Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 939 - 480 Elm Money Cake

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The sweet potato vines from Lian Manman’s family were reserved last year. Among those, several households from Zhao Family Village reserved 1,230 plants, and even earlier, in the autumn of last year, tenant farmers from Thirty Mile Camp and surrounding villages reserved 3,000 plants. In early spring, people still came one after another to place orders.

To cultivate enough sweet potato vines, the whole family spent the winter eating the smaller, less visually appealing sweet potatoes, and they ate sparingly.

The sweet potatoes prepared for seedling cultivation by Lian Manman’s family were stored in the cellar throughout the winter. When taken out at this time, each was inspected. Apart from a small number that were slightly spoiled, the majority were preserved exceptionally well.

This year, for growing the sweet potato vines, Lian Shouxin decided to use the earthen beds again. It was set up across the courtyard, alongside the row of low sheds by the wall. Inside the low shed, a path was left in the middle, and on both sides, earthen beds were constructed using soil bricks. Lian Shouxin, with the help of the long-term workers, hauled fine sandy soil and spread it over the beds, embedding the sweet potato segments into the sand. Fires were lit simultaneously at several stove pits until the desired temperature was reached.

During the entire seedling cultivation process, the temperature of these warm beds needed to be maintained.

With the experience from last year’s seedling cultivation, this year Lian Shouxin handled everything with ease, arranging the long-term workers and related matters methodically. Furthermore, this year there was a long-term worker specifically responsible for managing the fires. Lian Shouxin only needed to check periodically, which made things much easier compared to last year.

Lian Manman didn’t remain idle either. She was preparing vegetable seeds and starting the garden.

With five additional long-term workers in the household this year, all able-bodied laborers, their food consumption was naturally considerable. The original vegetable garden was expanded to twice its size, so the amount of vegetable seeds she had to prepare also increased.

The Upper Room East Room and the two stove beds in the West Room were almost entirely covered with various trays and bowls. A separate small plot was opened in the vegetable garden specifically as a seedbed. To eat freshly grown vegetables as early as possible, starting cultivation and planting early was essential.

Half of the trays and bowls contained corn seeds.

After finishing lunch, Lian Manman returned to her room. Since the stove in the outer room was burning, the bed was still warm. The weather was nice, and sunlight streamed through the glazed windows onto the bed. Only wearing a quilted outfit, Lian Manman felt warm and incredibly comfortable.

Da Hua followed her in, meowing once before jumping onto the bed. It found a comfortable spot in the sunlight, curled up into a ball, closed its eyes, and started to doze off.

"Lazy cat." Lian Manman laughed and lightly scolded.

Spring sleepiness and autumn fatigue—seeing Da Hua sleeping so blissfully, she too felt a bit drowsy.

"Zhizhi, let’s take a nap too," Lian Manman said to Lian Zhizhi.

The two sisters spread their small mat cushions on the felt bedspread. These small cushions were as wide as regular ones but half shorter. Lian Manman’s cushion had a bright red floral pattern on the surface and a white cotton lining, while Lian Zhizhi’s cushion featured bright red floral patterns inside. Daughters from decent tenant farmer families generally possessed such cushions; normally, they sat on these cushions on the bed—it kept things clean and prevented wear on their clothing.

The small cushion also had a special use: for girls during their periods, they would sleep with this small cushion on top of the bed cushion during those days. This way, if it got stained accidentally, only the small cushion would need washing, avoiding the hassle of cleaning the larger bed cushion.

This explained why Lian Manman’s cushion had a white cotton lining, while Lian Zhizhi’s had a red floral one inside.

After spreading out their cushions, the sisters fetched their respective pillows and quilted blankets from the inner room, shut the door, kicked off their shoes, climbed into the bed, and removed their outer clothes before lying down.

Da Hua opened its eyes and meowed once before getting up and jumping onto Lian Manman’s pillow. It sprawled there, closing its eyes again, its plump behind almost pressing against Lian Manman’s face, making her breathing slightly uncomfortable.

"Chubby cat, you sure know where to settle."

Lian Manman laughed as she picked up Da Hua and cuddled it into the blanket. Da Hua adapted easily, burrowing outward to expose its furry head outside the quilt and started snoring again. During this entire time, the lazy cat didn’t even open its eyes.

"You know, it’s actually quite useful," Lian Zhizhi remarked. "Of course, I’m talking about Da Hua. Ever since we got it, we haven’t seen a single rat in our place."

"Yeah," Lian Manman agreed, "Now that the family has more rooms, in a few days, we should get one or two more cats."