Shi Le arrived in Luoyang three days after Zhao Erlang. Coincidentally, Liu Kun arrived the same day.

Unlike Liu Kun, who brought his entire household—his mother, wives, concubines, and children—Shi Le only brought Wei Jie and his trusted adviser Zhang Bin.

This time the Ministry of Rites officials didn’t make a wasted trip, because both men strictly followed the procedures for provincial governors returning to the capital, sending people into the capital ahead of time to submit their documents when they reached the post station outside the capital suburbs.

Shi Le and Liu Kun weren’t acquainted, but had long heard of each other’s reputations. Liu Kun admired his military abilities, while Shi Le respected his loyalty and righteousness. Both were fond of wine, so upon meeting, they agreed to drink together that evening.

After arranging a time with Shi Le, Liu Kun looked at Wei Jie with keen eyes.

Indeed, a radiant gentleman—just standing there made one’s heart surrender in admiration.

Liu Kun hurried forward to invite him for drinks.

Wei Jie politely declined and took his leave from Shi Le. He had a residence and relatives in Luoyang, so wouldn’t crowd into the post station with them.

Liu Kun and Shi Le also had houses, but with no one to manage them, they had to stay at the post station first.

Shi Le naturally didn’t like his subordinate officials getting too close to governors from other provinces, even though Liu Kun had already been transferred to the position of Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Hospitality.

After returning to settle in at the post station, Shi Le kept Zhang Bin behind to talk. “Sir, did you see the young lady beside Old Madam Liu?”

Zhang Bin couldn’t determine his meaning for a moment. “Does the general mean… to take a new wife?”

Shi Le: “…I’m not that unwise as to be a generation below Liu Kun.”

Zhang Bin breathed a sigh of relief. Jumping out of that constraint, his mind suddenly cleared. “Does the general suspect Liu Kun wants to form a marriage alliance with His Majesty?”

Shi Le: “All the world knows that the Emperor and the Prince of Qin have a deep sibling bond. He’s of age now and will certainly marry. Liu Kun is a renowned scholar with a reputation for loyalty and righteousness. I took several good looks just now—his daughter isn’t bad-looking either.”

Reaching this point, Shi Le showed some regret. “It’s a pity I don’t have a daughter, otherwise I would compete too.”

Zhang Bin: “…”

Madam Wang had met Old Madam Liu and Liu Jianjia and also thought Liu Jianjia was good. She specially called Zhao Erlang over and had him take Liu Jianjia to play in the garden.

Zhao Erlang obediently led Liu Jianjia around half the garden. Seeing she couldn’t walk anymore, he had palace maids take her back while he secretly ran off.

Too terrible—listening to his mother chat with people was even worse than going to the front hall to listen to his sister chat with people.

Zhao Hanzhang brought Liu Kun and Shi Le together to Luoyang to win over and pacify the tribal states around Hua Kingdom—the Qiang and Hu in the north, the various tribal states of the Western Regions, Shu-Cheng in the west, Tibet, the various tribes in the south, and the Duan clan Xianbei in the northeast.

Shi Le was of the Jie tribe. She hoped he could represent the Jie and other Hu tribes in participating in policy formulation. Of course, she wouldn’t only seek his opinion.

She had also written letters to Zhang Gui in Western Liang and Li Xiong in Cheng Kingdom.

Liu Kun was good at making friends. He proposed treating them equally, which coincidentally aligned with Zhao Hanzhang’s thinking and was one of the reasons she employed him as Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Hospitality.

Because of this attitude, minority officials in the court all had good impressions of him, not to mention officials from the various tribal states.

What was wonderful was that Han Chinese officials also had very good impressions of Liu Kun, and consequently were much more tolerant of this policy.

Personal charisma was just that marvelous.

Previously, when Zhao Hanzhang insisted on equality among all ethnic groups, the hundred officials didn’t openly oppose it, but privately made many suggestions to tilt land distribution, taxation, and recruitment examinations to suppress the development of various minorities.

Now, after Liu Kun also proposed this, officials who once had objections surprisingly submitted quite easily, making even Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but admire him.

Thus she had two more points of expectation for his daughter Liu Jianjia. After finishing policy discussions with them, she went to the rear palace for a stroll and successfully struck up a conversation with Liu Jianjia.

Liu Jianjia was a very gentle girl who spoke softly. Through Zhao Hanzhang’s questions and examination, she was a gentle and virtuous good young lady.

So Zhao Hanzhang excluded her.

Madam Wang’s heart rate shot up. “She’s the most gentle and virtuous of the several young ladies. How can you reject her instead?”

“It’s precisely because she’s gentle and virtuous that she won’t do.” Zhao Hanzhang said: “Erlang doesn’t need a gentle and virtuous wife. Look at her character—she’s compliant and listens to her grandmother and father in everything. In the future when she marries into our family, she’ll listen to Erlang and Liu Kun in everything.”

“What ideas could Erlang possibly have? We’re finding him a wife precisely because he has no ideas, so we need someone with ideas to manage him.”

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t need to say the rest—Madam Wang also understood.

Zhao Erlang had no ideas, so who would really be in charge of their household—Liu Jianjia or her father Liu Kun?

Madam Wang became troubled. “You want to find someone with ideas who will also be good to Erlang, but where can you find such a person?”

“I don’t need her to be particularly good to Erlang. She just needs to have ideas, be good to herself, and want to live a good life,” Zhao Hanzhang was quite lenient and open-minded on this point. “Mother, young ladies have somewhat harder lives than men, so they value their own small household more. I only need her to love herself a bit more and have a possessive desire for her own domain. As long as I ensure she’s intelligent and capable, she’ll naturally be good to Erlang.”

Because she’s intelligent, she’ll weigh options. Because she loves herself and her small household, she’ll want to live a good life and will be good to Zhao Erlang.

“Feelings are mutual, with give and take. If everyone starts off harmoniously, feelings will naturally develop. Although Erlang is simple and straightforward, he has a pure heart. I believe that as long as we find the right person, they’ll definitely live a good life together. So she doesn’t need to be particularly virtuous or particularly gentle.”

Madam Wang was persuaded and nodded repeatedly.

Only then did Zhao Hanzhang mention: “Yesterday I received a letter from Xie Shi. He’s acting as matchmaker for me.”

Madam Wang still had a good impression of Xie Shi. After all, he was the only teacher who taught Erlang for many years without being driven away in anger.

Back then, Zhao Hanzhang had selected two teachers for Zhao Erlang at once—one was Wang Nie, the other Xie Shi.

In the end, only Xie Shi stayed with Zhao Erlang. Just thinking about it made Madam Wang feel sorry for him. Even now, whenever she tried to teach Zhao Erlang to read, she would become irritable in less than a quarter-hour, yet he had persisted for so many years.

Madam Wang asked seriously: “Who is it?”

“His cousin.”

Upon hearing this, Madam Wang was already thirty percent willing.

Looking at this, Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but remain silent. Her mother’s recent state was that as long as it was a female, she was willing and thought them suitable.

Zhao Hanzhang’s voice softened by two degrees. “This cousin of his is also very virtuous.”

Madam Wang was puzzled. “Didn’t you say virtuous ones won’t work?”

“Virtuous and virtuous are also different.”

Xie Shi’s cousin was named Xie Xiangrong. She was famous in both Langya and Yangxia for being virtuous, reportedly with many suitors coming to propose.

This was the surface information.

Since it was to arrange a match for Zhao Erlang, Xie Shi naturally explained Xie Xiangrong’s situation in great detail and stated why he thought this marriage was suitable.

This cousin of his was more than ten years younger than him. Originally named Xie Xinxin, when she was five years old, seeing her mother grieving over not being able to give birth to a younger brother, she directly changed her name to the one originally reserved for her brother, then dressed in men’s clothing and went to school in place of her non-existent brother.

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