Zhao Ming stared at her retreating figure for a long time without coming back to himself.

Changqing stepped forward to put away the documents. Just as he was about to stand, he noticed his master’s palm gripping too tightly and said with alarm, “Sir?”

Only then did Zhao Ming come to his senses. He lowered his eyes to look at the cup in his hand and slightly loosened his grip.

Changqing quickly stepped forward to check. “Are you injured?”

Zhao Ming waved his sleeve dismissively, clasping his hands together. “I’m fine.”

Changqing was very puzzled. “Sir, why are you so disturbed?”

He had been standing nearby listening just now. There had been nothing problematic in the conversation with the young mistress.

Zhao Ming didn’t answer. He stood up and said, “Send out the approved official documents.”

With that, he turned to leave, but before going far, he spotted his father.

Zhao Ming turned to go the other way, but Zhao Song had already seen him and called out, “Zinian.”

Zhao Ming had no choice but to turn around and approach him, bowing. “Father.”

Zhao Song’s brows were tightly furrowed. “Why are you avoiding me? Where’s Hanzhang? Last night I was interrupted by your Seventh Uncle and the others and didn’t get to discuss the new currency matter clearly with her.”

Zhao Ming said, “Seventh Uncle and Sanniang have exchanged a large batch of new currency. As far as I know, he also plans to transport the new currency to the south for use. Now that the currency has already been minted, even if you want to stop it, Father, you can’t. Why discuss it further?”

Zhao Song: …

Zhao Ming looked at his stunned father and sighed quietly. “Father, don’t bother with this matter anymore. Just let them handle it themselves.”

Zhao Song frowned as he looked at him. “What’s wrong with you?”

Zhao Ming paused, pressed his lips together and said, “Nothing, just some matters I haven’t thought through clearly. Once I think them through, I’ll be fine.”

Zhao Song perked up and asked curiously, “What matters haven’t you thought through? Tell me about them. Perhaps I can help you find answers.”

Zhao Ming glanced at his somewhat inexplicably excited father and simply asked directly, “Father, which is more important—loyalty or filial piety?”

Zhao Song opened his mouth but couldn’t produce an answer.

Zhao Ming asked again, “Speaking of loyalty, is it loyalty to one’s sovereign, loyalty to one’s country, or loyalty to the people? As for filial piety, is it filial piety to one’s parents, filial piety to the entire clan, or filial piety to one’s ancestors?”

Now Zhao Song was certain—this son was born specifically to make things difficult for him.

He turned left and right but couldn’t find anything suitable at hand, so he shouted loudly, “Shanmin, Shanmin, where’s my ruler? Bring me my ruler.”

Zhao Ming immediately raised his hand and quickly bowed. “Your son will take his leave first.”

He turned and strode away.

This angered Zhao Song so much he picked up a rock from the flower bed to throw at him, but when he raised his hand, he found the rock was too large—as big as a fist—so he put it down again.

But this didn’t prevent him from punishing his son. He said to the steward who came running up, “Shanmin, go confiscate all his wine. Don’t let him drink wine for the next few days.”

Shanmin immediately agreed, then pacified the old master and escorted him back. However, he only dared to touch the wine in the storeroom, not daring to enter Zhao Ming’s room or study.

But Zhao Ming’s mood had improved considerably. He set aside Zhao Hanzhang’s “world” and focused his thoughts on the current corvée labor difficulties.

The orders Zhao Hanzhang had signed were sent down to each commandery and county. Each followed the plan to conscript corvée labor. Though the common people felt anxious, they still complied.

Serving corvée was a very hard thing—working from sunrise to sunset, all doing physically demanding tasks like digging mud and transporting soil. Many people felt in their hearts that their days had returned to the past.

Whenever they felt they could finally settle down, something unexpected would always happen—whether from external sources or internal ones.

The impoverished common people didn’t yet think about deeper underlying causes, but they had their own wisdom and had already summarized patterns.

No matter how well the generals and high officials who recruited and governed them spoke at the beginning, quite a portion of them would eventually change.

And some generals and officials were harsh from the very beginning, becoming harsher year after year. By the time they could no longer bear the heavy pressure, they would either die of exhaustion like old oxen, or abandon what property they had and continue being refugees.

This was very much a matter of luck.

Before the corvée conscription order came down, they had still been full of happiness, feeling their luck was quite good to be able to settle in Yuzhou. But now, a layer of gloom seemed to cover their hearts.

However, they soon became more optimistic.

“It’s still better than being bad from the start,” Old Man Chen squatted in front of his house, saying to his two sons. “This year the Governor reduced many taxes. I heard that over in Yanzhou, not only do they have to serve corvée, they also have to pay additional taxes. Life there is much harder than ours.”

But his two sons were very worried. Their neighbor was also worried, asking, “Uncle Chen, do you think our Governor will also raise taxes in the future?”

Old Man Chen was silent for a moment, then said, “Even if she does, it probably won’t be as harsh as before. Right now we’re only paying half taxes. She’d have to make us pay the full amount first before raising them, right?”

Just as they were talking, there was commotion at the village entrance. Everyone quickly stood up and walked a couple steps in that direction, standing on tiptoe to look. “What’s happening? What’s happening?”

A half-grown youth came running over, excitedly shouting, “The Governor’s here! The Governor’s here!”

Including Old Man Chen, everyone’s eyes lit up as they immediately rushed toward the village entrance.

Zhao Hanzhang wore short hemp clothing, the gray-blue garment still stained with some mud. If she hadn’t been on horseback, and if the people of Chen County weren’t fairly familiar with her, they probably wouldn’t have recognized her as the Governor.

Zhao Hanzhang dismounted and stepped onto the grass, scraping her feet to remove the mud clumps still stuck to her soles. She asked the village head who came forward, “It’s going to rain tonight. Are there any extra rooms available?”

Extra rooms naturally weren’t available, but families could squeeze together—two families sharing space to free up rooms for them.

Zhao Hanzhang thanked them, smiled and greeted the villagers, then was escorted by the crowd to the village head’s home along with Fu Tinghan and the others.

Unable to squeeze in, Old Man Chen could only stand on tiptoe trying to see. Before long, his son squeezed back excitedly, saying, “Father, I just saw the Governor. I was right in front of her, and she smiled at me.”

Old Man Chen was both envious and jealous, grabbing him to ask, “Did the Governor say why she came?”

“Turns out today the Governor was digging mud together with us, also digging river mud. But then it rained, and there’s going to be heavy rain tomorrow, so work was temporarily suspended. They thought returning to the city would waste too much time, so they’re staying in our village.”

Old Man Chen was stunned. “The Governor really dug mud together with us?”

“How could it be false? Look how thick the mud is on her shoe soles. You can tell she just came up from the river channel.”

A student moved over a small table and placed it on the sitting mat. Fu Tinghan took out maps and spread them open. The group all frowned while looking at the maps. “This won’t work. We need to optimize the labor force. Today’s management was too chaotic. Charging in like a swarm of bees is doing twice the work for half the result. We don’t have much time. By September we still need to plant winter wheat.”

Zhao Hanzhang also nodded. “You create the data. Have the students draw out all the ditches and channels, then have people work in sections. Connecting them this way will be faster.”

A young student asked in a small voice, “Draw on the ground?”

Zhao Hanzhang turned to look at him, smiled and said, “Yes, draw on the ground. Use lime to draw. It’s very fast. Then you tell the laborers the depth and width requirements and have them work according to those specifications.”

The students selected to participate in the construction bowed and responded, “Yes.”

—