Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

After dinner, the study was brightly lit with candlelight, illuminating the lush bookshelves on the walls. Zhang Jingwei sat alone at his desk, his fingertips tracing the slightly yellowed ink on the pages as he once again flipped through the pages of "Records of Strange Stories from the Southern Kingdom." He wasn't just looking for entertainment, but rather to find some inspiration to resolve his current predicament.

He enrolled in the College of Engineering, majoring in urban planning. After graduation, he was hired by the smelting company as an exception, thanks to his tireless cramming of Metallurgy and Mining in the months leading up to the postgraduate entrance exams. During the interview, he not only answered the rapid-fire questions of the examiner, Li Zhuowu, fluently but also offered several improvements to the company's existing smelting technology that even impressed the senior supervisor.

At this moment, his eyes were fixed on one page: "Nanzhao Ponds".

Many Nanzhao cities were built near mountains, often with swamps. In areas surrounded by mountains on three sides, dams were built with grass and soil to divert water into ponds. These were then connected to rivers via "long vine" channels. Floods were drained into the river through vine channels, and sluice gates were set up on the eight vine channels to ensure that the people could access water and connect to the ponds of the hundreds of cities. This was called "long vines forming melons."

He chewed over the words, a clear picture forming in his mind: it described damming mountain depressions into reservoirs, with long canals connecting the reservoirs in each city, like vines stringing together fruits. During floods, the canals would drain excess water into the main river, alleviating the downstream impact. During droughts, the sluice gates would be opened to divert reservoir water for irrigation, ensuring livelihoods and agricultural production.

"Wonderful..." He was secretly admiring the exquisite water conservancy wisdom of the ancients, but his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden noise outside the window.

Jia Dayong's rough voice boomed like thunder: "You thief! See where you can run!"

A young, anxious voice argued, "I'm not a thief!"

"You still dare to quibble! I've been hiding in the dark for a long time and saw you jump down from the wall with my own eyes! You are sneaking around like a thief, what else can you be but a thief!" Then there was the sound of a scuffle and struggle.

Zhang Jingwei frowned and pushed open the study door. In the moonlight, he saw Jia Dayong pinning a large man in black to the ground. Although subdued, the man was still struggling.

"Dayong, let him go!" Zhang Jingwei shouted.

Seeing Zhang Jingwei coming out, Jia Dayong, still holding on tight, hurriedly replied, "Master, this is a thief climbing over the wall! I'm holding him down first. Don't get close, or he might hurt you!"

"He's one of us," Zhang Jingwei said firmly, "Let him go."

Jia Dayong was stunned and hesitantly let go. As soon as Ding Xu was free, he instantly pulled out a dagger from his waist and slashed it across his neck without hesitation, saying resolutely, "Master! I am incompetent. I failed to deliver the medicine secretly and was captured! A dead man will never be captured alive to be used as a spy!"

"Wait a minute!" Zhang Jingwei was quick to grab his wrist. "Have you read too many storybooks? Put down the knife!" He snatched the dagger and pointed unhappily at a narrow alley. "Go in from there and you'll see a side door. Knock three times and Uncle Eleven, who lives in the gatehouse, will open the door for you."

Ding Xu looked bewildered: "But... didn't the master say that it should be delivered 'secretly'?"

"We are all family. There is no need to be so cautious." Zhang Jingwei held his forehead helplessly.

"Then why doesn't the master let me come in directly through the main gate?" Ding Xu was even more confused.

Zhang Jingwei lowered his voice: "I can't let my wife see this..."

Before he finished speaking, hurried footsteps were heard from the inner courtyard. Huangfu Ling rushed out with a gleaming sword in hand, her dress fluttering. Her pretty face was frosty, and her sharp eyes swept across the courtyard. "Thief? Where is the thief?"

Zhang Jingwei was immediately overwhelmed and quickly stepped forward to block her view: "Don't be alarmed, Madam. There are no thieves. It was just a small misunderstanding that has been resolved."

Huangfu Ling caught a glimpse of the strange young man, Ding Xu, kneeling on the ground, and raised the tip of his sword slightly: "Who is he?"

"He's one of my subordinates. It's okay. He's one of us." Zhang Jingwei tried to downplay it.

Seeing this, Ding Xu immediately kowtowed in Huangfu Ling's direction and said in a tense voice, "The things the master ordered have been delivered! Damn it, I disturbed the mistress!"

"It's okay, it's okay," Zhang Jingwei quickly waved his hand, "You can go back now."

"Yes!" Ding Xu took the order and climbed over the wall swiftly and disappeared into the night in an instant.

Zhang Jingwei looked at the new muddy footprints on the wall, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "Tsk, he doesn't want to go even though he has a way out. Really... Dayong, remember to find a piece of cloth and wipe the footprints off the wall."

Huangfu Ling didn't put away her sword. Instead, she glanced suspiciously between her husband and the wall. "Wait! What did he give you?"

Zhang Jingwei remained calm and sighed, "I've been busy with government affairs lately and have been feeling a little tired. I asked Jiuer to prescribe some tonic medicine. I asked him to bring it to me quietly so you don't have to worry. I didn't expect this kid to be so stubborn and insist on climbing over the wall, causing this misunderstanding and even getting caught by Dayong as a thief."

Jia Dayong, who was standing by, hadn't fully grasped the situation yet, but when he heard the young master mention him, he immediately puffed out his chest and patted it to assure, "Don't worry, Madam! With me, Dayong, here, I won't let any thieves get close to the young master! Even if a mosquito flies in, I have to ask Old Jia!"

Huangfu Ling looked at the honest and straightforward Jia Dayong, then at her husband who looked "calm", and then sheathed her sword slowly, but her tone remained cold: "Forget it. I'm going to pick up Wei Jiajia tomorrow. There are many empty rooms in the backyard, how about cleaning up one for her to live in?"

Zhang Jingwei readily agreed: "It's all up to my wife."

Huangfu Ling looked at him deeply, and said in a more serious tone, word by word: "Remember, I'm not going to pick up your concubine, I'm going to pick up the child of the Zhang family."

Zhang Jingwei nodded, his tone calm: "I know."

……

Tucked away at the bottom of a secluded alley in Gaoyang County, a silent matchmaking house lies. Dusk filters through the carved wooden windows, casting tiny specks of light onto the aged blue brick floor. The room is filled with the faint scent of powder and a faint hint of herbs.

Ningxiang's personal maid was neatly making the bed and packing up her folded clothes into boxes. Her tone was filled with excitement, "Miss, we're moving into the county magistrate's residence tomorrow. Why are you still sitting here? We need to pack up these personal belongings quickly."

Ningxiang, however, simply leaned against the soft couch by the window, her fingertips unconsciously twirling the handkerchief, her gaze fixed on the darkening night outside the window, her voice calm and without a trace of emotion: "Don't worry, we'll be moving out soon."

The maid paused and turned her head in confusion: "What are you talking about, young lady? As long as you successfully give birth to a child of the Zhang family, you will be the legitimate wife of the Zhang family. Then..."

Ningxiang interrupted her, a faint smile curling up at the corner of her lips. She finally withdrew her gaze from the window and fell on the confused face of the little maid. "You've lived with me in Gaoyang County for two months. Do you really think... I'm pregnant?"

"Ah?" The maid was completely stunned, her eyes wide open, and the clothes in her hands fell to the ground. "Miss, you... you are not pregnant? The doctor clearly took your pulse himself and it clearly said you were pregnant!"

Ningxiang lowered her eyes, looked at her flat belly, and said in a voice as light as a puff of smoke: "I just... miss him too much."

This lighthearted remark sent a chill down the maid's spine. She suddenly recalled the secret brewing and carefully discarded medicinal dregs, and the complex look the young lady occasionally flashed, a look completely different from her expectation. Her lips trembled. "If Lord Zhang knew the young lady had lied like this, he, he's the county magistrate! If this were to be exposed..."

Ningxiang's voice was still gentle, but it carried an undeniable coldness, and her eyes suddenly became sharp. "Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask."

The maid shuddered at that gaze, all the fear and questions she hadn't yet expressed choking in her throat. She lowered her head, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of her clothes, her voice as thin as a mosquito's: "...I understand. I won't say a single word that shouldn't be said."

The room suddenly fell into deathly silence, with only the occasional crackling of the candlelight.