Good Man Operation Guide

Shen Hu’an was putting on a polite facade, but his heart was dissatisfied with the smallest things.

When a guest was here, why wasn’t the other even getting up and saluting?

Bad manners!

As he gazed at the back of this person just like how a younger brother would gaze at a future brother-in-law — that is, no matter how long he looked at the other, he still doesn’t like him — Lin Shiheng turned around.

And Shen Hu’an recognized him at once.

Although the weather was cold, the gentle scholar who was already wearing slightly thick outer clothes still lightly coughed with a slight smile. He raised his eyes to look at Shen Hu’an in front of him, and the smile on his lips grew deeper.

“An Wu?”

The name played around in his mouth, then eventually the handsome face showed some understanding.

He got up slowly, his slender hands held lightly together, and saluted Shen Hu’an, who had already been stunned, in front of him.

“Lin Shiheng meets Young Master An.”

Shen Hu’an stiffened for a moment while his gaze stayed on the jade-like face in front of him as if he was still in a dream.

“Dispense… dispense formalities.”

“Many thanks.”

Lin Shiheng didn’t refuse, and right after the other said to dispense formalities, he was already getting back up. That complacent look was in line with Shen Hu’an’s idea of a true expert strategist in the back of his mind.

The gentleman was exactly as he had imagined, but how did the gentleman become the fuma?

Sitting on a stone bench in a trance watching Lin Shiheng, who was also sitting opposite him, pour tea for himself with his slender white jade-like hands and a small smile, Shen Hu’an had a tremendous sense of surrealism inside his heart.

The people around him had retreated after the two met, so at the moment, they were the only ones there in the small courtyard.

“Your Highness must have read the letter that the pigeon had brought over since you were able to find your way here.”

With Shen Hu’an’s head was full of ‘Who am I? Where am I? Is the person in front of me really my future Brother-in-law?’ and helplessness, Lin Shiheng offered him steps to get off the stage.

[E/N: ‘offered steps to get off stage’ implies being given or offered a way to get out of a predicament, which is usually of an embarrassing sort.]

Sure enough, it was him!

Shen Hu’an’s heart was completely blown away by that last lapse of surrealism.

He didn’t answer Lin Shiheng’s question but seemed to sigh, “It turns out that that gentleman… that gentleman is…”

“Naturally.”

The blue-clothed scholar wearing thick but not overstuffed clothing easily took heed of his meaning, paled and coughed a few times, yet his tone of voice was still warm. “It was this official’s negligence when I said goodbye at the capital that day and forgot to make introductions. When I missed that time, I hadn’t been able to make up for it after that.”

On one hand, it was the gentleman who he wanted to win over and please, while on the other hand, it was his future brother-in-law who he wanted to pretend to have a high status in front of for his sister’s sake… Shen Hu’an really didn’t know how to balance this relationship. He weighed it in his mind for a long time and finally could only answer dryly.

“Ah, yes.”

But it looked as if this future husband of his sister wasn’t too healthy. ..

Shen Hu’an, after worrying for a few minutes that ‘this fuma doesn’t look like he would live a long life and I don’t know what kind of disease it is’, suddenly thought of something.

He became serious, his shaky self-confidence, shaken by the previous letter, emerged again.

He stood up, appearing serious with a hint of expectation, and solemnly gave a big salute to Lin Shiheng, who was looking at him with a pale face.

“I haven’t thanked you for teaching me how to settle the matter in the previous Nancheng incident. But I’m unsure why you helped me?”

“Naturally, it’s because the Eldest Princess is Your Highness’s elder sister.”

“Your Highness need not worry. In the future, I will help Your Highness to be successful.”

Shen Hu’an, who was still looking forward to maybe ‘The gentleman was attracted by my kingly temperament’, paused, but his face was still normal.

His Royal Highness the Prince, finally realized that he didn’t have any kingly temperament at all, and even the gentleman in front of him, who seemed to be able to control and calculate everything, was helping him because of his Older Sister.

He should be happy, but why was there faint despair in his heart?

No, no, not despair.

A “kacha” sound came from this chuunibyou’s small heart.

It broke.

***

It was only after the Fifth Prince, who has always been ordinary, suddenly rose up in the capital city, that the news Lin Shiheng became the Tanhualang and was bestowed marriage to the Princess finally spread to his distant hometown.

Because he had used a common way of passing the news, the local officials received the good news first. If the other had only received the Tanhualang title, it would have been enough for them to just send someone to congratulate his family. After all, the ranking might sound high and great, but the test comes around every three years, so a new Tanhualang would appear every three years. Officials were not very impressed with these.

However, along with the news that Lin Shiheng had won the title of Tanhualang and the hand of the Eldest Princess, there was also the fact that His Highness the Fifth Prince has been in the limelight lately.

The Fifth Prince and the Eldest Princess were borne of the same mother, so although they were like silent and invisible people before, no one could say whether he would go further in the future.

Most of the people who have been in officialdom for a long time were rather smooth operators, so in order to establish a good relationship with the Lord Fuma and the Fifth Prince behind him, they sent people to beat drums and cheer as they went to congratulate the Lins.

The Lins was a very ordinary family, and the village they lived in was also very ordinary. None of them were merchants, so everyone just worked in the fields and brought up the children. Even when they had some rare free time, they had to do some embroidery work to feel at ease.

Such a peaceful and quiet village was very lively on this day.

The last time there was so much excitement, it was when Lin Shiheng was promoted to Juren. But they didn’t rejoice for long before he got sick, then following after, in order to not distract him from the next exam, his family would try to stay quiet even if they were still happy.

But this time, Lin Shiheng was named the Tanhualang!

It was a little difficult for a group of commoners to understand the title, a name that sounded very amazing. After all, there was only the term ‘Young Scholar’ in the common stories and plays that they were familiar with, but when the people in the magistrate explained it as: Master Lin took third place in the exam, and now he is an official in the Hanlin Academy. There was also the news that he was fortunate enough and had been given a Princess’s hand in marriage by the Emperor to become a Lord Fuma. Thus, the entire Lin village rejoiced.

After all, it was a dynasty in which ‘one person’s glory is the family’s glory’. Even though Lin Shiheng’s salary as an official couldn’t be given to them, if it was revealed that an official rose from their village, people wouldn’t bully them as long as it wasn’t a matter of life or death.

Compared to the villagers who excitedly wanted to congratulate but only dared to stand cautiously outside and watch the fun, as little commoners were naturally afraid of the magistrates, the Lin family was openly overjoyed.

Compared to the younger generation who were only happy, Grandpa Lin was obviously a bit more knowledgeable and knew to get his family to package some silver to give the newsrunner a chance to be a part of the festivities.

They had also come to report the good news when Lin Shiheng got the Juren title before, but he hadn’t been so generous then.

As they couldn’t not be generous, the local officials also wrapped up 20 taels of silver as a congratulatory gift in order to establish a good relationship.

20 taels…

For farmers, this was definitely a huge sum of money.

But what made them even more excited was that these 20-taels represented that their son has become outstanding and excellent to the point where even those they once wouldn’t even dare to think about, like government officials, were now so gracious to send money.

“Congratulations, from now on, Shiheng will be successful.”

“Yes, before I was even saying that Master Juren was brilliant, but I didn’t expect that he would marry a Princess, who is His Majesty’s daughter.”

When the magistrates left, only then did the villagers, who had already gathered around, come forward with their own congratulatory gifts.

The villagers certainly wouldn’t have the money to give silver but only brought gifts like a basket of eggs or a sack of millet. It was the best they could come up with.

This was to add to the festivities, so of course, the Lins wouldn’t refuse them. Instead, they’d just laughed and smiled as they came, and it stayed busy until night came and everyone needed to go back to sleep. Now only the family was left.

Mother Lin was full of joy just before, but once the villagers left, leaving behind only a room full of congratulatory gifts and the 20 taels of shiny silver that had already been put away by Grandpa Lin, her eyes turned red, and she suddenly had the urge to cry.

She couldn’t wait to ask her husband next to her, “Husband, is this, is this true?”

Father Lin, at that moment, was also confused by this sudden surprise. “It should be true?”

“Shiheng is so smart. Didn’t the fortune teller say that he was born with the fate of a great official?”

“Shiheng must have become a great official! He’s married the Princess, the Emperor’s daughter, could there be a higher official than that!?”

Grandma Lin couldn’t wait to open her mouth, her face was full of ‘My grandson is so good’ and pride.

Father Lin, who was still immersed in joy, was pulled back by his Mother’s words, which reminded him. “Mom, the official only said that Shiheng was conferred a marriage, but didn’t say that he had married a Princess. You mustn’t say that. This is a royal matter. Anyone who gossiped that would be punished.”

Grandma Lin really became scared after hearing this, so she kept her mouth shut.

On the other side, Grandpa Lin remained silent and waited until the whole family was silent before he said in a deep voice: “Shiheng’s letter hasn’t come back yet, so let’s live as usual and see what he wrote in his letter.”

Mother Lin’s heart leaped out again as she had missed her son, then she cautiously looked towards her father-in-law, “Father, aren’t we going to the capital to see Shiheng?”

“The capital is expensive. Shiheng is also about to become a fuma, and we don’t know if the Princess, who’s from a noble lineage would dislike us, peasant people, so we’d better wait for Shiheng to make arrangements.”

“Also, you remember well for me. Although Shiheng is an official now, you can’t do anything outside in his name. If anyone gets Shiheng in trouble, causing my good grandson to suffer, I’ll take out the family law!”

(TNote: Family law = usually a set of rules that explains types of punishments that would be dispensed if something happens in the family. Each family has their own judgments and severity of punishments, depending on the incident. At times, it could also refer to the physical whip used to enforce the rules.)

Grandma Lin was confused. “Husband, we still have a family law?”

“Yes!”

Grandpa Lin looked around, picked up a stick, and said hoarsely with a cold expression, “Whoever dares to drag Shiheng down, I will break his legs!”

“This is our family law!”

He was the head of the family, and his family had long been accustomed to listening to him, so seeing that he was so scary at the moment, they were afraid in their hearts and just busied themselves to act obediently.