Trouble

Three days later, on a sunny afternoon.

An Ziran had just finished reviewing a pile of muddled accounts when Su Zi hurried into the study.

Su Zi was the steward's son, six years older than An Ziran and already twenty-two this year. He was rather straightforward by nature. At his age, most men had already married and had children, yet he remained unmarried to this day.

An Ziran had never asked why. It was someone else's family matter, and it was neither appropriate for him to ask nor something that interested him much. Still, he could more or less guess the reason.

"What happened? Why are you so flustered?"

Su Zi stared blankly at the calm youth before him. Though several days had passed, he still had not adjusted to the eldest young master's drastic change in personality. If not for how fat he was, Su Zi might have thought that the one standing before him was a graceful, refined, handsome young gentleman.

Pushing aside that bizarre thought, Su Zi remembered why he had rushed over and quickly explained, "The An Family's four shopkeepers are waiting for you in the main hall. They said something serious has happened and that you must be informed. Only you can make the decision."

A trace of puzzlement appeared on An Ziran's face. He knew Shopkeeper Feng and the others, and precisely because he knew them, he was puzzled.

The four shopkeepers were the people in charge of the An Family's various businesses. They normally would not come to the An residence unless it was time for their routine report every half month. Yet all four had come today, so it was certainly no ordinary matter.

"Let's go take a look." An Ziran's face darkened. With that, he took the lead out of the study.

Su Zi hurried after him.

When An Ziran arrived at the main hall, the four shopkeepers were seated inside, talking over one another. Every one of them wore a worried expression. The moment they saw him enter, they immediately stopped talking and rose to their feet, their gazes carrying a faint, barely perceptible scrutiny and doubt.

They had naturally heard about the transformation of the An Family's eldest young master, since they worked under the An Family. Steward Su had also clearly told them that the eldest young master of the An Family was no longer the An Ziran he used to be.

At first, however, they had not fully believed it. Only now, seeing him walk in with such calm composure, unlike his former arrogant and overbearing self who swaggered wherever he went, practically with the words "I'm a spoiled wastrel" written across his face, did they finally begin to believe Steward Su's words. But whether he could shoulder the burden of the An Family still needed time to prove.

"Young Master." Steward Feng, the leader of the four, was the first to step forward.

The other three spoke in turn as well, though they showed less respect and solemnity than they had when facing An Changfu. An Ziran's young age was one reason, but more importantly, he had never truly been involved in the An Family's businesses before. Though An Ziran was now their young master, he was ultimately just an inexperienced boy. They could not possibly submit to his management at once.

An Ziran took in their expressions but said nothing. He had already anticipated this situation on the way over. Besides, they had kept their feelings relatively restrained, so there was no need for him to take offense. As long as they possessed real ability, tolerance was the bare minimum.

An Ziran took the seat of honor, his calm gaze sweeping across their faces. "What is it? Speak."

The shopkeepers immediately exchanged glances, each seeing shock in the others' eyes. Their young master carried much of his father's bearing, and for an instant, they felt as though they were facing An Changfu.

A complicated look flashed through Shopkeeper Feng's eyes. He actually felt that the young master was steadier than the master had been. With that thought, he made up his mind. "Young Master, this is what happened..."

Although the An Family was the wealthiest landlord family in Anyuan County, An Changfu's methods of accumulating wealth during his lifetime had not been honorable. In his younger years, he had built his fortune on several plots of land. After the An Family gradually grew, he used underhanded means to seize large amounts of farmland from the farmers of Anyuan County, claiming it as his own before renting it back to them at exorbitant rates.

The farmers suffered bitterly. After paying the An Family's rent from their yearly harvest, what remained was not even enough to feed themselves. Thus, some farmers had no choice but to borrow grain from the An Family.

In this regard, An Changfu had not charged them exorbitant interest. But over time, the interest and the borrowed grain accumulated, leaving many farmers with enormous debts to the An Family that they could never repay. They could only farm for the An Family generation after generation.

During An Changfu's lifetime, many farmers had protested against the An Family's cruelty and exploitation, but An Changfu had suppressed them all. Back then, he often bribed the county magistrate and relied on the authorities to keep the matter from growing too serious. But that was because An Changfu had still been alive. Now that he was dead and the An Family had no adult master to take charge, those farmers who had once been severely oppressed began to resist after being stirred up by certain people.

The cries of resistance only began after An Changfu and his wife were buried. Since there were not many people involved, the matter had not grown too serious. Shopkeeper Feng and the others had thought they could handle it, but they had not expected the situation to suddenly worsen over the past few days.