Seeing the two were evenly matched for the moment, Zhao Hanzhang called out to stop them. Zhao Erlang and Beigong Tuanyuan tacitly each gave the other a kick, colliding before leaping down and landing together.
Zhao Erlang curiously looked over Beigong Tuanyuan. “Sister, who is she?”
Zhao Hanzhang smiled. “This is General Beigong’s beloved daughter, Beigong Tuanyuan. She’s very capable—she has merit in suppressing bandits and is now a colonel in the army.”
Zhao Erlang’s eyes brightened. “Come to my army and I can make you an assistant commander.”
Beigong Tuanyuan’s gaze flickered. “Truly?”
Zhao Erlang nodded. “Your martial arts are good, and you’re General Beigong’s daughter. Your horsemanship must be excellent too. If we fight the Tibetans and Western Qiang, you’ll be very useful.”
“Will you still employ me after I marry?”
Zhao Erlang: “Will you resign after marriage?”
Beigong Tuanyuan shook her head. “I don’t want to resign.”
Zhao Erlang: “Then unless you’re with child, you must obey military orders.”
Beigong Tuanyuan looked anxiously at Zhao Hanzhang. “Your Majesty, may this humble subject continue to serve in the military?”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded with a smile. “Of course. Although there aren’t as many female soldiers in the army as male soldiers, the total number is still considerable. They can advance just like male soldiers.”
Beigong Tuanyuan breathed a great sigh of relief. She wasn’t so resistant to this marriage anymore, and looking at Zhao Erlang again, found him much more pleasing to the eye.
Only Zhao Erlang remained completely unaware. Having finished their fight, he remembered what he came to ask about. He pulled out the telegram from his chest and gave it to Zhao Hanzhang. “Sister, look at the telegram. What does Teacher mean? Did Zhao Cai and the others misunderstand Teacher and actually want me to match-make with Teacher-Aunt?”
Zhao Hanzhang took the telegram and scanned it rapidly, her expression somewhat strange. “Teacher-Aunt?”
“Yes, Teacher’s younger sister—isn’t she Teacher-Aunt?”
Zhao Hanzhang put away the telegram with a smile. “That’s not exactly wrong. Where have you settled the guests?”
“At home. Steward Cheng is hosting them.”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “Then you should continue staying in the palace for now. Tuanyuan and Miss Xie are both visiting Luoyang for the first time. You can take them around to see the sights. Tomorrow, have Miss Xie enter the palace so I can examine her. If she’s truly as talented as Xie Shi says, she could even enter the Imperial Academy.”
Zhao Erlang happily agreed. Only then did he turn to speak with Beigong Tuanyuan. “Where do you want to go? There’s nowhere in Luoyang I’m not familiar with.”
Beigong Tuanyuan glanced at her mother before saying: “We didn’t fight to satisfaction today. Does Luoyang have a horse field? We could go to the horse field, take up spears, and have another match.”
“You’re skilled with spears too?” Zhao Erlang grew excited. “Great! Luoyang has a horse field, but that’s too far. There’s very spacious grassland by the Luo River. We can duel there.”
Zhao Hanzhang’s heart stirred. “Good idea—I’ll come with you.”
Madam Wang quickly advised: “You’re the Emperor. How can you always be running out of the palace?”
“Mother, the Emperor needs to see the common people outside often, know their difficulties to help solve their problems. Staying in the palace all the time—wouldn’t that make one deaf and blind?”
“You have all the officials. They’ll look and listen for you. Where’s the need for you to go yourself? What if you encounter assassins?”
Zhao Erlang patted his chest. “Mother, don’t worry. I’m here—no assassin could get close.”
Then he felt something was wrong. “No wait, Sister’s martial arts are even better than mine.”
Madam Wang: “Can a daughter of a noble house not sit under a dangerous wall? Are you going to compete in martial arts with a bunch of assassins?”
Zhao Hanzhang immediately said: “Mother, Tinghan hasn’t returned to the palace in two days. I want to go see him too.”
Madam Wang paused, then stopped objecting, though she complained a bit: “Why do you always give him difficult problems? What kind of government business requires the Imperial Consort to handle personally? Last time I saw him, he had dark circles under his eyes. When I asked, I learned he only sleeps two hours a day. How can his body endure if this continues?”
Zhao Hanzhang wanted to say she’d also been so busy recently that she only slept two hours, but she didn’t dare.
Since they were going to the Luo River bank, they might as well bring Xie Xiangrong along. She was quite interested in this Miss Xie too.
Father Xie and Mother Xie naturally wanted to follow. Zeng Yue flatly refused at first, but thought better of it and went to ask Ting He.
Ting He went to ask Zhao Hanzhang.
After thinking it over, Zhao Hanzhang said: “Let them come along. Let them see what the young women of the outside world are like.”
Ting He smiled and agreed.
Zhao Hanzhang often left the palace, and Luoyang’s citizens were used to it. They wouldn’t clear the streets—Zeng Yue would just have people guard the sides, set up defenses in advance on both sides of the road, and place many plainclothes guards. The procession would pass through the streets very quickly.
Father Xie and Mother Xie sat in their carriage, which followed at the rear of the procession. They lifted the curtain to look at both sides. Apart from a scattered few who knelt and kowtowed, the rest all stood bowing on both sides, their gazes following the carriage ahead.
Father Xie wondered: “When the Imperial Carriage passes, how can the common people not kneel?”
Xie Xiangrong said: “Because His Majesty pities the people and often leaves the palace to investigate their conditions, she specially permits the people to see the Emperor without kneeling.”
In fact, because people didn’t kneel when seeing the Emperor, now commoners going to government offices to see officials didn’t need to kneel either. The new laws had also eliminated caning and exile punishments for subordinates accusing superiors and wives accusing husbands.
Mother Xie frowned at her. “Where did you learn this from again? Did you sneak off to the academy to attend classes when we weren’t watching?”
Xie Xiangrong replied gently: “Mother, these things are all written in the gazette. Father is an academy teacher and receives a gazette every day.”
Father Xie caught on and nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, it’s written in the gazette. I said it sounded vaguely familiar but couldn’t remember. Getting old—my memory isn’t so good.”
Mother Xie said nothing more.
The conversation of this family of three was quickly relayed to Madam Wang’s carriage ahead. She frowned. “These Xie couple are far inferior to Lady Beigong.”
Qinggu smiled as she poured tea for her. The teapot sat on a stove with a fixed iron ring—not only was the stove secured, but the teapot was as well.
Madam Wang muttered quietly: “Miss Xie wants to go to the academy to attend classes—clearly she’s an eager student. Yet her mother blocks her from going. If Erlang had this kind of motivation, I could laugh in my sleep.”
Qinggu smiled. “Perhaps it’s because Miss Xie is female.”
“What’s wrong with being female? We have Sanniang who’s female, and she’s the Emperor now!”
“Yes, yes. Madam is also female and now the Empress Dowager.”
Madam Wang instantly smiled until her eyes disappeared. Even after half a year, she still remained immersed in this joy, unable to extricate herself.
After coaxing Madam Wang into good humor, Qinggu lifted the curtain and instructed the palace attendants: “Select a few clever ones to attend to the Xie couple. Tell them more about Minister Fan and Minister Chen.”
The palace attendants acknowledged the order.
Madam Wang hummed. “We should teach them properly.”
Through the lifted curtain, she saw Erlang and Beigong Tuanyuan riding horses behind Zhao Hanzhang. The two didn’t know what they were discussing, but both wore smiles and looked excited.
Madam Wang felt delighted and whispered to Qinggu: “I think this time it will likely work out.”
She’d been hoping for Zhao Erlang to marry for so many years. Yet one by one, they all showed no urgency—she looked very anxious instead.
Previously, there were Zhao Ming and others helping to urge him, but since Sanniang ascended the throne, Zhao Ming and the rest stopped pressing Erlang. Looking at their attitude, it seemed whether Erlang married or not made no difference.
“After Dalang’s mourning period ends, I hear he’s also discussing marriage. Our Erlang must have the eldest son of the primary branch before Dalang, so he can more naturally succeed as clan head.”
Qinggu couldn’t help but exclaim: “Madam, how are you still thinking about this?”
“I can remember this for a lifetime.” Madam Wang said: “The title of Marquis of Shangcai no longer needs to be fought over, but there’s only one position of clan head, and it must go to someone from our primary branch.”