As soon as Wang Yan got on the carriage, he became serious. After pondering for a long time, he said to his attendants, “The Zhao family’s young lady is no ordinary person. Fortunately she’s only a young lady.”
If she were a man, he would have to eliminate her immediately to prevent future trouble.
Returning to the Wang residence, Wang Yan was still somewhat uneasy. He sent someone to summon Wang Fourth Lady and questioned her carefully about Zhao Sanniang’s affairs before snorting, “Zhao Zhongyu has no foresight—he lacks both vision and ruthlessness. Keeping Zhao Sanniang will bring endless trouble in the future.”
Wang Fourth Lady: “…Father, Sanniang is gentle and values relationships. How is she a future trouble?”
Wang Yan glanced at her and said, “What do you know? This young lady has clear, resilient eyes and a bearing no less than a man’s. How could she be easy to deal with?”
Fortunately she was a young lady. Although Fu Changlong had considerable talent, he was upright in character and didn’t like mundane affairs. With these two married, even if Zhao Sanniang had the greatest ambitions, she wouldn’t be able to exercise them.
Wang Yan let out a slight sigh of relief.
Wang Fourth Lady couldn’t help but mutter, “I originally wanted Sanniang to be my sister-in-law…”
Wang Yan heard this, and his body couldn’t help but stiffen. He stamped his foot, “Since you had such plans, why didn’t you mention it earlier?”
If he could have sought Zhao Sanniang’s hand in marriage for his son Meizi, there would be none of the future troubles he worried about.
Wang Fourth Lady: “…Didn’t you want to seek marriage to the Prince of Donghai’s family’s princess for elder brother?”
Wang Yan held his forehead, “Forget it, the Zhao and Fu families have even set the wedding date, and I was the matchmaker. It’s pointless to say more.”
Wang Fourth Lady’s eyes widened, “The wedding date is set? How so fast? Weren’t they just getting engaged? What date was set?”
“The sixth day of the sixth month.”
Wang Fourth Lady: “Why so rushed?”
Wang Yan didn’t hide it, directly saying, “Zhao Changyu’s health is failing. He probably wants to complete the wedding before his time comes.”
Wang Fourth Lady became worried for Zhao Sanniang. “Father, I want to visit Sanniang tomorrow. Please let me go out.”
Recently the capital had been somewhat chaotic, and Wang Yan had restricted Wang Fourth Lady’s outings.
Wang Yan looked at his daughter for a while before finally nodding.
Wang Fourth Lady happily bowed and withdrew.
But Zhao Hanzhang wasn’t home. Early the next morning, after having breakfast with Zhao Changyu, she quietly left the house.
She rode directly to the western part of the city.
By this time, the farm work in the fields had largely concluded. Luoyang had little rice—mostly wheat. Now the wheat was turning green, already a lush green expanse.
Entering the estate, she went around several rows of houses to reach the central area.
Zhao Changyu was indeed formidable. This entire area was populated by his people, so he had directly cleared a space in the middle for military training—well, it couldn’t be called military training, it should be a place for learning martial arts.
This was very common at the time. Not to mention that Zhao Changyu had always been cautious—outsiders would find it very difficult to walk to the central area to see such scenes. Even if they did, they wouldn’t find it particularly unusual.
Luoyang had many powerful aristocratic families, and which powerful aristocratic family didn’t maintain private troops?
So many able-bodied men in this area, all eating well and growing stout and strong—clearly they were private troops.
Zhao Hanzhang stopped at the road entrance. Seeing the Fu family’s ox cart, she rode her horse forward and used her whip to lift the curtain. “I guessed it was yours. Your people can’t go in. Get down, shall we ride in together?”
Fu Tinghan agreed, got down from the cart, grabbed her hand to mount the horse, and sat behind her.
Zhao Hanzhang kicked the horse and headed straight down the lane toward the depths. “Can you ride a horse?”
Fu Tinghan nodded, “I can ride.”
“From memory or actual experience?”
“I studied horsemanship for a while when I was studying abroad, but just for fun—at least I won’t fall off. Combined with the memories, mounting a horse shouldn’t be a problem.”
Zhao Hanzhang: “Today we’re going out riding. You can try it out and get a feel for it. We’ll need to leave Luoyang afterward, so knowing horsemanship is better.”
Fu Tinghan asked, “Where will we go after leaving Luoyang?”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “Back to our hometown?”
Zhao Changyu had a treasure in Runan.
“Or go to Chang’an,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “Chang’an is slightly better than Luoyang.”
Zhao Changyu also had assets there, though most had been handed over to Zhao Zhongyu. But in the later period, Chang’an was somewhat safer than Runan. Right now the entire Central Plains region was in chaos—life wasn’t easy.
Fu Tinghan flipped through the memories of Chang’an and shook his head. “Chang’an isn’t stable either. Bandits run rampant along the roads. It was better when the Prince of Hejian was stationed there, but now that the Prince of Hejian is dead, Chang’an is probably even worse than Luoyang.”
“Very soon Luoyang won’t even compare to Chang’an.”
Zhao Hanzhang appeared before the assembled troops with Fu Tinghan. Led by Zhao Ju, the men glanced at Fu Tinghan and bowed very respectfully, “Master Fu.”
Although they had only set the date yesterday, everyone already knew. Zhao Changyu had formally handed them over to Zhao Hanzhang, making her their master. And with the Zhao and Fu families joining in marriage, Master Fu was also their master.
Today, bringing Fu Tinghan here, Zhao Hanzhang’s attitude was crystal clear.
Everyone saw Zhao Hanzhang’s stance.
Fu Tinghan also led a horse and mounted it, following Zhao Hanzhang to the open area behind the estate.
“I didn’t expect there would be such a place within Luoyang city.”
Zhao Hanzhang: “I was very surprised when I first saw it too. See that mountain? I heard that area is the Wang family’s estate, extending all the way to the city wall. Zhao Ju said the lieutenant colonel guarding the west gate comes from the Wang family. If Luoyang experiences another major military revolt, the Wang clan can leave through the west gate.”
Fu Tinghan: “If you’re all so pessimistic about Luoyang, why not relocate the capital?”
“Someone actually proposed it, but Dajin’s predicament can’t be solved by relocating the capital. When a pot of porridge is about to spoil, even if you divide it in half, the spoiled half will still seep into the other half, and complete spoilage is just a matter of time.”
Zhao Hanzhang asked, “How’s the investigation into the seven-star alignment going?”
“I’ve been roughly going through my family’s collection recently and found very few records in this area. I need more astronomical records for reference,” Fu Tinghan said. “With enough reference data, the calculated data will be more accurate.”
To return, they already knew the location. Although they didn’t know if the location was a condition, Luoyang’s city gate would always be there.
They just needed to determine the time, then study the influence of energy variables.
Fu Tinghan’s problem-solving habit was to go from easy to difficult, so he wanted to first calculate the time of the seven-star alignment.
Zhao Hanzhang searched through the memories in her mind. “I remember my family has several books related to astronomy, and handwritten copies too. I’ll find them for you when I get back.”
Fu Tinghan nodded. “It would be great if we could enter the Imperial Astronomical Bureau to see their records.”
Zhao Hanzhang pondered, “It’s not impossible, as long as the arrangements are proper…”
When something couldn’t be solved, she went to Grandfather.
Zhao Hanzhang ran back to find Zhao Changyu.
Zhao Changyu was watching Chengbo and a group of stewards prepare Zhao Hanzhang’s dowry. He rarely saw Wang Shi and said to her, “I’m entrusting Sanniang’s dowry to you. You work with Chengbo to find all the items on the list and store them separately in a storeroom. When she marries in the future, just carry them out directly.”
Because the wedding date was rushed and the dowry extensive, they had to start being busy from now on. Even Wu Shi had to come help.
Chengbo opened the main house’s storeroom and led servants filing in. Soon they were carrying out box after box. Opening them, they inventoried the stored gold, silver, and precious jewels one by one, selected the items on the dowry list and set them aside. After Wang Shi inspected them, they would be re-catalogued and moved to the new storeroom.
When Zhao Hanzhang returned, the household was bustling. She quietly entered through the west side gate and sneaked to the main courtyard.
—