Shao Yunan pretended to be confused, not asking Wei Hongwen’s real purpose for coming. Just assuming that he himself was such a big name that he came to see him. With Elder Cen, Kang Rui, and Jiang Kangning present, Wei Hongwen also could not tell Shao Yunan his real intention. 

He originally wanted to use the Hengyuan Marquis’ power to bully Shao Yunan into giving him a portion of the tea and wine business, but it turned out that not only did Elder Cen and Kang Rui’ relationship with Shao Yunan catch him off guard, Shao Yunan himself, with his too ‘calm and ‘naive’ attitude caught him off guard and made him unable to do anything.

With Elder Cen, Kang Rui, and Jiang Kangning ‘calling the shots,’ Shao Yunan just needed to follow their topic, acting absolutely obedient. No matter how anxious Wei Hongwen was in his heart, his face was calm and he freely followed their talk, not appearing too high profile either. Just from his words, it could be seen that he has been to many places and he really had a way of doing business. 

But what made Shao Yunan most interested in Wei Hongwen was that it could be said that he had traveled all over the southeast and northwest of the Great State of Yan and even to the countries around the Great State of Yan. This included the Huhar Kingdom that just finished the war with the Great State of Yan. Wei Hongwen was only 24 years old, but he looked closer to 30 years old, which was not unrelated to him doing business and exposing himself to wind and sun all year round.

Jiang Kangchen had talked to Shao Yunan about it before. The situation of the Hengyuan Marquis was very complicated. Wei Hongru and Wei Hongwen were sons of the first wife of the Marquis of Hengyuan, however after the death of their mother, the Marquis of Hengyuan married another beautiful wife, who was the daughter of a court official who gave birth to another son and daughter. 

The son was still young, just ten years old, but their mother was still the first lady of the Marquis of Hengyuan mansion. Marquis Hengyuan also loved beauty, so he had more than a dozen side wives and more than a dozen concubines. The eldest son of one of the concubines was even 3 years older than the eldest son, Wei Hongru.

Wei Hongru and Wei Hongwen’s maternal grandparents’ family was weak and their power was not comparable to that of the current lady of the house. Without his mother’s shelter, Wei Hongru and Wei Hongwen’s strength was not that strong, but as long as Wei Hongru did not give his sons titles, his and Wei Hongwen’s position in the Hengyuan Marquis household could never be called solid. 

In addition, the new wife naturally was not willing for the successor title to fall in the hands of the former main wife’s son and tried every method to get it for her own son. The power struggles needed no further explanation.

The eldest son born from a concubine, Wei Hongzheng had no hope of becoming the next family head, but he had a disagreement with the brothers, so he was now cooperating with the main wife and finding every opportunity to make trouble for the two brothers. 

This time, the Hengyuan Marquis mansion didn’t even have a little part of such a big tea and wine business. Wei Hongzheng often took this opportunity to make trouble for the two of them. Therefore, Wei Hongwen had to get the tea and wine business, and ensure that similar things would not happen again and that he could fight back.  But now, Wei Hongwen felt that things were far more difficult than he expected. It’s just that he couldn’t find an opportunity to discuss it with Shao Yunan for now.

Shao Yunan’s heart was like a clear mirror. He didn’t mention it, but he didn’t deliberately make things difficult for Wei Hongwen. He didn’t have such bad taste. It was just that he had to see whether this Wei Hongwen was worthy of his investment. Through the conversation between Elder Cen, Dean Kang, his elder brother, and Wei Hongwen, Shao Yunan observed silently. 

He had never thought of offending someone like the Hengyuan Marquis household, but it was also difficult to prevent backstabbing. Not to mention the other party was still a son of the powerful Hengyuan Marquis household. Unless he himself is a prince and nobleman, otherwise even if he relies on more mountains, they might find trouble with him. As for the second reason, the head of their family has not yet returned, so how could they talk about business!?

Only when it was already getting dark in the evening, did Wang Shijing come back with Madam Cen. As soon as he came back, Guo Ziyu told Wang Shijing about the important guests who visited their family. He and Shao Yunan had already discussed this matter, so he first escorted Madam Cen to her room to rest and asked for the meal to be served. Wang Shijing then went back to his room to change clothes and washed his hands and face, not wanting to appear dirty in front of the guests.

Shao Yunan was cooking in the kitchen at this time, while Elder Cen, Kang Rui, and Jiang Kangning continued to entertain the guests in the main hall. But the appearance of Wang Shijing changed the atmosphere of the scene once again. After Wang Shijing called them. “Elder Cen, Senior Brother, Big Brother,” as he formally introduced himself to Wei Hongwen. When Wei Hongwen saw Wang Shijing wearing a one-eyed eye patch, Wei Hongwen’s first reaction was ‘a fresh bamboo fallen into cow dung.’ Regardless of age or looks, in the eyes of outsiders, Shao Yunan was really wronged and Wang Shijing took a big advantage.

Wang Shijing first told Elder Cen that he had brought his wife back and then politely expressed his welcome to Wei Hongwen. Wang Shijing was not as eloquent as Shao Yunan, but it was precisely because of his introvertedness and his appearance that he left a deep impression on Wei Hongwen. After all, he had been on the battlefield and killed people, and with the black eyepatch, as long as Wang Shijing didn’t speak, he would give people a strong sense of oppression. 

Wei Hongwen had met countless people and he also heard about Wang Shijing from Shopkeeper Xu before, so after he met him, he could naturally tell that this person has killed people and seen blood before. He was also not just a small soldier in the army for sure. This pair of husbands were far beyond Wei Hongwen’s expectations, to which Wei Hongwen could only take a step back to observe more.

Not long after Wang Shijing came back, Guo Ziyu appeared at the entrance of the main hall. Dinner was ready, so they were invited to eat. Elder Cen said expectantly, “Yunan’s cooking skills are probably inferior to that of Yizhangxuan’s cooks, second Young Master is really blessed.” Wei Hongwen smiled. “This younger generation has heard about it for a long time so he is looking forward to trying it.”

In winter, eating lamb was the most delicious. The sheep skewers also had the reputation as the ‘king of calcium.’ Shao Yunan had always wanted to cook it, but there were too many delicacies to cook before. If Zhao He hadn’t mentioned that his family wanted to kill the sheep and give it to Shao Yunan, he wouldn’t even have remembered it.

Shao Yunan made mutton skewers with two soup bases, red soup and white soup. The red soup was seasoned with Chili while the white soup had a pure fresh flavor. The three children, Madam Cen, and the two young girls, Xia Chun and Xia Qiu, could not eat spicy food, so they ate the white soup, while the others were left to do as pleased. After asking everyone what soup they wanted to eat, Shao Yunan asked Aunt Zhou and Zheng Wei to fill a separate bowl for each person and put it in front of them.

They haven’t eaten it yet, but just from looking at and smelling it, everyone swallowed their saliva. After Elder Cen picked up his chopsticks, no one tried to act reserved anymore. Wei Hongwen was kinda depressed, but he was really hungry. Especially after the lamb and skewers were served, even he, who claimed to have eaten a lot of delicious food, couldn’t help swallowing. But there were not only skewers on the table. Shao Yunan also asked Guo Zimu to stir-fry a few dishes, steam steamed buns, and bake pancakes.

Edited by: Jaisland

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