Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 112 - 59: Dry Tobacco Pipe_1

Chapter 112: Chapter 59: Dry Tobacco Pipe_1
Fatty Zhang, subscribe, pink, all kinds of tickets for support.
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"What’s that noise?" Everyone in the room woke up.
"Outside the window," Lian Manman pointed to the south window.
Outside the south window was the freshly brewed grape wine. Thirty Mile Camp could be described as a village with a simple folk custom, one may not claim "doors remained unlocked at night and lost items went unclaimed," but incidents like theft were rare, especially the sort of thievery that would breach the walls and gates of a moderate household like the Lian Family’s.
Lian Shouxin silently donned his clothes and got off the kang, grabbed the door bar, and ran outside; Lian Manman also hurriedly followed.
Below the West Wing Room, the vegetable garden was enclosed with a small wall, because chickens were raised in the yard, and they feared the chickens would spoil the vegetables if they got into the garden. Therefore, mud had been added on top of the small wall, with stalks of sorghum a foot tall protruding, facilitating climbing of beans and cucumbers while ensuring even the highest-jumping rooster could not get inside. Naturally, this also prevented people from climbing over the wall.
Under the windows of the West Wing Room was a small door, the only entrance to this vegetable garden.
Normally, this door would be shut at the end of the day, but now it was open. Lian Shouxin approached the door, and something underfoot made a crisp sound. Following that, a clinking noise came from the garden, and a dark figure attempted to climb over the wall but was tripped by the sorghum stalks and vines on top of the low wall.
Lian Shouxin hurried over and grabbed the person.
"Si Lang? Why is it you?" Utilizing the faint moonlight, Lian Shouxin recognized the person he had caught as Si Lang from the second branch of the family.
"Uncle Si, I was just out to pee," Si Lang struggled in Lian Shouxin’s grasp.
That excuse didn’t fool Lian Shouxin.
"Wherever it’s inappropriate to pee, why enter the garden? You even try to jump over the wall when you hear someone coming? I thought it was a thief."
Lian Manman, carrying the oil lamp, quickly went into the garden to inspect wine jars; she immediately noticed a wine jar lid on the ground and understood what had happened.
"Dad, one of the jars has been opened," Lian Manman came out and informed Lian Shouxin.
"Si Lang, what have you done?" Lian Shouxin demanded loudly.
With such commotion, the Upper Room East Room lit up with oil lamp light, yet the West Room of the Upper Room and the East Wing Room remained silent.
"Uncle Si, I didn’t do anything, I was just looking," Si Lang mumbled faintly.
"Haven’t you had enough time during the day to look? If you really wanted to see, why didn’t you come over and tell us explicitly during the day, instead of sneaking in at the dead of night? What are you trying to do?" Lian Manman interrogated.
"I really was just looking," Si Lang said, hanging his head.
Lian Shouxin glanced at the faint candlelight from the Upper Room, then at the East Wing Room which remained still, suppressing the anger in his heart.
"Si Lang, I’m relying on the contents of these jars to exchange for some money to live on. We country folks despise wasting things the most. Listen well, if there’s a next time, don’t blame your Uncle Si for turning against you then," Lian Shouxin released Si Lang.
Back in the room, everyone was somewhat unable to sleep.
"What do Uncle Er and his family want to do?" Lian Manman was annoyed.
"Perhaps it’s just a teenager’s mischief, curiosity..." Lian Shouxin said, but it was clear he didn’t quite believe his own words.
"As we’re all from the Lian family, he wouldn’t do anything too excessive. Let’s all stay alert tonight. Tomorrow while I’m home, I’ll keep the windows open and make sure no one touches those jars," Lady Zhang said.
The next morning, Old Master Lian called up the family’s labor force to work in the fields again. Even though the grain had been harvested, there were still some bean stalks in the fields, which also had to be transported back. Not only could they serve as fodder, but they could also be used as firewood.
Lian Manman, mulling over last night’s event, felt that such matters had to be resolved at their root. In the Lian Family, there was only one person with the authority to resolve this issue.
Lian Manman then went to the Upper Room; Lady Zhou and Lian Xiuxiu had gone to the back garden to pick vegetables, and no one was in the room. Two pieces of a dry tobacco pipe lay on the windowsill of the kang, which Old Master Lian had used to beat Lian Shouren last time, and since then, they had sat on the windowsill. Lian Manman actually knew that Old Master Lian did not like to smoke rolled tobacco; he preferred the tobacco pipe, but for some reason, he had declined to buy a new one.
Lian Manman climbed onto the kang and picked up the two pieces of the dry tobacco pipe from the windowsill, weighing them in her hand—they were quite heavy and seemed to be made of copper. She tucked away the tobacco pipe and left the Upper Room.