Actually, Wang Xuan and Fu Tinghan had no real friendship. But compared to him, it was even less appropriate for Zhao Hanzhang, a young lady, to call directly at their door.
That’s why Zhao Hanzhang had asked Wang Xuan for help.
The three of them took a carriage together to the Fu family gate. Wang Xuan personally went forward to request a meeting.
The Fu family’s steward came running over. Seeing Zhao Hanzhang sitting in the carriage, he started, then quickly bowed respectfully to Wang Xuan before going to Zhao Hanzhang’s carriage and bowing. “Why has the young lady come? Our master has already gone to your residence.”
Zhao Hanzhang was surprised and leaned forward slightly. “Secretariat Director Fu went to my house?”
The steward bowed and replied, “Yes. Young lady, this is…”
Zhao Hanzhang thought briefly before saying, “I want to see your eldest young master.”
Whether Fu Zhi’s visit to the Zhao residence was to arrange or cancel the betrothal, she had to see Fu Tinghan in person to confirm whether he was Professor Fu.
The steward hesitated. “This…”
Zhao Hanzhang looked at him and said, “Since Secretariat Director Fu has gone to my house, you should know our two families are discussing marriage. I want to see Young Master Fu—that’s not excessive, is it?”
The steward couldn’t help muttering quietly, “It is excessive…”
Marriage matters had always been decided by parents and matchmakers. Never mind that they hadn’t formally arranged the betrothal—even if they had, what young lady would show up at the door without any warning like this?
But their respective positions were what they were. The steward didn’t dare say it out loud. Seeing Zhao Sanniang so composed, he couldn’t help but doubt whether he was making too much of it.
He thought for a moment, then stepped forward and lowered his voice to tell Zhao Hanzhang, “Sanniang, our master went to your residence to apologize. Our eldest young master injured his head. This marriage will have to be called off, so…”
Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes lit up, and she insisted, “Then I must see him even more.”
The steward froze, staring at Zhao Hanzhang blankly, not quite understanding her meaning.
Tool-person Wang Xuan immediately stepped forward. “Steward, Sanniang asked her younger sister to speak to me, requesting that I come forward to arrange this meeting. You can see her sincerity and persistence. Since the two families intended to form a marriage alliance and it’s already reached the point where even the younger generation knows about it, clearly it’s at the final stage. Even if the betrothal is being canceled for some reason, they should at least meet once.”
The steward looked at the insistent Zhao Hanzhang, then finally gritted his teeth and said, “Please wait a moment, Sanniang. I’ll have someone bring a sedan chair.”
Clearly, he also knew about Zhao Hanzhang’s injury.
As soon as he left, Wang Siniang immediately poked at Zhao Hanzhang. “Good grief, Zhao Sanniang! You’ve been discussing marriage and kept such a big thing from me! Tell me, when did you start discussing marriage with Young Master Fu?”
Zhao Hanzhang grabbed her finger. “I only found out yesterday too.”
Wang Siniang was amazed. “And you just agreed? Do you even remember what Fu Tinghan looks like?”
She didn’t. Since learning about it yesterday, she’d been searching through her mind and only found a very blurry figure, still mixed in with a group of people. Clearly the young girl didn’t remember what this Fu Tinghan looked like either.
The steward followed closely beside Zhao Hanzhang’s sedan chair, explaining for their eldest young master. “Our young master injured his head and has been recovering lately, so I must trouble Sanniang to go to Jingsong Hall.”
Zhao Hanzhang indicated this was perfectly fine.
Before even entering the gate, she heard the sound of reading aloud—and it was a duet.
She couldn’t help leaning forward to look. At a glance, she saw a youth sitting in the courtyard. Hearing the commotion, he looked up, and their eyes met. Both fell silent for a moment.
Zhao Hanzhang sat in the sedan chair examining the youth up and down, finding him very familiar. He did look quite like Professor Fu. She felt excited and opened her mouth to ask him, but there were too many people around. She struggled to restrain herself, only looking at him with shining eyes.
A smile flashed through the youth’s eyes, and his brows and expression softened. He nodded to the two book boys reading facing him. The steward also spoke up, “We have guests. Stop reading for now.”
Only then did the two book boys holding books notice the people behind them. They quickly bowed and stepped aside.
The steward went forward to report to the youth. “Young master, this is Sanniang from the Zhao family. Oh, that’s Young Master Wang and Siniang from the Wang family. They’ve all come to see you. Can you remember them?”
The steward’s body happened to block the youth’s gaze. The youth leaned back and turned his head to look at Zhao Hanzhang on the sedan chair. After a long moment, he smiled at her and nodded.
The steward was stunned.
After the young master woke up, he’d shown little reaction, hadn’t spoken a single word, much less smiled.
Shocked, he turned to look at Zhao Hanzhang, finding she was also smiling at their young master. The steward felt his heart tremble. Today the master had gone to the Zhao residence seemingly to apologize and cancel the betrothal…
Wang Xuan watched this youth go from cool detachment to warm as spring breeze, and couldn’t help looking back and forth between him and Zhao Sanniang. After a long moment, his teeth ached. He reached out to grab his sister and turned to walk out. “Let’s go have tea in the front hall first.”
The steward came to his senses, looking conflicted as he glanced between their young master and Zhao Sanniang.
Zhao Sanniang said to the servant women, “Set me down. You all withdraw for now. I have something to say to Young Master Fu.”
The servant women acknowledged the order and bowed as they withdrew.
The youth also waved at the two book boys, signaling them to withdraw.
The book boys bowed and withdrew.
In the courtyard, only Ting He and the steward remained as outsiders. Zhao Hanzhang and the youth turned their heads together to look at them.
The steward looked conflicted, not knowing whether he should withdraw. If he withdrew, they were an unmarried man and woman—it went against propriety.
But if he didn’t withdraw, given the young master’s condition, it would be hard to find such a suitable match again. He couldn’t very well cut off the young master’s prospects, could he?
Before he finished his internal struggle, Ting He had already stepped forward to drag him out.
The steward protested, “…Little maid, aren’t you worried about your mistress?”
Ting He replied matter-of-factly, “My mistress won’t suffer any loss.”
Young Master Fu still had bandages wrapped around his head—clearly his injury was worse than her Sanniang’s. In a fight, he’d be the one to lose.
The steward thought: …Fine, this matter is only known to them anyway. If the Zhao family’s servants don’t talk, their household servants aren’t gossips either. Even if the match doesn’t work out in the end, it won’t be a big deal.
The steward resigned himself to leaning against the courtyard entrance, standing guard with Ting He, one on each side.
Inside the courtyard, Zhao Hanzhang’s gaze once again fell on the youth. The two looked at each other silently for a time, neither speaking first.
Though she was already seventy percent certain in her heart, the remaining thirty percent was also dangerous.
So Zhao Hanzhang asked very cautiously, “I once heard that someone asked you a question in class: if you were destined to spend your life with one person, who would that be?”
The youth, who hadn’t spoken a word until now, smiled slightly and looked at Zhao Hanzhang, saying, “Besides the person who first moved my heart, only Bernhard Riemann.”
Zhao Hanzhang let out a long breath and showed him a bright smile. “Professor Fu, it’s been a while.”
The youth also exhaled and nodded slightly to her. “Teacher Zhao.”
—