Laiyue suffered a fright from seeing his master’s sudden agitated state. He froze for a moment before quickly replying, “Third Young Madam is still on the way here. This servant came back earlier to report the news first. Judging by the time, Third Young Madam must have reached by now. Third Young Madam…”
Before Laiyue could finish speaking, He Sanlang rushed out of the tent like a whirlwind…
Chu Lian wasn’t going to report to Great General Qian about the sleigh herself. Firstly, it wasn’t appropriate for her to do so as a woman according to the customs of this dynasty. Secondly, it was because she had a personal wish she wanted to fulfill.
Although her lunatic husband was rather abnormal compared to most people, in the days after coming to the northern border and interacting with He Sanlang, her impression of him was much better than the day they had first met.
Many times, it was just He Changdi’s pride getting in the way of him speaking up. She was a generous person, so she decided not to be as narrow-minded as he was.
Furthermore, even though she had been given the title of ‘Honoured Lady Jinyi’ by the Emperor and was considered part of the imperial family, when others mentioned Sixth Miss Chu, the first thing that would come to their minds would be her position as House Jing’an’s Third Young Madam, He Sanlang’s wife.
Married daughters were cut off from their family trees. Her honour or disgrace would reflect on the He Family.
Since she had a good idea and since she wasn’t a hare-brained person, the first person she had thought of was He Sanlang.
Thus, before He Sanlang could ride out to find her, Chu Lian had already sent Mo Chenggui out to find He Sanlang.
Mo Chenggui was able to find He Changdi mounted up on his horse right before he left the camp, but before Mo Chenggui could speak up, He Changdi had already fired a question at him: “Where’s Third Young Madam?”
Undisguised joy was showing on Mo Chenggui’s old face. “Replying to Third Young Master, Third Young Madam is right behind and will reach the main camp in fifteen minutes. Third Young Madam requests that you wait for her outside the camp, she has something she wants to say to you.”
With a wave of his whip, He Sanlang blazed off, leaving only the words, “I’m going to look for her.”
Chu Lian was personally escorted to He Changdi’s tent by the man himself.
Chu Lian stared at the clearly anxious He Changdi with wide eyes and guessed that he had most likely thought of why she was here. She didn’t beat around the bush and spoke to him straight, “He Changdi, you saw the carriage I came here in. Here, these are the blueprints. I’ve also brought over the carpenter. Take a look and see if these will be useful.”
He Changdi reached out with his long fingers to take the blueprints from Chu Lian’s slender hands. When his warm fingertips touched her chilled skin, despite the difference in temperature, a fuzzy feeling came to life in both their hearts.
Chu Lian hurriedly retracted her fingers and coughed.
For some reason, she felt that their interaction was somewhat awkward today. He Sanlang’s attitude was very different from the norm. She had been calm at first, but now she was starting to feel a little fidgety.
He Changdi was quick-witted. The snowboat that Chu Lian had brought to him set the ball rolling in his mind, instantly sparking plenty of ideas.
He Sanlang’s unfathomable gaze fell upon the frail young lady before him who seemed like a little bunny who needed his protection. In that single instant, all sorts of emotions flashed through his pupils. When they settled down, only joy and warmth remained in the depths of his eyes.
When He Changdi finally spoke, his tone was a little hoarse, but strangely sexy.
Although it was just two short words, ‘thank you’, Chu Lian could feel the sincerity behind them.
She looked at the urgency in He Changdi’s expression. Without waiting for He Changdi to promt her, Chu Lian started explaining how the snowboats could be used.
Following that, Chu Lian took He Sanlang over to the snowboat she had brought over, complete with an added heated pen. After fifteen minutes, He Sanlang took the blueprints and headed to the commander’s tent.
A short while later, Great General Qian’s trusted officers were all summoned to the commander’s tent.
Chu Lian stayed in He Changdi’s tent. Laiyue kept watch on the goings-on outside. When Laiyue entered the tent to report that Great General Qian had summoned all of his officers, it was only then that Chu Lian finally felt relief.
It looked like General Qian was taking the snowboats seriously.
Chu Lian heaved a long sigh of relief. Now that she had finally set down her burden, her body felt light and loose. She even had the mood to direct Wenqing and Wenlan in an effort to pack up the tent for He Changdi.
Only Chu Lian and her maidservants were left in the tent. As slow as they were, Wenqing and Wenlan had already understood the true reason why Chu Lian had ordered the snowboat to be built when Third Young Madam handed over the blueprints to Third Young Master.
The respect that the two rascals had for their Third Young Madam only increased.
They turned to Chu Lian with sparkling eyes like miniature suns.
Chu Lian could feel the hairs on her arms standing up from their combined stares, even though she was seated by the warm brazier at the foot of the bed. She glared at Wenqing and Wenlan, “What are you looking at me like that for? I’m getting goosebumps.”
Wenlan had been serving Chu Lian for long enough that she was starting to come out of her introverted shell.
She exclaimed, “Third Young Madam, you’re so smart. How did you come up with the idea of a snowboat?”
Chu Lian was speechless. She couldn’t just say that she had gotten the idea from the sleighs of the modern world, after all!
Thus, she could only do her best to come up with an explanation. “Think about it. We can travel over water using boats. This snowboat is exactly the same as a boat on water. However, a boat can only travel over water while a snowboat travels over snow. Although they’re used in different locations, the principle behind them is the same.”
Wenlan nodded seriously. She didn’t forget to add in some praise while she was at it. “Although the idea is simple, we servants weren’t able to think of it at all. It’s still Third Young Madam who’s the smartest of us all.”
Chu Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
