Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 556 - 286 Leek Boxes_1

"This is something most people in the village know about. You kids shouldn’t go around spreading it," Lian Shouxin said to Lian Manman when he saw how shocked she was.

"Oh," Lian Manman uttered, realizing that ’beards’ referred to bandits in their local dialect. Old Jin had once been a bandit; no wonder he dared to charge such high interest rates, Lian Manman thought.

"It’s absolutely true, your grandmother also mentioned it," Lady Zhang nodded and said, "It seems when he was very young, his family was killed by their enemies, leaving only him alive. He then became a bandit and killed the entire family of his enemies. Later, after he married a wife, he quit being a bandit, settled in our village, bought property, and started lending money with the surplus he had."

The few sentences spoken by Lady Zhang in her somewhat flat tone were nonetheless thrilling.

"Old Jin has a good network; he’s influential with the government offices and even the County Magistrate has to give him some face. He’s a man of stature, not someone we can associate with," Lian Shouxin sighed.

"Judging by today’s attitude, he still acts like a bandit," Lady Zhang said, "If we had foolishly allowed them to help with the fields today, he would have certainly assumed that we were agreeing to give our daughter to him."

"Exactly, that’s why I insisted on not letting them help no matter what," Lian Shouxin nodded.

"Husband, you did the right thing by standing firm today," Lady Zhang said.

"If Old Jin Family continues with that bandit attitude, everyone will assume that our daughter has to marry into their family," Lian Shouxin said. "If that happens, even those who plan to propose marriage would probably be too intimidated to approach us. We must stand firm in this matter no matter what."

"Right, I’ve also made it clear just now that we are not interested," Lady Zhang said, "By now, the message has probably reached Old Jin Family."

"That’s good," Lian Shouxin said, "It saves them the trouble of sending a matchmaker to our door."

"Sigh," Lady Zhang sighed, "As for Xi Bao, to be honest, I quite liked him. But with his family background, this marriage just cannot happen. Our Zhizhi is timid, like me. When we find a husband for her, the man must be of good character, and we must choose in-laws who are also kind-hearted."

"Hmm."

"How time flies! In the blink of an eye, our Zhizhi has grown into a young lady ready for marriage," Lady Zhang began to ramble, "I said earlier that I wanted to keep Zhizhi with us for a few more years. She has endured hardships with us for so long, and now that our lives are getting a little better, I can’t bear to send her off right away. A good husband doesn’t treat you the same as your own family. We’ll take our time to find the right match for her, engage them first, and when she’s older, we’ll prepare a bigger dowry for her before sending her off."

"Alright," Lian Shouxin nodded.

"We definitely need to prepare a good dowry," Lian Manman also nodded.

"As for Xi Bao, sigh, it’s just his family; Zhizhi would definitely not be able to manage there. What kind of family our Zhizhi marries into..." Lady Zhang’s eyes began to look distant.

Lian Manman chuckled to herself, thinking that this must be the complex thoughts of a mother with a daughter coming of age.

"Mom, Manman, aren’t you done yet?" Lian Zhizhi’s voice came from outside.

"We’re done, we’re coming," Lian Manman quickly stood up and responded.

"It’s getting late, we should head back. You should also rest early, we still have to get up early tomorrow," Lady Zhang also stood up, and after giving Lian Shouxin a few more instructions, she and Lian Manman left the house together.

Outside, they joined Lady Zhao, Lian Zhizhi, and Lian Yeye, and together headed back to the old house.

Without further conversation that night, the next day, the family finished up the business in the shop early and rushed to their southern fields in a small ox cart. The six acres of peanuts they started planting yesterday were not yet finished, so they had another full day of work ahead.

Old Master Lian was already in the fields with the whole family, and the number of people who came out to work today had increased compared to yesterday.

Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu, father and son, still followed behind Old Master Lian, while Lady Gu, Lady Chiang, and Lian Duo followed behind Lian Jizu. Erlang was holding an iron hoe, busy forming ridges. Lady He, who had worked in the fields yesterday, was not there, which suggested that she might be taking her turn to cook.

Lian Manman secretly clicked her tongue, thinking that Zhao Xiue’s energy in causing a stir was truly not small. But, she couldn’t credit all of this to Zhao Xiue alone. As she thought this, she couldn’t help but glance at Old Master Lian.

With the ox leading the way, Lian Manman, carrying a basket, closely followed behind. Because she was close, she could hear the hiss of the plough breaking through the soft soil. Today Lian Manman took over the task that Lian Zhizhi had performed the day before, responsible for spot seeding.