Crossing the Mountains

Chapter 122 Cleaning up the stall
Mrs. Tan was being unreasonable for still trying to blackmail him at this point. After Mr. Tan explained his purpose, he remained silent, allowing his wife to taunt him, perhaps trying to test Shen Tu Zhuo's limits and see if there was any other opportunity he could exploit.

It was Tan Anfeng who accidentally hit Shentu Zhuo's sore spot.

He said, "Master Zhuo, my younger sister has been a widow since she married into your Shentu Mansion. Now she has left her hometown to make a living as a businessman. You treat her so coldly, but the Tan family tolerates it. This shows how much we value this marriage."

Shentu Zhuo was speechless. His mother did treat Tan Huaike coldly. She divided the family property in a hasty manner and did not give her any food to eat. She almost ignored her. Even he himself was suspicious of her at the beginning and did not treat her well. He also advised her to ask for a divorce and not to covet his brother's property.

That being said, he later reformed, even wanting to pour out his heart to her. He'd been running around trying to make a living, watching her being sent off to marry, about to become the princess of his old friend. Could he have been willing to let her go? Despite his outward appearance of indifference, he relied on the busy affairs of Qianjinqu to relieve his boredom, gnashing his teeth.

Putting all this aside, there is also the barrier between them as uncle and sister-in-law. Who can understand his desire but failure to get it?
As for the Tan family, they actually had the nerve to say "tolerance"? Who asked them to tolerate it?
All the sufferings that A'sao had endured since entering the Pass were caused by them. If they had cared about her at all, they would not have just let her enter the Shentu Mansion and ignored her, treating her as if her "daughter" had been lost and died. They did not allow her to have any contact with the family's wealth and glory, but they never forgot her even once when she got into trouble.

How could he say that he valued this marriage? Only a brainless person like Tan Anfeng could say that.

Seeing him frown and remain silent, Tan Anfeng felt even more justified and spoke freely, "Although my younger sister is no longer in Zhangye, she is still the eldest lady of your Shentu family. If An Fu's affair gets out, it will bring shame to the Tan family. Won't my younger sister be criticized? As a widow, she works as a bartender every day. It's inevitable that she will attract people's covetousness and be accused of being unfaithful to her husband. She's already in a difficult situation. How can she have a stable place to stay when she returns?"

Shen Tu Zhuo could no longer endure it: "Since you know she's in a difficult situation, you shouldn't do such shameless things! You failed to get close to her and suffered a great loss, and now you want to throw dirty water on her? I warn you, no matter what, she is my sister-in-law now. Whoever dares to mess with her will not have an easy time with me!"

"So, your Shentu family is inextricably linked to this," Tan Anfeng threatened. "If you insist on not helping, I'll send someone to deliver a letter to my younger sister, saying that Master Zhuo abandoned An Fu, causing her innocence to be tarnished by others. Tell her not to return from her business trip this time, or she'll be criticized."

"I...you..." Shentu Zhuo didn't expect that his life point would be controlled by such a shameless thing.

Tan Huaike was in a dangerous situation where her identity couldn't be exposed. How could she allow this guy to send someone to deliver the letter, distracting her from dealing with such a dreadful matter in her busy schedule? Moreover, he wanted to smear him. What did he mean by abandoning Tan Anfu and causing her innocence to be tarnished by others? He couldn't explain it clearly.

The most unreasonable thing is that it was clearly Tan Anfu's shameless mistake, so why should she be forced to stay away from returning? If she really became the Third Prince's princess consort after being dejected and heartbroken, wouldn't his uncle, who had been waiting for her so long, be sick to death?
Thinking of this, Shentu Zhuo knew that he had to take care of it.

He suggested, "How about this, Chief Miao? He's a fairly honest man, he doesn't have a family, and he even has a few acres of land. Since... well, this is a lucky coincidence, I'll let him marry her in a formal ceremony."
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Mr. Tan frowned: "This..."

It's not that he hasn't thought about doing this, but regardless of whether Tan Anfu is willing or not, letting his own daughter marry such a hopeless little canal chief would be a huge loss no matter how you look at it.

"He accepted your bribes and then did something so ridiculous. He should have been punished, with a salary deduction and dismissal from his position as head of the channel. But if the Tan family is willing to settle the matter peacefully and talk things over with him, making the bribe a promise and the ridiculousness a consensual act, then I will have no reason to punish him and should instead help this perfect match made in heaven to come together."

"No, absolutely not!" Mrs. Tan said, "An Fu told me before coming here that she would never commit herself to that canal chief. If she really did that, she would immediately find a rope to hang herself. I will not allow this either. The legitimate daughter of the Tan family suddenly married an unknown canal chief. There is no need to publicize it, anyone can guess what scandal is going on." "If that's the case, I'm sorry, I can't do anything about it." Shentu Zhuo's face fell coldly, "After this situation, you are not still thinking about getting away with it, are you? You are not still thinking about sending your own legitimate daughter to the Shentu Mansion to be my wife, are you? Since you are unwilling to admit this mistake, then I can only punish Canal Chief Miao as usual, send him away, and have nothing to do with the Tan family in the future.

"I heard he was looking for me this morning. I guess he wanted to discuss the canal diversion. I'm afraid he still hasn't figured out how he got so lucky last night, nor does he know who he flirted with. I'll just send him away. As for Tan Anfu's marriage, I can't help you. You should figure it out on your own."

This way she would have a place to stay. She could let Tan Anfu live in the old house for a while. When that man was gone and the storm had died down, she could find an honest man of equal status to marry and her life would be better.

Tan Anfeng asked, "Hey, Mr. Miao, how many acres of land does he have? Does he own a shop? How much can he offer as a betrothal gift?"

Mrs. Tan was so angry that she grabbed his ear and said, "Dowry, betrothal, betrothal, that's all you care about! You are obsessed with money! How can you treat your sister's lifelong event like this!"

Tan Anfeng didn't care: "Just get her married as soon as possible. Isn't this for her own good?"

He wasn't entirely foolish. Tan Anfu had always disliked him, constantly plotting to take over the Tan family fortune, which he should have monopolized. Didn't she think he didn't know? This time, she was trying to get into the second son of Shentu's bed, most likely to seize the opportunity to divide up his fortune. If the Tan family truly relied on her to secure the title of Imperial Merchant, what status would he, the eldest son, have in the family?

That’s settled at this point.

Before leaving, Madam Tan still refused to give up and asked, "Master Zhuo, An Fu is so devoted to you, can't you have some pity on her and give her a proper status?"

Shentu Zhuo sneered, "Have pity on her? Madam Tan is truly shameless. When my brother died in battle and the Shentu family wanted to cancel the engagement with you, why didn't you show any pity for the concubine Tan Huaike? If you had agreed to cancel the engagement, or if you had been willing to let her and a playboy like me discuss marriage again, we wouldn't have to go through so much trouble now. Who knows, there might have been room for maneuver."

In that case, it would be best if Caizhuer is still free, at worst he can have a better chance with her, which is better than the current unclear relationship and the distance between us.

But he himself knew that there were not so many maybes in the world.

Mrs. Tan said disdainfully, "Humph, that lowly creature is worthy? Letting her be a widow to your brother is already giving her dignity..."

Shen Tu Zhuo couldn't stand hearing such talk and immediately stood up to chase them away: "Mrs. Tan, please be careful with your words! I have said all I want to say. I still have a lot of official business to attend to. Please go back. I'm sorry I can't see you off!"

Next chapter: It was a close call that I became your brother-in-law.