Chapter 70

Edited and Proofread by KitKat

An Chang Qing had never been this embarrassed. He gulped down his tea cup by cup while his mother and sister, together with their guards, listened to the storyteller with great amusement. 

The group continued to listen as the storyteller raved about the love-hate triflings between the God of War and the Demon Fox King for half an hour. Afterwards, the storyteller hammered his gavel on the table, took a sip of tea and said, “If you want to know what happens next, come to the next session. Ladies and gentlemen, please come again tomorrow.”

Being served with a cliffhanger, the audience were left disappointed and began to leave. An Chang Qing was sitting in the back so no one seemed to notice him.

An Xian Yu then commented, “Yanzhou’s script is bolder and grittier compared to Yejing’s. It’s indeed a place where the people are more open.”

“What other scripts have you read?” An Chang Qing asked her in surprise. His little sister was always disciplined and reserved. Most of her time spent at home were either on reading or needlework, to think that even she had read these recreational scripts, An Chang Qing found it incredulous.

An Xian Yu realized that she had made a slip of the tongue and quickly diverted, “It’s getting late, shouldn’t we leave soon?”

An Chang Qing was indeed distracted by her urging. They had been outside for too long, it was almost time for dinner. As such, the group got back on the carriage and headed home.

Back at the manor, Xiao Zhige had already returned and was having tea with his subordinates. Upon seeing An Chang Qing’s arrival, Qi Wei and the others stood up and saluted.

Xiao Zhige and An Chang Qing simply exchanged greetings and did not say much, it was Qi Wei whose eyes lit up the moment he saw An Xian Yu and brazenly approached to introduce himself, “I’ve heard that Madame and the Young Miss have come to Yanzhou to stay. We are here to pay our respect. I’m Vice Lieutenant Qi Wei, from the Bo Ling Qi family and have yet to be…”

Before he could finish, Xie Ling gave him a hard kick on the leg. Qi Wei glared back at him disgruntled but he did not continue speaking. 

Seeing the several dignified-looking youngsters greet them with sincere courtesy in due respect towards An Chang Qing and Xiao Zhige, Lady Yu reciprocated with a smile and bowed humbly.

Since everyone took the time to visit, it was customary to invite them for dinner.

The kitchen had already prepared the meals. Traditionally, the ladies would be seated separately but since Lady Yu and An Xian Yu were the only ladies and the people of Yanzhou were always lax with social rules, the group dined together at one big table.

Because there were ladies present, the usually uncouth army men were more refined with their eating and speaking mannerisms. After the meal, Lady Yu and An Xian Yu excused themselves and left for the backyard. 

Qi Wei took a deep breath and slyly approchaced An Chang Qing. “Since we’re all acquaintances, I’ll be straightforward with Wangfei, has your sister already been betrothed?” 

An Chang Qing was taken aback. He squinted his eyes and said doubtfully, “Not yet. What’s wrong?”

Qi Wei rubbed his hands and snickered, “Isn’t that just perfect? Since both sides have not made any marital arrangements, why don’t we join our two families through this marriage…”

Xie Ling at the back gave him another hard kick, “Whoever has proposed his own marriage before? How improper.”

Qi Wei almost fell to the ground. He turned and stared angrily at Xie Ling and said, “A fake gentleman like you deserves to be single! I’m discussing this with Wangfei first. If Wangfei agrees, I’ll send a letter to my family and have them propose this marriage.”

An Chang Qing watched them argue for a while before clearing his throat and said, “Xian Yu is my only sister so, for her marriage, I’ll respect her decision.”

Speaking of which, An Xian Yu had indeed reached the age of marriage. If it wasn’t for the retracted betrothal, she would have already been engaged. Now that Qi Wei had taken the initiative to propose, An Chang Qing had also come to notice that Xiao Zhige’s subordinates were quite good candidates.

An Chang Qing gave it some thought but did not respond. He decided to discuss it first with Lady Yu and also ask for An Xian Yu’s opinion before making any decisions.

Qi Wei was not discouraged and continued to sell himself. Xie Ling got annoyed with his boasting and gave him another kick, “It’s time to get to business.”

“Oh,” Only then did Qi Wei stop talking and remembered the purpose of their visit.

Switching to a more serious expression, Qi Wei began his report, “The sweet potato fields are almost ready to harvest. The farmers tending the fields estimated the yield to be about twenty buckets.”

The sweet potatoes were planted in May; thanks to the efficient fertilizer and irrigation, the crops grew exceedingly well. As expected, they were ready to be harvested by late August. Although he only read in a book that they could harvest almost ten buckets of potatoes in the same acre of land as wheat, it was still unbelievable to see it with his own eyes. It was as though food was dropping from the sky. Even Qi Wei and the others were feeling unreal.

“How should we deal with this large amount of sweet potatoes?”

Xiao Zhige said, “Use one portion for military rations. For the rest, how does Nuo Nuo think we should handle it?”

“Let’s have the officials promote the benefits of sweet potatoes to the people. We can keep a portion to use as seeds. When the people are aware of its usefulness, they can use silver or food to exchange for the potato seeds and grow them on their own. This way, by next year, the people should be able to secure their food source.”

The sweet potato seeds provided a large yield, the plant itself could be eaten raw or cooked, and most importantly, it could stave off hunger. If the people could realize the benefits of preserving potatoes, Yanzhou could greatly reduce its yearly food shortage.

An Chang Qing’s decision coincided with Xiao Zhige’s. “Then I’ll let Nuo Nuo and the local magistrates handle this matter.”

The pair went to discuss it in detail. Their harmonious exchange left Qi Wei and the others speechless. Once outside, Qi Wei then spoke to Xie Ling, “Do you feel that Wangfei is becoming more and more like Wangye?”

Xie Ling gave him an unsurprised look and said, “You only realize that now?”

Qi Wei scratched his head and responded, “No, but the feeling wasn’t this strong before.”

At first, although they had the utmost respect for An Chang Qing, that was mostly because he had delivered the rations during their time of need and that he was Xiao Zhige’s Wangfei. But from some point, the Wangfei in their eyes had already held the same authority as their General. Any decisions made by Wangfei, they will not question it nor feel the need to seek confirmation from Xiao Zhige. Just like how they have accepted Xiao Zhige as their supreme leader, they have come to accept An Chang Qing with the same status.

“Dork,” Xie Ling couldn’t be bothered with Qi Wei. He shook his head and went ahead with big strides.

….

After everyone had left, only Xiao Zhige and An Chang Qing stayed behind. An Chang Qing was already filled with thoughts and ideas on the introduction of sweet potatoes to the people and immediately went straight to the study. He jotted down a rough draft and decided to further refine these ideas with the old officials another day.

Xiao Zhige did not disturb him either. He warmed a cup of tea for him and left it on the table. 

When he was done writing, An Chang Qing drank the tea and stretched his back, preparing to return to the bedroom.

Just as he was able to leave, the corner of his eye swept over a pile of books on Xiao Zhige’s desk. This pile contains the documents Xiao Zhige was currently reading and An Chang Qing rarely touched it. However, in today’s pile, there was a brightly colored booklet that caught his eyes. 

An Chang Qing sat back down and pulled out the eye-catching booklet. On the cover was an illustration of two handsome men, one was brave and dignified while the other beautiful and mesmerizing. On the left corner was the title of the book in striking letters: Fallen Demon.

On the next page were finely drawn pictures of the two, depicting their interactions in boldly intimate ways. A short exposition was written as follows: When the Fox Demon learned of his identity as the God of War, to save him from being implicated, he broke off their relationship and resolved to never seeing him again. The God of War refused and the two began tussling back and forth. Finally, the angered God of War subdued the Fox Demon…

An Chang Qing: …

Why is it that even Wangye’s study has such a book?

The only people allowed to enter the study were him and Xiao Zhige, so if he did not put it here, then it’s most likely…

An Chang Qing put the booklet into his sleeve and went back to the bedroom.

Xiao Zhige was free from work after dinner and was practicing archery in the courtyard. Seeing An Chang Qing’s return, he put away the weapon and wiped the sweat before facing An Chang Qing and said, “You’re done?”

An Chang Qing squinted at him and responded with an “en”.

Xiao Zhige was still not aware that his unhidden item had been discovered. They went back and after taking turns to wash up, cuddled on the couch and chatted. 

An Chang Qing focused his eyes on Xiao Zhige and willfully said, “Today, I accompanied mother and Yu’er to the teahouse to listen to stories. There happened to be an interesting one about the God of War and the Demon Fox King. Has Wangye heard of it?”

Xiao Zhige’s eyes twitched. He looked back at An Chang Qing who had no change in expression. It was as though he simply wanted to share the story. 

After some deliberation, Xiao Zhige replied, “No. How does the story go?”

An Chang Qing now had a big smile on his face, “What I heard this morning was only the words of the storyteller. Just nice that I found a physical copy in the study just now, why doesn’t Wangye read it with me?”

After speaking, he pulled the booklet from under the pillow and waved it in front of Xiao Zhige.

“…” Xiao Zhige’s eyes twitched again as he tried to cover up the truth, “Why is there such a book in the study?”

“Exactly. I’m confused as well. If I didn’t put it there, then who else could it be?” He raised his eyebrows and spoke teasingly, “Did Wangye secretly hide this behind my back?”

“…” Xiao Zhige was silent for quite a while before nodding awkwardly. However, he still maintained a straight tone and said, “I wasn’t secretly hiding it.”

An Chang Qing used his foot and lightly tugged Xiao Zhige’s leg, “How come I didn’t know that Wangye was interested in reading these scripts?”

Since the cat was out of the bag, Xiao Zhige responded promptly this time, “I heard that it was about our past lives so I wanted to have a look.”

An Chang Qing placed the booklet between them and pointed to one of the pages, “How’s this anything like us?” The illustrators were particularly bold that they dared to paint such a scene.

Xiao Zhige saw An Chang Qing flipping to the back pages and hurriedly grabbed the booklet away. He then nodded and agreed, “Um, it’s nothing like us but there is still something we can learn from it…” Xiao Zhige would never do anything to Nuo Nuo against his will… but there were several positions that they’ve never explored before.

When Xiao Zhige finally managed to coax the person to sleep, his conclusion was that he had to find a way to stop these stories from spreading. Although the stories were fictitious and did not resemble his Nuo Nuo, he still did not want anyone else to see him in an intimate pose. He should be the only one to see his Nuo Nuo this way.