Zhao Qingluan stared at Prince Rui, and finally told the truth.

"Speaking of education, apart from my grandfather who received an education from a young age, everyone else in my family only started formally attending school three years ago."

Previously, he was taught to read by his elders at home.

Reading is not for the sake of fame and fortune.

The prince was also aware of the Zhao family's business; even without taking the imperial examinations, they could easily be small landowners.

The sisters in the family grew more and more outstanding as they grew up. The grandmother knew that for women from ordinary families, beauty was more of a curse than a blessing.

They were targeted by the powerful and wealthy, and had no power to resist.

So, my grandmother sent three generations of us—or rather, four generations, including my eldest nephew—to school.

At that time, my father and his family resisted in every way because they wanted to study with us. But my grandmother ruthlessly suppressed them all.

If you fail to pass the imperial examinations, you'll get a beating.

And so, they all attained official rank and recognition.

Prince Rui smiled as he got to know the Zhao family and imagined four generations studying together under one roof.

"Your elders were truly farsighted. Regardless of their initial intentions, the outcome was positive."

Zhao Qingluan nodded proudly.

That is.

Leaving aside distant examples, the younger sisters in my family, as long as they don't try to marry into wealth,

If you marry a well-off young man from one of our families, either under our brothers' or our father's rule, you certainly won't be mistreated.

Even when faced with the powerful and influential seizing power and resources, the Zhao family had the strength to resist.

Prince Rui thought to himself,

"You're really too green, kid. You think you can stand up to powerful people with just a few county magistrates in your family? That's wishful thinking."

But thinking about it again, it seems that the Zhao family does now have the power to resist.

Neither I nor that kid Han Xuri would abandon this family.

After all, there's the connection with my younger cousin.

Thinking of this, Prince Rui nodded.

"Yes, Qingluan is right."

"If anyone dares to forcibly marry Miss Zhao, tell me, and I will certainly stand up for you."

Zhao Qingluan quickly stood up and bowed deeply, "This humble official thanks Prince Rui for his protection."

After eating Zhao Qingluan's meals for seven days, Prince Rui decisively fled.

Before leaving, he gave Zhao Qingluan 100 taels of silver.

A county magistrate, who would have thought he'd also be a master chef? His culinary skills are excellent, but they're quite expensive.

Let that kid pay for the meal, it's just two dishes.

When he paid, that kid wanted to cook twenty dishes in one meal.

They claimed they were making sure Prince Rui ate and drank well, but in reality, the kid was just indulging in a feast.

That's such a waste of money.

However, after working with Zhao Qingluan for a few days, I found that this kid was indeed quite capable of handling government affairs.

What's even more outrageous is that this kid actually set his sights on him.

He also hoped that his men could help him wipe out some of the tigers in Black Cliff Mountain, or drive them deeper into the forest.

Prince Rui almost lost his temper.

"So what if I ate a few meals from you, and I even paid for them myself? How dare you make my guards work for free?"

Zhao Qingluan shook his head.

"It can't be considered a free labor. After all, once the prince's men have killed those tigers, they belong to the prince. I dare not have the slightest covetousness."

But could you perhaps share some of that tiger meat with me?

I seem to recall only eating tiger meat once, when my cousin hunted a tiger in the mountains.

Prince Rui always felt that Zhao Qingluan's tone of voice was very strange.

Whether or not he had eaten tiger meat had absolutely nothing to do with Prince Rui.

But this kid not only connected Prince Rui with tiger meat, he also dragged his cousin out for a stroll.

The implication is that my cousin can even kill a tiger.

You, a dignified war god prince, with a large number of guards, can't even help go into the mountains to hunt tigers.

They were practically saying outright that if you can't catch a tiger, you're useless; even a girl is better than you.

After Prince Rui figured it out, he was completely distraught.

He felt he had been tricked by Zhao Qingluan.

This isn't some innocent little white rabbit at all; it's clearly a black sesame seed filling.

As a prince, how could he refuse when local officials came to him for help?

Knowing full well the dangers of Black Cliff Mountain and the sheer number of tigers, he took the token and sent someone to find the city defense camp.

On the day of the tiger hunt, ordinary people could also sign up; anyone who was agile and skilled could participate.

The premise is that you must obey orders and not temporarily escape or cry out, thus disrupting the morale of the army.

When Prince Rui mobilizes troops, there's no reason not to comply.

Heavy crossbows, arrows, and skilled warriors.

As the local official, Zhao Qingluan naturally took the lead and followed along, carrying a knife and arrows, up the mountain.

Not far into the mountains, we spotted tiger tracks.

In fact, Zhao Qingluan had read some of Zhao Qingyan's books before.

They know that if humans hunt wild animals in large numbers, they will eventually become extinct.

Therefore, before going up the mountain, they borrowed a lot of gongs from the blacksmith's shop.

When Prince Rui went up the mountain, he was puzzled when he saw those bronze gongs.

"What's the use of carrying all this stuff when you're going up the mountain to fight a tiger?"

Do you really think a single gong stuns a tiger?

What did Zhao Qingluan say?

"No, no, eliminating tigers doesn't necessarily mean killing them all; driving them away is also a method."

"Once the tiger enters the mountains, that becomes our territory."

Prince Rui made no comment on Zhao Qingluan's ingenious ideas, but when he saw the firecrackers in Zhao's basket, he became agitated.

"What are you going to do with these firecrackers? Do you want to set off a string of firecrackers to celebrate after you've killed the tiger?"

Zhao Qingluan smiled.

"The smell of these firecrackers is very pungent."

"I was thinking, if we get to the mountain and a direct confrontation happens, perhaps setting off a few strings of firecrackers would scare the tiger away."

Prince Rui suddenly realized,

"You don't really want to kill those tigers, kid."

"You want them to live somewhere else, so that your people will have more opportunities to survive, right?"

Zhao Qingluan nodded.

"Your Highness is wise, but I don't know if this method of driving them away will be effective."

After all, they have legs; if you chase them away once, who knows when they might come back for a comeback?

Prince Rui was having trouble keeping up with Zhao Qingluan's train of thought; he felt that this kid was a conflicted person.

They did not want to kill animals, but they also wanted the people to live in peace and prosperity, free from the threat of tigers.

But is that possible? Is it possible?

Well, seeing that this kid is genuinely concerned for the common people, I won't hold it against him.

Zhao Qingluan and his group stayed on the mountain for about three days.

They didn't actually catch the tiger, not because they didn't want to, but because they were afraid to.

Their group numbered around two hundred people.

But there were more than two hundred tigers on the mountain, and in terms of fighting strength alone, Prince Rui believed that they were no match for the tigers.

Therefore, they adopted Zhao Qingluan's terrible idea.

First, everyone took the gong and started banging it endlessly.

Let alone a tiger's keen hearing, even humans like us can't stand the noise.

Naturally, tigers, believing themselves to be powerful enough, are not bothered by noise, but curious tigers still come to gather information.