Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 707 - 362: Demand_1
At the second watch, asking for pink.
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After hearing what Lian Manman said, Lady Zhang reflected on it and her complexion soured slightly.
"I was just thinking, since you all have been to the Song Family, and Old Madam Song treated you all quite well. She mentioned she was going to the county town, didn’t she? I was thinking we should prepare some sweet potatoes or the like to send with her as a token of our goodwill and to give her and Huahua some face."
"Mom, even if we were to give gifts to the Song Family, we wouldn’t go ourselves. If she were a good person, I would have nothing to say. But she isn’t," Lian Manman remarked, all the while thinking to herself that Lady Zhang was warm-hearted but lacked shrewdness. A little bit of flattery from others and she would readily take them as close confidants.
"Alas, I am just such a gullible person. When I see others treating me slightly better, I forget past events and become all too enthusiastic." Lady Zhang sighed, clearly understanding her own nature after so many years. "Well, I’d better keep my distance from your aunt in the future. Isn’t it enough to live my life and look forward without all these unnecessary twists and turns? Does hurting others really guarantee that she will end up any better?... People truly are too different."
"Mom, just remember what kind of person she is. If anything happens again, just be more vigilant," Lian Manman said.
After dinner, as Lady Zhang had just finished tidying up, Lady Gu came smiling. Upon entering, she immediately brought up the matter of Lian Huahua and the Song family, and then proceeded to praise Lian Zhizhi and Lian Manman one by one.
Lady Gu was a smooth talker who said pleasing things, even if one knew her words didn’t match her heart.
Lady Gu also mentioned that she planned to visit the city tomorrow to see Lian Huahua and to bring her some gifts.
"Huahua is our own daughter, there’s no question about what gifts to give her, she can’t refuse the gifts from her own family. But the Song family, and the entire household, including Old Madam Song... Just now I was discussing this with our mom, saying that our tenant-farmer family doesn’t have much to offer. In reality, the Song family lacks nothing from us, but we could take some fresh items from the garden and fields. It gives both our families prestige, and people will speak well of the Old Lian Family on the outside - that we are a respectful family with manners, which could also spread our good name..."
Lady Zhang, sitting across from Lady Gu, listened to all this. If it weren’t for Lian Manman’s words earlier, she would certainly, in her eagerness, have started planning ways to get Lady Gu some "fresh items."
What fresh items could her own family have? Only a few vegetables from the garden that others didn’t have, also sweet potatoes and corn.
However, with Lian Manman’s advice in mind, Lady Zhang felt deeply repulsed by Lady Gu’s double-dealing nature, and therefore, chose not to respond to Lady Gu’s hints.
Lady Gu spoke at length and her hints became increasingly obvious; seeing Lady Zhang unresponsive, she grew anxious. She was puzzled; Lady Zhang was usually an easy and soft-hearted person to coax, why was she not cooperating today?
It certainly wouldn’t be proper to directly ask Lady Zhang for the items, right?
But if she didn’t ask directly, then what could she bring to visit Lian Huahua, and to visit Old Madam Song in the city? Lady Zhou thought she was hoarding a lot for herself, hence in such exchanges of favors, she was reluctant to spend much money, only wanting to clean her out. She did have some savings, but in the past year, it had been nearly exhausted. Moreover, the Song family were wealthy; she couldn’t give them a sufficiently respectable gift with the little money she had.
A few rare vegetables from Liaodong Prefecture combined with precious Golden Corn and the scarce sweet potatoes would indeed be a respectable gift, sure to please the Song Family.
Lian Shouren’s position still depended on the Song Family, and to uphold Lian Huahua’s dignity in the Song household was her duty as her mother. With Lady Zhang not taking the bait, Lady Gu had no choice but to swallow her pride and ask directly.
It must be said that Lady Gu was the kind of person who would do anything for her purpose.
"My dear fourth uncle and aunt," Lady Gu began with a flattering smile, "... about that corn and sweet potatoes, along with a few fresh vegetables from the garden, if I could just take three or four varieties into the city... This too is for the dignity of our big family. If the house didn’t have them, then I wouldn’t mention it. But now we do. If I had money on me, things would be easy... In a moment, I will talk to our mom and get some money... Among us sisters-in-law, you, my fourth aunt, are the kindest at heart. I am well aware of this... In the future, it won’t matter whether it’s Huahua, your eldest son, or myself, we certainly won’t forget your kindness."
With Lady Gu speaking so bluntly, Lady Zhang could no longer pretend to be oblivious.
Before Lady Zhang could speak, Lian Manman, who was at her side, burst into laughter.
"Auntie, you’re asking my mom to give you money, are you planning to buy these things from us? Auntie, you just said yourself what kind of person my grandma is. By doing this, aren’t you pushing my parents into a pit? If we tell grandma, she’d surely give us a tongue-lashing, wouldn’t she?" Lian Manman said with a smile.
She was well aware that Lady Gu’s mention of asking Lady Zhou for money was just a pretense, but Lian Manman deliberately "misunderstood" Lady Gu’s indirect approach as quite literal.
Having her intentions exposed by Lian Manman, Lady Gu felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment.
"Manman, get your aunt a glass of water," Lady Zhang instructed.
Lian Manman smiled, got up, and poured a glass of water for Lady Gu.
"Auntie, have some water to soothe your throat," Lian Manman said, handing over the glass.
"Ah," Lady Gu took the glass, pretending to drink to hide her embarrassment.
At this moment, Lady Zhang and her daughter Lian Manman exchanged knowing glances.
"His auntie," Lian Manman had gone to the city last time and met Huahua’s mother-in-law. They were in such a hurry that they didn’t bring anything. I’ve been feeling uneasy about it. I was just thinking, since you’re going to the city, it would be perfect to bring something along as a gesture from our side," Lady Zhang said slowly.
Lady Gu had thought there was no hope for getting anything, but upon hearing what Lady Zhang said, she couldn’t help but be overjoyed.
"His auntie, go back and wait," Lady Zhang continued. "Once we’ve got everything ready, we’ll have it sent to you."
"Good, good," Lady Gu agreed happily and after saying a few more very pleasant things, left.
"Mom, sister, why did you agree to give something again?" Xiao Qi asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Once she had opened the topic, forcibly cutting her off would have caused a rift between us. We wouldn’t be able to face each other in the future. There’s a need to maintain a thread of connection among relatives," Lady Zhang sighed.
Lian Manman nodded in agreement. Life is just like that. Nothing is purely black or white, clearly defined. That’s impossible. It might be helplessness, but it’s reality. Although one may want transparency and clarity in the heart, it can’t always be shown on the surface.
In the future, as their family business grows, there will be more people and situations like those with Lady Gu. If the Lian Manman family wants to be recognized by society and to create an image in harmony with it, they would inevitably have to deal with people superficially.
Of course, there’s a specific approach for each specific situation. Dealing superficially doesn’t always mean giving in to exploitation. Take today’s incident with Lady Gu asking for something; it was okay to give. Besides, Lady Zhang made it clear how Lady Gu would likely talk about it at the Song Family, something they couldn’t control. But in the future, by ensuring every aspect of the Lian Manman family was impeccable, they could place themselves in an unassailable position.
Lian Manman and Lady Zhang selected a few sweet potatoes and picked some fresh vegetables to send to the Upper Room.
"The corn has hardened, and the cornfields are now sealed. We’ll have to wait until Master Shen Liu speaks before we can enter our own fields again. There’s nothing we can do about that for now. We’ll make it up later," said Lady Zhang.
This was the plain truth, known to all.
Lady Gu just smiled and thanked them. Even though she didn’t receive any corn, the sweet potatoes and fresh vegetables the Zhangs had brought were very nice, and the produce looked so delightful and appealing. The gift would surely please Old Madam Song.
"We’re good with these," Old Master Lian was very satisfied.
Lian Shouxin and Lady Zhang were sensible and kind-hearted. The Upper Room was visiting, and their fourth son, who had set up his own household, was willing to help. The Lian Family remained united. This fit perfectly with his ideal of a harmonious and warm family.
The very next morning, Lady Gu took Lian Duoduo to the city.
After seeing off Lady Gu, Lady Zhou sat down on the kang bed and let out a cold laugh.
"She sure picked the right time to leave, avoiding labor. Haven’t you noticed? Harvest is upon us. Mark my words, the eldest daughter-in-law won’t be back until the harvest is done." Lady Zhou said this in front of her daughters-in-law, grandsons, granddaughters-in-law, and granddaughters.
"Grandma, you knew all along, yet you still let my aunt leave. If you didn’t agree, she wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere, right?" Zhao Xiue said, giggling.
"She’s cunning, and this is all under the guise of visiting Huahua. Huahua’s facing her first childbirth, and had I not let her go, who knows how badly she might have spoken of me outside? And she ties it to your uncle’s official position and the well-being of our family. I would have been terribly at fault if I hadn’t agreed!"
"She’s full of schemes, no one can outwit her," Lady Zhou said, gesturing.
Lian Manman was passing by the outer room when she overheard Lady Zhou. She couldn’t help but snicker to herself. Lian Shouren had become a Jiansheng, changing the Lian Family’s circumstances. Lady Zhou had developed a habit, such as speaking ill of Lady Gu behind her back to Lady He and Zhao Xiue, or doing the same to Lady He in front of Lady Gu and Lady Chiang. Sometimes, she would put her daughters-in-law in their place in front of their daughters-in-law.
The outcomes of Lady Zhou’s actions were easily imagined, and those outcomes were precisely what Lady Zhou wanted.
......
That day, Graduate Wang sent his steward to present an invitation to Lian Shouxin. Wang Youhuai was getting married and invited Lian Shouxin to the wedding banquet.
"...and Old Master and Lian Dalaoye are also invited to join," the steward left this message and mentioned that he had many more invitations to deliver before taking his leave.
After the steward had gone, Lian Shouxin held the invitation, still slightly dazed.
Lian Manman took the invitation from him, looked at it, and smiled.
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Delivering the second update, in search of pink hearts. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
