Fu Tinghan took Zhao Hanzhang’s hand and stepped forward to greet, then the three entered the main hall together. Mrs. Wang had already moved to sit beside Princess Hongnong, with over a dozen boxes placed in front of them. Upon seeing Zhao Hanzhang, she immediately brightened up and waved, "Third Lady, come quickly, the Princess and I are picking accessories for your wedding day."

Princess Hongnong looked at Zhao Hanzhang with a smile; it was the second time she had observed her closely.

The atmosphere in the room was beyond Zhao Hanzhang’s expectations; she just froze for a moment before breaking into a smile and respectfully stepped forward.

Fu Xuan, seeing this, immediately pulled Fu Tinghan away, "Let’s go, we’ll go admire the plum trees."

What’s there to admire about plum trees?

But Fu Tinghan glanced at Zhao Hanzhang and followed him out.

Zhao Hanzhang handed her cloak to Ting He for safekeeping and turned to Zhao Yunxin who followed in, saying, "You go ahead with your work, I’ll call for you if anything comes up."

Zhao Yunxin complied, bowed to Mrs. Wang and Princess Hongnong, and withdrew.

Seeing her dressed in an official robe, Princess Hongnong asked, "Is she a female official?"

"Yes," Zhao Hanzhang replied with a smile, "she is my secretary."

Princess Hongnong was momentarily lost, even though she had heard rumors of many female officials in the court today, seeing it for herself was still shocking, "How many female officials are there in the court now?"

Zhao Hanzhang said, "With such a question, I really can’t answer on the spot; it might need Tinghan and Ji Yuan to know. Over the years, there have been female officials recruited through talents examination, plus those from academies and recommendations, if not over a hundred, there are at least seventy or eighty."

Princess Hongnong was stunned, "So many?"

"The ranks vary, most are just of the Ninth Grade or below, though I believe if they are willing, they will eventually have a place in the court."

"Oh my, we called you here to try on accessories, why are you talking about court affairs?" Mrs. Wang interrupted them, signaling Qing Gu to bring Zhao Hanzhang over. "Let’s start with the earrings, the Princess and I picked five pairs for you."

Princess Hongnong snapped out of it, turned her head to glance at the happy Mrs. Wang; after an hour of warm conversation that morning, she had understood Mrs. Wang’s personality well enough to know someone like Zhao Hanzhang could not have been raised by her. So...

She looked at Zhao Hanzhang, who had sat cross-legged in front of her.

No sooner had she sat down than Mrs. Wang tapped her twice, "Sit properly!"

Zhao Hanzhang obediently shifted from sitting cross-legged to sitting formally by Mrs. Wang’s side.

Mrs. Wang held a pair of jade earrings next to her ears, "Oh dear, your ear piercings are almost closed. Ting He, how long has it been since you put earrings on the Third Lady?"

Ting He obediently admitted fault, "This servant is to blame."

Zhao Hanzhang waved her hand and said, "Mother, I often ride out and occasionally need to train troops, wearing earrings is inconvenient, I didn’t let her put them on."

Mrs. Wang touched her earlobe, "Try it today, if it doesn’t go through, you need to pierce it again. Even if you don’t wear long earrings, short ones will do. I’ll have someone find some pearls to make earrings that hug the earlobe, they won’t be obtrusive."

Zhao Hanzhang always obliged the adults’ words first, whether to actually do it would depend on her mood and ideas, feigning compliance without genuine intention. So she agreed sweetly.

Princess Hongnong glanced at the effect and shook her head, "The jade ones don’t suit, try these ruby ones."

Zhao Hanzhang was bright and generous, suitable for dazzling colors.

Mrs. Wang then took the earrings and held them next to Zhao Hanzhang’s ears, hearing Princess Hongnong ask, "Was the Great General brought up by Mr. Zhao when she was young?"

Mrs. Wang replied, "The Princess can call her Third Lady, calling her Great General is too formal." Then she laughed, "Her grandfather didn’t have time to raise her, but she loved going to his study to find books to read, always liking to be near him."

Speaking of this, Mrs. Wang sighed, "This child was eager to learn from a young age. Her grandfather hired both literary and martial tutors for Second Son, but in the end, he didn’t learn much, while she learned a lot. Back then, I felt her learning was useless, but it turned out to be life-saving skills."

Zhao Hanzhang smiled at Mrs. Wang, "See, it’s useful for girls to study and practice martial arts, isn’t it?"

"Useful, useful, very useful," Mrs. Wang laughed, "much more useful than your brother. By the way, where is Second Son? He hasn’t been seen these past few days. It’s the Little New Year today, isn’t the court supposed to be on holiday? Where has he gone off to now? Not coming home even on festivals, he’s getting more and more unruly."

Zhao Hanzhang lightly coughed, whispering on his behalf, "In theory, it’s a holiday, but in reality, there are many things to be handled at the court, so everyone is working overtime."

Seeing Mrs. Wang looking at her quietly, Zhao Hanzhang immediately said, "I went out to work overtime today as well."

Even she, the Great General, was not free, naturally, everyone had to work overtime.

Mrs. Wang snorted lightly, saying, "Your wedding day is approaching, yet you show no concern at all. You should’ve stayed at home two weeks in advance, and now just two days are left and you’re still running outside. Look around, inside or outside the house, does it look like a joyous occasion is about to happen?"

"Why not?" Zhao Hanzhang defended, "Look at the red papers pasted on the windows, the red cloth hanging in the yard, and outside, in every street and alley, every household is hanging red papers and lanterns. The whole city is almost red, isn’t that festive enough?" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Zhao Hanzhang hugged her arm with a smile, "Mother, this wedding is already very grand, I feel it’s a bit extravagant."

"You’ve repeatedly cut back on your expenses, and this is still extravagant?" Mrs. Wang said, wiping her eyes, choking up, "Your expenses haven’t even reached a third of what your grandfather prepared back then, and as for dowry, I checked it again today. Compared it to the list your grandfather prepared for you, it’s not even a tenth, it’s too pathetic."

Zhao Hanzhang looked embarrassed, the dowry from her grandfather, including the betrothal gift prepared for Zhao Erlang, was all spent.

Beside them, Princess Hongnong also felt embarrassed because the betrothal gift prepared by the Fu Family wasn’t much either, she thought Zhao’s family’s dowry was probably small due to the betrothal gift,

According to tradition, the dowry corresponds to the betrothal gift, if the betrothal gift is small but the dowry is large, it actually insults the Fu Family.

Princess Hongnong felt uneasy and was about to grit her teeth and prepare to borrow money to increase the betrothal gift, planning to repay afterward...

Before she could decide, Zhao Hanzhang placated Mrs. Wang, "Mother, the betrothal gifts and dowry are just for show, nice to look at but not practical. We know that many of our assets between Ting Han and I are not on the list, but those industries are our real assets, that’s the substance."

"Substance is much more important than appearance."

Mrs. Wang said, "You could have both substance and appearance, noting them on the list, wouldn’t it look better?"

Zhao Hanzhang shook her head repeatedly, helplessly saying, "Mother, the war just ended, within the next five years there will certainly be a marriage boom in the civilian population, leading by example, only by being frugal can the trend among people be frugal. This can actually promote the marriage rate and population growth."

"If I am too extravagant, people will surely follow suit, and each year it will worsen. Obviously suitable matches would be prevented by high matrimony costs, wouldn’t that harm the nation’s foundation?"

Mrs. Wang was taken aback, "So serious?"

Zhao Hanzhang solemnly nodded, "It is that serious, so we must be cautious."

After appeasing Mrs. Wang, Zhao Hanzhang quickly picked up the remaining three pairs of earrings from the box, holding them by her ears, "Look, you see, you decide, which is the most beautiful?"

Mrs. Wang: ...