Author: Vanilla Muse

T/N: This update is on time, and early! Bwahahaha- hack- hack- cough, cough, got too excited… Enjoy. XD

---

Prev | Contents | Next

Chapter 110.1 – Second Prince

The fourth piece of card stock paper was the last one.

An Zi Ran did not tell the woman that the two could only get the piece of paper after completing a task, because the time was too late, so this time they got the card stock right away.

The two were a little surprised at first, but when they saw the content of the piece of paper, they knew why.

The content on the card stock was unexpectedly not related to the Lantern Competition. But on the contrary, this was more interesting for the two, because the other party had asked them to find him before the top three winners of the competition was announced. This was a particularly arduous and difficult task. The reason was very simple.

After several rounds of games, they have roughly learned about the clothing and appearance of the two people. It sounded like they were two men with good looks. Such people were generally eye-catching.

The real difficulty was that there were too many people participating in the Lantern Competition, especially in the last stage of the competition. Due to the counting of votes, the crowd of people was almost glued together. Under these circumstances, the difficulty of finding the two people would increase a lot.

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

Still, they found this interesting.

They have never played a game like this: looking for people. Furthermore, people were mobile. It wasn’t like the previous two tasks, which were very easy in their opinion, and not very challenging at all.

Outstanding men have one thing in common, the more difficult the task, the more their fighting spirit would be ignited.

“Looks like we have to split up.”

The two men looked at the dense crowd in front of them, and then they just squeezed in. In this crowd, they might not be able to find the two people even if they looked until the next morning, so they must split up to search.

The refined gentleman said, “That’s the only way.”

Then the two of them split up, one going to the left, and one going to the right.

Counting the votes was the most important part of the Lantern Competition. Some lanterns with more votes would take longer to count, but no one felt impatient, and the Lantern Competition also had corresponding countermeasures. They invited twenty people to count the votes together. Every person counted one box. Some may be miscounted, but as long as it didn’t affect the top three winners, then no one would fuss.

At this time, each of the twenty convention guards, dressed in the same color clothing, had a box in front of them.

These boxes were relatively light, because the counting order was arranged according to the weight of the boxes, from light to heavy, so as to leave suspense behind. The back of each box was affixed with the name of the lantern owner.

After a short while, the votes of a few dozen competitors have been calculated. The votes for these people were not high. The highest was only two hundred votes. The difference from that to the third place winner was still great. Some people were disappointed, and some people were nervous. The later one’s own box showed up on stage, the higher the chance of them winning top three.

But not everyone stood here waiting for the final results.

The lanterns in the Lantern Competition have not been stowed away yet, and they were still placed on the exhibition stand, row by row, without the boxes covering a portion of them, the scene was even more spectacular. There was every color under the sun, rich and diverse.

An Zi Ran and Fu Wu Tian strolled in front of one of the rows of lanterns, and neither of them spoke. Under the night enveloped in moonlight, in a place not super crowded by people, the atmosphere seemed peaceful.

An Zi Ran stopped suddenly in front of a lantern.

Fu Wu Tian followed his line of gaze to the lantern. “This lantern is ingenious.”

Support the translator. Read this on vmnovels (dot) com

The corners of An Zi Ran’s mouth curved up slightly. For the ancient people, this lantern was indeed ingenious. It has abandoned the universal shapes that could be seen everywhere, such as those they saw on the stalls selling lanterns before.

The owner of this lantern was likely a clever and dexterous young woman. She might even already be the mother of two children, which was why the lantern she made was of a boy and a girl, two children. The children were like mini-adults, raising their hands towards each other as if giving each other a New Year’s greeting. The smiles of the two were brilliant enough to be infectious, reminding An Zi Ran of the little bun at home.

If there were no unexpected mishaps, he would not have children in this lifetime, so he intended to cultivate the little bun. Let’s not talk about the new businesses in Jun Zi City for now, but the An family businesses in An Yuan County must be succeeded by the little bun.

“Let’s go back.”

An Zi Ran turned and said to Fu Wu Tian, who was beside him.

Fu Wu Tian didn’t ask him why he suddenly wanted to go back. When he stopped and looked at this lantern, he could roughly guess what his wang fei was thinking, but…

“Not playing your little game anymore?”

An Zi Ran shook his head. “Listen to the sounds, the counting of votes seems to be over. The person still hasn’t come at this time, looks like it’s hopeless.”

“This prince is very curious, if the other party really comes, what kind of surprise does wang fei intend to give them?” Fu Wu Tian asked. On their way through the carnival, he already knew the content of the first piece of paper, and he has wanted to ask this question all along.

Prev | Contents | Next

T/N: I’m sooo sorry that this chapter is a day late. I had to work overtime yesterday, and then I crashed at a friend’s place because they lived literally down the street from my workplace and I didn’t feel safe going home alone so late at night. I couldn’t access my PC until I got home from work today, hence the late update. Just know that even if there are delays, there will be weekly updates, because I get at least one day off from work every week.

---

Prev | Contents | Next

Chapter 109.2 – Brief Interlude

Several whispering voices drifted over to them. All of them were criticizing the middle-aged man. Hearing their criticism, the middle-aged man’s face flipped between green and white. His attitude got even worse. He glared fiercely at An Zi Ran. “Those who obstruct the order of the convention will be chased out. If you don’t leave, I will call people over!”

An Ziran looked at him abruptly.

These people don’t know to cry until they see the coffin*, the middle-aged man thought. Then he immediately called for security in a loud voice.

[*T/N: 不见棺材不掉泪 a popular saying in Chinese, but it’s not an idiom. Basically, it amounts to “people aren’t scared until they’re roughed up”]

The Lantern Competition was a relatively large contest, so there must be people around to maintain the order. When he shouted, five guards in the same color costumes ran over immediately.

“They disrupted the order of the convention. Kick them out!”

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

The five guards trooped towards An Zi Ran and Fu Wu Tian without a word. Just as one of them was about to grab An Zi Ran’s shoulder, a big hand grabbed his wrist first. With just a small exertion of force he heard a kacha* sound. This was followed by the sound of the guard’s screaming.

[*T/N: 咔嚓 ka cha – onomatopoeia for breaking or snapping]

Fu Wu Tian forcefully threw the guard away. Two of them tried to evade unsuccessfully. Their flying companion smashed directly into them. The three of them fell into a tangle of limbs. Miserable shouts rose and fell in succession.

The remaining two had already rushed towards them.

“Oh!”

A guard flew upside down and slammed heavily on the ground. His bones seemed to have broken in the fall. The sound was so loud that the surround people could all hear it. But this was not the most critical, because the guard was covering up his crotch, his entire face dripping with cold sweat. It was clear at a glance that it must be very painful. Some of the men subconsciously covered up their groins.

The last guard stopped in fear. He stared at the attacker with rounded eyes, not daring to rush forward.

An Zi Ran calmly retracted his long leg.

Fu Wu Tian glanced at his wang fei, and a smile flashed in his eyes. When he didn’t take action he was normal, but when he did take action, his one movement was amazing*. He never thought that his wang fei would directly attack the most vulnerable places of men, but it was also because he was a man that he knew the weaknesses of men best.

[*T/N: 一鸣惊人 yi ming jing ren – to amaze the world with a single brilliant feat (idiom); an overnight celebrity]

“You, you guys… dare to disturb the order of the Lantern Competition Convention, you just wait to be arrested.” The middle-aged man did not feel afraid, conversely, he panted with rage as he spat out these ferocious words.

The middle-aged man’s confidence was not without reason. Da Ya’s Ministry of Rites was in charge of the Lantern Festival. If something went wrong, the Ministry of Rites would definitely look into it. What kind of place was the Ministry of Rites? Why, it was one of the six major departments of Da Ya’s empire. It had enormous authority. It was impossible for ordinary people to stand off against it.

Fu Wu Tian looked at him with a smile that was not a smile. Abruptly, an imposing militaristic aura erupted from his body. “This prince also wants to know, who dares to arrest this prince and his wang fei.”

As soon as these words came out, the surroundings went silent.

The middle-aged man fell back into his chair.

He, he, he… he is a wang ye? The youth next to him was his wang fei?

Two men?

The middle-aged man was just about to reject this, when a light bulb went off in his head, and his face finally turned white. Although it’s been more than half a year since that (wedding) event, but this man claimed to be a wang ye, and his wang fei was also a man, who else could it be but the empire’s god of war? In Da Ya, the only wang ye that dared to take a man as his wang fei was the god of war!

Support the translator. Read this on vmnovels (dot) com

“Seems like I have to get the Ministry of Rites to reorganize the personnel for the Lantern Competition Convention.” Fu Wu Tian’s eyes swept across the people on the ground, as well as the middle-aged man, who was still reeling from the revelation. Although he has handed over his military power, he still had his identity and status. No matter how haughty the Ministry of Rites was, they would still have to give him some face.

“Wang wang wang… wang ye, spare my life. This little one has eyes but failed to recognize Mt. Tai*, and offended you sirs. This little one won’t dare again. Begging wang ye to be lenient!” The middle-aged man fell on his knees with a loud thud and started kowtowing.

[*T/N: Idiom meaning he failed to recognize somebody important]

An Zi Ran ignored him and walked over to a woman in her forties. “This auntie, may I ask you to do something for me?”

The woman returned to her senses and immediately expressed a panicked expression. “Please, please say it.”

“I would like to ask you to wait for someone here. It will only take half an hour. At that time, give this piece of card stock to him. If no one comes, then just discard this piece of paper.” An Zi Ran placed the card stock in her hand along with a piece of silver. When the woman tried to refuse he said, “This is remuneration!”

The woman really wanted to reject his money. She already felt very honored to be able to help the god of war’s wang fei, why would she dare to also take his money.

However, An Zi Ran did not give her the opportunity to refuse, and returned to Fu Wu Tian’s side after speaking. The two exchanged a look and then walked into the crowd of people. After a while, their backs could no longer be seen.

The middle-aged man was prostrating on the ground, the words ‘it’s over’ running round and round in his head.

The other dispersed as they discussed Fu Wu Tian and An Zi Ran.

The woman and her family stood by the entrance in accordance with An Zi Ran’s intentions. They had also came for the Lantern Competition, but they could earn a piece of silver just for standing by the door for half an hour, of course they would be happy to do such an easy job, moreover, they were helping the god of war’s wang fei. When they return, they will have extra bragging capital. Just thinking about it made them feel happy.

The refined gentleman and his companion did not make them wait for too long. They soon appeared at the entrance to the Lantern Competition Convention. The ticket person at the entrance had been changed to someone else. The middle-aged man and the five guards were already carried away. So these two did not know what had just occurred here.

The two stepped forward to inquire.

The woman was close by, and when she heard the word card stock, she immediately guessed that these two people should be the ones that the god of war’s wang fei was waiting for. Although it wasn’t just one person, it couldn’t be such a coincidence.

“Are these two gong zi looking for this card stock?”

Upon hearing the woman’s voice, the two looked at her with a little flash of surprise in their eyes. They thought that the card stock must be with the ticket person. They did not expect that it would be in the hands of this humble woman.

“Thank you!” The man thanked her and received the piece of paper.

Translations by Vanilla Muse.

The woman waved her hand, “No need for thanks, I’m very happy to be of help.”

Afterwards, the woman walked inside the convention with her husband and daughter. Although the voting time has passed, there was still the ticket counting segment. This was the major tide!

Watching the family of three leave, the two men became more certain that something must have happened before they came.

“This little game is getting more and more interesting. I look forward to seeing those two people.”

The refined gentleman said with a smile, and then the two went in together.

Prev | Contents | Next

Prev | Contents | Next

Chapter 109.1 – Brief Interlude

One of the most important programs of the Lantern Festival was admiring lanterns.

In his previous life, although An Zi Ran studied science, for certain reasons, he once studied history, especially historical culture, and the Lantern Festival was a kind of historical culture.

The Lantern Festival began in the Han Dynasty, rose in the Tang Dynasty, and flourished in the Song Dynasty. It has always been an important traditional festival among the common folk. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar, and on the night when the moon was high, families would light up lanterns to celebrate. It was a very grand occasion.

However, there were some differences between the two.

In his previous life, there was only one Lantern Festival each year, but Da Ya had it four times a year, and the people of Da Ya paid great attention to the Lantern Festival. The most distinguished representative (of the festival) was the Lantern Competition, which was admiring handmade lanterns.

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

The Lantern Competition was held during the second half of the Lantern Festival.

When the Lantern Festival was halfway through, everyone would have enjoyed the lively atmosphere of the festival, and at this time, they would directly go to the Lantern Competition.

For example, right now, An Zi Ran and Fu Wu Tian had just left the Lantern Mountain and they were following the crowd towards the Lantern Competition.

Looking at it from afar, there were thousands of colorful lights, like a dream, an unprecedented grand occasion.

After seeing this scene, no one would think that Da Ya was still a precarious country, and no one would think that this prosperous age happened under the rule of an incapable ruler. But no matter what the future of Da Ya will be, at this moment, the people just wanted to cherish the present.

People at the Lantern Competition Convention competed with precisely lanterns.

No matter what kind of group it was, they could all participate in the competition, as long as they registered in advance.

When it came time for the Lantern Competition to start, those who signed up would bring the lanterns that they had made to the convention. Those who arrived in advance could also choose a prominent position by themselves and then hang up their lanterns.

The convention organizers would place a small box next to every lantern. The box had a small round hole. If viewers liked a lantern and thought that it was beautiful and valuable, they could vote for it to show support. At the entrance to the Lantern Competition Convention, people could collect a voting ticket. Each person could only take one, and no more. This was to prevent people from cheating.

There was only three hours for the Lantern Competition, and viewers could only vote during this time.

The time was not very long, but this was because the votes would be counted later to determine the top three lanterns. However, this was a rule only set up two years ago.

In the past, the results were only tallied up the day after the end of the competition, but this gave some people the opportunity to use their power and influence to cheat.

In order to secure a place among the top three, some government officials and wealthy families would do whatever they could. Therefore, prior to two years ago, it was always one of these people who would win top three in the Lantern Competition.

Afterwards, it caused public outrage, so the common people refused to participate in the subsequent Lantern Competitions. After all, it was pointless for them to participate if they couldn’t win anyway. Like so, only government officials and rich people attended the competition.

Not only that, but even more hilarious.

In the past, more than ninety-five percent of the votes came from the common folks, but ever since their children stopped participating in the Lantern Competition, these people did not vote anymore. As a result, the total number of votes in the three consecutive Lantern Competitions was much less than in the past, and the number of votes in the top three was almost an unbearably pitiful* number.

[*T/N: 惨不忍睹 can bu ren du – a spectacle too horrible to endure]

Later, the Chong Ming Emperor found out about this.

However, as an inept ruler, he possessed the extraordinary dull mind of an incompetent ruler.

The emperor did not make them change the competition regulations, instead he ordered that the commoners must attend the Lantern Competition, and those who disobeyed would be beheaded!

The people were terrified, so they could only have their daughters participate.

Support the translator. Read this on vmnovels (dot) com

However, they were also not people who would easily roll over, and they later came up with an exquisite solution.

They concentrated all of their votes on a certain family, so a very interesting scene appeared during the Lantern Competition. Many people lined up and cast their tickets into one box. As a result, the box was so full that the organizer had to use a new box.

In this way, it was very obvious who had the highest number of votes. No matter how much someone tried to cheat, it was impossible in the face of overwhelming numbers.

Therefore, a civilian girl held the first place in two consecutive Lantern Competitions. Having a civilian step on top of their heads made the second and third place winners – ladies of prominent families – mad enough to explode.

In the end, the organizer had to change the format of the Lantern Competition, which made the competition truly fair and continued to flourish. After the new system came out, those ladies from rich families were directly booted out of the top three. But there were still some people unwilling to accept this, and still tried to cheat. For example, spending money to hire hundreds of people to vote, but to no avail.

If they just gave each person ten coins, even hundreds of people would not cost too much money, but where would they find that many people? Not to mention hundreds of people was still not enough to guarantee a win.

The number of votes to get to third place in the Lantern Competition was more than one thousand votes. There was no need to mention first and second place, but the first place was usually no less than five thousand votes.

Translations by Vanilla Muse.

In addition, the current Lantern Competition has also increased the punishment system. Once it was found that a ticket was suspicious, not only would the contestant be disqualified from participating in the Lantern Competition, but the violation would also be reported, leaving a stain on her reputation for a lifetime. In this way, the Lantern Competition became a real contest.

There was less than half and hour left before the end of the competition.

An Zi Ran took two voting tickets from the person handing them out. Then he passed over the last card stock to the person handing out tickets.

The ticket person was a middle-aged man with a shrewd look. He didn’t take the piece of card stock paper as easily as the first two, but instead looked at the two of them suspiciously.

“What do you want to do? This isn’t a place where you can casually cause mischief!” The middle-aged man said with slight dissatisfaction, showing impatience in his eyes.

An Zi Ran retracted the card stock and said nothing. If the other party were not willing to help then he would not force it. But it was easy to make a bad impression.

The middle-aged man looked at his clear and cold face, and coldly snorted, “Take your tickets, and hurry up and leave. Blocking up the line here, don’t tell me you want more tickets. Leave. Leave. There are still a lot of people waiting to get a ticket!”

His tone of voice was so bad that even the people behind in line were unable to put up with it any longer.

Prev | Contents | Next