Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 896 - 458: Late Winter

First update—begging for pink votes.

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Zhao Xiue’s family is getting quite cozy with the folks over in Taicang. They’re not exactly a family that cares about keeping up appearances. If Yingzi’s dad goes to them, they’d likely try to curry favor with Yingzi and, in turn, Lian Shouren by conveniently shipping Yingzi’s dad off to Taicang.

The whole thing Lian Manman said earlier about someone being afraid Yingzi’s dad would go to Taicang and mess with their benefits—that was just her spinning a tale to mess with Yingzi’s dad. With the way he is, Yingzi’s dad is absolutely no match for those people.

If the Zhao family route doesn’t pan out, then Yingzi’s dad should head to town and raise a ruckus with Lian Huahua and those folks.

And if Yingzi’s dad proves too inept and comes back empty-handed, Lian Manman wouldn’t mind giving him some travel money. Of course, the way she gives it would have to be carefully thought out—after all, her own family can’t make a direct appearance.

Having made up her mind, Lian Manman settled down and went about her usual activities, all the while keeping an ear out for news about Yingzi’s dad.

Soon, news arrived: Zhao Wencai was planning a trip to Taicang in the next few days, and Yingzi’s dad was going to tag along.

"Well, well, this really is..." Though it was expected, Lian Manman was still speechless when she heard the news. These Zhao folks really weren’t afraid of pulling any stunt. She could almost picture the chaos that would ensue when Yingzi’s dad reached Taicang.

Plenty of people were about to feel uncomfortable, Lian Manman thought with a chuckle. Zhao Wencai must realize this too, yet he was still so eager—how amusing.

"So, Yingzi must be doing well over there, huh? It looks like your aunt-in-law isn’t having an easy time these days," said Lady Zhang.

"Serves her right," Lian Manman replied. As for Lian Xiuxiu’s marriage, she didn’t know if the initial idea had come from Lady Gu, but one thing was certain: without Lady Gu pulling strings behind the scenes, it never would have happened.

"She thinks people are as easy to deal with as us? This matter—my grandma will resent her for the rest of her life. She won’t stop until she makes her suffer," Lian Manman added.

"When a family starts fighting like this, how can life possibly be good?" Lady Zhang sighed. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Weren’t they the ones who brought this on themselves?" Lian Manman said. "Mom, why are you even worrying about them? Haven’t we cleaned up enough of their mess already?"

"I’m not worried about them," Lady Zhang quickly replied. "I just thought about it and mentioned it in passing."

"Mom, am I really going to have to wear this all year?" Lian Manman looked down at her fully red outfit and asked Lady Zhang.

"Just wear it through the first month of the year," Lady Zhang said with a smile. "After that, your socks and sash need to stay red, but for the rest, you can wear whatever color you like."

"Alright, that’s doable," Lian Manman nodded.

At dinner, the family had hotpot again. This time, it was a simple sauerkraut hotpot, with chicken broth flavored with dried shrimp. Finely shredded sauerkraut was simmered in the broth, and by the time the hotpot was set on the table, the soup had turned a rich green color.

Lian Manman ladled herself a scoop of soup first. The broth was delicious, uniquely tangy, smooth, and warming.

"Mom, this soup is great today," Lian Manman praised.

"If you like it, have more," Lady Zhang replied. The chickens in Lian Manman’s family were all young, from last year’s flock. During the New Year festivities, they had only slaughtered two young roosters for meat dishes. For soup, they used old hens brought as gifts by Lady Zhang’s family. For example, this hotpot broth was made by simmering a three-year-old hen.

The main staple for dinner was cornbread. After having some sauerkraut, Lian Manman added vermicelli and dried tofu slices to the hotpot to cook.

As they ate, the family chatted about daily matters.

"I ran into the wife of the family today. This year, they’ve raised another litter of piglets. I told her to pick out five good ones and save them for us," said Lady Zhang.

"Five might be too few," Lian Manman commented.

"We won’t just get them from there," Lian Shouxin said. "The Zhao Family Village’s Zhao Laogeda also has piglets this year. When the time comes, we’ll get a few from them too."

"How many pigs are we planning to raise this year?" Lian Manman asked.

Since they ran a breakfast shop and had plenty of leftover slop daily—and now that they had hired someone to do heavy work—raising more pigs seemed feasible to Lian Manman.

"With that new pigpen we built, we could easily raise a dozen or so," Wu Lang said.

"Then let’s raise fifteen," Lian Shouxin said to Lady Zhang. "If we can’t get enough piglets from those two places, we can always buy more at the market."