An Ziran Makes His Move

"Young Master, there's movement on Second Master's side."

The moment An Ziran entered the study, he heard Steward Su's lowered voice drift through the room. With a look, he signaled for him to shut the door. Steward Su immediately did so before returning to stand before him.

Ever since the grain-snatching incident, An Ziran had sent people to keep watch over An Changde's every move. Whatever he did in a day would almost always be written down and placed on An Ziran's desk that very night. This was called taking precautions before the rain came. An Changde and his wife truly gave people no choice but to guard against them!

Sure enough, his decision had not been wrong.

After lying low for a month, An Changde and his wife had begun making small moves again.

This time, it was Wu Zhi's elder sister, Wu Yun, who whispered poison into her husband's ear. Prefect Jiang of Yong Prefecture was no good official. He occupied his post while accomplishing nothing, greedily accepted bribes and twisted the law, and had abused his authority to do no small amount of evil. He was a thoroughgoing petty man and a fence-sitter; put plainly, he bowed to the powerful and trampled the weak, and was often egged on by Wu Yun.

Wu Yun revealed the An Family's circumstances to Prefect Jiang. As the landowning family of Anyuan County, although An Ziran had paid out a great deal of silver over the past two months, An Changfu had accumulated considerable wealth before his death. Returning promissory notes and lowering the price of rice had not been enough to wound the An Family to the bone. They remained the largest landowning family in Anyuan County.

With An Changfu dead, the remaining An Ziran was still young and lacked sufficient boldness. Although he had resolved the case of the rioters snatching grain some time ago, most people would not view him in a new light because of it. In the eyes of An Changde and his wife, as well as many others, he was still that sixteen-year-old youth.

Everything Wu Yun knew about the An Family had come from her younger sister, Wu Zhi. Thus, as she whispered in her husband's ear, she did everything she could to urge Jiang Zhongting to make a move against the An Family. Jiang Zhongting lacked resolve and was the sort who saw money and his eyes lit up, so he was swayed at once.

Merchants held a low status in the Great Ya Dynasty.

However, this was the feudal era. Landowners were the backbone of many county towns. Even a minor landowner would surely have amassed quite a bit of wealth, let alone the An Family, which was a major landowning family.

Without much need for consideration, Jiang Zhongting agreed to his concubine Wu Yun's proposal. He then joined forces with Magistrate Zhang of Anyuan County, intending to make a move against the An Family in the near future.

Da Ya was particularly harsh toward merchants. Once a merchant violated the law, it was almost impossible to rise again.

After discussing it, the group decided to begin from this angle. If they wanted to ensure the An Family could never turn things around and seize its property openly and legitimately, then making him guilty of a crime was the best method.

When he read this, a trace of unconcealed surprise appeared in An Ziran's eyes.

It was not An Changde and his wife's scheme against their own nephew that surprised him. He had long seen through the pair; no matter what they did, he would not be shocked in the least. What astonished him was the detail in this report. It even described their process of conspiring with the Prefect Jiang of Yong Prefecture with perfect clarity. The person who had written this report was absolutely a talent.

"Young Master?" Seeing that he remained silent, Steward Su grew somewhat worried.

He had always believed that no matter how excessive Second Master became, he should at least possess a shred of conscience. He had never expected him to collude with outsiders for the An Family's property, plotting against the An Family and framing his own nephew. And he called himself a scholar! Had all that so-called benevolence, righteousness, and morality truly been chewed up by dogs?

Poor Young Master. Master and Madam had only been dead for two months. Not only did no one support him, even his own relatives were eyeing the An Family's assets. He had truly suffered too much.

An Ziran closed the report and said calmly, "Continue having people watch them. Let's see what tricks they plan to pull."

"That's all? Young Master, shouldn't we make preparations first?" Steward Su could not help frowning. By the time they reacted, it might be too late. Once they were thrown into prison, getting back out would be difficult.

"How can we prepare? If the authorities intend to target us, then no matter how much we prepare, they can still find an excuse. For now, we can only adapt when the time comes. Otherwise, we must find the An Family a backer powerful enough to make even the Prefect Jiang of Yong Prefecture wary—but that is easier said than done!" An Ziran analyzed calmly.

Anyuan County was, after all, only a small county. Though An Changfu had cultivated many connections while alive, their official ranks could not have been much higher than a county magistrate's. If they learned that the Prefect Jiang of Yong Prefecture intended to deal with the An Family, eight or nine times out of ten they would distance themselves from them. Forget offering help; it would already be good if they did not kick them while they were down.

"Must we simply sit here and wait for death?" Steward Su sighed.

"Of course not," An Ziran said. "All they want is the An Family's property, so before they make their move, I plan to transfer part of the An Family's assets first. So long as the green hills remain, there will be no fear of running out of firewood."

"But..."

Steward Su still wanted to say something, but An Ziran stopped him.

"Steward, this is currently the best method for the An Family. The common people do not fight officials—you should understand that principle better than I do. Besides, I have no intention of sitting here and waiting for death. An Changde has shown no benevolence, so he cannot blame me for showing no righteousness!"

Steward Su stared, tongue-tied, at the youth whose gaze was firm. An ordinary person would surely have been pacing in frantic circles by now, yet An Ziran did not show the slightest trace of panic. From the beginning, he had remained as calm as still water, handling matters even better than Master had while he was alive.

He suddenly realized that Young Master had truly grown up!