The Empress Arrives: Rebirth of Concubine Hua

Chapter 97: Collecting An San
After Nian Shilan finished speaking, she was waiting for Ulanara's reply.

"Sister, please sit down first."

Nian Shilan also had a smile on his face. He thanked Ulanara and sat back.

"Sister, you are worrying too much. There are several accountants in the mansion to help you with the accounts of the farm. I have ordered people to do half of the furniture purchase for Concubine Qi in the past two days. I am afraid that you will have trouble after taking over. I will not trouble you to figure out this matter from the beginning."

Hearing these words, Nian Shilan knew that the reconciliation could not be postponed.

Well, she is no longer the inexperienced little girl in her previous life. Nian Shilan has already acquired solid skills in checking silver and money accounts from the process of assisting in managing the six palaces in her previous life.

"Since Madam Fu Jin trusts me so much, I will have no choice but to give it a try. I hope Madam Fu Jin will forgive me if I did anything wrong."

Nian Shilan smiled respectfully and looked at Ulanara with an indescribable look.

Duan Shi became anxious as she listened to the greetings outside being concluded and the maids from each courtyard accompanying their masters back home.

"Why won't you let me out? I'm pregnant, so how can I be less noble than them?! I'm almost going to molder in this room!"

Duan swept all the tea sets on the table to the ground, making a rustling sound of broken porcelain.

Qiang Wu hurriedly stopped her.

"Calm down, young lady. Your anger is not good for the development of the fetus."

Duan stared at Qiang Wu viciously.

"Before in Duan Mansion, you helped my sister keep an eye on me. Now in Wang Mansion, you still want to help Fu Jin keep an eye on me?!"

Qiang Wu was shocked.

"Young lady, be careful with your words! I have always been loyal to you. You are wronging me!"

"Loyal? You are wronged? Oh, I advise you to be a hero if you know the current situation. Now I am just a concubine with no name or status. When I give birth to a little prince, you can't catch up even if you flatter me. Go, open the door, I want to go out! You said you are loyal, I want to see your loyalty!"

Qiang Wu didn't dare to say a word or open the door.

How could she, a mere servant, dare to disobey the prince's orders?

Duan was making a fuss when Qiu Mei pushed the door open and walked in.

"I have seen you, young lady. May you be blessed."

Qiu Mei bowed and Duan stood up quickly with her pregnant belly.

"Auntie, are you here to let me out? I'm so depressed."

Qiu Mei smiled and shook her head.

"Please forgive me, young lady. I am here on the orders of the Lady. The Lady said that the order to confine you was issued by the prince himself, and she did not dare to go against the prince for your sake. But the Lady felt sorry for you and said that as long as you wanted to eat or play, she would satisfy you."

Duan was silent for a while, then slumped back down, and Qiang Wu hurriedly helped her sit steadily.

"I understand. Auntie, go back by yourself."

Qiu Mei took a close look at Duan's current appearance. She was only about four months old, but she had become rounder.

She nodded, left Duan's room, and went back to report to Ulanara.

When Ulanara heard about Duan's current situation, she smiled softly.

"Let her stay here in peace for now. Otherwise, I can't guarantee that if anyone in this mansion intends to harm someone, she will accidentally bump into him."

Qiu Mei said.

"The master has done his best for her pregnancy, but I'm afraid she won't know how to appreciate it."

Ulanara looked outside the door. The autumn weather was crisp and the fallen leaves were floating in the air. The maid who was sweeping the yard was squatting on the ground picking up the fallen leaves one by one.

"People can never teach people. Things can teach people once, and they will learn. If she makes trouble again, just let her make trouble and don't stop her. I want to see what she can do since the master obviously doesn't take her seriously."

Nian Shilan stood under the corridor of Cheng'en Garden, watching several maids sweeping fallen leaves into the yard to create paintings.

After looking for a while, she went into the house, sat at the table, took the tea from Songzhi and drank it, then spoke lazily.

"Songzhi, go to the front yard later and wait for the master to return home, then go and invite him over. Just tell him that my Cheng'en Garden is not clean, and I need to borrow a few guards to take turns on duty day and night, otherwise I will be very scared and can't sleep." Songzhi responded immediately.

"Yes! I will serve you dinner and leave soon."

An San knew that it was the concubine who forced him to show up.

If Prince Yong knew that he was so careless and was discovered by his concubine, he would probably be tortured by the secret guards.

In the past two days, based on her experience in her previous life, Nian Shilan could probably guess that the man on the beam, if not someone sent by someone else to take her life, was probably a secret guard to monitor her.

No matter which one it is, as long as your life is safe, you should not waste the fat meat that is right in front of you.

She has been worried recently. Xiao Linzi is smart, but he doesn't have any martial arts skills, which is inconvenient.

If we ask someone from outside to teach Xiao Linzi, there is no rule to invite a teacher for a eunuch.

Letting Xiao Linzi go out and find someone to learn from him would not only not have enough time, but would also be inconvenient.

Seeing no movement on the beam, Nian Shilan said to Songzhi.

"Let's go now. Just let Mangzhong and Hanlu take care of breakfast."

Songzhi responded and pretended to leave while speaking.

An San gritted his teeth, jumped down from the beam and landed in front of Nian Shilan.

Nian Shilan remained calm and continued to pour herself tea.

"Are you willing to come down? I still don't know who you are and why you hide in my house every day."

An San knelt on one knee and saluted with his fists clasped.

"Please forgive me, Concubine. I have no intention of hurting you. I am a man of the underworld. I was hunted by someone and had nowhere to go, so I could only hide in the palace quietly. I saw that Concubine's place was spacious and comfortable, so I dared to be a guest on the beam. I swear that I am only staying here temporarily and will leave when I find a suitable opportunity in the future."

Nian Shilan didn't care whether what he said was true or not, as long as he showed up, everything would be easy.

She looked at An San carefully. He looked young, with no expression on his handsome face. He was wearing a nightgown, and her eyes could see that he had a sturdy figure that didn't match his appearance.

"I don't know what your name is. Since you are from the martial arts world, I will not ask about your grudges. However, you cannot bring the people who are chasing you here. I am very afraid of death."

Nian Shilan had a smile on her face.

An San didn't dare to look into Nian Shilan's eyes and answered with his head down.

"Thank you, Concubine. I will never bring trouble to you. You can call me Li Ke."

Nian Shilan looked at An San with amusement.

"Li Ke? It's an easy name to remember. Now that you have shown up, I will protect you from now on. You just need to teach my personal eunuch some martial arts. One day when you return to the martial arts world, I will also give you money, and you won't have to live on the edge of a knife anymore."

An San looked up at Nian Shilan in surprise. This concubine was so generous.

"Thank you, Concubine. I can teach your personal eunuch martial arts. I only ask that you keep my whereabouts secret and never let anyone else know."

Nian Shilan responded readily.

"Don't worry."

After saying that, he called Xiao Linzi in and asked him to acknowledge this cheap master. Xiao Linzi suppressed the doubts in his heart, looked overjoyed, and immediately became his disciple.

From then on, An San still lived on the beam during the day, and taught Xiao Linzi some simple kung fu in the dark corner of the yard at night.

Nian Shilan would ask Xiao Linzi to set aside a portion of food for An San every day.

When Hanlu sent messages via carrier pigeons, An San and Xiao Linzi would hide in the dark and watch her. The information they transmitted was nothing more than the concubine's daily life.

An San was careful and wrote down the content of each transmission, compiled it into a book, and secretly showed it to Yinzhen every few days.

On the morning of the second day after Nian Shilan took Li Ke in, she received the accounts reported by the farm. She handed the accounts to Xiao Linzi and went straight to the front yard to wait for Yinzhen.

(End of this chapter)