Chapter 45

On this day, another letter came from the outside. It was said to have come from young master Shen Qi, but Yan Yan saw the peculiarity the moment she received it.

How was this from big bro Qi? This was clearly from that little fatty Luo.

With the letter in her hand, she recalled the last one and couldn’t help but want to laugh.

She ripped it open and took a look. This letter was a little more normal than the last one. Although it didn’t lack a bit of wackiness, the tone was mostly formal.

It turned out that Luo Huai Yuan had arrived at the fourth prince estate. After settling in, he had started making the effort to investigate the surroundings and the people.

After all, he had to live there for seven or eight years before he came of age and was sent to his vassal state. This place would also be renovated afterwards into his own prince’s estate, where he would stay as a vassal prince when he visited the capital.

Therefore, Luo Huai Yuan put in a lot of effort into the fourth prince estate.

The fourth prince estate was renovated from an old official’s residence. This residence used to belong to a first-ranked high official of the court. That official broke the law and his possessions were confiscated. This residence was taken by Emperor Xi, who bestowed it to Luo Huai Yuan when he moved out.

The renovations were all done according to the level befitting a prince. It was constructed extremely extravagantly and luxuriously. Luo Huai Yuan had no doubts about it. Whether he was favored or not, he was the son of the current emperor after all. The son represented his father’s dignity and the residence represented the son’s dignity. Naturally, no one dared to take this matter lightly.

Since Luo Huai Yuan had set his heart on changing things, he naturally considered things carefully. Whether his residence was good or bad didn’t really matter. The people were what mattered.

After a few rounds of investigation, Luo Huai Yuan had gotten an understanding of the servants that came along with the fourth prince estate.

There were around a hundred people in the estate. They were all palace maids and eunuchs from the palace. There were also around thirty imperial guards. These would always be allotted to a prince.

According to convention, when the prince left for his vassal state, he would bring a few people from the capital with him. If nothing unusual happened, those currently in the estate would all be going with him when he left. This meant that these people and their family’s lives were all within Luo Huai Yuan’s grasp. There naturally wouldn’t be any difficulties in subduing them.

Of course, this didn’t mean there weren’t spies among these people. This was without a doubt the case. It would be unusual if there weren’t any. However, it also wasn’t too big of a problem. He just needed to filter them out carefully. He didn’t need too many trusted aids. A few were enough.

Since he had to keep up his unobtrusive manner, Luo Huai Yuan rarely left the courtyard he lived in. The moment he managed to win over two usable people, he anxiously wanted to send Yan Yan a letter.

He still remembered that after sending Yan Yan a letter last time, the little consort didn’t write him one in return. However, he figured that the little consort hadn’t gotten into the habit yet of returning a letter whenever she received one.

But no matter. He will help her develop this good habit. His current situation wasn’t stable enough yet, so having the little consort come over could only be brought up in the future. Before then, their interactions could only be via letter.

He considered for a moment before waving his mighty brush. He sealed the envelope and handed it to Xiao An Zi for delivery to the Weiyuan Marquis Estate.

Xiao An Zi refused to go, saying it wasn’t possible to deliver a letter. Luo Huai Yuan chuckled and had him pretend to be the Zhenguo Duke Estate’s young master Shen Qi’s servant. The Weiyuan Marquis Estate would definitely not make things difficult for him.

This was a challenge for the usually honest Xiao An Zi.

But it was clear that as time passed, Xiao An Zi had also been corrupted by this fellow.

……

Of course it wasn’t possible for Luo Huai Yuan to go into too much detail in his letter.

He briefly summarized the situation, saying how he was doing his best. It wasn’t yet stable in his estate so he couldn’t invite her and little second Shen over to play yet. Little sis Ah Yan was truly on his mind, so he found the spare time to send a letter over, asking how she was doing.

After reading the letter, Yan Yan sighed over how little fatty Luo was such a caring person. It was clearly her own matter, but he still expressed a lot of concern.

This sort of concern let Yan Yan feel the warmth of a friend. When all was said and done, how could servants understand her feelings? Since they had a master-servant relationship, and Ah Mo was still young, how could she discuss these things with them?

Actually, Yan Yan kept things hidden too deeply in her heart. Even with the Zhenguo Duke’s group she would only share a little bit. Some of her deepest thoughts she kept to herself.

It could only be said that Luo Huai Yuan’s luck was too good. If it were any other time, when Yan Yan wasn’t at her most indecisive moment, he wouldn’t have had the chance to know about it. He also wouldn’t have made such an impression on her. Although their relationship seemed ordinary, it was actually extremely intimate.

This sort of intimacy referred to the close distance between their hearts. Both of them had things that couldn’t be told to other people, but due to a chance encounter they learned about each other’s deepest secrets. Thus it became a feeling of intimacy.

Perhaps after a number of years, the two of them would involuntarily smile when recalling this moment. But at this time, they meant something more to each other. Yan Yan was very close with Shen Qi. They had grown up playing together and were cousins. However, to Yan Yan, it still wasn’t the same.

Just what was different?

It seemed like she didn’t need to hide things and put on an act in front of that person. This was because that person already knew her most hidden secrets, which made her subconsciously lower her guard.

……

As previously mentioned, Luo Huai Yuan was someone who was extremely good at understanding people. It might be due to him having lived several lives, or perhaps due to his complicated history. He had a goofy appearance, but he would always get to the root of the matter when he put his mind to it, and find pretty good solutions.

For example, by telling Yan Yan his own secrets, she would feel bad if she didn’t share her own. Perhaps she didn’t realize this as a conscious thought, but the thought was present nevertheless.

Another example was despite clearly wanting Yan Yan to write back to him, he didn’t act shamelessly and mention it in his letter. He merely expressed a lot of concern, and asked about Yan Yan’s situation. Without a doubt, this would require a letter in return.

Therefore, generally speaking, little fatty Luo was a very good “pen pal”.

Yan Yan was still pondering who to use to deliver her letter when Mei Xiang told her the person who had delivered this one hadn’t left yet. He was asking if the miss had any words for him to bring back.

Yan Yan had Mei Xiang wait as she went to the western room’s desk and seriously wrote a letter. She had her maid personally deliver it to that person.

***

Xiao An Zi, who was dressed as a servant boy, received Yan Yan’s reply and left the Weiyuan Marquis Estate. He had long since been covered in sweat.

The little servant boy at the estate wanted to get close to him since he was supposedly from the Zhenguo Duke Estate. Xiao An Zi had brushed him off, saying he still had matters to take care of, before rapidly fleeing.

Seeing his hurriedly retreating figure, that little servant boy had lamented that the Zhenguo Duke Estate’s people were truly busy, which was why they had good future prospects.

Xiao An Zi found a place to change out of his clothes on the way back, putting his eunuch’s outfit back on before returning to the fourth prince estate.

The estate wasn’t stable enough yet. Xiao An Zi also knew that his highness was guarded against spies. Luckily his highness had arranged someone to pick him up at the backdoor, and no clues were revealed.

After receiving the letter, Luo Huai Yuan patted Xiao An Zi heavily, asking him about the process. He nodded approvingly. He felt this Xiao An Zi had potential, and decided to raise him properly in the future.

After reading the letter, Luo Huai Yuan had gotten a pretty good understanding of the Weiyuan Marquis Estate.

During his free time in his past life, he had secretly analyzed the Weiyuan Marquis. That person was extremely good at enduring, and was rather resourceful. He could endure what others couldn’t, and could change his face as though flipping pages in a book.

Unfortunately, his weakness had been seized, and he was currently struggling like a trapped beast. Regardless, cutting off that path of his was like breaking his spine. Based on this person’s personality, he would probably continue “suffering in silence”.

But as someone who was passing his prime, how much longer could he continue to endure?

Luo Huai Yuan had some understanding of what the Zhenguo Duke had set up. From every perspective, every move was a good one. However, it focused on minimizing losses and damages. But how could everything be taken into account? If something happened, it would be his little consort who had to bear the brunt of it.

This was because in Yan Ting’s eyes, she was the “root cause”.

Luo Huai Yuan was a little worried. Panicking from caring too much described this situation precisely. He felt he was still too powerless. If something truly happened, what could he do to protect his little consort?

Therefore, he still had to make the most of his time. Having another chip in his hand would mean having a little bit more power.

…….

After several days of investigation, Luo Huai Yuan had gotten some understanding of the entire fourth prince estate.

The saying “beautiful on the outside” was extremely appropriate here.

The fourth prince estate was luxurious enough and its servants and guards were enough for him to use. All the arrangements were sufficient. As for their salaries and the various expenses of the estate, the internal affairs estate had arranged things properly without embezzling anything.

Of course this was just temporary. Based on his past life’s experience, the degree of embezzlement would eventually match the level of his royal father’s regard.

He naturally didn’t need to worry about passing his days. At least those people didn’t dare let his father lose face. But what sort of days and how he would pass them was a major problem. The prince also had a salary, but the silver that ended up in his hands were extremely few. The fourth prince estate had an old eunuch who was in charge of managing things. Luo Huai Yuan had the feeling he belonged to someone else.

Don’t ask how he knew. It was just his intuition.

Money, oh money. It was the root of all evil, but one couldn’t do without it. Luo Huai Yuan understood too well the importance of money. If he had money in his first life, he wouldn’t have remained a virgin prior to transmigrating. If he didn’t have money, all his plans for the future would come to naught.

However, Luo Huai Yuan wasn’t worried about earning money in the Grand Xi Dynasty. The monarch wasn’t omniscient and there would be some opportunities for a gentleman to thrive. Would there be any problems with Luo Huai Yuan earning some pocket money?

What Luo Huai Yuan worried about now was how to earn money, his reason for earning money, and how he should start. These were all things he had to consider. He didn’t have the luxury of time, or the chance to start over if he made a mistake.

That’s right, there was also the most important point: he also had to worry about his starting capital for any operation.

All this needed to be carefully considered. What was most important at the moment was to write back to the little consort.

Who said letters were only for pen pals? Who said letters were only used to discuss business? Couldn’t he write a letter for no reason?

He would first become her best friend and get close to her. After a while, she would feel he was irreplaceable!

To maintain their relationship, Luo Huai Yuan decided to write a letter to the little consort every day to deepen her impression and goodwill. Of course, writing too frequently would attract attention. He remembered the existence of messenger pigeons. It seems he needed to get one of those, and have it become his and the little consort’s “cupid”.

Buying a pigeon required money, and it probably wasn’t cheap. Therefore, it was extremely important to earn money!

Luo Huai Yuan gazed at the heavens, his expression full of anxiety.

Author’s notes:

Haven’t brought the little fatty out in a while. Bringing this fellow out to keep him relevant. The main plot is over by the female lead’s side, and the male lead is the side story. As a matter of fact, the scummy dad will continue to get bullied, and the mom also won’t be let off. Don’t worry.