Author: Vanilla Muse

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Chapter 146.1 – Teahouse

An Zi Ran and Fu Wu Tian didn’t know what happened at the Chamber of Commerce meeting.

At this time, they had just arrived at the small farm in the suburbs.

The gathering was held in a large and well-known restaurant in Jun Zi City. Rumor has it that the restaurant belonged to the Zhuo family. The restaurant’s location was very close to Prince Fu’s Mansion, and Fu Yi arrived at the destination quickly.

Knowing that An Zi Ran and Fu Wu Tian were coming, the cattle rancher had been waiting for them by the door ahead of time.

The reason the cattle rancher was so anxious was because Bao Hua Gambling House deliberately chose the beginning of the month to implement their suppression tactics.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

The output of fresh meat that the cattle rancher’s slaughterhouse produced was a sizeable amount, and the beginning of the month was the time when he got the most customers. Therefore, the slaughterhouse generally prepared the meat for the beginning of next month at the end of the month in advance, so the accumulation of meat was also the largest at this time.

Bao Hua Gambling House was targeting this point, so they chose to attack at the beginning of the month.

The cattle rancher did not expect them to do something like this, because breaking a contract would cost a lot of money. His situation was not comparable to Li Zhen’s situation from back then. Li Zhen only had a small-scale workhouse, but his slaughterhouse has been open for more than a decade.

Most of the customers were old acquaintances. Because they trusted him, the contracts they signed with him were mostly over five years long, even the shortest one was two years long.

Not all of his customers defaulted on their contracts, but some of the customers who defaulted were unexpectedly long-time customers of more than five years.

The cattle rancher thought that Bao Hua Gambling House wouldn’t go this far, so he didn’t take any extra precautions, but in the end he still fell into their trap. With so much fresh meat accumulated, the loss would be insurmountable.

“How is the situation?”

An Zi Ran did not bother to exchange pleasantries. As soon as he saw the cattle rancher, he got straight to the point without beating around the bush.

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The cattle rancher explained: “There aren’t that many people that defaulted, but the ones that did ordered a lot of meat. With these people defaulting on their contracts, half of the meat in the slaughterhouse will be left unsold, and I can’t find enough customers to purchase the meat in such a short time.”

“How many catties of meat are left?” An Zi Ran asked.

[T/N: The weight of one catty differs slightly from place to place. In China, it is 500 grams. In Taiwan it is 600 grams. In Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, one catty is slightly over 604 grams.]

“I estimated nearly thirteen thousand catties of meat leftover.”

The cattle rancher’s slaughterhouse could slaughter up to forty or fifty cattle a month. If one cow weighed one thousand catties, then it could produce four hundred to six hundred catties of meat. So in a month, they could get about twenty-six thousand catties of meat. And that was just a conservative estimate. If it was during the peak period, then they could reach up to thirty-six catties of meat.

It was impossible to sell so much meat all at once, especially since some of the cattle have already been slaughtered. The fresh meat from the cattle could not be kept for too long.

The cattle rancher really had no other solution, and that was why he turned to An Zi Ran and Fu Wu Tian for help.

An Zi Ran thought for a while and then he said, “How about this? However much meat you have left, I will buy it all.”

The cattle rancher stared at him in shock, “But, but with so much meat, you…”

It’s not that the cattle rancher wanted to doubt An Zi Ran, but the amount of meat was really too much. Even if the average person could afford to buy so much meat all at once, it was difficult for them to turn around and sell the meat in a short amount of time, not unless the selling price was lower than the market price.

An Zi Ran stopped him and said, “You just have to sell the meat to me. I will handle the rest.”

“Okay, then.”

The price of beef was eighteen copper coins per catty, which was the wholesale price. However, the thirteen thousand catties of meat were not all beef. Some of it was pork. The quality of pork from the cattle rancher was better than that of other slaughterhouses, so the price was relatively high, which was twenty-two copper coins per catty.

In this way, the total price of thirteen thousand catties of meat was two hundred and forty taels of silver. This was after the cattle rancher rounded out the price.

For An Zi Ran, spending this sum of money did not make his heart ache or itch.

But finding a destination for all this meat really was a bit of a hassle.

After discussing with Fu Wu Tian, they decided to send some of the meat to An Yuan County first. The daily amount of meat that the An family’s multiple restaurants needed was not a small number, and the journey was not particularly far. As long as the meat was well frozen, it would not spoil in a day.

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

For the rest of the meat, An Zi Ran planned to turn them into beef jerky. The incident happened too suddenly, and finding new buyers would take too much time, so he thought of making the meat into beef jerky, which would be easy to store. And he already knew where to send the beef jerky. He assigned this task to Zhou Lao Han’s daughter-in-law and Chef Wang.

The two of them had followed An Zi Ran to the capital, but because the restaurant was still in the middle of construction, they had nothing to do yet, so in their spare time they created new recipes together. As it turned out, they came up with a lot of great dishes, and the ones who got to enjoy these culinary delights were the people in Prince Fu’s Mansion.

An Zi Ran would occasionally provided them with some inspiration.

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As requested by VIP Choice, this bonus update goes to TBL. Enjoy SamanthaV! ^-^

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Chapter 145.2 – Zheng Jun Qi

Elder Zhuo watched Zheng Jun Qi leave with a hard-to-read expression on his face.

“Young people these days are getting more and more nonsensical. Women should stay at home. Does she not feel any shame, coming out to a place full of men? If I had such a daughter in my family, I would’ve broken her legs long ago.”

Seeing that Zheng Jun Qi has finally left, a man nearby immediately put on a face of disgust and started spouting malicious words about her in order to curry favor with Elder Zhuo.

Elder Zhuo’s face remained expressionless.

The man was a little embarrassed when he saw that Elder Zhuo had no response.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

On the other hand, Fu Yi had already come up with a plan based on the information that he had gathered about the Zheng family. He knew that An Zi Ran must have already investigated the situation of the Zheng family. Otherwise, with so many people in the capital who were also engaged in the textile machine business, why would he choose the Zheng family to work with over everyone else? He must be targeting the difficult situation that the Zheng family was in.

“Mr. Fu?”

Seeing that Fu Yi was silent, Boss Chen called out to him.

Fu Yi suddenly said to him: “Boss Chen, my apologies, I must take my leave now.” He said this without waiting for the other man to respond, and then he walked towards the corner where Zheng Jun Qi was.

Boss Chen’s mouth flapped open a few times as he watched Fu Yi leave, but he had yet to process what had happened. After a while, he noticed that Fu Yi was walking in the direction of Zheng Jun Qi. He thought about the questions that Fu Yi had asked and suddenly came up with a strange yet improbable conjecture.

The Zheng family was not about to make a comeback were they?

Fu Yi has been the object of many people’s attention since he entered the doors of the venue. There were some people originally planning to come over to try to form friendly ties with him for their own benefit, but then they suddenly saw him make a move. Their eyes followed his movements. When they saw that his target turned out to be Zheng Jun Qi, each and every one of them showed a stunned expression on their faces.

Prince Fu’s Mansion shouldn’t have had any business dealings with the Zheng family in the past, right?

Zheng Jun Qi herself was also surprised. She even thought that the person that Fu Yi was looking for was probably standing somewhere close to her, but when she turned around she found that she was the only one around.

In this crowd, she was the ostracized persona non grata. Moreover, she was an unmarried woman, so no man dared to approach her. Thinking of this, she couldn’t help revealing a fleeting bitter smile. Then she raised her head to look at the man standing in front of her.

Naturally, she has heard of the famous Fu Yi.

As the head steward of Prince Fu’s Mansion, he was like half the master of Prince Fu’s Mansion. He was forty years old this year but he looked like he was only thirty years old. He had a steadfast appearance and he carried the reliability of a man his age. But compared to other men of his age, he had a bit more advantage, and that was the charm of a handsome and mature man.

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Zheng Jun Qi had already resigned herself to being a lonely old maid for the rest of her life, and she was already at peace with this eventuality, but when she looked upon this man, she felt her heart skip a beat. Such a traitorous thing her heart was. She quickly suppressed the feeling and said calmly, “What’s the matter, Mr. Fu?”

Fu Yi observed how calm and collected she was. A flash of admiration flickered through his eyes. “I have a business order. I wonder if Miss Zheng is interested?”

Zheng Jun Qi finally revealed a startled expression.

She had thought of a multitude of reasons for why he might be approaching her, but she had never considered the thought that he would want to work together with her [in business]. In a situation where everyone was ostracizing her, this man came forward to help her. Why was this?

Zheng Jun Qi immediately cycled through all the potential reasons that he was offering to do business with her. She even wondered if her father had dealings with Fu Yi before, but that should not be the case. If the Zheng family had ever worked with Prince Fu’s Mansion before then there was no way that she would not have known about it. So what could the true purpose be?

“Why?” Zheng Jun Qi blurted out.

Fu Yi had already guessed that she would ask this, and he replied calmly, “Is there even a need to ask why? I need a batch of textile machines. The Zheng family makes textile machines. Isn’t it a normal thing for me to come to you?”

Zheng Jun Qi suddenly let out a light chuckle and her ordinary face suddenly became vivid with liveliness, as if glowing with a bright light.

Fu Yi thought that this woman in front of him was more suited to smiles and laughter. A troubled frown did not suit her, as it made her look plain and lifeless.

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

“You’re right. It’s a very normal thing. It’s my fault for thinking wrong.” Zheng Jun Qi said with a smile.

Fu Yi said, “No worries, I can understand where you’re coming from.”

The smile on Zheng Jun Qi’s face became even brighter.

The conversation between Fu Yi and Zheng Jun Qi was like a bomb dropping down on the gathering. In a split second, it boiled over instantly. Even Elder Zhuo did not expect that the first person to reach out to the Zheng family would be Fu Yi. Many people wanted to form relations with him, but didn’t know how to do so. However, now he was taking the initiative to show his favor to the Zheng family. Just when did Zheng Jun Qi hook up with Fu Yi? Why did no one know about this beforehand?

The faces of those who had ridiculed Zheng Jun Qi before became ugly in an instant. With the backing of Prince Fu’s Mansion, the Zheng family could not only make a comeback, but they might even go further than before. If that were to happen, what would they do if she decided to take revenge on the ones that ridiculed her…

Everyone’s faces turned blue and white.

Amidst this scene, Elder Zhuo watched everything with an unpredictable look.

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As selected by VIP Choice, today’s bonus update goes to TBL. This one is for you Valpknas. (^-^) ♡

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Chapter 145.1 – Zheng Jun Qi

The middle-aged man talked until his mouth was dry, but Fu Yi’s expression did not change once. The middle-aged man couldn’t tell if Fu Yi was interested or not. Just as he was wondering whether or not he should continue on, Fu Yi opened his mouth and said, “Boss Chen, you just said that Elder Zhuo did some business with the Zheng family?”

Hearing Fu Yi’s question, the middled-age man was on high alert. It seemed like the head steward of Prince Fu’s Mansion had some interest in the Zheng family, but the middle-aged man didn’t know if Fu Yi had a good impression or bad impression of the Zheng family, so he didn’t dare to speak malicious words about the Zheng family casually. He just symbolically suggested a sentence.

“They had a business exchange about two months ago. Although Elder Zhuo made the purchase, it wasn’t a high number. I think it was for about forty or fifty spinning wheels.”

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

For a big family like the Zhuo family who also had an expansive business, forty or fifty spinning wheels was indeed not a big number. Moreover, this did not include any weaving machines. But to the Zheng family it was like someone sending charcoal in snowy weather*.

[*T/N: “To send charcoal in snowy weather” is a Chinese idiom meaning “to provide help in somebody’s hour of need.”]

The Zheng family has been in the business of selling textile machines for generations, but since the untimely death of the head of the Zheng family, Zheng Jun Qi took over as head of the household. However, she faced discrimination time and time again because she was a woman.

“Why would Elder Zhuo help the Zheng family for no reason at all?” Fu Yi asked.

He didn’t know much about the Zheng family’s circumstances, because at first he just wanted to see if the Zheng family was someone they could cooperate with.

The middle-aged man suddenly looked around cautiously, and seeing that everyone’s attention was on Zheng Jun Qi and Elder Zhuo, he whispered back: “Mr. Fu you asked the right person. Not many people know about this, but this one has heard that Elder Zhuo owed Zheng Jun Qi a favor.”

“How could someone with Elder Zhuo’s status owe a woman a favor?” Fu Yi was even more curious about this matter.

The middle-aged man shook his head, “This one has only heard rumors. However, this one has also heard that Elder Zhuo doesn’t seem to want to repay this favor. Otherwise, such a righteous and passionate man like Elder Zhuo would not only make such a ‘small’ purchase from the Zheng family.”

Saying that Elder Zhuo did not want to repay this favor made people even more curious about what this favor might be.

Fu Yi paused for a moment and then asked, “Boss Chen, how would you describe this Zheng Jun Qi person?”

The middle-aged man thought that it was a just a passing curiosity of Fu Yi’s, but Fu Yi ended up asking more and more questions about the Zheng family. The middle-aged man started to have some doubts, but he didn’t show it on his face. He deliberated for a moment.

“She has a lot of guts, but she is also cautious. She doesn’t act like an ordinary woman, but rather like a man. Speaking of which, this one actually admires her a little bit. When she first took over as the head of the Zheng household, many business partners saw that she was woman and thought that she didn’t know anything. They tried to extort her under false pretences. What ended up happening was that Zheng Jun Qi did not expose them. She even helped them find a way out of their embarrassing situation.”

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“Unfortunately, those merchants not only did not appreciate it, but took the initiative to shed all pretense of cordiality. They joined together to bully a woman. But Zheng Jun Qi is also a very capable and strange woman. She tried many ways to soothe over relations, prop up the Zheng family, and even got a business order from Elder Zhuo.”

Fu Yi glanced over at the two people who were talking not far away. Zheng Jun Qi looked sincere, but Elder Zhuo’s expression was a little impatient.

This result was not difficult to guess.

Elder Zhuo was a stubborn old fossil. Many people knew about his temper. He didn’t like women coming out to show their faces in public, especially unmarried maidens. For Zheng Jun Qi, a woman, to talk business with a man was a taboo in Elder Zhuo’s eyes.

The favor that Boss Chen spoke of most likely existed. Moreover, it was very likely a favor owed by the previous generation.

So when Zheng Jun Qi came knocking on his door, even though Elder Zhuo did not like her, he had to help her out because of this favor.

Zheng Jun Qi was not a stupid person. She knew that she has offended Elder Zhuo, so it was very likely that her main purpose for coming to attend this Chamber of Commerce gathering was to make amends with Elder Zhuo. However, just by looking at Elder Zhuo’s expression, it was clear that he has not dropped the issue.

The people who came to participate in the Chamber of Commerce gather were all elites. How could they not see the thoughts that Elder Zhuo was deliberately expressing? At first, they thought that Elder Zhuo gave Zheng Jun Qi that business order to help out the Zheng family, but now it seemed like that it was not what they had thought.

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

If the Zheng family’s circumstances did not get a favorable turn by the end of this gathering, then they would be suppressed even more in the future. Zheng Jun Qi was smart, but she underestimated Elder Zhuo’s stubbornness.

“If the head of the Zheng family does not have anything [worthwhile] to say, then this old man still has to engage in talks with other people. Please help yourself.” Elder Zhuo started to say words of dismissal, intending to turn Zheng Jun Qi away. Before, when he greeted Fu Yi he had a face full of smiles, but now he was like a cold and hard stone slab in the winter. Just touching him would give you frostbite.

“Then this Jun Qi won’t disturb Elder Zhuo anymore.” Zheng Jun Qi’s face was slightly stiff, but her attitude was still very polite. She did not reveal the tiniest bit of displeasure over the Elder Zhuo’s ill disposition. She clearly knew about Elder Zhuo’s status in the Chamber of Commerce. If she really annoyed him, then the Zheng family would probably be suppressed even more.

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As chosen by Patreon Vote, this bonus update goes to TBL.

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Chapter 144.3 – Zheng Family

Based on her physical appearance, the woman looked to be in her twenties. She was not a beauty, but her facial features were very distinctive, carrying a hint of heroism – the kind that should appear in a man. At the same time, her eyes conveyed a tenacity that many people do not have. At a glance, it was obvious that she was an assertive and resolute woman.

Fu Yi was not surprised by the woman’s appearance or bearing. What he was surprised by was the fact that there was a woman here at all. It was not that he was contemptuous towards women, but like everyone else, he was shocked by her presence at the event.

Married women would usually be at home, assisting their husband and educating their children, the traditional roles of a good wife. Showing their faces in public* was not permitted. What’s more, this was a Chamber of Commerce gathering. To put it simply, it was a gathering of men. So it was a very incredible thing to have a woman show up here.

[*T/N: The specific saying used here is 抛头露面 (pao tou lou mian), which is a derogatory saying. It’s not that women cannot leave the house at all, but there are many things that they cannot do in public without incurring people’s criticism. In this case it is conducting business.]

“I didn’t think that she would really dare to come!”

“It’s not easy to squeeze one’s way into the Chamber of Commerce, so how could she let such a good opportunity slip by?” The person who replied had a hint of ridicule in his laughter.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

“Even if it’s a good opportunity, for an unmarried lady to show her face in public means her family upbringing can’t be all that good. This kind of woman, I bet no one would be willing to marry her.”

“Marry her?” The other person asked. He sounded like he just heard something really funny.

“What are you laughing at?”

“I heard that she is already twenty-six years old this year. Even if she isn’t coming out to show her face in public, who would dare to marry such an old lady? Perhaps, she can’t even give birth anymore. Moreover, the only male progeny in her family is but a four or five year old child. If she marries out of the family, there will be no one else to lead the household. So I heard that she seems to be planning to encumber* a husband to live with her family.”

[*T/N: 招赘 zhao zhui – I can’t seem to think of a good verb for this practice in English. It means matrilocal residence or matrilocality, and it is a special type of marriage in the patrilineal society, where the man becomes a member of the woman’s family. This usually happens if the woman’s family is more powerful or influential than the man’s family.]

“At her current age, getting marry [out of the family] will be hard enough. She actually wants to encumber some man? That’s just an imbecile having big dreams!”

“Indeed.”

Fu Yi was standing not far from the two men who were conversing, so he easily overheard their conversation. For an unmarried lady, twenty-six years old was indeed not young anymore. He has heard about some older ladies who were still unmarried, but none of them were as old as twenty-six.

But what surprised him was that the woman seemed to have anticipated that she would be met with some peculiar and unfriendly gazes. Her brows pinched together once, and then she regained her cool. She calmly walked towards Elder Zhuo.

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The woman and Elder Zhuo were a little far away, so Fu Yi could not hear their conversation. But there was a middle-aged man who wanted to curry favor with Fu Yi. The man saw Fu Yi looking at the woman and boldly guessed that Fu Yi must not know about this woman, so he stepped forward and started to talk.

“Mr. Fu doesn’t know who she is yet, right?”

The middle-aged man thought that he might not get a response, but Fu Yi turned his head to look at him. “You know?”

The middle-aged man suddenly felt a little flattered, and after a moment of excitement, he replied: “Of course I know. I’m sure everyone in the capital knows about her.”

“Speak.”

“Her name is Zheng Jun Qi. She is the head of the Zheng family. She is more capable then men, and she also has a lot of courage and means of doing things. It’s a pity that she is a woman. She officially took over the Zheng family three years ago. At that time, the head of the Zheng family had just passed away, and the only male progeny in the family was just two years old. She resolutely stirred up the Zheng family, and in three years time she finally forced her way into the extremities of the Chamber of Commerce.”

Translations by Vanilla Muse. Read on vmnovels [dot] com

When he heard the first two sentences, Fu Yi couldn’t hide the look of surprise on his face, “The Zheng family you are talking about is the Zheng family that sells textile machines?”

The middle-aged man nodded and said, “Precisely.”

Fu Yi suddenly got the feeling that fate really liked playing around people.

The middle-aged man could hear from Fu Yi’s tone of voice that he was interested in the Zheng family, and immediately leaked information about the Zheng family to him, trying to win his favor.

Zheng Jun Qi was a strange woman. If she were born male, then someday she would become a powerful figure in the business world. Unfortunately, she was born the wrong sex. Such a capable person like this turned out to be a woman, so even though she clearly has the ability to make the Zheng family’s career even bigger, it still took her three years to get here.

Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.

Looking down on women and thinking that women should not come out and show their faces in the public sphere was a deep-rooted idea of many men. They looked down on Zheng Jun Qi, so some businessmen who have business dealings with the Zheng family often made things difficult for Zheng Jun Qi, and they even deliberately raised prices.

In order to overcome these difficulties, Zheng Jun Qi ran herself ragged. Relying on her tenacity and her unwillingness to lose, she actually accomplished her goals.

No one knew what she did, but after three years she finally managed to capture Elder Zhuo’s attention, and Elder Zhuo did business with her. He even extended an invitation to her to participate in this year’s Chamber of Commerce gathering. When people heard about this bit of news, some thought that she would definitely not show up, but unexpectedly she came.

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