"..." Zhao Song asked, "Do you have any leads on a marriage arrangement for the Second Son?"

Zhao Hanzhang gave him a guilty smile.

Seeing this, Zhao Song snorted coldly, "Not even a shadow of it, yet you dare to guarantee that his son can take over the Clan Leader position in twenty years?"

"Aren’t you afraid that he might not even have a son in twenty years?"

Zhao Hanzhang: "No son, daughters can do too. By then, she can marry someone into the family, as long as the person’s character is respectable."

Zhao Song, angry: "Am I talking about the child? I’m clearly talking about his marriage arrangement, and you haven’t even set up a marriage for him now; who can say if he can marry a wife in twenty years!"

Zhao Song asked her, "What kind of wife do you want for him? I thought the ones I previously selected were quite good. If you had listened to me and arranged a marriage two years ago, he could have married before you went off to war, and by now the child would almost be born."

Zhao Hanzhang was dumbfounded by this timeline.

After venting his feelings, Zhao Song felt much better, and he pulled the conversation back on track with a cold expression, "Twenty years, you can wait, but the people of the clan cannot. Third Lady, now we have us old folks to suppress the dissent, but how many more years can we live? Now more and more people in the clan favor the First Son to succeed as Clan Leader. If you don’t let the Second Son start a family and have children, I can’t hold them off."

A villager came up with a tray to serve them tea and said to Zhao Hanzhang, "Third Lady, the old master and the Lord are suppressing dissent within the clan, and many people privately speculate that the old master wants to vie for the Clan Leader position. Nowadays, our old master gets scolded a lot in the clan."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hanzhang felt deeply guilty and swallowed her words of refusal, instead saying, "I will go back and find a wife for the Second Son."

Hearing this, Zhao Song’s face looked much better.

Zhao Hanzhang picked up the teapot to pour tea for Zhao Song and said, "Now the affairs of the clan still depend on Uncle Grandfather and Uncle Ming to worry about."

Zhao Song stared at the tea she offered, his expression becoming more gentle. After taking a sip, he said, "Don’t dislike us for nagging; it’s just that you young people are too procrastinating in doing things."

"Marriage is supposed to be arranged by parents and matchmakers. Yet, you young people now like to find your own partners, wanting good family backgrounds, knowledge, and understanding, as well as mutual willingness. With so many requirements, who is willing to accommodate you?"

Zhao Song was full of grievances at this point, "Zhao Shen is already quite old and still not married, Zhao Kuan too. And let Zhao Yunxin follow the same example. The young people of the clan of marriageable age are all influenced by you as leaders not getting married. What do you want? Do you all want to be like wild grasses, reproducing generation after generation on your own?"

Zhao Hanzhang quickly clarified, "Uncle Grandfather, I am engaged, and I will be married soon. I am different from them."

Her words only made Zhao Song angrier, "You are the one backing them; otherwise, where would they find the courage to repeatedly refuse the marriages arranged by the family?"

"Saying they want to have a loving relationship like you and Ting Han, to achieve great things together, and that their careers are their priority. Fight the world first, then settle down. What, does settling down interfere with fighting the world? Do you know what it means to establish a family and career? First establish a family, then a career. Have you forgotten the teachings of the ancestors?"

"What’s wrong with the marriages arranged by the family?" Zhao Song had been entangled with Mr. Zhao Dong and his wife these recent days, stifling a belly full of fire that was almost extinguished by tea but now erupted again, "Was it not the family that arranged your marriage with Ting Han? Were you not compatible?"

"Your father and mother were also bound by the mandate of their parents back then, and weren’t they loving? Why is it not possible when it comes to the Second Son?"

"You won’t let us make things difficult for the Second Son, and Zhao Shen and the others use this as an excuse to not let us put pressure on them either. Do you know that because of your words, in the last two years, the number of people getting married in the clan is less than sixty percent of previous years!"

Zhao Hanzhang wiped her face and explained with difficulty, "Uncle Grandfather, the Second Son is still not mature enough. He’s like a child. I cannot harm other families’ good girls. Shen and the others are different from the Second Son. You can’t blame their not getting married on me."

"Once he has a wife, he will naturally mature. Once he becomes a father, he will no longer be like a child. Open your eyes and look around. How many singles are there around you?"

"From the Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat and the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat to the County Magistrate and Chief Clerk, count how many around you are married? What, are you planning to build a government of monks and nuns? Married people can’t hold office?"

Zhao Hanzhang was shocked, quickly saying, "Uncle Grandfather, we dare not say that. We are now strongly encouraging the people to marry and have children."

Great Jin needs birth rates, needs labor force indeed.

"You know that, then do you know what it means to lead by example?" Zhao Song said, "First arrange a marriage for the Second Son, then let Mr. Ji and Mr. Ming around you get married. Zhao Shen, Zhao Kuan, all of them, get married and have children. Influence starts from the top. When those below see how well you are doing after getting married, they will naturally aspire to do the same. By then, you won’t need to encourage them; they will all get married naturally."

A nearby villager nodded in agreement, siding with Zhao Song, "A wife, children, and a warm bed are blessings many people seek all their lives."

When Zhao Hanzhang was let out the door, she was in a daze. She had been indoctrinated with Zhao Song’s views on marriage for an hour and was forced to agree to find wives for Mr. Ji, Mr. Ming, Zhao Shen, Zhao Kuan, and others, and to find husbands for Zhao Yunxin, Fan Ying, Chen Si Niang, and others.

If she still had her senses, she might have even agreed to the two cousins Zhao Song selected for Ji Yuan and Ming Yu.

Close call, close call, the two gentlemen almost became her brothers-in-law.

Standing outside the door, Zhao Hanzhang wiped the cold sweat off her forehead, quickly slipping away with Zeng Yue and Ting He.

As they were riding halfway, Zhao Hanzhang suddenly reined in her horse to look back at Zeng Yue and Ting He.

Zeng Yue and Ting He were taken aback by her gaze, and quietly asked, "Miss, what’s wrong?"

Zhao Hanzhang asked profoundly, "You’re not married either, are you?"

Zeng Yue and Ting He: ... Don’t you already know whether we are married or not?

That’s what they thought, but neither dared to say it, so they quietly shook their heads.

Zhao Hanzhang sighed in relief and immediately sent out a notice that on the next day, she would convene a large court meeting, where all eligible officials must attend.

As a result, even Xie Shi, who was training troops outside the city, hurried back to the city and entered the palace to attend the court meeting early the next day.

At the court meeting, after discussing the recent important national matters to be dealt with, Zhao Hanzhang announced, "General and Minister Fu are about to get married. The date will be set shortly. If nothing unexpected happens, we should be married before the year’s end."

The entire court rejoiced, all happily raised their hands to congratulate Zhao Hanzhang, then turned to congratulate Fu Tinghan.

Fu Tinghan, bewildered, bowed to return the greeting, instinctively replied, "Congratulations, congratulations..."

He wondered why Zhao Hanzhang, who is not one to boast or mix public with private matters, would announce this at court.