Fu Tinghan quickly said it wasn’t necessary. “The country is currently impoverished, and our wedding should not be extravagant, so both the betrothal gifts and dowry should be kept simple to avoid setting a trend that would burden the common people.”

Princess Hongnong replied, “You think you and Zhao Hanzhang can already influence national customs and popular trends?”

Fu Tinghan frowned slightly, but his tense heart gradually relaxed. He finally raised his head to look at Princess Hongnong sitting across from him and said calmly, “Naturally. She is now the helmsman of the court, and her every word and action can guide national customs and popular trends. Besides her, local customs are also mostly influenced by the common people emulating virtuous elders and gentry, and gentlemen and gentry often face the court’s prevailing fashions.”

Princess Hongnong looked at him quietly for a moment, then said, “I thought that after all these years of warfare, you would have finally learned to be more gentle, but I didn’t expect you to still be like this.”

Fu Xuan, who was sitting beside them, displeasedly set down his teacup with a thud. Fu Tinghan and Princess Hongnong both turned their heads to look at him quietly.

Fu Xuan said, “Since the betrothal gifts have been decided, let’s arrange a time for our two families to meet. Ask about the Zhao family’s availability, and your mother and I will pay them a visit.”

Fu Tinghan bowed slightly in acknowledgment, and then the family of three fell silent again.

Honestly, in all his years in this world, this was the first time Fu Tinghan found himself in such an awkward and quiet atmosphere.

What Fu Tinghan hadn’t expected was that among the three of them, the most at ease was Princess Hongnong.

She didn’t care about the father and son’s silence. She turned to look outside the door, surveyed the courtyard scene, and said, “Who usually takes care of this estate? Those tree branches are trimmed so poorly. This courtyard is the main hall, yet you’ve planted wild flowers and wild grass in the flower beds. How long has it been since that rockery was cleaned?”

Fu Tinghan couldn’t answer.

Princess Hongnong frowned and asked, “Who is the steward? Have him come and answer.”

Fu Tinghan didn’t have a steward. He had always left these matters to Fu’an to handle. For convenience in dealing with affairs, he had always lived at the Zhao residence. After Zhao Hanzhang entered Luoyang and rewarded everyone, Ji Yuan, Ming Yu, and even Changning all received estates, so she gave him the estate diagonally across from the Zhao family as his residence.

However, he had always used it as a secondary residence. Apart from the main courtyard being tidied up, other areas hadn’t been managed much.

For one thing, maintaining a house was very expensive. For another, there still weren’t enough people, and he didn’t want to spend energy on these matters.

Because Princess Hongnong and Fu Xuan had been brought back, he had someone clean up another courtyard for them. Apart from that, other areas were still locked and hadn’t been properly maintained.

The courtyard and garden appeared somewhat chaotic, as if no one had lived there for a long time. Fu Tinghan naturally couldn’t push Fu’an forward, so he only said, “The war has just settled, I don’t have many people around me, and I’ve always lived outside. This time, because… Father and Mother returned, I had people clean up the estate.”

“But we only hired people from outside, so naturally there are some unsatisfactory aspects,” Fu Tinghan said. “I only had them clean up two courtyards—one is the main courtyard where I’ll stay, and one is Changsong Courtyard where Father and Mother will stay. The other courtyards are all locked up, and even the garden hasn’t been properly maintained.”

“I didn’t think anything of it before, but seeing Father and Mother today, I realize this approach was inappropriate. So I’ll leave this estate to Mother to manage. If you see anything that needs changing, just have people do it.”

Princess Hongnong’s eyes narrowed slightly. Fu Xuan beside her couldn’t help but look at his son again and again. Did he know or not know that these words were full of loopholes and problematic points?

Fu Xuan racked his brain trying to find excuses for him, but finally gave up and decided to get rid of him first. “It’s getting late. We can discuss these matters later. We’re tired from the journey, so let’s…”

“You’re living in the main courtyard?” Princess Hongnong ignored Fu Xuan and only stared at Fu Tinghan, asking slowly, “Where did you just say your father and I are staying?”

Fu Tinghan looked puzzled. “Changsong Courtyard.”

He had specially chosen this name, meaning longevity like an evergreen pine. Hanzhang had also said he chose it well.

Seeing his confused and innocent expression, Princess Hongnong felt a surge of frustration, thinking he was performing for her. How could he not understand what her question meant?

Fu Tinghan really didn’t think there was anything wrong with his arrangement. However, he still respected his elders’ wishes and said, “If Mother doesn’t like Changsong Courtyard, you can choose another courtyard to stay in.”

“Many courtyards and garden pavilions in this estate don’t have names yet. You can arrange them according to your preferences.” Fu Tinghan didn’t want to stay any longer and wanted to go find Zhao Hanzhang.

Princess Hongnong’s breathing became somewhat rapid, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to ask that question directly. She could only turn to look at Fu Xuan.

Fu Xuan turned his head away, avoiding her gaze.

Princess Hongnong felt stifled with anger and could only suppress her temper to ask Fu Tinghan, “How many servants are in the household?”

Fu Tinghan paused, then shook his head. “There are no servants.”

“What?” Princess Hongnong couldn’t comprehend this for a moment.

Fu Tinghan explained, “I only have Fu’an with me, but I can’t place him in the estate—I need him by my side. The rest are all personal guards. I can leave two squads in the estate. Mother can ask them to help with tasks if needed.”

“Ask?” Princess Hongnong laughed in anger and asked, “You’re a Minister of Works—no, no, no, forget the Minister of Works position. You’re the eldest legitimate grandson of the Fu family, yet you don’t even have two servants with you?”

Fu Tinghan sighed. “When we were fleeing for our lives, we got separated. Only Fu’an stayed with me the whole time.”

Even Fu Xuan couldn’t help but turn back to look at him, asking, “Why didn’t you buy new people?”

“Why would I buy them?” Even after living here for four years, Fu Tinghan still wasn’t accustomed to some of the rules here and retained his modern habits. “I don’t need servants.”

Princess Hongnong’s voice grew shrill. “You don’t need servants?”

Fu Tinghan nodded firmly. “Fu’an alone is enough.”

If Fu’an hadn’t been following him all along, he actually wouldn’t even need Fu’an, because he could do many things himself. Things he didn’t want to do or couldn’t do, his personal guards could also handle.

Zhao Hanzhang also rarely used servants, more often ordering around her personal guards.

Among the servants, only Ting He was commonly used.

Seeing Princess Hongnong’s face change color, Fu Tinghan couldn’t understand why she was angry and wanted to leave even more.

He shifted restlessly, then finally followed his heart and stood up. “There are still matters at the Ministry of Works. I’ll go handle official business first. Father and Mother, please make yourselves comfortable.”

After speaking, he bowed respectfully and left.

Fu’an, who had been hiding outside, immediately ran to catch up after Fu Tinghan came out, following closely behind Fu Tinghan as they left the estate. He eagerly snatched the horse from Shi Hongtu and, for the first time, tried to help Fu Tinghan mount.

Fu Tinghan pushed his hand away, grabbed the saddle himself, and leaped onto the horse. Once seated, he looked down at him with a puzzled expression. “What’s wrong with you?”

Fu’an immediately moved closer to the horse, looking up at Fu Tinghan with pleading eyes. “Young Master, do you really not know?”

Fu Tinghan silently looked at him.

Well, it seemed the young master truly didn’t understand.

Fu’an said with a bitter face, “According to propriety and reason, the princess and prince consort should live in the main courtyard.”

Fu Tinghan frowned. “This estate was given to me by the court, not to them. Shouldn’t the household head live in the main courtyard?”

Fu’an blinked. This seemed correct too.