Dad, open the door. I'll bring your mistress back for you.

On this day, sunlight shone through the window lattice into Shen Chuning's incense room filled with various spices and tools.

She was happily looking at the piece of agarwood she had just obtained in her hand, thinking about grinding it into fine powder to use for making perfume.

At this moment, a light sound of footsteps came from far away. Shen Chuning raised her head and saw Xuanying walking into the room with light steps.

He held a package carefully in his hand, his expression slightly serious.

Shen Chuning asked curiously, "What are you holding in your hand?"

Xuanying walked over to the table, gently placed the package on it, and replied, "This is the cloud cake sent from the capital. The young lady asked me to send it to you as soon as possible, saying that she was worried that if it was left for too long, it would affect the taste."

Hearing this, Shen Chuning couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.

A few days ago, she wrote to Zhou Lan and mentioned that she was craving for Yunpian Cake, but she didn't expect that it was the secret guards arranged by Zhou Lin who delivered it to her.

But on second thought, since they are all members of the Zhou family, it is not too much to ask for some help in delivering things.

But Xuanying's way of doing things is really weird.

Normally, he should have given the pastries to Cuiwei first, and then Cuiwei should have placed them on an exquisite plate and served them.

But now, he put a whole bag of snacks directly in front of him without any scruples.

Seeing Xuanying turning around and about to leave, Shen Chuning hurriedly shouted, "Wait! Is that all?"

Xuanying stopped and turned to look at Shen Chuning with a puzzled look on his face. He asked in confusion, "Is there...is there something else?"

Looking at Xuanying's confused expression, Shen Chuning suddenly felt a little discouraged.

She waved her hand helplessly and said, "Forget it, it's nothing, you can go out."

Xuanying bowed slightly and then left the incense room, leaving Shen Chuning alone, looking at the bag of cloud cakes in deep thought.

The sun shines through the mottled leaves, and the breeze gently blows the gauze curtains in front of the window.

The house was filled with a faint scent of agarwood.

At this moment, Shen Chuning no longer cared about the agarwood, but opened the oil paper bag.

She moved quickly and eagerly, as if there was something important hidden inside.

She searched the entire package thoroughly, but could not find even a single piece of paper with words on it.

Disappointment instantly surged in Shen Chuning's heart, and she couldn't help but sigh heavily.

In fact, she didn't want to eat the Yunpian Cake from Babaozhai, but because this shop happened to be located next to the Imperial Examination Hall.

She deliberately mentioned in the letter that she wanted to eat the cloud cake from Babaozhai, simply because she hoped that when Zhou Lan saw the Imperial Examination Hall, he would remember to tell her Zhou Lin's palace examination results.

Unfortunately, things went against her wishes and Zhou Lan seemed to have completely failed to understand her intentions.

Thinking of this, Shen Chuning secretly regretted: "Next time I talk to Zhou Lan, I'd better not use such riddles, otherwise I will definitely get pissed off to death!"

It was not until a few days later, when the imperial edict was posted in every corner of Dayong and people began to talk about it, that Shen Chuning learned that Zhou Lin was actually the third place in this year's exam.

After learning the news, Shen Chuning felt extremely complicated.

On the one hand, she was genuinely happy for Zhou Lin's achievement of being ranked first; but on the other hand, deep in her heart, she felt an indescribable sense of loss.

After all, she was the last to know about such a big happy event.

Even if Zhou Lin is not convenient to write to her personally to tell her, Zhou Lan should at least tell her.

But in the end, there was only one bag of cloud cake...

The weather was fine that day.

Shen Chuning got up early, washed up, and dressed up carefully. Then she happily lifted up her skirt and trotted towards Yun Shuxuan's yard.

As soon as I stepped into the room, I saw Yun Shuxuan chatting and laughing with Zhenzhu, his mouth almost grinning from ear to ear.

"What on earth makes mother so happy? You are laughing so hard that you can hardly see your eyes!" Shen Chuning asked with a smile on her face.

Yun Shuxuan quickly reached out and grabbed Shen Chuning, and gently sat her down at the dining table, while Zhenzhu beside her quickly prepared a set of clean bowls and chopsticks for her.

"The Changyi family sent someone to say that they have taken a liking to your sixth brother and want to arrange a marriage for their youngest daughter." Yun Shuxuan explained with a happy smile.

Hearing this, Shen Chuning couldn't help but feel shocked, and all kinds of scenes from her previous life instantly emerged in her mind.

In the previous life, Shen Chengliu finally married Gu Qingya, the youngest daughter of the Changyi Earl.

However, their married life was not happy. They often quarreled and fought, causing unrest in the family.

It even got to the point where Gu Qingya had a miscarriage.

In her previous life, when Shen Chuning got married, Gu Qingya was in confinement after giving birth and was unable to come and see her off.

At that time, Shen Chengliu and her had only been married for three months.

What surprised Shen Chuning was that even though Shen Chengliu had followed Shen Qinghe to Shandong in this life, he was still favored by the Changyi Marquis' Mansion.

Regardless of who was right or wrong in the dispute between the two in their previous life, Shen Chengliu and Gu Qingya were definitely not a good match.

Thinking of this, Shen Chuning secretly made up her mind to try to stop this marriage no matter what, so as to prevent them from blaming and hating each other in the future and becoming a pair of resentful couple.

"It's really strange. Fifth brother hasn't even proposed marriage yet, so why did this marriage fall on sixth brother first?" Shen Chuning asked suspiciously.

Yun Shuxuan explained, "Because the daughter of the Changyi Marquis's family is their youngest, she's been spoiled since childhood and isn't being groomed to become the mistress of the household. Therefore, their expectations for a future son-in-law aren't high. They simply hope that the man's family is wealthy, that he's honest and loyal, and that he can marry their daughter and live a good life. These requirements are as if they were tailor-made for your sixth brother!"

At this time, Yun Shuxuan was still immersed in the great joy that his son, who had always been regarded as a good-for-nothing, could actually gain the favor of others.

However, Shen Chuning beside her shook her head slightly and said, "Even so, I still feel like something is amiss here. How could a woman bring this up on her own initiative?"

As she spoke, she shook her head slightly again, obviously having doubts about the matter.