Giant clam shells that can be made into prayer bead strings are generally fossilized giant clam shells, formed after thousands of years of sedimentation. Pure white is common, but pure white that has already approached jade quality like this is rare.

In modern times, such giant clam shells are precious, let alone in this era.

The difficulty of harvesting giant clam shells, transportation, craftsmanship, and other factors all make this string of prayer beads quite valuable.

Zhao Hanzhang looked at Zhao Erlang. “You only took this one string?”

Zhao Erlang said, “There was only this one string.”

He pulled out the gemstones he had hidden from his clothes and stuffed them all into Fu Tinghan’s arms. “Brother-in-law, the prayer beads are for Sister, these are for you.”

Fu Tinghan was given seven or eight gemstones and needed both hands to hold them all. He was extremely surprised. “I get some too?”

“Yes,” Zhao Erlang said happily while counting his remaining gemstones. “I love shiny, glittering things. These gemstones are all beautiful. Later, brother-in-law, have the blacksmith forge me a short blade, and I’ll have someone set these gemstones in it. Shiny and bright—it’ll definitely look good.”

Setting gemstones in a blade—what kind of aesthetic is this?

Zhao Hanzhang had already recovered. She wrapped the prayer beads around her hand twice and said, “Give me the gemstones and I’ll have Ting He make you a belt with attachments. Since you like gemstones, we’ll use two gemstones for the belt hooks.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked him up and down, then focused on his hair. “Although you haven’t yet come of age, you’re not only a county magistrate now but also command troops. You should be more mature. I’ll have craftsmen make you several hair crowns and set these gemstones in them.”

“That’s better than setting them in a blade,” she said. “Aren’t you afraid that blade will be soaked in blood on the battlefield?”

“When I go to battle, I don’t use a short blade. Even if I don’t use a long spear, I use a large saber.”

“Then why are you making a short blade?”

“It looks good,” Zhao Erlang gestured at his waist. “I’ll hang it on the belt, just like how brother-in-law has jade pendants at his waist and Sister wears prayer beads on her wrist.”

This child was treating the short blade as jewelry.

Fu Tinghan didn’t think there was anything wrong with this. He smiled and agreed. “I’ll design it for you later and have the blacksmith forge it for you.”

He said to Zhao Hanzhang, “There’s nothing wrong with this. Everyone has their own preferences.”

“Thank you, brother-in-law!” Zhao Erlang said loudly, then told Zhao Hanzhang, “Sister, I also brought back a box of jewels for you. It’s what I turned over to the public.”

He pulled them to go look.

Only now did Zhao Hanzhang figure it out. “What’s in the box is what you turned over to the public, so all this…”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at the prayer beads in her hand, then at the gemstones in Fu Tinghan’s hands.

Zhao Erlang said proudly, “I secretly hid them all away. General Beigong didn’t notice at all.”

For a moment, Zhao Hanzhang didn’t know whether to praise him or correct his behavior.

She paused but still praised him. “Well done. Next time you hide things, hide them more carefully. Also, some things can be hidden, some cannot. Even if you hide them, you must tell Sister, understand?”

Receiving praise, Zhao Erlang became happy and vigorously nodded in agreement.

Zhao Hanzhang patted his head. “You’ve been tired for a day. Go back and rest. Tell Teacher Xie about this. The war trophies you brought back should be distributed where appropriate and recorded in registers where needed…”

Zhao Erlang was puzzled. “Why distribute them? Aren’t they all mine? Didn’t Sister say to use the war trophies to buy provisions?”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and gently explained, “Provisions must be bought, but some should also be distributed.”

She said, “Whether going to battle or suppressing bandits in ordinary times, everyone is risking their lives to fight desperately with you. In difficult times, everyone only asks for food to eat. So as long as provisions don’t run out, the soldiers will fight desperately for us.”

“But when times are a bit better, we can’t just give them food. Whenever there are gains, we should give them some rewards,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “Rewards can be official positions or money and goods.”

“And the ultimate purpose of official positions is actually to obtain more wealth and make life better,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “So after each battle, as long as we have the capacity, we must first ensure compensation for casualties, then rewards for those with merit.”

“You can’t rely entirely on Teacher Xie for these things. You should also have a clear idea. Handle this reward yourself,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “Go back and discuss with Teacher Xie how much should be distributed to reward the soldiers. Then you personally distribute it. At that time, you’ll understand why Sister said this.”

Zhao Erlang, looking confused, was coaxed back into the city. When he left, he even forgot to give the gemstones in his clothes to Fu Tinghan to set in a precious blade.

After Zhao Erlang left, Zhao Hanzhang lowered her head to look at the prayer beads wrapped around her hand. “These are prayer beads, right?”

Fu Tinghan nodded. “They should be.”

Zhao Hanzhang touched them again and again. “They’re truly beautiful.”

Having said this, she still took off the prayer beads and handed them to Ting He. “Put them away. Find a box and store them carefully.”

Fu Tinghan turned to look and asked, “Since you like them, why not wear them?”

“It’s not appropriate now,” she said. “For a very long period in the future, it probably won’t be appropriate. This item is too fine, too precious.”

At present, frugality was paramount. She was already so poor, yet if she wore such fine things, people below would follow her example—that wouldn’t be good.

Because Zhao Hanzhang was in mourning, she had worn plain clothes for the past two years and rarely wore jewelry. The young ladies of Yuzhou and Luoyang admired her and learned from her. With many families in Luoyang in mourning over the past six months, exquisite clothing didn’t sell well here.

Instead, fine hemp and coarse hemp fabrics were more popular—not only in Luoyang but throughout Yuzhou.

Because Zhao Hanzhang basically wore no jewelry and more often used a jade crown or hair ribbon to bind her hair, the young ladies of Yuzhou and Luoyang all learned from her. As a result, over the past two years, far fewer people in the Yuzhou area had jewelry made from gold and silver.

So resources shifted above, and merchants traveling to Yuzhou carried less silk and instead brought more fine hemp cloth and grain that customers preferred.

The situation in Luoyang was the same now. Merchants who had come twice had figured out Luoyang’s preferences and also reduced their silk and various precious jewelry.

Zhao Hanzhang could be certain that if she wore this string of prayer beads and paraded through the streets, showing that she liked them very much, before long, giant clam shell prayer beads could be inflated to astronomical prices in Luoyang, and other prayer beads would also become fashionable.

This wasn’t what she wanted to see, so sometimes even if she liked something, she had to hide it.

Fu Tinghan heard this and looked at the gemstones in his hands. “Then Erlang’s short blade…”

“Make it for him,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “He’s still a child. There’s no need to be too restrictive.”

Hearing this, Fu Tinghan nodded.

Zhao Erlang ran back to Luoyang and went straight to find Xie Shi, relaying his sister’s words with about seventy to eighty percent accuracy.

Because he spoke in a jumbled manner, Xie Shi patiently asked twice before understanding Zhao Hanzhang’s meaning.

Xie Shi only pondered for a moment before saying, “I’ll return to the military camp with Erlang. First, we’ll calculate the gains from this bandit suppression, then reward people according to their merits.”