Insufficient balance

  Zhao Fubo was not like the big master Zhao Xu in the east house, his father Zhao Wujie was in charge of the family's horse trading business, and he knew some small servants who were all busy flattering him. The only one who treated him with the same warmth as when they were children was the girl Yu'er in front of him.

  "Alright, alright, you read it and I'll memorize it properly, once I've memorized it we..."

  Just one sentence, Shu Yu'er's face turned red again, and she stomped her foot, scolding: "Who is 'we' with you? I only taught you to recite books, and you taught me some skills. We owe each other nothing!"

  Although Shu Yiner scolded him a few words, she began to read aloud "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, and Zhao Fubo followed suit.

  For some reason, Zhao Fubo no longer stared blankly at the sandy ground. Listening to Shu Yiner's crisp voice, those military tactics that he could never remember were slowly recalled.

  Before long, it will be the day of Zhao brothers' one test per season.

  The hall was filled with the scent of sandalwood, and on the wall was a large painting of a dragon traveling through nine states.

  The giant dragon with its teeth and claws dancing in the air, two huge and majestic dragon eyes often made Zhao Fu Bo feel a little scared. Especially when it was time to recite books, he was equally afraid of that dragon and San Niang sitting in front.

  To be honest, San Niang doesn't look ugly or old. Although she uses a dragon-headed cane, the high hair bun on her head with ornaments, and the slender figure in silk clothes, still make it easy for people to imagine what she looked like when she was young.

  Just, if two painted slanting eyebrows are added to the temples, and a round-eyed apricot face is tied up, it will make people around hold their breath.

  Kneeling on the ground with his uncle Zhao Xu, he was not as honest as his elder brother who looked refined on the surface, and from time to time, he would secretly glance at the people around him.

  There were not many people standing on both sides, except for the four major landlords who came from outside, only the leader of the family's high-ranking generals. At this time, the servants and old ladies in the house were arranging offerings on the offering table behind San Niang, and some maids also presented incense tea and fruit to the seated leaders.

  The four masters sitting on the chairs on both sides of San Niang can only come back once a year today. Except for checking the weapons and knowledge of the children in the family with Mrs. Zhang, it is to report their gains and losses in business to Mrs. Zhang last year.

  The master of the Ruiyu Zhuang, Shu Bo'an, who lived on the island of Datongbu (now the Hormuz Strait in the Persian Gulf), was Shu Yin's father. He had a square face with a stern expression and, according to Song Dynasty customs, had three long whiskers under his chin. This often made Zhao Wuji feel curious - how could such a majestic-looking father raise a daughter as beautiful as Shu Yin?

  The porcelain and silk produced in his village were another major source of income for the Zhao family, apart from raising and selling horses. Many merchants from the Central Plains would store their goods with him, which he would then transport to the Black Clothes Great Food market for sale.

  Among the four manors, Ruiyu Manor is the largest and pays the most money to Huangsha City every year. Except for Ruiyu Manor, the other three manors are all located on the road leading to Busra (now Basra) City.

  The closest to Basra is the Purple Cloud Estate, which is mainly engaged in cargo transportation. Most of them are Arabs. It is a large market that mainly trades goods from the East and West. And from here, goods from China are transported through the Tigris River or the Euphrates River to Basra or directly to Baghdad, the capital where Harun al-Rashid, the caliph of the Arab Empire, lives.

  Even the landlord sitting there has a face like an Arab merchant.

  A pair of bright, small eyes with a slightly hooked nose in between, and the whiskers below looked like two raised eagle wings. Unfortunately, the tips of the whiskers were curled up, making it look like an eagle with curly hair.

  Everyone calls him Hassan, apart from Ruiyu Village, this is the second richest guy.

  A slightly more recent name for the estate is Feathered Lin Estate. It's mainly inhabited by instructors from Huangsha City, who sell and train Mameluke cavalry that combine Central Plains characteristics.

  The lord of the Wei manor, Wei Zhen, although his appearance was also very majestic, compared to the Shu Zhuang master of Ruiyu Manor, he was a leopard-headed and ring-eyed person, looking like a brave and fearless warrior.

  Among several manors, this is the most compatible with Zhao Fubo, even the strange-looking leather armor that Zhao Fubo wears on his body and often complains about comes from him.

  The back heart style armor has three layers, the outside and inside are cowhide, while the middle is a thick iron plate. Wei Zhen said so when he gave it to him.

  "Second Brother, this iron armor can not only protect you completely, but also make people strong and healthy!"

  "You're a wicked Weizhong, you bear! One day when I gain power, not only will I make you wear an iron vest, but also an iron helmet. And to top it off, this heavy armor is purely meant to harm me..."

  As for this, Zhao Fubo, who has been carrying these dozens of kilograms of iron armor back and forth all day, is not pleased. But he, who has no power or even parents, cannot complain, so he can only secretly scold in his heart.

  Because the cavalry horses in Yulin Village all came from Difeng Village, which is closest to Huangsha City and mainly sells horses and livestock. Moreover, he was the poorest one among the four major village owners, with the lowest status. I don't know what his character is like outside, but when he's at home, he's very respectful to the other three village owners.

  Closer by is Zhao Wujie's Stormwind Manor, mainly responsible for raising livestock for the Zhao family, providing meat, dairy products and warhorses.

  The Zhao family's Yellow Sand Castle was located in the "Kot" province of the Black-robed Foodians (i.e. ancient Kuwait), a name that means "granary" in Arabic. The Yellow Sand Castle was built at the Subiya Cape, which had a harbor and market where local herdsmen exchanged goods.

  This is the foundation of Zhao's business.

  They also made ships and forged Damascus steel weapons, while many farmers planted rice or wheat. The people living here, except for the Erjiazi, were mostly descendants of the Zhao family with Han characteristics.

  "Ding..."

  A crisp, clear voice rang out, and the servants and maids who were waiting on the side immediately retreated with solemn faces. The Third Madam, sitting in the middle, lightly tapped her dragon-head cane three times.

  In the silent and soundless great hall, three heavy knocks with a metallic tone drove away all distractions in everyone's mind, each one gathered their full attention to participate in the Zhao family's annual grand ceremony.

  "Shu Yu'er!"

  "Yes, I'm here!"

  For today's grand ceremony, Shu Yiner dressed up neatly and elegantly. The new maid in the upper house could wear a palace dress made of silk, satin and brocade, making her look as beautiful as a flower among flowers.

  Her appearance made the two brothers kneel in front of her, staring at her with their eyes fixed on her.

  Zhao Xu, just acting as a brother, bowed his head and dared only to glance at her feet. If he didn't look at her feet, Zhao Xu would have looked at Shu Yiner with adoration. But in their household, which was now wealthy and well-fed, the women generally did not bind their feet due to the need for managing the household and doing chores.

  In his view, since many women in the Central Plains have bound feet, then with the wealth of the Zhao family, the women at home should also bind their feet to look good.

  As for Zhao Fubo, he quietly raised his head. Taking advantage of San Niang's inattention, he made a ghostly face at Shu Yun, which inadvertently made Zhao Xu laugh.

  "This little rascal is already 15 years old, he should know something about the ways of men and women, but unexpectedly he's still so naive!"

  It was Shu Yu'er whose tender and smooth face was tightly closed, her expression seemingly not noticing Zhao Fu's ghostly face at all. Under San Niang's summons, she came to her seat and made a deep bow. Then she helped San Niang up, taking advantage of the moment, San Niang's loud voice rang out in the hall.

  "Please come out, ancestors! Everyone in the family will kneel down and pay their respects!"

  After that, several masters hurried over to move her chair aside, and she herself leaned on the dragon head cane and knelt down to the right side of the main hall with Zhao brothers on an equal footing, then knocked her forehead against the ground. However, several masters knelt in the position behind Zhao brothers, facing the wall in front of them. Behind them were the leaders of the family generals and others.

  As for some of the maids who were holding lanterns or serving tea, they all knelt in their respective positions, only pressing their foreheads to the ground and not daring to look around.

  The only one who didn't kneel, Shu Yu'er, walked to the side of the painting depicting a dragon traveling through nine states. With force, she pressed down on one of the dragon's claws, and the wall with the painted dragon claw sank downwards, followed by the sound of machinery starting up, "Rumble, rumble".

  The entire painting turned inward, and the wall that came out had a large map of Zhongyuan painted on it. Some plaques were fixed to the wall, but what was suspicious was that there were no words on those plaques.

  In front of the empty plaque, there was a golden tray with a dragon claw of the same material on it, supporting an eight-sided purple gold sword. This was Zhao Fubo and his brother Zhao Xu, who were to lead the head of the household and the leader of the family generals in performing the ritual of three bows and nine knocks.

  After Shu Yu'er finished the task, she backed away a few steps with her waist bent before turning around. Then she retreated to the back of San Niang and also touched her forehead to the ground. Although in the Zhao family where women could hold power, when it came to worshiping ancestors, they still had to touch their foreheads to the ground.

  Just as she retreated to her position, she suddenly stretched out her fingers like scallions, overlapped her index finger and ring finger, and heavily tapped Zhao Fubo's occipital bone.

  Even in the ancestral hall of the Zhao family, such an out-of-place move would have been enough to get her beaten to death with a stick. But at this moment, taking advantage of everyone kneeling properly and staring at the ground in front of their knees, she still managed to vent her anger on Zhao Fubo's head.

  Zhao Fubo, who was in pain, did not dare to lift his head. When it was time to worship the "Ba Ling Zi Jin Gui" at home, even a naughty person like him did not dare to move recklessly.

  "You this bold and stinky brat, one of these days..."

  One day, he who still hasn't had the chance to put his heart into romantic matters, will know what to do when the time comes. For now, all he can think of is to give Rong Yu Er a couple of hard slaps on her butt.

  It was just that this small action of the two of them did not escape a pair of eyes, and these slightly tanned eyes, although they couldn't be said to be unattractive, had a cold glint in their gaze that made Zhao Fu's heart flash with a sense of unease for no reason.

  "What's going on?"

  Although he didn't read much, his kung fu was undeniable, and he had extremely keen intuition. His intuition told him that the small movements he and Shu Yiner had just made had already caused someone extreme dissatisfaction.

  "Could it be San Niang..."