Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 175 - 89 Leek Flowers_2

Chapter 175: Chapter 89 Leek Flowers_2
Lian Shouxin and Lady Zhang, after listening, pulled Wu Lang and Xiao Qi over to check on them. They only completely relaxed when they found that there were no serious injuries.
"I didn’t expect such a thing to happen, how fortunate that Sixth Master handled the matter so fairly," Lady Zhang said.
"I didn’t manage to sell all the peanuts, and Manman gave the rest to Master Shen Liu, who then gave a return gift," Wu Lang said, as he opened the bundle of grass he had brought into the house, revealing the gift box inside.
It was because Lian Manman feared that carrying such a gift box into the village would attract too much attention and lead to endless questions. Once they had left town, they plucked some grass to wrap the gift box and brought it back with them.
Lian Manman then placed the gift box on the kang bed for Lady Zhang and Lian Shouxin to see.
"Oh my, these..." Lady Zhang’s fingers just gently touched the bright red silk with gold patterns, "these are things used by wealthy households," she said.
"Indeed," Lian Shouxin agreed.
"Mother, you keep these things first," Manman only took the two envelopes of silver and put them away in her and Lian Zhizhi’s cabinet, locking it, and handed the rest to Lady Zhang.
"Hmm, it’s best to save these two pieces of cloth for later," Lady Zhang said. "In a country household, if you wear clothes made of such fabric, it would be too conspicuous. And this tea..."
"Tea loses its flavor if it’s stored too long," Lian Manman pointed out.
"This is surely fine tea; doesn’t his grandpa love drinking tea? Let’s find someone to send it to him in a few days," Lian Shouxin suggested.
That Lian Shouxin would take the initiative like this made Lady Zhang feel especially comforted and pleased.
"And this fan, people in our countryside simply don’t use these," Lady Zhang observed, looking at the paper fan.
Lian Manman took out the fan, opened it, and looked it over. It was a painting of mountains and rivers in ink. Lian Manman didn’t understand art, but she felt it used the ink freely and the composition was bold; considering it wasn’t bad, Shen Liu wouldn’t have offered it as a gift otherwise.
"Keep the fan for ourselves; in the future, we’ll surely find a use for it," Lian Manman said as she carefully placed the fan back into the gift box. She had a plan in mind, but without anything concrete yet, she didn’t mention it.
Lady Zhang then put away the gift box, and Lian Manman showed her the things they had bought as well.
"We sold them and got a total of two hundred and forty Wen Money, and we got so excited that we spent it all," Lian Manman said with a cheerful laugh.
Lady Zhang was happier to see the things that the children had earned money to buy than the gift box.
Since they had bought buns, there was no need to cook lunch, so the family ate the buns and talked together.
"Mother, shall we have quick-fried liver tips and braised spare ribs tonight?" Lian Manman discussed this with Lady Zhang.
"Sure," before Lady Zhang could reply, Xiao Qi eagerly nodded her head first.
"You little glutton," Lady Zhang stroked Xiao Qi’s head and also nodded in agreement, "I’ll cook tonight."
"Your liver tips are the best," Lian Shouxin said.
"Then tonight, I’ll look forward to tasting your cooking skills, mother," Lian Manman said.
"Manman, I’ve put the chives over here for you," said Lian Shouli from outside the window at that moment.
"Ah, understood," Lian Manman quickly replied.
"What chives?" Lady Zhang asked Lian Manman.
"I asked Uncle Three to give us all the uprooted chives," Lian Manman said.
"That’s not necessary, your Auntie Three has already picked some tender ones and brought me two bundles just now, which is enough for us to eat. Those chives are all old," Lady Zhang said.
"Mom, don’t we need to store pickled vegetables for winter?" Lian Manman asked. The winter climate here was cold, without any fresh vegetables to eat, and they could only eat vegetables like cabbage and potatoes. The Lian Family grew a lot of cabbages, nearly half of which were intended for pickling.
"Yes," Lady Zhang replied.
"Mom, then shouldn’t we put chive blossoms in the stewed pickled cabbage?" Lian Manman asked again.
"Chive blossoms? What chive blossoms, Manman, are you talking about chive seeds?" Lady Zhang asked, confused.
Lian Manman realized that there was no tradition of making chive blossoms here.
Chive blossoms are a wonderful thing, especially when paired with pickled cabbage—they are a perfect match. Additionally, chive blossoms are indispensable in dipping sauces for hot pot meals with mutton.
"Mom, these chive blossoms, Shen Qian told me about them," Lian Manman had to explain, briefly telling Lady Zhang what chive blossoms were. "Let’s just make a jar first, then you’ll understand."
Making chive blossoms requires slightly overripe, older chives and salt—nothing else.
"If those chives were to be thrown away, it would be quite a waste. Alright, let’s make the chive blossoms," said Lady Zhang.
The family, all industrious people, got to work immediately.
First, they picked through the chives, removing rotten leaves and leaves that had been heavily chewed by insects, and also made sure to remove any small bugs. Then came the cleaning, washing the chives thoroughly, slightly drying them, before moving on to the chopping board, where they were cut into small pieces. Then, the chopped chives were placed into a clean porcelain jar, along with an appropriate amount of coarse salt, and pounded with a garlic masher until the coarse salt and chives turned into a pasty mixture.
In truth, chive blossoms were just a form of chive paste, Lian Manman suddenly realized.
The work was divided among the family members. Lian Shouxin was in charge of supplying water, Lian Manman and Xiao Qi were responsible for picking the chives, Lian Zhizhi took care of washing them, Lady Zhang with her good knife skills was in charge of chopping, and pounding the chives was a task for Lian Shouxin and Wu Lang. Lady Zhao and Lian Yeye, seeing the work, also came over to help.
"These chives are all old, look at these stems. If we wait a few more days, the chive seeds will be ripe," Lady Zhao said.
"Never mind the stems, if you want the chive blossoms to taste right, it’s all about them," Lian Manman said.
"Lady Old Three, come over here," Lady Zhou called from the Upper Room doorway.
Lady Zhao quickly put down the chives in her hands and followed Lady Zhou into the Upper Room, with Lian Yeye worriedly trailing behind.
Soon after, the sounds of Lady Zhou’s scolding could be heard coming from the Upper Room.
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