A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

Huo Qingluan returned to the capital from Yangguan on the fifteenth of October.

She is more low-key than Shang Wanqing.

He only brought two bodyguards, with a dusty bundle on his horse, and didn't even bring a change of clothes.

Upon entering the palace gates, he didn't even greet anyone. He immediately dismounted, tossed the reins to his personal guard, and went straight to the Imperial Study.

Shang Wanqing was walking around in the courtyard at the time.

She remembered Xie Daoning's doctor's instructions clearly—walk for at least half an hour every day, not fast, not hastily, just slowly walking around the yard.

This was torture for someone who was used to running around in the dock.

When she reached the seventh lap, she heard the sound of horses' hooves outside the courtyard gate.

The horseshoes struck the blue bricks with a deep, unhurried sound, the rhythm of a horse running out of steam after a long journey.

Shang Wanqing walked to the courtyard gate and glanced outside.

It's Huo Qingluan.

In the distance, a woman dressed in a slightly worn outfit was dismounting from her horse, still carrying the distinctive scent of the Northwest's wind and sand, with even her temples studded with fine sand.

She saw Shang Wanqing standing at the door, nodding at her from afar, but not coming over, and walked straight towards the Imperial Study.

Shang Wanqing withdrew her gaze and continued walking her eighth lap.

She wondered to herself, "Did Huo Qingluan return at this time because Wei Zhao summoned her, or did she want to come back on her own?"

The fortifications on the other side of Yangguan are still not finished, aren't they?

As I was thinking, I circled around twice more.

Huo Qingluan left the imperial study in less than half an hour.

Just as the footsteps sounded outside the courtyard gate, Shang Wanqing sat back down on the couch, staring blankly at a scroll of ship drawings.

She said she was spacing out, but actually there was a piece of information on the diagram that she had calculated three times and still felt was wrong, but she didn't have any counting rods at hand, and her mind had become a little sluggish because of that bowl of medicine to prevent miscarriage.

The door was pushed open.

Huo Qingluan walked in, carrying a package.

She gently placed the package on the table, and without saying a word, simply said one sentence.

"His Majesty ordered me to bring it."

Shang Wanqing glanced at the label on the medicine packet; it was the mark of the Imperial Medical Academy.

She recognized the handwriting; it was Xie Daoning's prescription.

Wei Zhao is a man who remembers everything.

She didn't say anything, but reached out and pushed the medicine packet aside, planning to brew it later that evening.

Huo Qingluan didn't rush to leave, but sat down in the chair opposite her.

The two exchanged a glance.

Huo Qingluan has been building city walls and fortifications in Yangguan for the past few years. She has been exposed to the wind and sun all year round, and her skin is a shade darker than that of the women in the capital. However, she is full of energy and has a calm look in her eyes that comes from someone who has been focused on a certain thing for a long time.

"I know about your situation."

Huo Qingluan spoke, her voice not loud, but very direct.

Xie Daoning said you can't go to the shipyard.

Shang Wanqing nodded; there was nothing to hide. The entire harem knew, so she couldn't be bothered to pretend.

Huo Qingluan glanced at the ship diagram in her hand, then at the tall stack of picture albums that Hua Jieyu had sent on the table, and paused for a moment.

"Then I'll take a look at your ship's plans for you."

Shang Wanqing was stunned.

Huo Qingluan spoke in a flat tone, as if she were asking what to have for lunch. She continued, "I haven't done anything else in Yangguan these past few years. I've spent every day watching the city walls being built and I've developed the skill of reading blueprints."

Shang Wanqing stared at her for several seconds, then smiled.

It wasn't just a polite laugh; I genuinely felt the whole thing was a bit absurd.

A person who studies formations and defensive fortifications is coming to help her look at the ship plans?

"Can you help me look at the picture?"

Huo Qingluan remained unfazed.

"no?"

Shang Wanqing shook her head, a smile still lingering on her lips.

"Okay. But don't turn my ship into a fortress."

These words were rather blunt, but Huo Qingluan didn't care at all.

She reached into the stack of books on the table, pulled out the top volume, and glanced at it. It was a side structural diagram of a new type of ocean-going fast ship, showing the layout of the keel, masts, and cabins.

Her gaze lingered on the middle section of the ship for a moment, and she frowned.

"Your ship should have been fortified. Aren't there pirates on the high seas?"

Shang Wanqing opened her mouth, wanting to refute.

But after thinking about it, she couldn't find a reason to refute it.

There are indeed pirates in the open ocean. Ke Zhenchuan is just one example in the South China Sea; no one knows how many more exist in more distant places.

Her previous design philosophy for the Clippers was "faster, more agile, and stronger offense," and defense is indeed not her forte.

And defense is precisely what Huo Qingluan has been doing most in recent years.

She didn't say anything, which was a tacit acceptance.

Huo Qingluan didn't say anything more. She rolled up the paper again and stood up.

"I'll go drop off my luggage and come over this afternoon."

She left right after saying that, decisive and efficient, just like the style she had developed during her years in Yangguan.

Shang Wanqing sat alone on the couch, looking at the packet of medicinal herbs and the stack of blueprints on the table, feeling a strange sensation in her heart.

When she was in Quanzhou, she handled everything on her own.

She oversaw shipbuilding alone, while she and Liu Jingshuang discussed war plans together, and she experimented with the recipe for kerosene cans under the lamp again and again.

She was used to being alone and felt that only one person could do things to the best of their ability.

But Huo Qingluan's words reminded her of a problem she had always overlooked.

Ships don't just sail on the sea. There are people on board.

People can be beaten, injured, and die.

She maxed out her attack power, but what about her defense?

The thought swirled in her mind, becoming clearer and clearer with each passing moment.

In the afternoon, Huo Qingluan indeed arrived.

She moved a chair and sat down casually at the table in Shang Wanqing's courtyard, opened the picture book, and started looking at it.

Shang Wanqing leaned against the couch, a scroll open in her hand.

The two stood three steps apart, occasionally exchanging brief, technical opinions.

"Is the spacing between the ribs too narrow here?"

"It's not narrow. If you use the standards of the Yangguan city wall to measure the ribs of a ship, of course it will seem narrow."

"What about the thickness of the copper foil below the waterline?"

"That's enough. Any thicker and it will affect the ship's speed."

Huo Qingluan nodded, asked no further questions, and continued reading the next page.

Shang Wanqing glanced at her. This woman looked at the picture faster than she expected, and the questions she asked weren't stupid.

Although they are different fields, engineering and shipbuilding do have commonalities in structural mechanics.

She wondered to herself whether Wei Zhao's decision to have Huo Qingluan return at this time was a coincidence or a deliberate arrangement.

This man never leaves a trace; you can never tell whether he does something casually or meticulously planned.

Forget it, if I can't figure it out, I'll stop thinking about it.

As evening approached, footsteps could be heard again outside the courtyard gate.

When Liu Jingshuang pushed open the door, this was the scene she saw: Shang Wanqing was leaning against the couch flipping through blueprints, Huo Qingluan was sitting at the table flipping through blueprints, and there were several discarded drafts scattered on the floor between them, covered with red annotations.

Liu Jingshuang stood at the door for a moment.

"When did you two get together?"

Huo Qingluan didn't even look up.

"Just now."

Liu Jingshuang glanced at Shang Wanqing.

Shang Wanqing shrugged, giving me a "don't ask me" look.

Liu Jingshuang didn't ask any further questions. She found an empty chair nearby and sat down.