Chapter 416 - 410: I Am Rich One
Zhao Hanzhang finally returned to Chen County, and Ji Yuan received the news early in the morning and rushed out to meet her.
She returned with a small entourage, travel-worn and dusty. As she sat on her horse and glanced around, not seeing Fu Tinghan, she jumped off the horse and asked Ji Yuan, "Mr. Ji, where’s Tinghan?"
Ji Yuan: "Mr. Fu is in the medicine workshop. Based on the data you sent back, he and the doctors have formulated a new prescription, which is said to be orally administrable."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Hanzhang immediately turned around, "Where is the medicine workshop? Let’s go have a look."
Ji Yuan opened his mouth, and seeing she had already turned toward the main street, he could only follow, dutifully guiding her, "It’s over there, Miss. Aren’t you and Mr. Erlang going to pay respects to your mother first?"
Only then did Zhao Hanzhang remember Mrs. Wang, and she paused her steps. She glanced at the house Ji Yuan pointed to and found it wasn’t very far. She continued walking, instructing Zhao Erlang, who was following behind, "Erlang, you go back first."
Zhao Erlang understood and immediately refused, "No, I want to go see my brother-in-law with you."
He didn’t want to go back alone and face his mother.
"You’ve been away from home so long, don’t you miss your mother?" Zhao Hanzhang said to him, "When you return home, you should first ensure everyone’s peace, otherwise it’s not filial at all."
Zhao Erlang retorted, "Sister, you haven’t gone back either."
"I have a legitimate reason!"
Zhao Erlang stubbornly followed behind Zhao Hanzhang, "So do I. I want to see my brother-in-law... making medicine."
Zhao Hanzhang glanced at him, thinking, what medicine-making? Does he think it’s cultivating immortality?
The medicine workshop was in a vacant house not far from the Inspector Mansion. Although it was still early morning, it was already bustling inside.
Ji Yuan led her familiarly to a room, whispering, "Mr. Fu is usually here preparing medicines."
The window was wide open for light; otherwise, who would want to work with the window open in such cold weather?
Zhao Hanzhang looked up and saw Fu Tinghan not far inside the window.
He was wearing a mask, holding a test tube, seemingly adjusting something. After finishing dripping liquid, he seemed to feel Zhao Hanzhang’s gaze and turned to look at her.
Their eyes met, and he smiled with his eyes, nodding to her through the window before continuing his work.
Zhao Hanzhang stood outside the window, waiting, shifting slightly to not block the view.
Zhao Erlang saw them exchange just a glance without speaking further, and he scratched his head, approaching from behind, "Sister, why aren’t you going in?"
Zhao Hanzhang slightly turned her head, glancing at him, "Bored now, huh? I told you to go back to our mother, but you insisted on following..."
She continued, "Didn’t you see he’s busy? Let’s wait a bit longer."
Fu Tinghan finished his work, putting the test tube on the shelf before turning to come out.
He took off his mask, quietly looking Zhao Hanzhang up and down before smiling slightly, "When did you return? Was your journey safe?"
Zhao Hanzhang nodded, about to speak when Zhao Erlang behind her spouted off, "Brother-in-law, we came to find you as soon as we entered the city, haven’t even been to our mother yet."
He complained a bit, "We weren’t supposed to come back; Xin Song County’s county seat just got started. I only built one house, and County Magistrate Chen said that’s for prisoners to live in, so as long as it’s sturdy, fewer windows are fine. Sigh, I wonder if the people living there will remember me. I carved my name on a corner of the wall..."
Zhao Hanzhang: "... Who taught you to carve your name into buildings you’re making?"
Zhao Erlang defended, "Many people do it, saying it’s to make future residents remember us."
Lv Hu, behind Zhao Erlang, couldn’t help but tug his clothes, signaling him to say less.
Seeing Zhao Hanzhang glaring, Fu Tinghan stepped in between them, smiling, "Then we should indeed pay respects to the madam."
He said to both, "Madam arrived in Chen County a month ago and has been waiting for your return. Let’s go, I’ll return with you."
Zhao Erlang, being clever now, knew his mother liked Fu Tinghan. As long as Fu Tinghan was present, his mother’s attention would be on him, making her much more lenient towards him, so upon hearing Fu Tinghan would accompany them, he happily swung his arms and walked ahead.
Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan fell behind him, chatting casually, "Has the production scale of the medicine workshop increased?"
Fu Tinghan, who wanted to build the medicine workshop to produce penicillin at scale, had her approval. The penicillin produced during this time was all used for experimentation, and the results were quite good.
However, production efficiency wasn’t very high, so he had been working on improving this.
Fu Tinghan nodded, "An elderly couple who always collected food waste gave me a suggestion, and now efficiency is much higher, but to supply both the army and civilian needs, one workshop isn’t enough."
Zhao Hanzhang nodded, "Then build one each in Xiping and Shangcai as well."
She paused and added, "And also in Xin Song County. These three places are entirely under my control."
Ji Yuan, who had been silently following behind, couldn’t help but say, "Miss, building three more workshops won’t be cheap, and most importantly, the supplies you had us contact earlier need payment."
Zhao Hanzhang, aware of Ji Yuan’s concern, slightly raised an eyebrow, confidently saying, "Don’t worry, Mr. Ji, I have money."
Ji Yuan: ...
He knew all of Zhao Hanzhang’s assets, perhaps even better than she did herself.
Since Luoyang, he had been managing her dowry openly and secretly. He also escorted her secret dowry out of Luoyang, and to this day, her official and secret dowries, along with earnings over the past year, had mostly been spent.
The young miss spent money so lavishly that he once worried she’d be too poor to afford new clothes.
But that was impossible because Mrs. Wang had taken care of it all for Zhao Hanzhang.
Mrs. Wang was wealthy too!
Her personal dowry, the inheritance left by her husband, and the subsidies Zhao Changyu occasionally sent her over the years, meant she had quite a substantial fortune.
Though, compared to the Zhao Family’s estate, it wasn’t much.
Yet, with Zhao Hanzhang spent up, this fortune was significant.
Having heard her daughter and son returned, Mrs. Wang had already dressed up and was waiting in the main hall for them. After less than a quarter-hour, she couldn’t help but stand at the hall door, looking toward the yard...
Then, at some point, she moved to the main gate, standing on tiptoe to look into the distance.
After waiting a long time, she finally saw her son walking up, swinging his arms. She sighed in relief, a smile creeping onto her face. Remembering something, she straightened up, sternly standing as the children approached.
Zhao Erlang saw his mother from afar and ran up, "Mother, we’re back!"
Mrs. Wang finally couldn’t hold back her expression, smiling as she caught Zhao Erlang, looking him over, "Taller, taller, but why so skinny?"
Zhao Erlang smiled foolishly at her.
Zhao Hanzhang also stepped forward quickly, smilingly saluting, "Mother."
Fu Tinghan made a bow, greeting, "Madam." Alas, given the age similarity to someone he previously knew, he just couldn’t bring himself to call her Auntie.