Zhao Erlang stood at the doorway looking pitifully at Zhao Hanzhang. Zhao Hanzhang pretended not to see and had people carry her out.

Wang Shi watched her leave, then turned to pull Zhao Erlang back into the room. “Come, today we’ll continue recognizing characters. Just three—no, two will do. If you can remember two characters, mother will make you something delicious tonight and buy you a saddle too. You can buy whatever you want.”

Zhao Erlang wasn’t happy at all. “Can I recognize my own name?”

“You already know your own name—why would you recognize it again? We’re learning new characters!”

Wang Shi dragged Zhao Erlang back into the room, while Zhao Hanzhang rode in a carriage out the main gate.

The carriage had curtains hanging on all four sides. Zhao Hanzhang sat comfortably inside. Through the curtains, she could vaguely see outside. Finding the curtains obstructed her view, she simply had Ting He roll them up.

Ting He then rolled up the front and both side curtains.

Now it was perfect—with an open view, Zhao Hanzhang could look however she wanted.

There were quite a few people on the street. The shops were all open with scattered stalls, but few people entered or left the shops.

Some pedestrians, seeing the carriage, would move far to the side to make way, while others would glance at her sideways then deliberately walk onto the main road, intentionally blocking their carriage’s path.

Zhao Hanzhang watched with great interest, saying nothing, waiting to see how the Zhao family’s driver would respond.

The Zhao family’s driver lifted his eyelids for a look, pulled the reins to slow the carriage down, and just leisurely followed behind that person, neither driving him away nor urging him on.

Zhao Hanzhang looked at Ting He, who seemed accustomed to this. Seeing Sanniang look over, thinking she wanted refreshments, Ting He immediately poured her a bowl of tea.

Zhao Hanzhang accepted and took a sip, looking up at the person ahead who had found it boring and left on his own. It seemed the Zhao family was also quite modest in public.

Just as Zhao Hanzhang was thinking this, from the corner of her eye she suddenly caught sight of something being thrown from above. Her body instinctively leaned back to dodge.

A flower flew past her eyes and landed on the teapot.

Zhao Hanzhang stared blankly at the rose in full bloom, then couldn’t help but turn to look in the direction the flower came from.

A window was open on the second floor of a wine house to the left. A young lady was leaning against the window frame, half her body leaning out. Seeing her look over, she called out loudly, “Zhao Sanniang, why are you dodging? You won’t even catch the flower I threw.”

Seeing the young lady, related memories surfaced. After Zhao Hanzhang adjusted and the aftereffects of the headache eased slightly, she nodded slightly toward the young lady upstairs. “Thank you for the flower.”

She reached out to pick up the flower that had fallen on the carriage floor and waved it at Wang Siniang. “I’ve accepted it.”

Just as she finished speaking, the rose, which had been hit and shaken twice, broke off at the neck and fell onto Zhao Hanzhang’s dress with a soft plop.

Zhao Hanzhang: …

Wang Siniang: …

Zhao Hanzhang quickly picked it up and, acting as if nothing had happened, held it in her hand and looked up at Wang Siniang in the wine house.

The two made eye contact for a while. Zhao Hanzhang said to the driver, “Let’s go.”

Wang Siniang saw she actually wasn’t stopping but continuing forward, and shouted angrily, “Zhao Sanniang, who are you going to see? You came out not to see me?”

Of course not. Zhao Hanzhang was going to the city gate to see if she could get some information from the gate guards.

Seeing Zhao Sanniang really leave without looking back, Wang Siniang couldn’t help but slap the window and turn to chase after her.

The servants quickly followed.

Wang Siniang chased all the way to the city gate and immediately spotted the Zhao family carriage stopped at the intersection. She muttered under her breath, jumped down from the ox cart, and ran over. “Zhao Sanniang, what are you doing here?”

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at her. “I came to relax. Why are you chasing me?”

Wang Siniang jumped onto her carriage and reached out to touch the furnishings on the carriage, saying enviously, “Your grandfather is so good to you—he’s willing to get you such a luxurious carriage, and it’s even pulled by horses.”

“Oh, this isn’t mine. It’s my grand-uncle’s. When I was leaving today, I saw it and thought it looked nice, so I switched to it on the spot.”

Wang Siniang stared. “You…”

She looked the young woman up and down and frowned slightly. “You seem somewhat different.”

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t hide her change and asked candidly, “Is it very strange?”

The soul was different—of course the person would be different.

Wang Siniang asked worriedly, “Have you given up on yourself and decided to give the family estate to the second branch?”

Zhao Hanzhang was surprised. “How did you know?”

Wang Siniang sighed. “That’s fine too. You’re always competing with them—I’ve been very afraid. This time when you got injured, it scared me to death.”

She continued, “Not competing is good too. With your grandfather’s abilities, he’ll definitely arrange things well for you. If the title is gone, it’s gone. Didn’t you say yourself that if the title falls to your brother, it’s a death warrant?”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “Exactly, so I gave up.”

Wang Siniang rolled her eyes, pulled her hand, and said, “Why don’t you marry into my family? My family can protect you and your brother, and we can still be sisters-in-law. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

Zhao Hanzhang immediately pulled her hand back. “I wanted to be close friends with you, but you want me to be your sister-in-law?”

Wang Siniang asked, “What are close friends?”

“Intimate friends in the inner chambers?”

Wang Siniang clapped her hands and laughed. “That’s a great term! But why can’t sisters-in-law be close friends? My brother has fine character, appearance, and talent, and his family background isn’t bad either. Wouldn’t marrying you be good? If you’re willing, my family will come to propose right away.”

Zhao Hanzhang was surprised. “You can decide your brother’s marriage?”

Wang Siniang said, “Mainly because your virtuous reputation is well-known, and my father is open-minded. He won’t refuse.”

Zhao Hanzhang thought for a moment and said, “But I don’t agree.”

Wang Siniang asked with a smile, “Is my brother’s character not good, or is his talent and appearance inferior to yours?”

“His character, talent, and appearance are all good, but I don’t like him.” Zhao Hanzhang had no intention of marrying. Even if she did marry, it would be after going back. Her immediate priority was finding Professor Fu.

She directly refused Wang Siniang. “No need to mention this matter again.”

Ting He came running over breathlessly. Seeing Wang Siniang, she quickly greeted her before reporting to Zhao Hanzhang, “Sanniang, I asked around. That day many people died or were injured, including young masters from the Wang and Fu families. Recently, there haven’t been any reports of any family’s young master losing his memory after being injured.”

“The Fu family?” Zhao Hanzhang leaned forward. “Which Fu family?”

“The Secretariat Director’s Fu family.”

Wang Siniang nearby quickly said, “There’s also my cousin. That day he was entering the city with his servants and happened to encounter the refugee riot, so he was injured.”

Zhao Hanzhang asked with little interest, “Was he badly hurt? Can he still remember things from before? Have his eating and living habits changed?”

Wang Siniang replied, “…Just okay? His diet has just become lighter.”

Of course the diet would be lighter after being injured.

Zhao Hanzhang was more interested in the Fu family and asked, “Which young master of the Fu family was injured?”

Based on her possession conditions, she could reasonably deduce that Professor Fu’s possession conditions should be similar to hers.

Finding scientific principles within the unscientific—this was a desperate measure with no alternative.

Ting He had given away quite a bit of food to find out. “I heard it was the Fu family’s eldest young master. He was returning from the Chang’an district with his servants and hadn’t even entered the city when this happened.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “Fu Tinghan? What a coincidence indeed.”

Wang Siniang noticed Zhao Hanzhang’s expression was unusual and couldn’t help but say, “You like Fu Tinghan? Though he also has talent and good looks, how can he compare to my brother? My brother is on par with Wei Shubao.”

—