Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 870 - 444: The Landlord Must Have Lots of Land

The first update, seek pink hearts.

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Before Lady Wu Wang spoke, she made sure to look around. Naturally, everyone in the room was on her side. Only then did Lady Wu Wang slowly begin to tell Lady Zhang.

"That Zheng Family is one of the largest households in Taicang County. The branch that your Upper Room has made kinship ties with is a side branch of them, and not an accomplished one at that," Lady Wu Wang said.

"A side branch? And an unaccomplished one? Wasn’t it said that Third Old Master Zheng used to be a high-ranking official?" Lady Zhang asked.

"He has served as an official elsewhere, but not a high-ranking one. He was a clerk, one of no significance!" Lady Wu Wang replied.

"Ah?" Lady Zhang was shocked.

Lian Manman, who was listening on the side, was also taken aback. Lian Shouren and the rest thought that through Lian Xiuxiu, they had relied on a significant backing. But according to Lady Wu Wang, this Third Old Master Zheng was clearly an empty-headed bigwig official.

Lian Xiuxiu had suffered a huge loss, and so had the Lian Family Main House.

"However, this Third Old Master Zheng does have wealth," Lady Wu Wang continued, "When he was young and parted from the family, his father favored him the most and divided a large portion of the family fortune for him. He has been a clerk for decades, and he has accumulated a sizeable amount of gold and silver... Although he’s from a side branch, the Zheng Family is, after all, one family, and should be able to look after your Upper Room in Taicang without a problem."

So that was the background of Third Old Master Zheng’s family. Lian Shouren was truly desperate enough to settle for anything. Lian Manman thought that perhaps, Third Old Master Zheng was the most significant figure Lian Shouren could connect with. It was all so pitiful, laughable, and shameful.

"About this matter, even my child’s father was upset. What can we do? Initially, they said they would have our Manman go and be a child bride to a wealthy family, to live a life of luxury, sweet-talking us into agreeing. Only later did we find out... Ah, how cruel-hearted they were... Now that we have parted from the family and are far away, they’ve cornered Xiuxiu by default. This kind of thing, they’re well-practiced in doing. To be honest, I’ve grown cold-hearted towards them, I’m afraid of them," Lady Wu Wang confessed.

"We are all close kin, and I’ll tell you the truth, it’s best to cut off all relations with them," Lady Zhang said in a low voice.

"Ah, there’s no helping it. As long as your Old Master and Old Mistress are alive, you can’t break ties. Once your Old Master and Old Mistress pass away, then it might be better. But even then, if they shamelessly cling on, it will still be troublesome. When I say troublesome, it’s because you and Zhizhi’s father are too kind-hearted and face-saving. Harden your hearts, act as you should, and things will go much better," Lady Wu Wang advised.

Lady Zhang took Lady Wu Wang’s words to heart, deep in thought with her head bowed.

"There’s nothing to be done for now, try to reduce contacts, and stay guarded," Lady Wu Wang soothed Lady Zhang, "Jiaxing and his father have nothing else, but they see all sorts of people every day, so their information is more astute than most. I told them to keep an ear out for any news from Taicang, to report anything they hear to you. If there’s trouble, you’ll be prepared; we can’t let them deceive us so easily."

"Mhm," Lady Zhang nodded gratefully.

At dinner time, Lian Manman praised Lian Zhizhi. Looking through the accounts that Lian Zhizhi had kept these past days, everything was clear and in order, and she had also managed the Pickled Vegetable Workshop well.

"Don’t look now, my sister doesn’t make much fuss, but she knows what she’s doing," Lian Manman said.

"Zhizhi is truly capable," Lady Zhang said with a smile, scooping a large spoonful of meat sauce into Lian Zhizhi’s bowl, "Zhizhi, you love eating this meat sauce. Your mother deliberately added more lean meat and less sauce. Eat up, it’s not salty at all." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Mhm, mother, you eat more too," Lian Zhizhi nodded, scooping a spoonful for Lady Zhang as well.

Lady Zhang’s eyes turned a bit red.

Lian Manman knew Lady Zhang’s thoughts and had a smile on her face.

The day appointed by Steward Zhong to transport the grape wine arrived in a blink of an eye. Steward Zhong arrived close to noon, and Lian Manman’s family had prepared well in advance. First, they ushered Steward Zhong into the front hall, then brought out the grape wine for him to taste.

"This year’s wine tastes even better than last year’s," Steward Zhong remarked with satisfaction after tasting the wine, "The gentlemen at home will surely like it."

Lian Manman was also delighted. This was their second year of making grape wine, and with last year’s experience, they had a better grasp of the proportions of the various ingredients. Additionally, they had built a wine-making workshop, and the conditions for making wine were better than the previous year.

After tasting the wine, they went with Steward Zhong to the wine-making workshop across the courtyard for inspection.

This year, Lian Manman’s family brewed a total of 150 jars of grape wine, still twenty catties per jar. After fermentation and several filtrations, they ended up with 119 jars of final product, yielding 2,380 catties of grape wine.