“Do you believe me if I say this is a coincidence?”

At that time, the blast furnace at Wushan was in the midst of smelting iron and steel. Because the area had previously been uninhabited wilderness, even though Zhao Hanzhang had already arranged for supplies to be sent there, they were still severely lacking.

Every day, they ate mostly various coarse grains, with very little meat, mostly stewed or boiled. As for vegetables, aside from some pickled vegetables, there were only bean sprouts.

Due to the shortage of manpower and the absence of anyone with particularly good culinary skills, no one bothered to make elaborate dishes like cold bean sprout salad. They would just grab a handful and throw it into boiling water, add some soybean oil and salt, and once cooked, scoop it out to eat.

After staying there for a few days, Zhao Hanzhang’s complexion had turned pale.

So when she saw someone hammering away making knives, she couldn’t help but sigh, “If only we had an iron wok, stir-frying vegetables would be much faster every day.”

Upon hearing this, Fu Tinghan immediately took people and made the wok for her.

Heaven and earth could bear witness—at the time, she had truly just mentioned it in passing. It really was a coincidence!

But since it had already been made, it would be wrong not to use it, right? So she happily accepted the wok.

Zhao Hanzhang tried her best to return Zhao Ming’s gaze sincerely. Before she could become even more sincere, Zhao Ming nodded, “I believe you.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes lit up. Just as she was about to speak, she heard Zhao Ming ask, “I once told you that iron woks are too extravagant. Now that Xiping County is in the midst of reconstruction with everything to be done, if the county magistrate is excessively lavish, the people under your governance will surely suffer hardship. Why did you still make ten woks? And even sent one to my home.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “That was my filial devotion to Fifth Grand-Uncle.”

Zhao Ming nodded, “What about the remaining nine? You don’t use them yourself but put them in the Treasure Pavilion for sale, and set such a high price. What is your intention?”

Zhao Hanzhang gave Zhao Ming an appreciative look, “Uncle has guessed correctly. I do have other purposes.”

She asked, “Don’t you think dishes made in an iron wok have a special flavor?”

Zhao Ming humbly asked for guidance, “So?”

“In this world, there are always wealthy people who cannot resist the temptation of food. I feel no guilt earning their money. Moreover,” Zhao Hanzhang said, “most importantly, I want to widely spread the benefits of soybean oil.”

Zhao Ming was puzzled, “Soybean oil?”

“Yes,” speaking of this, Zhao Hanzhang was full of resentment. She felt that her and Fu Tinghan’s greatest contribution to this era so far was not glass or soap, but the redevelopment of soy products.

Especially soybean oil.

But the aristocratic families of this era were completely ungrateful. They actually spread rumors privately that soybean oil was a lowly substance and refused to consume it.

When those above avoid something, those below will shun it even more.

Of course, common people didn’t think soybean oil was lowly and didn’t want to eat it—rather, seeing that the landlords refused to eat soybean oil and showed such disdain and avoidance, rumors spread privately that eating soybean oil was bad for the body. Although it tasted good temporarily, eating too much would cloud one’s mind, eventually leading to mysterious death in one’s sleep.

Well, this was still a relatively reasonable rumor. The absurd ones included: eating soybean oil causes infertility, eating soybean oil causes blindness, eating soybean oil causes poisoning…

Zhao Hanzhang had no choice but to take an indirect approach. With iron woks available, she freely distributed numerous new recipes. All these recipes used soybean oil.

As long as one of these wealthy families started using soybean oil, it would gradually spread, and one day they would accept it.

Once they accepted it, common people would naturally accept it too.

Actually, if she weren’t worried about the bad influence—that her excessive extravagance would truly corrupt the atmosphere of Xiping County—she really wouldn’t mind keeping an iron wok at home and eating different dishes for all three meals every day!

Zhao Hanzhang was still restlessly tempted, so she asked Zhao Ming, “What does Uncle think about me single-handedly driving soybean oil consumption throughout Xiping County?”

Zhao Ming glanced at her and said, “I’m afraid with your current credibility, you’re not sufficient to accomplish this.”

Zhao Hanzhang sighed, “Indeed, which is why I put all the iron woks in the Treasure Pavilion and didn’t keep any for myself.”

Between two evils, choose the lesser one. She had made this difficult choice.

“Since your intention is to promote soybean oil, why did you set the price of iron woks so high?”

“I was momentarily upset! Iron implements are hard to come by, and moreover,” Zhao Hanzhang said, “right now, Xiping County’s main priority is forging agricultural tools in preparation for next year’s spring plowing. Promoting soybean oil is important, but it comes after spring plowing, so all the iron is prioritized for agricultural tools first. There are only these few woks, and rare things are valuable. They can buy them or not.”

Zhao Ming’s doubts were resolved, and his mood became pleasant.

Fu Tinghan, standing by the window watching the snow, looked at the two of them with confusion, not understanding why they insisted on standing in the snow to talk when snow had accumulated on their umbrellas.

Seeing that the two still showed no intention of entering the house, he reached out and tapped on the window frame.

Zhao Hanzhang and Zhao Ming turned their heads together at the sound, seeing Fu Tinghan standing by the window with his hands drawn together, looking at them with bewilderment, “Aren’t you cold?”

Only then did Zhao Hanzhang remember, and she hurriedly invited Zhao Ming inside.

The rear courtyard of the county office was different from the old residence, and even more different from Zhao Ming’s home. Here, one could barely see any floor mats—everything was tables and chairs.

Oh, there was a wooden couch by the window on the other side, but it clearly was Fu Tinghan’s usual resting place. Without the host’s invitation, Zhao Ming wouldn’t presume to sit there.

Zhao Hanzhang invited him to sit down.

Zhao Ming sat somewhat uncomfortably in the high chair, “I don’t know where you two get all these strange ideas. Everything you make is beyond expectation.”

His gaze fell on Fu Tinghan, asking, “Did you also create that iron wok?”

Fu Tinghan glanced at Zhao Hanzhang before saying, “It was made by the craftsmen.”

“If you hadn’t given them guidance, how could they have thought to make such a thing?”

This time Fu Tinghan didn’t refute.

Zhao Ming was very curious—how exactly had the Fu family taught this child? Why did everything he knew seem so… strange?

He lowered his eyes. Glass, soybean oil, iron woks, even soap and grey bricks—each one, if brought out during peaceful times, could become a powerful tool for family wealth accumulation. And then there was the paper mill they still had no news about…

Zhao Ming’s heart jumped. He looked up at Fu Tinghan, “Regarding papermaking, how confident are you?”

Zhao Hanzhang perked up immediately, “Eighty percent!”

Zhao Ming swept a glance at her, “I wasn’t asking you.”

He insisted on looking at Fu Tinghan.

Fu Tinghan: “…Uncle Ming, the papermaking technique was conceived by Hanzhang.”

Zhao Ming looked unconvinced, asking, “I remember you started working on the paper mill before winter. Still no results?”

Fu Tinghan said, “The cold weather slows down the soaking of fibers. I recently formulated the appropriate amount of lime water and am currently bleaching. Before long, we can try pulling the first frame of paper.”

Zhao Ming glanced at Zhao Hanzhang, standing up for Fu Tinghan. His look seemed to say: See that? And you still have the face to claim this credit?

Zhao Hanzhang lowered her head in shame, but when Zhao Ming wasn’t paying attention, she mischievously winked at Fu Tinghan.

Fu Tinghan’s face flushed slightly, somewhat uncomfortably averting his gaze.

Zhao Hanzhang was too busy. She had no time to attend to these matters at all. He could only keep watch over them. She had already written down all the steps she knew by memory. What remained was for him to deduce and adjust. If she did it, the steps would be the same anyway. Why bother using up her energy?

—