Zhu Chuan watched and couldn’t help but remind her, “Governor Zhao, there’s a common saying: ‘A cup of rice gains gratitude, a bushel gains enmity.’ Please be careful.”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled faintly. “It’s just one meal of meat, temporarily helping them through a cold night.”

Seeing that her officers had no objections, Zhu Chuan couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. This person would surely achieve great success in the future. Even as a woman, she could become a hegemon of one region.

This was the first time these refugees had received friendly treatment from an official since beginning their displacement.

Moreover, earlier they had been in the relationship of bandits and soldiers—well, let’s call it that.

Now, they huddled together around the fire, quietly observing the distant Zhao Hanzhang.

The new Governor is so kind—is it because she’s a woman?

Caught red-handed in their robbery, she didn’t slaughter them to pad military achievements, nor did she enslave them, but instead first gave them relief grain, and even gave them meat…

Recalling the meat soup they’d just drunk, those few lucky ones had even gotten two pieces of meat.

Several young men who had been planning to escape in the night huddled together quietly conferring. “Why don’t we not run after all? Governor Zhao really seems like a good official. Plus she’s so formidable—what if we run and she kills us?”

“Yes, let’s not run. The weather is so cold. Even if we escape, we’d likely freeze or starve to death anyway.”

With everyone chiming in, they talked each other out of escaping.

The young still thought about escaping, but the elderly, women, and children had resigned themselves to going with the flow.

Before, when they encountered soldiers who captured people to sell, they could only run. If they outran them, naturally that was good. If they couldn’t, they would obediently follow the soldiers, be sold to others, and labor. If their luck was good and they met a relatively kind master’s family, they could survive.

But no matter how good the master’s family, they wouldn’t treat them as well as this young lady did today.

The elderly and women silently gazed at Zhao Hanzhang’s distant silhouette. So they wouldn’t flee. They would follow Zhao Hanzhang closely—she might truly be able to find them a way to survive.

The children were even more direct. They were sensitive, and from the moment they saw Fu Tinghan wrap that little girl in his cloak, they had already made up their minds to follow them.

After eating the porridge and meat, their resolve only strengthened. No one could take them away.

The night passed without incident. It seemed nothing had changed, but no one knew that during this one night, sparks had been planted in many hearts, buried deep within, waiting for the day they would absorb nutrients and sprout and grow…

At daybreak, the camp began to bustle. Children consciously went to gather firewood and helped fetch water.

Zhao Hanzhang took up her long spear and found an open space to practice. The spear moved like a swimming dragon, flowing freely in her hands.

When Zhu Chuan was awakened by the commotion, she had already practiced two rounds. Her body was limbered up, and even in the freezing weather, she felt warm.

Fu Tinghan beside her was slowly practicing boxing. He first did a set of calisthenics to limber up his body, then began practicing the military combat boxing Zhao Hanzhang had taught him.

He always had people protecting him. If a situation required him to fight personally, it would either be at range or in close quarters. So he had always systematically trained.

For ranged combat, he only studied archery, which now showed initial results. For close combat, it was military boxing and the grappling techniques Zhao Hanzhang taught him.

Originally, Zhao Hanzhang had wanted to teach him running—survival was paramount. His endurance was acceptable, but his sprinting ability was lacking. Even if he could run long distances, he couldn’t run fast. If he turned to flee, he could still easily be caught. Since that was the case, better to learn military boxing—at least he could resist a bit.

“If you can’t escape, then surrender,” Zhao Hanzhang had instructed him. “Surrender first, find an opportunity to run later. I’ll come rescue you too.”

She said, “In this era, even when facing one’s father’s killer, as long as the other party is useful, they can be forgiven. You rarely go to the front lines and don’t make enemies with people. Plus you’re talented—whoever captures you will treat you well. So don’t worry, feel free to surrender. First eat and drink well to preserve your life, then we’ll talk.”

Fu Tinghan rotated his elbows forcefully, beginning to relax his body. Hearing this, he asked, “What about you?”

“Me?” Zhao Hanzhang gestured with her long spear and sighed. “I might have it a bit harder. I’ve made quite a few enemies, and I’m obviously not very obedient. If I meet someone broad-minded and open-hearted, perhaps I can deceive them with honeyed words and be kept on as a general. The rest would probably wish to eliminate me quickly.”

Fu Tinghan pressed his lips together, about to speak, when he saw Zhu Chuan walking over and held his tongue.

Zhao Hanzhang also noticed. She smiled and tossed the long spear to Ting He, took the cloth she handed over, and threw one to Fu Tinghan. She wiped the sweat from her head and face and smiled at Zhu Chuan. “Did Young Master Zhu sleep well last night?”

In such freezing weather, camping outdoors—how could it possibly be good?

But Zhu Chuan still smiled and responded, “Not bad.”

He praised, “I’ve long heard that Governor Zhao is brave in battle and highly skilled in martial arts. Seeing it today, it’s indeed true.”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled modestly. “I merely have a bit more strength than others.”

Fu Tinghan let them exchange pleasantries. After wiping away his sweat, he nodded slightly to Zhu Chuan and turned to leave. Zhu Chuan quickly called after him, “Master Fu, will the words you spoke last night count?”

Fu Tinghan stopped and tilted his head to look at him. “Which words?”

He hadn’t said much yesterday, but not too little either.

Zhu Chuan said, “Last night when the wine flowed freely, Master Fu mentioned that if I was interested in the glass-making formula, we could cooperate.”

Zhao Hanzhang raised an eyebrow. When Fu Tinghan looked over, she nodded slightly.

Fu Tinghan said, “It’s almost time for the morning meal. Shall we talk while eating?”

Seeing his gentle expression, not looking like he was making things difficult, Zhu Chuan immediately agreed. “Excellent.”

Transportation in ancient times was too inconvenient, especially now during these chaotic times. The cost of making a trip was quite high.

Glass was already quite cheap in the Runan Commandery area. Even moderately wealthy households could afford glass products. But outside Runan Commandery, these items were still very expensive.

This was the case even in Yu Province—needless to say beyond Yu Province.

Last time, the glass Zhu Chuan had brought back hadn’t even circulated throughout Shu before he had sold it all at astronomical prices.

This profit margin stimulated him to come to Runan Commandery again. Of course, there was also the fact that in Shu he’d heard how Zhao Hanzhang had risen from county magistrate to commandery administrator, then leaped to become master of Yu Province. He very much wanted to come see for himself and confirm it.

Shu currently remained outside of the great Jin’s conflicts, but it wasn’t actually stable either. For the various families to seek development, they needed to pay attention on multiple fronts.

Moreover, they couldn’t focus only on Shu. The outside world still needed to be observed.

But while looking toward the future, the present also required attention. So he was very interested in the glass formula Fu Tinghan had mentioned.

If Shu had a glass workshop, wouldn’t his Zhu family be able to earn tremendous profits?

The three most important things currently were grain, troops, and money.

And with money, grain and troops would come naturally.

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t interfere with their negotiations. She wiped her hands with the cloth and looked down with a smile. If Zhu Chuan thought he could gain the advantage from Fu Tinghan, that wouldn’t be easy.