Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 763 - 390 Buying Mountainous Land_2
"Uncle Three still has to go to work, doesn’t he?" Xiao Qi asked.
"The other day when we were talking about the harvest, your Uncle Three said he would ask for a few days off from the mountain," Lian Shouxin replied.
Because he was able to learn a craft, Lian Shouli was very diligent about going to work, come rain or shine. It was rare for him to take the initiative to ask for time off to help harvest the crops, which showed that Lian Shouli wasn’t ignorant of worldly ways—he truly held his brothers’ family matters close to his heart.
"Plus, with Jiaxing and his father, you two kids count as one laborer. All in all, that’s about ten laborers," Lady Zhang chimed in, "Tomorrow is the big market day in Back Mountain Village. I plan to send a message to his grandpa and ask his grandpa and his uncles to come help us out for a few days."
"At this time, his grandpa’s house must be busy too," Lian Shouxin said.
"I know, but we’re talking about using our own family, aren’t we? Actually, there’s no need for us to say anything special; as soon as his grandpa hears the news, he’ll come on his own," Lady Zhang replied.
A cool breeze blew through the yard from outside, carrying a yellow petal that landed on Xiao Qi’s forehead.
Xiao Qi tilted his head back, puckered his lips, and blew at the petal, trying to blow it away. Unfortunately, blocked by his nose, his effort was in vain.
Lian Manman found it amusing and couldn’t help but reach out to pinch Xiao Qi’s chubby face and then pluck the petal off.
It was a sunflower petal. Judging by the direction of the wind, it must have blown over from the patch of sunflowers planted next to Lian’s.
"Sis, the sunflower seeds are ripe," Xiao Qi said, his eyes lighting up as he noticed the dry tip of the petal.
"Mom, shall we cut some sunflower heads to eat?" Lian Manman said to Lady Zhang.
"Mom, let’s cut some sunflower heads to eat," Xiao Qi immediately hugged Lady Zhang’s arm and rubbed against it.
Lady Zhang couldn’t help but laugh.
"It’s all planted by you. If you want to eat, then go cut some to eat; why ask for my permission? Just pick the ripe ones and don’t waste anything," Lady Zhang said with a smile.
Xiao Qi brought over a stool, and Lian Manman ran inside to fetch a pair of scissors. The siblings went outside to cut a plate of sunflower seeds to eat.
"I’ll go. With just the two of you and your size, even standing on the stool, I’m afraid you won’t be able to cut down the sunflower heads," Lian Shouxin stood up, took the stool from Xiao Qi, and headed outside.
Lady Zhang, Lian Zhizhi, and Wu Lang followed them.
At this time, most of the sunflower seeds were ripe, each one with a large, drooping head. The healthier ones could grow a head the size of a wooden basin. Typically, there was only one head per sunflower plant, but sometimes there were a few branches, in which case the heads on the branches were usually smaller.
There are two types of flowers on a sunflower head: the non-fertile flowers with tongue-shaped petals around the edge and the fertile tubular flowers in the middle ring. For a healthy sunflower plant, the maturity of the seeds inside can be determined by the degree of withering of these two types of flowers.
Xiao Qi spotted a large sunflower head, and Lian Shouxin placed the stool under the plant, took the scissors from Lian Manman, climbed onto the stool, bent the sunflower stalk slightly, and with a snip, cut off the head. Then, he picked another two smaller heads, and the family returned to the yard, talking and laughing.
After brushing off the dry flowers from the surface, the ripe sunflower seeds inside were revealed. The seeds that were not yet mature had mostly white husks, whereas the black ones indicated full maturity.
The three heads they cut were all fully mature.
Fresh sunflower seeds, not yet dried, still had some moisture inside, but they were already delicious to eat as is.
"Mom, Er Ya’s family’s big cat has had kittens, and I asked for one," Lian Manman said while eating the sunflower seeds, "but the cat is still too young, and I’m afraid I can’t keep it alive. I told Er Ya to look after it for a few more days and let the kitten drink more milk."
"Mom, I’ve also seen that kitten; it’s all fluffy and cute," Xiao Qi added.
"We really should get a cat," Lian Shouxin said.
Selling food in the shop attracted mice. Having a cat, even just a kitten, meowing a few times a day could be quite intimidating to any mice that wanted to come and steal food.
"I’m in favor of keeping a cat," Lady Zhang said, "I’ve been so busy, I hadn’t thought about it. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have wanted a cat... Back at home, I always liked having a cat around. After coming here, your grandma’s house didn’t allow keeping animals, so I didn’t dare to get one even though I wanted to."
Lian Shouxin immediately fell silent.
"Mom, now we can keep whatever we want," Lian Manman said.
"That’s true," Lady Zhang glanced at Lian Shouxin, couldn’t help but laugh, and said.
"Yes, we can keep whatever we want. Once we move into the new house, it’ll be up to you and the others. Anyway, I don’t have a say in anything," Lian Shouxin laughed.
Lady Zhang’s smile became even more pronounced. Setting everything else aside, Lian Shouxin’s temperament was extremely rare among men of this era. It was thanks to Lian Shouxin’s nature that she had managed to endure all these years under Lady Zhou’s rule.
In the blink of an eye, the day agreed upon for harvesting corn arrived.
******
Posted the second update, asking for pink support. Ruoyan’s aunt is coming; all kinds of fatigue, lethargy, asking for pink votes to stimulate.
Recommend Ruoyan’s completed book: "The Brocade Screen Chronicles," a light house fight farmland tale, domestic disputes and entanglements within a grand household.
Book number: 1771214
Below is a direct link, click to go straight there. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes, monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)
