Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 129 - 66 Peanut_1

Chapter 129: Chapter 66 Peanut_1
After several days of picking leftover grains, Fatty Shen hadn’t appeared again. Lian Manman felt somewhat relieved yet also a bit disgruntled. The relief came because Fatty Shen was incredibly troublesome, so not encountering him was definitely a good thing. As for the disgruntlement, after thinking it over, Lian Manman was certain that her handkerchief must have been taken by Fatty Shen. Without seeing Fatty Shen, she had no way to get her handkerchief back. She had spent more than ten wen money on that handkerchief, and although because she didn’t know how to embroider, she just did a simple stitch around the edges, it was stitched together by her own hand.
However, there was nothing more important than the harvest season. Lian Manman thought about Fatty Shen for a couple of days and then put him out of her mind.
Once the grain picking was finished, it was time to search for peanuts. Peanuts were hard to harvest, and even the most meticulous farmers couldn’t possibly gather every single peanut into the barn—there would always be some left in the soil. A pound of peanuts in their shell could be exchanged for more than a pound of high-quality rice, so the children from Thirty Mile Camp each took a basket, carrying small hoes or pickaxes, and scattered across the fields in search of peanuts that had fallen to the ground.
Lian Manman naturally wouldn’t fall behind. Every morning, along with Xiao Qi, Lian Zhizhi, and Wu Lang, she would head to the fields to search for peanuts.
Although the Lian Family had planted peanuts, those were meant to be sold for money. So far, the amount of peanuts Lian Manman and the others had eaten wasn’t more than ten. This wasn’t because the family head, Old Master Lian, was stingy; this was the norm in the village. In fact, families that allowed their children to eat peanuts were considered spoiling them and not knowing how to manage a household.
In the peanut fields of poorer families, the search was more thorough, leaving behind less. Yet even among these families, some were more attentive while others were not. Discovering a field belonging to one of the less careful families meant a larger haul. There were also significant pickings in the fields of larger landlords.
Even if there weren’t many, finding some to sate a craving was worth the effort.
Searching for peanuts was very laborious work since finding those left in the soil meant essentially turning over the entire ground. That’s why it’s referred to as "searching." Xiao Qi loved eating peanuts. His brothers and sisters, fond of him for his young age, would give him the peanuts they found first. Xiao Qi was also sensible—he would eat a small handful carefully and then stop.
The children in the village who were searching for peanuts would have to give some to their families to help with household expenses, while others were more lenient, allowing the children to eat them as a treat or to sell them in town for candy.
Nowadays, Lian Manman effectively managed a lot of affairs for the Fourth Household of the Lian Family. Considering she still had some money left over, she decided to keep these peanuts for the family to eat.
With early departures and late returns, Xiao Qi and Si Lang had already found good spots to search. By the end of the day, each of them could gather seven to eight pounds of peanuts. After a few days, even though their faces were sunburned, their hands were blistered, and their arms and legs were sore, seeing a sack full of peanuts made the toil of these past days seem worthwhile.
Seeing this, the villagers praised the children of the Lian Family’s Fourth Household as both clever and capable.
These days, Shouxin and Old Master Lian worked together threshing the harvest. At night, the moment Shouxin’s head touched the pillow, he would fall fast asleep, and in the mornings he would wake up before dawn without needing anyone to call him.
The two old hens that Zhang Qingshan and Lady Li had sent over, one of which was a black hen that laid an egg the second day after its arrival. Lady Zhang couldn’t bear to kill it for meat anymore, so she had Shouxin build a small enclosure and raised the two chickens under the window of the West Wing Room.
Lian Manman and Lady Zhang discussed and decided to slaughter the speckled hen. The string beans in the backyard were ready to be staked, so Lian Manman and Lian Zhizhi picked a large basket of the more tender beans, washed them, and scooped three pounds of white flour to make dough for bread, planning to make a stew of string beans and meat-filled buns.
After cleaning the chicken and cutting it into pieces, they heated a large iron pot, added just a bit of oil, and sautéed green onions, garlic cloves, and broad bean paste until fragrant, then put in the chicken pieces to stir-fry. When the oil was released, they added the cleaned and cut string beans.
Meanwhile, Lian Manman had taken the ready dough and divided it into several even portions. She rolled out each piece into thin sheets, spread a thin layer of oil on one side, sprinkled with salt and Sichuan pepper powder, folded it over, then repeated the oiling and seasoning on the folded side before folding again. And with that, the savory pancakes were prepared.
By then, Lian Zhizhi had the string beans and chicken pieces well-stirred. Water was added to the pot, just enough to cover the beans. Lian Manman brought out the savory pancakes and spread them evenly on top of the string beans, then covered the pot tightly. Wu Lang tended the fire below the stove and, once steam began to escape from the edges of the lid, adding more fire and then letting it simmer for a quarter of an hour cooked both the chicken and bean stew and the savory pancakes. By then, the pancakes, having absorbed the flavors of the chicken and beans, would be even tastier.
Lian Manman and the others were sitting around chatting and laughing, waiting for the pot to come to a steam, when the door curtain rustled and Si Lang bounded in with Liulang.
"Did you stew chicken again?" Si Lang sniffed and asked.
"The Upper Room bought meat—tastes better than chicken," Xiao Qi said.
"Manman, I have something to tell you," Si Lang said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and drew close to Lian Manman.
"What is it?"
"Good news, of course. I’ll tell you, but you have to give me a chicken leg," Si Lang demanded.
"What news is worth a chicken leg?" Lian Manman shot Si Lang a glance. A chicken only had two legs, and they hadn’t even had theirs yet—why should she give one to him?
"Sister Huahua is playing you dirty." Si Lang just threw out the comment.
"Oh?" Manman uttered in surprise.
"What kind of dirty trick did she pull?" Zhizhi quickly asked.
"Give me chicken legs, then I’ll tell you," Si Lang glanced at the large iron pot that was beginning to steam.
"We know she’s up to no good; you don’t need to tell us," Manman said indifferently, "Who knows if you’re just trying to scam some chicken to eat."
As the smell of the chicken grew stronger, Si Lang became more anxious.
"How could I deceive you? I heard it with my own ears," Si Lang said, "It was on the day Sister Huahua just got back. She went to the backyard with the auntie, saying something about flowers from the Imperial Palace for the auntie, but gave them to you because she worried you’d be unhappy. The auntie was so angry, she stomped a cabbage to smithereens."
A thought struck Manman, reminding her of the day they went to the Upper Room and how Lian Xiuxiu stared at her and Zhizhi’s hair decorations.
"How could you know what they said if they were speaking in private behind everyone’s back?" Manman looked at Si Lang distrustfully.
"I squatted under the cucumber trellis doing my business when I overheard them."
"Ah!" Xiao Qi jumped up, "I knew it was you! Why didn’t you go to the outhouse? Acting like a dog, I was wondering why it always stinks by the cucumber trellis. I almost stepped in it last time."
"None of your business where I do my business," Si Lang said nonchalantly.
"Enough with this pooping talk, it’s disgusting, stop it," Manman complained, "Right, you said you were there... Ah, didn’t the auntie smell anything, letting you listen to their conversation?"
"I saw them coming and hadn’t finished so I held it in for a while," Si Lang said, "You still don’t believe me? The reason you two are cooking for your uncle’s wife, that was also Sister Huahua’s idea that she had the auntie mention."
No wonder then, at that time Sister Huahua didn’t dare offend her directly; she spoke in such an ambiguous way. If Lian Xiuxiu had been smarter, she could have insisted on having Manman and Zhizhi go cook in the Upper Room. But Lian Xiuxiu was straightforward and couldn’t decipher the crooked intentions of Sister Huahua, so she thought Sister Huahua was speaking in their defense, and that’s why she was so upset she didn’t speak at all. Afterwards, both must have felt rather frustrated.
"I knew about these things already, the auntie has been listening to Sister Huahua for more than a day or two," Manman remarked.
Seeing that Manman didn’t care at all, Si Lang worried he wouldn’t get any chicken legs. He furrowed his brows and slapped his thigh.
"There’s something else you definitely don’t know about."
"What is it?"
"Your mom was knocked over by the auntie on Sister Huahua’s orders," Si Lang covered his mouth, conveying it in a way that was mysterious.
******
This Chapter is full of talking points; Ruoyan is laughing while writing it.
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