The Big Landlord

T/N: I wanted to get this chapter up earlier, but some things came up. In exchange for the longer wait, here's a double chapter post. Enjoy! Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ

Chapter 16 - Discount

After that day, things settled down, and peace returned to the An family.

Walking through the streets, one can hear the people praising An Zi Ran for being righteous and good. People were calling him a living Buddha.

As Wu Zhi said, these simple-minded people of An Yuan County have forgotten how An Chang Fu used to exploit them, how they didn't have enough food, and how their families starved. Fact is, as long as these people have food they can easily let bygones be bygones. They're not complex people and have a one-track mind, otherwise, how can An Chang De rile them up so easily.

In order to better the reputation of the An family, An Zi Ran also reduced the price of rice.

Originally, the price for rice that the An family set was higher than other rice shops. With a stroke of his pen, he cut the price in half, and now it is much lower than other places.

But this price isn't set indefinitely. Only for five days will the price for rice be this low when buying from the An family. After five days, the price will be raised again - not back to the original pricing though. It will be the same as other rice shops.

As soon as the news was released, everyone in An Yuan Country flocked madly to the rice shops.

After confirming that the price is really lower than other rice shops, there was immediately a panicked frenzy of rice buying. There were crowds of people in front of the An family rice shops everyday. Those who did not have money to purchase rice rushed to borrow money. Even people in the next County over rushed over to buy rice.

For five days in a row, the atmosphere in An Yuan County was even more festive than during the Chinese New Year. There were smiles everywhere. For those who could not borrow the money to buy rice, the An family rice shops wrote up credit accounts for those buyers and promised not to charge interest.

The better off the An family was, the expressions on An Chang De and his wife's faces grew darker and darker.

To them, the behavior of An Zi Ran was no different than dissolving the An family assets. If they continued to let him go on like this the An family will become nothing but an empty shell. But even if they are impatient to swallow the assets*, wanting to take down the An family now is no longer an easy task.

[*T/N: The original text said 不过心急吃不了热豆腐 which lit. means something like "even impatient, can't eat hot tofu." I have no idea what "hot tofu" means, maybe it's slang for something, but I thought "asset" would be an apt substitution here, considering the context. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, this is different from 吃豆腐 "eat tofu" which is euphemism for "to tease, to flirt, or to take sexual advantage of someone (as in to grope a suggestive place usu. the boob or butt)." I have a feeling this will become a thing when the ML makes an appearance though~]

Regarding An Zhi Ran's decisions, which were negatively impacting the An family's profits, the three concubines were dissatisfied. But after what happened before, they didn't dare go to the study to cause a ruckus again. Even the scheming Wang Qing Lan quietly backed down, knowing her place.

An Zi Ran paid them no mind. It was rare to have leisure time. He finally managed to lose weight with all his heart and soul. It's been a month since he's become An Zi Ran. In this month, he used his weight lost regime to lose thirteen pounds*.

[*T/N: Text says 十二斤 "12 catty," which I estimated to be thirteen pounds. Please correct me if I'm wrong.]

This rate of weight lost must be a cause for a sensation in the twenty-first century. Losing the most weight in the shortest amount of time was what women dreamed of. However, he did not meet his requirements. With his current age and height, his ideal weight should be close to one hundred and twenty-one pounds*, so he would lose another thirty-seven pounds*.

[*T/N: 一百一十斤 "110 catty" and 三十四斤 "34 catty." Is it just me or do these numbers look a little disturbing? I feel like a healthy 16-year-old boy should be heavier, unless our MC is on the shorter end.]

When thinking of this faraway goal, An Zi Ran's heart felt a little tangled.

The days of weight loss seemed to pass by slowly. He counted the time, waiting to look at himself in the mirror again. And thus, one month passed by.

In that month he desperately lost weight and finally lost twenty-two pounds*. He broke through last month's figure, but he was still fifteen pounds* from the goal.

[*T/N: "20 catty" and "14 catty"]

The person reflected in the mirror was no longer fat, but his face was still round with meat. He did not look like how he had imagined. He still had some baby fat, which was an indication of his youth. Although it made him cute, it was not what he wanted.

Chun Lan walked in with hot water and saw this scene. Her pretty face revealed a smile. She thought the young master after his change was an iron-faced mask with little expressions and a cold personality, but after two months of interactions she discovered that he sometimes revealed his teenager side, which was adorable.

For example, scowling at himself in the mirror with those chubby cheeks, it was really cute. Chun Lan was not afraid of her young master anymore. She even joked with him on occasion and she has never seen him get angry once.

"Young Master, here is the hot water. Is there anything else you need?" Chun Lan placed down the hot water.

An Zi Ran stopped looking in the mirror and turned around. "There's nothing else. You're dismissed."

"Yes, Young Master." Chun Lan lowered her eyes and walked out. As soon as she was out of sight she started running. She wanted to go tell Qiu Lan about the adorable scene she witnessed.

After washing up, An Zi Ran made his way over to the dining hall. Along the way, he encountered Steward Su who was rushing over. Seeing that harried look on Steward Su's face, An Zi Ran knew he would not be eating breakfast. Ah well, he was trying to lose weight anyways…