Lian Shouli might not be outstanding, but among the sons, if you say who Lady Zhou can control and rely on, it’s only Lian Shouli.

As for Lian Shouren and Lian Shouyi, Lady Zhou can’t control them and also can’t rely on them. While Lian Shouxin is reliable, Lady Zhou can no longer control him.

"Your grandmother, she’s not just anyone," Lady Zhang said.

...

After organizing the matters of the old house, Lian Manman’s family began to busy themselves with their own affairs. In the fields, after planting wheat, the second crop of cabbage and soybeans was ready for harvest.

The cabbages were brought home, all sent to the Pickled Vegetable Workshop to make pickles. As for the soybeans, because the time was short, more than half were still in the state of green pods. These were sold after Lian Shouxin contacted taverns and restaurants. Those that couldn’t be sold immediately were stored in the cellar. During storage, they were kept together with the soybean stalks to preserve them for a longer time.

At home, there was a reliable person overseeing the Pickled Vegetable Workshop, so Lady Zhang, Lian Zhizhi, and Lian Manman just needed to visit every day, review the accounts, and all was well.

It was a sunny day, and after breakfast, Lady Zhang began organizing the selection of beans; it was time to prepare soy paste blocks.

Farm households usually make their own soy paste, generally making one vat at a time, enough to eat for two years.

Now, Lian Manman’s family has many people, plus the Lian’s Shop also needs paste, so they make three vats every year. The first step in making soy paste is to prepare soy paste blocks around the end of autumn.

Making soy paste is a major event for farm households.

Even though there were servants at home, Lady Zhang still had to personally handle this task of making soy paste, and Lian Zhizhi and Lian Manman couldn’t be idle. As the household’s matron, mastering the skill of making soy paste is indispensable. The sisters needed to carefully follow Lady Zhang to learn this skill.

Lady Zhang, Lian Zhizhi, Lian Manman, Han Zhong’s Wife, along with Xiao Xi began to busy themselves. First, they selected the beans, choosing the best ones for the soy paste, especially those without wormholes. After selecting the beans, they washed them clean and added them to a large iron pot with water to boil.

Once the beans were boiled soft and tender, they were fished out, drained, and placed on the small stone mill to grind. The beans were ground into fine pieces, perfect for making paste blocks.

The group donned aprons, securely wrapped their hair with cloths, and even wore homemade fine cloth masks. To successfully make delicious soy paste, the first requirement is ensuring hygiene. All utensils must be clean, without any trace of grease. Otherwise, the paste would either spoil completely or have a strange taste that is hard to swallow.

Using the same ingredients, following the same steps, different people would produce soy paste with different flavors. Farm households knew that each family’s paste had its distinctive taste; no two families’ pastes tasted exactly the same.

Lian Zhang’s soy paste turned out with a pleasing appearance and fragrant taste, famous in the village. In the past, at the old house, when households needed to prepare sophisticated dishes for guests that required soy paste, some would come to the Old Lian Family carrying bowls to request some paste.

The stone grinder for beans is fine-grained, not particularly heavy; standing alongside it without exerting much effort, one can rotate the grinder handle, causing ground beans to slowly flow out from the groove under the grinding plate, into a large basin placed underneath.

Next, the ground beans were manually shaped into blocks, known as paste blocks. To tighten the structure of the paste blocks, manual pressing was insufficient; pounding was necessary, shaping them into solid rectangular blocks to complete the work.

The finished paste blocks were sun-dried until all moisture evaporated, then collected into the room, stored on the beams to allow natural fermentation.

These paste blocks would be ready for use only when fermentation was complete the following year.

While the few women at home were making paste blocks, Lian Shouxin had already led the long-term workers to harvest all the cabbages and soybeans from the fields. Subsequently, Lian Shouxin started recruiting people to dig out several lotus ponds and fish ponds before winter froze the ground.

Their family offered fair wages and hearty meals, attracting many willing to come and apply for work.

Erlang also came, directly approaching Lian Shouxin.

Zhao Xiue was nowhere to be found, and Er Niuniu was supposed to be breastfeeding but now had no milk to drink, only able to drink some rice water each day. Sorghum rice water wasn’t working; only millet water could do. Er Niuniu was naturally frail, and now due to poor care and inadequate food, she was even weaker, resembling a small kitten.

Erlang wanted to work to save a meal for his family, while he himself could enjoy a hearty meal.

"...Fourth Uncle, I, I eat a lot, but, I, I also do a lot. For wages, just give me some millet, for Er Niuniu..." Erlang choked up.

Due to Zhao Xiue’s circumstances, and additionally because Er Niuniu was a girl, she wasn’t valued in the Lian family.

Seeing such a big youth crying before him, Lian Shouxin couldn’t help but feel compassion.

"Your Fourth Aunt has already spoken to your sister Manman and sister Zhizhi that day; it’s just that we’ve been busy and haven’t had time yet. You need millet for the child; there’s no need for work in exchange, I’ll get you the rice," Lian Shouxin said.

Lian Manman’s family had no bad impression of Erlang; he was quiet, a bit dull, not skilled at navigating social situations, yet genuinely kind-hearted, not one to shirk work. Zhao Xiue was nowhere to be found, leaving a baby less than a year old to Erlang. The Upper Room wouldn’t help care, Lady He was lazy, Lian Yaya was too young to know much about caring for the child. Everyone felt Erlang was unfortunate.

They also carefully inquired, and in Taicang, Erlang himself didn’t have any misconduct.

Regarding Erlang and Er Niuniu, Lian Manman and her family were willing to extend a helping hand.

*******

Additional update provided, seeking Pink, official subscription, and recommendation votes for support. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)