Crossing the Mountains

Chapter 183 Regret
After her attempt to seduce Shen Tu Zhuo failed, Tan Anfu was confined to a rural courtyard to avoid trouble. A month later, the canal chief who had inadvertently disrupted the plan had already left Zhangye under Shen Tu Zhuo's arrangement, but she discovered that she was pregnant.

To prevent her family scandal from being publicized, Madam Tan had no choice but to find a reasonably decent ordinary family and hastily marry Tan Anfu off to them. The groom was a small cloth merchant who had business dealings with the Tan family. Seeing that a pie had suddenly fallen from the sky, and that a well-known wealthy merchant's daughter had inexplicably taken a liking to her son, Madam Tan knew that there must be something fishy going on.

However, merchants are driven by profit. As long as they can gain more benefits, they don't care what the Tan family thinks. After all, they're getting a new bride for free, and they won't suffer a great loss. So, they first pretended to be unwilling, making excuses twice that they were not good enough for the Tan family. They waited until the Tan family couldn't wait any longer and obviously couldn't find a better match. Then, they made an exorbitant demand, not giving much in betrothal gifts, but requiring several farmlands and shops as dowry.

Tan Li was reluctant to give it to her, which led to a big argument between Tan Anfu and her family.

Tan Anfu had always thought her brother was an unreliable spendthrift; no matter how substantial the family fortune was, he would just squander it all on gambling. She considered herself far more capable than Tan Anfeng, but her parents-in-law always treated her like an outsider, refusing to give her any say in managing the household. How could she swallow this insult?

At that time, Tan Anfu argued: "The dowry given to me is, in the end, still part of the family's property. The Bao family still relies on doing business with the Tan family's cloth shop, so I doubt they would dare to bully us. Rather than letting my brother empty several more shops to pay off debts, it's better to let me manage and operate them. At least the family will have a way out!"

Tan Li disagreed: "Do you think you can be in charge just because you married into the Bao family? They rejected this marriage in every way before, and they were negligent and delayed in every way. They even gave only a small dowry. It's obvious they wanted to establish their authority over you! Now you're pregnant with an illegitimate child and you're still refusing to take the medicine to abort the pregnancy. I don't care what you're thinking, but the dowry has to be as I say. Two shops are enough for you to support yourself. If they give you more, who knows what kind of crooked ideas the Bao family might have? You'll regret it then!"

"Do you think I want to keep this bastard child!" Tan Anfu said bitterly, rubbing her belly. "If that plan had succeeded, this would be Shentu Zhuo's child, and I would have taken over the Shentu family long ago! If you ask me, I shouldn't have discussed this marriage with the Bao family. I should have gone straight to Old Madam Shentu and made a scene!"

"Are you crazy? Have you really no shame?!" Madam Tan grabbed her and cried, "Don't provoke the Shentu family anymore. If things really get out of hand, what good will you do?"

“Who can say what happened that night? I insisted that the child was Shentu Zhuo’s. To keep things quiet, even if they wouldn’t give me the title of principal wife, I might at least make her a concubine.” Tan Anfu’s eyes were filled with madness. “What face, what reputation, what does it matter! I can’t carry this child for nothing, Mother. Go to the Bao family to break off the engagement. Once I’m showing, while Shentu Zhuo is in Andu for the imperial examinations, go find Old Madam Shentu…”

Snapped!
Tan Li slapped her across the face, silencing her.

"Do you think the Shentu family is as easy to manipulate as the Bao family? Do you think Old Madam Shentu is so easily fooled that she can't see through your tricks?" Tan Li roared. "They have all the witnesses and evidence in their hands. Second Young Master has been on guard against you for a long time! Before you even knocked on the door of the Shentu family, they could drag you to court for a confrontation and then recall that canal chief. What are you going to do then? I won't stop you if you want to die, but don't tarnish the reputation of the Tan family! You may not care about your reputation, but I still do!"

"Then just let me die!" Actually, Tan Anfu knew when she was locked up in the old house in the countryside that Shen Tu Zhuo wouldn't give her a chance, but she was really unwilling and broke down, saying, "My dowry as the legitimate daughter is not even as generous as that imposter Hu woman's! Just five acres of land and two shops, are you treating me like a beggar!" "Anfu, you can't say that," Madam Tan comforted her, "That Hu woman is going to be a widow, we didn't give her any land to rely on, and the two shops we gave her are barely surviving, how can they be as profitable as your two shops? As long as you manage them well after you marry into the family, your life will get better and better."

“Sigh, do you think your father doesn’t want you to marry well? If you marry into the Shentu family, the two families will become related by marriage, each getting what they need. Giving you a larger dowry to save face is only fair. But what is the Bao family? They agreed to this marriage because they’re eyeing the dowry the Tan family is giving you. We can’t let our guard down…”

In short, after all the fuss, Tan Anfu reluctantly and hastily got married.
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After the marriage, Bao's aunt soon discovered that Tan Anfu was pregnant. They did not make a fuss about the child of unknown origin, which saved face for the Tan family.

However, Tan Anfu's husband was no pushover either. Using her pregnancy as an excuse, he brought a concubine into the household within days. Then, claiming he wanted to share her burdens and let her focus on her pregnancy, he brazenly interfered in the business of her two thriving shops. Tan Anfu confronted him several times. At first, he made up excuses to appease her, but later he simply dropped the pretense, saying that her dowry was compensation for the Bao family's forbearance, and certainly not something to be left for the bastard child in her womb.
Tan Anfu was furious. Seeing that the child in her womb had become a burden, she simply took medicine to induce a miscarriage. After only a few days of rest, she went back to her husband's family to fight wits and courage. She had to fight against her aunt, her concubines, and even her husband for the shop. She was exhausted and haggard, and would often run back to her parents' home to complain and ask for money.

This time, she happened to run into Tan Li, who had suffered a setback in Yanzhisi. Her family couldn't support her in her husband's family, and she was scolded for no reason. She immediately vented her resentment: "Why can Tan Huai Ke take all the benefits of Shentu Mansion and Tan Family? If I hadn't bought her from the slave trader, would she be where she is today?"
“It was originally my turn to marry Shen Tu Heng. It was arranged during the betrothal. How could she get away with it for nothing! So what if Shen Tu Heng died in battle? If I marry him, won’t I still be the matriarch of the Shen Tu family?”

"It's all the fault of the unjust heaven, it's all the fault of you, Grandpa and Grandma, who only cared about the present. I truly regret my actions! If it weren't for letting her take my place, the Weaving Cloud Cloth Shop, the Herbal Medicine Shop, and that Yanzhi Shop should all be mine! With the help of the Shentu Mansion and the Tan family, I would only manage them better than her! They should all be mine!"

Tan Li said coldly, "What's the use of regretting it now? What good will blaming heaven and earth do? Those things should all belong to the Tan family. Right now, we should be thinking about how to take them back!"

Filled with resentment, Tan Anfu gritted her teeth and said, "Now that she's back, I, as her elder sister, will go and have a chat with her... Something just doesn't feel right. The shop on Huaqi Street is still in her hands. Where does she get the confidence to run for the Imperial Merchant? Ha, no matter what tricks she uses, even if it means fighting to the death, I will never let her get away with it!"

However, just two days later, news came that caught the entire Zhangye Prefecture off guard.

When Tan Li found out, he almost suffocated.

Like Tan Anfu, he was once so proud and fortunate, but now he is filled with regret.
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Next chapter: Listening to Steward Tan is always the right thing to do.