The Big Landlord 150.1

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Chapter 150.1 – Two Elders and Opening a Business

March 1^st, 28^th year of Chong Ming, Main Street, West District, Jun Zi City

The sound of firecrackers, cymbals, and drums were deafening. Today was the grand opening day of the An Family Restaurant*. This restaurant was twice the size of the restaurant in An Yuan County. It immediately attracted the attention of many people, who all stopped to watch. A small number of them were literati who came from the teahouse on the other side of the street.

[*T/N: the restaurant doesn’t have a special name, it’s literally called 安家酒楼 “An Family Restaurant”]

Most literati loved to drink tea. Some of them actually liked drinking tea, while some of them drank tea to show off their elegance.

The sound of firecrackers attracted these people’s attention and many poked their heads out of the window to look. When they saw the restaurant’s name plaque, sincere admiration burst from the bottom of their hearts.

“Good calligraphy, such good calligraphy!”

An octogenarian who looked very old and wrinkly admired the four characters on the plaque. The calligraphy was lively and strong like dancing phoenixes and soaring dragons. He couldn’t help exclaiming out loud, “good,” and he looked like he could barely contain his excitement.

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

Another elderly man also echoed in praise: “It is indeed good handwriting. This is the most imposing and sharpest handwriting I have ever seen. The person who wrote these four words must not be a simple person. It would be great if I could meet him!”

The people around who heard the conversation between the two couldn’t help looking at each other.

The two old men were regular customers of the teahouse across the street, and there was no one around who did not know of them, but that was not the reason why everyone knew them.

The old man who spoke second was Pang Zhong. He was the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, which was one of the six departments of Da Ya. He was a literati himself, and he had quite a reputation. He was good at calligraphy and had made great achievements in this area.

As for the first old man, his name was Wan Xi Chuan. He had grizzled hair and looked very old on the outside, as if he was eighty years old, but in actuality he was only in his sixties. He was not a government official, but he was also a master in the literature world and was at the rank of a great master.

To be able to get a compliment from the two of them, this person must have some real skills.

A trace of jealousy appeared in many people’s hearts.

They knew the identities of the two old men from the very beginning, and many people wanted to curry favor with them, but the two old men didn’t like sycophantic people.

In their view, one must have the arrogance of a literati in their writing to be considered a literati, and this arrogance was not necessarily reflected in their character, rather, the most important thing was the issue of principles and integrity.

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In order to have these two elders view them favorably, some literati would frequently go to the teahouse and stay there for some time.

Some people would find out in advance when the two elders would go to the teahouse, and then they would perform a good deed in front of them, such as helping the old, weak, female, or young, and some would pretend to compose a poem on the spot as soon as they spot the elders, etc. It was like a show of the Eight Immortals cross the sea, each showing his own special talent*.

[*T/N: idiom for “to show off the best of one’s abilities”]

But the two old men have lived through many years, so how could they fail to see through these people’s tricks? Up till now no one has been able to catch the eyes of the two old men.

Although everyone was frustrated, they were not discouraged.

As long as they could get one compliment from these two elders, then they would rapidly go up in the world. For this bright future, they were willing to even destroy their own image.

[T/N: Sounds counter intuitive to me…]

But now, the goal they worked so hard for was easily achieved by a person they had never met. Jealousy rushed up in their hearts.

Seeing that the two old men had got up and went downstairs, everyone followed suit. They also wanted to meet the person who wrote the plaque for the An Family Restaurant. They just wanted to find a little psychological balance; maybe that person was ugly.

A group of noisy people came to the restaurant, and when they walked in, everyone’s eyes lit up.

It’s not that they have never been to the predecessor of this restaurant before. During the opening of the Zhuo Family Teahouse, many people here have patronized the teahouse, and the number of times they came here was not low. This included the two elders, who were also regular customers of the teahouse. But later, the husband and wife pair used high quality tea to attract the two elders, and the rest of the literati followed. This then led to the Zhuo Family Teahouse going bankrupt.

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

However, the interior of the current restaurant was completely different from what they have seen before. The decoration was more exquisite and luxurious. The waiters and shopkeeper were all in uniformed clothing. All the tables and chairs have been replaced with new ones. It looked more upscale than the teahouse. What was even more surprising was that there were rows of flowers and plants in every corner of the restaurant. Greenery dotted the interior of the restaurant, giving the place a fresh and clean flavor.

There was also a large furniture screen inside the restaurant. On the front of the screen was a landscape painting, which depicted the land of Da Ya. Judging from the painting, the artist’s painting skills were also very high, but what everyone cared about was the characters written on the back of the painting. This was clearly the same lively and strong calligraphy as the one on the restaurant’s plaque.

Appreciating the handwriting at close range, everyone was even more shocked.

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