After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 649 - 643: Deal

Zhao Hu’s mood improved as he walked with his hands behind his back, following Zhao Hanzhang into the Zhao Mansion. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Zhao Hanzhang deliberately took a detour, circling halfway before heading towards Zhao Zhongyu’s courtyard.

Although Zhao Hu was not familiar with the Zhao Mansion, he had been there once before and stayed for a while, so he roughly remembered the layout.

At first, he didn’t realize it, but once he did, they had already arrived at the place.

Zhao Hu opened his mouth wide to look at the ruined eaves and broken walls ahead. He first turned back to look at the road they took to confirm this was within the Zhao Mansion and not somewhere else, only then did he let out the breath he was holding, "What’s going on here?"

Zhao Hanzhang gently explained, "Grandfather used to live in this courtyard frequently because it was convenient for work. After Uncle Grandfather took over as Clan Leader, although he moved to the main house, he specifically sealed this courtyard to express his mourning."

"Alas, who would have thought that a great fire in Luoyang would burn the courtyard to nothing." Zhao Hanzhang sighed, leading Zhao Hu further in, and in the next section, around a small garden was the courtyard where she lived. She pointed at the courtyard and said with a smile, "Seventh Ancestor, this is my courtyard. If you have any matters in the future, feel free to find me here."

Zhao Hu stiffly turned his neck to look at the burned-down house next to the courtyard. At this time, there were many plants growing inside. He stepped forward to look and couldn’t help but frown, "Is this a rose?"

"Yes," Zhao Hanzhang replied happily, "Seventh Ancestor doesn’t know, but flowers and plants grow very easily in a burned-down courtyard. Really, when I saw such a large courtyard left empty, it seemed like a waste, so I had people plant some vegetables in it. But there are only so many people in the mansion, and so many places destroyed by fire, we couldn’t finish eating the planted vegetables, so we also had people plant roses."

She smiled, "Next year, these roses should be able to climb over the collapsed beams and rubble, and it won’t look like a burned-down house anymore. When they bloom, it will look even better."

Zhao Hu was speechless, "You’re not rebuilding?"

Zhao Hanzhang sighed, "No money."

This house used excellent materials. If she were to rebuild it with ordinary wood and stone, it wouldn’t match the unburned half at all.

Not only would it look ugly, but it would also be uncomfortable to see every time, thinking that now the houses were enough, there was no need to rebuild.

Zhao Hu: ...

He turned and said, "Where does Zhao Zhongyu live?"

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and led him there.

The courtyard was well maintained, servants would clean it every ten days, occasionally airing it out, ready for the owner or any guests to stay.

As soon as Zhao Hu moved in, his servants opened his suitcases, carrying items inside in a line.

Though most were male servants, their movements were quick and precise. They fetched water and wiped the room inside and out, then bowed and exited, bringing in the rest of the luggage, including... money.

Of the five ox carts, three were loaded solely with money.

The maids laid out their mats, took out wooden tubs, cloth towels, and placed them on a shelf, lit incense, and set up a glazed mirror, and a half-meter-tall makeup box containing Zhao Hu’s daily-used perfumes, powders, ointments, and gold and jade ornaments.

Zhao Hanzhang knelt beside Zhao Hu, discussing the new currency and the old currency. The maid took out a set of glazed cups, poured boiling water into a glazed pot, then used water from the pot to brew tea powder...

After quickly stirring, the maid even added a bit of sugar...

Zhao Hu saw her look dumbfounded, as if she had never seen the world, and proudly said, "This is a new way of drinking tea from our Xiping. It’s a pity there’s no goat milk, otherwise, adding goat milk to boil with it would make it more fragrant, richer, and tastier."

Zhao Hanzhang closed her mouth, "That’s quite impressive. Has it been a year since I last returned to Xiping? And there’s already a new way of drinking tea."

Zhao Hu glanced at her and said, "Isn’t it because of you and Ting Han?"

He snorted, "You’re both too lazy, and so are the servants around you. They don’t even bother to put ginger and salt when brewing tea, just pouring boiling water and drinking it, tasteless. Yet people outside love to follow, drinking as you do, and it affected my tea house’s business."

Zhao Hanzhang: ...

She steadied herself and humbly asked, "And then?"

"And then?" Zhao Hu said, "Then I guessed you must not like salty things, so you prefer sweet. I had people add sugar to the clear tea you brewed."

He said, "I must say, adding sugar made it quite tasty, but it wasted the tea leaves. So I had people grind the tea leaves, then add sugar to boil, and finally add some goat milk, making it more fragrant."

"Besides that, in winter, you can add ginger, drinking hot sweet tea can ward off the cold. In summer, the brewed tea is placed in an ice basin to chill, the goat milk doesn’t taste gamey, with added sugar, it becomes sweet and thirst-quenching..." Zhao Hu smiled and said, "I’ll have someone buy a milk-producing goat from the market, so I can make it for you tomorrow."

Zhao Hanzhang: "...Thank you, Seventh Ancestor."

Zhao Hu waved dismissively. He looked at the room, a bit disdainful, "The furnishings in this room are too simple. Your Uncle Grandfather is at least Chief of Staff and also the Clan Leader, how can he be so frugal?"

Zhao Hanzhang replied, "This is the main house. In earlier years, Grandfather would occasionally stay here."

So initially, this was where Zhao Changyu lived.

"Oh," Zhao Hu withdrew his opinion, since it was Zhao Changyu’s residence, it was fine.

Zhao Hu pointed to the empty space beside the screen and said, "A full-length mirror is missing. That thing is difficult to carry. Since there’s a Glass Workshop in Chen County too, I didn’t bring my most frequently used mirror."

Zhao Hanzhang immediately said, "I’ll have the Treasure Workshop send one over to the Seventh Ancestor."

Zhao Hu, pleased, stroked his beard. After being appeased for a while, Zhao Hu finally agreed to discuss the matter of the new currency and the old currency, "I’ve weighed it, your new coins are lighter than the old ones, and though it’s said that the Shu region and the two lakes recognize them, who knows if using them in those places might be met with disdain?"

He said, "For instance, if I and another person both fancy a piece of silk and offer the same price, but he pays with old coins and I with new, the shopkeeper might give it to him just because he offered old coins, leaving me at a loss."

Zhao Hanzhang frowned, as trust in currency involves an implicit value. Very few people can foresee this aspect, but since Zhao Hu brought it up, it needs to be addressed.

"So what does Seventh Ancestor mean?"

Zhao Hu became serious and said, "I can exchange new money with you, but I want it at a one to one point two ratio."

Meaning his ten old coins for twelve new ones.

He raised his hand to stop Zhao Hanzhang from speaking and said, "I know what you’re going to say, but this is already my biggest concession. I’m taking a risk using new coins. If I can’t spend them, these copper coins will just be copper in my hands. Were these new coins not minted by you or vouched for by Zhao Ming, I wouldn’t exchange them."

He was a very conservative person.

Zhao Hanzhang contemplated briefly, then immediately agreed, "Deal!"

Zhao Hu curled his lips in a smile and said, "I like your straightforwardness. In this regard, you’re nothing like your grandfather."