Category: The Big Landlord

Happy New Years Eve! (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

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Chapter 54 – To Acquire Foodstuff

An Zi Ran’s plan to stockpile provisions was passed down to his subordinates as an order. Manager Feng and the other shopkeepers were doubtful at first, but they still carried out their orders.

Manager Feng and the other managers have been immersed in the rice business for over two decades now. The least experienced shopkeeper that worked under An Chang Fu still had a minimum of five to six years of experience. An Chang Fu had once sent out disaster money and instructed his managers to make connections with a number of rice merchants. Now that An Chang Fu has passed away, those contacts remained in the managers’ hands.

Buying large amounts of grain would definitely attract the attention of others, but in the case of the An family, there was no big problem.

A while ago, the An family had undergone some major reforms.
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Not only did they waive the debts of the denizens of An Yuan County, but they also overhauled the interest system when it came to borrowing rice. In the past, it was so scary. Any farmer that borrowed rice would be deep in debt, but nowadays it wasn’t even one-tenth as bad.

The farmers who couldn’t eat rice because the rice paddies were not yet ready for harvest were very happy. So there was a frenzy of rice borrowing, and the specific amount of rice borrowed was only known to An Zi Ran himself.

However, the advantage was that many people knew that there was not much rice left in the An family’s rice shops.

An Zi Ran had the managers use the excuse of restocking the rice shops to purchase grains for storage.

This move not only did not attract the attention of those rice merchants, but also got their understanding and sympathy. This result really surprised the managers.

Manager Feng could not help but think of the conversation he had that day with Boss Chen when he went to collect grains.

“Old Feng ah, since An Chang Fu’s death, the reins of the An family changed hands to the young landlord and things went from bad to worse. Not much money is made; instead a lot of things were given away. I am really worried about you!” The owner of Da Guang Rice Shop, Chen, said to Manager Feng.

Manager Feng only smiled without speaking.

They had no right to interfere with the landlord’s decision. As long as the landlord could pay their salaries on time, then they had no objections. The young landlord’s actions did seem to harm the interests of the family, however, from the perspective of long-term development, his actions were not only not harmful to the family, but also beneficial.

Boss Chen thought that he was being considerate, and he advised, “Manager Feng, the An family is beginning to go downhill, and there is no future in staying there. Instead of being instructed by some wet behind the ears child, why not come here to help? You are a personal talent. I guarantee that you will never be treated badly.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Boss Chen, but I have been working for the An family for over twenty years now, and I’m a bit reluctant to leave,” Manager Feng said with a sense of pride.

Boss Chen laughed. “Manager Feng does not have to worry about it. You can think about my offer for a while. Da Guang Rice Shop will welcome you at any time.”

“I will take your offer into careful consideration. Ah, that’s right, how much rice can Boss Chen sell to me?” Manager Feng switched the topic, but he did not wait for Boss Chen to answer before letting out a sigh and putting on a face of worry. “The young landlord gave each of us a quota, if I cannot meet that goal in one trip then I will have to run around to other places.”

Boss Chen hesitated and thought about it. “How much rice does Manager Feng need?”

Manager Feng lightly gave him the number.

Boss Chen narrowed his eyes until they nearly became invisible, and revealed the deceitfulness of an unscrupulous businessman. “The appetite of the young landlord is too great. Can he really swallow this number*?”

[*T/N: “Can he really pay for this much rice?”]

Manager Feng said helplessly, “To be honest, I can no longer guess what the young landlord is thinking. I can only carry out the orders that he gives.”

Boss Chen did not think about it too much. An Zi Ran made a lot of decisions that seemed absurd in their eyes ever since he took over as landlord, and now he wanted to buy a large quantity of rice. He was still young and not very experience. He had no vision. Since Boss Chen did not know about the things happening in Chang Province, he naturally did not think about it.

“Very well, I will sell it to you for your sake Manager Feng.”

If one is not willing to part with their child then they cannot lure the wolf. In order to move Manager Feng and have him come work for him, Boss Chen decided to help him reach his quota. Da Guang Rice Shop was one of the largest rice shops in Wan Shan County, and that amount of rice was still available.

Manager Feng’s face showed a look of joy. “Thank you very much, Boss Chen.”

Boss Chen smiled and said, “As long as Manager Feng thinks about my proposal.”

Manager Feng nodded, “Yes, I will consider it.”

Manager Feng paid for half of the rice as deposit. The money was taken from the An family’s cellar. It was all real money and silver. It had accumulated for many years and was more than enough to buy food. Boss Chen also promised to send the rice to An Yuan County in ten days.

Manager Feng walked out of the rice shop, when he looked back at the shop the smile on his face had already disappeared.

Boss Chen’s generosity was within his calculations. His mouth said that he admired Manager Feng’s talent, but what he was really after was the contacts in his hands. Who didn’t know that back in the day when An Chang Fu wanted to dredge up money, he went all over the place to clear the way? Now that he was dead, there were only a few left who still knew the way.

Manager Feng worked the longest for the An family. An Chang Fu rarely treated him badly. Although he didn’t trust him as much as Steward Su, he trusted him almost as much, so he held quite the information in his hands, and it was some of the best.

Boss Chen knew how to calculate. Obtaining Manager Feng was the same as obtaining the knowledge in his hands.

Manager Feng could see the situation very clearly in his heart. If the young landlord was still that fat one of before, then he would definitely consider Da Guang Rice Shop, but now the young landlord was more far-sighted and more appealing than An Chang Fu. He wanted to follow him and see how things panned out. If problems arise in the future it wouldn’t be too late to leave then.

The situations of the other managers did not go as well as his.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t get any rice at all, but there weren’t many big rice shops like Da Guang Rice Shop.

When it came to the rice-selling business, no matter which rice seller it was, they would want to keep some grains in reservoir, so it was impossible to sell out all their stock. Therefore, several of the managers had no choice but to run around making several trips.

But these were all just postscripts.
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After the conversation with Fu Wu Tian that day, Ge Qian An was ordered to go to Chang Province.

This trip wasn’t for managing the disaster. It was only an investigative trip. In accordance with An Zi Ran’s words, they only needed to send one person. Shao Fei was not a careful person, so he could only listen and stay behind.

After lunch, An Zi Ran took a break and prepared to go out.

Fu Wu Tian had completely turned into a leisurely person since he arrived at An Yuan County. He had not seen to any official business during this period, so Fang Jun Ping was more and more certain that he may be a businessman of some small business. However, ever since An Zi Ran laid down the law with them, they’ve temporarily settled down and behaved.

An Zi Ran did not pay too much attention to them. On the contrary, it was Wang Qing Lan that he must take note of. This woman was too clever. He suspected that the death of the original An Zi Ran might have to do with her, but there was no evidence, so he could only let Steward Su keep a better eye on her.

“Where are we going?”

Fu Wu Tian came up beside him. Following behind step for step was Shao Fei.

An Zi Ran straightened his sleeves, and then answered, “I’m going to patrol the An family’s fields.” In addition to renting farmland to farmers, there were still many fields belonging to the An family. Those fields were taken care of by hired help. A portion of it was Japonica rice while the rest were glutinous rice. The price of glutinous rice was generally higher, and more for the wealthy people to enjoy.

When An Chang Fu was still alive, he attached great importance to this piece of land and he went to the field two or three times a month. He was relived to see that the growth of rice was very good.

In the end, a line of one person became a line of three people.

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Hey wonderful people! Good news for the Chinese BL community. I recently picked up a new translation project titled Let Me Shoulder this Blame! It’s a fast transmigration story. I’ve been hooked on those ever since I finished FOD, and I MTL’ed a couple of stories on jjwxc even though it hurt my brain, but it was enough to understand the general contents of the story.

Some of the stories were okay. They had elements that I liked, but overall didn’t quite hit the spot for me. I might translate teasers for some of them if anyone is interested. Even if a certain story is not my exact cup of tea, it could still be someone else’s favorite.

Then I found stories that I liked. LMSTB is one of them. I’ve only read two arcs so far, but I really like how doting and supportive the ML is. I’ve decided to pause in my MTL, and read the rest of the story as I translate, because as I am translating LMSTB I’m picking up on details that made me go “ohh, so that’s what was happening.” I feel like knowing these little things made me appreciate the story that much more.

Chapter 1 of LMSTB is now up. Chapter 2 will be up tomorrow in celebration of the new year. I hope next year will be a wonderful year. Cheers!

~ Vanilla Muse

This bonus chapter is brought to you by the lovely people over on ko-fi. Shout out to refrigerator for topping up the counter this time. ☆◦°˚\(^∀^)/˚°◦☆

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Chapter 53 – Storing Provisions

In the end, Fang Jun Ping and Zheng Bi could not win against An Zi Ran.

But they weren’t going to obediently eat just congee and salted vegetables. Later, they went to look for Chef Wang, but Chef Wang has always disliked them, and now that he has An Zi Ran’s support he was able to stand up to the women with a straight back and firm voice.
Translations by www.vmnovels.com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.
The four women had no choice but to dip into their savings and send servants out to procure the food that they want. For ten days straight they refused to eat plainly. As a result, those ten days of spending exceeded their monthly allowance. In an instance, they lost several months worth of allowance money. It was even more painful for Fang Jun Ping who had an extra month’s worth of allowance deducted.

Now let’s go take a look at An Chang De’s side.

Just after a day of travel, owing to their fast speed, they should’ve just arrived in Yong Province.

Knowing their plans, An Zi Ran was not in a hurry to deal with them. No matter what they intended to do to obtain the An family’s assets, he no longer had to waste time and energy thinking of ways to handle them.

“Young Master, I have already passed along your commands.” Steward Su ran straight to An Zi Ran as soon as he came back. Because it was an important matter, he made sure to visit each place personally.

“You’ve worked hard, Steward Su.”

An Zi Ran had the maid, Xia Lan, pour a cup of tea for the steward to quench his thirst.

Steward Su took the cup of tea and downed it in one gulp. “You praise me too highly, Young Master. It was not hard work at all. If there is nothing else, I will leave first and attend to other matters.” It was likely that they would get busier in the following days.

An Zi Ran nodded.

“Wang fei, what are you planning?” Fu Wu Tian, who had been bored for the past two days and was always following An Zi Ran around, finally opened his mouth after Xia Lan also left the room.

An Zi Ran had no intention of concealing things from him. This matter he was planning would require more clout than what he currently had, so he might have to ask for Fu Wu Tian’s help in the future. “The farmers we met in the tea shed before, they were villagers from Yi Ping Town in Chang Province. Natural disasters often occur in Yi Ping Town. Although it is only April, drought has already occurred, but the details have yet to be verified.”

Fu Wu Tian instantly understood his plan, and there was a strange interest in his eyes. “So wang fei plans to first store provisions?”

An Zi Ran nodded. “Yes. Although refugees won’t necessarily pass through An Yuan County on their way from Chang Province to Maple City, it is not far away. Every year, when natural disasters occur in Chang Province, some merchants from Chang Province will go to nearby civilizations to buy grains, and An Yuan County is one of those places.”

One of the reasons that An Chang Fu collected high rent from the farmers was due to the natural disasters in Chang Province. Therefore, a big part of the An family assets was made up of money from catastrophe.

“Then, wang fei wants to…?” Fu Wu Tian asked.

An Zi Ran quietly looked at him for a while and wondered if the other man thought that he was planning to stock up on provisions in order to make a profit from the natural disaster. Unfortunately, he could not read the man at all.

“I’m going to send someone to go to Chang Province to investigate. If my guess is correct, then maybe it can be prevented in advance, which would be good for you too.”

The last part of the response carried an implication.

Being clever, Fu Wu Tian did not need An Zi Ran to say the rest.

Preventing natural disasters was nto a simple matter. There was no successful case in the history of Da Ya. There was no such thing as prevention. And afterwards, there would be problems everywhere. Each time a natural disaster occurs, the royal family would wait for it to pass and then provide disaster relief. Then they would discover some corrupt official pocketing money from the relief fund. This cycle continued without end. There were basically no preventive measures. So Chang Province became a place with frequent occurrence of natural disasters.

Fu Wu Tian already had outstanding military achievements. If he added the credit for disaster prevention and relief on top of that, even if the emperor wanted to do something to him in the future, he would have to re-evaluate whether he had the confidence or not to do such a thing.
Translations by www.vmnovels.com
Although he was the God of War in Da Ya, he was guarding the territory of Da Ya for many years from foreign enemies. But it was not enough to leave a lasting image in the people’s hearts. If he were to personally pull them out of the mire when they were in trouble, then the impression would be more profound.

Fu Wu Tian discovered that his wang fei has just married into the Fu Palace, but he was already thinking for his benefit.

This was worthy of celebration!

When An Zi Ran saw Fu Wu Tian’s expression change, he asked, “I’m talking to you about this matter, but what are you thinking about?”

Fu Wu Tian looked at him and said cheerfully, “This prince is thinking, I am glad that your sister fled the marriage, otherwise this prince would have to think of another way to get you to marry into the Fu Palace.”

Black lines descended across An Zi Ran’s face. (T/N: Like those anime expressions of despair.)

Fu Wu Tian’s words were too honest; An Zi Ran did not feel glad at all!

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Vanilla Muse: Happy Holidays Everyone~!

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Chapter 52 – To Bring Under Control

The next morning, only An Zi Ran and Fu Wu Tian were at the quiet and clear dining table.

The An family did not have breakfast at a considerably late time, but for Wang Qing Lan and them to wake up at six a.m., especially during the cold early hours of the winter, it was practically impossible.
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However, in order to find an opportunity to please An Chang Fu, Wang Qing Lan and them would get up early every morning and some would personally cook breakfast for him, but ever since the death of An Chang Fu, such a thing has never happened again. Even An Qiao E and An Ke Xin would often find excuses to eat in their rooms. An Zi Ran acquiesced to this behavior because he did not want to see their faces at the dining table.

Chef Wang put the reheated breakfast on the table.

The An family usually started to eat breakfast at seven a.m. But today An Zi Ran woke up late. When he appeared at the dining table, the breakfast was already cold.

As for the initiator, he sat very calmly next to An Zi Ran holding the eggs in the big bowl and began to peel the shells, so leisurely that it caused one to raise eyebrows.

“Wait!”

Chef Wang was about to return to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the women, but An Zi Ran suddenly shouted for him to stop.

Chef Wang took a moment before he realized that the young master was calling him. The young master had a terrible expression on his face, and he thought that he had done something wrong. His heart was very apprehensive. “Young Master, is there something else?”

An Zi Ran asked, “During the time that I was away, why were the food expenses for the family even higher? I don’t understand how this can happen when there was ten less people to feed.”
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Chef Wang thought that the young master suspected him of stealing from the food expenses and his legs were scared soft. He collapsed onto the cold floor and hurriedly explained, “Young Master, it was not me. I don’t have it. It was Concubine Fang and them who ordered me. And there was also the Eldest Miss and Second Miss.”

An Zi Ran calmly said, “Stand up and talk.”

Chef Wang saw that the young master looked calm and suddenly realized that he had overreacted. The young master did not suspect him. Most likely, he was going to take this up with the concubines. Thinking so, his words came out much smoother.

“Young Master, the day after you left, Concubine Zheng and Concubine Fang went to Su Zi to ask for money. Su Zi refused, saying that no one can ask for more money without your approval. In a fit of anger they beat Su Zi. Then later they said they were the masters of the house, and they had this servant cook chicken, duck, bird’s nest, and such for them. This servant refused, so Eldest Miss and Second Miss would come to cause trouble every day. This servant had no choice and finally can only cook it for them.”

Every so often the An family would send some servants to the markets to buy the ingredients needed to make their masters’ meals.

What the masters ate would naturally be the best. Even poultry like chickens and ducks were raised within the family and fed with high quality grains. Each one was tender and fat. The poultry sold outside couldn’t even measure up to two-thirds the quality of the An family poultry. However, the concubines and their daughters ate all these high-quality poultry in less than ten days.

Su Zi tried to stop them, but he was only a servant after all.

Fortunately, all the money spent within the family was recorded in ledgers that An Zi Ran revealed every night. Sooner or later, he would notice the excessive use of funds.

“Go and summon Su Zi.” An Zi Ran said calmly to Chef Wang.

Chef Wang licked his lips. He couldn’t tell if the young master was angry or not, but he knew that there would be a good show next, and that he should go out quickly.

When he left, only An Zi Ran and Fu Wu Tian were left in the room.

An Zi Ran looked down and saw two more peeled hard-boiled eggs in his bowl. After a moment of silence, he put an egg in Fu Wu Tian’s bowl. “This is for you. One is enough for me.” He was still dieting, and most of the fat in the egg was concentrated in the egg yolk. It was not advisable to eat more.

“Wang fei is so good to this prince,” Fu Wu Tian said with joy.

An Zi Ran became silent.

The two men finished their breakfast at a much faster speed than the women. After they ate, they moved into the great hall and arrived at the same time as Su Zi. When he heard that the young master wanted to see him, and that it was about the late master’s two concubines, he would have hurried over at once if his father hadn’t stopped him.

“Young Master, you called for me?”

An Zi Ran wasn’t very willing to eat the piece of pastry that Fu Wu Tian stuffed in his face. After eating it, he forgot to wipe his mouth, so Fu Wu Tian used his fingers to wipe the crumbs sticking to the corners of his lips.

Su Zi saw this scene just as he was coming in, and was stunned into silence.

An Zi Ran calmly pushed Fu Wu Tian away, picked up the ledgers on the table, and handed them to him. “The food money for Concubine Fang, Concubine Zheng, and their daughters have exceeded the limit this month. Deduct two months of allowance from them. You don’t have to give them any money on the first of the month. Furthermore, Concubine Fang had to replace some furniture in her room. Deduct another month of allowance. If they have any objections, have them come to me.”

“Yes, Young Master!”

It was hard to hide the excitement in Su Zi’s tone and expression. He couldn’t wait to see how their faces would change from this announcement. But what disappointed him was that Wang Qing Lan was very peaceful during the time when the young master was absent, so they couldn’t bring her under control this time.

An Zi Ran continued, “Also, tell Chef Wang that this month he won’t have to make any extravagant dishes for Concubine Fang, Concubine Zheng, and their daughters. Congee and salted vegetables will suffice.”

Su Zi gave an affirmative sound and left the great hall at mach speed.

An Zi Ran turned his head and saw Fu Wu Tian looking at him. Those black jewel-like eyes were like whirlpools sucking him in. He tried to resist, but couldn’t help saying, “What are you looking at?”

Fu Wu Tian took his hand and said with emotion, “Wang fei looks so good when he is being serious.”

An Zi Ran immediately pulled back his hand. He shouldn’t have asked.

After a while, there was a sudden loud noise from outside the hall. Fang Jun Ping and Zheng Bi came in with their daughters. Zheng Bi’s noisy voice could be heard before they even entered the hall.

“An Zi Ran. What is the meaning of this? What right do you have to deduct our monthly allowance?”

The four of them appeared in the great hall. They were so angry that their necks were bulging with fury. The way they glared at An Zi Ran, it was as if they wanted to swallow him with their eyes. An Qiao E and An Ke Xin were also there. They were not too distressed by the monthly allowance, because they didn’t get much money anyways. An Chang Fu had set the amount when he was alive.

The girls in the family rarely went out, and the cost of food and clothes were counted under a different budget. They didn’t get to spend much money every month. Although they felt that it was unfair, they saw that An Yu Zhi also got the same amount as they did.

What were really unbearable were the three meals.

It was easy to adapt from poor to rich, but it was hard to become frugal after becoming accustomed to luxury.

They were accustomed to having lavish meals with generous amounts of meat and fish every day. From eating and drinking well, how could they still eat congee and salted vegetables? Almost feeling nauseous from the food, they spat it out. An Ke Xin even knocked the bowls over on the spot.

“By the right that I am head of the family.”

The four met An Zi Ran’s indifferent eyes, and they all shuddered.

…

Lan Xiang Courtyard (Fragrant Orchid Courtyard)

Wang Qing Lan stood in the yard and looked at the beautiful scenery of budding spring. She heard the maidservants talking about the news of Fang Jun Ping and them going to seek An Zi Ran. She cheerfully curled the corners of her lips, revealing a smile of ecstasy.

They were a group of stupid women with no brains. She knew that An Zi Ran would definitely rectify them after returning. That’s why she didn’t act like them and take advantage of An Zi Ran’s absence to tyrannically abuse the servants.

If it weren’t for An Chang Fu dying early, she could’ve easily used her little tricks to eradicate these unsightly people, including Liu Mei Xiang.

Thinking of this, a shadow flashed across Wang Qing Lan’s eyes.

It was a shame, he died too early.

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Chapter 51 – Plan Revival

Next day. Afternoon.

An Xue Yan returned home and found both of her parents in the main hall. Furthermore, the expressions on their faces were very ugly. She thought that they had found out about her sneaking out of the house, and was thinking of sneaking back to her room when she realized that they didn’t notice her at all.
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She knew that recently her parents have been fretting over the son of her uncle, An Zi Ran. As for her own personal feelings towards An Zi Ran, she disdained him. He was ugly and fat. If it weren’t for the fact that consanguinity couldn’t be severed, she wouldn’t even want to recognize him as a relative. An Xue Yan didn’t want her parents to take their anger out on her, so she decided to take another route back to her room.

As she was turning around the corner of the hallway, she happened to encounter An Yao Zong who was acting sneakily.

An Chang De and his wife gave Yao Zong that name because they hoped that someday their eldest son would accomplish something great. They wanted him to pass the imperial exams like his father and bring honor to his ancestors. Instead, not only did he not like to study, but he also liked to gamble.

No doubt the allowance that he got every month was all lost to the gambling houses. He even racked up quite the debt behind his parents’ backs. Only An Xue Yan knew about this, and the only reason she didn’t say anything was because he bribed her.

“(Older) Brother, are you going out to drink and play around* again?” An Xue Yan saw that he was gaudily dressed and immediately guessed his intentions. It was already getting late. Going out at this time meant that he was definitely going to be hanging out with his scoundrel friends at brothels and such.

[*T/N: 花天酒地 is an idiom meaning “to spend one’s time in drinking and (sexual) pleasure”]

An Yao Zong was hiding from his parents, so when he saw that it was his sister, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, it’s you, Xue Yan. You scared me. I just told father and mother that I would be burning the midnight oil (studying), and to not bother me. You absolutely must not tell father and mother that I am not home.”

An Xue Yan opened up her palm and extended her hand towards her brother. “Sure. This time I want one tael.”

An Yao Zong swatter aside her hand. “Don’t try this with me again. You snuck out today too. I have yet to report you to father and mother, and you dare to ask me for a silencing fee. Today, you’re out of luck.”

An Xue Yan thought about the consequences of her parents finding out and knew that they would ground her at home, so she did not persist. Instead, she said with enthusiasm, “Brother, guess what I heard today while I was outside. I bet you can’t guess what it is.”

“What else can it be? It must have something to do with An Zi Ran.” An Yao Zong gave her a blank look.

An Xue Yan stared. “How did you know?”

An Yao Zong said, “Just now father and mother were talking about it. I heard that An Zi Ran got married to a man.” His eyes were contemptuous and his tone was mocking.

A man marrying himself off to another man. His status must be some lowly official. And the man could only be a concubine. Their status was lower than that of a prostitute. When people spoke of them, there was usually disdain in their eyes. But An Yao Zong did not know that An Zi Ran had married Fu Wu Tian, and that his status was higher than that of some big landlord by several hundred times.

“Is that all?”

An Xue Yan blinked her eyes.

An Yao Zong did not bother to hear what else she had to say. With an impatient expression he said, “I have a previous engagement. If there is nothing else, then I will go first.”

An Xue Yan said with a smile, “Brother, yours is already old news. Father and mother are no longer talking about An Zi Ran’s marriage to some official from Jun Zi City. But do you know the identity of the man that An Zi Ran married?”

An Yao Zong heard schadenfreude in her words, and his eyes brightened. “(Little) Sister, are you saying that An Zi Ran did not marry some official?”

An Xue Yan nodded proudly. “Of course. How can a man like him nab an official? Although he did not marry the other person as a concubine, I heard the marriage partner is a businessman.”

“Is that true?” An Yao Zong was excited.

An Xue Yan enunciated each word individually. “It! Is! Absolutely! True!”

An Yao Zong slammed his fist into his palm with a thud. He hurriedly changed directions and headed for the great hall instead. An Xue Yan saw his sudden change in attitude. He no longer wanted to go out. She quickly gave chase.

“Brother, didn’t you have a previous engagement?”

“Your brother, I, just thought of a good plan. Not only would it eat up our parents’ time so that they can no longer hover over me, but we might not have to worry about spending money in the future.” An Yao Zong’s head revolved around this thought. He was truly short of money. His debt must be paid off within a stipulated period of time, and if he sold the An family’s land there would be money, so he was supportive of the idea of engulfing the An family property.

An Xue Yan was very curious about the plan he spoke of, so she followed.

…

An Change De was just drinking some tea to moisten his throat when he choked and sprayed the tea out everywhere. But he couldn’t be bothered to wipe it. He stared at his eldest son with rounded eyes. His expression was very comical.

The first one to react was Wu Zhi. She was so excited she stood up and walked up to An Yao Zong. She grabbed his arm and asked, “Yao Zong, is what you said true?”

The strength of her grasp was starting to hurt An Yao Zong, but he understood her feelings. “Of course it is true. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Sister. This is what she heard when she was outside.”

Inadvertently, he had thrown his sister under the bus.

When An Xue Yan heard her brother say so, she knew that she was in trouble, but she wasn’t fast enough to prevent him from saying it. She turned around and thought of making a run for it when her mother, like a hunting lion, had already shouted out her name. But the following words made her halt in a strange way. It would seem that her mother was not going to reprimand at her for sneaking out of the house.

Although she couldn’t quite understand the matter, she felt that she had done something meritorious.

An Chang De had already returned to his senses.

In the face of her parents’ questions, An Xue Yan recounted the tale of how she came upon the information. At the end, she still had to swear that what she’d said was true.

“Good!”

An Change De was so excited that his face was red as he slammed his hands against the table. Although his hands turned red from the force, he did not feel the pain. Ever since An Zi Ran took his younger brother and sister to Jun Zi City, he was so worried that An Yu Zhi would marry some big shot official from there. But now he learnt that it was only some businessman. Then there was nothing to worry about.

“Chang De, we must quickly tell this news to Prefectural Magistrate Jiang.” Wu Zhi’s face shone. The plans that they had to put on hold due to unclear circumstances could finally be re-implemented. She had already had enough days of financial hardship.

“Yes, you’re right. But just in case, we still have to get someone to verify this information, and make sure it is not a rumor,” An Chang De said, feeling a little uncertain.

An Xue Yan didn’t understand what they were saying. “Father, Mother, what are you talking about?”

The couple realized that their daughter still didn’t know what they were planning. This matter could not be known by too many people, so they sent her back to her room, but had their son stay behind.

An Xue Yan was afraid that her mother would realize that she had snuck out and punish her, so she did not dare to ask further.

This information was no longer a secret within the An family. In addition, some people were deliberately spreading the news out. An Chang De and his wife almost did not have to put in any effort to find out, and it seemed that the facts were not that different from what their daughter had said. An Zi Ran actually married a businessman. They couldn’t wait to fly to Yong Province and tell Prefectural Magistrate Jiang the news.

The next day, they reluctantly hired the only horse keeper in An Yuan County.

The horse keeper had a very fast horse. It took only two days to go back and forth from An Yuan County to Yong Province. But they didn’t even need two days. The carriage was often used to help people deliver stuff around, so the horse keeper was familiar enough with the roads to take shortcuts and shorten the distance.

The horse keeper felt that their demands were too high though. After all, the horses needed to rest, so they had to pay extra.

When An Chang De and his wife thought about their plans coming to fruition and them sitting on the An family property, they didn’t even nitpick about paying extra fees and handed over the money without fuss. The horse keeper was surprised for a while. This couple was rather infamous. Everyone in An Yuan County knew about them.

Their every move made throughout the day was recorded and placed onto An Zi Ran’s desk by the day’s end.

An Zi Ran did not relax his surveillance of the An Chang De couple just because he left An Yuan County. On the contrary, he had the man named Xiao Ye continue to monitor them.
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Yesterday, Xiao Ye reported to An Zi Ran about everything that happened during his time away. There were no superfluous words used and only the key points were delivered. This made An Zi Ran felt that he was a person of talent.

The paper in his hand was suddenly taken away.

When An Zi Ran looked up, he saw that it was Fu Wu Tian. He had no idea when the man had appeared in his study. He couldn’t help but frown. He didn’t even notice it, but he didn’t think his own alertness had dropped. The only possibility was that Fu Wu Tian was even more skilled than he’d imagined. Still more mysteries.

“Return it to me.”

An Zi Ran reached out and snatched the paper back. He didn’t let Fu Wu Tian see the embarrassment from him having to monitor his own uncle. He believed that Fu Wu Tian had already investigated this matter.

Fu Wu Tian placed one hand on the edge of the chair and there was a feeling of shrouding An Zi Ran under his body. He sincerely said, “This person is not bad.”

An Zi Ran gave him a look. “Yes, not bad.”

When the matter at hand comes to an end, he planned to interview this person. If his background checked out okay, then he wanted to have this person continue to aid him in important matters.

“Wang fei, you actually said that another man is not bad, you’re making this prince jealous.” Fu Wu Tian suddenly leaned down, his body pressing against the front of the other’s body. His exhaled breath just so happened to brush the other’s neck. That patch of skin suddenly became pink at a rate visible to the naked eye.

An Zi Ran silently gave him a look. He refused to discuss this stupid topic.

Fu Wu Tian almost laughed at him.

Wang fei was getting cuter and cuter.

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For those of you concerned about polarbearadise’s broken link to chapter one, I have re-translated the chapter, and it is now available on this site.

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Chapter 50 – To Intimidate

The entire hall was quiet because of Shao Fei’s words.

Wang Qing Lan’s vision started to go black. An Zi Ran was actually married to this man? An Zi Ming was only four months old (so he couldn’t inherit the family). Doing this, doesn’t it mean that An Zi Ran was taking the entire An family with him in marriage (like a dowry)? Without the An family, what would become of her?

Fang Jun Ping and Zheng Bi’s faces twisted. They were thinking the same thing as Wang Qing Lan. In addition, they had to consider their daughters’ dowries. If the An family became this man’s, who knew if he would give them a dowry or not.
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“An Zi Ran, you shameless person. You are willing to fall like this and marry yourself to a man as his concubine? If your parents knew about this they would be rolling in their graves.” Zheng Bi’s mean voice was sharper than Wang Qing Lan’s. Her eyes were so fierce that they were starting to turn red. All she knew was that if her daughter had no dowry, after marrying in the future, they will be looked down upon by the husband’s family, and then their beautiful future will be ruined.

An Zi Ran had long since expected such a reaction.

He had learned from Steward Su that An Chang Fu had already prepared a dowry for his two daughters, but had never told them. So it was easy to guess the thoughts running through their heads right now.

But there was another person who was not as calm and collected as him.

Fu Wu Tian’s eyes showed a hint of coldness, and the hall seemed to be covered with a suffocating pressure.

His gaze made Zheng Bi’s hair stand on end, but knowing that he was only a mere businessman she was not as afraid as before. Her eyes were still glaring at An Zi Ran with hatred, as if she wanted to flay the skin from his bones.

“Who told you that he was my concubine? If you say one more bad word about my wife, whether you’re a woman or a man, I will parade you through the streets like a prisoner. Don’t think that I am joking.” Fu Wu Tian’s expression was calm, but his words were laden with strength, striking against Zheng Bi’s heart. Her eyes widened into saucers.

An Zi Ran couldn’t help but tilt his head and give him a glance.

To speak like this to a woman in her 30s and 40s, one needed skin that was thicker than usual*.

[*T/N: Having thick skin means to be shameless.]

Shao Fei and Ge Qian An were used to it. Paraded through the streets like a prisoner, that was considered a light sentence. Compared to when they were on the battlefield at the borders, some people ran around naked in front of enemy troops. The feeling of having one’s birthday suit exposed to the world, only those who have been punished could understand the feeling.

Zheng Bi didn’t believe that he would dare do such a thing, but she was still intimidated by his imposing aura, so she did not dare to scold An Zi Ran anymore. Her face burned red hot.

“An Zi Ran, your parents died not too long ago, yet you were in such a hurry to get married, where is your filial piety? I would like to see, when everyone knows that the young master of An has married himself off so soon after his parents’ deaths, what would they think!”

Fang Jun Ping, who has been relatively silent this whole time, but still harbored the same thoughts, suddenly spoke up at this time. Her character has always been rather inflexible and her words rather clumsy. Unlike Zheng Bi, she was not quick with her words, but once she got started she was not the kind of person that willingly gave in.
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An Zi Ran’s expression did not change. “Da Ya has clear regulations, one may not marry within one hundred days of a family death. My parents have been gone for over four months. A hundred days have passed. There is nothing wrong with me and him getting married.”

“What about the consummation of the marriage? Da Ya also has regulations concerning that. Children may marry within one hundred days of a family death, but they must practice asceticism for half a year to show respect for the deceased relative.” Still not willing to resign, Fang Jun Ping toughened her skin and asked. She wanted to seize onto any shortcomings of An Zi Ran that she could. To even be able to ask about such manners, it was a demonstration of her determination.

When the others heard this sentence, their faces all morphed into different expressions.

Except for Zheng Bi and those who did not know, everyone from the Fu palace, including Steward Su, thought that the young master and Fu wang ye had already consummated their marriage. They couldn’t help but worry about it. If this information was spread about, then it would not be good for the young master’s reputation.

“Even Concubine Fang herself said that she would abstain from indulgence for half a year, then naturally we have not yet consummated the marriage.” An Zi Ran answered immediately. He did not expect that things would develop to this point, but he immediately thought that this was a good opportunity to clarify rumors, so he did not hesitate to answer.

Ge Qian An and them were all surprised.

They actually didn’t do it?

Then they understood that rumors could not be fully believed. With An Zi Ran’s personality, since he was only acting as a replacement bride, then he would definitely not let the wang ye act out everything. Wang ye will have to make extra effort to win him completely.

Fang Jun Ping sneered, “Of course you can say whatever you want. Anyway, only the two of you know the truth. Other people can’t be certain.” The implication was that she thought that An Zi Ran was lying.

“Whether you believe it or not, that is up to you. But if there is anymore unreasonable troublemaker, then I will mete out the family punishment without mercy!” An Zi Ran was actually not angry.

Those who met the cold gaze of his eyes jumped in fright, especially Fang Jun Ping. She finally remembered that An Zi Ran was a man of strategy. Although he was only sixteen-years-old, his method of doing things was like that of an adult, and he could be ruthless when he needed to be, even if he’s up against his own uncle. With just a few days of effort, he ruined his uncle’s reputation. Now his uncle was like a little mouse. He didn’t even dare to leave his house. So how could An Zi Ran let them go?

Realizing this, they didn’t dare to say anything. They could only wait for another opportunity to talk later.

Subsequently, the three concubines along with their daughters returned back to their quarters.

When they left, Zheng Bi and Fang Jun Ping were still indignant.

An Zi Ran came back to An Yuan County under the guise of visiting his parental home after marriage, but he was not ready to return to Jun Zi City with Fu Wu Tian. Everything of the An family was here in An Yuan County, if he left for too long, then sooner or later some incident was bound to occur. So he already discussed with Fu Wu Tian to spend a few more days in An Yuan County. In exchange, he had to let Fu Wu Tian sleep with him in the same bed. Originally, he wanted to lie out a mat for the man on the floor.

Steward Su couldn’t help but rejoice. “Fortunately, Da Ya’s law on filial piety was changed a year ago. Any later, and those women would certainly grasp onto some weakness to use against us. If they spread gossip that would be bad.”

When Shao Fei walked past, he heard these words and suddenly turned around. “Some people’s playthings may not be able to endure.” After saying this sentence he walked away and left a befuddled Steward Su.

[T/N: Yeah, I’m confused by that sentence, too.]

Speaking of the six-month rule of abstinence, this matter has to start from a year ago.

Previously, Da Ya paid more attention to filial piety, so there was a law that stated when a relative passed away, the children must be filial for three years, and abstain from indulgence during this time. As the emperor, Fu Chong was supposed to lead by example, but he was a lascivious emperor. Out of thirty days, twenty-nine of those would be spent with a concubine on her bed.

The Empress Dowager was the emperor’s biological mother. After her death, Fu Chong ought to refrain from indulgences for half a year, but he didn’t. He couldn’t even hold out for seven days before he was found playing around in his concubine’s chambers.

Later, there was even news of an official trying to petition the emperor against his behavior but was killed for it. Then, in order to satisfy his own lists, Fu Chong tried to use high-sounding reasons to change three years to six months. This incident had always been a scandal in the royal family, so few people knew about it.
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The officials who knew the truth at the time did not dare to speak of this scandal, because it wouldn’t be just the royal family losing face, it would also implicate the old ministers.

After Fu Chong’s succession, there were many occurrences of such absurd incidents. If he didn’t have a few smart sons, and a capable nephew who protected the country’s borders, then Da Ya would have crumbled under his rule.

It was normal for Steward Su to not know this.

After that farce with the concubines, calm returned to the An family again.

Later that day in the afternoon, An Chang De and his wife learned that An Zi Ran was back.

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Vanilla Muse: It has been brought to my attention that polarbearadise’s link to chapter one of TBL was broken. So I’ve re-translated the chapter. My version might differ from polarbearadise’s version a little, but the general contents remain the same.

T/N: Chapters are split into parts. For an extended explanation, go to the FAQs.

Standard Info: Abbreviation for “The Big Landlord” is TBL. Go here for the updating schedule. Go to the title page for info on the story, a Characters List, the Table of Contents, and a list of Notable Locations.

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Chapter 1 – The An Family

Chong Ming Emperor’s 27^th Year, January, Big Snow

Many places in the Da Ya Dynasty were covered with heavy snow. The crystalline snowflakes sparkled in a beautiful way. The weather was cold, but it could not cover up the lively atmosphere of the New Year’s celebration. In towns big and small, almost every household had red lanterns.
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An Yuan County was one of the small county towns of the Da Ya Dynasty. The third day of the New Year was a festive holiday. Every family was happily celebrating, but there was one big family with white lanterns hanging on their front doors. The entire house was covered in a gloomy atmosphere.

This family was the largest landlord family in An Yuan County – the An family!

An Family Residence

The sky was still dark. The sun had yet to rise. Occasionally the sound of a crying rooster could be heard.

A maidservant dressed in plain white clothes got up early in the morning. She carried a pot filled with hot water and ran through the long corridors quickly.

Other maidservants also woke early, and all of them were busy bustling about. The supposedly busy atmosphere was very quiet, however. Almost no one spoke. The servants all bowed their heads. When they crossed paths they did not nod or speak to each other. They just carried on, rushing about with their work.

The maid carrying the basin of hot water walked through the main house and then into a side yard on the left. She passed through a garden blanketed in snow and arrived in front of a room. She knocked on the door, waited for permission to enter, and then pushed the door open to walk in.

The maid placed the steaming basin atop a wooden shelf and then went to the folding screen. She covertly glanced at the teenager still lying on the bed and calmly said, “Young Master, the hot water has been brought over.”

The young boy responded with a faint sigh. “Understood. You first go out, ba.”

The maid did not dare to say more. She was already used to the young master’s new attitude, which was slightly indifferent. Not to mention, after the occurrence of that incident, even if the young master did not want to change, he still had to adapt to circumstances and change. Otherwise… the maid shook her head and did not continue the thought. Then she exited the room on light footsteps.

When only the teenager was left in the room, he sat up awkwardly from the bed and spent a quarter of an hour wearing clothes and shoes. Then he walked over to the basin of hot water the maid had brought in.

The youngster saw his face reflected upon the clear water. It was a fat face that seemed as if one could wring oil from it. Although he has been looking at this face for three days now, he still couldn’t help but stick out his lower lip in a pout.

The once handsome face was replaced by a pig’s face. No once could accept it immediately.

The youth was named An Zi Ran. Born into the An family, he was sixteen this year, and was the eldest son of the family. He also had biological siblings born from the same father and mother: a beautiful younger sister… and brother.

The boy at this time was not the real An Zi Ran. Even he himself did not know why he had become An Zi Ran. He simply woke up three days ago and found himself in this person’s body.

Now, he has finally accepted the reality that he has become someone else, but that did not mean he accepted the state of An Zi Ran’s body. Only sixteen years old and he already weighed 78 catty. From top to bottom his body was covered in fatty meat. Exceeding the standard, it was very difficult for him to do anything now. Otherwise, why would it take a quarter of an hour just to put on clothes?

Therefore, on the first day in this world, An Zi Ran already declared a personal goal – to lose weight!

However, before he could implement his weight lost plan, a bunch of other problems have already come knocking on his door.

The An family was the largest landlord family in An Yuan County. The family was very wealthy. An Chang Fu was An Zi Ran’s father. He was the one with the most authority in the An family. If he said one, no one would dare say two. And he was someone with a lot of clever tricks up his sleeves. His figure was portly, but he was not ugly. It could be said that he singlehandedly built up the big family business of the An family.
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An Chang Fu had a total of four wives. The main wife was An Zi Ran’s birth mother, Liu Mei Xiang. She was with An Chang Fu from before his success. She witnessed the An family’s development, growing from a small thing into a big family business. Together they had two sons and one daughter.

In her entire life, the most successful thing she did was giving birth to two sons for the family. Because among the four wives, she was the only one who gave birth to sons, thus continuing the family line. Therefore, she was very respected by An Chang Fu. The relationship between husband and wife was very harmonious for over ten years. Even though An Chang Fu later married a second, third, and then fourth wife, his feelings for Liu Mei Xiang never changed.

According to reason, An Zi Ran should live a very fortunate life.

Things were still very happy three days ago, until death came for An Chang Fu and Liu Mei Xiang. This kind of happiness was like a mirror, and it is broken once it falls.

Since then, the An family fell into an abyss of suffering.

And likewise, An Zi Ran also fell along into that abyss.

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Other Chinese BL translation projects by Vanilla Muse:
Let Me Shoulder this Blame! (Quick Transmigration)
Quickly Wear the Face of the Devil: Xue Zi Xuan’s Side Story (Quick Transmigration)
Didn’t Love You Enough (Rebirth, Historical)
Male Lead 2 and Male Lead 3 Happy Ending! (Transmigration, Modern)
This Alpha’s Pheromones Are Exploding (Transmigration, Modern, Showbiz)
After Rebirth the Tragic Omega Wins Without Lifting a Finger (Rebirth, Sci-Fi)

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T/N: I’m changing up Fu Wu Tian’s pronoun starting with this chapter. Before he used 本王 ben wang to address himself, which meant “this prince,” and I translated it as “I” for simplicity, but here he actually uses 我 wo to refer to himself, which is the neutral “I” to hide his status in front of the concubines.

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Chapter 49.2 – Homecoming Crisis

An Zi Ran took note of their expressions. “Why did she run away from marriage? You can ask her that yourself if you have the opportunity to see her in the future. But there is something that I must announce, An Yu Zhi is no longer the Third Miss of An. Even if she returns in the future, no one is allowed to let her in the door without my permission.”

That serious?
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Several people were stunned. An Yu Zhi was his blood related sister after all. To drive her from the family just because she ran away from marriage, An Zi Ran couldn’t possibly be that heartless. To not care about blood ties, did something big happen during the time that they were in Jun Zi City?

“But, since Yu Zhi escaped from the marriage, how come this gentleman says he is the An family’s son-in-law?”

The shrewd Wang Qing Lan immediately remembered Fu Wu Tian’s words. Since the two did not get married how could he still be considered a son-in-law? An Qiao E and An Ke Xin didn’t have any marriage prospects yet so it couldn’t be them either.

An Zi Ran’s expression darkened.

He shouldn’t have let Fu Wu Tian speak just then.

Fu Wu Tian said faintly, “Who said that I am the husband of the Third Miss? The An family has more than one child after all.”

When realization struck the women could not help but look at one another. Could it be what they were thinking? Due to An Yu Zhi fleeing the marriage, this man now wants to choose another young miss from the An family as a replacement? If that was so…

An Qiao E and An Ke Xin were so excited that their faces became red.

They could tell with one look that this man was no simple person, and he even came from Jun Zi City. After marrying him, one could move to Jun Zi City and network with even more people. Maybe even meet the influential officials there. That would be like hitting the jackpot.
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Fang Jun Ping and Zheng Bi were not as optimistic as them. Instead they were wondering what caused An Yu Zhi to run away from the marriage.

No matter how you looked at this man he was impeccable. If not for some special reason, how could a sheltered girl like An Yu Zhi have the courage to flee?

In the future, their daughters would be their meal tickets, so they must give this matter careful consideration.

“I wonder what kind of business does this gentleman do in Jun Zi City?” Zheng Bi asked anxiously. This way of asking was very abrupt and rude. But she didn’t want her daughter to marry and then end up having regrets. Just because one lived in Jun Zi City it did not automatically meant they had a high status. So she must be shameless and ask. However, her wording was still quite skillful. At the very least, she knew that she could not directly ask people what status they had.

The two young misses immediately perked up their ears.

This was related to their future, they could not be careless!

Ge Qian An, who was standing to the side, swept his cold gaze across them. In a frost-covered tone he said, “Our master does business, as for what kind of business, that is not something that you married women can know.”

Like a basin of cold water being dumped over their heads, all of their schemes and ambitions were doused.

An Qiao E and An Ke Xin could not help feeling disappointed, so much so that they could not keep the emotion from creeping onto their faces. Da Ya placed importance on agriculture and looked down on business and commerce. In general, the status of a businessman was not high. Although they won’t lack for clothes or food, they’d much rather marry some bigwig or official, and become a noble woman. This was the future that they felt that they should have.

The expressions on their faces were very obvious. They did not know how to conceal their emotions.

The atmosphere in the great hall grew cold.

Fang Jun Ping and Zheng Bi took note, and could not help feeling anxious for their daughters. Even if they looked down on businessmen they still shouldn’t be so obvious about it. They promptly gave their daughters covert glares. Feeling the sting of their mothers’ gazes the two young girls withdrew the looks of distaste on their faces.

“You want to marry our master, but you don’t even know your own value. For daughters of concubines, you’re not even worthy of being our master’s concubines. Furthermore, our master has already married the young master of An.” Shao Fei, who was in a bad mood from listening to them prattle, couldn’t help but speak out. He sneered at the women until their expressions turned black. They had yet to think of a proper rebuke when those words practically shocked their souls from their bodies.

“What are you talking about?!” Wang Qing Lan’s sharp voice suddenly screeched.

The other four were shocked into silence. The young master of An was married* to someone? What a joke!

[*T/N: English just uses the word “marry,” but in Chinese there are two ways of saying “marry” that connotes gender. 嫁给 jia gei implies a woman giving herself to a man in marriage, and 娶亲 qu qin implies a man taking a wife. The text here uses the former.]

[In the case of two men I guess we can say the former is the shou/uke and the latter is the gong/seme. XD]

Shao Fei saw that his master and wang fei were not stopping him. He was not stupid. He knew that someday they would have to let these women know (about the marriage). It must be too embarrassing for the wang fei to say it himself, so it was necessary to have someone else come out and say it. His courage became bolstered. “I’m not speaking nonsense. The young master of An married our master two days ago. Today is the day he returns to his parental home.”

Fang Jun Ping and them felt like they were struck by lightning. Shock split their faces.

How could An Zi Ran be married to someone!

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Thank you to Ren for the coffee and your sweet comment. \(^-^)/

Thank you to Kurai for the coffees and your lovely comment. ໒( ♡ ◡ ♡ )७

Someone commented that they checked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox, and now wants to opt out of the service. Unfortunately I don’t see anything on my end that could remove you from it, but try looking in one of those emails that you get, and see if there’s an “unsubscribe” option towards the end of the email. This has worked for me on other news subscription websites, and I hope it’s the same in this case.

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Chapter 49.1 – Homecoming Crisis*

[*T/N: 回门风波 I simplified the title in English, but the full meaning in Chinese would be “first return of bride to her parental home crisis”]

When Fang Jun Ping and Zheng Bi heard that An Zi Ran had come back, they immediately took their daughters along and rushed over.

When they saw that there was another man beside An Zi Ran, like Wang Qing Lan, they also froze up. They did not expect An Zi Ran to bring several strangers back with him.

“The young master of An is finally willing to come back. Looks like he found those relatives. How are the relatives of An family doing?” There were thorns in Zheng Bi’s words. As she spoke she looked around the hall, but she didn’t see An Yu Zhi’s figure, and so she thought that the girl had returned to her boudoir. She saw Fu Wu Tian sitting beside An Zi Ran in one of the two main chairs of the hall and thought that he must be An Yu Zhi’s husband.
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At this time, the news that An Yu Zhi fled from the marriage has not yet reached An Yuan County.

All the people present knew that the so-called ‘relatives’ was actually Fu Wu Tian (and his family). He was the contracted marriage partner of An Yu Zhi. Since the two have married and said their vows, naturally he would be a part of the family now, and thus a ‘relative.’

After seeing Fu Wu Tian, the jealousy within An Qiao E and An Ke Xin grew even stronger.

Fu Wu Tian had a handsome face and an impressive aura. He had a different type of attractiveness than his subordinate, Guan Su. His was a domineering and heroic type of charm, full of masculinity. His strong body gave off a sense of security. Compared to the pretty boy appeal of Guan Su, his type was even more likely to attract women. Especially against An Qiao E and An Ke Xin, these two girls who never left home, his handsome appearance was even more potent. They could practically swoon from just one look.

But one couldn’t blame them for being fascinated by Fu Wu Tian.

Ever since the rumors of Fu Wu Tian’s ugliness were shattered, the entire Jun Zi City now knew that Da Ya’s God of War was a handsome and unrestrained man.

Especially those young girls who saw Fu Wu Tian on the day of the big wedding, their hearts were practically tied to him now. Even though he was already married, there were countless people who still wanted to be his imperial concubine. If it weren’t for the fact that he has only been married for three days, there would certainly be a long line of women at the door of the Fu palace.

Zheng Bi’s eyes fell on Fu Wu Tian. With a handkerchief covering her mouth, she smiled and said, “This person couldn’t possible be our An family’s relative. Don’t know what is this gentleman’s esteemed name? And which of our An family’s relative are you?”

Her words were not very polite.

She has been married to An Chang Fu for almost twenty years, how could she not know all the people related to the An family? In spite of knowing that Fu Wu Tian could not possibly be a previous relation, she still said those words, and there was ridicule in her voice. In particular, the last sentence, it was said with the subtext of ‘I know you are not a relative of the family.’ It was purely with the attitude of watching a joke.

But who was Fu Wu Tian?

All of Da Ya’s hundreds of thousands of troops must obey before him, let alone one woman.

Fu Wu Tian’s pair of dark and fathomless eyes fell upon Zheng Bi. “Would the An family’s son-in-law be considered a relative?”

Zheng Bi had never seen such unfathomable eyes. She was scared stiff. She almost couldn’t hold on to her handkerchief and dropped it to the floor. Her scalp went numb and her tongue almost froze over. Barely managing to pull a smile onto her face she said, “This concubine has not heard that a daughter of An have been married. This gentleman must be joking.”

Fu Wu Tian spoke with insouciance, “Just because you have not heard does not mean that the An family does not have a son-in-law. If you don’t know, then that just means you are not qualified.”

Zheng Bi’s face twisted.

Fang Jun Ping and Wang Qing Lan’s expressions were also not good. To say that Zheng Bi was not qualified, that automatically included them too. Although they knew that a concubine’s status was low, to hear it in person was still hard to swallow.

Wang Qing LAn suddenly spoke up, “Zi Ran, why didn’t Yu Zhi come back with you?”

She was the first to come out and ‘greet’ them. At that time, she stood atop the steps of the hall and had a relatively wide field of vision. Although she couldn’t see the situation at the front door, even if An Zi Ran had An Yu Zhi return to her boudoir, it couldn’t have been that fast, so the only explanation was that An Yu Zhi did not come back with them. Why didn’t she come back? Intuition told her that there was something wrong with this.

An Zi Ran’s eyes snapped to her. He always knew that Wang Qing Lan was a smart person. It was not unexpected for her to realize that An Yu Zhi was not with them.

“She ran away from the marriage.”

When those words were said, everyone was shocked.

Even An Qiao E and An Ke Xin who had their eyes downcast couldn’t help but raise their heads, revealing a shocked expression. They couldn’t digest this heavy news for a while. They didn’t even have time to gloat.

Zheng Bi quickly used her handkerchief to cover her mouth and couldn’t stop the schadenfreude. “Our Yu Zhi is the Third Miss of An, how could she run away from a marriage?”

“That’s right. Could you have mistaken? How could the young miss of the first wife run away from marriage?!” Wang Qing Lan also echoed. Although she tried to express shock in her voice, she still could not hide the hidden shade of happiness within it.

Only Fang Jun Ping, who was not good with words, did not speak, but her eyes showed a hint of happiness.

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Chapter 48 – Return to the An Family

The next day, they finally arrived at An Yuan County.

The night before, they had stopped in a small town and stayed at an inn there for one night. The next morning, they had set off early and arrived at their destination in half an hour. The farmers in An Yuan County were used to getting up early and sleeping late. The sky was not yet bright when they glimpsed the silhouette of An Zi Ran’s group.
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The location of An Yuan County was not remote. Occasionally, some caravans could be seen passing by. But those were merchant caravans; therefore they were definitely not very luxurious. So when the farmers saw the opulent horse carriage from the Fu palace, most of them would pause in their work and stare. They watched until the carriage pulled onto one of An Yuan County’s streets. Then they exchanged a few words and went back to farming.

The carriage soon stopped before the main gates of the An estate.

The absent-gaze doorkeeper sitting by the gate jumped up in shock. He stared nervously at the carriage. He had never seen such a luxurious carriage before, and the An family did not own such a good carriage. So he did not expect that the young master of the family would be coming back, until Fu Wu Tian helped An Zi Ran get off the carriage, and then the doorkeeper’s chin fell to the ground.

“Young Master, you’ve finally returned.”

The doorkeeper fixed his rivet gaze on An Zi Ran as he came closer.

An Zi Ran asked, “In the time that I was away, did anything big happen in the family during my absence?”

The doorkeeper shook his head at first, but then he returned to his senses and nodded his head instead. “The Big Master* and his wife came by once. They caused a big ruckus, but because you weren’t here and Concubine Fang doesn’t have the authority to make decisions, they left after that.”

[*T/N: Referring to the uncle. Steward Su called him 二老爷 (Second Master) but the doorkeeper called him 大老爷 (Big Master)]

An Zi Ran nodded and walked inside. He did not ask what his uncle and aunt came for.

The doorkeeper looked at the man who walked in with the young master. He opened his mouth and seemed to want to say something. Although he was a servant, even he could tell that this man was no ordinary person. He didn’t think that the young master would go out on a trip and bring back such a person.

At first, Wang Qing Lan and them (the concubines) could not guess the purpose for why An Zi Ran left An Yuan County with his younger siblings. They could not have known that the Old Master was hiding such a big secret. Furthermore, he didn’t let news of the marriage contract slip out, so not many people knew about this matter.

And then An Change De came to cause a scene.

An Chang De found out from the county head magistrate that An Zi Ran went to Jun Zi City to look for relatives (through marriage). He had been apprehensive all this time. Later, Prefectural Magistrate Jiang also found out about this matter. It was impossible to determine the identity of the mysterious person, so they did not dare to hastily try taking advantage of the An family again. Thus, their plans were temporarily postponed. For this reason, he had always felt choked with resentment.

If An Zi Ran really does find a big backer from Jun Zi City, then he would surely take care of him first thing when he returned (to An Yuan County).

But no matter what, he was still An Zi Ran’s uncle. He didn’t think that small brat would dare to start something with him. But what if that brat suddenly hardened his heart and became ruthless?

Because of that tiny possibility, he had made a trip to the An family not too long ago, hoping to see if he could find anything out from Wang Qing Lan and the others. Who would have thought that the information was so tenaciously concealed from them? He could not get a single word of information from them.

Wang Qing Lan and them were very shocked by this news (of the marriage contract).

When An Zi Ran left with his younger siblings, he had only told them (the concubines) that he was going out to visit some distant relatives. But the truth of the matter was that the An family did not have many relatives, so they guessed that it must have something to do with the uncle.

An Chang De once stirred up the local farmers to cause trouble for the An family. This was not a secret, because later, a few people stepped up to confess the truth and pointed out the mastermind behind the mess. The uncle’s target was the An family’s assets. At that time, he was among the group of rioters. He was the first one to take the lead and start trouble. He left an impression, so there were quite a few people that still remembered him. Everyone believed him when he spoke.

Since then, An Change De became a target of scorn.

Every time he went out on the streets people would point at him and blame him for the riot. Although he held the title of a scholar, he started eyeing up his nephew’s assets not long after his younger brother’s death. Not to mention, he even found people to cause trouble for the An family. This kind of person, even if he achieved scholarly honor (in imperial exams), he would still be spurned by the masses.

(T/N: Looks like our protagonists won’t have to do much to bring down this uncle. He’s already dragging his own reputation through the mud. XP)

An Change De was a temperamental person. He could not stand the eyes of contempt, so he went to seek the county head magistrate. He wanted the magistrate to find and capture those people who were talking bad about him behind his back. The result, he was ridiculed by the county head magistrate.

(T/N: No, duh.)

He was a scholar, how could he not understand this point? To capture all the people that gossiped behind other’s backs… that would be a huge number of people. To arrest all those people, let’s not mention that the Da Ya Dynasty did not have that many jail cells, but to feed all the people within those available jail cells would be enough to collapse the empire. That kind of brainless action could only be thought up by a brainless person.

Regardless of how An Change De tossed about and resisted, his reputation has become as stinky as sewage water.

However, An Change De had a wife that came from a literary family, and Wang Qing Lan and them knew this.

The An family was engaged in business and trade. After An Chang Fu’s death, some of the former business contacts were broken. The other contacts did not have the power to fight against a prefectural magistrate, so the concubines thought that An Zi Ran left to avoid this trouble. They never thought that it would be because of a marriage contract that the Old Master had concealed from a long time ago.

“Why? Why is it An Yu Zhi? How is my daughter any worse than that An Yu Zhi?”

In a fit of anger, Fang Jun Ping swept the things off the top of her dressing table with her arms. Crash. Bang. The things clattered to the floor. The force of her arms sent pieces of jewelry flying to the four corners of her room.

When she heard that the marriage partner was some wealthy person in Jun Zi City, she threw a fit of dissatisfaction. It was as An Zi Ran had predicted. Her daughter was already eighteen and still not married yet, so how could An Yu Zhi get married first. So what if she was Liu Mei Xiang’s daughter? That woman was already dead.

An Qiao E stood to the side without talking, but her face was evidently gloomy.

In another room, the third concubine Zheng Bi was unexpectedly calm.

Zheng Bi was shrewd and had a poisonous tongue. She wasn’t like Fang Jun Ping. She wouldn’t throw a fit and make a mess in her room when she was angry. Ever since An Zi Ran took over as head of the family, the concubines’ expenses have been cut in half. If the things inside their rooms were broken, the replacement fees would be deducted from their monthly allowance.

“Mother, you just wait for an opportunistic time. Your daughter, I, will marry a man with more status than Prefectural Magistrate Jiang. Then we’ll see how he can keep being arrogant in front of us. Even if he is the big landlord of An Yuan County, he will still have to kneel and pay respects to me.” The person that An Ke Xin loathed the most was An Zi Ran. Their birth dates were three days apart, so she always hated him for stealing their father’s attention away ever since their childhoods. She’d always believed that the reason she did not received their father’s love and attention was because of An Zi Ran.

Zheng Bi immediately took her by the hand. “Daughter, you must get vengeance for your mother.”

“Mother, don’t worry, your daughter won’t let you down.” An Ke Xin inherited her mother’s beauty. She was very confident in herself.

As for Wang Qing Lan, she had no children. Unlike the other two concubines, she knew that her future could only depend upon An Zi Ran. Her mind was full of calculations. So when she heard that An Zi Ran came back, she was the first one to come out and welcome him.

From afar, she could see Fu Wu Tian standing shoulder to shoulder with An Zi Ran. With this one look, she suddenly froze up.

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Chapter 47 – Farmers

The tea shed was very simple, with a straw roof on top. Beneath that were several tables and chairs. The people who passed by would be thirsty and hungry and thus stop to rest and refuel at this rest stop. The traffic here was rather high.

When everyone’s curiosity was satisfied, they withdrew their gazes from An Zi Ran’s group, and the sound of people talking once again filled the tea shed. From time to time the server’s loud voice could be heard among the ambient chatter. Their tea and snacks were soon served up. This time the server did not try to sneak looks at them.
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Even though it was spring, the midday sun was still very warm.

Several plain-attired farmers suddenly appeared in the tea shed with their children.

The adults were carrying large parcels and they led the children towards the tea shed. Their expressions did not look good. The people in the tea shed could not help but subconsciously glance at the newcomers.

Over at the next table, the conversation between two men caught An Zi Ran’s attention.

“There are disasters everywhere. It’s getting worse and worse in this year.” A man wearing coarse hemp garments set his cup heavily on the table and made a loud noise.

Another person at the same table immediately said, “How do you know that they are escaping from disaster?”

The man said, “You haven’t been back in three years so naturally you don’t know. To get from Chang Province to Maple City, one must pass through this area. What kind of place is Chang Province? That is the area where natural disasters occur most frequently. Disasters strike there at regular intervals. If it is not a flood then it is a drought. Last year, flood broke out, flooding many fields and villages. Many people were displaced and had to migrate to other places.”

The other person nodded, but then he thought of something and said, “Maple City is the closest place to Chang Province. If people want to migrate, they would always go to Maple City. However, it seems that this year there has been no natural disaster in Chang Province. So how come there are still Chang Province people appearing here?”

“That I do not know.” The man touched his chin in thought. “Perhaps they are worried that natural disasters will break out in the future, so they are moving ahead of time. After all, it happened last year.”

“Leaving Chang Province earlier is also a good idea.”

“That is, many people in Chang Province are not going to survive like this, and the imperial family does not know…”

The other person hurried hissed for silence and lowered his voice, “Talking about the imperial family in public, do you want to die?” At this they deliberately looked over at An Zi Ran’s group who had came from Jun Zi City.

The man immediately went mum.

One of the farmers asked the server for a pot of tea. After the server brought over the tea, the farmer took out some dry food from his pack. The dry food was made of miscellaneous grains. They’ve been out for a long time so the texture was a bit tough. He handed his wife and son a piece of the coarse biscuit, and then swallowed his portion with the tea. The biscuit was not delicious. The two adults furrowed their brows from time to time as they ate. The child couldn’t chew it down at all. The farmer’s wife asked the server for a bowl. Then she tore the hard biscuit and soaked it in the bowl with the tea. When the biscuit softened, she gave it to the child.

The child couldn’t eat this thing and his eyes were always glued to the piping hot buns on Steward Su’s table.

Steward Su sympathized with the malnourished child. When he noticed the child’s gaze his heart softened. He called the child over and gave him the three buns left on the table.

The child was a bit hesitant at first, but after all, he couldn’t resist the temptation of the buns. Despite his parent’s astonishment, he ran over. With excitement, he carried the steaming buns back to his table. Very sensibly he gave the buns to his parents to eat.

The farmer and his wife’s eyes became moist.

A child from another family looked over with envy. They came from the same village. That family was also eating hard biscuits, and they did not carry much money. In order to save money and arrive at Maple City as quickly as possible, they’ve only been eating the dry food they brought with them.

Steward Su’s compassion was overwhelming, and he looked imploringly at An Zi Ran.

An Zi Ran did not hesitate. He called him over and said something in his ear. Steward Su immediately complied. He had the server bring up some more buns and personally gave the buns to the other family of farmers.

“Wi… Zi Ran, why the sudden interest in Chang Province?”

Under An Zi Ran’s silent glare, Fu Wu Tian obediently swallowed back the word “wife,” and switched to a new form of address. Fu Wu Tian had heard An Zi Ran’s whispered words and found that his wang fei had ordered Steward Su to go inquired about Chang Province’s circumstances, thus he became curious.

An Zi Ran said, “Nothing, simply asking.”

Seeing that he refused to say, Fu Wu Tian did not ask again.

After a while, Steward Su came back. He distributed more than a dozen buns to the two families and received their sincere gratitude. Hereafter, they answered everything he asked.

After a quarter of an hour, the group hit the road again.

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