The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

After they finished tidying up, Grandma Zhang pulled Shen Cao aside and handed her a small package.

"Cao'er, I don't have any other skills, but my embroidery skills are the best I can do."

"Ever since you helped me, I've been thinking about how to repay you. Xiaoyu asked me to make you a dress and embroider some pretty patterns on it."

"It's quite a coincidence, it was just finished a couple of days ago."

"I don't know the size, and I don't know if you'll like it."

Shen Cao was surprised that Granny Zhang had prepared a birthday gift for her, and she carefully unfolded the package.

Inside was a light green dress embroidered with all sorts of flowers and plants, with butterflies nestled among the blossoms.

Shen Cao particularly liked its fresh and elegant design.

She couldn't wait to put on the coat over the dress, and it fit perfectly.

It spun around in place.

"Grandma Zhang, you're amazing! I love this dress so much!"

Grandma Zhang smiled kindly, "As long as Cao'er likes it."

Everyone else also took out the birthday gifts they had prepared.

Li Xiaoyu gave Shen Cao a pair of gloves she had knitted herself, and Shen Wan and Xiao Qiao bought a silver hairpin together.

Shen Qing and Xiao Qi bought a silver bracelet together.

Shen Chen gave her a jade bracelet.

Mr. and Mrs. Shen gave Shen Cao a large red envelope.

That night, Mr. and Mrs. Shen lay in bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

In the darkness, Shen's mother's voice slowly rang out, "Husband, Cao'er is all grown up now. Shouldn't we find a chance to tell her about her situation?"

Mr. Shen sighed, "Alas, I wonder if Cao'er's biological parents are still alive."

"When we found her, her clothes clearly belonged to a wealthy family."

"Yes, Cao'er should have been a young lady from a wealthy family, but no one has come looking for her all these years."

"As you know, there are often many rules in wealthy and powerful families. The fact that her family hasn't come looking for her all these years might mean they deliberately abandoned her in the first place."

"After all, in such a chaotic world, just being able to survive was already a very difficult thing."

Hearing her husband's words, Shen's mother sighed heavily, "Oh, what if?" What if it was lost by accident, or for some other reason?

Shen's mother couldn't believe that her mother would be willing to abandon such a lovely girl as Cao'er.

She still remembered when she first picked up Shen Cao. The little girl was pink and chubby, and she would smile as soon as she saw her. She was so cute.

"Let's talk about it later." Mr. Shen turned over and changed his sleeping position.

On the Lantern Festival, the usually deserted streets were already adorned with all kinds of lanterns several days in advance.

Shen Cao also took her younger siblings to buy a lot of lanterns of various colors, and hung them all over the wall in front of Shen Family Restaurant.

It took four people an entire afternoon to finally hang it up.

They were hung from top to bottom in order of color from darkest to lightest, and from a distance, they looked somewhat like a rainbow.

On the Lantern Festival, since Shen Chen was leaving the next day, the Shen family decided to stay home and not go anywhere.

Shen Cao took her younger siblings to the seafood market and the vegetable market early in the morning to buy the freshest vegetables.

She specially prepared many of her older brother's favorite dishes.

Shen Wan and the others knew that their elder brother was leaving home for the capital tomorrow, so they stayed home with him all day.

After preparing the dishes, Shen Cao went to the study.

Sure enough, in the study, Shen Chen was sitting at the table reading a book.

With the help of Shen's father and Shen Cao, those agricultural science books had already been revised several days ago.

Shen Chen was reading a book at the moment.

Noticing someone coming in, he looked up at the person.

"Sister, is there something you need from me?"

Shen Cao found a chair and sat down. "Big brother, is everything packed?"

"It's almost done tidying up."

"Brother, now that you've left home, it seems you won't be back until the New Year, right?"

Shen Chen thought for a moment and nodded.

"Yes, Master told me to prepare well for next year's autumn imperial examination, so I'm afraid I won't have time to come back."

Shen Cao nodded in agreement.

"Ah."

"Brother, do your best and leave the rest to fate. Do what you should do, and it doesn't matter if the result isn't what you want."

Shen Chen didn't expect that Shen Cao came to tell him not to put too much pressure on himself.

He walked up to Shen Cao and sat down in the chair next to her. "Little sister, I know what you mean. Don't worry."

"My coach said the same thing. He let me compete this year so that I could experience it. The ranking is not important."

"But I also want to know exactly where my abilities lie."

"After studying hard for more than ten years, it's impossible not to want to pass the imperial examination with flying colors."

"Just like you said, I'll do my best to do what I'm supposed to do, and the result is both important and unimportant to me."

"Don't worry, your older brother won't be discouraged by one scientific expedition."

Hearing Shen Chen say this, Shen Cao felt relieved.

In her past life, she had seen in movies and TV dramas how some students would fight tooth and nail over their exam results. Her older brother was an extremely competitive person, and now he had become a student of Grand Tutor Zhou.

Since her older brother said so, she believed him.

"If you say that, then I believe you can adjust yourself."

"By the way, brother, I went to the money exchange before the New Year. You've been in the capital for over three months, why didn't you go to withdraw any money?"

Shen Chen explained, "Little sister, it's not that I didn't want to withdraw the money. Father gave me the money before I left."

"At the Grand Tutor's mansion, the Grand Tutor arranged everything for me, from food and clothing to monthly allowances, just like a young lady in the mansion."

“Not only do I not need to spend money to study abroad, but I also receive money.”

So that's why she noticed her brother's clothes were different this time.

She was also puzzled that her older brother now knew how to spend money to buy himself some presentable clothes.

It turns out that it was Grand Tutor Zhou who arranged it.

"Then you must thank Grand Tutor Zhou properly, brother."

Shen Chen nodded. "I know."

"It's just that the Grand Tutor has plenty of money and supplies this week, and I'm also worried about this matter."

Shen Cao smiled at her elder brother, "Brother, you've forgotten, Grand Tutor Zhou's greatest hobby."

Upon hearing Shen Cao's words, Shen Chen remembered that Grand Tutor Zhou did indeed have a little hobby.

"Don't worry, brother, I've already prepared everything for you."

"I've prepared a lot of food for you for Grand Tutor Zhou. The weather is cool now, so it will keep well."

Shen Chen was very grateful, "I'm troubling you again, little sister."

"One family does not speak two languages."

"But brother, besides Grand Tutor Zhou, have you prepared gifts for the others?"

For some reason, a red figure flashed through Shen Chen's mind.

He touched the jade hairpin in his bosom without saying a word.

Shen Cao noticed something; why did his older brother's ears suddenly turn red?

Is there something she doesn't know about?