Shen Qing looked at Qi Zhenheng with difficulty: "Lord Qi, why... I cannot have children, why is that..."

Qi Zhenheng stepped forward and gripped her hand even tighter.

They are very proactive.

"If you can only choose between you and your offspring, then I want to choose you, Qing'er... Give me a chance..."

Shen Qing chuckled: "It's not just a matter of not having children. I'm the kind of person who likes to show my face in public. Do you remember when we first met, you repeatedly advised me that as a woman, I should stay at home and not show my face in public?"

Qi Zhenheng choked, blushing as he explained, "Before I met you, like most men, I thought that women should stay at home and raise their children. After meeting you, I realized that women can also achieve great things."

Shen Qing calmly pulled her hand away, put her hands behind her back, and took a few steps to the side.

"Speaking of women being able to achieve great things, I have a favor to ask you..."

"Qing'er, you speak."

“I want to set up a girls’ school in Jiangzhou, but when I recruited female workers, I was repeatedly harassed. I’m worried that setting up a girls’ school this time will be sabotaged in the same way. Could you please put in a good word with the local officials in Jiangzhou and help me when the girls’ school breaks ground?”

"You want to start a girls' school?" Qi Zhenheng walked around to stand in front of her. "Why do you suddenly want to start a girls' school?"

Shen Qing looked down at her toes: "You know my apprentice, Su Lan, right?"

Qi Zhenheng nodded: "I know. I went to the factory to find you a couple of days ago and saw her directing the workers. She came to the prefectural government to beg me to save you..."

He raised his hand to indicate that his height reached his waist: "Such a small stature, but in six years, I've already become capable of handling things on my own."

Shen Qing looked up at the gray sky outside and recalled how he met Su Lan's mother, Er Hong, and how he discovered Su Lan's talent and took her as his apprentice.

“If I hadn’t given Su-lan that chance back then, she might be married by now. Her gambling-addicted father would definitely have sold her to someone else as a wife, taken a sum of money, and continued to gamble.”

Qi Zhenheng listened with a solemn expression.

Shen Qing continued, "They spent a lot of money to buy her into their family, and they're bound to try and get back double the money they gave her father. We can all imagine how miserable she'll be."

Qi Zhenheng nodded: "That's right."

"When she was ten years old, she seized the opportunity that fate gave her and became my goddaughter. Now she can control her own life. I told her—if she wants to get married, she can choose the man she likes; if she doesn't want to get married, she can stay in the Gao family and be a member of the Gao family forever."

Su Lan seemed to be a test subject for this project.

Through Su Lan, Shen Qing believed that as long as she gave more girls a chance, she could save more girls.

She turned to look at Qi Zhenheng: "I want more girls to become like Su Lan. Because I am from Jiangzhou, I will first establish a girls' school in Jiangzhou. After it is successful, I will replicate it in more places. These girls, like Su Lan, can choose to leave and start their own new lives after they graduate, or they can choose to stay and work for me."

Seeing the worry on Qi Zhenheng's face, she smiled and said, "Are you worried that running a girls' school will cost a lot of money? It's okay, I'm quite wealthy now, and I'm willing to use that money to educate the next generation."

She wasn't joking. In the past five years, she earned tens of millions of taels of silver by exporting down jackets, silk fabrics, and raw silk.

She could never spend all this money in several lifetimes, and her business was still profitable every day. Although she had invested a lot, she could still give back to society by contributing a portion of her cash.

When it comes to giving back to society, helping girls should be our first priority.

Seeing that Qi Zhenheng still looked puzzled, Shen Qing asked softly, "Do you think that since I'm going to start a school, why don't I accept both boys and girls?"

Qi Zhenheng looked at her with bright, piercing eyes: "Yes."

"In today's society, the typical family model is that men go out to work and earn money, while women stay at home to take care of their husbands and raise children. Most children are raised by women in the family, such as grandmothers or mothers. If the woman who raises the children is educated and well-educated, the children she raises will be worlds apart from the children raised by women who are illiterate."

The more children grow up in an environment rich in knowledge, the higher their chances of success. When the next generation has hope, our country has hope. We have a saying there: "When the youth are strong, the nation is strong."

Qi Zhenheng was shocked, but looked at Shen Qing with surprise and delight.

"What a wonderful saying, 'When the youth are strong, the nation is strong!'"

He had initially thought Shen Qing was a shrewd businesswoman, skilled in business, and loyal to the country. He never imagined she possessed such a strong sense of national duty and patriotism.

Her vision and foresight impressed Qi Zhenheng from the bottom of his heart.

"Go ahead and prepare for the girls' school. I'll go to the prefect of Jiangzhou in a couple of days and ask him to endorse your school!"

Shen Qing bowed to Qi Zhenheng: "Thank you, Lord Qi! If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave now."

She turned to leave, but Qi Zhenheng took her hand again.

"Qing'er..."

She didn't turn around, and tried to pull her hand away, but couldn't.

Behind him, Qi Zhenheng said softly, "If you really don't want to be my wife, then let's be siblings. I only ask to protect you forever."

Brother and sister?

Shen Qing smiled slightly, turned around, and cupped her hands in a gesture of respect to Qi Zhenheng: "Brother, I'll take my leave now."

Qi Zhenheng laughed: "Big brother will see little sister out."

...

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Shen Qing returned to Yongzhou to visit the original owner's parents.

As her business grew, more and more people in Yongzhou learned that the illegitimate daughter of the Shen family was now thriving in the business world. The original owner's mother, Zhang, also benefited from her daughter's status and lived a more and more comfortable life in the Shen family, with no one daring to bully her.

Shen Qing stayed at the Shen family's house for three days. Seeing that Zhang was living well, he rushed back to Jiangzhou on the fifth day.

Qi Zhenheng found her a piece of land on the outskirts of Jiangzhou, and she had to rush back to take a look.

The carriage stopped after passing the government office.

Old Xu said from outside the curtain, "Boss Shen, may He Fei and I go in and wish Mr. Cheng a Happy New Year?"

Cheng Zhiwen?

Shen Qing's heart skipped a beat: "Go."

"Okay!"

The two got off the carriage and ran to the gate of the Cheng Mansion.

Shen Qing gently lifted the curtain and looked outside.

The Cheng family's house was a white-gray Soviet-style building, with a long river flowing outside the gate. Looking inside from the gate, one could vaguely see a red ceremonial guard.

They truly are a distinguished family.

Just then, a familiar figure walked over from the other side of the river.

He was wearing a black cashmere top hat and a dark brown cashmere suit, with one hand in his pocket, and he strolled over casually.

Shen Qing recognized the person almost instantly as Cheng Zhiwen, whom she hadn't seen for four years...