Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 757 - 387: Autumn Coolness_2

Both children carried schoolbags on their backs, and each had a basket hanging on their arm. The baskets were filled with wild vegetables and herbs.

After setting down their schoolbags and baskets, the two brothers found chores to do on their own.

Wu Lang picked up two baskets. The wild vegetables needed to be chopped and mixed with bran to feed the chickens, while the wild herbs were an extra meal for Little Yellow Ox.

Xiao Qi took another basket and ran off to the mixed grove to gather duck eggs.

By this time, Lady Zhang had already tidied everything up. The workers had all bid farewell and left, leaving only Lady Zhao and Lian Yeye, who began to prepare their own family’s midday meal.

Pouring oil into the large iron pot to heat it up, she added garlic cloves, followed by half a bowl of bean paste. The oil sizzled in the pot, and the fragrance of the paste and garlic burst forth in the air, carried far away by the wind. Then she added the peeled, chopped potatoes and string beans with the strings removed, stirring them quickly with a spatula. Next, she poured in clean water and covered the pot. Once the water boiled, she would let it simmer for a while, and a pot of fragrant potato and bean stew would be ready to serve.

With the table set and bowls and chopsticks in place, Lian Manman’s family, along with Lady Zhao and Lian Yeye, all sat down at the table to start their midday meal.

The staple was boiled sorghum rice, the main dish a large bowl of potato and bean stew, and an indispensable part of every meal—spring onions dipped in bean paste. Lian Shouxin loved it the most—other dishes could be absent, but he could eat three bowls of plain rice just with spring onions dipped in bean paste.

Today, Lady Zhang had also boiled a salted duck egg for each person.

The well-cured salted duck eggs, once cracked open and gently poked with chopsticks, the oil inside the yolk would seep out.

Xiao Qi loved salted duck eggs. After he finished his own and reached for some vegetables, he looked back to find an extra oily salted duck egg yolk in his bowl.

After the meal, Lady Zhao and Lian Yeye took a flat cart to push two buckets of swill back to the old house, where twenty chickens and six pigs needed to be fed.

Lian Manman’s family had promised a pig to Lady Zhao as long as she took care of those three pigs, with the feed all provided by Lian Manman’s family. Feeling it was too much, she took on the job of feeding Lian Manman’s three pigs as well.

"Feeding three is the same as feeding six—there’s no difference," Lady Zhao said.

After eating, Lian Manman’s family sat and talked to aid their digestion.

"Brother, when you and Xiao Qi go to town for school this afternoon, see if you can stop by Brother Youheng’s and ask when they are starting to harvest this year’s ’bitter maiden’ crop," Lian Manman said to Wu Lang and Xiao Qi. "Our field of ’bitter maidens’ is almost ripe."

"It’s time to ask around. I’ve seen others beginning to buy them, and not just from Young Doctor Wang’s family," Lady Zhang added.

"Hmm, I’ll take Xiao Qi to see Brother Youheng first, then we’ll head to school," Wu Lang replied.

"Sis, let’s pick the ’bitter maidens’ when I and Big Brother have our day off," Xiao Qi suggested.

When Wu Lang and Xiao Qi returned from school in the evening, they mentioned they had seen Wang Youheng.

"Brother Youheng said his family has already started harvesting the ’bitter maidens,’ and we can deliver ours anytime," they said.

"Shall we pick the ’bitter maidens’ tomorrow then?" Lian Shouxin asked.

"Dad, let’s wait one more day. The day after tomorrow, Xiao Qi and I have our day off, and we can pick them together," Wu Lang suggested.

"That works too," Lian Shouxin agreed.

At this time, Mr. Loo came down from the mountain. Everyone hurriedly ushered Mr. Loo to the kang bed, serving him fine tea and choice fruits. Wu Lang and Xiao Qi cleared off the desk to start their homework and would consult Mr. Loo from time to time.

Lady Zhang, Lian Zhizhi, and mother and daughter Lian Manman were preparing dinner.

Now, their family ate dinner on this side of the shop because Mr. Loo joined them, so naturally, they added dishes for the meal.

Mr. Loo was from the south, preferring stir-fried dishes over the stewed big pot dishes.

Stir-fried eggs with wood ear mushrooms, sautéed garlic with crisp-fried green beans were specially made for Mr. Loo. In addition, there were stir-fried dried shrimps with winter melon, pan-fried stuffed tofu, stir-fried green chili with dried tofu, and small bok choy vermicelli soup.

The culinary skills of the mother and daughters were exceptional, and coupled with Lian’s specially made seasonings, the meal satisfied Mr. Loo completely, even though he had once tasted all kinds of exotic delicacies.

After dinner, Lian Shouxin arranged the tables and chairs in the courtyard. Lian Manman sat with Wu Lang and Xiao Qi, listening to Mr. Loo’s lecture.

A short distance away, Lady Zhang and Lian Zhizhi were sewing, while Lian Shouxin was cutting fodder for Little Yellow Ox.

Everything was quiet and beautiful.

...

The next day, as Wu Lang and Xiao Qi took a break, Lady Zhang was left to look after the shop while the rest of the family of five took the little ox cart down to the fields. Before reaching the end of the field, they could see a vast fiery red from afar.

Lian Manman’s family had cleared over three acres of wasteland to plant roselle, which thrived with vitality, spreading out in sections and now mature, with red lantern-like fruits forming a red sea.

Upon reaching the end of the field, the family each took up a basket or a sack and got off the cart.

Lian Manman adjusted Xiao Qi’s straw hat and straightened her own before entering the roselle field.

They picked only the reddest, ripest roselle, filled the baskets, then poured them into sacks. When a sack was full, they tied it and took it to the cart. Once they had a full load, Lian Shouxin would drive the cart to town.

Close to noon, Lady Zhang, Lady Zhao, and Lian Yeye brought over steamed buns made with sanhe flour, dried tofu, and large bone soup. The family hastily finished their meal and continued working.

By evening, they had finished picking all the ripe roselle. On the last trip, Lian Manman followed Lian Shouxin to deliver them to town.

"These specially grown ones are better than the wild ones in the gullies," declared Wang Youheng.

"This is just the first harvest," Lian Manman said, "Give it another half-month, and we can harvest another round."

As they were talking, Shopkeeper Wang came in with an abacus and a ledger to do the accounting.

"Congratulations, Fourth Master Lian, Third Miss, it’s a bountiful harvest this year..."

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

First update for today, there will be a second update in the evening, craving for your pink votes. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)