Zhao Hu’s mood improved. He clasped his hands behind his back and followed Zhao Hanzhang into the Zhao mansion.

Zhao Hanzhang deliberately took a detour, going halfway around before heading to Zhao Zhongyu’s courtyard.

Although Zhao Hu wasn’t familiar with the Zhao mansion, he had at least come once before. That time he had stayed here for a while, so he still remembered the general layout.

At first he didn’t react, but by the time he did, they had already arrived at the place.

Zhao Hu opened his mouth wide, staring at the broken eaves and collapsed walls ahead. He first looked back at the path they had come from, confirming this was inside the Zhao mansion and not some other place, before finally exhaling the breath stuck in his chest, “What happened here?”

Zhao Hanzhang said tactfully, “In the past, Grandfather often stayed in this courtyard because it was convenient for conducting business. After Great Uncle succeeded as clan head, although he moved to the main residence, he specifically sealed this courtyard to express his grief.”

“Alas, who could have expected that a great fire in Luoyang would burn this courtyard down.” Zhao Hanzhang sighed and led Zhao Hu onward. In the next section, going around a small garden was the courtyard where she lived. She pointed at the courtyard and said with a smile, “Seventh Great Uncle, this is my courtyard. If you have any matters in the future, just come here to find me.”

Zhao Hu stiffly turned his neck to look at the collapsed house next to the courtyard. Right now, many plants and trees were growing inside. He stepped forward to look and couldn’t help frowning, “These are roses?”

“Yes,” Zhao Hanzhang said happily, “Seventh Great Uncle doesn’t know—in these burned courtyards, flowers and plants grow especially easily. Really! At that time, seeing such a large courtyard going to waste, I had people plant some vegetables in the courtyard. But with only so many people in the mansion and so many burned places, we planted more vegetables than we could eat. So I also had people plant roses.”

She smiled, “By next year, these roses should be able to climb all over the collapsed beams and rubble. Then you won’t be able to tell these were burned buildings, and when they bloom, it will look even better.”

Zhao Hu was speechless. “You’re not rebuilding?”

Zhao Hanzhang sighed, “No money!”

This building used extremely good materials. If she just casually used some ordinary timber and stone to rebuild, compared with the other half that wasn’t burned, it wouldn’t look like it belonged to the same family at all.

Not only ugly, but uncomfortable to look at every time. Thinking that there were currently enough houses, there was completely no need to rebuild.

Zhao Hu: …

He turned around. “Where did Zhao Zhongyu live?”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and escorted him there.

The courtyard was maintained quite well. Every ten days, servants would clean it and occasionally air it out, preparing for when the master or guests came to stay.

As soon as Zhao Hu moved in, his servants opened his luggage trunks and filed in carrying things.

Don’t look down on them for mostly being male servants—their movements were both quick and meticulous. They fetched water and wiped down the room inside and out, then bowed and withdrew, carrying in the remaining luggage, and also… money.

Five ox carts—three of them were loaded entirely with money.

The maids took out their own mats to spread, took out washbasins, cloth towels, and other items one by one to place on shelves, lit incense, and also set out a glazed mirror, a half-meter-high cosmetics box containing Zhao Hu’s daily-use fragrant powders, face powders, ointments, and gold and jade ornaments.

Zhao Hanzhang knelt on one side chatting with Zhao Hu about new coins and old coins, while a maid brought out a set of glazed cups, poured boiled water into a glazed pot, then used the water from the glazed pot to brew tea powder…

The maid quickly stirred it, then added a little bit of sugar frost…

Zhao Hu saw her staring dumbfounded as if she had never seen the world, and said proudly, “This is a new tea-drinking method from our Xiping. It’s a pity there’s no sheep’s milk, otherwise adding sheep’s milk and cooking it together would be more fragrant, richer, and better tasting.”

Zhao Hanzhang closed her mouth. “That’s quite impressive. Have I not returned to Xiping for a year? There’s actually a new tea-drinking method.”

Zhao Hu glanced at her and said, “Isn’t it because of you and Tinghan?”

He snorted, “You’re both too lazy, and the servants around you are also lazy. When brewing tea, they’re not even willing to add ginger and salt—just pouring boiling water and drinking it, tasteless and bland. Yet those people outside love to follow along. You drink it this way, so they learn to drink it this way too, making my tea shop’s business bad.”

Zhao Hanzhang: …

She steadied herself and humbly asked, “And then?”

“And then?” Zhao Hu said, “Then I guessed you must not like salty things, so you wanted sweet things. So I had people add sugar to your clear tea.”

He continued, “Don’t mention it—adding sugar actually tastes quite good, but it wastes tea leaves. So I had people grind the tea leaves into powder and cook them with added sugar, then add some sheep’s milk and it becomes even more fragrant.”

“Besides that, in winter you can add ginger and drink piping hot sweet tea to dispel cold. In summer, you can put the brewed tea on an ice basin to chill—then the sheep’s milk isn’t gamey either. With added sugar, sweet and refreshing, it’s very thirst-quenching…” Zhao Hu smiled, “Wait until I have someone go to the streets to buy a milk-producing sheep. Tomorrow I’ll make it for you to drink.”

Zhao Hanzhang: “…Thank you, Seventh Great Uncle.”

Zhao Hu waved his hand dismissively. He looked around the room, somewhat disdainfully, “The furnishings in this room are also too simple. Your great uncle is after all the Grand Minister and also the clan head—how can he be so frugal?”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “This is the main residence. In earlier years, Grandfather would occasionally come stay here too.”

So originally, this was where Zhao Changyu lived.

“Oh,” Zhao Hu withdrew his opinion. Since it was where Zhao Changyu lived, then there was no problem.

Zhao Hu pointed to the empty space beside the screen, “Still lacking a full-length mirror. That thing isn’t easy to transport, and since Chen County also has a glazed workshop, I didn’t bring my most commonly used mirror.”

Zhao Hanzhang immediately said, “I’ll have the Treasure Workshop send one over for Seventh Great Uncle.”

Zhao Hu satisfactorily stroked his beard. After being stroked along for quite a while, Zhao Hu finally relented to discuss the matter of new coins and old coins. “I weighed them—your new coins are lighter than old coins. And you say Shu region and the Two Lakes both accept them, but who knows whether using new coins in those two places will be looked down upon?”

He said, “For example, if another person and I both take a fancy to the same bolt of silk and offer the same price, but he gives old coins and I give new coins, the shopkeeper gives it to him because he offered old coins—I still suffer a loss.”

Zhao Hanzhang frowned. Trust in currency belonged to invisible value. Very few people could foresee this point, but since Zhao Hu had raised it, it needed to be resolved.

“So what does Seventh Great Uncle mean?”

Zhao Hu became serious and said, “I can exchange new coins with you, but I want one to one-point-two.”

That is, his ten old coins for twelve new coins.

He raised his hand to stop what Zhao Hanzhang was about to say, “I know what you want to say, but this is already my biggest concession. Using new coins is also risky for me. If they can’t be spent later, these copper coins in my hands are just copper. If these new coins weren’t minted by you, and if Zhao Ming hadn’t vouched for you, I absolutely wouldn’t exchange them.”

He was a very conservative person.

Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes to briefly ponder, then immediately agreed, “Deal!”

Zhao Hu’s lips curved up, and he said to her, “I like your straightforwardness. In this point, you’re completely unlike your grandfather.”

—