Author: Vanilla Muse

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Chapter 20.2 – Enter the Capital

“This matter is very important. I will send someone to investigate it clearly. If it is true, I will inform da ren.” Qian You Hao made a quick decision, and then he hurriedly left.

An Chang De’s head was also mired in thoughts. He needed to go home and consult with his wife on this matter. Not only did the Old Master never tell him about the marriage contract, he also gave such a good thing to Chang Fu’s daughter. Obviously he also had a daughter. On what basis was it given to Chang Fu? In his heart, he could not help but feel a trace of resentment towards his dad.

At the same time, An Zi Ran and his convoy have already traveled a long way. In just one more day they will reach Jun Zi City.
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Jun Zi City and An Yuan County were but a day and a night’s travel away, but their journey was slow. After all, their group included women and children.

Passing through the town of Mei Zhen, An Zi Ran’s face revealed his weariness, so he ordered the party to stop. Then they found an inn to rest in.

While the others were resting, An Zi Ran called An Yu Zhi to his room.

An Yu Zhi stared blankly at the indifferent face of her older brother. She didn’t know why they were suddenly heading to the capital. She only knew that it was a sudden decision made by her brother. He didn’t even bring their father’s concubines.

“Older Brother, what did you call me for?” An Yu Zhi looked at him timidly.

An Zi Ran picked up the teapot and poured two cups of hot tea before he said, “I know you are puzzled by this. Sit down. I will tell you, and then you will tell me your decision.”

An Zi Ran’s tone was serious and it made An Yu Zhi nervous.

He pushed a cup of hot tea towards her. “First, have some tea.”

She quickly picked up the hot tea, and the heat spread to the palm of her hand. Strangely this calmed her for a moment. When she lowered her head to take a drink, the hot tea warmed her throat. “Brother, please speak.”

An Zi Ran said, “Before you stayed in the inner court (of the house) so you are unaware of the current state of our family. I will tell you now. The An family is currently faced with a catastrophe. The enemy’s power is too great. If we don’t handle this properly the family will fall into the hands of outsiders. At that time, everyone in the family is likely to fall to the streets (becoming beggars). Your brother, I, may even be thrown into prison…”

An Yu Zhi’s eyes widened. She never knew. Since she was a child, she was taught that if she managed herself well then that was good enough. Outside was the men’s domain, and inside was the women’s. Women cannot interfere with men’s affairs. So she never deliberately made inquiries.
Translations by www.vmnovels.com
“Brother, why are you telling me this?” An Yu Zhi kept her head lowered. The hands on her lap were twisting a handkerchief so tightly that the tips of her fingers were slightly reddened.

An Zi Ran poured himself a cup of tea. He drank it and then said, “Because us going to the capital concerns you. Two days ago, Steward Su told me that Grandfather helped you arrange a marriage. The other person may be a capital dweller. Our purpose in going to the capital this time is to seek them out, and have them fulfill their marriage agreement with you. This is the token that the other party left behind.” So saying, he handed her the half jade pendant.

An Yu Zhi did not accept the jade pendant, but looked at him distractedly.

An Zi Ran could understand her feelings. She was suddenly told that she had a marriage contract. If this were the twenty-first century, the girl would resist, and might even run away from home.

[T/N: Boy, you just jinxed yourself.]

An Yu Zhi’s face was shy and in a small voice she timidly asked, “Brother, what is that other person like?”

An Zi Ran unexpectedly looked at the flush on her face. She’s accepting just like that? Maybe there’s a difference in thinking, and the feudal women were poisoned by the four virtues. They only knew how to obey and would not resist.

“Your brother also does not know. After we enter the capital we will go look for him.”

An Yu Zhi nodded. “Everything will be up to brother to decide.”

After an hour, the group headed off again. It was a smooth journey and little brother did not cry. An Zi Ran occasionally went to see him. He was beaming with joy. Those black, grape-like eyes became brighter. One day later, the party finally arrived at Jun Zi City.

The buzzing atmosphere rushed at them. As the capital of Da Ya, Jun Zi City was festive and exciting, far from being comparable to the small county town of An Yuan. Apart from An Zi Ran, everyone else in the group had wide-opened eyes and their faces expressed both amazement and excitement.

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T/N: If you would like to get notifications for this story, try checking the box next to “Notify me of new posts by email” before submitting a comment. You should then be notified of new updates via email.

Vanilla Muse: This chapter is longer than the previous chapters I’ve translated thus far. To keep my anxiety levels manageable, I’ve decided to split the chapter into two parts so that it doesn’t feel so daunting.

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Chapter 20.1 – Enter the Capital

Seven days later, An Chang De rushed back to An Yuan County.

It took two days by horseback to cover the distance between Yong Zhou and An Yuan County.

However, An Chang De’s family was not rich, especially after An Chang Fu’s death. They used to shamelessly ask An Chang Fu for money. Now that the two families have fallen out with each other, it’s been two months since they’ve asked for money. They couldn’t even afford to care for a horse. In order to get to Yong Zhou, they had to find a caravan that was going there.

The caravans were slower and spent more time on the road than An Chang De and his wife expected.
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The couple came back with Prefectural Magistrate Jiang’s trusted aide. His name was Qian You Hao. He was average looking with sharp, calculative eyes. Jiang Zhong Ting gave his trusted aide full control over the matter concerning the An family.

In the afternoon, An Chang De took Qian You Hao along to the county office to look for County Magistrate Zhang.

When County Magistrate Zhang heard that An Chang De came along with Prefectural Magistrate Jiang’s trusted aide, he rushed out to greet them. Once he heard their purpose for coming, he had an inkling of their intentions and immediately told them one thing.

“Brother* Chang De, Qian da ren**, the two of you are one step late.”

[*T/N: A term of address to indicate a certain level of closeness, not actual blood related brothers.]

[**T/N: 大人 da ren: lit. “big person.” Used as a title of respect toward superiors.]

An Chang De thought the other was trying to shirk away. It was like this last time, too. But this time he was emboldened and immediately became enraged. “County Magistrate Zhang, I know you’re afraid of getting into trouble, but this time we have Prefectural Magistrate da ren as support, what are you still afraid of? Are you saying you don’t even put Prefectural Magistrate da ren in your eye*?”

[*T/N: 放在眼里 fang zai yan li: to attach importance to]

When County Magistrate Zhang heard this, he knew it was a threat to himself. Afraid of Qian You Hao misunderstanding, he hurriedly explained, “Brother Chang De, you misunderstood this county magistrate, what I meant was the young landlord of An family left An Yuan County yesterday. You really did come late.”

“What did you say? He really left An Yuan County?”

An Chang De had yet to express the surprise in his heart. Qian You Hao’s expression became cold.

County Magistrate Zhang smiled. “It’s true. They left just yesterday afternoon. When my people received the news, he had already left with a company of people. I found out that he took everyone in An Chang Fu’s immediate family with him*. There were also a few maids and servants. The steward was left behind, but he is a small person of no importance.”

[*T/N: I’m assuming this means his sister and brother, and the concubines got left behind with their daughters.]

A shadow crossed Qian You Hao’s face. Their plans were mainly to target An Zi Ran. As soon as he left, the plans could not be implemented. The three concubines of Chang Fu had no real power and could not make decisions. It was useless to catch them. They’re not worth much to An Zi Ran. As for that steward, he was but a lowly servant that could be discarded at any time.

“Could your plans have been leaked?”
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Qian You Hao’s sharp eyes turned to An Chang De. Things can’t happen so fortuitously.

An Chang De’s heart felt panicked to be stared at like so. He stammered, “This should not be possible. The entire plan is known only to me and my wife. Absolutely no third person knows. Moreover, I* think he is only leaving for a short while. The foundation of An family is in An Yuan County. He can’t possibly give it up.”

[*T/N: 小人 xiao ren: “I, me” (used to refer humbly to oneself)]

Qian You Hao meditated thoughtfully. If it was not to avoid them, then did something important happen in the An family, forcing them to leave? With this in mind he looked at County Magistrate Zhang.

“Were you able to find out anything?”

County Magistrate Zhang stared blankly. He did not expect this man to be so keen. Yesterday, when he found out An Zi Ran left, he did indeed send someone to snoop about. He found out the reason this morning. The news should have already spread.

“I heard that the Old Master of the family had once been affiliated with a foreign businessman as a sworn brother. The other party gave half of a jade pendant to the Old Master. The two parties agreed that if there are children in the future then they must become in-laws. The bride-to-be is the Third Miss of the An family, An Yu Zhi.”

“There is such a matter?” Qian You Hao looked at An Chang De.

An Chang De frowned. “When Dad was sixty years old, there was indeed a foreign businessman living in our home. Their relationship was really good. They treated each other like brothers. But this thing about a marriage, I’ve never heard about it from my dad.”

Qian You Hao became thoughtful. “It is but some businessman. Do they think that just because they get marry they can then contend against da ren*?”

[*T/N: He’s either referring to his employer or he’s egotistic enough to call himself da ren in front of others, but it’s most likely the former.]

County Magistrate Zhang let out a laugh. “Qian da ren, you don’t know this, but that foreign businessman is probably not an ordinary businessman. I heard he lives in Jun Zi City. The An family reckons the other side must be a family of importance, which is why the young landlord when to Jun Zi City to find them to uphold the marriage contract.”

When this remark came out, both An Chang De and Qian You Hao’s faces changed.

It was no wonder that they’re surprised. Like Steward Su, they also thought that for businessmen to live in Jun Zi City, they must be familiar with quite a few influential officials.
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Even if Jiang Zhong Ting is a prefectural magistrate, he was still just an official on the outside*. Yong Zhou is not a well-known place. There is not much oil or water that could be collected. As for Jiang Zhong Ting, the number of times he’s been to the capital could be counted with five fingers. If that businessman was really some important person, then he (Jiang Zhong Ting) better think about the black hat** on his head.

[*T/N: appointed to a post outside the capital]

[**T/N: 乌纱帽 wu sha mao: black hat (worn by feudal officials), it represents their post. In this sentence it is saying that if Jiang Zhong Ting wants to target An Zi Ran, who is going to have the backing of some big shot businessman, then he better think twice or else he will lose his government post.]

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T/N: I’m editing the links on this website. If you happen to stumble across a broken link, please let me know in the comments and I’ll fix it.

Vanilla Muse: Thank you to everyone who replied to my inquires and to everyone who left such kind and encouraging comments. You’re a great motivation to me.  ˉ̞̭(′͈∨‵͈♡)˄̻ ̊  Now onwards with the story!

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Chapter 19 – Engagement

The An family, before An Chang Fu and An Chang De parted ways, was also considered a scholarly family.

The Old Master* was a ju ren**. In the Da Ya Dynasty, this achievement was enough to name him an official. But the Old Master chose to return to his hometown and did not accept any official post. This status made him a fish back in the water*** in the An Yuan County. Even the county magistrate had to give him face.

[*T/N: An Zi Ran’s grandfather]

[**T/N: 举人 ju ren: graduate / a successful candidate in the imperial provincial examination]

[***T/N: “Like a fish back in water” is an idiom meaning: glad to be back in one’s proper surroundings.]

The Old Master placed great expectations on his two sons. Although he was a ju ren, he was unable to go beyond ju ren. His life wish was for the An family to produce a jin shi*. In the end, he pinned his wish on his two sons. Of the two, only An Chang De had a little talent, and An Chang Fu was not scholarly material.

[*T/N: 进士 jin shi: palace graduate / successful candidate in the highest imperial civil service examination]

However, even if this were the case, the An family already had a bit of reputation and fame in An Yuan County.
Translations by www.vmnovels.com
The Old Master was an elegant scholar with literary talent. His specialty was not poetry but painting. There was a certain charm to each one of his paintings. Someone once said if he were willing to sell his work then they would fetch a very high price.

But the Old Master was an obstinate person. He viewed paintings as something noble. It was for cultivating the passion of a beautiful hobby. Therefore, he was resolutely unwilling to measure it in terms of monetary benefits. For precisely this reason, he became famous.

When he was sixty years old, he met a tourist passing through An Yuan County.

The tourist claimed to be a businessman who wanted to settle in Jun Zi City* with his family. Jun Zi City was the capital of Da Ya. It was very prosperous. It was a place where many businessmen and scholars longed for.

[*T/N: 君子城 jun zi cheng. Literally “gentleman city”]

At first, the Old Master did not like the other person because he was a businessman. Although he was not particularly prejudiced towards businessmen like the other literati, he still did not like to get too close to them, especially since his younger son seemed to be interested in business.

However, when the other person revealed his literary skills, the Old Master sat up and took notice.

After that the two soon became friends. They were both around the same age and also shared a common subject of conversation. In the end they became sworn brothers. The other party was very interested in the Old Master’s paintings. So the Old Master sent him several pieces of art that were his masterpieces.

The other party knew that these paintings were the painstaking efforts of the Old Master and was greatly moved by the gesture, thus he gave half of a jade pendant as a return gift.

[T/N: The businessman is not being cheap here when he only gave half of the pendant. Think of it as friendship or couple necklaces where each party keeps one half of the jewelry as a sign of their close relation.]

The jade pendant was a family heirloom, meant to be given to the family’s future daughter-in-law. It was very precious and expensive. After knowing this, the Old Master refused to accept the jade pendant, thinking that his paintings could not be compared to the worth of this jade pendant. As the result, the other party said that he was leaving it as a token for his future daughter-in-law.
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And thus, a marriage engagement was formed between the two families.

Only Steward Su knew of this matter. At the time, Steward Su was already serving at the Old Master’s side. He told Steward Su not to spread this matter about. Not even his two sons were told.

The Old Master’s intention was to observe the daughters of his two sons and see which one was most suitable to marry into the family of his good friend.

He attached great importance to this marriage engagement. From the behavior and speech patterns of his friend, he could tell that their private tutor was very strict. So he wanted to pick the best granddaughter to fulfill the engagement promise.

Originally, the Old Master had his heart set on a daughter of his eldest son, because his eldest son was a literati. The daughter of his eldest son should at least receive some handed-down teachings from her father. In the end, the daughter of the main wife was a beautiful one, but she was unkind. He immediately eliminated her from consideration and turned his attention to his second son’s daughter, An Yu Zhi.

An Yu Zhi was educated and well-balanced. She had a shy personality and often stayed within her boudoir. Although her literary knowledge was not high, she was still a learned person. Brought up under the guidance of Liu Mei Xiang, the young miss knew a few poems, was pretty, and docile. Though lacking any outstanding characteristics, she was the best choice out of the entire An family.

Therefore, the Old Master decided on An Yu Zhi.

He handed the jade pendant and a fragrant pouch to Steward Su, so that one day, when his friend or his friend’s family comes to uphold the marriage agreement, Steward Su can then tell his second son and his wife about this matter. If his friend doesn’t show up, then they were to pretend that this never happened.
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Steward Su always faithfully followed the Old Master’s orders. Up until An Yu Zhi’s fifteenth birthday, nothing was said. At that time, Steward Su finally guessed what the Old Master was worried about. The other party never came to fulfill the promise. They might’ve even treated it as a joke.

He intended to bury this secret forever, but he did not expect the An family would be met with this kind of misfortune. The young master seemed to believe the situation was not that serious, thinking that it would be fine to just transfer the assets, but Steward Su knew that those people would destroy his young master first.

The young master now was no longer the young master of before. He didn’t want to see those people frame his young master and ruin his life forever. So after some hesitation he finally decided to tell the young master and let him make the decision.

“Steward Su, you are thinking that that family in Jun Zi City is reputable and prestigious, so you want me to go find them and have them uphold the marriage contract. Like this, uncle and aunt would not dare to make a move against the An family. Is that right?” An Zi Ran was silent for a while. When he opened his mouth he immediately pinpointed the thoughts in Steward Su’s head.

Steward Su said, “Young Master is correct. That is exactly what I was thinking. Although that person said he was a businessman, the Old Master had already seen from his speech and behavior that he was not an ordinary businessman. Those who aspire to live in the capital cannot be simple*.”

[*T/N: The original sentence is 若是大老爷知道安家攀上都城的人，多少应该会忌惮一些 and it makes absolute zero sense to me. If I translate it piece by piece it is something along the lines of: “If Old Master knows that An family | climb capital | people, more or less | should be | afraid of the consequences.” Is the Old Master afraid of the An family going to the capital because it is a treacherous place…? But based on context I think my interpretation makes more sense. Basically the entire conversation is saying the other family must have some measure of power to be able to pressure An Chang De and Wu Zhi.]

An Zi Ran looked at him calmly. “But you should also be worried about whether or not the other party has forgotten this promise. Otherwise, you would not wait until now to bring it up, correct?”

“Young Master is really smart. You’ve guessed everything that I am thinking.” Steward Su was not embarrassed, instead he felt so pleased that he started praising, every word hit the nail on the head.

“It’s not that I am smart. This fact is obvious,” An Zi Ran said.

If the other party really cared about this marriage then they would’ve shown up long ago.
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Steward Su looked pale and worried. “Young Master, then… Should we still look for them to carry out this marriage engagement?”

With a firm look in his eyes, An Zi Ran’s lips raised slightly. “Of course we’re going to find them. Even if they really forgot, with this half of the jade pendant in our hands, I won’t let then repudiate.”

Regardless of whether things succeed or don’t succeed, he had already decided to use them as a stepping-stone to safeguard the An family.

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T/N: The engagement promised in the summary is finally brought up. Next chapter: Enter the Capital

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Chapter 18 – Little Bun

An Zi Ran wasn’t just talk. Not even two days later he started to take action.

He had already looked over all the accounts that were in a poor state. An Chang Fu’s favorite thing before his death was shining white money*. He charged the tenant farmers high rent, earning a lot of money every year. After taking out a portion of the money to buy presents for his elders and superiors, the rest were stored in the family vaults. Over the years, he accumulated a lot of wealth.

[*T/N: Probably in reference to the silver pieces that were used as money.]

After the death of An Chang Fu and his wife, the only one who knew of this matter was Steward Su. Even An Chang De was unaware that his little brother had a treasury, otherwise he definitely would’ve bribed someone in the An family to investigate.
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Although the money in the treasury was gained through exploitation of the common people, it now served as a solution for the An family’s current predicament. This liquid asset was convenient for transferring and there was no need to purposely go out and exchange for money.

But the problem was how to transfer this vault of money!

God forbid, if An Chang De found out about this, then his main wife, Wu Zhi, would also know, and then they would tell the Prefectural Magistrate of Yong Zhou. When that happens An Zi Ran would be hard press to hold onto this wealth.

For this matter, An Zi Ran stayed up all night.

The next morning, he appeared at the dining table sporting a pair of panda eyes. For breakfast there was congee, buns, and a few slices of pancakes. It was simple and not extravagant. He’d gotten used to this type of breakfast over the past two months, unlike before where he just drank a cup of coffee for breakfast.

After breakfast, he went to the study as usual, which was located at the corner of the hallway. Because he was so absorbed in thinking about how the An family will develop in the future, he almost bumped into a maid. The maid was shocked, and unable to react in time, she fell onto her butt.

“Are you okay?”
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Only after hearing that light voice of An Zi Ran’s did she come back to her senses.

It was then that she realized that the youth standing before her was the young master. Suddenly remembering her purpose for coming over, she hurriedly said, “Young Master, quickly go see the Second Young Master, he is not good.”

An Zi Ran finally recognized who the maid in front of him was, and he also recalled his three-months-old younger brother. Because problems kept cropping up one after the other, he only went once to see his little brother. Therefore he was unable to immediately identify Yue Ju, one of the maids that took care of him.

The two rushed over to Maple Court. The wet nurse was looking after An Zi Ming.

On their way over, An Zi Ran heard from Yue Ju that his brother suddenly had a fever this morning. Although the temperature was not very high, for a baby who was only three months old, if not careful, it could endanger his life.

The wet nurse did not dare delay, she immediately sent another maid, Cai Ju, to go find a doctor, and then sent Yue Ju to notify him.

An Zi Ran walked over to the cradle and looked down at the little bun, whose face was red (with fever). This little bun was his little brother. His heart couldn’t help but stir. In the previous world, forget a little brother, he didn’t even have parents.

As if feeling a gaze on him, the drowsy little bun opened his eyes slowly, revealing two grape-like eyes. He looked at An Zi Ran, lifted his hands as if to beckon to him, and suddenly revealed a happy smile.

[T/N: I have no idea what “grape-like eyes” mean. If there’s a special meaning then please enlighten me in the comments.]

An Zi Ran was stumped for words.

The wet nurse said in a timely manner, “Second Young Master is so smart. He must’ve known it was Young Master. Just now, no matter how this lowly servant tried to coax him, he would not wake, but as soon as you came, he opened his eyes.”

As if demons and gods were at work*, An Zi Ran took hold of that small hand. That tiny thing moved even more joyfully. What a strange thing it was, this thing called blood (relations).

[*T/N: Idiom for a curious coincidence.]

The doctor came quickly. The little bun was already worn out from his playing and had fallen asleep.

After checking the baby over, the doctor said that it was not serious. It was only a slight low-grade fever. He wrote up a prescription, instructed them on what to pay attention to, and then left.

An Zi Ran did not stay too long, but in the afternoon he came again. The little bun was awake, having recovered quickly. By the afternoon, there was no more fever. His eyes were particularly spirited, and his small mouth opened happily. It wasn’t until Steward Su came to get him, did An Zi Ran realized two hours had passed. To him, it felt like he had only been sitting for a while.
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Steward Su entered Maple Court and saw the smile on the young master’s face dwindle. This is the first time in two months that he has seen the young master smile. He was originally hesitant, but then firmed his resolve. He decided to tell the young master about the incident and let him decide for himself.

“Steward, is there something the matter?”

An Zi Ran saw him standing at the doorway without coming in and gave him a puzzled look.

Steward Su came forward and said in a low voice, “Young Master, I have something very important to tell you.”

An Zi Ran arched his eyebrow in surprised. To the wet nurse and the two maids he said, “Go out and stay outside. Don’t let people come here.”

The three did not dare to say anything and immediately went out.

Soon, they were left alone in the room. …Plus a fragrant bun.

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T/N: Oh my gawd, oh my gawd, it’s happening. Next chapter is called: Engagement. I can’t wait.

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Chapter 17 – An Zi Ran Makes A Move

“Young master, there’s signs of (suspicious) activity on Second Master’s* side.”

[*T/N: An Chang De]

Just as An Zi Ran entered the study, he heard Steward Su speaking slowly in a lowered voice. With his eyes he indicated for him to close the door. Steward Su immediately obeyed and then returned to An Zi Ran’s side.
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After the incident with the stolen rice, An Zi Ran sent people to spy on An Chang De’s every movement. Everything that he did during the day was written down and then presented to An Zi Ran* on his desk. This was called preventive measures. An Chang De and his wife were the type of people that made one want to take precautions!

[*T/N: I substituted pronouns from the original text for names to make things more understandable.]

Sure enough, his decision was not wrong.

After a month, An Chang De and his wife were starting to make small movements.

This time, the person that came on stage was Wu Zhi’s older sister, Wu Yun, and her pillow talk. Yong Zhou’s Prefectural Magistrate Jiang* was not a good official. He was a greedy person, who held a sinecure, and used his authority to commit bad deeds. He was a complete villain and also easily swayed. To put it plainly, in his attempts to kiss up to those in power, he was often instigated by Wu Yun to do this and that.

[*T/N: Yong Zhou is the prefecture that Wu Yun lives in.]

Wu Yun disclosed the situation of the An family to Magistrate Jiang. As the landowner of An Yuan County, An Zi Ran lost a lot of money in the past two months, but An Chang Fu had already accumulated a certain wealth before his death. He returned the loans and reduced the price of rice, but the An family is still the largest landowner in An Yuan County.

When An Chang Fu died, the An Zi Ran that was left behind was still young. He lacked drive. Although some time ago he settled the case of people stealing rice from his shops, most people won’t view him in a new light simply because of this matter. In the eyes of An Chang De, his wife, and a lot of other people, he was still a sixteen-year-old child.

Wu Yun’s understanding of the An family all came from her little sister, Wu Zhi. So during pillow talks, she kept instigating Jiang Zhong Ting* to take advantage of the An family. Jiang Zhong Ting, as a moneygrubber that was lacking in strength, at this moment his heart wavered in greed.

[*T/N: Full name of Prefectural Magistrate Jiang.]

The status of businessmen in the Da Ya Dynasty* was low.

[*T/N: 大亚王朝 da ya wang chao. Literally “Great Asian Dynasty.” It’s the name of the empire/country. Often shortened to 大亚 da ya]

But now is the era of feudalism. The landlord is the essential point of many counties. Even for a small landlord, the family must have accumulated a lot of money, not to mention the An family was a big landlord.

With almost no consideration, Jiang Zhong Ting agreed with his concubine, Wu Yun’s proposal. And so, joining hands with County Magistrate Zhang of An Yuan County, they planned to take over the An family in the near future.
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The Da Ya Dynasty was stricter towards businessmen. Once a businessman breaks the law, it would be almost impossible to turn one’s fortune back around.

After discussion, they decided to strike from this aspect, wanting to make it impossible for the An family to recover their fortunes. Furthermore, in order to lawfully take over the An family assets, the best way was to make him* commit a crime.

[*T/N: I’m guessing they mean An Zi Ran.]

Reading (the report) up to here, An Zi Ran could not contain the flash of surprise in his eyes.

He was not surprised by the behavior of An Chang De and his wife. He has already seen through them. Even if they did something, he was not surprised at all. He was surprised by the details of this information. This person even knew that they (An Chang De and his wife) were secretly conspiring with the Prefectural Magistrate of Yong Zhou. This person was definitely talented.

“Young Master?” Seeing that his master was quiet, Steward Su felt a little worried.

He always thought that no matter how outrageous the Second Master was he should still have a little conscience. To think that in order to seize the assets of the An family, he would even cooperate with outsiders to frame his own nephew. And he dared to call himself a scholar with benevolence and morality? What shit!

His poor young master. The lord and madam died two months ago. Not only was there no one to support him, even his relatives were planning to take advantage of the An family. He’s so pitiful.

An Zi Ran closed the report and said calmly, “Continue to have people spy on them and see what they are preparing to do.”

“That’s it? Young Master, shouldn’t we make some preparations first?” Steward Su couldn’t help but frown. When it came time to react, he was afraid that they would be too late. Once thrown into prison, it would be difficult to come out again.
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“Prepare? How? If the government wants to target us, no matter how much we prepare, they will still find reasons. We can only wait and play it by the ear. Otherwise, we must find a supporter for the An family, one that even the Prefecture Magistrate of Yong Zhou will fear. But that is easier said than done!” This was An Zi Ran’s calm analysis.

After all, An Yuan County is but a small county. Even if An Chang Fu had a lot of contacts when he was alive, their position was certainly not much higher than a county magistrate. If they knew that the Prefectural Magistrate of Yong Zhou wanted to target the An family, a lot of them would distance themselves from the An family. Forget helping, it would already be good enough if they did not throw stones into the well*.

[*T/N: Lit. “To throw stones at somebody who fell down a well.” Idiom for kicking a person who is down.]

“So we can only be sitting ducks?” Steward Su sighed.

“Of course not,” An Zi Ran said. “What they want is our property. So before they make a move, I plan to transfer a portion of our assets. Where there’s life there’s hope.”

“But…”

Steward Su wanted to say more, but An Zi Ran stopped him.

“Steward, this is the best method for the An family. Common people cannot fight against government officials. You should understand this truth better than I. Also, I don’t intend to sit still. If An Chang De is going to be heartless, then he can’t blame me for being unjust!”
You should be reading this on www.vmnovels.com
Steward Su was tongue-tied as he looked at this youth who held a steady gaze in his eyes. The average person would have been anxiously turning in circles, but he did not show the slightest panic. From the beginning, he presented an unwavering stature. Compared to the master when he was alive, the young master was even more remarkable.

He suddenly realized that his young master is really grown up!

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T/N: If you have some time then please take a look at this post and help me answer some questions about C-novel terminology. Thanks.

Vanilla Muse: I wanted to get this chapter up earlier, but some things came up. In exchange for the longer wait, here’s a double chapter post. Enjoy! Ｏ(^▽^)Ｏ

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Chapter 16 – Discount

After that day, things settled down, and peace returned to the An family.

Walking through the streets, one can hear the people praising An Zi Ran for being righteous and good. People were calling him a living Buddha.

As Wu Zhi said, these simple-minded people of An Yuan County have forgotten how An Chang Fu used to exploit them, how they didn’t have enough food, and how their families starved. Fact is, as long as these people have food they can easily let bygones be bygones. They’re not complex people and have a one-track mind, otherwise, how can An Chang De rile them up so easily.

In order to better the reputation of the An family, An Zi Ran also reduced the price of rice.

Originally, the price for rice that the An family set was higher than other rice shops. With a stroke of his pen, he cut the price in half, and now it is much lower than other places.

But this price isn’t set indefinitely. Only for five days will the price for rice be this low when buying from the An family. After five days, the price will be raised again – not back to the original pricing though. It will be the same as other rice shops.
You should be reading this on www.vmnovels.com
As soon as the news was released, everyone in An Yuan Country flocked madly to the rice shops.

After confirming that the price is really lower than other rice shops, there was immediately a panicked frenzy of rice buying. There were crowds of people in front of the An family rice shops everyday. Those who did not have money to purchase rice rushed to borrow money. Even people in the next County over rushed over to buy rice.

For five days in a row, the atmosphere in An Yuan County was even more festive than during the Chinese New Year. There were smiles everywhere. For those who could not borrow the money to buy rice, the An family rice shops wrote up credit accounts for those buyers and promised not to charge interest.

The better off the An family was, the expressions on An Chang De and his wife’s faces grew darker and darker.

To them, the behavior of An Zi Ran was no different than dissolving the An family assets. If they continued to let him go on like this the An family will become nothing but an empty shell. But even if they are impatient to swallow the assets*, wanting to take down the An family now is no longer an easy task.

[*T/N: The original text said 不过心急吃不了热豆腐 which lit. means something like “even impatient, can’t eat hot tofu.” I didn’t understand what it meant at first, but a reader explained that it’s like an idiom meaning “if you’re too impatient, you won’t be able to eat the hot tofu (you’ll burn yourself) aka you won’t be able to do what you really want to do.” Thank you for informing me, Cynthia!]

Regarding An Zhi Ran’s decisions, which were negatively impacting the An family’s profits, the three concubines were dissatisfied. But after what happened before, they didn’t dare go to the study to cause a ruckus again. Even the scheming Wang Qing Lan quietly backed down, knowing her place.

An Zi Ran paid them no mind. It was rare to have leisure time. He finally managed to lose weight with all his heart and soul. It’s been a month since he’s become An Zi Ran. In this month, he used his weight lost regime to lose twelve catty*.

[*T/N: The catty, kati or jin (commonly in China), symbol 斤, is a traditional Chinese unit of mass used across East and Southeast Asia.]

This rate of weight lost must be a cause for a sensation in the twenty-first century. Losing the most weight in the shortest amount of time was what women dreamed of. However, he did not meet his requirements. With his current age and height, his ideal weight should be close to one hundred and ten catty, so he would lose another thirty-four catty.

When thinking of this faraway goal, An Zi Ran’s heart felt a little tangled.

The days of weight loss seemed to pass by slowly. He counted the time, waiting to look at himself in the mirror again. And thus, one month passed by.

In that month he desperately lost weight and finally lost twenty catty. He broke through last month’s figure, but he was still fourteen catty from the goal.

The person reflected in the mirror was no longer fat, but his face was still round with meat. He did not look like how he had imagined. He still had some baby fat, which was an indication of his youth. Although it made him cute, it was not what he wanted.

Chun Lan walked in with hot water and saw this scene. Her pretty face revealed a smile. She thought the young master after his change was an iron-faced mask with little expressions and a cold personality, but after two months of interactions she discovered that he sometimes revealed his teenager side, which was adorable.

For example, scowling at himself in the mirror with those chubby cheeks, it was really cute. Chun Lan was not afraid of her young master anymore. She even joked with him on occasion and she has never seen him get angry once.

“Young Master, here is the hot water. Is there anything else you need?” Chun Lan placed down the hot water.
Translations by www.vmnovels.com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen
An Zi Ran stopped looking in the mirror and turned around. “There’s nothing else. You’re dismissed.”

“Yes, Young Master.” Chun Lan lowered her eyes and walked out. As soon as she was out of sight she started running. She wanted to go tell Qiu Lan about the adorable scene she witnessed.

After washing up, An Zi Ran made his way over to the dining hall. Along the way, he encountered Steward Su who was rushing over. Seeing that harried look on Steward Su’s face, An Zi Ran knew he would not be eating breakfast. Ah well, he was trying to lose weight anyways…

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