Grass and mustard reign supreme

Chapter 27 Xiao Wan
Yang Can didn't speak, but only sighed softly, as if he was extremely worried.
Pan Xiaowan was absolutely charmed by his pitiful little face.

This little rascal, even his sigh makes you want to eat him whole, along with a mouthful of water.

Pan Xiaowan, feeling mischievous, peeked out from under her skirt and gave Yang Can's boot a suggestive stomp.

Yang Can quickly pulled his foot back and said helplessly, "Sister-in-law, please stop making trouble."

Pan Xiaowan chuckled again, leaned forward, and said with a seductive look in her eyes, "You don't want your sister-in-law to tease you? Okay, then you can tease your sister-in-law."

The young woman laughed freely, her voluptuous figure and charming appearance possessing both captivating allure and profound maturity, looking as delicious as autumn grapes hanging on a trellis.

Yang Can was starting to have a hard time. He really hadn't expected this Mrs. Pan to be so bold. The door was still open. She should at least close the door first.

Yang Cangang had only been at Phoenix Villa with Yu Chengye for a short time when he met Madam Pan.

Pan Xiaowan probably had a bit of a crush on Yang Can at first sight. The first time she met him, she dared to flirt with him when no one was looking.

After that, whenever the two had a chance to meet privately, Pan Xiaowan would try every means to seduce him. The more Yang Can avoided her, the more enthusiastic she became.

This Lady Xiaowan is the second wife of Li Youcai, the chief steward, and has been married to him for seven or eight years.

Judging from her current age, she must have married into the family when she was fifteen or sixteen.

The older man and younger woman were naturally pampered, but Yang Can never expected that she would be so bold as to be pampered.

Yang Can didn't want to provoke her; she was too proactive and too passionate. This kind of woman loved someone to an extreme, and hated someone to an extreme as well. Once he got involved, there would be endless trouble.

Yang Can had finally gotten such a good opportunity to become Yu Chengye's advisor, and he cherished this future very much.

You must know that Yu Chengye is the future head of the Yu clan. Even if Yang Can doesn't amount to much and can't be appointed as a regional steward in the future, he can still become a close confidant of the clan head, just like Steward Deng Xun.

With such a bright future, what kind of wealth, fortune, beautiful wives and concubines couldn't he have? There's no need for him to risk his reputation and have an affair with Lady Xiaowan. He's not Cao Mengde reincarnated.

Fortunately, the two didn't have many opportunities to meet privately. Just over three months after arriving at Phoenix Manor, Yang Can went to Jincheng with Yu Chengye to fetch his bride, thus escaping Madam Pan's harassment.

Unexpectedly, after more than three months, Madam Pan returned even more unrestrained and fiery than before.

"Tea's here! Hey, what a mess, I have to do it myself." Steward Li grumbled as he carried in the tea tray.

Pan Xiaowan's alluring expression vanished instantly, her chin slightly raised, and she returned to her haughty demeanor.

Li Youcai placed the tea tray on the table and glared at Pan Xiaowan with annoyance: "Aren't you going to serve tea?"

Although he both feared and doted on his beautiful wife, he still wanted to assert his authority as a husband in front of outsiders.

Pan Xiaowan snorted, thought for a moment, and then went over to pour tea.

Li Youcai sat down in the chair opposite him and asked with a smile, "Mr. Yang, what specific tasks did the patriarch assign you?"

Yang Can hurriedly said, "In the past, I was a retainer of the young master, so it was not appropriate for me to get close to the Grand Steward. Now that we are both stewards and serve the eldest branch of the family together, I will need your guidance in the future."

"Grand Steward, please stop addressing me as 'Sir.' I have now adopted a courtesy name, 'Volcano.' Please just call me by my courtesy name."

Li Youcai readily agreed, “In that case, I won’t stand on ceremony. I’ll call you brother, and you can call me elder brother; it will show our closeness.”

Yang Can smiled and said, "Alright, to be honest, elder brother, the clan leader appointed me as the second steward of the eldest branch, but he did not give me any specific instructions on what matters I would be in charge of."

By the way, the clan lord plans to entrust the estates and ranches that Second Master returned to our eldest branch of the family for management. The clan lord will likely summon my elder brother for this matter and will probably give some instructions then.”

Upon hearing this, Li Youcai was overjoyed: "The clan leader intends to entrust the estates and pastures that Second Master returned to our eldest branch of the family for management. Excellent, very excellent."

At this moment, Pan Xiaowan finished brewing the tea and gracefully walked over to offer Yang Can a cup.

She bent down, placed the tea on the table, and then gently pushed it towards Yang Can's hand.

With just this one bend, Yang Can felt an overwhelming sense of pressure, like "Mount Tai crushing an egg."

Pan Xiaowan, with her perfectly hourglass figure, has such a broad chest that it's almost overwhelming.

As Pan Xiaowan straightened up, she gave Yang Can a fiery, flirtatious wink, tinged with a hint of provocation.

With her man right behind her, she dared to flirt with the handsome young master in front of her. It seemed that... for her, doing so was exceptionally exciting.

Before Yang Can could react, she had already gone back, placed a teacup for Li Youcai, poured one for herself, and sat down next to her husband, glancing at Yang Can with a tender look in her eyes.

Li Youcai straightened his expression and said, "Huoshan, among the industries that our eldest son's family was originally in charge of, Chicken and Goose Mountain and the orchard were not considered large industries, so they were handed over to a few managers to manage."

The young master's real businesses are the salt lakes of Lingzhou and the iron smelting in Heishui.

Originally, since the clan leader sent you here, I should have assigned either the salt pond or the iron smelting. But..." Li Youcai frowned slightly and took a sip of tea in contemplation.

Pan Xiaowan also picked up her teacup. As she lowered her head to drink, she glanced at Yang Can with her bright eyes.

Suddenly, her slender tongue darted out, and she sipped her tea like a cat.

When a cat drinks water, the tip of its tongue lightly touches the surface of the water, then quickly curls into a stream of water and swallows it.

This move, combining elegance and precise control, is like magic, and was praised by the ancients as "holding the wave!"

Yang Can was stunned by her amazing drinking technique and quickly straightened his gaze to Li Youcai.

Li Youcai said cautiously, "But... you know about volcanoes, and the benefits of salt and iron... right?"

Salt and iron are extremely important industries for any government or even a country.

Yu Xinglong placed these two important businesses in the eldest branch of the family precisely to cultivate his son.

These two industries are incredibly profitable, and because of their importance, those who control them wield immense power.

Judging from Li Youcai's expression, he clearly had no intention of giving any of the salt and iron to Yang Can, the second steward.

Li Youcai said, "With the young master dead, there will be many more people coveting this piece of fat meat. Many people are hoping we make a mistake. As long as we make a mistake, they can take the opportunity to launch an attack and snatch it from our hands."

Yang Can currently has no interest in managing these businesses, as that would require him to frequently travel to Lingzhou and Heishui. He simply wants to be closer to Phoenix Manor and doesn't want to make any major moves before confirming Suo Chanzhi's pregnancy.

Yang Can then bowed and said, "Brother is right. At this time, we must not make any mistakes. It is best if you take care of these two businesses."

Seeing how cooperative he was, Li Youcai was very pleased and laughed, saying, "It's fundamental that we work together wholeheartedly to serve the clan leader. Whatever the matter, we brothers will discuss it together, haha..."

Li Youcai smiled and said, "As for the salt lake and iron smelting, I have been helping you manage them for many years. Now many people are eyeing them, so to be on the safe side, I will not give them to you for the time being."

But now that you've come to the eldest branch, you can't just sit around doing nothing. I was just worried about that. Now that the clan leader has allocated the estates and pastures that the second master returned to our eldest branch, that's wonderful.

As your brother, I think it best to continue managing the salt and iron business, to avoid any mistakes that could give others a handle against us. As for the six large estates and three ranches, I will leave them to you to manage.

These businesses already had established rules when Second Master was in charge. As long as everything follows the old regulations, there shouldn't be any major problems. What do you think?

Upon hearing this, Yang Can couldn't help but curse inwardly, "You old bastard, do you really think I'm a fool?"
Will Yu Huanhu let the business he reluctantly handed over go?

All the managers and stewards of those estates are Yu Huanhu's men. How could they not try to trip me up and hold me back?
You've taken all the benefits, but you've pushed this treacherous job onto me. If you really piss me off, I'll make sure you pay for your debts!
Thinking this to himself, Yang Can said with gratitude, "I haven't been a consultant for long, and suddenly being given such a big responsibility has really caught me off guard. Managing the estate and ranch is much easier, thank you for your care, brother."

Upon hearing this, Li Youcai found Yang Can even more pleasing to the eye: "Madam, prepare a banquet in a little while. I'm going to gather the stewards of the eldest branch tonight to welcome Brother Huoshan."

Pan Xiaowan looked reluctant and casually hummed in agreement.

Yang Can quickly cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, brother and sister-in-law."

Li, the chief steward, felt quite pleased that Yang Can did not compete with Li Youcai for control of the salt pond and iron smelting.

He smiled slightly and then asked, "By the way, have you arranged your accommodation yet?"

Yang Can shook his head and said, "Not yet, it's just a small matter, I'll think about it later."

Li Youcai said, "I have a courtyard house next door, you can use it."

Pan Xiaowan coughed lightly and said reluctantly, "Are you getting senile? Wasn't that courtyard supposed to be connected to ours to make a second courtyard?"

Li Youcai was somewhat embarrassed by being scolded by Yang Can in front of her, and said with a stern face: "These are all Yu family properties. Do you think you can just merge them into one place?"

Besides, isn't this my brother here? In a little while, bring Xi and Wangcai over to help with the cleaning and tidying up."

Yang Can quickly replied, "I wouldn't dare trouble you, sister-in-law."

Pan Xiaowan snorted, slammed her teacup on the table, stood up, and left without looking back.

Li Youcai said apologetically, "I've spoiled my wife, please don't blame me. By the way, you don't have any servants in your courtyard, do you? I have two servants in my courtyard, I'll give one to you to serve."

Yang Can quickly declined, but Li Youcai waved his hand and said, "There's no need for formalities between us. These two servants are careless and not very efficient. Please don't mind them."

Li Youcai leaned forward, covered his mouth with his hand, and whispered, "It's not appropriate to give you both. You should at least take one. I need someone to serve me here, so I'll have an excuse to buy a pretty girl."

"Uh... cough, then I'll accept it without hesitation."

Seeing that he agreed, Li Youcai laughed and said, "It's good that you're being disrespectful, it's good that you're being disrespectful. But you mustn't be too respectful to me, hahaha..."

(End of this chapter)