The Capable First Household

An Ziran returned to his room but did not lie down to rest. His mind kept turning over the An Family's circumstances.

An Changfu had been only thirty-eight when he died. His wives and concubines had borne him three daughters and two sons, which was not bad; at least the An Family would not be short of descendants. Half of them had been born to his legal wife, Liu Meixiang, though Liu Meixiang had not been the first to become pregnant after marrying An Changfu.

During the first year after marrying An Changfu, Liu Meixiang's belly showed no sign of movement. So in the second year, An Changfu took Fang Junping as his second wife. Less than two months after she entered the household, news of her pregnancy spread, and she immediately overshadowed Liu Meixiang, the legal wife, in the An Family.

That year, nearly all of An Changfu's attention was fixed on Fang Junping. Whatever good things he had, he sent them to her rooms. She had been incomparably glorious then.

Fang Junping was merely a vulgar woman. An Changfu's favor had nearly made her forget herself. Within the An Family, she carried herself exactly like the mistress of the household, her swollen belly seeming to be a golden token of immunity. She even flaunted herself before Liu Meixiang—then tragedy struck.

Fang Junping's belly did not live up to expectations. Her first child was a daughter for An Changfu: the An Family's eldest young lady, An Qiaoe. Though she was called the eldest young lady, in many people's eyes, she was no more than a concubine's daughter.

This disappointed An Changfu, who had always hoped for a son. Fang Junping's days then fell straight from the clouds back to the earth, and she became once more the lowly concubine in everyone's eyes. She had been far too high-profile during her pregnancy and had offended many people. After she fell out of favor, few throughout the An Family liked her.

Two years later, An Changfu took Zheng Bi as his third wife.

Zheng Bi was beautiful, but her temperament was somewhat sharp and fierce. Learning that Liu Meixiang had gone three years without bearing a child, Zheng Bi appeared polite to her on the surface, yet hid daggers in silk and laced every word with barbs.

Like Fang Junping, she became pregnant not long after entering the household. Unfortunately for her, Liu Meixiang of the first household became pregnant at the same time, and the two women split An Changfu's favor between them.

Zheng Bi believed that she and Liu Meixiang had incompatible fates, and she targeted Liu Meixiang more than once during that time. In the end, tragedy struck her as well.

After three years of waiting, Liu Meixiang's belly finally proved worthy. It was as though those three years had all been for this moment. Amid An Changfu's eager expectations, An Ziran entered the world crying. Liu Meixiang gave birth only three days before Zheng Bi, and her very first child was the An Family's eldest son. Everyone in the An Family understood what that meant. From then on, Liu Meixiang's position as legal wife was as solid as a rock.

Zheng Bi, meanwhile, had rotten luck. She too gave birth to a daughter, named An Kexin.

From then on, she practically lived with her tail tucked between her legs before Liu Meixiang.

Though her daughter inherited her beauty, An Ziran's birth had seized all of An Changfu's attention. Thus, An Kexin had never been valued by An Changfu from childhood. Under Zheng Bi's influence, she instead developed a spoiled and willful temperament, making An Changfu like her even less.

A year later, An Ziran's younger sister, An Yuzhi, was born.

But with An Ziran already there, An Changfu was still delighted even though Liu Meixiang's second child was a daughter. Loving the house meant loving the crow, and his affection for An Yuzhi surpassed that for his first two daughters.

An Qiaoe had already begun to understand things by then. She knew her father did not love her, so from childhood she wore a stiff expression. Her personality was blunt and rigid, having inherited every last bit of her mother's temperament.

As for Wang Qinglan, the fourth wife, she had been in the household for only a year. With so little time having passed, her belly had shown no signs of movement. Yet she was not anxious, because she had beauty. An Changfu had taken her into the household precisely because he had taken a fancy to that flower-like face of hers. She had plenty of time. But plans could never keep pace with change. How could she have expected that not long after she entered the household, Liu Meixiang would become pregnant with her third child—and it would be a boy? By the time Wang Qinglan realized the danger, An Changfu had died. It was like a bolt from the blue, leaving Wang Qinglan stunned senseless.

Given the An Family's wealth, there were certainly no few people coveting its property.

It could originally have become a record of household intrigue, yet Liu Meixiang was simply too capable. Before the struggle within the household could even begin, the second, third, and fourth households had already been utterly defeated. After An Changfu died, the entire An Family belonged to An Ziran and his younger brother.

Unfortunately, Liu Meixiang's fate was too thin. Before she could enjoy her good fortune, she left this world together with An Changfu.

Their early deaths were not some conspiracy. The reason had a little to do with An Ziran's younger brother.

An Ziming's birth had been beyond An Changfu's expectations. He had thought An Ziran would be his only son in this lifetime, but when he was nearing forty, Heaven gave him another son.

Blessed with a son in his later years, An Changfu was so overjoyed that his mouth did not close for days. Thus, after An Ziming's first-month celebration, the couple decided to visit a temple to worship Buddha and fulfill their vow. On their way back, they encountered bandits. Husband and wife both died beneath the bandits' blades, and two lives destined for wealth and honor were buried just like that.

When news of their deaths reached the An Family, a dark cloud seemed to hang over the entire household. Not one of the three concubines outside the first household was happy. Some servants even said they heard someone throwing a furious tantrum in her room, smashing many things, while maids were beaten as well. The servants no longer dared to speak, and the atmosphere in the An Family was exceedingly oppressive.

Although it had already been confirmed that the whole An Family belonged to the first household, still...

An Ziran's face suddenly darkened. What had happened to him three days ago was absolutely not an accident.