Zhao Ming: “My father will be the first to refuse, and the other clan elders are also very dissatisfied with him.”

With Zhao Song taking the lead, the other clan elders would definitely firmly follow in opposition. It was impossible for Zhao Ji to become clan leader.

If Zhao Hanzhang and Zhao Erlang had no accomplishments and needed to rely on the clan’s favor, then among the clan elders, aside from Fifth Great-Uncle, the others might turn a blind eye to Zhao Ji’s past mistakes, and even if uncomfortable in their hearts, they would endure it.

But now Zhao Hanzhang was the most accomplished descendant of the Zhao clan, and even Zhao Erlang had risen with the tide. Just two days ago, news had arrived that Zhao Erlang had been appointed Commandery Administrator of Nanyang Kingdom. The clan members’ mouths gaped wide enough to swallow an egg.

So even if just out of fear of Zhao Hanzhang’s power, the clan elders would suppress any attempt to let Zhao Ji become clan leader, not to mention they already looked down on him.

Zhao Ji could use schemes and methods to compete with the primary branch for the title, and could even suppress the primary branch—in the clan elders’ view, none of this was a problem. But he should not have abandoned Zhao Changyu’s coffin and the primary branch’s descendants.

This one mistake alone meant the clan elders could not let him inherit the clan leader position.

As clan leader, if above he lacked the filial heart and spirit to honor the ancestors, and below he lacked the compassionate heart and foresight to nurture the clan’s descendants, the clan elders would have to be out of their minds to choose him as clan leader.

A clan leader’s character would determine a family’s rise and fall.

Thinking of this, Zhao Hanzhang looked up at Zhao Ming, her fingers lightly tapping her knee. “Uncle Ming, do you also favor Dalang as clan leader?”

Zhao Ming lifted his eyelids to look at her, picked up the wine pot and slowly poured himself a cup of wine. While drinking, he said, “That is your elder brother.”

Zhao Hanzhang said nothing.

Zhao Ming didn’t need her to speak. He continued, “Do you want to be clan leader? That would be even harder than you wanting to become Yuzhou Inspector. Putting aside distant matters, even my father, who dotes on you so much, would not agree to it.”

Zhao Ming drained his cup, set it down, and looked at her. “Neither would I.”

Zhao Hanzhang: “…Uncle Ming has misunderstood. How desperate would I have to be to want to be clan leader? Moreover, I will eventually marry, and Fu Tinghan and I are marrying as equals—he’s not marrying into my family.”

She leaned forward, pressing her arm on the table, smiling as she looked at Zhao Ming and said in a low voice, “What I’m saying is that Elder Brother probably can’t be a good clan leader either. He’s far inferior to Uncle Ming, so Uncle…”

“Stop this nonsense.” Zhao Ming’s expression darkened as he said coldly, “The clan leader position is only passed to the direct line. This is our Zhao clan’s ancestral rule and absolutely cannot be changed!”

“Uncle and my ancestor came from the same line and were both legitimate sons. It’s just that our line is the legitimate eldest, which is why we’ve always inherited the family head position. So…”

Zhao Ming looked at her seriously. “That was four generations ago. Counting from you, neither more nor less, it’s exactly the fifth generation. If you really calculate it that way, your Seventh Great-Uncle could come compete for this clan leader position.”

Zhao Hanzhang thought of her dear Seventh Great-Uncle and shivered. “Choosing a clan leader should prioritize virtue…”

“No, it should prioritize legitimate eldest succession,” Zhao Ming said with a solemn expression, looking at her with deep eyes. “Sanniang, if we choose based on virtue to determine the clan leader position, then in the future, every time we need to change clan leaders, I’m afraid the family will fall into endless internal strife. The ancestral instructions were all summarized from blood and tears—you cannot violate them.”

Zhao Hanzhang hadn’t expected that the greatest obstacle to promoting Zhao Ming as clan leader would not come from Fifth Great-Uncle, but from Zhao Ming himself.

She sighed and nodded. “Very well, let’s set this matter aside for now. I believe Great-Uncle will surely live a long life, so it’s premature to discuss this now.”

Zhao Ming pressed his lips together and said nothing.

Zhao Hanzhang herself hadn’t imagined that one day she would pray to heaven for Zhao Zhongyu to live longer. She summarized her psychological process and couldn’t help complaining to Fu Tinghan, “This is choosing the tallest among the short. Alas, the second branch truly gets worse with each generation.”

Fu Tinghan didn’t quite understand this era’s insistence. “Why must it be the legitimate eldest? Uncle Ming is clearly more suited to be clan leader.”

“Because of the four words ‘precedent to follow,'” Zhao Hanzhang said. “If we set a precedent starting with Zhao Ming, then in the future, collateral branches or even illegitimate branches—as long as they’re dissatisfied with the clan leader—can cite this precedent to challenge the main clan leader line and compete for the clan leader position.”

She sighed. “I also know this hidden danger exists, but… Zhao Ming is truly too suitable to be clan leader. Right now, with Zhao Zhongyu as clan leader, he keeps the clan in his heart and can still make concessions. But once Zhao Ji and Zhao Yi take over, given their temperament and intelligence, do you think we can coexist peacefully?”

Fu Tinghan wasn’t familiar with those two, having only met them a few times. But just those few meetings, plus Zhao Hanzhang’s occasional confrontations with them over the past two years, were enough for Fu Tinghan to shake his head directly. “They’ll most likely die at your hands.”

Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes. “If other family disciples commit crimes, they can be killed. But if I kill the Zhao clan’s leader, even if the clan doesn’t turn against me, it will be very difficult for our relationship to return to what it was before. Yet I cannot tolerate them being foolish and causing me trouble.”

“So the best solution is to change the clan leader,” Zhao Hanzhang sighed again. “Zhao Ming really is the most suitable candidate.”

Fu Tinghan wasn’t as good as Zhao Hanzhang at handling complex relationships, so he found it difficult to give her advice on this matter. He could only work on arithmetic problems at the side to keep her company.

Zhao Hanzhang propped up her chin, thinking. In her mind, she had already extended the consequences of various choices to a hundred years later. Without a more reasonable excuse, choosing Zhao Ming as clan leader would indeed bring future troubles to the Zhao clan, especially growing more serious the further into the future.

For the present, it would certainly be good, but as clan leader, one must consider not only the present but also a hundred years, even several hundred years hence.

However, from Zhao Hanzhang’s perspective, there was actually no need to worry so much. A hundred years, several hundred years, even a thousand years later—after several migrations, the clan would have branched and divided many times. Eventually, clan influence would be reduced to a minimum, finally reaching a point where only national law was known and clan law was not. At that point, this matter’s impact on clan succession would be reduced to the point of invisibility.

She even felt a bit rebellious inside, thinking what would be wrong with letting Zhao Ming be clan leader? There were already various struggles in clan succession anyway—this would just add one more option for struggle.

Just as Zhao Hanzhang was thinking rebelliously, Zhao Ming leisurely came looking for her. Clearly, he was also unsettled and had been pondering, finally coming up with an excellent solution for Zhao Hanzhang. “Arrange a marriage for Erlang. Choose an intelligent lady to marry him, have children as soon as possible, and you can raise the child. If you don’t have time, you can leave them with me too.”

“As long as the child is over eight years old and doesn’t turn out like Erlang, they can inherit the clan leader position.”

Zhao Hanzhang: “…Uncle Ming, Erlang isn’t even thirteen yet.”

This was truly destroying the flowers of the nation.