Author: Vanilla Muse
The Big Landlord 88.2
Chapter 88.2 – Drawing
Qiu Lan was just approaching but the little bun had already spread his arms wide and was rushing to throw himself into An Zi Ran’s embrace.
An Zi Ran quickly caught him.
As soon as he landed in his big brother’s arms, the little bun started to laugh. His giggling laughter filled the room, causing the adults to smile.
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An Zi Ran held the soft bundle. He had never thought that he would have such a small younger brother. In the blink of an eye, he was almost eight months old. When he first came to this world, the little bun was only a month old.
Qiu Lan smiled and said, “Young Master, the second young master can already sit up by himself. He can also crawl, and also hold onto things and stand up himself. When he falls he doesn’t cry. He’s very strong.”
An Zi Ran felt very gratified when he heard this. With his hands underneath he little bun’s armpits, he lifted him up. “Little Bun, say ge ge*.”
[*T/N: ge ge means “big brother,” but the syllables are easier to say in Chinese.]
The little bun gave a silly smile. He kicked his small short legs in the air.
An Zi Ran once again held the little bun close to his chest, and said to Qiu Lan, “Starting from tomorrow, bring him to the dining room to eat with us.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
After holding the little bun for a while, An Zi Ran handed him over to Qiu Lan. As if knowing that his brother was about to leave, the little bun’s two small chubby paws grabbed tightly onto An Zi Ran’s clothes and would not let go. He started to sob, tears brewed up and rolled quickly down his chubby face.
Chun Lan snickered, “Young Master, it seems that the second young master is really reluctant to let you go.”
When Chun Lan finished speaking, Qiu Lan gave her a cutting glance.
An Zi Ran couldn’t bring him back to his room, he could only coax the child, temporarily transferring his attention away using some toys, and finally he managed to get out.
Returning to the bedroom, Fu Wu Tian had already freshened up.
Translations by Vanilla Muse.
After taking a bath, An Zi Ran wanted to go to the study room to continue to mull over the five drawings that were not drawn. As a result, before he could make it to the threshold, he was despotically kidnapped by Fu Wu Tian to the bed.
“Today, you’ve already painted for the whole afternoon. At night, the dim lighting is not good for your eyes. Rest now, and continue tomorrow.” Fu Wu Tian squeezed him to the inner side of the bed.
An Zi Ran no longer cared if he slept on the inside or the outside. Before, it was to guard against Fu Wu Tian. Now the two of them trust one another fully, so there was no need; inside of the bed or outside of the bed, both were fine.
Speaking of the dim lighting at night, it was indeed a bit of a hassle.
The light of a candle was not like the incandescent light of the twenty-first century, even at night, things could look as bright as the day. The candlelight was dim and not suitable for reading books unless you wanted myopia.
An Zi Ran thought about it and felt that that was correct. In this time and space if one got myopia there was no cure for it. There was no such thing as laser eye surgery. Furthermore, he still had no clue how to go about those five drawings. If he went to the study he would only be confused. But…
“Can you remove your hand from my leg?” An Zi Ran could feel Fu Wu Tian’s hand touching him here and there. It was almost to the point that his little brother wanted to stand up. Finally he couldn’t help but speak up.
Fu Wu Tian’s reaction was to bow his head and give him a kiss on the lips. “No!”
There was a hard object pressed up against An Zi Ran’s leg. There’s no need to speak to know what that thing was. Without thinking, he refused. “No, I still have a lot of things to do tomorrow.” If he tossed around with him now, then he might not be able to get out of bed tomorrow.
“Tomorrow, this prince doesn’t need to go out, I can help you.”
At first, An Zi Ran wanted to refuse, but then he thought about it. Maybe he really could get Fu Wu Tian to help with the drawings. Just didn’t know if he could draw. “You can draw?”
Upon hearing this sentence, Fu Wu Tian knew that he was beginning to soften. He rubbed his nose intimately against An Zi Ran’s cheek. One hand began to touch around inside An Zi Ran’s clothes. “Of course!”
Password: TBL88
That night, An Zi Ran came four times.
Fu Wu Tian only came twice. Each time he would toss An Zi Ran about for a long time before releasing.
The next day, everyone in the prince’s palace knew that they were accustomed to getting up early, but this time they slept until noon before getting up.
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The Big Landlord 88.1
Bonus update. Happy New Year Everyone~!!! 🎊 May the new year bring you many wondrous joys. 🌟
Chapter 88.1 – Drawing
These days, An Zi Ran was very busy.
It took him several days to draw up the interior blueprint for Feng Hua Gambling House. He didn’t just consider the immediate future, but also long-term development.
Counting all the gambling houses in Jun Zi City, there were over a dozen of them. Among them, ten had the highest competitive strength. But now there were only nine.
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If you wanted to stand out from these gambling houses, you didn’t just rely on financial resources, but on innovative ideas.
The type of gambling house that An Zi Ran wanted to create wasn’t some shady place where crooks mixed in with the honest folk, but a high-end atmosphere and top-grade casino. Creating this type of gambling house required more painstaking thought and attention, but he had people helping him so he didn’t need to worry too much, but this type of innovative idea was slightly troublesome.
There were several types of gambling games in Da Ya.
In terms of animal games there were turtle racing, cricket fighting, cock fighting, quail fighting, etc. Such games would not be appearing in his gambling house. These games were common among the masses and were considered lowbrow gambling games.
Card games and guessing games were the most varied and were the fundamentals of every gambling house, games such as wu mu, ye zi*, dices, and dominoes. The use of dominoes could be expanded upon to create several types of gambling games. Of course, there were also games that An Zi Ran had never heard of before, for example chu hong pu and jiao sheng tu**.
[*T/N: 五木 wu mu “five wood,” 叶子 ye zi “leaf.” Not sure what kind of games these are, so I can only give you the direct translation of the Chinese characters.]
[**T/N: chu hong pu: 除 chu “to get rid of” 红 hong “red” 谱 pu “chart.”
Jiao sheng tu: 搅 jiao “mix” 胜 sheng “victory” 图 tu “drawing”]
But in An Zi Ran’s eyes, a lot of these gambling games were rather complicated and not suitable for popularizing.
He knew of several gambling games from later eras that were very popular and thus suitable for his purposes. It was only that the manufacturing process was a bit troublesome.
While the gambling house was still under construction, An Zi Ran sent Steward Zhou out to help him buy some thicker paper, as well as color paints and tools for cutting thick paper. Although this time and space was still behind in times, these things could still be found.
Steward Zhou was able to purchase everything in one trip.
An Zi Ran took these items and shut himself up in the study room. Until Fu Wu Tian came back, he still did not come out.
Fu Wu Tian thought that he would see his wang fei in the dining room as usual, instead, he saw the lao wang ye, who was still being grounded. He asked the servants and found out that An Zi Ran was still in the study.
This was the first time he didn’t even care about eating meals.
“What is wang fei doing in the study?” As Fu Wu Tian headed towards the study, he asked this question to Steward Zhou who was following behind.
Translations by Vanilla Muse.
Steward Zhou immediately replied, “This servant is not sure. In the afternoon, wang fei took some things with him into the study and has not been out since. And he also didn’t let the servants go bother him.”
Fu Wu Tian arched his eyebrow and did not ask again.
After sending the steward away, he opened the door to the study. As soon as he took a step in his attention was attracted to the things scattered on the floor. On the floor was a bunch of paper scrunched into balls. The deeper in he went the more paper balls he saw.
Fu Wu Tian parted the bead curtain and saw his wang fei holding a brush. His gaze was focused on the things atop the desk. He seemed to be hesitating over how to draw what he wanted. Fu Wu Tian looked at the desk and saw that it was a bunch of strange pictures. To the side there were red and black pigments for painting.
An Zi Ran knew that it was him, but did not give him a bit of attention.
There were a total of fifteen pictures that he wanted to draw, but he was stumped by five of them. From afternoon till now, he still could not draw it properly. Although he was also well aware that he had no talent for drawing.
“Wang fei, what are you painting?”
Fu Wu Tian was particularly curious about the black things he painted on the paper. It looked like some random graffiti. Just for this thing, he even delayed dinner?
An Zi Ran was silent for a long while. “…I also don’t know.”
Fu Wu Tian almost laughed out loud.
Fu Wu Tian took the brush from his hand and set it on the edge of the ink stone. “Since you don’t know, then let us eat first. You can continue after dinner. Grandfather is already waiting for us in the dining room.”
An Zi Ran rotated his shoulders. He has been drawing for four hours. It was really tiring. Unfortunately, the five most important pictures have not been drawn and could only be abandoned.
In the dining room, the lao wang ye couldn’t wait and already started to eat. He was an elder; moreover, he was an elder with some mental problems, so no one said anything to him. During the grounding period he was very well behaved, probably because he was afraid of the head steward, so he kept to the grounding restrictions.
An Zi Ran was very surprised that the lao wang ye would be afraid of the head steward, and later Fu Wu Tian told him about the head steward.
On the surface, Fu Yi Ming was the head steward of the Imperial Fu Palace, but he was actually the lao wang ye’s biological son, meaning that he was Fu Wu Tian’s paternal uncle, Fu Xiao’s biological older brother. But there was one critical point. He was an illegitimate child.
Da Ya was not tolerant of illegitimate children, not even one of the royal family.
The identity of the illegitimate child was such that they could never stand in the sun, so Fu lao wng ye felt very guilty towards Fu Yi Ming. Because of his mistake, Fu Yi Ming could not pay respects to his ancestors or be recognized as part of the family. He could only stay in the Imperial Fu Palace with the identity of a foster son and become a steward.
Due to his regret, before he got dementia, the Fu lao wang ye who was usually cold and calm was very bias towards Fu Yi Ming*. After the illness, his personality changed, and his memory was a mess, but concerning the matter with Fu Yi Ming, nothing changed.
[*T/N: Sometimes the author writes his name as Fu Yi and sometimes as Fu Yi Ming. I’m not sure if it’s a typo or not, but I decided to go with the full name just in case it gets confusing.]
However, Fu Yi Ming has the status of head steward on the surface, but he never really took care of the trivial affairs of the prince’s palace like a real housekeeper would. Basically, most of these things were left to the second steward. What he really handled were the industries and businesses under the name of the Imperial Fu Palace. Therefore, he was often absent from the prince’s palace.
After dinner, An Zi Ran went to visit the little bun again.
For the servants taking care of the little bun, asides from the nursemaid and the original maids, there were also Chun Lan and Qiu Lan.
Originally, Chun Lan and Qiu Lan were his personal maids, but he was overly worried for the little bun, so he temporarily assigned them to the little bun’s side. These days he’s been busy, so he didn’t get to visit as much.
“Young Master?” Chun Lan was very surprised when she saw him come over.
An Zi Ran nodded at her and asked, “How is the situation with the second young master lately?”
When Qiu Lan heard them, she immediately came out carrying the little bun. The little bun was no longer like how he was when he was just born – only knowing how to eat, sleep, and then eat again. His two grape-like eyes were always very spirited. When they landed on his brother, the two small paws immediately waved happily.
The Big Landlord 87.2
Chapter 87.2 – News Spreading
The price for Feng Hua Gambling House was not cheap. Without seventy or eighty thousand silvers it was impossible to obtain it. There couldn’t be more than five people in the capital that had the ability to purchase Feng Hua Gambling House. But those few people would not deliberately go up against Bao Hua Gambling House. But if it wasn’t those people, then who could it be?
“Who is it?” Luo Yang looked at Zhang Tian Zhong with a gloomy face.
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Zhang Tian Zhong wasn’t scared by his expression. He brushed off his clothes and said, “To tell you the truth, I also don’t know what kind of person the other party is, but he seemed to be very clear about Feng Hua Gambling House’s situation. He suddenly came to find me. Isn’t Bao Hua Gambling House very resourceful? If you have the skills then go look for answers yourself. I want to know what kind of person he is, too. He was able to whip out such a large sum of money without a blink of the eye.”
Luo Yang stared hard at his face, but couldn’t discern any signs of a lie. Finally, he could no longer remain calm, and left with the group of people.
Zhang Tianzhong looked at his angry back and only felt that he was very happy.
Luoyang returned to the Bao Hua Gambling House. He did not immediately tell his master about this matter. Zhang Tian Zhong’s words, he only believed half of them. He did not rule out the possibility that he deliberately said this to avoid them.
However, the results of the investigation were not very desirable.
Other casinos coveted Feng Hua Gambling House, but they didn’t dare to openly be in conflict with Bao Hua Gambling House. Therefore, there were no big moves from any of them.
As for outsiders, it was even more impossible. The status of a businessman was rather sensitive. If it were an outsider, it would be impossible not to attract attention, but during this time, there were no news or rumors circulating the capital, so this theory could be ruled out.
Translations by Vanilla Muse.
So it was neither another gambling house, nor an outsider’s work.
Luo Yang’s expression couldn’t help but sink. Could Zhang Tian Zhong really be lying to him?
“Sir Luo.” The manager came up to him.
Luo Yang glanced at him. “What’s the matter?”
The manager replied, “Sir Luo, since nothing could be found we might as well send someone to monitor Zhang Tian Zhong. If he is lying, it will be revealed sooner or later. If he is telling the truth, the mysterious figure may come into contact with him again. We can follow the lead then.”
Luo Yang clapped a hand on the table, his eyes sullen: “This matter will be handed over to you. I will wait a few more days. If I find out that Zhang Tian Zhong is playing me, I will make him pay!”
“Yes!”
……
– Imperial Fu Palace –
When Fu Wu Tian returned, An Zi Ran told him about the matter with Feng Hua Gambling House. His foundation in the capital was still unstable, and there weren’t many people that he knew. He didn’t want others to know that it was him who had bought Feng Hua Gambling House. So he had to turn to Fu Wu Tian for help about renovating the building.
“It’s a shame that Guan Su is not in Jun Zi City right now. Otherwise, we can look for him.” After listening to An Zi Ran, Fu Wu Tian thought of his capable and efficient Guan Su.
An Zi Ran arched an eyebrow. “That’s right, about the matter with the seeds, how goes the search?”
Fu Wu Tian walked with him inside and said, “There is still no news. The hemp whatever you spoke of is not recorded in books. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s not easy to seek it out.”
An Zi Ran nodded. He knew that it was not easy. In his original time and space, it seemed that cottonseeds came from abroad. Whether he was not sure about this time and space, if he could not find it in the end, he could only find another way.
The next day, Fu Wu Tian moved very quickly, and by afternoon he had found a craftsman for him.
Then, the people on the casino strip found out that the closed down Feng Hua Gambling House was being opened. The cold facade suddenly had a group of people coming in and out, and the sound of banging and knocking continued to come out from the building. The curious people walked over and saw that it was being renovated.
Everyone thought that Zhang Tian Zhong finally caved and sold the casino to Bao Hua Gambling House.
Because the distance between the two gambling houses was not far, the matter of Feng Hua Gambling house was quickly spread to Luo Yang’s ears. He was so angry that he broke an entire tea set.
Zhang Tian Zhong really did not lie!
“I really have to see what kind of person it is that dares to fight against Bao Hua Gambling House!”
Luo Yang stood beside the opened window and looked towards Feng Hua Gambling House’s location. His gaze was very forceful. Originally, he had assured his master that he would be able to get Feng Hua Gambling House. But now someone else was a step ahead of him. This would make him lose face before his master. It was impossible for him not to be angry!
The manager standing behind him trembled with fear as he wiped his cold sweat. It had been a long time since he had seen Sir Luo this angry.
“Sir Luo, what should the next step be?”
The manager hesitated for a while, but still took the initiative to speak.
If they couldn’t get Feng Hua Gambling House, they wouldn’t be able to explain to their master.
Luo Yang was silent for a moment. “Investigate!”
Since Zhang Tian Zhong was hired as the manager, An Zi Ran wouldn’t let him be idle. He handed over the matter of renovation to him. He didn’t like the original configuration of the casino, so he personally drew up a blueprint for the interior of the gambling house. Shao Fei then handed over the blueprints to Zhang Tian Zhong. In order to finish up renovations quickly, they hired a lot of craftsmen.
The people waiting to see the silhouette of the casino have gone cross-eyed.
Bao Hua Gambling House would never have hired Zhang Tian Zhong. And Zhang Tian Zhong could not possibly have the money to renovate the gambling house. So what could be going on?
Only after investigating did the people find out.
A mysterious man intercepted Bao Hua Gambling House and bought up Feng Hua Gambling House first. Not only that, but the other party also hired Zhang Tian Zhong as the manager!
This incident was like a hurricane blowing up in the capital, and the news spread immediately. It was more sensational than the talent selection for the emperor’s harem. Many people were watching the attitude of Bao Hua Gambling House, especially those who knew the background of Bao Hua Gambling House. They all knew that things would not be settled like this.
Tightrope 12
Chapter 12 – Budding Lines
The next morning, Sakura woke up well before the start of classes. She ate a healthy, balanced breakfast and then whipped up two bento lunches. Due to a rumor she heard, she packed extra tomatoes in one of the boxes. Then she went for a morning jog to train her stamina before heading off to the Academy.
All throughout morning classes, Sakura was nervous and distracted. She was also a little lethargic because she wasn’t used to working out in the mornings. She was thankful for her breakfast; otherwise she definitely would’ve dozed off due to lack of energy.
She managed to pay enough attention so that Iruka-sensei wouldn’t catch her blindsided. Just because she was the reigning top kunoichi in academic marks didn’t mean that she could afford to slack off. One slip and Ino would overtake her.
Finally lunchtime rolled around. She took a deep breath and gave herself a pep talk inside her head. An encouraging voice echoed her sentiments back at her, and with that little push, she pulled out the lunches that she prepared and approached Sasuke.
The new student in their class, Uzumaki Naruto, was sitting next to Sasuke and talking a mile a minute. Sakura felt a twinge of envy as she watched Sasuke nodding indulgently, although it looked like he only heard about one-fourth of the one-sided conversation. She wondered how they became friends so quickly. Naruto only joined their class two days ago. What did he do to capture Sasuke’s attention? Or did they know each other before hand and just never had any classes together?
As it became evident that Sakura was making a beeline towards Sasuke, hostile glares turned towards her. A shiver ran down her spine but she forged on.
“Sa- Sasuke-kun.”
He looked up at her as she placed a packed lunch before him. Naruto stopped chattering to look at her too. Her face was burning hot.
“Um, urm, this- this is for you. Mina-sensei told me you carried me to the hospital when I fainted yesterday, so, um, thank you!”
Sasuke muttered under his breath. It sounded like, “I told her not to tell.” Then he sighed and smiled haltingly at her. Her heart fluttered like a hummingbird. “It is only natural to help a fellow classmate in need. There is no need for thanks.”
“Oh…” Sakura said, disheartened.
“But you’re welcome anyways. And thank you for the thought, but I already brought a lunch.” He took out his bento as proof.
Her shoulders sagged even more.
“Hey, hey. It’s free food!” Naruto protested. “How can you turn away free food?”
Sasuke flinched as if just realizing something. A contrite look flashed across his features briefly. Huh? What was that about? she wondered.
“Ah, Haruno-san,” he started, but paused as he looked above her shoulder. The feeling of daggers stabbing at her back disappeared for a second. “Do you mind if I share your bento with Naruto-san? He forgot his lunch today.”
“Heh? Is that really okay? But it’s for you!” Naruto protested. Then he turned to her with pleading eyes, “Is it really okay?”
Sakura was speechless for a moment. She did not plan for this outcome. She had anticipated Sasuke to reject her bento, but to have to give it away to a stranger was a bit much. To be fair, she probably couldn’t finish both lunches, but she made the lunch with Sasuke in mind, to give it to someone else was…
“Would you like to sit with us for lunch today?” Sasuke’s voice cut through the gloominess of her thoughts.
Sakura brightened. “Yes, please!”
She retrieved her lunch and joined Sasuke and Naruto. The daggers that the girls in class sent her way rebuffed off of her shield of happiness. She hummed as she unpacked her lunch and began to eat.
“I’m Uzumaki Naruto!” Naruto introduced himself. Sakura already knew that from roll call but she humored him anyways.
“Haruno Sakura.”
“I’m going to become the Hokage! Dattebayo!”
Sakura blinked at the rather sudden and bold proclamation. Her first instincts was: “Ha ha, you? No way. If anyone were going to make a good Hokage then it would have to be Sasuke-kun.” But she held her tongue because she had a feeling that Sasuke-kun would not appreciate her ridiculing Naruto.
“That’s nice…” She smiled obligingly.
Sasuke snorted. Sakura blushed. Was that no good?
Naruto laughed. “That’s what Sasuke said too.”
“Oh,” Sakura perked up at this. Gaining confidence she plowed on with the most generic yet nice answer she could come up with, “Well, I’m sure you’ll have a shot if you work hard for it.”
Naruto beamed at her and she was momentarily blinded by his smile. “Oh my god, you think so, too? Yeah! I’m totally gonna work hard and become the Hokage. Just you watch. Dattebayo!” He then dug into Sakura’s homemade lunch. “This is delicious! You’re really good at cooking, Sakura-chan.” Naruto praised her.
“Oh, well…” She blushed. “It’s only rice balls. Anyone can make rice balls.”
“You’re being too modest, Sakura-chan!” Rice flew everywhere as Naruto talked with his mouth full.
Sakura laughed politely and discreetly flicked the rice off her face. From afar she didn’t realize how boisterous Naruto was. In contrast, Sasuke was calm and collected. How did Sasuke stand being around all that… energy? Sakura peeked at Sasuke from under her lashes. He didn’t seem to be annoyed by Naruto’s motor mouth and boundless energy. If Sakura were in his place she would’ve been worn down within the first five minutes. That, or she’d get annoyed and just punch Naruto to next Sunday to shut him up. A voice in the back of her mind agreed. But Naruto seemed to be Sasuke’s friend, so she’d put up with him for now.
Sakura smiled when she saw Sasuke pick out a cherry tomato from the lunch she packed for him.
“Hey, that was supposed to be mine!” Naruto whined.
Sasuke flicked Naruto on the nose and deliberately popped the tomato into his mouth.
“I heard you like tomatoes, Sasuke-kun.” She blushed when he looked at her.
“I like them now,” he admitted. “I also have a fondness for clams.”
“Clams?!” Naruto exclaimed and choked on a rice ball.
“Honestly, Naruto-san. Chew your food and don’t speak with your mouth full,” Sasuke reprimanded.
“Clams?” Sakura wondered.
“Well, I’ve always liked shellfish. More so now that it’s rare to find in Konoha.” Sasuke plucked a tomato right out of Naruto’s fingers, much to the blond’s annoyance.
Sasuke’s throat bobbed as he swallowed the tomato. Naruto gulped in mimicry of the action and looked away, his face ruddy and presumably annoyed.
Sakura ran the words through her head. Something about Sasuke’s statement sounded off. What did he mean by he like shellfish more now if he had always liked them?
“Haruno-san?”
“Huh?”
“You were spacing out –ttebayo.”
“Oh, sorry. Just thinking.” She did the laughing politely thing that she always saw her mother do and returned to her lunch. Sasuke and Naruto just looked at her with curious expressions. Maybe that was the wrong response, but too late for that now. A sigh echoed in the back of her mind and she continued to eat her food.
xxx
“Hey! Forehead!”
Sakura gripped her hands into fists. She knew this would happen. If it were Ino who had approached Sasuke with lunch, the girls might glare a little bit with envy, but they wouldn’t give the Yamanaka heir any sass about it, and they definitely would not corner her after school like this.
Ino had offered to walk her home today, but Sakura had declined. Ino’s dad had came to pick her up, and Sakura knew that putting off this confrontation wouldn’t do any good.
“What do you guys want?” Sakura gritted out as she turned around to face four girls from her class.
“Just what do you think you are? Ugly.”
“Forehead.”
“Fatty.”
“Civilian.”
Sakura twitched. Out of all the insults, the last one stung the most. Tears pricked at her eyes as she stared down her nose at the bullies. Yeah, she knew she came from a civilian background. She knew these people all had parents or relatives who were ninjas. She knew she was born at a disadvantage, that her chakra pool was smaller, that she entered the Academy clueless about their world. She knew all that. But she never stopped trying. She didn’t drop out when three-fourths of the civilian children who enrolled at the same time as her did.
She stayed.
That had to mean something. Sakura had to convince herself of that; otherwise she wouldn’t be able to keep pushing on.
“And you’re all a bunch of shallow cowards!” She spat at them.
“What did you say?!”
“You heard me. You’re all too afraid of approaching Sasuke-kun so you take it out on me when I had the courage to. And none of you even like Sasuke-kun. You all think he’s so cool because of his tragic past, and because he’s a loner, but none of you understand him at all.”
“Oh, and you think that you understand him?”
“…No, I don’t. But I’m definitely closer to understanding him than you pigs are!”
“Why you!”
“I think it’s time we teach this little loud mouth a lesson.”
“Ino-chan is not here you know.”
“Can’t hide behind her back now, can you? Forehead.”
“Civilian.” Ooh, that one was more perceptive. She saw that the noun bothered Sakura more than any degrading adjective could.
Before they could gang up and dog pile her, Sakura threw the first punch, right into the nose of the one who called her “civilian.” There was a satisfying crack and Sakura started to smile, but then a fist sailed into her jaw, unsettling her.
Despite Sakura’s resolve to get stronger in taijutsu, she hadn’t practice enough to make much of a difference. Soon the difference in numbers saw her at a disadvantage and she was on the ground curled up in a ball. She gritted her teeth. Even if she lost this fight, she would never let them see her cry or hear her scream.
“What are you guys doing? Stop that!”
Sakura recognized Naruto’s voice. The kicks didn’t stop.
Naruto leaped into the fray and started pulling and tearing the girls off her. “I said stop –ttebayo!”
Two of the girls turned their fists on Naruto, who luckily had no aversion to fighting against girls.
Sakura lashed out. She grabbed onto a leg and bit into the ankle. The girl screamed and started stepping on her. Sakura pulled on the leg and the girl dropped to her butt. She rolled out of the range of the other girl and got back up on her feet. Then she lunged, a fist raised to hit the girl in the face. The girl raised her arms to block and Sakura kicked her in the gut instead. She doubled over and Sakura elbowed her bowed back, letting gravity add to her attack. The other girl was still crying over her ankle, which was bleeding.
Naruto was scratched and bitten and tufts of his hair was pulled, but he managed to come out on top of the other two bullies.
“We’ll remember this.” The group spat at them and limped away.
“And don’t you forget it!” Naruto shouted after them. One of them flipped him the bird and he blew a raspberry at them. “Sakura-chan! Are you okay?”
Sakura spit out a glob of blood and saliva. “I’m fine.”
Naruto fretted a bit more but was unsure about touching her, so he just flittered around her with his hands in his hair.
She chuckled and then grimaced, “I’m really fine.” She straightened up as best as she could. “Actually, better than fine! I won. I mean, we won.” She was in disbelief.
“Yeah, you were so cool, Sakura-chan. You totally whooped their butts.”
“Well, you helped, so thanks.”
“No problem. That’s what friends do, right?”
“Um, yeah, I guess.”
Naruto grinned, and Sakura realized that he took it to mean that they were friends when she only meant it as an agreement to the statement. She was about to correct him but his eyes were shining. She snapped her mouth shut. Aw, what the hell. At least he’s friendly with Sasuke. That had to count for something.
“I can’t go home looking beat up like this. I’m going to visit the hospital. Do you need to go, too?”
“No!” Naruto blushed, “I mean, no, I’m fine. I don’t visit the hospital any- urm, that is, I heal fast. Like really fast. Like super fast. So I’m totally fine, dattebayo!”
Sakura gave him a wry smile. “If you say so. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Do you need me to walk you?”
That was actually kind of sweet. Too bad he wasn’t Sasuke. “No, I’m good.”
“Oh, okay.” Naruto scratched the back of his head. “See you tomorrow.” He grinned.
She smiled back.
The Big Landlord 87.1
Chapter 87.1 – News Spreading
The two returned to the Imperial Fu Palace. The time was still very early.
An Zi Ran learned from Steward Zhou that Fu Wu Tian had yet to return, and immediately changed his course to the study room. In order to get to the study room, he had to pass by the entrance to the main lobby.
Just as they were preparing to cross the threshold, a figure dressed in purple came out of the main lobby first, and coincidentally came up right in front of them.
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An Zi Ran subconsciously glanced over, found that it was a woman, and somewhat unexpectedly raised his eyebrows. Shao Fei, who was next to him, had a bigger reaction, as if it was very strange to see her here. His mouth dropped open and he let out a shout.
“Zhong Yue?”
The woman in purple looked at them with indifference.
An Zi Ran found that this woman looked very heroic, and he recognized her at first sight. It was during his first ever visit to the Imperial Fu Palace. He remembered that this woman was also there, except at that time she was wearing red armor, and looked more unisex. Although he only looked at her once then, she left a pretty deep impression.
“How come you are here?”
Shao Fei walked up to her and questioned her with curiosity.
The woman in purple didn’t pay attention to him. Instead, she looked at An Zi Ran. Her heroic eyebrows creased together. Then she nodded her head slightly. “Greetings, wang fei.”
Shao Fei was unwilling to be left out and said, “Zhong Yue, you haven’t answered my question yet!”
The woman in purple abruptly responded with impatience, “I am here naturally because I have already completed my mission. You think everyone is as free as you? Keep shouting and I’ll beat you up!”
Shao Fei’s mouth pulled into a thin line.
Translations by Vanilla Muse
“I still have to go look for wang ye and report in my mission.”
The woman in purple said that and left right away, not giving him another second of attention.
An Zi Ran watched her as she departed, feeling that something was strange, but couldn’t fathom what could be the problem. His brows were pinched in thought until Shao Fei jumped in front of him, and he came out of his thoughts.
“Wang fei, this is probably your second time seeing Zhong Yue. Let me tell you, Zhong Yue is the only female general in our military camp. She is very powerful. She’s completely different from the average woman. Sometimes she is even more powerful and valiant than men. Within our military camp, her strength could be ranked in the top ten. Before, wang ye sent her to Chang Province to deal with the disaster, so you didn’t see her immediately after you came back.”
Shao Fei explained all this without prompting.
An Zi Ran did not answer, but he indeed did not expect that there would be a female general.
Although he had seen her once, he had long forgotten about it. On the day of the wedding, when Fu Wu Tian introduced his subordinates to him, she was not included among them.
An Zi Ran was not used to taking the initiative to ask about other people’s matters, so he did not ask. Afterwards, he went to the study room.
He has already obtained the deeds to Feng Hua Gambling House. The next issue was renovation.
On the other hand, Boss Zhang did not go home right away after they parted in front of the teahouse. It was hard to be at ease with a hundred thousand silvers worth of bank notes on his person, so he was preparing to put the money in the bank*. Unless it was a last resort, he did not intend to use this sum of money in this lifetime.
[*T/N: The raws used the noun 钱庄 qian zhuang, which is a money farm (dealing in illegal foreign currency of money laundering), which sounds completely wrong for the context, so I went with the Google translation of bank instead.]
After putting the money away, Boss Zhang then went home.
But as soon as he entered the door of his home, he saw several men standing at the entrance.
Seeing their familiar faces, Boss Zhang’s expression darkened and he strode over to them in large strides. He spoke impolitely to the man in the lead, “You people are not welcome here!”
That man was Luo Yang, the one who was his gambling opponent that other day. He wasn’t a vocational gambler hired by Bao Hua Gambling House. According to hearsay, he reported directly to the secret person backing Bao Hua Gambling House. Many things in the gambling house needed to be approved by him before they could be carried out. That he would show up here meant that these people have not given up on Feng Hua Gambling House.
“Boss Zhang, why do you have to be so stubborn?”
Luo Yang said lightly, not minding Boss Zhang’s bad attitude and tone. In his opinion, Feng Hua Gambling House would soon become a part of Bao Hua Gambling House, and it was useless for Boss Zhang to resist like this. What was meant to be theirs would eventually be theirs.
Boss Zhang sneered, “I’m not afraid to tell you the truth, I have already sold Feng Hua Gambling House.”
“Impossible!”
Luo Yang denied.
He didn’t believe that someone else would dare to target Feng Hua Gambling House.
A lot of people already knew that Bao Hua Gambling House coveted Feng Hua Gambling House, and used every means possible to topple Feng Hua Gambling House in order to get it in the bag. They clearly knew that Bao Hua Gambling House was determined to annex Feng Hua Gambling House, so who would dare to fight against Bao Hua Gambling House?!
Bao Hua Gambling House wasn’t some run-of-the-mill casino. Without a strong backing, it was impossible for it to be ranked top three among the top ten gambling houses.
“Oh, so sorry. What you said is impossible has already become a fact.” Boss Zhang revealed a smug smile. He has waited a long time to serve up this loss to the people from the Bao Hua Gambling House.
Luo Yang looked at Boss Zhang’s smug expression, and in a split second, his expression grew dark. He had a feeling that Zhang Tian Zhong was not lying to him. They forced Zhang Tian Zhong to this step. It wasn’t hard to believe that he would sell Feng Hua Gambling House just to get back at them. It was only that, within Jun Zi City, who would dare to go against Bao Hua Gambling House?
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Let Me Shoulder this Blame! 19
Chapter 19
“Is he asleep?”
After finally sorting out his mood, Wayne went towards the bedroom. Just outside the door, he bumped into the lieutenant who was leaving quietly from the room.
Looking at the red eyes of the other party, the lieutenant gently nodded his head. After a moment of silence he spoke up, “You’ve heard everything, Your Highness Wayne.”
“I’ve heard everything.”
Met with the lieutenant’s somewhat complicated gaze, Wayne faintly nodded his head. A moment of stillness. Only when the other party was about to brush pass him, did Wayne finally open his mouth and spoke in a heavy voice, “Before this, you never talked to me about this matter.”
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“At that time, the marshal’s situation was not stabilized yet. I didn’t want to say it rashly and have you be even more worried.”
Nathan replied back steadily. He turned towards the other side’s dark eyes, took a deep breath, and raised his head.
“I know that there’s a knot in your heart, Your Highness Wayne. The marshal has also known all along. He never thought of explaining himself. When I first started following him, he had nightmares. In his dreams, he kept apologizing, always begging the person in his dreams – don’t force him.”
The color of Wayne’s pupils deepened. His hands clenched into tight fists at his sides. It was almost as if his entire person had become a sculpture.
Looking at his reaction, the lieutenant’s eyes showed some sorrow, and his voice became gentler. “I know that you respect that teacher very much, but originally the marshal could have lived very well, could be just like the rest of you, become a hero loved and admired by all, and live openly under the light of the sun…”
Those who have already walked in the dark no longer have the opportunity to completely return to the light.
This one point, they were clearer about it than anyone else.
“I will definitely find a way…”
Wayne spoke slowly. His voice was extremely low, seeming to be hoarse with blood. “I will rectify his name, let everyone know that he is a real hero. I will bring him back into the sun. He will live well. He will definitely be able to live well. I promise.”
The lieutenant did not answer. Instead, he raised his hand in salute. Then he silently watched as the other man entered the room. Finally, he walked away with tears in his eyes.
Wayne opened the door quietly. Daniel was asleep on the bed.
Translations by Vanilla Muse
The quilt was tucked up to his shoulder with one of his arm exposed where the intravenous needle was inserted. There was still some weakness on his brows, and the air was touched with the scent of cocoa.
Wayne’s entrance did not alarm Daniel. He walked over slowly and sat down in the chair by the bed.
Only when he was quietly asleep like this would all the defenses around this person finally be completely removed. He looked innocent and soft with black hair strewn across his forehead. A thin sheen of sweat was sprinkled across his pale forehead.
As if he was still seeing the scene on the monitor screen before his eyes, Wayne’s chest fluctuated roughly several times before finally returning to calmness. He gently wiped away the fine sweat on Daniel’s forehead. The palm of his hand inadvertently brushed against the other’s eyelashes, bringing him an extremely covert sensation of softness.
Daniel seemed to have felt his touch and subconsciously knitted his brows, but he was unable to break away from the deep sleep. It was only an instinctive response. He murmured something in his sleep and then shrank into the quilt.
Wayne thought he saw the clean and soft image of Daniel in his teenage years.
Wayne’s breathing stuttered as he remembered the words of the lieutenant when he left. An intense pain abruptly exploded from his chest.
Like he was being cruelly pierced in the chest by a dagger, the jabbing pain spread through his bloodstream, and every breath brought with it a heartbreaking pain.
He hurriedly swallowed down a groan of pain and bent down silently, lying on the side of the bed where that man was asleep. His chest hurt so much that he couldn’t breathe.
They used to be classmates and comrades-in-arms. He never tried to understand the other party more deeply. He didn’t know what Daniel was like when he wasn’t in training or carrying out tasks, didn’t know what his real side was like when he was relaxing in private.
Only now was he faintly able to peep into that teenager of before.
Just because he was better at using silence to protect the inner sincerity, just because he was more able to withstand loneliness and darkness, so he was unable to have any independent choices of his own.
It might even be that he was never asked: whether or not he was willing to fade into darkness and shoulder a blackened name, whether or not he was willing to shoot his teacher to death, whether or not he was willing to enter a countdown of his life from the start of the mission.
In the past five years, how many things did this person carry on his shoulders? When Wayne seized and subdued him, what was he thinking in his heart?
Cold tears leaked out from the corners of his eyes, leaving dark traces behind on his cheeks.
Wayne finally couldn’t sit still anymore. His body slipped from the chair and fell onto Daniel’s bedside. He pressed his forehead against the back of his hand.
He knew that it was too late. Not even with all the power of the royal family could he guarantee that it would be enough to sustain the life of his person, and if it could sustain him, how long would it last.
Even if he could really help the other person survive, he would not be able to make up for all these too deep injuries.
In the end, he was not able to sleep a smooth and steady sleep. Su Shi coughed a few times and when he opened his eyes, he was shocked by the person lying on his bedside.
The Big Landlord 86.2
Chapter 86.2 – Cooperation
“Boss Zhang.” An Zi Ran nodded at him in greeting.
Boss Zhang quickly greeted him and invited him to sit down. “An gong zi, please sit!”
Just as An Zi Ran sat down, the server came in with a steaming plate of food that was fresh off the stove. It was the signature dish of this teahouse.
The dish came at just the right time. The fragrant aroma greatly aroused their appetite.
Boss Zhang was a foodie. His appetite was whetted, but he was aware that he still had a guest, so he said, “An gong zi, this teahouse is a famous restaurant in Jun Zi City. Their dishes are delicious. If you are interested then please try it out.”
An Zi Ran did not refuse. It was fast approaching noon. After learning that the meeting place was at a teahouse, he told the kitchen not to make his meal before he left the palace. He picked up the chopsticks and gestured for Shao Fei to sit next to him. “You too, come and eat together.”
Shao Fei grinned and bluntly sat down at the table.
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Boss Zhang’s face went a bit strange. It seems that the relationship between the two wasn’t the master-servant relationship that he had imagined.
Although they just met, the three of them weren’t very reserved with each other. As they ate they relaxed. In comparison, some acquaintances seemed more reserved.
After eating for a while, An Zi Ran found that both Boss Zhang and Shao Fei were big eaters. He ate a bowl of rice and they already finished two bowls. Right now, he was no longer dieting, so his portion was not consider small, it was only that those two had a big appetite, almost like a bottomless pit. After a while, most of the dishes on the table were swept clean.
An Zi Ran took a look at Boss Zhang.
He thought that Shao Fei’s stomach capacity was huge. Every meal, Shao Fei ate five or six bowls of rice. But he was a soldier after all. He used a lot of physical strength in his work. It was understandable that he would have a big appetite. But this Boss Zhang ate even more than Shao Fei. Forty percent of the food on the table went into his stomach. He truly had a big stomach.
In fact, in his past life, his appetite was not small. He ate at least three bowls of rice per meal. But in this world, in order to lose weight, his appetite also became smaller. If he wanted to change it back to his previous capacity he would have to gradually raise it again.
Shao Fei wiped his mouth. When he looked at Boss Zhang, his eyes were shining brightly. “Good appetite!”
“Not at all!”
Boss Zhang’s expression was polite.
An Zi Ran shook his head. Both of them were rice buckets*, what was there to be proud of?
[*T/N: big eaters]
After the meal, it was time for business. Boss Zhang’s expression suddenly became serious. What came next was related to what would happen with the latter half of his life, and also what would become of Feng Hua Gambling House. He considered this matter for a few days, and finally made up his mind, but it was also related to how those people have been pressuring him for days on end.
Translations by Vanilla Muse
“An gong zi, I won’t beat around the bush.” Boss Zhang spoke straightforwardly. “I agree to sell Feng Hua Gambling House to you. And to the offer of me becoming your manager, I also agree, but I have one condition.”
An Zi Ran asked, “What condition?”
“I ask that An gong zi preserve Feng Hua Gambling House. It is fine even if you change the name. I will do my utmost to help you manage the gambling house,” Boss Zhang said seriously. As long as the gambling house remained and he could continue to stay with it, then he was satisfied.
And An Zi Ran was wondering what he was going to say. Preserve Feng Hua Gambling House? What he wanted wasn’t just that. “Boss Zhang, I will definitely raise the casino up. What I want is not small-scale.”
Boss Zhang stared at him blankly. Perhaps, he really did meet a very high-ranked person.
“Next, let’s talk about the price of the gambling house.”
Feng Hua Gambling House was bankrupt, but it was still valuable. Not considering other points, just its geographical location was ideal. It was located on the liveliest street in the capital. The high level of foot traffic became the basis for the opening of the gambling house, and the floor area was also wide.
Maybe a decade or so ago, the real estate on which the gambling house stood wasn’t that expensive, but after so many years, that street has flourished. Wanting to buy a good piece of land that was also big was extremely difficult.
Once this topic was brought up, Boss Zhang immediately straightened out his expression.
An Zi Ran gestured for Shao Fei to take out some things.
Shao Fei took out a stack of bank notes. The number of notes wasn’t high, but each one was worth ten thousand silvers. There were a total of ten bank notes. Some gambling houses wouldn’t be able to earn this amount even in a year.
An Zi Ran took the bank notes and placed it in front of Boss Zhang. “I have verified the value of Feng Hua Gambling House’s real estate. Here is one hundred thousand. If there is no problem then let’s sign the contract.”
Boss Zhang’s hands shook as he picked up the money.
Although Feng Hua Gambling House was one of the top ten casinos in the capital, it was only barely hanging on at the end of its life. This was the first time he has seen so many bank notes worth ten thousand silvers. He became more and more aware that An Zi Ran was someone unfathomable, but he has been walking the streets of Jun Zi City for so many years and had never heard of this person.
An Zi Ran had money. And it wasn’t a simple matter of just “having” it.
His private treasury was stuffed full with gold and silver. Especially after he sold all the grains to Fu Wu Tian, he almost couldn’t put any more valuables into his treasury. Later, because he found it troublesome to lug around gold and silver, he exchanged a portion of his gold into bank notes and brought it with him to the Imperial Fu Palace.
The hundred thousand silvers worth of bank notes were a part of his family’s business. Although it pained him to spend a hundred thousand all at once, he believed that Feng Hua Gambling House could help him make more money.
Boss Zhang had no objection to this price. In fact, based on the location and land space of Feng Hua Gambling House, it didn’t actually amount to a hundred thousand. But now that the price has exceeded his expectations, he immediately signed the contract with An Zi Ran.
And so, in a situation where those who coveted Feng Hua Gambling House did not know about, the deeds to the casino was transferred.
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Tightrope 11
Chapter 11 – Walking the Line to You
After school, Naruto and Sasuke walked home together again.
“Hey, Naruto-san. You don’t look too good today. Did you have a late night?”
“Um, yeah, something like that.”
“I apologize about yesterday.”
“Yesterday?” Naruto squeaked. “What yesterday?”
Sasuke looked at Naruto bemused. He was surprised by Naruto’s reaction. “I was not a very good host. I can’t believe I fell asleep after dinner. I hope the others didn’t give you a hard time.”
“Fell asleep? You mean you don’t remember?”
“Why? Did something interesting happen yesterday? I was not informed of such.”
“You were-” Naruto waved his arms around, flustered, “You were like drunk or something.”
Sasuke frowned, offended. “I do not approve of spirits, Naruto-san, and I would never keep such things in my house, let alone consume it myself.”
“Oh… Hey, are you sulking?” Naruto asked. Sasuke continued walking. “You are sulking.”
Sasuke pinned Naruto with a look. Something flashed in Sasuke’s eyes and Naruto stopped pushing the topic. They fell into an awkward silence as they walked. Suddenly two thoughts occurred to Naruto. Sasuke did not know that he specifically could get drunk on a special combination of spices and clams, and Sasuke was a forgetful drunk. Naruto doubted anyone in the Uchiha household informed Sasuke of those tidbits, and Karin would definitely keep something like that a secret to take advantage of the situation.
Naruto wondered if he should be the one to tell Sasuke. It seemed that Sasuke closed himself off to the topic of liquor. It wouldn’t be surprising if no one in his family dared to bring up the subject upon seeing the wounded gazelle look in Sasuke’s eyes. Even Naruto shut up at the look.
“Hey! Ichiraku’s. Let’s go. I promised to treat you.” Naruto took Sasuke by the hand and dragged him towards the main streets.
“Ah, wait, Naruto-san.”
“Teuchi-oji-san and Ayame-nee-chan are like the nicest people ever. You’ll like them. Um, feathers of a flock and all that.”
“You mean birds of a feather?”
“Yeah, that!” Naruto said glibly and grinned.
Sasuke took the peace offering for what it was and allowed himself to be pulled along. It’s hard to stay angry with Naruto for long when the blond was so earnest.
xxx
Sakura kicked the wooden training post. She hit it with a palm strike and then followed up with a left hook. Sweat poured down her forehead and plastered her clothing to her skin, but she kept going. She knew she was one of the weaker girls in taijutsu class. Part of it had to do with her having nobody to train her outside of class and part of it had to do with her lack of diligence in the area.
She hadn’t wanted to bulk up too much. That would look really unattractive for a girl. At least that’s what her mother always said. But if she wanted to beat Ino and be the top kunoichi in class then she would have to work on her taijutsu. She punched the pole again. Her knuckles stung. Her stomach rumbled but she ignored it. She was on a diet, so she didn’t eat much before throwing herself into training. She’s been at it for nearly two hours now.
She went in for a straight jab, misjudged the position of the pole and stumbled forward. Huh? Did the pole just move? The world was getting hazy and black spots danced at the corner of her eyes. She felt dizzy and unbalanced. Her head hit the pole and she slumped to the ground.
Her stomach grumbled again. She grimaced. Her head felt fuzzy and her body ached from the training. She wanted everything to stop. She pressed her face onto the cool dirt floor and knew no more.
When she startled awake next it was to find herself in a hospital bed.
“What? How?”
“Ah, glad to see you’re awake, Haruno-chan.”
Sakura turned to look at the medic-nin by her bedside. The medic-nin was adjusting a saline drip.
“What happened?” Sakura croaked.
“Here, have some water first.” The medic-nin helped Sakura to a cup of water. “My name is Mina.” Sakura gulped the water hastily. “You fainted due to hunger and fatigue.”
“Oh.” Sakura blushed. She could hear the reprimand in the medic-nin’s voice. A ninja in training who didn’t know how to judge the condition of her own body was pretty embarrassing.
“You’re a student in the Ninja Academy aren’t you?” Mina asked.
Sakura nodded.
“If you’re training to be a ninja then you need to be more conscious of your health.” Mina sighed. “Dieting isn’t good for a ninja.”
“But…”
“I know. I’ve been there. I was once a young girl in love too, you know?”
Sakura blushed. “You’re still young…”
Mina grinned. “Why thank you. Anyways, there really is no need for you to worry about getting fat. As a ninja you will always burn more calories than a civilian. What you need is a balanced and nutritious diet to aid in your growth and development as a ninja.”
Sakura nodded.
“Here, eat this for now.” Mina handed her an apple. “Fruits and vegetables digest easier, so you should start with those if you’re really hungry. I’ll give you a packet on nutrition when you discharge. It’ll also teach you how to monitor the amount of calories you’ll need based on age, body size, and how vigorous your training regime is.”
Sakura nibbled on the apple. “I want to get stronger, but I don’t want to bulk up too much,” she admitted.
Mina hummed. “That’s a bit contradictory isn’t it? If you train, you will definitely gain muscles, and that’s what makes you stronger.” Mina gave her a thoughtful look, “Is the guy you like a civilian?”
Sakura shook her head. “He’s in the Academy like me.”
Mina held back a snort. “Then is he the type that insists his girl has to be weaker than him? If so, he’s either sexist or has some self-esteem issues, and he doesn’t deserve your attention.”
“Sasuke-kun is not like that!” Sakura protested.
“Sasuke-kun?”
Sakura blushed and nibbled on the apple more vigorously. Mina laughed. Sakura’s jaw dropped. Was the medic-nin making fun of her crush?
“Sasuke-kun, huh? I should’ve guessed. Lots of girls like him.” Sakura flushed. She wanted to protest that she wasn’t like the other girls who like him, but Mina continued, “If it’s Sasuke-kun then you don’t have to worry about bulking up. He’s not that concerned with appearances. In fact, he would probably prefer to have a strong partner.”
“You speak as if you know him.”
“I do. I was his designated nurse when… when he first visited the hospital. He still visits me regularly along with his redheaded friend. Always pestering me to teach them medical ninjutsu.”
“Sasuke-kun and medical ninjutsu?!”
Mina laughed again. “You learn something new everyday. Get some rest now. I’ll have some more food delivered to you. You can be discharged once you’re steady on your feet.”
“Mi- Mina-sensei.”
“Hmm?”
“I like Sasuke-kun.”
“Yeah, good luck with that kid.” Mina patted her on the shoulder.
“No. I like Sasuke-kun,” Sakura repeated, looking into Mina’s eyes.
Mina gives her a considering look. Then her eyes softened. “If that’s the case then good luck. Not many people see Sasuke-kun. All they see is a pretty boy with a tragic past. To be fair, that was I once, too. But Sasuke-kun is a good kid.”
“I know. He’s a kind person.”
“Well, I have other patients to check on now.” Mina tapped Sakura on the nose with a finger. “Work hard, little ninja.”
“Um, Mina-sensei, just one more thing. How did I get to the hospital?”
Mina gave her a Cheshire grin. “Why, it was Sasuke-kun.”
“Sa- Sa- Sasuke-kun?!”
“He found you unconscious on the training field and brought you in.”
“So- so, he carried me?” Sakura blushed redder than her qipao dress.
Mina laughed and gave her a little finger wave as she left. Sakura’s heart would not still for a long time afterwards.
The Big Landlord 86.1
Thank you to Budderfly for treating me to another coffee during this holiday season o((｡^‿^｡))o
Chapter 86.1 – Cooperation
Silence descended on Ci Ming Palace after the Empress Dowager’s words.
The Chong Ming Emperor narrowed his eyes. His did not expect his grandmother to know so quickly. His mind was in turmoil but his face remained unmoving. He has been an emperor for twenty-seven years after all, so it was easy to hide his mood.
“Yes, there is such a thing. Did you call your grandson just to say this?”
The Empress Dowager also did not beat around the bush and said, “Precisely this.”
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The emperor’s face suddenly revealed a trace of dissatisfaction. Coldly, he said, “Grandmother, could it be that the jun wang specifically asked you to plea your grandson for leniency?”
If that were the case, then he definitely would not be polite.
More than a decade ago, the previous emperor retired and lived in the back courtyard*. After that, he no longer asked after political affairs. Later, the emperor brought the young Fu Wu Tian into the palace to raise him. At that time, the Empress Dowager also liked Fu Wu Tian, almost treating him as her own grandson.
[*T/N: 后宫 hou gong is “harem” but it seems weird to me to say that an emperor lives in the harem, so I’m leaving it as “back courtyard.”]
The emperor had always been very dissatisfied with this point.
Due to their actions, a yellow-haired child* now had control over him, making him completely lose face. Clearly, he was their biological son and grandson, but those two regarded Fu Xiao and his family with special respect. His imperial father even intended to pass the throne to Fu Xiao. This incident has always been a thorn in his heart, and he couldn’t pull it out, so he and the Empress Dowager were not intimate as grandson and grandmother.
[*T/N: 黄毛小儿 huang mao xiao er – literal translation is “yellow-haired child.” It means “young/immature/inexperience.” Thank you to Hikaru for enlightening me on the meaning. ^-^]
“No, the jun wang did not seek out this grandmother.”
The Empress Dowager saw the coldness on his face and finally sighed.
She knew that the emperor resented them. At first she also felt guilty, but after considering all the things he did after he ascended to the throne, even a woman like her knew that he was not worthy of being an emperor. If it weren’t for Fu Xiao and his son, perhaps this country would have fallen already.
Translations by Vanilla Muse
Although the Empress Dowager lived deep within the harem, she was not a woman without eyes. Even if time turned back, she would still support the previous emperor’s decision.
The emperor spoke, “If grandmother still has something to say then just come out and say it. Your grandson still has a lot of government affairs to deal with.”
[T/N: Emperor, you actually deal with government affairs? I thought you just played around with women all day…]
He said the latter sentence in a pompous manner.
If the Empress Dowager were not aware of his morality and conduct, she would’ve believed him. These past few years, her grandson had never seriously dealt with political affairs. He only knew how to indulge in women. So every time she heard such rumors, her heart would go cold, and any guilt or remorse she felt towards him would evaporate into nothing.
The Empress Dowager cleared her throat and said slowly, “You cannot conduct marriage affairs for the jun wang.”
The emperor looked at her sharply. His face was cold like ice. “Grandmother, I am the emperor!”
The Empress Dowager knew that the following words would make him even angrier, but she still chose to say them, “I know, but this is your father’s decree. Before his death, he passed a secret decree, no one can conduct marriage affairs for the jun wang, unless he is willing.”
“Does the previous emperor even consider me as his son? Why? Fu Xiao is not even his biological son. Why does the previous emperor treat him and his son better than me? Even letting them restrict me in all respects?!” As expected, the Chong Ming Emperor got angry.
“Your Majesty.” The Empress Dowager’s kind face gained a few strokes of serious and cold lines. She pinned him with her stare and spoke each word clearly, “Before you say such words, have you thought about the reasons? Have you reflected upon yourself in these past years?”
Which parent and grandparent wouldn’t want to cherish their own child and grandchild?!
The Empress Dowager was really regretful. They shouldn’t have indulged his imperial mother (the empress) back then. Then he wouldn’t have become the incapable ruler of today. Perhaps she shouldn’t have turned a blind eye to Empress Rong Xian’s actions. The previous emperor only had one son, which was the Chong Ming Emperor. Only with competition would it enable people to mature and grow. Without competition for the throne, the current emperor has no idea the value of his status. Indeed, things that are easily obtained are not cherished.
The emperor refused to accept her words and shouted, “I am the emperor! All of Da Ya is mine! I can do whatever I want. Who dares to criticize me? Even you can not, Grandmother!”
After finishing this sentence, the emperor flung his sleeves out in anger and left Ci Ming Palace.
The Empress Dowager watched his angry back as he left and her body swayed a bit.
Bao Zhu quickly went to support her. “Empress Dowager, be careful!”
The Empress Dowager shook her head. “I am old. I can no longer control him. Now, I can only cast my hope on the jun wang, otherwise, sooner or later our ancestral foundation will be destroyed in his hands.”
“Empress Dowager…”
The Empress Dowager stopped her. “I want to rest.”
“Yes.”
……
An Zi Ran didn’t know what happened in the palace, but after that day, there was no more movement from the other side, and there was no more talented ladies being inserted as spies into the Imperial Fu Palace. It seemed to have really stopped.
However, he really admired the open-mindedness of the previous emperor. He was an emperor that really considered the prosperity and decline of his empire, and didn’t care whether his successor was his own blood or not. In the eyes of the previous emperor, as long as the reigning emperor was surnamed Fu, it didn’t matter to him who sat on the throne.
After that incident, Boss Zhang of Feng Hua Gambling House came to look for him.
The two met at a teahouse. Fu Wu tian had business to attend to, so he didn’t accompany An Zi Ran this time. Only Shao Fei came with him.
Boss Zhang arrived early and instructed the server to keep an eye out for An Zi Ran and to invite the youth up to the private room on the second floor when he arrived. An Zi Ran’s appearance was distinctive, so after hearing Boss Zhang’s description, the server was able to pick out An Zi Ran at a glance, and immediately invited the youth upstairs to the private room.
“An gong zi.”
When Boss Zhang heard knocking at the door, he went to open the door right away. It was really the one he had been waiting for, but this time there was one more person who looked like a bodyguard. He only took a look and withdrew his gaze. In his heart he became more and more sure that An Zi Ran was no simple person.