Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 90

“Who are you? What do you want to do in broad daylight?”

An Yinong secretly laughed , but his face showed astonishment and displeasure. Not to mention, he was handsome and thin, and didn’t have a beard. He looked like a pretty young scholar, about twenty years old, so it was not eye-catching to make such a look. One could tell by the shining eyes of the young man on the horse.

“Young man, you speak so nicely.” The young man on the horse spoke bluntly and carelessly. Although he also spoke the same language, his accent was very heavy and it did not sound as soft as authentic Mandarin.

“Who are you?”

“You came to Zhanghua, but you don’t know who I am? Shen Chengnan is my brother!”

After saying this, he smiled playfully again: “Now you know who I am, and I also know who you are. My dear, I love you, so come with me home.”

An Yinong blushed: “You are simply disgraceful!”

The angrier he got, the happier the man was: “Where are you from, young man? Where are you going? If it’s convenient, come stay at my house for a few days. I’ll do my best to be a good host.”

As he was about to reach out his hand, Wei the Gatekeeper and the guards finally squeezed over. Guard Tian stood in front of An Yinong, and Wei kicked the man’s hand away: “Don’t be rude! My master is a worthy scholar, how can you humiliate him?”

“Scholar?” The man on the horse was stunned for a moment, and his eyes brightened as he looked at An Yinong. “Not bad, not bad. I have money and you have talent. We are a perfect match.”

“Shameless!” How could gatekeeper Wei hear this? He went up sword in hand, while Guard Tian was still guarding An Yinong against others.

The businessman turned pale with fear. He looked at An Yinong and gritted his teeth, “Brother Tian, I will report you to the authorities. You are a scholar, he…he can’t do this to you.”

“Thank you, Brother Hu. I’m sorry for your trouble.” An Yinong said with emotion.

It was rare to find a scholar in a border area, but this man wanted to take a promising scholar into his harem. How arrogant. There was Shencheng in the south and Zhaocheng in the north. A businessman dared to call himself half of the city. The water in Zhanghua County was quite complicated.

An Yinong wanted to test Wei’s strength, so he signaled with his eyes to let him win. Although he didn’t understand, he still deliberately lost. When the man dismounted and walked up to An Yinong, he realized that the other person was probably of mixed blood, half a head taller than him, and had a very frivolous expression.

“Young Master, I am rich, handsome, and knowledgeable. Such talents are not an insult to you, right?”

An Yinong clenched the folding fan in his hand and asked in a deep voice: “What are you going to do?”

“Please come to my home.”

“In three or five days, you will send me off in the same way you treat me now.”

However, the man just stretched out a hand: “Please.”

After that, An Yinong was ‘invited’ into Shen Mansion. Gu Zhengzhong unhurriedly followed him, shaking his head and saying, “Nonsense.” He had to be careful to protect him from bumping into him. .

The Shen family was located in the south of the county. There was a large house with four entrances. There were many small houses around it. They were surrounded by a wall and was collectively called Shen Mansion. This was probably a few hundred acres, no wonder he was called Shen county. How could one build such a mansion without the ability to make a lot of money every day?

An Yinong was sent into a side room while he was thinking about it. As soon as he entered, the door was locked. The man outside the door was ordering people: “Take good care of this young master, and also… no one is allowed to open the door.”

Then he shouted loudly: “My dear, please think about it carefully for two days. I have no wives, concubines, or children at home, but I have many houses, gold, and silver, and I have carriages for going out. If you agree to my will, I will obey you in everything.”

“Leave.”

The man touched his nose and embarrassedly walked away. Then he thought about it and felt uneasy again. He came back and told the servants on both sides: “Keep him guarded.”

After the noise died down, An Yinong was in the mood to look at the room furnishings. The bunk bed, dressing table, wardrobe, table and chairs were all available, and all made of walnut wood. Although walnut trees were abundant in the northwest, it did not mean that walnut wood was cheap, especially for a complete set of furniture like this.

“Is this how much money you can make from horses and spices?”

“Horses and spices have been shortcuts to wealth since ancient times.” Gu Zhengzhong appeared in the room.

“But the Shen family has accumulated such great wealth because of their caravans. The Shen family caravan goes to the Western Regions once every six months. As long as they survive, they will make a lot of money when they come back.”

An Yinong actually believed this. The Shen family’s behavior was essentially smuggling, because the government has not yet opened a trade channel and had simply turned a blind eye to the trade between the two sides.

“It’s unreasonable not to nationalize this company that makes so much money.” The big gangster was ready to make a move, and he had set his sights on someone else’s fat piece of meat again.

“According to Brother Hu, merchants from the Western Regions come to Zhanghua County every year, which shows that there are basic conditions for trade here. So building a market can save a lot of effort. But in this case, the Shen family must carefully consider whether to cooperate or suppress.”

As a person, he disliked the Shen family for their arrogance and domineering behavior. But as a government official, he had to punish some and keep some, otherwise it would easily cause unrest among the residents of the entire county. When he was in Dingsha County, he killed two of the main culprits among several large households, and released the others who had only committed minor offenses after fining them, all for the sake of “stability”.

There were people in the south and north of Zhanghua County. The Zhao family in the north of the city made a living by gambling and smuggling. They must be killed. Therefore, before more criminal evidence comes out, the Shen family, who was only engaged in smuggling, cannot make any big moves.

As the governor of Xizhou, he had the privileges granted by Empress Qi, and could mobilize local troops and directly attack the Zhao family without going through the magistrate of Zhanghua County. However, he liked to have real evidence when doing things, so how could he get evidence of the Zhao family’s crimes?

Seeing An Yinong lost in thought again, Gu Zhengzhong did not disturb him. He liked the way An Yinong worked with all his strength. The cell where the people were imprisoned was very quiet, but at this moment the Shen family was completely at risk of losing its peace.

“What an evil thing!” Mr. Shen’ slapped his hand on the nanmu table that he always cherished. “How dare you rob someone at the gate of the city, or even an official? You beast, you are going to piss me off to death!”

“Dad, I’m a beast, who are you?” Second Master Shen retorted.

Mr. Shen was so angry that he slapped the table again. Mrs. Shen’s wife immediately handed over a whip: “Why are you slapping the table? The table didn’t provoke you, use a whip on the target instead!” What a nice nanmu table, what should she do if it gets damaged?

“Mom! Other people’s mothers protect their sons, why do you still hand them the whip?” Mr. Shen twisted his body to dodge, but did not mention letting him go.

When the head of the Shen family saw this, he became even more furious: “You fool around even after bring scolded, and now you have learned how to rob people? If I don’t beat you to death, your brother won’t be able to spare you!”

“My brother has gone on business and won’t be back this month.” Mr. Shen jumped up and down like a monkey.

“You let me go!”

“Don’t let me go! Dad, just this time, I promise it will be the last time.” Mr. Shen put away his playful smile, “I swear that I will restrain myself from bringing anyone home again.”

“No.” Mr. Shen glared angrily, “Don’t cause trouble to the family.”

“Dad! Dad! You didn’t look down on the people I was looking for before. This is a high-ranking official, and you don’t look down on me either?”

Mr. Shen was out of breath after chasing him: “Little beast, I do like you, but can others like you?”

“What if you don’t look down on him? I’ll coax him properly…” Before Mr. Shen could finish his words, his father came over with a whip.

“Why do I bother!”

This ‘battle’ of the Shen family ended with the second Shen’s persistence.

Shen Er seemed to be a young man without a palace, but he wanted to guard the house when his brother leaves, so he was not a playboy with no quarrels in his heart. Although there were many Shen family members, only he and his brother were really in charge. If he refused to let go, his parents can do nothing. So until night, An Yinong did not leave Shen’s house.

However, because of the shame in her heart, the old lady sent someone to guard the door and did not allow Shen Er to go in: “When the boss comes back, our old lady will send the husband out. In the past few days, he will be wronged first.”

An Yinong looked at the servants a door away and was not moved. He thought to himself that the Shen family was quite strange. The father was still being controlled by his son. Afterwards, a lot of things were delivered to the wing where he lived, including new bedding, rare good tea, pens, inks, paper and inkstones… everything was available, but there was no freedom.

“Sir, I’m just outside the door. Just tell me if you have anything to say.” The maid in a lotus-colored skirt bowed slightly and walked away, leaving a table full of dishes.

“If I had a bit more backbone, shouldn’t I just stop eating and drinking and go on a hunger strike?” he asked Gu Zhengzhong who was reading his palm.

Gu Zhengzhong played with the slender fingers in his hand, curling them up and loosening them. If An Yinong hadn’t needed to keep the Shen family, the family could have had their final dinner by now.

“Itchy.” An Yinong retracted his hand and picked up the chopsticks. “Why should I wrong my body?”

After dinner, An Yinong wrote a letter and asked gatekeeper Wei and guard Tian to inquire about the deeds of Shen Chengnan and Zhao Chengbei, hoping that he would be useful.

“Could you please help me deliver the letter, sir?”

Gu Zhengzhong waved his fan lightly, and the letter disappeared: “How long will you stay here?”

“Let’s see first.” An Yinong was curious about what the local magistrate would do and what the Shen family would do.

However, An Yinong waited for two days and did not come to the local magistrate. Instead, the eldest Shen, who had returned home after a long journey, came.

Shen, whose name was Shen Shan, was nicknamed Shen Chengnan. He was a tall man, eight feet tall with a heroic appearance. As soon as he came back, the Shen family members who depended on him for food came to greet him. However, he didn’t even look at the people who were asking for help, and went straight to his younger brother.

The old master of the Shen family was soft-hearted and loose-handed, and Shen Chengnan was worried, so he left all the family affairs to his younger brother.

“Nothing happened recently, right?”

“No. Brother, why did you… come back so early?” Shen Erwen felt guilty before he had properly arranged the ‘little scholar’.

Because Shen Chengnan was pretentious, he didn’t notice anything strange about him: “I heard that Xizhou was going to set up a mutual market, so I rushed back. The mutual market is a big deal. If we can take advantage of this stock market trend, the Shen family will have thirty more years wealth.”

“Only thirty years?” The second Shen curled his lips.

“Thirty years is good. I don’t know where the new governor is going to be.” Shen Chengnan adjusted his sleeves and suddenly felt something was wrong. “Why are you so quiet today? Did you do something behind my back?”

“No, no.”

Shen Er’s expression directly exposed himself. Shen Chengnan didn’t even bother to adjust his sleeves and turned to his brother: “If you tell me now, I might spare you one more time.”

Facing his serious brother, Shen Er completely lost the courage to run away in front of his father: “Brother, listen to me and explain to you.”

“Yes, explain.”

“This is what happened, two days ago…”

Shen Er shrank his head, not daring to hide anything. His eldest brother’s expression changed when he heard that he robbede someone at the city gate. When he heard that this person was a civil servant, he finally couldn’t help it. He raised his foot and kicked the other.

“Do you know who the new magistrate is? The magistrate of Dingsha who doesn’t rub dirt in his eyes! How dare you cause trouble for me at this juncture?”

“Elder brother.”

“Don’t call me brother, you are my brother.” The eldest Shen was furious. He stood up and took two steps, looking back at his wailing brother on the ground.

“Do you know what a juren is? If there is a vacancy in the court officials, a juren can fill it, and a juren is an official. Moreover, if he can be a juren at such an age, do you think his family will not have any confidence at all?”

Shen Chengnan was so angry that he laughed: “Shen He, Shen He, why didn’t I know that you had such high vision before that you would choose a young person to be elected as a candidate?”

“Brother, but I really like him. There are so many people at the gate of the city. I saw him from a distance, and I just… I just wanted to take him home.” Shen Er took a few steps on his knees and begged.

With a bang, the vase hit Shen Er’s feet: “Let him go immediately! Go get the money and send him away respectfully.”

Shen Chengnan glanced at his younger brother: “If you like men, I will marry you in the whole house. This man must be let go.”

“Must let go?” Shen Er still wanted to fight for it.

Shen Da suddenly became furious: “He must be released!”