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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 w.a.n.g, but Chef w.a.n.g 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.
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 a.s.sets, he no longer had to waste time and energy thinking of ways to handle them.
"Young Master, I have already pa.s.sed 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.
"w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g fei plans to first store provisions?"
An Zi Ran nodded. "Yes. Although refugees won"t necessarily pa.s.s 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 a.s.sets was made up of money from catastrophe.
"Then, w.a.n.g 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 pa.s.s 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.
Although he was the G.o.d 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 w.a.n.g 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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