Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 766 - 392 Eating Corn_1

In the second watch of the night, request for pink.

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Just one day’s work, and Lian Manman’s family had finished harvesting the crops in the field. Zhang Qingshan had originally planned to help his daughter and son-in-law for two days, but with the change in situation and his own need to harvest and pick fruits, he stayed only one night. Early the next morning, he returned to Burner Pot Village with his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter.

Lian Shouli then went back to work in the mountains.

Since it was the autumn harvest season and school was out for the busy farming period, Wu Lang and Xiao Qi didn’t attend school. Wu Yugui and Wu Jiaxing had put off gathering their own crops to help Lian Manman’s family. Lian Shouxin then took Wu Lang and Xiao Qi to help the Wu family for two days.

Xiao Qi was still young, and Wu Lang wasn’t much older. This mutual aid was based on the goodwill between the two families, and neither would let the children overexert themselves, especially Xiao Qi, who was taken very good care of by Wu Jiaxing.

Lady Wang also called Lian Zhizhi and Lian Manman to help with cooking at her place, and they invited Lady Zhang to join them for the meal.

While dining at the Wu’s, Lian Manman’s family discussed with Wu Yugui and arranged for him to recommend two reliable temporary workers to help thresh and winnow the grains in a few days.

"It’s about time," Lady Wang was in total agreement, "Zhizhi’s mother is already busy enough with household and shop duties every day. Wu Lang and Xiao Qi having more free time to study is perfect. And both Zhizhi and Manman, two delicate young girls, working hard in the fields tugs at my heartstrings. Our family is not what it used to be, is it? We can afford to hire help. We should hire a couple more workers to give Zhizhi’s father a break."

"Look how passionate my aunt is," Lian Manman laughed while sitting on the kang, "Auntie is feeling sorry for my sister, and we’re all part of her concern."

Everyone in both families laughed heartily.

Lady Wang, laughing so hard she was bending forward and back, picked out the tenderest part of the fish belly and gave it all to Lian Manman.

"Auntie doesn’t feel sorry for anyone else, she only feels sorry for you." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

...

In autumn, the climate was dry, especially the midday sun, which felt even more scorching than in summer. Following the harvest, the Lian family had several consecutive days of perfect weather for drying grains.

That evening, Lian Manman stepped on a stool and randomly picked a cob from the corn rack to check. The corn had dried somewhat and the kernels could be easily removed.

Five days later, early in the morning, Lian Manman’s family arrived at the threshing ground. Lian Shouli, Lady Zhao, Lian Yeye, Wu Yugui, and Wu Jiaxing father and son, came to help as usual. As for Zhang Qingshan, he didn’t need to come. One reason was the distance, and the other was that they knew Commander Zhang Qianhu would bring help today.

Lian Shouxin carefully swept the threshing ground again, and Wu Yugui and the others arranged winnowing baskets, large Chinese baskets, stools, and straw mats across the ground. They hadn’t finished preparing when Commander Zhang arrived with his men.

This time, Commander Zhang arrived even earlier than when they were harvesting corn, and he brought twice as many helpers.

Lian Manman knew that Commander Zhang—or rather, Shen Liu—intended to have all the corn kernels threshed that day.

"Sixth Master is bringing officers from the mansion and the county; they are following behind. Let’s get to work," Commander Zhang declared, setting the stage.

In Lian Manman’s previous life, there were machines dedicated to threshing corn, but here, without machines, it was entirely done by hand. In fact, even in her grandfather’s generation, threshing corn was still done manually.

Knowing they had many hands to work today, and aside from their own large Chinese baskets and winnowing baskets, Lian Manman’s family had borrowed some from the village, totaling ten large Chinese baskets. Lian Manman assigned everyone to work, with four to five people seated around each basket. There weren’t enough stools and mats, but Commander Zhang’s men were not particular and simply sat down on the ground.

Some were tasked with transferring the cobs from the corn rack to the baskets using the winnowing baskets, and everyone began stripping the kernels.

The first cob was stripped entirely by hand, but a simpler method was found for the second. Using the stripped cob as leverage, it became easier to remove the kernels.

Commander Zhang’s soldiers, being rough and strong, worked very quickly. Once they had threshed a certain amount of kernels, someone would use a winnowing basket to scoop up a batch, then flip it into the wind. This was akin to winnowing, using the wind to blow away lighter impurities, primarily the chaff and silks from the cob.