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

"Myna, you get in the car first. I have something to ask Brother Zhou Er." Shen Chuning said to Shen Chengbai who was standing aside.

Shen Chengbai stamped his feet and rubbed his hands, saying, "Hurry up, it's too cold out here. If you freeze, I'll get scolded again."

"I know, I know. Myna, you're also afraid of the cold. Could it be that you're pregnant?"

Shen Chengbai's legs, which had just started to move, suddenly stopped, "Everyone is afraid of the cold, who is pregnant?"

"No one, no one. It's warm in the carriage. Go in now."

"He keeps talking nonsense every day." Shen Chengbai said and got on the carriage without looking back.

"Why don't you wear more clothes? Your face is red from the cold." Zhou Lin asked.

Shen Chuning took her hand out from her cloak and touched her face. "Is there? No, maybe I put on too much rouge today."

"Put your hands back now, without even bringing a hand warmer."

"Oh, we just take a car when we go out. There's a charcoal brazier in the car. It's just a short distance in and out of the house. It's not a big deal. Isn't Brother Zhou Er wearing thinner clothes?"

"My family has raised me according to the standards of a northern defender since I was a child, so naturally I am more cold-resistant than ordinary people. What do you want to talk to me about?" Zhou Lin asked.

Shen Chuning tightened her cloak and said, "Aren't there lanterns in the capital during the Lantern Festival?"

"The elders at home don't let you go out, and you want me to take you to see the lanterns?" Zhou Lin was secretly happy.

He knew that some families in the capital did not allow young children to go out to see the lanterns, for fear that the children would get lost in too many people.

But looking at Shen Chuning like this, she doesn't look like a child anymore. But such a pretty girl, if she is taken away, she will definitely not be returned.

It is also possible that she is a young lady from a scholar's family and would not easily go to crowded places for fear of being bumped into.

Zhou Lin wondered if it would be inappropriate to bring Shen Chuning out secretly if the elders of the Shen family disagreed. He should talk to his aunt first.

"It's the fifth prince. He said he had never seen lanterns before, so he wanted to ask Brother Zhou Er if he could secretly take the fifth prince out of the palace on the Lantern Festival?" Shen Chuning replied.

Zhou Lin's joy was instantly extinguished.

"Although there aren't many people guarding the North Third Prison, it's not easy to take someone out of the palace. If something happens outside the palace, it won't be something you and I can handle."

After hearing Zhou Lin's words, Shen Chuning's head drooped. "I see, if Brother Zhou Er is embarrassed, forget it. I'll think of another way."

Zhou Lin couldn't bear to see Shen Chuning's disappointed expression, so he gritted his teeth and said, "What can you do? Let me find a solution."

"Really? Thank you, Brother Zhou Er!" Shen Chuning looked up in surprise, two dimples appearing on her face. "It doesn't matter if it can't be done. Brother Zhou Er's safety is the most important thing."

Zhou Lin nodded, walked with Shen Chuning to the carriage, and even helped her lift the curtain on the carriage. "Hurry up and get in. It's cold outside. I'll try my best to find a solution."

When the car curtain was opened, Shen Chengbai was seen lying next to the charcoal brazier, warming himself by the fire.

Seeing the curtain being opened, Shen Chengbai urged, "Hurry up, Xiaojiu, the cold wind is blowing into the car."

Zhou Lin patted Shen Chengbai's leg that was blocking the door of the carriage and said, "Get out of the way. You're in the way."

Shen Chengbai sat up suddenly and leaned his face against the door of the carriage. "Cousin, you actually despise me. Don't you love me anymore? Am I not your little cutie?"

It was a bit incongruous for Shen Chengbai, with his sturdy build, to say such words.

Zhou Lin opened his right hand and smeared Shen Chengbai's face, pushing his face into the carriage through the door. "Stop messing around, let's go."

Shen Chuning sat in the car and watched Shen Chengbai and Zhou Lin playing with a smile.

……

"The floor heating at home is still warmer." Shen Chuning returned to Ningfengzhai and leaned on the chaise longue for a while before she recovered.

Cuiwei brought Shen Chuning a bowl of steaming hot milk tea, and Shen Chuning drank half of it in one breath.

"Miss, this afternoon Mr. Feng Yucai sent someone to the office to look for my brother." Birui said as she helped Shen Chuning put away her cloak.

"Oh, what did he ask someone to do?" Shen Chuning asked.

"He sent someone to deliver New Year's gifts." Birui said as she placed a small box in front of Shen Chuning.

Shen Chuning opened the box and saw ten small yellow croakers neatly arranged inside.

"Tsk tsk." Shen Chuning closed the lid, hiding the golden light inside the box. "Such a generous New Year's gift? You have something else to ask of me, right? Don't even mention asking my grandfather to buy an official position in front of me. Just return this box of little yellow croakers."

Birui put away the box and said, "This time, I really have to beg you, young lady."

Shen Chuning pointed a finger at herself, "Beg me? When did my face become so valuable? Tell me, what's going on?"

"Master Feng said that the last time you suggested a career path for him, letting him go to the Ministry of Works, his father was happy that he had a proper job, but lately he's become annoyed that he just shows up at the government office every day and doesn't get any results. He wanted to know what he should do next."

The last time Shen Chuning helped Feng Yucai find a way out was because he had made great efforts to expose Aunt Xue's affairs, so they were even last time.

This time, Shen Chuning had just asked Zhou Lin to help him, and Feng Yucai had ridiculed him on Fengming Mountain. Now helping Feng Yucai made him feel like he was betraying Zhou Lin.

Shen Chuning glanced at the small box Birui had placed beside her and muttered to herself, "I'm sorry, Brother Zhou Er. He gave me too much. It's my fault for being short of money right now."

After reciting it silently, he said to Birui, "Tell your brother to ask Feng Yucai tomorrow what projects the Ministry of Industry has recently. Let's go out of Beijing and make some political achievements."

"The people sent by Master Feng said that the Ministry of Works has two major tasks: one is to build dikes, and the other is to repair canals. Last year's heavy rains washed away many dikes, and the Minister of Works is afraid of a recurrence, so he plans to personally lead the team to reinforce the dikes on both sides of the Yellow River. The other task is to divert water from the newly built canal to build an irrigation canal. Master Feng is unsure which one to go for, so he sent someone to ask you."

Shen Chuning secretly cursed the Minister of Works for making decisions on the spur of the moment and not even asking the Imperial Observatory for its opinion before finalizing the project.

There is a severe drought this year. Why rush to build dams? By the time the crops are almost dead from drought, we will have to destroy the dams to divert water. Isn't that a useless effort?

"Tell Feng Yucai to go and build the canal." Shen Chuning said to Birui.

"Yes, I will ask my brother to pass the message to Master Feng right away." Birui squatted down, bowed and walked out.

"Wait a moment." Shen Chuning stopped Birui again, "Tell Feng Yucai to find a chance to remind the Minister of Works to ask the Imperial Observatory to calculate this year's weather."

Although Birui didn't know what the young lady's intention was, she still obediently went to pass on the message.