Chapter 34 - Waking Up with a Start

Chapter 34: Chapter 28 Waking Up with a StartFu Tinghan took the chessboard from Zhao Hanzhang’s hand, smiled at Zhao Erlang, and continued to win against him.

Unlike Zhao Hanzhang, Professor Fu cares a lot about his opponent’s gaming experience. After winning two games, he always loses one to the other side, which makes Zhao Erlang more and more excited, fully immersing himself with chess pieces in his mind and eyes.

"You returned late today, was there an accident?"

"No accident," Zhao Hanzhang said with a smile: "I rode a horse today and integrated it with my memory of riding skills. I also raced with my subordinates, lost track of time, so I was late."

Zhao Hanzhang thought of something, leaned closer, and whispered, "Do you want to learn? Without a driver’s license, at least you should learn to drive, useful for escape."

Fu Tinghan was quite curious about what kind of chaos Luoyang was in this era in history, to make the usually fearless Teacher Zhao always consider escape plans.

Fu Tinghan thought for a moment and said, "My injuries have healed, I can learn, together?"

Zhao Hanzhang pondered briefly and nodded, "Alright, let’s meet at West City at eight tomorrow, I’ll find us a master to guide us then."

Fu Tinghan looked at her, unable to suppress a slight upward curve at the corners of his mouth, and nodded in agreement, "Okay."

"I won!" Zhao Erlang placed his piece down with a clatter and shouted excitedly, startling Fu Tinghan out of his distraction.

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at the chessboard, then gave a look at Fu Tinghan, this was unexpected, he just won one game, how did he let Zhao Erlang win this one?

Fu Tinghan calmly put down his piece and praised, "Erlang is getting more and more formidable."

Zhao Erlang was being praised for the first time for being formidable, his face flushed with excitement, he looked at Zhao Hanzhang excitedly, "Sister, Sister, am I formidable?"

Zhao Hanzhang nodded with a smile, "Formidable."

It was getting late, Fu Tinghan had to go home, Zhao Erlang reluctantly tugged at him, "Will you come play with me again tomorrow?"

Fu Tinghan smiled and responded, "Alright."

Since Fu Zhi asked him to come and fulfill his duty, he would naturally come every day.

Zhao Hanzhang as usual escorted Fu Tinghan out, and at the second gate, they encountered the three sisters of the second house, both sides stopped in their tracks.

Zhao Hanzhang carefully scrutinized the unfamiliar girl opposite her, who only appeared in her memory, but because it was someone else’s memory, it always felt unreal, like watching people in a TV drama.

Now the person was standing in front of her, memory and reality fused, only then did she have a real sense of presence.

Eldest Sister Zhao met Zhao Hanzhang’s bright gaze, awkwardly looked away, bowed with downcast eyes, "Third Sister, Mr. Fu."

Eldest Sister Zhao’s bow made Zhao Erniang, who was waiting for Zhao Hanzhang to bow, feel constipated, having to follow and bow first, "Third Sister, are you seeing Mr. Fu out?"

After the three sisters saluted, Zhao Hanzhang returned the greeting, "Yes, why are the elder and younger sisters here?"

Zhao Erniang felt there was something strange when she said "elder and younger sisters," but couldn’t put her finger on it. Seeing her eldest sister silent with her head down, she had to speak, "We came to see Mr. Dalang reading, and were just about to head back."

For some reason, although the second house had achieved its desire with the heir position secured, they seemed even more lacking in confidence when facing Zhao Hanzhang.

Clearly, Zhao Hanzhang used to avoid them.

Zhao Erniang was about to

Eldest Sister Zhao felt a headache coming again. She tried to avoid meeting Zhao Hanzhang as much as possible lately, "She didn’t scold us outright, don’t mind it, let’s head back to our courtyard."

Zhao Si Niang: "I also find it strange, wearing a lady’s dress but tying hair like a man? Do you think she sneaked out of the house?"

"Hadn’t she been attending to Granduncle after seven a.m., and after noon was with Mr. Fu in the garden, where would she find the time to leave?"

Zhao Si Niang still felt uneasy, "But..."

"No buts, now besides the main house courtyard, mother is in charge of everything at home, could such a big matter as leaving the house be hidden from mother?"

Zhao Si Niang thought so too, and fell silent.

Fu Tinghan stood by the car, looked at her back and asked, "Why did you want to arouse their suspicion?"

Zhao Hanzhang said, "This was Grandfather’s idea, I need to hide my people in West City and handle some assets, so I had to throw them a bait to catch and divert their attention."

Zhao Changyu’s health is getting worse, not only Zhao Hanzhang knew, Zhao Zhongyu and Zhao Ji should also know. Ji Yuan said recently some unfamiliar faces appeared under the properties of the main house, intentionally or not, negotiating business and some were buying off insiders trying to see the accounts.

Their actions grew bigger, Zhao Hanzhang always had to find them something to do.

Fu Tinghan looked puzzled, "Since you said that after Luoyang there would be chaos and we couldn’t even survive here, then the benefits generated from fixed assets in this period would be very limited, why do you bother with these?"

Zhao Hanzhang paused, blinking.

The Fu Tinghan opposite her also blinked, hesitated, then said, "You... you wouldn’t have overlooked this, would you?"

Silence spread between the two, for a long time, Zhao Hanzhang lightly coughed and said, "So, you think..."

"Gold, silver, cloth, even porcelain and jade are better than fixed assets, especially the first three, not only easy to carry, but also easy to trade and liquidate."

Fu Tinghan, due to unfamiliarity with this era, quietly observed this world since he awoke, and the best way was listening and watching more at the marketplace.

Previously he hadn’t the chance to go out, but since he had to come to Zhao Family to fulfill his duty, he detoured to the market every day, getting off the carriage and walking all the way.

If Luoyang turns chaotic as Teacher Zhao said, then the most crucial materials should be food, cloth and medicine, the best assets to own should be portable and valuable gold and silver, followed by cloth and copper coins...

Zhao Hanzhang fixed her gaze on Fu Tinghan for a long time, then reached out and patted his shoulder, "Professor Fu, I was being dogmatic, too presumptuous."

Fu Tinghan: "...It’s okay?"