County office matters had Changning, who in turn had Song Zhi and Gengrong assisting. The Charity Hall had Chen Siniang. Now the work-relief weaving workshop had gained Fan Ying. The military had Zhao Ju. Zhao Hanzhang plunged headfirst into researching the spinning wheel.

And truly, this was interesting—even more interesting than handling county affairs.

Zhao Hanzhang rediscovered the feeling she’d had doing math problems before. Ever since her unexpected blindness, her energy had been forcibly shifted from science to humanities.

Her grandfather had a famous school complex, believing her such a smart brain would be wasted if she didn’t attend a good school. He didn’t know which overzealous parent showed her grandfather their elementary school child’s textbook.

Inside was a text called “Children Who Conquered Fate.” After learning Zhao Hanzhang’s condition was due to damaged optic nerves—that even transplanting retinas wouldn’t restore her sight—her grandfather began vigorously cultivating her artistic sensibilities.

He wanted her to be like one of the children in the textbook, studying music to get into a prestigious school.

So Zhao Hanzhang had to pick up her neglected piano again.

Initially she’d learned piano because the kindergarten kids all attended special classes, and her mother felt she couldn’t fall too far behind, so she followed the crowd and enrolled her in piano lessons.

Zhao Hanzhang also just followed the crowd in learning.

Her parents never expected her to achieve great things with it, nor did she herself.

Compared to piano, she actually preferred following her dad around learning boxing and shooting.

In high school, she’d even decided what she wanted to do in the future—she’d thought about entering a research institute to study weapons. She’d been quite interested in mechanics and such.

Unfortunately, when her eyes went blind, her hands that could have drawn diagrams and done calculations could only go play piano instead.

At first, Zhao Hanzhang could only measure data and report numbers to Fu Tinghan, but within two days she could handle the drawing herself.

Though far inferior to Fu Tinghan, at least she could understand it. “Add a spindle here?”

Fu Tinghan glanced over. “Since we’re adding them, why add only one?”

When Wang Shi came looking, the two were huddled together discussing areas needing improvement. From the window, she could only see their backs, their heads so close they were nearly touching. She thought of something, her eyes widening slightly. She quickly cleared her throat softly and knocked on the door.

Zhao Hanzhang turned her head. Fu Tinghan, who had been looking down, raised his head. Their heads collided with a thud—it hurt considerably.

Outside, someone was already calling loudly: “Sister-in-law, have you found Sanniang?”

Wang Shi said somewhat flustered: “Found her, found her! This child is handling official documents. Let’s not disturb her for now.”

Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan looked at each other wordlessly. Finally, she rubbed her forehead and got up, going forward to open the door.

Wang Shi, who was just about to turn and leave, froze, then turned back to glare at her, pushing her back into the room. “I’ll go deal with them. You two exercise some restraint. Don’t forget you’re still in mourning.”

Zhao Hanzhang held onto her, looking helpless. “Mother, what are you thinking? Tinghan and I are working, are drawing diagrams.”

Zhao Hanzhang caught herself in time, feeling that saying “working” also sounded strange.

Wang Shi looked skeptical, about to enter the room to see for herself when the guests had already found their way here. “Sanniang is here.”

Zhao Hanzhang pulled out a smile and brought her mother forward to greet them, saying quietly: “Mother, the things in that room can’t be seen by others.”

Those were her treasures, more precious even than the glassware formula.

Wang Shi understood immediately and also put on a smile as she came forward. “Sister-in-law, why did you come all this way? You should have just waited in the reception hall. I would have brought her over once I found her.”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled as she curtsied. “Aunt Qing.”

The visitor was the wife of Zhao Qing, the eldest son of the seventh branch. Zhao Hanzhang was too lazy to calculate where Zhao Qing ranked in the clan, so she directly addressed her using his given name.

Aunt Qing looked at Zhao Hanzhang with surprise. “Sanniang, why are you dressed like this?”

Only then did Wang Shi notice—she wore a set of narrow sleeves with long trousers below, actually imitating the dress of commoners. Most importantly, the fabric was coarse hemp.

Wang Shi’s expression changed, but she immediately defended her daughter. “She’s still in mourning. Wearing coarse hemp is quite appropriate.”

“The period of heavy mourning has already passed…” Her words turned on her tongue. Even though meat and wine had been consumed, they still cared about this? Aunt Qing smiled. “Sanniang is truly filial. We fall far short.”

She looked curiously past Zhao Hanzhang toward the back, not knowing why she’d come to this remote corner at this time.

Zhao Hanzhang let her look. She couldn’t see through walls to the Fu Tinghan and spinning wheel inside anyway. “Mother, Aunt Qing, let’s talk in the hall.”

Aunt Qing agreed, following Zhao Hanzhang to the main hall.

There wasn’t just one aunt present, but several aunts and married women.

They came firstly to take a stroll in the county town and buy some things, and secondly to see Zhao Hanzhang.

Well, mainly Wang Shi wanted to come see her daughter, and they’d just come along. But after entering the city, they discovered something important.

“…We took a look. The Shu brocade is extremely beautiful. Even the plain brocade is top quality—under sunlight there’s even flowing light, more valuable than the brightly colored ones.”

After saying all this, she still hadn’t reached the main point. Zhao Hanzhang looked confused. “So are the aunts short on cash and want to borrow money from me?”

“What are you saying!” Wang Shi swatted her. “Your aunts wouldn’t take money from a child like you.”

Aunt Qing smiled. “That’s right. We saw that Shu merchant say he’d sold everything to you. If your aunts want to buy, we can only come to you.”

“Those goods were already sold by the county office,” Wang Shi said. “Your aunts want to buy—you calculate the price and sell some to us.”

She added: “Mainly the winter solstice is approaching. Your sisters have been cooped up for a year. We thought we’d buy some fabric to make them new outfits.”

Zhao Hanzhang agreed immediately. “What’s difficult about that? I’ll have a county official take my aunts to select later. Whatever you fancy, buy from them.”

She said: “These things were all bought by the county office planning to sell at high prices to earn some profit for buying grain. I’ll tell them they’re not allowed to profit from my aunts—whatever price they bought at, they’ll sell to you at the same price.”

Though unsure if this was true or false, everyone was very pleased to hear it.

Zhao Hanzhang asked with a smile: “Only plain brocade? I vaguely recall there are several bolts of brightly colored brocade among them.”

Aunt Qing sighed. “Previously the stronghold was besieged by rebel troops and many people died. Although no one in our family died in battle, Uncle Ming has already ordered the entire household to mourn. No marriages or banquets for three months. Even though winter solstice is still far off, it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to be too bright and colorful.”

After all, so many families in the stronghold were still in mourning.

Zhao Hanzhang nodded. By the winter solstice, the three-month period would have passed, but indeed it wouldn’t be good to be too brightly colored.

Aunt Qing asked with a smile: “Will Sanniang participate in the winter solstice ceremonial feast?”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled. “I won’t go. I’ll just return to offer ancestral worship.”

The several people were startled and straightened their backs slightly, smiling as they nodded.

According to Zhao family rules, except for the death of close relatives, women were not permitted to enter the ancestral hall for worship, let alone such a major event as winter solstice ancestral worship.

Usually women would stay home preparing for the subsequent ceremonial feast. Would the clan elders agree to Zhao Hanzhang performing ancestral worship?

—