Wang Shi’s interest in conversation was piqued, mainly because the affairs between her father-in-law and that uncle of hers were too good for gossip.

She pulled her daughter to sit under the tree, and even though she had restrained herself, she still couldn’t suppress her excitement as she said, “Your maternal great-aunt and your grandmother had a significant age difference, and their relationship was fairly good. But the reason our family has little contact with the Wang family is actually because of your maternal great-uncle.”

Zhao Hanzhang humbly asked for instruction, “What happened with my maternal great-uncle?”

Wang Shi sighed, “Your maternal great-uncle, he was a completely opposite type of person from your grandfather.”

This maternal great-uncle was called Wang Ji, and his biological elder sister was Zhao Hanzhang’s own dear grandmother.

Logically speaking, between a brother-in-law and younger brother-in-law, the relationship couldn’t be too bad no matter what, but these two were different.

Zhao Changyu was frugal by nature, but Wang Ji was extravagant by nature—they went to two extremes.

To what extent? Wang Ji could throw money around for fun. He loved horseback riding, and at that time Luoyang was prosperous and land was very expensive, but he would spend large sums to buy a big piece of land, directly fence it off to make a horse track, and for visual enjoyment and to show off, he would even pave the ground with money, walking on a money path to the stable to fetch his horse.

Zhao Hanzhang thought that if this were in modern times, just this one act alone would be enough to charge him with insulting money and throw him in prison. She asked with a bit of jealousy, “And then?”

“Your grandfather very much looked down on his extravagance, but your grandfather was broad-minded. Although he didn’t like it, he wouldn’t point fingers at others’ lives.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded. If it were her, she would just watch coldly as the other person acted foolishly, and it would be even better if she could swindle some money from him.

For example…

Zhao Hanzhang kicked Seventh Great-Uncle’s face out of her mind and quickly asked, “Then how did they become enemies?”

“It was still your maternal great-uncle. Your grandfather didn’t like him, but he deliberately provoked your grandfather.”

Zhao Changyu was frugal—ahem, actually also a bit stingy. He was stingy with himself and stingy with others too.

At that time, there was a plum tree planted in their family’s garden that bore exceptionally delicious fruit, so delicious that even Emperor Wu of Jin had to ask Zhao Changyu for some.

Zhao Changyu only gave a few dozen to Emperor Wu of Jin and wouldn’t give more.

He treated Emperor Wu of Jin this way, let alone this younger brother-in-law he looked down upon. Zhao Changyu could only spare him a few.

One day, Wang Ji took advantage of Zhao Changyu not being home and brought a group of young men into his brother-in-law’s house, directly climbed the tree to eat their fill, and after eating until they were stuffed, he even led people to chop down the plum tree and dragged away the branches, parading through the streets.

As her father-in-law was closer than an uncle within the five degrees of mourning, Wang Shi was also indignant, “Your maternal great-uncle was really impolite.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s smile faded, and she frowned, “Eating is one thing, but why did he have to break off the branches and even chop down the entire fruit tree? What a waste of a good plum tree, just for spite—his heart is too narrow.”

Wang Shi nodded repeatedly and said in a low voice, “Your grandmother also said this, so she didn’t allow your father to get close to his uncle. However, your grandfather didn’t say anything, but from then on, the household was managed more strictly. Without the master’s permission, even relatives couldn’t randomly enter the back courtyard and garden.”

Conflicts accumulated bit by bit like this, and since Zhao Hanzhang’s grandmother passed away early, they became even less close with the Wang family.

Although the two families were relatives, they rarely interacted.

Wang Shi said in a low voice, “This time, Wang Yu, who came with Shubao, is your maternal great-uncle’s second son. When the time comes, you can handle it as you see fit. If he has no talent, find an excuse to send him away. Don’t hesitate to refuse out of consideration for family ties.”

Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but laugh out loud and readily agreed, “Alright.”

She asked, “Mother, is Wang Ji dead?”

Wang Shi looked around, nodded, then said in a low voice, “You mustn’t call him by name directly. Although he and your grandfather didn’t get along, he’s still your elder. If people hear about it, they’ll speak ill of you.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, wanting to ask for more details, when Wang Shi suddenly frowned, “Come to think of it, Wang Yu and Tinghan also have some family relationship.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s head buzzed. Do aristocratic families all marry in clusters?

Can’t they change to some other families?

Zhao Hanzhang humbly asked for instruction, “What family relationship do they have?”

“That uncle of mine married Princess Changshan, who was Emperor Wu of Jin’s daughter.”

Oh, Fu Tinghan’s mother was also a princess, but she was Emperor Hui’s daughter, so Princess Changshan was Fu Tinghan’s grand-aunt. Very good, they weren’t of different generations. Fu Tinghan would have to call Wang Yu cousin.

Hahaha…

Zhao Hanzhang looked up and laughed, exhaling, “Fine, I’ll wait for them to arrive. When will they get here?”

“I received a letter yesterday. Calculating the time, they should arrive in about two or three days.”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled, “Then I’ll stay a few more days to wait for them.”

Originally, she had wanted to go to Luoyang in a couple of days.

Thanks to Zhao Hanzhang dispatching troops to clear bandits from the official roads, Zhao Ju was now leading the Zhao family army patrolling back and forth along the border. Sometimes when he heard that merchant caravans coming to Yu Province were robbed by bandits on the road, he would disregard the border line and lead his men to eliminate them, and incidentally collect some spoils of war.

There was no helping it—Zhao Hanzhang was too short of money now.

She could only have Zhao Ju patrol the border, especially at the junctions with Yang Province and Jing Province. Those two places were both very wealthy. Major wars didn’t reach those two regions, but occasionally they fought among themselves, and with many refugees, there were very many bandits on the roads.

Clearing bandits from the official roads not only enriched her but also encouraged commerce and trained soldiers—three benefits in one.

It was just that she was criticized and impeached even more frequently.

In just two months, the impeachment memorials forwarded to her from Yuncheng had piled up an entire desk. Aside from replying with one letter of explanation at the beginning, Zhao Hanzhang stopped responding afterward.

And by now, those people had also clearly seen through Zhao Hanzhang’s shamelessness and knew that impeaching her to the emperor was useless. So some local officials from Jing Province and Yang Province directly wrote letters to scold her.

Of course, while scolding her on one hand, they couldn’t help but say on the other, “She’s so shameless, she might really be able to recover the lost territory together with Gou Xi.”

Simply outrageous. She not only had the Zhao family army cross the border to clear bandits and loot everything from the bandit lairs, but also encouraged the people within their provinces to migrate to Yu Province. Thinking of the population they had recently lost, quite a few county magistrates felt heartache.

But they couldn’t defeat Zhao Hanzhang.

Wei Jie hadn’t expected that fleeing south had been so difficult, but returning north was so easy. After reaching Lujiang, they encountered fewer bandits on the road.

Their group had only about ten people, and their speed wasn’t slow. All along the way they were on edge, because when they went south, even with a team of several hundred people, they would still be robbed.

Wang Yu slowed his horse, his hand pressed on the knife handle at his waist, vigilantly watching the forests on both sides. Only after passing that area and seeing the open farmland did he relax slightly.

He rode his horse to the side of the carriage and said to Wei Jie inside, “Strange, last time we passed through here, wasn’t there a large bandit den on the mountain? We had quite a fierce battle to get through then. Why didn’t they appear this time?”

Wei Jie pondered, “Perhaps the bandits on the mountain have already been eliminated.”

“The officials of Lujiang have such capability?”