Zhao Changyu was never an indecisive person. When he realized that his granddaughter and grandson inheriting the family business would be like a child carrying gold through a marketplace, he began making arrangements.

He would separate out part of the family business as capital for his grandson and granddaughter’s survival. The rest would all be handed over to Zhao Ji for inheritance.

Only at this moment did Zhao Changyu begin to understand his father.

Back then, when his father so conspicuously dispersed the family wealth but didn’t touch the farmland or old residence one bit, he must have had considerations for protecting him.

At that time, Zhao Changyu was only fourteen and Zhao Zhongyu barely ten—orphans and a widow. Even though he already had some reputation, the title of Earl of Shangcai and those fertile enfeoffed lands still made people’s eyes red with envy.

The Earl of Shangcai had been an honest official, and once he dispersed his family wealth, all under heaven knew. The eyes of the world focused on them. So although the dynasty changed, the newly enthroned Emperor Wu quickly allowed Zhao Changyu to inherit the title.

Regardless of how many people had coveted the Zhao family’s honor and wealth, after the Earl of Shangcai dispersed the shops and ready cash, what they could show on the surface could only be goodwill.

Zhao Changyu hoped he could also leave a pure land for his grandson and granddaughter.

So he didn’t plan to give them too much money.

Only land, a few scattered shops. As long as they were diligent, they could live as affluently as wealthy households. With books in the family, their descendants would have the possibility of rising again.

He didn’t hold hopes for Zhao Erlang, only for his son.

He had planned well but didn’t anticipate the contradictions between the first and second branches would deepen day by day.

Lady Wang seemed to have entered a dead end. She was unwilling to accept Zhao Erlang’s stupidity, so she also wasn’t willing to give up the title that should have belonged to the first branch.

Because of her, Zhao Hezhen appeared gentle on the surface but secretly went toe-to-toe with the second branch.

What made Zhao Changyu most dissatisfied was the performance of Zhao Ji, his wife, and their several children in the second branch.

No matter how bad Lady Wang and the two children were, it was because they had suffered losses. Having some resentment was normal. If the second branch couldn’t resolve it, that was one thing, but they couldn’t even manage basic tolerance and magnanimity.

Although they presented a picture of harmony before him, they secretly fought each other.

At this time, Luoyang was at its most chaotic, and court struggles were at their most severe.

Every few months there would be a battle in Luoyang. Colleagues who had faced him in court discussions yesterday were hacked to death in their homes by rampaging soldiers today.

The Emperor was in Sima Lun’s hands yesterday, today he fell into Sima Jiong’s hands. Sima Jiong was triumphant for over a year, then the Emperor was seized by Sima Ai again…

Each time a regent prince changed, all the previous regent prince’s faction were exterminated to three generations.

Their criteria for determining faction members was also quite arbitrary. One censor was deemed Sima Jiong’s accomplice because when Sima Jiong failed to bow to the Emperor, he was present but didn’t speak out to admonish or advise him.

After Sima Jiong’s defeat, over 3,000 people were convicted as accomplices, all exterminated to three generations. Those implicated numbered 60,000…

And this didn’t count the soldiers who died in battle on both sides…

Several times, Zhao Changyu made it onto the list only to be crossed off. To ensure he was crossed off each time power changed hands, Zhao Changyu exhausted his mind. Beyond this, he had to try as much as possible to protect Luoyang’s commoners and protect the bewildered, plundered Emperor. He was very tired, you know?

Each time he returned home from outside, he only wanted to close his eyes and sleep, but home was still a mess.

Due to state and family affairs weighing on him, Zhao Changyu’s health declined day by day.

Chengbo said more than once: “The master was worked to death.”

Exhaustion plus anger made Zhao Changyu’s health worse each day. At the same time, he also recognized more clearly that the second and first branches probably couldn’t coexist peacefully.

Giving the family business to Zhao Ji—in the future, Lady Wang and her three children also couldn’t depend on them.

Should he let the first branch suffer more losses and just survive, or let the first branch blaze gloriously for a time, then bring the entire family to death?

Zhao Changyu knew what he should choose. Wasn’t the current chaos in the country precisely because Emperor Wu couldn’t bear to wrong the Crown Prince?

He steeled himself against the heartache, ignored Lady Wang’s fury, and began actively cultivating Zhao Ji and Zhao Yi.

But… they really were rotten wood that couldn’t be carved. Zhao Ji was even worse than his father.

At this time, looking at Zhao Zhongyu, Zhao Changyu finally found him somewhat pleasing. Though he was lacking, he was much better than his son.

Now he found his sister-in-law displeasing. If she hadn’t already passed away, he would definitely criticize her properly.

But though she had passed away, Zhao Zhongyu was still alive.

So Zhao Changyu told Zhao Zhongyu: “Mother made a mistake arranging this marriage for you. Jizhi—he’s rotten wood that can’t be carved.”

Zhao Zhongyu’s face flushed red with anger: “In elder brother’s eyes, who is worth carving? When I was young, you looked down on me. Now you look down on my wife and children.”

“I didn’t look down on your wife. Human intelligence is heaven-decreed, but character is learned later. Sister-in-law’s character is acceptable. But Jizhi is no good—so it’s still an education problem. You didn’t teach the child well.”

Zhao Changyu said: “Since he has neither talent nor virtue, I really don’t feel secure handing the Zhao clan over to him in the future. You cultivate Yi’er instead. If I live a few more years, I’ll skip over Jizhi and give the title directly to Yi’er.”

Zhao Zhongyu: …Clearly, he didn’t think highly of Zhao Ji at all.

Zhao Yi was still young, about the same age as Zhao Hezhen. He wanted to have the children educated together to cultivate their feelings. Perhaps his inheriting the family business would be much better than Zhao Ji inheriting.

Zhao Zhongyu was both angry and indignant, believing this was his elder brother’s prejudice against him extending to his descendants.

Zhao Ji truly wasn’t as intelligent as Zhao Zhi, but he wasn’t that bad either.

Compared to Zhao Zhi, Zhao Ji’s performance naturally fell far short. But placed among the sons of aristocratic families, the difference wasn’t great. And Zhao Yi hadn’t yet had time to show many personality traits.

Zhao Changyu and Zhao Zhongyu hovered on the edge of life and death every day. Although they said they would educate their descendants, they actually didn’t have much time to personally teach them.

They directly threw people to hired teachers, only occasionally listening to the teachers’ reports.

Zhao Hezhen stood out among all the brothers and sisters.

She not only studied literature well but also martial arts. Her swordsmanship was no worse than Zhao Yi’s—the siblings were evenly matched when sparring. And her archery and horsemanship exceeded Zhao Yi’s.

When Zhao Changyu learned of this, he specially summoned the teacher to give Zhao Hezhen private tutoring, then told her: “A tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind. If you want to withstand wind and rain, learn to hide yourself among the forest, focus on developing your roots. As long as they’re deep enough, even the greatest wind and rain can’t uproot you.”

Zhao Hezhen: “What if cut off at the waist?”

“If not uprooted, a severed trunk can still regrow. As long as you’re alive, you can start over from the beginning.”

Zhao Hezhen listened to him and began restraining her sharpness, learning to hide her abilities, and even learned to secretly target her cousins.

Zhao Changyu: …

His heart was so tired. Forget it, let them do as they wished. Children grown couldn’t be controlled anyway.

Zhao Changyu decided to find Zhao Hezhen an honest husband’s family. In the future, even if her schemes and machinations were discovered, they could tolerate her.

He had planned well but didn’t anticipate sudden changes.

Prince Donghai Sima Yue and Prince Chengdu Sima Ying fought until their brains nearly spilled out, while Sima Yong took the opportunity to abduct the Emperor and flee.

Court officials panicked, trying on one hand to mediate the war, on the other to rescue the Emperor.

The princes fought for two years. Zhao Changyu followed the abducted Emperor east and west. Through some twist of fate, Prince Donghai Sima Yue narrowly achieved victory, and his army swept the Emperor and court officials back to Luoyang.

At this time, all the children had grown up. Zhao Changyu hadn’t had time to inquire about their studies and lives over the past two years when Sima Yue poisoned the Emperor to death.

Zhao Changyu: …

After a round of court struggles, Sima Yue selected Sima Chi from among the surviving imperial brothers to ascend the throne. He took total control of government.

After years of exhaustion, with the new Emperor’s ascension, Zhao Changyu’s body reached its limit. He finally fell ill and could only remain bedridden at home.

At this time, due to years of civil war, Chang’an suffered severe famine. Refugees from various regions, holding onto a thread of hope with the new Emperor’s ascension, rushed to Luoyang seeking a chance to survive.

Although the new Emperor had ascended and Sima Yue controlled the government, Luoyang wasn’t stable either. He barely controlled his subordinate generals, so the army acted like bandits, plundering commoners everywhere. There were also scattered soldiers who hadn’t been suppressed. Therefore, Luoyang refused refugees entry. Among city residents, unless they absolutely had to go out to make a living, no one went outside the city walls.

It was at this time that Zhao Erlang was tricked outside the city.

By the time Zhao Hezhen found out, he was already at the city gate. She could only rush to chase after him.

Zhao Hezhen fell from her horse and was injured, then carried back home. Zhao Changyu knew immediately.

He immediately had people summon the imperial physician. In between, she once lost her breath and heartbeat. So even though the physician later said she only had broken bones and head trauma but nothing major, Zhao Changyu remained furiously angry.

He was willing to hand the family business to the second branch, but only while preserving the first branch.

The actions of Wu Shi and his grand-niece were truly chilling. What chilled him even more was that after learning the truth, Zhao Ji and Zhao Yi chose to conceal it, sweep away traces for the mother and daughter, and even turn to attack Lady Wang and her children.

Zhao Changyu’s teeth felt cold.

From this moment, he doubted his decision. From this moment, he completely lost trust in Zhao Zhongyu and his son Zhao Ji.

So when his granddaughter—having shed her disguise and released her hidden nature—came to find him, Zhao Changyu chose her, chose to defy all conventional wisdom.

Since the family business couldn’t be given to an imbecile, and giving it to the second branch would hardly end well, then why not just give it directly to his granddaughter?

Things like “women must marry out” and “married-out daughters can’t take the family’s foundation”—he threw all this nonsense aside.

Rules in this world were only called rules when most people followed them. Otherwise, rules were meant to be broken.

The Emperor was supreme and paramount, but look at the late Emperor—where was he supreme in this life?

So even the ruler-minister rules had been shattered—rulers didn’t act like rulers, ministers didn’t act like ministers. What rule in this world couldn’t be broken?

But he couldn’t tell her these things openly. He could only divide the family business in two—one portion left to the Zhao clan, one portion given to his granddaughter.

The Zhao family’s wealth was mostly earned by Zhao Changyu, but it didn’t rely solely on him.

These years he had been busy with court affairs. While he led the overall direction in money-making, the actual execution basically relied on his stewards.

And his stewards basically all came from the Zhao clan.

Many businesses were also jointly managed by Zhao clan members.

Zhao Changyu was very wealthy, but he kept a low profile. Outsiders couldn’t calculate exactly how much money he had, but each time the Emperor fell into trouble, it was he who produced money to smooth things over.

Previously when Chang’an was fought over several times, the Emperor was there then. When Zhao Changyu was with him in Chang’an, there was no famine.

Later when the Emperor was brought back to Luoyang, Luoyang was also fought over several times. Countless commoners died, farmland was destroyed. But with Zhao Changyu in Luoyang, there was also no famine.

Conversely, Chang’an—not long after Zhao Changyu left, famine began appearing.

People privately all speculated that Zhao Changyu still had much money and grain, definitely more than in the state treasury.

Even Sima Yue couldn’t help casting a sideways glance at this fortune.