Muse: Bonus chapter brought to you by supporters on

. ^-^

Thank you to Jessica Lins for topping up the coffee counter. ☕

Chapter 62.2 - Development

Qian You Hao peered inside the rice shop and saw An Zi Ran talking with Manager Feng. He frowned.

He thought that the things that An Zi Ran had done before all had other purposes behind them. It was only that other people did not know the truth. So he was always waiting for An Zi Ran to reveal to his true colors. But he did not expect to see this scene.

Support the translator. Read this on vmnovels(.)com

An Zi Ran once again disregarded the interests of the An family to benefit the people of An Yuan County. This kind of behavior only gave off the impression that he was trying to help the people of the county become rich. Perhaps he really had no other purpose and he was just trying to increase the standard of living for the people here?

"Da ren, it looks like we will have to move up our plans."

The guard looked around in a vigilant manner and then whispered in Qian You Hao's ear. To them, they saw An Zi Ran squandering his family assets in a manner that did not reap big returns. In this kind of situation, even if the government confiscated the An family's properties, the profits were likely to be much less than expected.

"We'll talk when we go back."

After Qian You Hao spoke, he turned around and left.

The guard quickly followed.

The two then returned to the inn. Originally they had intended to live in An Chang De's house, but they were worried that this would attract An Zi Ran's attention, and there were also some things that they did not want An Chang De and his wife to know.

The guard poured a cup of tea for Qian You Hao.

Qian You Hao picked up the cup but then put it back down again. "Is there still no news from that side?"

The guard replied, "I have been in contact with them. I believe we will obtain the evidence soon. But An Chang Fu's crime may not be to the level of needing the government to search and seize his house."

Qian You Hao was unconcerned. "If there is not enough evidence, we will just create more. If the evidence is not incriminating enough, we will just have to make it worse. The great Prefectural Magistrate has already made preparations. Just wait for the right timing. We can't let this great opportunity go to waste. This operation must be successful."

The guard was aware that several big names were implicated in this case. There was no room for mistakes.

What these two didn't know was that An Zi Ran was already aware of their plans. Furthermore, two days later, right when the evidence arrived in their hands it was snatched away. The person who took the evidence quickly rushed into an alley and disappeared.

Support the translator. Read this on vmnovels(.)com

The excited expression on the guard's face froze. His reaction was not considered slow, but by the time he rushed into the alley, the other person had already disappeared. There was not a single figure in the empty alleyway. There was only a single cat lazily sunbathing atop the wall. The cat meowed when it saw the guard.

Shao Fei, who had nabbed the evidence from the guard, did not immediately rush back to An Yuan County. He stayed there to make some arrangements. When he finished, he left the place.

An Yuan County

The workers hired by the An family have already begun to demolish the old warehouse. The warehouse was in shambles on the ground and dust filled the air.

Whether it was out on the fields, or inside the county, it was flourishing everywhere.

No one expected that An Yuan County would experience such a big change in just a few months. Even County Magistrate Zhang was starting to look upon the An family favorably.

County Magistrate Zhang was the local official of An Yuan County. He was not a completely clean official, but he was at least a good official that worked for the sake of the local people. If An Yuan County could develop and thrive, then it was good for him too. So he did not participate in An Chang De's plans. He also did not know that they had revitalized their plans.

In the month of May, every household was just starting to prepare for the harvest.

Because An Zi Ran promised that he would purchase their crops at a price higher than the market price, everyone was in high spirits.

The fields were affected by disaster this year, and three or four hundred kilograms of rice were lost, but one acre of land could still produce four or five hundred kilograms of rice. After the families paid their land rent and kept some foodstuffs in storage, they would sell whatever was left over. But because Hong Province was the hometown of rice that specialized in producing rice, the price of rice was lower than everywhere else.

A bucket of rice was equivalent to twenty kilograms of rice. It could sell for a hundred coins in other places, but in Hong Province it could only sell for about eighty coins, and some places were even lower, so people did not actually earn much by selling their rice.

The An family was willing to accept their rice. Whether the buying price was higher than the market price or not, they were still very happy.

Since the men left home to work for the An family, their daily lunch was provided for by the An family. The men's meal portions were relatively large. Because they were no longer eating at home, some of the families' situation began to improve.

But on this day, trouble was brewing in the An family.