Fires burned on both sides of Luoyang’s city gate, barely illuminating the entrance.

When Zhao Hanzhang and her party rode their horses closer, the people above and below the city tower heard the hoofbeats. Before anyone emerged from the darkness, they immediately raised their spears and bows in warning, shouting alertly, “Who goes there!”

Zhao Hanzhang reined in her horse. In the darkness, a personal guard called out loudly, “The Governor is returning to the city, quickly make way!”

They did not make way, but instead said, “Slow your horses and come forward into the firelight for inspection!”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and complied. When she walked to where the firelight could reach her, the soldiers above and below the city tower immediately lowered their bows and spears. The leading gate officer quickly ran forward, knelt on one knee, and said, “This lowly official Wen Kang greets the General. Not knowing it was the General, I have been remiss. Please punish this lowly official, General.”

Zhao Hanzhang waved her hand, saying, “You were following orders. What crime is there in that?”

She added, “Continue guarding the city gate this way from now on.”

Wen Kang was delighted inside and loudly acknowledged the order.

Luoyang currently did not close its city gates, because there was no need.

The city now had only forty to fifty thousand people. Most of the people Fan Ying had brought back were settled in villages under Luoyang’s jurisdiction to facilitate farming the nearby land.

Moreover, Luoyang was currently very poor. The Emperor was no longer here, so temporarily there would be no external enemies coming to invade. Therefore, Zhao Hanzhang had written to Ji Yuan saying there was no need to close the city gates.

However, hardly anyone came or went late at night anyway.

There were quite a few bandits outside—who would wander around outside for no reason late at night?

Not closing the city gates at night also made it convenient for soldiers training and patrolling, as well as common people going out to farm.

Once inside the city, there wasn’t a single person or lamp on the streets. Only some sounds came from the residential areas not far away.

The closer they got to the Zhao residence, the more sounds there were. Some households even had children crying.

Zhao Hanzhang heard the sound of children being spanked and crying, and couldn’t help but reveal a relaxed smile, “Now this feels like life.”

Fu Tinghan: …

He lightly kicked his horse’s belly to make it speed up, directly passing her. “Let’s hurry. Erlang is probably waiting for us to come back for dinner right now.”

Zhao Erlang and Zeng Yue had returned to Luoyang early with the main army. As soon as he returned, he was questioned extensively by Xie Shi and Ji Yuan. There were too many questions—he could only answer the first few, such as where his elder sister was, whether the journey had been smooth…

For anything more, he could only stare at them with his big innocent eyes.

Although he had followed his sister throughout, he actually knew less than Ji Yuan and the others did, after all, Zhao Hanzhang had been writing letters to Ji Yuan all along.

Ji Yuan and Xie Shi could only let him go.

But Zhao Erlang wasn’t particularly happy either, because he was hungry, and his sister and the others had not yet returned.

Zhao Kuan and several clan brothers had come early to wait. Even Zhao Cheng had come.

With elders present, even though the food was ready, no one dared pick up their chopsticks. Everyone was waiting for Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan.

By the time Zhao Hanzhang finally returned to the Zhao residence, Zhao Erlang had already quietly eaten a plate of snacks, but his stomach didn’t feel full at all. Instead, he felt uncomfortable from eating too many snacks.

Seeing his sister enter, he looked at her pitifully.

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang, Zhao Kuan immediately led the clan brothers to stand and bow. Only Zhao Cheng remained sitting cross-legged.

Zhao Hanzhang strode in with large steps, waved her hand to excuse them from formalities, then gave Zhao Cheng a deep bow, smiling, “I’ve kept Uncle waiting.”

Zhao Cheng’s expression was fairly mild. He nodded and asked, “What delayed you on the road?”

Zhao Hanzhang explained, “I encountered two elderly farmers and stopped to ask them some questions.”

Zhao Cheng nodded, “It’s good to listen to what the people below think. Because Beigong Chun and Mi Ce have been tyrannical, there’s now widespread resentment. When I came, seeing the situation, I thought you were going to act like the Prince of Donghai.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked helpless, saying, “Uncle’s words condemn me. How could I, and how would I dare to act like the Prince of Donghai?”

She looked around and saw Zhao Erlang clutching his stomach, looking at her pitifully. She immediately said, “Uncle hasn’t eaten yet, has he? Why don’t we eat first?”

Zhao Cheng nodded slightly, but being very mindful of propriety, he glanced at the two dusty travelers and said, “You two go wash up and change clothes first. We’ll wait a little longer.”

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t dare make him wait. She turned her head to instruct the servants, “Quickly tell the kitchen to bring out the food.”

Then she pulled Fu Tinghan away to wash up and change clothes. Actually, she had wanted to sit down and eat directly—when campaigning and fighting, there weren’t so many formalities—but this was at home, and with elders present, she decided to be a filial niece.

Ting He ran to the kitchen to have them prepare hot water. Fu’an followed behind her, unable to help muttering, “Your family’s uncle is too strict about propriety. Just back from battle, not even wearing armor—why must we wash up?”

Hearing this, Ting He clicked her tongue twice, “Now you complain that Old Master Cheng is too strict about propriety—who was it before who said our young lady was too rough?”

Fu’an glared, retorting, “I never said such a thing.”

“You didn’t say it, but your eyes expressed it.”

Fu’an: “…You, you’re being completely unreasonable.”

Ting He carried the water and snorted at him, “I can’t be bothered to argue with you. If you don’t hurry, the young master will fall behind.”

How could Fu’an let Fu Tinghan fall behind?

He quickly also carried hot water and followed.

Zhao Hanzhang bathed and changed clothes quickly. When Ting He wanted to scent her clothes, she directly took them and put them on, “It’s just a family dinner, no need for this.”

She didn’t even put up her hair, but instead took a cloth strip like a man and simply bound her hair before going out. Yet she was wearing wide-sleeved long robes, with wooden clogs on her feet, leaving in a carefree manner toward the main hall.

She deliberately took a detour to the guest courtyard, standing not far from the courtyard entrance to wait for Fu Tinghan.

Fu Tinghan’s pace was slower. He did everything steadily and methodically, unlike Zhao Hanzhang’s hurried manner.

When she arrived at the courtyard entrance, he had only just put on his inner garment.

Fu’an learned that their young master was slow again and anxiously wiped the sweat from his forehead, hurriedly helping him put on his outer clothing.

Seeing this, Fu Tinghan arranged his collar himself, smiling, “It’s fine. You go get the comb, I can do this myself.”

Fu Tinghan methodically fastened his belt. Though it seemed leisurely, his speed wasn’t slow at all. After fastening his belt, he sat at the dressing table and let Fu’an bind his hair properly.

Having been here for over two years, he had learned everything, except hair binding remained very difficult.

When Fu Tinghan came out, he saw Zhao Hanzhang standing under a lantern, standing on tiptoe plucking flowers.

Seeing him approach, she raised the winter jasmine in her hand, smiling, “I picked a flower for you. Put it in a vase later.”

Fu Tinghan smiled and came forward, taking the flower and acknowledging.

Fu’an reached out to take the flower, but Fu Tinghan lowered his hand, avoiding Fu’an’s hand, and held it himself, “Let’s go, don’t keep Uncle waiting anxiously.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded and went to the front hall with him.

The servants in the residence were all miscellaneous workers Ji Yuan had recently hired. Their ability to serve people naturally couldn’t compare to servants trained in the household.

So when Zhao Hanzhang said to bring out the food, they brought out all the dishes, but no one in the hall made a move.

Zhao Hanzhang pulled Fu Tinghan to sit in the two empty seats at the head position.

Fu Tinghan knelt and sat down, carefully placing the winter jasmine branch on the table. Zhao Hanzhang picked up the wine pot and poured a cup of wine for both herself and Fu Tinghan, then raised her cup first, saying, “Tonight I kept Uncle and my brothers waiting—this is Hanzhang’s fault. Hanzhang will punish herself with a cup first.”

After speaking, she drained it in one gulp.

Zhao Kuan and the others quickly raised their cups to follow. Zhao Hanzhang set down her wine cup, picked up her chopsticks, and looked toward Zhao Cheng.

Only then did Zhao Cheng take his chopsticks and pick up a piece of meat to put in his mouth. Everyone finally began to eat. Zhao Erlang, sitting across from him, directly shoveled rice into his mouth, eating especially happily.

Zhao Cheng’s belly full of words was stuck in his throat. He sighed, deciding it would be better to wait until after the meal to speak.

—