Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 160 - 79: The Awakening of the Baozi_2

Chapter 160: Chapter 79: The Awakening of the Baozi_2
Having weighed out all the seasonings and poured them into a large basin, water was then added to submerge all the peanuts. After that, several children sat around the edge of the large wooden basin, pinching each peanut open a little, so that they could absorb the flavors more quickly.
Lady Zhang sat on the kang, her hands busy sewing clothes, while the women carried on with their tasks, chatting and laughing together. They were in the midst of merriment when they heard someone speaking outside.
"Auntie of the Fourth Household, have you gone to bed yet?"
It was Lady Chiang’s voice.
"Not yet, Yue E, what’s the matter? Come in and talk." Lady Zhang hurriedly responded.
Then Lady Chiang came in from outside.
"Auntie of the Fourth Household, I saw your light on, so I came over."
Lady Chiang’s eyes were red, clearly, she had been crying hard.
"Yue E, please have a seat." Lady Zhang put down her needlework and invited Lady Chiang to sit, "Niuniu, is she asleep yet?"
"I’ve put Niuniu to bed." Lady Chiang nodded, "You go on with your work, Auntie. I just wanted to sit here for a while."
"I’m not busy with anything urgent; I’m just sewing a piece of clothing, no rush to wear it." Lady Zhang said with a smile, "Yue E, you don’t look well."
"Auntie..." Upon hearing Lady Zhang express her concern, Lady Chiang couldn’t hold back her tears anymore and started to sob.
"Don’t cry. Are you worried about Duoduo?" Lady Zhang quickly tried to console her, "The whole village is out searching; they’ll surely find her."
Lady Zhang didn’t actually think so, but she said this to comfort Lady Chiang.
"Auntie... It’s just Jizu and me at home... If we can’t find Duoduo, Jizu... and I will be blamed for a lifetime." Lady Chiang cried.
You are a good person, Auntie knows that. How could this be blamed on you?" Lady Zhang said.
Lady Chiang, in the midst of the chaos, was the first to realize Lian Duo was missing and had searched throughout the courtyard before informing Lady Gu. It was Lady Gu and Lian Huahua who didn’t take it seriously, claiming Lian Duo was intentionally hiding and would come back at mealtime. Reasonably speaking, Lady Chiang had fulfilled her duty.
"Auntie, that’s easy to say, but... my heart..." Lady Chiang kept crying. The grievances she felt were bottled up inside her, hard to express, and it wasn’t only because of Lian Duo’s disappearance.
She had been living comfortably in town with Lian Jizu and Niuniu, residing in a spacious house by themselves. But upon returning to the village, they had to cram under one roof with Lian Shouren, Lady Gu, including both Sister Lian Huahua and Lian Duoduo. She had tolerated it, thinking things would get better after a while, but one awkward situation after another kept arising.
As the wife of the grandson, she was ostensibly detached from the affairs, but she was not entirely spared. For example, a while back, Lady Gu took Sister Lian Huahua and Lian Duoduo to the city and stayed for more than ten days. The household was busy with the autumn harvest, and Lady Chiang was unfamiliar with the tasks in the rural homestead, plus she had to look after Niuniu. Lady Zhou, out of respect for her as the grandson’s wife, did not demand too much labor from her. But watching everyone else bustling about, she couldn’t maintain the complacency that Lady Gu, Lian Huahua, and Lian Duoduo showed; she felt uneasy.
She understood that Lady Gu was able to leave home for so long without fearing gossip because she had her at home. That way, if anyone asked, Lady Gu could say that she had left her to take care of her mother-in-law. She was essentially left at home by Lady Gu as a scapegoat.
But Lady Gu was not just her mother-in-law, she was also her aunt, so how could she express her discontent in front of others?
And then there was today’s incident. Although it was Lian Duoduo who scalded Lian Huahua with boiling water, she was right there at the time and as the eldest sister-in-law, Lady Gu and Lian Huahua were now solely focused on treating the burns and had not yet held her accountable. But once this period passed, if Lian Huahua’s leg were left scarred, how could they not blame her?
Lady Chiang found it hard to express her suffering, and thus cried extremely sorrowfully
"Duoduo is missing; so many people have been disturbed, and even grandmother has been giving me cold looks," Lady Chiang wept.
"Good child, your grandmother is just like that. It’ll be fine after some days," Lady Zhang consoled Lady Chiang.
"Eldest sister-in-law, you had already informed Auntie about Duoduo’s disappearance. We can all see that you truly care about Duoduo," Lian Manman said. Lady Chiang was a shrewd and worldly woman, but in her treatment of their family and other members of the Lian Family, she had never shown any ill will. Moreover, when Lady Zhang was in a critical state, Lady Chiang had brought over some ginseng. In her heart, Lian Manman held some good feelings towards Lady Chiang and was willing to return the favor at this time.
"This matter is not eldest sister-in-law’s fault. If anyone in our family says anything against eldest sister-in-law, my father and mother will definitely speak up for her," Lian Manman said.
Lady Zhang also immediately realized that Lady Chiang had come over for this matter and nodded eagerly.
"Yue E, you’re a good child. Don’t worry; if there’s nothing else we can do, we can still put in a word or two, can’t we?"
Lady Chiang’s late-night visit was not just to share her troubles, but also to secure the support of Lady Zhang and Lian Shouxin when she needed them to speak up for her. Now that Lady Zhang had readily made such a promise, her mind was somewhat at ease. At the same time, she felt more than ever that among the families of the Lian Household, the Fourth Household’s people were the most understanding and easy to get along with.
After speaking with Lady Zhang for a while and seeing that the night had grown deep, Lady Chiang went back to the Upper Room.
The next day, Lian Manman rose early, had breakfast, and then poured soaked peanuts into a large iron pot to boil. After the peanuts were cooked, she used a colander to scoop them out, drain them, and pour them into two baskets. These peanuts were still too moist because they lacked a drying oven, so they could only be sun dried.
Lian Manman then leaned a ladder against the eaves, and she and Xiao Qi carried the baskets up to the roof.
Xiao Qi held up the canopy and looked around.
"Second sister, look, the carriage..."
******
It’s the second watch; Ruoyan has to continue typing, encouraging pink is sought.
Pink, first of all, requires an official subscription to get the pink.
Also, a reminder for readers of Ruoyan’s basic book who click on the icon next to Ruoyan’s name beside "Rebirth of the Little Landlord" on the book page, that’s the Star of Greatness icon. It’s said that there are rewards and the like for getting it. You can try it out and see. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)