared by Lady Zhang.

As Lian Manman fanned herself, she couldn’t help but laugh. Lady Zhang asked her what was funny, and Lian Manman just shook her head, saying nothing. She couldn’t very well admit that in her previous life’s memories, it was only the elder men and women in the countryside who used these kinds of fans. When she pictured herself, superimposed with the image of those elders, she found the thought amusing.

Sitting in the shade of the trees was a delightful affair, especially after Wu Lang and Xiao Qi had removed all the cicadas from the nearby trees. Without the cicadas’ chirping, it was even more so.

But the only downside was that where there were trees, there would also be yang lazi.

Take, for example, right now, as Lian Manman lifted her gaze to just above her head, no more than a foot away from her scalp, hung a grayish-yellow yang lazi. It dangled from a thin thread, swinging leisurely with a tendency to drift further downwards.

Lian Manman really disliked yang lazi. These little creatures came in all sorts of colors: green, yellow, gray, and even black, with strange ugly forms, and without exception, they were all covered with spiky hairs. In the summer, they seemed to be everywhere. Just walking under a tree made one worry about one dropping on your head, or worse, down the back of your neck.

The ones hanging from the trees were colloquially known as "hanging ghosts." Yang lazi were also called thorn bugs, and on closer examination, came in many varieties. Tenant farmers didn’t distinguish much between red caterpillars, woolly worms, and yang lazi; come summer, they referred to all these creatures collectively as yang lazi.

A regular woolly worm on one’s body would at most cause a startle, posing no real harm to humans. But some species of yang lazi had poisonous spines that, upon contact with skin, would leave a painful, itchy welt. A certain flat, all-over emerald green yang lazi was particularly venomous; a touch from it would instantly raise an unbearably itchy swelling on the skin.

That’s what the tenant farmers meant by being "stung" by yang lazi. (The word "stung" here is pronounced with a rising tone.)

Cicadas could be caught and cleared away, but yang lazi were not so easily rid of. The several poplar trees here were better off; the intact leaves indicated that there weren’t many yang lazi around. But "not many" didn’t mean "none."

Lian Manman waved her fan, and the yang lazi above her head fell to the ground, emitting a couple of protesting squawks. Then, a tall rooster came running over from not too far away.

Lian Manman’s family had built a chicken coop and a duck rack in the backyard of their shop, moving all their poultry there. During the day, the ducks were let into the river, and the chickens were set loose to wander through the farmstead’s vegetable patches and woodlands. At night, they were all herded back into the yard.

Now that Shouxin was staying here every day, it was more convenient to look after them. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Lian Manman often fed the chickens, and they were familiar with her clucking. Whenever she made that sound, any chickens nearby would come running.

The rooster sprinted over but didn’t find the delicious wild greens mixed with bran it was expecting, nor a string of grasshoppers. Instead, Lian Manman was pointing at a yang lazi on the ground with her fan.

The rooster wasn’t in any hurry. It trotted over, stretched its neck, and swallowed the yang lazi. To it, yang lazi were as delectable as grasshoppers.

Having eaten the yang lazi, the rooster did not leave, but leisurely started to circle the big wooden bed and a few poplar trees. The yang lazi had tasted good, and it was on the lookout for more to satiate its appetite.

Lian Manman didn’t shoo it away but continued chatting with Lady Zhang and Lian Zhizhi.

After a while, she began to feel drowsy.

"If you’re sleepy, have a nap. I’ll watch out for the yang lazi for you," Lady Zhang said.

"Mm, I’ll sleep a bit," Lian Manman said. Then, she laid down on the cool mat, resting her head on a cooling pillow. Initially, she still joined in the conversation with Lady Zhang occasionally, lazily fanning herself with one hand. After a while, she fell silent, her hand dropping to her side, still loosely holding the handle of the fan.

As Lady Zhang sewed, she looked over at Lian Manman and saw she had fallen asleep, so she smiled, gently took the fan from her hand, and continued sewing quietly with Lian Zhizhi. They occasionally glanced over at Lian Manman and took the fan to give her a few gentle waves.

It was cool and breezy, and even without the aid of the fan, Lian Manman slept comfortably.

After an unknown amount of time, Lian Manman heard quiet voices and slowly opened her eyes.

Shouxin had returned at some point and had pulled up a stool to sit across the big bed, chatting with Lady Zhang.