Could it be that the seemingly inconspicuous Zhao Jinge was actually very well-off? If not, why would Jiang Zhen marry into Zhao house?
The two were a little curious, but Zheng Yi did not speak about it anymore.
After eating with Jiang Zhen, Zheng Yi left. Shen Anxin, who was still full of questions, could not ask to stay, so he could only leave with him. However, he was already in Hecheng County, so he had time to figure it out.
Zheng Yi did not intend to let Feng Jingyuan and Shen Anxin interfere in the affairs of Qingfeng, so the next day, he left without them and talked with Jiang Zhen alone.
Feng Jingyuan came to the south of the Yangtze River to open up the market here, so during the time he could not follow after Zheng Yi, he visited Hecheng County. Shen Anxin thought about it and finally decided to hire a boat and went to Hexi Village.
In small villages like Hexi, there were not many outsiders, so the villagers were very defensive and would look at aliens as something strange. But since Jiang Zhen built a dock, more and more merchants came and went and the people were no longer surprised to see outsiders.
In particular, Shen Anxin wore expensive clothes and looked like a rich man, so they welcomed him even more.
Shen Anxin finally strolled around this side of the dock as he asked around about Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge.
Thanks to Zhao Liu, everyone in Hexi knew that Jiang Zhen was very good to Zhao Jinge, so Shen Anxin could find countless news as soon as he inquired. For example, Zhao Jinge was originally just a long-term worker of the Zhao family in the village and his family did not even have a piece of land. But after Jiang Zhen married into his house, with the “wages” from the Jiang family and by doing business, Jiang Zhen unexpectedly made his family rich. At this time, the family of Zhao Jinge had already become richer than the Zhaos he worked for before.
For example, Zhao Jinge used to be a well-known man who couldn’t get married, so no one expected him to marry so well in the end.
“Jinge is really blessed, Jiang Zhen as well. The lives of the two of them are bound to get better and better,” the Hexi woman who talked with Shen Anxin said with emotion.
“Yes.” Shen Anxin smiled and nodded, but his heart became more and more resentful.
When he was in the capital before, although he liked Jiang Zhen and was a little jealous of Zhao Jinge, he did not want to destroy their relationship, but now . . . Zhao Jinge was inferior to him everywhere. Why can he be treated wholeheartedly by Jiang Zhen? If Jiang Zhen had not been involved with the Zhao family but with the Shen family . . . He could fulfill his parents’ expectations and inherit the Shen family to carry on his family line while Jiang Zhen himself would also have a better starting point, right?
Why didn’t he meet Jiang Zhen earlier?
When Shen Anxin returned to the Zheng family house that day, he was in a trance. It was only when he saw Feng Jingyuan that he felt like a cold water was poured on his head, making him calm down. Whatever he had in mind, he couldn’t show it. However, if Jiang Zhen can be with him, with the friendship between Jiang Zhen and Zheng Yi, what was Feng Jingyuan?
Jiang Zhen knew nothing about Shen Anxin’s thoughts. From beginning to end, he did not even notice that Shen Anxin liked him. He was busy with Qingfeng House.
Jiang Zhen used to do different work assignments. When Jiang Zhen was doing assignments before, he had been in some casinos, so he was able to put forward a lot of suggestions.
Not all of his suggestions were applicable, but with these bits of information, Zheng Yi could always improve them so that the various rules and regulations and methods of operation of Qingfeng House could be perfected gradually.
For some of the women and gers saved by Jiang Zhen from the pirates, Jiang Zhen had already sent them to Hexi. But Liu Qianqian and the others were sent by him to the house provided by Zheng Yi to open Qingfeng House, and then they began to learn how to play cards.
Neither Jiang Zhen nor Zheng Yi meant to take advantage of the beauties to cheat officials, so all they had to do was to learn how to play, so the job was simple, and they learned quickly. At the same time, the house was redecorated.
In order to open Qingfeng House within the shortest time possible, Zheng Yi did not hesitate to provide some furniture from the Zheng family, so it only took him 20 days to make the house look good.
It was during this period that Shen Anxin often took advantage of Jiang Zhen and Zheng Yi’s busyness to find Zhao Jinge, who followed Jiang Zhen to the county town, and became acquainted with him.
This day, Shen Anxin went to find Zhao Jinge again. When Shen Anxin arrived, Zhao Jinge was reading and practicing calligraphy.
Even then, Zhao Jinge still could not recognize all the characters and his handwriting was not very good-looking, but he was very serious. He practiced a lot every day, so he made great progress. While practicing, Zhao Jinge couldn’t help thinking of Jiang Zhen, so the characters he wrote were “Jiang Zhen.”
“Zhao Jinge, are you practicing calligraphy?” Shen Anxin came in from the outside and asked with a smile, but he did not like Zhao Jinge who practiced calligraphy on the dining table while his fat daughter was still sleeping on the big bed made of the wooden board next to him.
Which scholar practiced calligraphy like this?
“Mm-hmm.” Zhao Jin nodded to Shen Anxin.
As long as Shen Anxin was not interested in Jiang Zhen, Zhao Jinge still liked Shen Anxin very much and even admired him a lot because Shen Anxin knew a lot of things. But the more he got along with Shen Anxin, the more worthless he felt. For example, the other day, Shen Anxin told him about incense on his clothes, which made him feel at a loss.
Shen Anxin said that both men and women should be clean and tidy and take good care of their appearance and properly smoke their clothes with incense . . . But he didn’t know anything about it.
Shen Anxin not only understood these but was also very knowledgeable. When he was studying, he didn’t understand some places and couldn’t find Jiang Zhen to ask. Obviously, Jiang Zhen didn’t understand some of it either, but Shen Anxin knew all about it. Other people’s breadth of knowledge was really much better than that of Jiang Zhen’s and his!
Before Shen Anxin came close, Zhao Jin took a book to cover the “Jiang Zhen” he had written while practicing calligraphy and said to Shen Anxin, “Master Shao, why did you come so early today?”
“Didn’t I tell you about it already? Just call me Anxin,” Shen Anxin said, and then he placed a small box on the table. “If you call me Anxin, I’ll call you Jinge. Jinge, didn’t I tell you yesterday that gers should also learn to take care of his appearance? I brought some tools today. Would you like to try it? “
“No. I’m not used to it.” Zhao Jinge subconsciously wanted to refuse.
“It’s okay to try!” Shen Anxin said, and then opened the box he had brought.
“Razor?” Zhao Jinge looked and saw a knife, becoming a little surprised.
Nowadays, many people liked to grow a beard, but Jiang Zhen did not like it, so when his beard became a little longer, he would shave it with a knife, so Zhao Jinge was not stranger to razors. However, they do not have a beard so what did Shen Anxin want to do with a razor?
“It’s a razor, but it’s not for shaving. It’s for the eyebrows,” Shen Anxin said. “Your eyebrows are a little messy. If you trim them, you will certainly look a lot better.”
“No need . . .” Zhao Jinge wanted to refuse, but he was always a person who was not very good at refusing people, so Shen Anxin soon persuaded him and helped him trim his eyebrows.
Zhao Jinge was originally very brave. After Shen Anxin trimmed his eyebrows, his eyebrows that went into his temples making him look a lot stronger.
“A ger will smell like powder when using the common powder in the world. These too white powders are also not suitable for you, but you should also rub something on your face and use a little darker powder . . . Wait, I will draw your eyebrows again.”
Shen Anxin took out a box of face powder and rubbed it on Zhao Jinge’s face. In fact, Shen Anxin did it with bad intentions. He was a ger, but his father was determined to raise him as a son, but he was very much like his mother, looking very feminine.
His father was very worried about this, but later, his mother came up with a method to solve this matter.
His mother was a very beautiful woman who usually loved to tinker with all kinds of things to make herself even more beautiful. She relied on this skill to fix Shen Anxin’s eyebrows and use of the powder to make him look more manly. Right then, he was applying this method on Zhao Jinge.
After Shen Anxin’s tossing around, Zhao Jinge looked very, very vigorous, so no one could say that Shen Anxin gave Zhao Jinge a bad makeup, but at the same time . . . Zhao Jinge looked like an entirely new person; he even looked like a man with a very cold aura.
Originally, after getting married with Jiang Zhen and having a child, Zhao Jinge’s temperament has changed a lot, and he became much softer. But in the face of Jiang Zhen, all of this was obvious, but under Shen Anxin’s hands, all that softness completely disappeared, and even the scar in the middle of his eyebrow was so well hidden that it could no longer be seen.
“Jinge, look. Don’t you look much better like this?” Shen Anxin took out a bronze mirror and showed it to Zhao Jinge.
The person in the mirror was really good-looking, and he did not know how Shen Anxin made him look like this. Some small scars on his face had also become invisible. This was . . . He was not sure why he felt so strange, but Zhao Jinge frowned subconsciously. However, he was grateful for Shen Anxin’s efforts to help him.
“Thank you,” Zhao Jinge said to Shen Anxin.
“You’re welcome,” Shen Anxin said with a smile. “Jinge, you should learn how to take care of yourself in the future. Those men, they all like gers who take care of themselves and be clean and beautiful . . .”
Shen Anxin was still talking when he heard a noise outside, Jiang Zhen came back.
“Jinge, is dinner ready?” Jiang Zhen spent the whole morning in Qingfeng House, so he was so hungry that he asked as soon as he entered the house. But as soon as he finished asking he froze.
This day’s Zhao Jinge looked very nice.
Everyone’s aesthetic was different. Zhao Jinge’s appearance was very much in line with Jiang Zhen’s aesthetic, but the way he looked today . . . It has to be said that it was even more in Jiang Zhen’s aesthetics.
Obviously, Zhao Jinge didn’t see much change, but he indeed looked different. Jiang Zhen always thought he was particularly attractive this way.
“You . . . look a little different today.” Jiang Zhen doubted and was about to touch Zhao Jinge.
“Isn’t it . . . pretty?” Zhao Jinge became worried. “I put on makeup today, I . . .”
Jiang Zhen had never liked rouge gouaches, so if he put on makeup, would Jiang Zhen have a problem with it? Jiang Zhen regretted it very much at the moment. If he had known, he would not have agreed to Shen Anxin’s idea.
“No . . . It looks good.” Jiang Zhen swallowed and said, “How did this happen?”
He used to hear that those male stars had to wear makeup, but he didn’t believe so. He did not expect that men would look better after doing it. In the future, if Zhao Jinge did this, it was fine, but of course, it didn’t matter if he didn’t.
“Anxin did it for me,” Zhao Jinge said.
“Yes, Master Jiang. I did it for Jinge. His skin looks much better this way, doesn’t it?” Shen Anxin asked with a smile.
“Mm-hmm.” Jiang Zhen nodded, frowning.
This Shen Anxin . . . called Zhao Jinge, Jinge? What’s more, he did makeup for Zhao Jinge?
Jiang Zhen knew that Zhao Jinge knew absolutely nothing about makeup, so it was estimated that all of the things on his face were done by Shen Anxin. Recently, Shen Anxin came to see Zhao Jinge every day and talked with him all day long, and now he was even doing makeup for Zhao Jinge! What did he mean by this!
Before, Zhao Jinge always talked about Shen Anxin’s knowledge, so Jiang Zhen, who had been compared to Shen Anxin all day could no longer see the adoring eyes of Zhao Jinge and already became a little unhappy, and so this day’s situation made him a little sour.
Seeing that Jiang Zhen seemed a little unhappy, Shen Anxin was very happy. “Master Jiang, are you hungry? Mrs. Li has already prepared the meal, and it will be ready soon.”
As he spoke, he went to clean up the pen and paper left by Zhao Jinge’s calligraphy practice on the table.
“I’ll do it.” Zhao Jinge wanted to stop him, but it was already too late. Shen Anxin had already put aside the book he used as cover and revealed his paper full of Jiang Zhen’s name.
Zhao Jinge suddenly felt a little shy, but Shen Anxin was overjoyed. He was writing Jiang Zhen’s name? But he even wrote Jiang Zhen’s name wrong!
“Jiang Zhen” was not written like this at all!
“Jinge, did you want to write Jiang Zhen?” Shen Anxin said. “Why did you write Jiang Zhen’s name wrong? If you let others see this, they will think that you have no knowledge. “
The characters for Jiang Zhen written by Zhao Jinge were written in simplified Chinese that Jiang Zhen taught him at the beginning.
He also knew that these two words were not quite right, but Jiang Zhen taught him like this, so when he wrote it, he didn’t change it.
When it was pointed out this time by Shen Anxin, Zhao Jinge became a little embarrassed and looked at Jiang Zhen. Jiang Zhen probably didn’t learn the characters well at first, so he probably taught him the wrong way to write it, but now when it was already out in the open . . . this. . . Will Jiang Zhen be angry?
Of course, Jiang Zhen was angry. Shen Anxin came to Zhao Jinge every day, showing his knowledge in front of Zhao Jinge and putting on makeup for Zhao Jinge. Now he even said in roundabout way that he was uneducated . . .
Jiang Zhen’s face turned black.
Edited by: Faro
Proofreader: XLB
Support translation:
What a canon fodder. Someone take SA for themselves.
SA is really hypocrite , one way he like JZ because JZ is loyal and love ZJ wholeheartly sbut he want to destroy it. If he get JZ , will he be consider loyal. What’s with i am better than your partner so with me then in the future if someone is better than SA he should again change the partner.
jeez, i dont know why the author has to make sa’s character do a downfall so rapidly. he was pretty cute at the start :/ i mean jiang zhen is a pretty rare commodity even in modern times, so like i get the jealousy. but like the author seems weirdly intent on making him dislikable now? im probably uselessly hoping for sa to get a HE after a mild and misguided faceslapping from jiang zhen but anyway…
thanks for the translation and your hard work!
Bueno…en la vida real sucede esto, el ger rico cree que vale más que Zhao jingen por nacer rico y ser más educado, es soberbio.
Realmente la primera vez que lo vimos, supimos que era buen comerciante, pero eso no significa que sea buena persona. Esa zorra mala.
Shen anxin..you really is a dummy..provoking the wrong person…😑😑😑
Shen Anxin that’s very naughty of you but you totally got the reverse of what you aimed for 😅
Not all first crush or first love is meant to be. I had hoped that it ended the fist time he was tricked by the “concubines”.
It’s a good thing that Jiang Zheng couldn’t be led astray. Shen Anxin now needs to learn how is it to get over his one sided feelings.
Thanks for the update! 💕
SAX : *putting manly makeup on ZJG* hehehe now JZ will think you’re unattractive
JZ : Jokes on you, I’m into that!
LOL so funny
I somehow become a love rival of my love in his mind.jpg
🙁 I wanted Shen Anxin to be a good guy….I hope he can get better….
hahaha is not a vivid description of the expression, pick up a stone to hit his own foot. what a white lotus imitation
I’m really really disappointed with Shen Anxin, like it was already very obvious then Jinge and Jiang Zhen are very much in love and close with each other. I wanna smack him in the head and tell him to move along.
I am very angry!!
aiya author made anxi a love rival villain. he could be a ger bestie of our jinghe.
Oh no.
😂. So funny that making Jinge ‘manlier) would be a turn on for Zhen.
I hope Anxin fins his own bf soon.
What a disappointment. I’m mad that Shen Anxin used such a method. When Jinge is insecure as it is. We could have been great! Ugh, and now that sleaze Feng will probably get the upper hand. Embarrassing to me and my homies.
THOT SAX…. You deserve what happens to you at the end… Who…. RE
Some slxt deserves on what will happen to them
Sometimes I really don’t like these plot lines and I really like it less when it’s a ger who’s a businessman which is hard in these times and I would’ve liked to see some camaraderie and gender equality but we get this stupid love triangle what? the drama is only fun for how long and it’s just sad when women should lift each other up the disvantaged minority should lift each other up makes me sick honestly with all this cat fighting supposedly