Chapter 23.2 – Unexpected
An Zi Ran’s eyebrows rose. “What title?”
“Jun wang only returned to Jun Zi City a month ago. Before that, he was still on the battlefield near a border city. After coming back, he was conferred the title of jun wang by the emperor. Before that, he was the guardian war god of Da Ya Dynasty. He made numerous great contributions to the country. No one can match his meritorious deeds. This little person heard that he has never been defeated on the battlefield. The enemy would hear his name on the wind and lose their gallbladder while fleeing!” Liu Er’s speech was impassionate, and his eyes were colored with worship.
After hearing this, An Zi Ran finally showed a hint of surprise on his face.
Yu Zhi’s marriage partner turned out to be such a powerful figure. And from Liu Er’s tone of voice, he could tell that among the people this war god’s prestige was even higher than the emperor’s.
Fu Wu Tian, it would seem that he was not a simple figure!
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An Yu Zhi’s face was red with excitement. She did not expect her future husband to be so powerful. Beauties loved heroes, and she was no exception. In the past, the family would invite actors to perform opera. At the time she really worshipped the heroes (in the opera plays). Sometimes she would think that if she could marry a hero, then there would be no regrets in her life.
But she knew that in her life she could not make the big decisions for herself, especially when it came to marriage. Reality was often without choices, so she only dared to dream about it in her heart. She never thought that an opportunity would come unexpectedly*.
[*T/N: 峰回路转 feng hui lu zhuan: the mountain road twists around each new peak (idiom); fig. an opportunity has come unexpectedly]
An Zi Ran noticed her expression and immediately realized that she was very satisfied. However, he did not expect that a young lady sheltered in her boudoir would actually worship heroes. But this was a good thing. It looked like this marriage was still a possibility. Thinking of this, he turned to Liu Er, “Is there anything else? Such as, this jun wang’s parents?”
Liu Er said, “Gong zi, jun wang’s parents have long since passed away, leaving behind the jun wang and old wang ye.”
Liu Er was also a person that was good at reading others, but he couldn’t tell what An Zi Ran was thinking. But An Yu Zhi was too easy to read. One look at that flushed face and he could tell that she had designations towards the jun wang. Thinking about how they wanted to know about the jun wang, he (Liu Er) thought it was very interesting. In Jun Zi City, the number of women that have intentions towards the jun wang were few. He wondered if this lady had the courage.
An Zi Ran finally asked for the location of the jun wang’s palace, and then he gave the remainder of the five pieces of silver to Liu Er.
Liu Er thanked him. “Many thanks, gong zi. In the future, if you have more errands like this, you can come find this little person anytime.” Then he took the money and left.
Only the three of them were left in that private room.
An Zi Ran sent Qiu Lan out of the room to guard the door, and then he turned to the blushing An Yu Zhi.
She flushed even harder under his gaze. Unable to meet his eyes, she kept her head bowed, but she knew what her brother wanted to say. After a long while, with a bashful face and a voice as quiet as a mosquito’s she said, “Little sister will leave everything up to big brother’s decision.”
An Zi Ran’s mouth twitched downward.
Even beautiful women have a weakness for heroes*!
[*T/N: The original idiom is 英雄难过美人关 which means “even heroes have a weakness for the charms of a beautiful woman.” Here An Zi Ran flipped the position of the “beauty” and the “hero” to 美人难过英雄关]
When they returned to the courtyard, An Zi Ran told Steward Su about the outcome and the incident. Not only did the elderly man not show a happy expression, but he also looked worried.
An Zi Ran figured out what he was worried about and comforted him, “Steward, you don’t have to worry so much. This marriage contract was set by the old Fu wang ye. I don’t think he will let his grandson break his promise. Unless they don’t care about their reputation anymore.”
Steward Su sighed and was not comforted.
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Who knew what went on inside the minds of royalty? If the old master knew that Fu Feng Zheng was the uncle of the emperor, then he wouldn’t have agreed to this marriage contract back then.
“Young Master, what do we need to do next?” If it were an ordinary family’s house then they could go right up to their front door, but this was a royal palace they were talking about, so they had to consider the consequences. This was another matter that Steward Su was worried about.
An Zi Ran thought for a while. “This matter still can’t be spread about outside. If the other side doesn’t want to uphold the promise, then it would be disadvantageous for us if they found out early. We need to make some preparations first. Then we will catch them off guard with something unexpected.”
Steward Su kind of understood and kind of didn’t. But it didn’t take long for him to know.
At 1:15 pm* An Zi Ran and Steward Su appeared near the Fu palace.
[*T/N: 未时一刻 my best estimate of this ancient way of telling time.]
Steward Su looked at the majestic gates of the royal palace. The two stone lions guarding the gates were more than double the size of the ones back home, and looked like they could be alive. Even before one got near one was already nervous and afraid. He couldn’t help looking at the young master beside him. He didn’t know if this decision was right or wrong. He could only hope that the old master had good judgment in people.
“Let’s go!”
Next Chapter: First Meeting