Mrs. Wang stared blankly, still not recovering from the shock.
Zhao Erlang couldn't hold it in any longer, tugging on Zhao Hanzhang's sleeve, he complained, "Sister, can we eat now? I'm hungry."
Zhao Hanzhang looked at the innocent and oblivious Zhao Erlang and waved her hand, saying, "Go ahead and eat."
Zhao Erlang immediately sat back in his seat, eagerly putting several pieces of meat into Zhao Hanzhang's bowl, saying, "Sister, you just threw up, you should eat these."
Zhao Hanzhang looked at the chunks of meat in the bowl in silence, feeling her head ache, chest tighten, and a nauseous urge to vomit.
Mrs. Wang hurriedly took the meat away, "Your sister won't eat it, you eat it yourself."
She looked at Zhao Hanzhang with concern, "Third Lady, why don't you have some porridge, look at you, you've gone pale from throwing up."
The enormous memories in her mind had almost fully merged, Zhao Hanzhang's headache was almost gone, though she wasn't very hungry, so she nodded.
She sat and watched as Mrs. Wang served Zhao Erlang, who ate with relish, eating everything put into his bowl.
Zhao Hanzhang found it amusing, asking him, "Do you eat this well in the ancestral hall too?"
Zhao Erlang shook his head in grievance, "No meat, only mantou."
Zhao Hanzhang nodded in satisfaction, thinking that's how a punishment should be.
While Qingyi Pavilion quieted down, the main courtyard was far from peaceful.
Qing Gu, having knelt and wept her concerns, only got permission to rise and retreated quietly, her back drenched in sweat as she exited the courtyard.
Zhao Changyu sat cross-legged on the couch, unmoving, as Uncle Cheng brought a bowl of tea and softly said, "Master, indeed the second house overstepped tonight."
Zhao Changyu sighed, "It's not just the second house that overstepped, the Third Lady did too."
Without waiting for Uncle Cheng to speak, he continued, "But there are understandable reasons, I've always known the second has some grievances against me, but I didn't expect it to affect Zhao Ji so much. I'm still here, but he's already treating Mrs. Wang like this. Once I'm gone, what place will they have in the Zhao Family?"
"I didn't know the situation had gotten this grave," he sighed, "Do you think the Third Lady's actions were merely to vent her grievances? She's forcing me to make a choice."
Zhao Changyu chuckled, "She is clever after all..."
Uncle Cheng remained silent, thinking, you say the bad things and you say the good things, after all, you always find ways to justify for your granddaughter.
He silently placed the tea bowl in front of Zhao Changyu.
Zhao Changyu took a sip and mused, "Actually, there isn't much choice, I...am not someone with great righteousness."
Uncle Cheng quickly said, "Why does the master belittle himself so?"
Zhao Changyu was quite frank, "But this is the truth. If I were one with great righteousness, for the long-term development of the family, I should have sent you to reprimand the Third Lady."
"A family's strength can only be advanced if concentrated together. In these troubled times, it's even more critical not to divide familial power. Yet I," Zhao Changyu sighed, "am now forced to divide the family's power."
Since speaking with the Third Lady, Zhao Changyu had been indecisive about how much he should leave her.
According to the original plan, he didn't intend to allocate her any family power, and except for Uncle Cheng, he hadn't planned on leaving anyone for the main house.
His grandson was dim-witted, as much as he didn't want to admit it, Zhao Erlang was indeed dull-minded, at twelve, he communicated fine normally, but his intellect was akin to that of a six or seven-year-old child.
Even a six or seven-year-old can recognize a hundred characters, whereas he, after six years of schooling, can count the characters he knows on his fingers.
With Emperor Hui as a previous lesson, Zhao Changyu naturally couldn't hand over the family estate to him.
So he had always planned for the second house to inherit the estate, entrusting the main house to their care.
In recent years, court dynamics had shifted, and tensions between the main and second houses deepened, making him anxious and prompting him to seek additional assurances for the main house.
Thus, he began seeking high-status marriages for his granddaughter, having power, wealth, and people at his disposal, intending to arrange her future with a supportive husband who could look after her mother and brother. But as soon as he took the first step, rumors spread, and both the Second Son and Third Lady got into trouble.
Was it really the second house pressuring the main house tonight?
It was clearly the Third Lady forcing him to make a decision.
Even though Zhao Changyu knew the pit was dug by her, he had no choice but to step into it.
Zhao Changyu thought for a long while, came to a decision, and told Uncle Cheng, "Have Zhao Ju and Ji Yuan see me tomorrow."
Uncle Cheng bowed and accepted, "Yes."
Zhao Hanzhang assumed Zhao Changyu would need some time to wrestle with his decision since her grandfather was renowned in history as an able minister, someone hailed as the thousand-foot pine, a pillar of the realm.
A person like that, even if somewhat biased, would still wrestle for a while, considering the household's plans against familial affection, especially in an era where most scholars would choose the family, let alone someone as foresighted as Zhao Changyu?
She was surprised when by noon the next day, just as she was about to have lunch, Uncle Cheng came to fetch her on orders, "The master is concerned for the lady, so he sends me to bring you for a talk."
Zhao Hanzhang nodded, and while sitting in the palanquin, realized that Uncle Cheng did not call her Third Lady, but rather lady.
She couldn't help but curl her lips upward, unable to suppress her smile even when entering the main courtyard.
This time, without any psychological burden, she ran up to the middle-aged man sitting in the courtyard and called, "Grandfather."
Zhao Changyu nodded at her and introduced the two people next to him when she approached, "You're just in time, come meet your Grandpa Ji."
Zhao Hanzhang turned to look but couldn't bring herself to call the youthful-looking, gentle-faced man who seemed only about thirty that.
Zhao Changyu noticed her staring blankly and frowned slightly, "Third Lady."
Zhao Hanzhang immediately bowed and said, "Mr. Ji."
Ji Yuan's eyes lit up, he nodded slightly and said, "The lady looks quite spirited today."
Zhao Changyu looked at Zhao Hanzhang with a hint of surprise but didn't correct her. Instead, he followed up with a laugh, "She's always been robust since childhood. Ziyuan knows how it is, with only two children left by Zhir—the Second Son as he is—I've treated her as a son."
Ji Yuan remained silent.
Zhao Changyu didn't need Ji Yuan to decide immediately, he turned to Zhao Hanzhang and said, "Third Lady, Mr. Ji is one of your grandfather's right-hand men, you should regard him as equal to your grandfather in the future."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Hanzhang's face turned serious, she got up with difficulty using the palanquin for support, and she deeply bowed to Ji Yuan, "Grandfather Ji."
Zhao Changyu: .... that's unnecessary.
However, Ji Yuan was thrilled, quickly reaching out to support her, "Good child, your leg is injured, there's no need for such ceremony, please sit quickly."
"If Grandfather Ji doesn't sit, how dare the Third Lady sit? Please, you sit first."
Zhao Changyu's forehead throbbed, quickly interrupting them, "This is Zhao Ju, the left hand of your grandfather."
Zhao Hanzhang looked over, noting his height was quite contemporary, seemingly around six feet. He was robust, and despite the Spring chill in Luoyang, he wore a simple Hu suit, the fabric clinging to him, revealing his muscular build.
Zhao Changyu added, "He's in charge of the family warriors."
Zhao Hanzhang's thoughts stirred, one literary and one martial, was Zhao Changyu planning to hand over all the family assets to her?