Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 1527 - 777: Greedy for Food

"Stay away from me!" Lady Zhou glared at Lian Shouyi as he came closer, then shook the wet clothes in her hands, sending water droplets flying.

Lian Shouyi had to take a step back.

"Didn’t you see it all?" Lady Zhou snorted coldly, "You and your wife, with those big eyes of yours, didn’t you look around the moment you came in? You just didn’t dig through the cabinets. Nothing new in this house, can’t you see?"

The custom at the Lian Family Old Mansion was to display gifts prominently on the cabinets. Whenever someone visited, they would surely see and ask about the origin of the gifts, and Old Master Lian would always openly share the information.

The more gifts displayed, and the more elaborate they were, the better it reflected on the family, showing they were well-liked and respected. At the old mansion, gifts were naturally meant for Old Master Lian and Lady Zhou. The more gifts they received, the more successful their lives appeared, showered with the affection and respect of the younger generation.

Tenant farmers, due to their living conditions, rarely engaged in gift exchanges, and when they did, the gifts were modest. However, the more gifts there were, and the more elaborate, the more distinguished the family’s connections seemed.

Having a lot of elaborate gifts also garnered envy from the villagers.

Old Master Lian relished this feeling of being admired. Of course, displaying the gifts also highlighted the generosity of the givers.

However, this only applied to gifts from "outsiders." In the beginning, gifts from Shouxin Family did not receive such treatment. Every time Shouxin Family sent some snacks or other items over, Lady Zhou would tuck them away in the cabinet after they left.

Things changed when Lian Shouxin bought coffin boards and made a coffin for Old Master Lian. After that, Lady Zhou tried to behave as before, but Old Master Lian firmly stopped her. From then on, any gifts from Shouxin Family were placed on display until they were consumed. If someone visited and noticed the items, Old Master Lian would explain their origin with a smile, and when people praised Shouxin Family for being so filial, he would nod in agreement.

Just after Shouxin and his family left, the fact that there were no new additions to the cabinet meant that Wu Jiaxing and Lian Zhizhi hadn’t brought any gifts for Old Master Lian and Lady Zhou.

"Oh dear, this is quite unheard of," Lian Shouyi said, pulling over a long bench and sitting down next to Lady Zhou, rolling his big eyes. "Visiting a new in-law without bringing anything? If they were poor, that’d be one thing, but the Wu Family is wealthy, and they gained a big windfall by marrying Zhizhi. Coming here empty-handed, that’s just too stingy."

"Stingy" is a Thirty Mile Camp rural expression, meaning someone is tight-fisted and miserly.

"That’s right," Lady He joined, sitting next to Lian Shouyi, her disappointment evident on her face. "They’re just too stingy. If they just gave us some leftovers from their table, that would be enough. Not asking for much, just some leftover feast food would do."

The feast the Wu Family sent on the day Wu Jiaxing and Lian Zhizhi got married was a rare treat for the people at the old mansion. In the days following, Lady Zhou gradually brought out the food she had saved, reheating some separately for Old Master Lian, and using other portions to cook a big pot of stew with cabbage and potatoes for everyone to share.

As Lady Zhou described it, this was borrowing flavors. The feast food was more elaborate than everyday farmstead meals, with more seasonings, making it more delicious than people could usually cook themselves.

The preserved feast dishes were rich, and adding generous amounts of cabbage and potatoes to cook with them made it better than the usual bland meals.

The feast from the Wu Family left Lady He longing for more, and she smacked her lips at the memory of it.

"Why are you so greedy!" Lady Zhou glared disdainfully at Lady He, pointing a finger at her as she scolded, "Look at you, acting like you’ve never eaten anything before! Shameless."

Lady He was long accustomed to Lady Zhou’s scolding and didn’t take it to heart.

"I can’t compare to you, Mother. I’ve never had good things to eat," Lady He grinned. "Mother, did you know, the day Zhizhi got married, the Wu Family sent a table of feast food to Old Fourth Family in the afternoon. Oh my, with meat and wine. By all rights, if Old Fourth Family got some, we should have received a table too. But they didn’t send any!"