Shen Qing immediately lowered the curtain, covering everything completely.
She did it instinctively.
Four years ago, in that dark alley in Yongzhou.
Besides telling her that the matter of her killing Master Zhao had been resolved and reassuring her, he also advised her to accept Qi Zhenheng.
When they parted that time, he hugged her briefly, his warm lips touching her earlobe.
Even now, his lips still seem to warm my earlobe, burning hot.
"Knock knock..."
The carriage behind them was knocked on.
Shen Qing snapped out of her daze, turned around blankly, and looked at the car window curtain.
She knew it was Cheng Zhiwen. She swallowed hard, steadied herself, and lifted the carriage curtain.
Cheng Zhiwen stood outside the car window with his hands in his pockets, looking up at her.
Her eyes were so deep that she immediately met his profound gaze.
His gaze remained focused, as if the world contained nothing but the woman before him.
He stared intently at Shen Qing, his voice devoid of emotion as he asked, "What are you doing here?"
Shen Qing coughed lightly and said calmly, "I went back to the Shen family to visit relatives on the second day of the Lunar New Year, and I'm about to return to Jiangzhou. Old Xu and He Fei said they want to come in and wish you a Happy New Year."
He nodded, but showed no intention of going inside, still staring at Shen Qing: "How have you been these past few years?"
Shen Qing smiled and said, "That's great, you made a lot of money. How about you?"
"I'm doing alright too."
"The 50 million taels you invested in the raw silk merchants' association have all been recovered. I deposited it in a bank in Shanghai, and the dividends are with me. Whenever you want them, just send me a telegram, and I'll have someone send them to you."
"good."
At this point, both of them suddenly fell silent.
After an awkward silence, Shen Qing blurted out, "Lord Qi and I have become siblings."
Only after saying that did he realize that he didn't need to tell Cheng Zhiwen these things.
Qi Zhenheng's lips curled slightly, but he didn't say anything. He didn't seem surprised at all, as if he had known about this for a long time.
Shen Qing felt increasingly uneasy. She had only become Qi Zhenheng's sister on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and he already knew about it on the fifth day?
Just as he was pondering this, He Fei and Lao Xu ran over from afar and bowed to Cheng Zhiwen, saying, "Mr. Cheng, Happy New Year! We've come to wish you a Happy New Year."
Cheng Zhiwen stopped smiling and nodded to them: "Happy New Year. Please come with me."
After saying that, he walked a few meters away, and He Fei and Lao Xu quickly followed.
Shen Qing sat in the car and saw what Cheng Zhiwen said to them. They kept their heads down and didn't say anything. Cheng Zhiwen spoke the whole time with a very bad expression.
After talking for a while, the two finally got back into the car.
I'm leaving.
Shen Qing looked at Cheng Zhiwen, who was standing not far away.
He was looking at her too.
Thinking about today's parting, and that the next time they meet might be another four years, or forty years, or they might never meet again in this lifetime, Shen Qing suddenly felt a little down.
She put the curtain back down, sat dejectedly for a while, then moved behind it and asked He Fei, "What did Mr. Cheng say about you just now?"
“He said we both ran away, leaving you alone in the car, in case you encountered danger… He also said that if something like this happens again, he'll kill us both…”
Old Xu: "Mr. Cheng must be afraid that we will do the same thing elsewhere, so he gave us this advice."
Shen Qing: "..."
On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, the day after returning to Jiangzhou, Shen Qing went to find Qi Zhenheng, and the two went to the outskirts of the city together.
About two or three kilometers away from the urban area of Jiangzhou, there is a plot of land of about ten acres, which Qi Zhenheng believes is very suitable for building a school.
Shen Qing walked around the scene and said, "This place is located in the center of the suburbs. Whether it is children from the city or children from the suburbs, it only takes half an hour to walk to school. The road is flat, and there are farms and breeding farms along the way. The area is well-populated, so there is no need to worry about the children being bullied on the way."
Qi Zhenheng nodded: "That's what I'm thinking too."
Shen Qing looked around again, becoming more and more satisfied.
She walked up to Qi Zhenheng with her hands behind her back and said, "You've met with the landlord? What price is he asking for this land?"
Qi Zhenheng said, "One thousand taels per mu."
Shen Qing quickly calculated for a few seconds: "The land plus the cost of the school buildings and other expenses should be covered by 50,000 taels."
This is far below her budget; with the cash she currently has, building ten identical girls' schools wouldn't be a problem.
On the way back, Shen Qing mentioned that he had met Cheng Zhiwen in Yongzhou the day before.
Qi Zhenheng listened quietly, then asked, "Is he still in Shanghai?"
Shen Qing shook her head: "I didn't ask that many questions."
Recalling her chance encounter with Cheng Zhiwen yesterday, she said dejectedly, "He didn't seem to have much to say to me. After all, we haven't seen each other for four years, and he seemed quite unfamiliar with me."
"He often gives people a sense of distance, so it's normal for you to feel unfamiliar with him."
The two walked towards the Gao family's house, and Qi Zhenheng escorted Shen Qing home.
The spring chill was biting, and the weather was freezing. Shen Qing had forgotten to bring a hand warmer with her when she went out. Her fingertips were so cold that they were stiff as ice, and she had to breathe on them to warm them up.
She started chatting with Qi Zhenheng.
"How did you two come to know Cheng Zhiwen? He was a student who studied abroad, while you took the imperial examinations in China. No matter how you look at it, you two are not on the same wavelength."
Qi Zhenheng smiled and said, "His father and my father were both officials of the Qingliu faction, and both families were from Yongzhou, so naturally they were close. When Zhiwen was a child, he often came to my house with his father. The adults would talk about business, and we children would play together."
Shen Qing listened and nodded: "I see. So you two have known each other for many years."
"Later he went abroad to study, and we lost contact after that." Qi Zhenheng recalled for a moment and continued, "I reconnected with him a few days before I first met you."
Shen Qing was surprised: "A few days before our first meeting?"
She then remembered that five years ago, she was framed by Gao Laosan and drowned in a pig cage. When she was on the verge of death, it was Qi Zhenheng, who was the prefect of Jiangzhou at the time, who saved her by throwing soldiers.
"That was the first time I had seen Zhiwen in many years, and I mistook him for his older brother..."
Shen Qing snapped out of her daze and stopped in her tracks: "Cheng Zhiwen has an older brother?"
Qi Zhenheng also stopped and looked at her: "Yes, he also has an older brother who is a few years older than him."
Shen Qing laughed: "Those two brothers are a few years apart in age, how could you mistake them for each other?"
Qi Zhenheng also laughed: "You can't blame me for that, it's just that the two brothers look too alike."
Shen Qing smiled but didn't say anything.
She had always thought that Cheng Zhiwen and Qi Zhenheng had been together for many years, but she didn't expect that it was only after she transmigrated that he reconnected with Qi Zhenheng.
"Qing'er, wait!"
Qi Zhenheng suddenly grabbed Shen Qing's arm and pulled her into a nearby alley.
Shen Qing snapped out of her daze: "What's wrong, brother?"
She followed Qi Zhenheng's gaze and saw many soldiers standing at the entrance of the Gao family's house.
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