Recently, it was heard that several tribes from Jiaozhou had taken an interest in Guiyang Jun and Ancheng Jun, which were under Hua Yi’s administration, constantly clashing with him and attempting to seize the two commanderies.

Yuan Li suspected this was Wang Dun’s stratagem. He likely wanted to subdue Jiangzhou while Zhao Hanzhang had no intention of waging war, thereby expanding the territory of the Prince of Langya, which was why he had also run off to Jiangzhou.

Zhao Hanzhang told him to act at his own discretion. If he could persuade Hua Yi to submit to her, that would be best. If not, they should prioritize forming an alliance.

However, the territory currently occupied by Wang Siniang absolutely could not be returned to Jiangzhou—this was the bottom line. As for other forms of support, they could appropriately relax the conditions, as long as he could deal with Wang Dun.

If Hua Yi was willing to submit to her, then she could connect Jingzhou and Jiangzhou into one continuous territory. While maintaining peace between north and south, she could simultaneously encroach upon Jiaozhou and Guangzhou on one side while drawing the attention of the Wang Dun brothers on the other.

All these matters required Yuan Li to accomplish. Wang Siniang, Wang Xuan, and Hua Yi all needed him to establish and maintain connections.

With Yuan Li’s strategic mind, he certainly wouldn’t let them suffer losses.

On this point, Zhao Hanzhang had great confidence.

When the large army approached Luoyang, naturally someone would run ahead to report. Otherwise, if troops rashly approached the capital, they would likely be stopped by the Zhao Family Army outside the city as enemy forces before even catching sight of Luoyang’s gates.

Therefore, after the midday rest, just as Zhao Hanzhang was about to enter the palace, she heard that Fu Tinghan had returned. She immediately turned on her heel and headed toward the city gate.

The large army remained outside the city. Only a hundred personal guards escorted Fu Tinghan into the city. Zhao Hanzhang stood at the city gate to welcome him. As soon as he lifted the curtain, Zhao Hanzhang broke into a brilliant smile.

Fu Tinghan couldn’t help but smile as well. He rose and emerged from the carriage. The driver quickly pulled the carriage to a halt, jumped down to place the footstool, but before he could even finish placing it, Fu Tinghan had already stepped on the stool and descended.

Fu An behind him tried several times to get past him and descend first but couldn’t. In the end, he could only crouch there, silently watching his young master step down from the carriage and quickly walk toward Zhao Hanzhang, his pace so swift he almost wanted to break into a run.

Zhao Hanzhang also quickened her steps. In broad daylight, surrounded by people, the two of them restrained themselves and stopped, facing each other. “Was the journey smooth?”

Fu Tinghan nodded. “Very smooth. I had them send all the carts to the military camp for safekeeping and temporarily store them in the warehouse.”

Zhao Hanzhang replied, “That’s good. There are many people in the city with loose lips; it’s not good to reveal these things at this time.”

Zhao Hanzhang had already discreetly looked him over. He had darkened a bit, but because he was naturally fair-skinned, being a bit darker only made him wheat-toned, which looked very healthy.

Most importantly, he had become lean and fit, and appeared even more spirited than before.

Zhao Hanzhang turned sideways and said, “Let’s ride horses back together. You can also see the changes in Luoyang. Oh, and my mother has arrived in Luoyang and is waiting for you at home right now.”

Fu Tinghan replied, “You told me about that.”

The two of them communicated by telegram almost daily. She had told him the day after Wang Shi arrived.

“Oh, I’m just reminding you again, in case you’re nervous.”

Fu Tinghan hadn’t been nervous at all, but with her saying this, he actually became nervous.

Fu Tinghan carefully reviewed his recent behavior and didn’t feel he had done anything wrong that would anger his future mother-in-law. So he asked anxiously, “Is it because I’m not in Luoyang and haven’t sent greetings in a long time, so Madam Wang is angry?”

“No, you’ll know when you see her.”

How could Wang Shi be angry with Fu Tinghan?

She didn’t know much, but she did know that Fu Tinghan had helped Zhao Hanzhang tremendously.

Moreover, honestly speaking, with such family background and such talent, able to help Sanniang wholeheartedly without distraction and truly cherishing her—only Fu Tinghan was like this.

Other men, if you truly asked them to remain subordinate to Sanniang, no matter how nicely they spoke before success, most would have regrets afterward.

Wang Shi had no regard for men with such character.

Therefore, she was like a mother-in-law viewing her son-in-law—the more she looked, the more satisfied she became.

As soon as she heard Fu Tinghan had returned, she immediately had the kitchen heat water and slaughter sheep and chickens. The preparations surpassed what she had initially prepared for Zhao Hanzhang’s evening meal.

As soon as Fu Tinghan entered the main gate, he saw Wang Shi. He glanced at Zhao Hanzhang, then quickly stepped forward to pay his respects.

Wang Shi looked at him with a face full of gratification, saying repeatedly, “It’s good that you’re back, it’s good that you’re back. Look how thin you’ve become, and tanned too. It must have been very hard out there, wasn’t it?”

Fu Tinghan replied, “It wasn’t hard…”

“You don’t need to hide it. You’ve become this thin—how could it not have been hard?” Wang Shi glared at Zhao Hanzhang. “What task was so important that you had to send Tinghan to do it? You have so many people under your command.”

Then turning back to Fu Tinghan, her face was all smiles again. “The kitchen has heated the water. I’ll have the servants send it to you. The kitchen has just slaughtered a lamb and put it on to stew. After you wash up, you can have your meal.”

Fu Tinghan was somewhat overwhelmed by such enthusiasm. He quickly agreed, forgetting to bid Zhao Hanzhang farewell before hurrying off with Fu An.

He was still staying in his original courtyard, not very far from Zhao Hanzhang’s courtyard.

The servants had already brought hot water and were pouring it, with cold water on the side for him to mix.

Fu Tinghan glanced at it and said, “I’ll do it myself. You may go.”

Fu An had already found the cloth towels, bath beans, and comb. “Young master, let me help you wash your hair.”

Fu Tinghan hesitated, then remembered, “Where is my luggage?”

Fu An suddenly remembered, quickly putting down the items. “It’s still outside. I’ll have someone bring it in.”

Fu Tinghan nodded. “We have an elder here today. Find a set of bright, fresh clothes.”

Fu An agreed and quickly went to have the luggage brought in.

Fu Tinghan went to the inner room, removed his outer garments and hung them on the screen, standing there in just his inner garments and undergarments. He poured some water into the wooden basin, rolled up his sleeves and was about to wash his hair when he remembered he hadn’t brought in the cloth for drying his hair. He quickly went out to find it.

Zhao Hanzhang entered carrying a plate of snacks. “My mother said to have you eat some snacks first to tide you over before washing, don’t…”

Fu Tinghan quickly pulled his inner garment tighter, somewhat uncomfortable as he said, “Just put it down. I ate dry rations in the carriage, so I’m actually not hungry.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s gaze slid over his arms as she raised her eyebrows and asked, “Did you work at the salt field? How did you even develop muscles?”

Fu Tinghan’s arm muscles had smooth lines and clearly showed strength. He hadn’t developed such solid muscles from practicing swordplay with her and exercising before.

Fu Tinghan looked down at himself and said, “I pushed salt at the seaside. Every day I had to push quite a lot of salt…”

Although he went to conduct experiments, after recording the data, everyone was busy working, so naturally he couldn’t just rest. He worked alongside everyone pushing salt, stirring, and filtering…

If Zhao Hanzhang hadn’t mentioned it, he wouldn’t have noticed. Indeed, his strength had increased recently, and his appetite had grown too, so he really hadn’t realized he’d lost weight.

Zhao Hanzhang had already looked him over from head to toe, saying thoughtfully, “Then you can change to a different exercise routine. You couldn’t draw a one-and-a-half-stone bow before—you can try again this time.”

“And mounted combat can also be practiced,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “Although we don’t need you on the battlefield, practicing and gaining more ability to protect yourself is never wrong.”

—