The Big Landlord - Chapter 102.2 – The Person Behind the Scenes

Chapter 102.2 – The Person Behind the Scenes

The Chong Ming Emperor had personally conferred the title of cheng wang* on Fu Yuan Cheng. His mother, Shi gui fei**, originated from the common folk. She was a stunning beauty. Even though she was now in her thirties, she was still very loved by the Chong Ming Emperor.

[*T/N: The cheng in 诚王 cheng wang is the same cheng character in 傅元诚 Fu Yuan Cheng’s name. Cheng means “sincere, authentic,” and the wang is from wang ye.]

[**T/N: 贵妃 gui fei – senior concubine / imperial consort]

Despite not having a strong maternal family to back him up, Fu Yuan Cheng was still one of the strong competitors for the throne. But without the support of a strong maternal family, he could only create various connections by himself, so he would need a lot of money. An Zi Ran had reason to suspect him.

But there was one more prince who could be a possibility.

Translations by Vanilla Muse.

For example, the third prince, Fu Yuan Yang. His mother was Yu huang gui fei*. Asides from the empress, Zhang Sun Tian Feng, and the empress dowager, she was the most respected person in the harem. In his maternal family, his father’s father (paternal grandfather) was the Ministry of War. His mother’s brother (maternal uncle) was the governor-general of the imperial bodyguards. All of his clansmen were officials serving in the government. On the surface, they only have the fertile land bestowed by the Chong Ming Emperor. Whether that was all they had was unknown.

[*T/N: The consort ranking systems vary depending on the dynasty, but in general 皇贵妃 huang gui fei is a level above gui fei and a level below empress.]

An Zi Ran told Fu Wu Tian his conjecture.

“Wang fei is indeed smart.” Fu Wu Tian said with admiration.

An Zi Ran asked, “So which one is it?”

Fu Wu Tian, “This prince is also uncertain.”

“…You’re bluffing me?”

“Wang fei, there’s a difference. This prince only said that the probability for these two people were the highest, but this prince did not say he knew which one it was.”

An Zi Ran glanced at him silently, then got up and left.

With great hand-eye coordination, Fu Wu Tian quickly grabbed on to An Zi Ran’s wrist, and exerted a little force. An Zi Ran immediately staggered and fell down atop his body. However, now he was different from the weak An Zi Ran of before. He reacted right away. At the moment he was pulled*, he used his unrestricted hand to support his body. At the same time, a smothered hum sounded above his head.

[*T/N: The original text used the idiom 千钧一发, meaning “imminent peril” or “a matter of life or death,” which I thought was hilarious. Author, are you saying AZR will get eaten if he doesn’t react fast enough? XD]

An Zi Ran hesitated for a moment, and then realized that there seemed to be something wrong with the landing point of his hand. The thing in his hand was not as hard as he imagined, but rather, had some give, and through the separation of cloth, there was an astonishing heat. His fingers curled together slightly and that thing abruptly hardened.