Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 761 - 389: The Quick-footed Climb First_2

Old Huang knew that Lian Manman’s family was going to pick grapes, and fearing that they had too little labor, he specifically selected those workers who were meticulous from the mountain to bring six or seven of them to help pick grapes.

Aside from their own small ox cart, Lian Shouxin also hired two additional large carts to haul grapes home.

This year’s wine fermentation site was chosen inside the new home currently under construction. Both the eastern and western courtyards were almost complete; among them was a specially built shed for wine fermentation, filled with over a hundred urns for the wine.

Cartloads of grapes were delivered and unloaded next to the water channel and filtration pool. The water in the pool was clear and clean. Here, Xiao Qi watched as the grapes were briefly washed and then taken into the winemaking workshop within the courtyard.

In the winemaking workshop, they used only their own family members. Lian Shouxin, Lady Zhang, Lian Manman, Lian Zhizhi, Wu Lang, Lady Zhao, Lian Yeye, and Xiao Tanzhi were also called to help. They were responsible for placing the grapes, with their skins dried, into the wine urns, slightly processing them, and waiting for fermentation.

After being busy for three days straight, a hundred and fifty urns of grape wine were made, and with fifty-pound large urns, two more were brewed using leftover wild grapes of inferior quality. Lian Manman planned to brew this batch for her family’s own consumption. Depending on how the fermentation went, if wine could be made, they would make wine; if not, they’d make grape juice, which was also nice to drink on regular days.

Once the grape wine was ready, the family all took a sigh of relief, but Lian Manman thought of another important matter.

"Dad, Mom, I think..." She gathered the family together and shared her thoughts with them. After a discussion, they all nodded in agreement.

That day, Lian Manman’s family prepared a table full of dishes and invited Old Huang over.

After three rounds of drinks and the presentation of various dishes, Lian Shouxin inquired Old Huang.

"...now the mountain all belongs to the Empress’s family, do the foot of the mountain and the surrounding hills belong to the Empress’s family as well?"

"Of course," Old Huang replied, "but to be precise, I’m not entirely sure. Brother, what do you need this for?"

Old Huang was a straightforward person, and Lian Shouxin wasn’t good at beating around the bush, so he simply laid out his family’s plans.

"...in the future, we plan to make wine, and although we have those wild grapes, we still plan to get more seedlings from elsewhere to plant more. The land at the foot of the mountain is uneven and has always been barren, except the wild grapes there grow well..."

The plan for Lian Manman’s family was to buy a large piece of the barren hill land at the base of the mountain. Besides the existing wild grapes, they also wanted to cultivate more wild grapes artificially to increase the yield.

This idea had occurred to Lian Manman since the beginning of this year. However, because of the mountain projects and because all their available funds had been used to buy arable land at that time, she had not brought it up.

With yearly winemaking, having wild grapes growing on someone else’s land was always inconvenient. Lian Manman originally wanted to buy all the gullies where wild grapes grew, but because of the construction of Empress Shen’s temple, this likely wouldn’t be possible. Nevertheless, she still wanted to buy the nearby hills because they were very suitable for the growth of wild grapes.

"If it were anything else, I would agree right away, but with this matter... I still need to ask around," Old Huang said after taking a sip of his drink.

"Of course, we brothers don’t stand on ceremony, so I won’t be polite about it. We really are counting on Big Brother Old Huang for this matter." Lian Shouxin poured another cup of wine for Old Huang and said, "There’s another thing..."

Lian Manman came in to add dishes and interrupted Lian Shouxin with a laugh.

"Dad, let’s eat and drink first, we can talk business after the meal."

"Right," Lian Shouxin nodded and smiled.

After the meal was over and tea was served, Lian Shouxin picked up the conversation again.

"...isn’t it said that once the temple is finished, it will attract worshipers from all directions? By then, it will surely thrive with devotees, and with all the coming and going... I plan to build a straw hut at the foot of the mountain, similar to the one we built before, but it must be even better. We’ll hire someone to clean it daily, ensuring it is tidy and presentable, providing convenience for everyone. Moreover, it will also be our way of contributing to the Empress’s temple."

After Empress Shen’s temple was built, it was planned to be open to the public. With more devotees coming, convenience would become an issue. Even if the temple built lavatories, they could only build so many, and cleaning and maintenance would be laborious.

Lian Manman’s family would fund the construction of a public latrine at the foot of the mountain, pay for its management and cleaning. This would provide convenience for devotees, lighten the temple’s load, and help keep it clean.

This was a very thoughtful proposal.

All of these were the results of the discussions held by Lian Manman’s family the day before. In doing so, they weren’t just aiming to do good deeds. This year, Lian Manman’s family’s crops had grown stronger than others because they had applied more fertilizer to their land than other families.

In the future, Lian Manman’s family would surely purchase more land and would require even more manure. Overall, it was a win-win situation, immensely beneficial for both the community and themselves.

Since the temple was not yet completed, Lian Manman’s family took the initiative to propose this early, seizing the opportunity.

Old Huang promised he would try his best to help out, and being a man of his word, it didn’t take many days before he reported back, saying the matter was settled.

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Here comes an update. I’m very tired today, but I’ll strive for a second update tonight.

***...****

Book Recommendation

Title: "Swan Return", Author: Flower Skirt, Book Number: 2259855

Description: After experiencing the influence of modern civilization, reborn to the beginning of mistakes, only to find the initial self. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)