[BL]The Big Landlord

Chapter 19 - Engagement

Chapter 19 - Engagement

The An family, before An Chang Fu and An Chang De parted ways, was also considered a scholarly family.

The Old Master* was a ju ren**. In the Da Ya Dynasty, this achievement was enough to name him an official. But the Old Master chose to return to his hometown and did not accept any official post. This status made him a fish back in the water*** in the An Yuan County. Even the county magistrate had to give him face.

[*T/N: An Zi Ran's grandfather]

[**T/N: 举人 ju ren: graduate / a successful candidate in the imperial provincial examination]

[***T/N: "Like a fish back in water" is an idiom meaning: glad to be back in one's proper surroundings.]

The Old Master placed great expectations on his two sons. Although he was a ju ren, he was unable to go beyond ju ren. His life wish was for the An family to produce a jin shi*. In the end, he pinned his wish on his two sons. Of the two, only An Chang De had a little talent, and An Chang Fu was not scholarly material.

[*T/N: 进士 jin shi: palace graduate / successful candidate in the highest imperial civil service examination]

However, even if this were the case, the An family already had a bit of reputation and fame in An Yuan County.
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The Old Master was an elegant scholar with literary talent. His specialty was not poetry but painting. There was a certain charm to each one of his paintings. Someone once said if he were willing to sell his work then they would fetch a very high price.

But the Old Master was an obstinate person. He viewed paintings as something noble. It was for cultivating the passion of a beautiful hobby. Therefore, he was resolutely unwilling to measure it in terms of monetary benefits. For precisely this reason, he became famous.

When he was sixty years old, he met a tourist passing through An Yuan County.

The tourist claimed to be a businessman who wanted to settle in Jun Zi City* with his family. Jun Zi City was the capital of Da Ya. It was very prosperous. It was a place where many businessmen and scholars longed for.

[*T/N: 君子城 jun zi cheng. Literally "gentleman city"]

At first, the Old Master did not like the other person because he was a businessman. Although he was not particularly prejudiced towards businessmen like the other literati, he still did not like to get too close to them, especially since his younger son seemed to be interested in business.

However, when the other person revealed his literary skills, the Old Master sat up and took notice.

After that the two soon became friends. They were both around the same age and also shared a common subject of conversation. In the end they became sworn brothers. The other party was very interested in the Old Master's paintings. So the Old Master sent him several pieces of art that were his masterpieces.

The other party knew that these paintings were the painstaking efforts of the Old Master and was greatly moved by the gesture, thus he gave half of a jade pendant as a return gift.

[T/N: The businessman is not being cheap here when he only gave half of the pendant. Think of it as friendship or couple necklaces where each party keeps one half of the jewelry as a sign of their close relation.]

The jade pendant was a family heirloom, meant to be given to the family's future daughter-in-law. It was very precious and expensive. After knowing this, the Old Master refused to accept the jade pendant, thinking that his paintings could not be compared to the worth of this jade pendant. As the result, the other party said that he was leaving it as a token for his future daughter-in-law.
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And thus, a marriage engagement was formed between the two families.