Chapter 46 - Wife"s Tiny Younger Brother
Returning to the Fu palace from the An courtyard, An Zi Ran brought back a little bun with him. Fu Wu Tian began to make arrangements for w.a.n.g fei"s return home. For fear of not making it back to the An family in time, they could leave today, and make it back to An Yuan County in time for tomorrow, but they would have to stay outside for one night.
An Zi Ran decided to hold off on departure until early tomorrow morning.
There weren"t too many things that they needed to prepare, but it was already getting late, and they would still have to stay outside and make camp for one night.
Fu Wu Tian naturally listened to his words. He didn"t like the idea of having to stay outside so soon after marrying either. And if his w.a.n.g fei wanted to take both rooms (tents?), then he would have to suck it up and go crowd with the others. No matter how he looked at it, it wasn"t very advantageous to him.
Fu lao w.a.n.g ye knew that they have to leave early in the morning, and immediately promised his grandson and granddaughter-in-law that he would wait for them to come back, and that everything would still be good and calm when they return.
Fu Wu Tian did not believe his words at all. After the illness, not only did Fu lao w.a.n.g ye like to mouth off all the time, he also had ADHD. Everyday he would run all over the place, causing trouble everywhere. His vitality completely belied the fact that he was an old man of sixty. So before setting off the next day, he instructed the head steward, Fu Yi, to look after the lao w.a.n.g ye.
The Fu palace had a total of two stewards. Steward Li was only the deputy steward, and not the main steward.
The head steward was a middle-aged man with a beard. He was smaller than Steward Su by a little, but he had a very gentle smile. Compared to Steward Li, he was much more approachable. But this wasn"t the first time that An Zi Ran saw him.
During the wedding ceremony yesterday, he saw this Steward Fu standing not far from the lao w.a.n.g ye"s side. At that time, he only took a quick glance and did not look very carefully. He heard him go out this morning, so he only really saw him now.
"w.a.n.g ye, please rest a.s.sured, I will take good care of lao w.a.n.g ye." Fu Yi nodded and smiled. His manner was neither obsequious nor supercilious. Instead of being like a servant, he was more like an elder to Fu Wu Tian. In fact, it could be seen from his surname, Fu, that the status of the head steward was definitely not just a simple servant.
An Zi Ran heard that he and Fu Wu Tian"s big wedding was singlehandedly handled by the head steward.
At this time, Fu Wu Tian also said, "In addition, I will have to trouble Head Steward to take care of w.a.n.g fei"s younger brother. My wife"s tiny younger brother, he is less than four months old, you have to pay more attention."
Wife"s tiny younger brother?
An Zi Ran was amazed at his consideration. He was also prepared to mention this matter, but when he heard "wife"s tiny younger brother" he suddenly felt a moment of embarra.s.sment. Fu Wu Tian sure had thick skin. An Zi Ran could never measure up to that level of shamelessness.
"w.a.n.g ye can also rest a.s.sured on this matter." Fu Yi heard about this incident when he returned yesterday. He knew that w.a.n.g ye wanted to accompany w.a.n.g fei to his parental home and had already made arrangements early on.
Of course Fu Wu Tian knew that this attentive steward would take good care of An Zi Ming. He only said it out loud so that his w.a.n.g fei could hear it and leave the palace with peace of mind.
Then they took the carriage and left Jun Zi City to set off for An Yuan County.
The carriage bore the symbol of the Fu palace and almost everyone in Jun Zi City recognized it. But outside of Jun Zi City no one could identify the symbol.
However, the carriage was very luxurious. When people looked at the appearance they could tell that the owner"s ident.i.ty was extraordinary. The s.p.a.ce inside was also very large. It could hold up to four or five adults, and the speed was very fast. Compared to the carriage that An Zi Ran rode before, it was one or two times faster. At this speed, they could rush to An Yuan County before dark.
An Zi Ran parted the curtain and looked at the running horses. They had brown fur and skin and looked very valiant and formidable. At a glance it was clear that these were not some run of the mill horses. Using such fine horses to pull a carriage, what a waste of good resources.
Fu Wu Tian looked over at An Zi Ran who was sitting two seats away from him. He saw him looking outside and asked casually, "What is w.a.n.g fei looking at?"
An Zi Ran withdrew his gaze. "You"re willing to use such fine horses to pull a carriage?"
Fu Wu Tian said with joy, "Even the best horse is not as important as w.a.n.g fei"s return to his parental home. The ordinary horse is not fast enough. They have to stop often to rest. That would make the journey longer."
Hearing that it was one for him, An Zi Ran could not help but glance at Fu Wu Tian from the corner of his eye.
Fu Wu Tian calmly let An Zi Ran size him up.
An Zi Ran withdrew his gaze. This man was indeed considerate enough to make him emotionally moved. The things that he had yet to take notice of, Fu Wu Tian had already paid attention to. But the more thoughtful Fu Wu Tian was, the more determined An Zi Ran was to leave. Otherwise, he feared that one day he would fall into the enemy"s hands. The temptation of a gentle and caring man was too much, even if the other person had the same (male) parts as himself.
[T/N: Just fall to "enemy" occupation An Zi Ran. XP]
At precisely noon.
The carriage pa.s.sed by a tea shed (a.k.a. rest stop) and Fu Wu Tian ordered for a break.
The number of people on this journey was not high. On An Zi Ran"s side there was only him, Steward Su, and two servants. Fu Wu Tian only brought two of his subordinates. They were Ge Qian An and Shao Fei.
However, Fu Wu Tian seemed to have let the head steward prepare a lot of gifts. It nearly filled up one horse carriage. When the carriage pulled to a stop it attracted a lot of attention from the people at the tea shed.
"What would these customers like to eat? Our small shop is simple and crude. Please excuse us for not having much good things here." A server came over to them with a smile. One could tell that this group of people must have status by the luxurious clothes they wore. Afraid of disappointing these important guests with their shop"s simple dishes, the server decided to explain in advance.
Fu Wu Tian looked at An Zi Ran, "What does wife want to eat?"
As soon as those words came out, the server"s astonished eyes fell upon An Zi Ran.
An Zi Ran"s expression sank.
He did not answer. Fu Wu Tian had the server bring out a pot of tea first, followed by some buns and other snack dishes. Then the server hurriedly turned and fled to escape.
An Zi Ran said with a blank expression, "Don"t call me wife." He could endure being called w.a.n.g fei, but they were no longer in Jun Zi City. The people outside did not know that the relationship between them was husband and wife, so he did not want to broadcast it.
"Then what does my wife want me to call you?" Fu Wu Tian asked.
An Zi Ran paused. He preferred that Fu Wu Tian call him An gong zi, but it was obviously impossible.
Fu Wu Tian joked, "How about An Shao*?"
[*T/N: An as in his last name, and 少 shao uses the character for "few" or "young," but apparently it"s also a more formal way of saying of 小 xiao "small" or "little."]
An Zi Ran calmly glanced at him. "If you like to call me that, I won"t mind."
Fu Wu Tian immediately changed his tune. "Just kidding. When we go out in the future I will call you Zi Ran."
An Zi Ran"s facial nerves became paralyzed.
[T/N: This last sentence was 安子然面瘫 which literally means "An Zi Ran facial nerve paralysis." XD]