“My grandfather hired Imperial Physician Chen for me, and I think his prescribed medicine is quite good. However, talking is still important. So I’d like to invite Young Master Fu to visit our home. My younger brother isn’t particularly outstanding at other things, but he’s extremely talkative—cheerful and lively. When the time comes, I’ll have him talk with Young Master Fu, walk around and play together. Perhaps he’ll remember things from the past.”

Zhao Hanzhang spoke with complete seriousness, making things up as she went. “The reason I was able to remember my past memories so quickly was because of my younger brother. After I saw him, my memories gradually returned.”

Wang Fourth Miss listened in complete astonishment. You recovered your memory after seeing your brother because he’s YOUR brother!

Fu Changrong and your brother aren’t even close—no wait, they’re so different in age, do they even know each other?

Wait, that’s not right either. Wang Fourth Miss’s eyes widened. “You lost your memory? Then how do you still remember me?”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “Because of Erlang, I recovered some memories, and I just happened to remember Fourth Miss.”

Wang Fourth Miss looked skeptical. Wang Xuan was smiling on the surface, but behind his back, he poked his sister unceremoniously, telling her to talk less when she had nothing useful to say.

Fu Zhi didn’t know whether to believe it or not, but he nodded with a face full of smiles. “Good, good. Then I’ll personally bring Dalang over tomorrow.”

He also needed to have another talk with his old friend about this marriage alliance.

Fu Zhi personally escorted them to the gate with a face full of smiles, watching them leave before turning back to look at his grandson. Seeing that he was still gazing in the direction of the Zhao family carriage, he couldn’t help but smile. “Feeling better now?”

Fu Tinghan withdrew his gaze and looked at Fu Zhi. After a pause, he imitated Fu Changrong’s movements from memory, bowing in greeting, then stepped back two paces and was about to turn to leave.

“Wait,” Fu Zhi called out to him, staring into his eyes. “I assume you already know that our family intends to form a marriage alliance with the Zhao family. I haven’t had a chance to ask if you’re willing. If you’re unwilling, Erlang…”

Fu Tinghan frowned and nodded to Fu Zhi.

Fu Zhi felt somewhat disappointed. “Can’t you speak with your grandfather? The steward told me you talked with Zhao Sanniang for quite a while today.”

Fu Tinghan pressed his lips together. It wasn’t that he couldn’t speak—he was afraid that the moment he spoke, you’d suspect I wasn’t your grandson. Then what should I do—admit it or deny it?

Seeing that Fu Changrong pressed his lips together and remained silent, Fu Zhi sighed. “Very well. When you’re ready, you can speak. You still have injuries. Go back and rest. Tomorrow, get up early—I’ll take you to the Zhao residence.”

He paused and added, “We’ll go early. The Zhao household will likely have some commotion tomorrow. You should stay with Zhao… Zhao Erlang and just play with him. Don’t go to the front courtyard.”

Fu Tinghan raised his eyebrows, nodded to show he understood, and still didn’t speak.

Fu Zhi watched him walk away and sighed. “Is this child resenting me?”

The steward quickly consoled him, “Young Master has always been filial. How could he resent you, Master?”

Fu Tinghan found his way back to his courtyard and sat on the couch in a daze.

The book boy saw that he wasn’t sitting cross-legged but instead letting his legs dangle, and quickly brought a small stool for him to rest his feet on.

Fu Tinghan looked down at it, arranged his robe properly. After more than ten days, he still hadn’t been able to adapt to the lifestyle here, but Teacher Zhao seemed to have adapted very well.

Then again, she had always been like this. No matter how great the difficulty, she could quickly adapt.

Even when the car accident caused her blindness, she only felt dejected for a very short time before pulling herself together, then becoming more diligent, harder working, and more resilient and capable than before.

Thinking of her blindness, Fu Tinghan’s ears turned bright red. He knew that because of her blindness, her hearing had always been very acute. He just didn’t know if this trait had carried over when she changed bodies. She probably… didn’t hear it, right?

Fu Tinghan thought somewhat self-deceptively—after all, he had spoken very quietly at the time.

Sitting in the carriage, Zhao Hanzhang was also wondering: Could it be that Professor Fu knew me before? Or did he hear about it from someone during the arranged meeting?

But that tone didn’t seem like it either.

Zhao Hanzhang tried hard to think but couldn’t remember whether she had known Professor Fu before. Could it be that they met after I went blind?

What a pity—he’s so handsome, and I never got to see him.

However, if she looked like Zhao Sanniang at age fourteen, then Professor Fu when he was young should look similar to Fu Changrong, right?

Zhao Hanzhang came back to herself and suddenly found herself face to face with someone. Startled, she fell backward but managed to catch herself with her hands just in time.

Seeing it was Wang Fourth Miss, Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but pat her chest. “What are you doing?”

“What are YOU doing? I’ve been talking to you the entire ride, and you haven’t acknowledged me once. Tell me, who were you just thinking about? Was it Young Master Fu?”

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t deny it. “Yes.”

Wang Fourth Miss looked puzzled. “What’s so good about him? He’s just a bit paler and more handsome. He doesn’t even say a single word, and he injured his head—who knows what his character is like. How can he compare to my brother?”

Zhao Hanzhang asked, “Do you want me to be your sister-in-law that badly?”

Wang Fourth Miss glanced outside, saw her brother riding a horse in front, and leaned close to Zhao Hanzhang’s ear to whisper, “My father wants to seek a marriage for brother with the daughter of the Prince of Donghai.”

Zhao Hanzhang raised her eyebrows. “One emperor, one court of ministers. Your father’s considerations aren’t wrong. With the new emperor’s ascension and the Prince of Donghai wielding great power, among the remaining princes, few can rival the Prince of Donghai.”

But they forgot that beyond the Great Jin, there were the Xiongnu, and countless refugees. The Great Jin was beset by troubles both internal and external. Unless all these parasites above died off, revival would be very difficult.

The Prince of Donghai’s power wouldn’t last long either.

Wang Fourth Miss slumped her shoulders. “Even you say so. I just feel so unfair for my brother. Someone of my brother’s caliber deserves only someone like you.”

Fu Zhi was also telling his steward, “I’d only heard before that Zhao Changyu’s granddaughter was intelligent, resilient, and virtuous. Today, upon meeting her, I didn’t see much virtue, but she is indeed very intelligent and resilient, and quite bold. If we could win her as the mistress of our household, the Fu family wouldn’t need to worry for three generations.”

The steward immediately said, “Master has excellent judgment. This servant saw that Young Master was also very pleased. We were quite far away at the time, so this servant couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they seemed to be conversing very happily and stood quite close to each other.”

Fu Zhi was somewhat puzzled. “Were they very familiar before? Dalang went to Chang’an five years ago. He was only just over ten then, and Zhao Sanniang was only nine. They shouldn’t have had a very deep personal relationship.”

“Perhaps it was love at first sight,” the steward said with a beaming smile. “When Zhao Sanniang and Young Master first met, their gazes fixed on each other’s faces and didn’t move. Master, if you had been there, you would have known how taken they were with each other.”

Fu Zhi stroked his beard, thinking that tomorrow’s mission would very likely succeed. He quickly said to the steward, “Go open the treasury and prepare generous gifts. Select more valuable items like gold and silver ornaments for Zhao Sanniang. And,” he gritted his teeth, “find ‘The Lecture Diagram’ and put it in a fine box to bring tomorrow.”

That was a painting from the Han dynasty that Fu Zhi treasured greatly.

The steward understood and bowed in acknowledgment.

—