An Yuzhi, the Younger Sister

Anyuan County's funeral customs were rather strange—at least, that was how An Ziran saw them.

After one's parents passed away, the child who kept vigil was not the eldest son but the eldest daughter. However, this eldest daughter did not include daughters born to concubines; it referred to the first daughter of the lawful wife.

During the three days An Ziran had been bedridden, An Yuzhi had been keeping vigil. She only returned to her room this morning and happened to miss him. As her elder brother, he naturally had to go see her.

"Brother..."

An Yuzhi looked at An Ziran, who had come to visit her, with timid eyes. There was a trace of awe in her beautiful gaze, along with a faint sense of distance. At a glance, An Ziran could tell that he and this younger sister were not close.

An Ziran looked at her. An Yuzhi was very beautiful, with willow-leaf brows, phoenix eyes, and a cherry mouth—a traditional classical beauty. At fifteen, she had already reached marriageable age in this era. It was said that many people had come to propose, but An Changfu, hoping to marry her off more advantageously—or rather, to extract greater value from her—had not casually agreed to any marriage arrangement.

An Ziran spoke with her for a while, his words carrying concern.

An Yuzhi seemed somewhat surprised. The emotions she could not hide all showed in her eyes. She answered a little haltingly, clearly still unaccustomed to this kind of concern from him.

Only after a while did An Ziran leave.

Once they were out of sight, An Yuzhi let out a breath of relief. She was still unaccustomed to having a brother who cared for her so much, but she also knew that after their parents' deaths, the only people closest to her in this household were her brother and her younger brother, who had only recently turned one month old. She had to adapt to getting along with her brother as soon as possible.

Seven days later, according to Anyuan County custom, it was the day An Changfu and Liu Meixiang were laid to rest.

The An Family was a prominent household, so the burial rites were held rather grandly. However, An Ziran did not understand much about such matters, so he left everything to Steward Su. Steward Su did not disappoint him, handling every detail meticulously and arranging everything properly.

After their funeral affairs had been settled, the An Family finally no longer felt quite so oppressive.

The festive New Year passed through the An Family just like that, and no one felt any of the holiday spirit.

Over these days, An Ziran had also more or less recovered. His body had merely been invaded by cold, and under the care of Qiulan and the other three maids, there was no longer any serious problem. At last, he had time to confront his weight problem, as well as the An Family's businesses. Although Steward Su supported him, some matters still required him, the head of the household, to handle personally.

To that end, An Ziran tailored a weight-loss plan for himself.

The first step of the plan was getting up early each morning to run and exercise. This shocked everyone in the An Family, because the An Ziran they remembered had been an extremely lazy person, especially during winter.

Winter was cold, so every morning An Ziran used to sleep until the sun was high in the sky before dragging himself up. It was usually nearly noon by then. This habit had lasted almost sixteen years. An Changfu knew his son feared the cold, and indulging him had only turned it into a habit. His figure had never once appeared at the breakfast table, so when everyone saw him there, they were all astonished.

The An Family was not a royal or aristocratic house, so there was no rule that concubines could not dine at the same table as the lawful wife.

At first, everyone thought he had changed only because his parents' deaths had dealt him a devastating blow. They assumed he would not last more than two days, but the result exceeded their expectations: An Ziran persisted.

Not only that, but he now went in and out of An Changfu's study with great frequency. In the past, he had never had the slightest interest in managing accounts. Though he had studied, he had little talent and could only recognize a few characters. An Changfu had originally wanted him to earn scholarly honors, but after discovering that his eldest son truly was not cut out for study, he had no choice but to give up and shift his attention to An Ziming, who had just been born.

Wang Qinglan and the others all felt uneasy. They were not pleased to see An Ziran becoming so diligent and ambitious.

Once An Ziran became clever, it would be difficult for them to squeeze benefits from him. But if no one stepped forward to hold up the An Family now, it would surely collapse before long. Besides, An Changde was watching from the side like a tiger eyeing its prey. Rather than let the An Family fall into his hands, they would prefer An Ziran to take charge of it.

After all, they were still An Ziran's concubine mothers, whereas An Changde would never support them.

At that moment, the protagonist of their thoughts was in the study, gnawing on his brush handle.

The original An Ziran's calligraphy had been terrible. His handwriting looked like tadpoles swimming all over the paper, and he himself had never written with a brush before, so there was no need to worry about exposing himself.

But in order to handle the account books better, he had to improve his handwriting.

After Steward Su learned of his determination, he found him several copybooks. Each used a different script; he could practice whichever style he liked. He was to copy several sheets every day, until he could write it himself without needing to copy any longer.

Fine handwriting required the accumulation of time; trying to reach the heavens in a single step was impossible.

An Ziran understood this principle. Fortunately, patience was what he lacked least, and so his daily schedule became almost completely packed.

However, someone clearly did not want him to live so peacefully and leisurely, and wanted to make his life a little more eventful. Thus, only three days after An Changfu and Liu Meixiang were buried, An Changde and his wife came calling.