Zhuzi and a group of people were sent to a wilderness.

They were led here by ropes, staring blankly at the boundless wild land.

Not far away, a large group of people were working energetically.

Seeing them, someone immediately came over to take charge of them. Seeing the ropes tied on their hands, he asked, “Did they commit crimes?”

“Right, all committed crimes.”

“What did they do?”

“This one, this one, and these two—slacking and being slippery. These three stole things. And those three were troublemakers who started fights. They’ve all been sentenced to ten months of labor reform.” This was a new county office regulation Zhao Hanzhang had established.

All who committed crimes that didn’t involve loss of life were changed from imprisonment to labor reform, judged according to severity.

Serious cases still required supervision; minor cases did not.

Zhuzi’s crime belonged to the category that didn’t require supervision.

The person in charge led them down to settle them, assigned them two thatched huts to live in, then gave them a lecture. “As you can see, our houses aren’t built yet, so you’ll have to live in thatched huts.”

“Because you committed crimes, here you won’t receive wages for your work,” he said. “The work is a bit heavy, but we guarantee you’ll eat your fill. Work well and you can even get your sentence reduced and go home early.”

“But if anyone still doesn’t behave, slacks and schemes, or runs away outright, we retainers aren’t just eating for nothing.” He pointed around the area. “See that? All our lady’s people.”

“Moreover, everyone sent here isn’t alone—you can run away, but your family can’t. Hmph!”

No one dared to run.

Zhuzi was full of regret, crying inconsolably.

He had committed a minor offense, so he was assigned to work in the grinding room. The others weren’t as lucky as him. They were apparently going to dig mountains—quite hard work.

The iron mine was extremely important to Zhao Hanzhang, and there were still some things to perfect regarding the blast furnace for smelting iron and steel, which was why she and Fu Tinghan came to this place.

Zhuzi and his group lived on the outermost perimeter and didn’t know that three li from here was an iron mine where buildings had been erected one after another, and iron smelting workshops had been built.

This place was heavily guarded, with strict inspections of all who entered and left.

Under Fu Tinghan’s guidance, the craftsmen smelted another furnace of molten iron. While waiting for it to cool and be cut, Fu Tinghan nodded and turned to leave.

Zhao Hanzhang was watching people forge farm tools with the smelted iron blocks. Seeing Fu Tinghan, she casually picked up a bamboo tube, unscrewed it, and handed it to him.

Fu Tinghan took it and drank all the water inside, then asked, “They’ve adapted to the blast furnaces here. When are we going back?”

Zhao Hanzhang: “Tomorrow.”

She looked outside and smiled. “Let’s go out for a walk today.”

Fu Tinghan didn’t want to go. It was winter, cold and desolate outside. The only liveliness was working people—what was there to see?

But because Zhao Hanzhang invited him, Fu Tinghan nodded in agreement.

So the two rode out for a stroll.

Zhao Hanzhang led him directly to the riverside. “I’ll take you to catch fish. Your appetite hasn’t been great these past few days. Let’s eat some fish.”

Winter fish… weren’t easy to catch. Mainly because the water was cold and it was hard to go in the water, but they were easy to lure.

Probably because there were few people here, the fish in the river hadn’t witnessed the complexity of human hearts, so they were still foolish.

Zhao Hanzhang took out the fishhook she’d had made, mixed the bait from things she’d gotten from the kitchen, and cast it into the water.

She held the fishing rod the whole time.

Fu Tinghan stood beside her. Seeing the float move, he was delighted. “One’s biting.”

Zhao Hanzhang just glanced at it, then closed her eyes and felt the pull on the fishing rod in her hand. After waiting quite a while, she lifted the rod.

The fish was large. She pulled harder backward, playing the fish a bit before slowly pulling it ashore.

A grass carp weighing seven or eight jin. Zhao Hanzhang held it in her hand, somewhat conflicted for a moment. “How do you cook fish?”

Fu Tinghan wasn’t quite sure either. “Boil it or deep fry it?”

Zhao Hanzhang suddenly really wanted to eat fish pieces coated in flour and fried. So she lifted the fish and said, “Come on, let’s go to the kitchen and try.”

They didn’t return to the camp’s kitchen but went to the kitchen at the outer settlement area instead.

There was a settlement here for the retainers cultivating the land—also the first line of defense for the iron mine.

Because this place was very far from even the nearest village, the county office had directly built a workshop here.

Given the iron mine, more and more people would live here in the future, so a grinding mill was inevitable.

Zhao Hanzhang passed by the grinding mill and heard faint crying sounds from inside. Curious, she poked her head in to look while carrying the fish.

She saw over ten people inside, some pounding grain, others grinding wheat or beans. Among them, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth was pushing the millstone while crying softly.

“What are you crying about?”

Everyone in the grinding mill was startled. The crying youth was also startled. Recognizing Zhao Hanzhang, he rushed forward. Fu Tinghan instinctively pulled her behind him, while Qiuwu drew his long sword with a sharp ring.

The youth’s knees went soft and he fell to the ground with a thud. “County, County Magistrate, I know I was wrong. Please let me go.”

Qiuwu breathed a sigh of relief and sheathed his sword.

Zhao Hanzhang found him somewhat familiar but couldn’t recognize him for the moment.

Fu Tinghan glanced once and said, “He’s from Xiajiao Village. I think he’s called Zhuzi.”

Zhuzi nodded repeatedly. “Right, right. The young master has such a good memory. I’m called Zhuzi.”

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang standing to the side, he immediately added, “The County Magistrate’s memory is also good. The County Magistrate is also benevolent. Please spare me. I won’t dare again.”

Zhao Hanzhang asked curiously, “What did you do?”

Zhuzi wiped his tears. “I just slacked off a little.”

Zhao Hanzhang: “Be honest. Would they send you here to push grinding stones just for slacking off?”

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang make as if to leave, Zhuzi quickly crawled forward on his knees two steps and begged, “I, I really just slacked off, then got Dahua’s dad to help me do a little bit…”

Dahua’s dad was a simpleton—not smart, but very hardworking. Basically, whatever others told him to do, he did.

Then he had a rather capable daughter, Dahua. Because his daughter was so capable, everyone forgot his name and just called him Dahua’s Dad.

When Zhao Hanzhang was in Xiajiao Village, she thought that girl was quite good. Hearing this, she squatted in front of him and asked, “Then how were you caught?”

“Dahua found out. She made a fuss to the village head, saying if I wasn’t arrested, she’d report it to higher authorities. So the village head arrested me and sent me to the officials.” Zhuzi cried. “County Magistrate, I only slacked off once, really just once. I wasn’t feeling well at the time, so I asked Dahua’s dad to help. Please spare me this once. I’ll never dare again.”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled slightly. “I believe you, but I also can’t break the laws I established myself. Since you truly made a mistake, you should correct it first. Rest assured, no one here will bully you. Work hard and strive to go home early.”

Zhuzi cried again. “But pushing grinding stones is really exhausting!”

Zhao Hanzhang reached out and patted his shoulder. “I’ll go catch some fish for you all in a bit. You can have fish soup tonight. Don’t be too sad.”

Although Zhao Hanzhang still didn’t pardon him, hearing her show such concern, Zhuzi felt much better inside.

After leaving the grinding mill, Zhao Hanzhang said to Qiuwu, “Have someone go to Xiajiao Village and bring Dahua and her father to the county office. I want to use her.”

Such a capable girl was wasted just digging irrigation channels in Xiajiao Village.