It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

Thinking of this, Li Cheng added, "We could remove the word 'professor' to avoid touching a nerve—what do you think of the title 'scientific researcher'?"

“Sure.” Miller had no objection.

“In addition, we can use these positions to attract talent from other universities to work at Cambridge. There should be many scholars who lack funding and are eager to receive a grant,” Li Cheng continued.

“Hmm,” Miller responded.

“Okay, it’s settled then.” Li Cheng stood up from his seat. “You can put together a suitable list later. You don’t need to pick famous people, just ordinary ones will do. I’ll come and take a look in a couple of days.”

Actually, Li Cheng didn't really want to discuss it with Miller's secretary; he mainly wanted to convey the message indirectly to Veronica, hence the detailed explanation.

Here we go again...

With another task added to his workload, Miller's facial muscles twitched almost imperceptibly before settling down—he was no longer working alone.

As an aside, it seems that Miller brought his cousin to work there as well, apparently to reduce his workload.

The two had identical facial features and face shapes, which startled Li Cheng, who was meeting Miller's cousin for the first time. He mistakenly thought that Miller was a hidden cross-dressing master and almost questioned his life.

------

Baker Street.

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, but the dark clouds in the sky completely blocked out the sunlight, leaving only a little gloomy light.

Even the streets were deserted, and the lilacs that usually bloomed brightly were now wilted, as if they had been ravaged by dozens of bees at the same time.

Li Cheng vaguely sensed a sense of oppression.

With a bad feeling in his heart, he quickened his pace and came to the outside of the familiar little house.

The wooden fence gate was unlocked and left open, but Freya, who liked to spend her free time tending to the flowers and plants, was nowhere to be seen in the yard, nor was Louise, who was too energetic, and Newton, who only occasionally appeared in the yard.

No one could be seen; it was as if the place were completely empty.

Li Cheng's sense of foreboding intensified.

It wasn't until he pushed open the door of the villa and saw two burly guards in gleaming silver armor standing straight on either side of the living room, along with Freya standing cautiously beside them, that he realized the source of his ominous premonition.

A mix of relaxation and tension welled up in Li Cheng's chest at the same time, and regardless, he breathed a sigh of relief.

No need to guess, this must have been sent by Veronique.

"elder brother!"

A familiar voice called out to him. Li Cheng looked up and saw a small red figure coming down the stairs—without a doubt, this red figure was Louise.

Li Cheng suspected that she might possess some kind of strange sensory radar, which allowed her to sense his arrival from the second floor and rush down to greet him immediately.

Behind Louise followed a slightly taller, golden figure.

Although Newton wasn't as enthusiastic as Louise, he surprisingly came down to greet Li Cheng today, probably because of the two guards—seriously, shouldn't you be receiving him in the living room? What's with leaving these two burly men standing there like idiots?

Li Cheng's lips twitched, and he reached out to catch Louise as she ran over, expertly ruffling her soft, long red hair: "Were you a good girl at home today?"

"Yes, Louise was very well-behaved today."

Louise nodded vigorously.

Li Cheng glanced at the guards who were not disturbing him and sighed, "Very good, but you probably won't have to be so obedient in the future."

Louise understood the implication in his words, and her movements froze instantly.

She looked up, her happy expression vanishing, replaced by pitiful eyes like those of an abandoned puppy: "Brother, don't you want Louise anymore?"

Don't look at me with such pitiful eyes... Li Cheng explained, "It's not that your brother doesn't want you, it's just that Louise should go home—besides, you've had enough fun these past few days, and your father must be very worried about you."

"dad......"

Louise seemed to finally remember a long-forgotten Earl Anderson, and began to hesitate, glancing up at Li Cheng's face for a moment, then looking down in thought... Hey! Don't hesitate now! Earl Anderson will really cry if he finds out!

Fortunately, her father still held considerable weight, and Louise made the decision to go home. She then looked at Li Cheng with expectant eyes and asked, "Will you take Louise out to play in the future, brother?"

Again? Earl Anderson would go mad; he might even come to my door for a duel...

Li Cheng patted Louise's head and offered a reassuring but empty promise: "It probably won't work, but if you behave well, maybe your brother will come to your house to play."

Just as Li Cheng and Louise were putting on a dramatic farewell scene, Newton, for some reason, not only remained silent but even couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile.

The two guards beside them exchanged a strange look, using their years of tacit understanding to make a decision.

The guard on the left stepped forward and spoke first: "Mr. Albert Lee, His Highness did not allow us to take Miss Louise home."

The guard on the right then followed, adding, "Our orders are to invite you to His Highness's castle as a guest."

Chapter 89 Veronique's Infrastructure Plan

Li Cheng said he couldn't accept suddenly going from being the protagonist of a tragic drama to the protagonist of a comedy.

He first strongly condemned Newton's despicable act of deliberately remaining silent and waiting to see him make a fool of himself, and he made a mental note of it, preparing to retaliate when the opportunity arose.

He then pretended nothing had happened, said goodbye to Louise who was still in a daze, and was then "invited" away by two burly men in light armor.

------

suburbs.

A round tower, narrow windows, semi-circular arches, a low domed roof... This is an ancient castle with a strong sense of battle, and it is also Veronique's residence.

He returned to this place, but this time as a guest, so Li Cheng wasn't too nervous.

Because Veronie could discuss serious matters in the study upstairs, he had to wait patiently in the reception room downstairs, and this wait turned into half an hour, which was quite agonizing.

He was greeted by Holly, an old acquaintance, who was the grasshopper maid who was green from head to toe.

With nothing else to do, Li Cheng tried to get some information out of the other party, such as Veronique's attitude, Veronique's attitude, and Veronique's attitude.

But this time the other party was smarter; they kept their mouths shut the whole time, not uttering a single word, and were extremely uncooperative.

However, when Li Cheng changed his target and tried to find out if the novels he had sent were popular with His Highness, Holly's expression suddenly became strange, and she looked at him with a subtle expression.

This gave Li Cheng a headache. He was eager to know the reason, but if Holly was determined not to say, he couldn't pry her out of her mouth.

......

at the same time.

Upstairs in the study, a male subordinate was reporting to Veronica, and the report was nearing its end.

"Your Highness, the Finance Committee has rejected your London City Redevelopment Plan for the third time."

"Rejected?"

Veronique frowned deeply: "I've already allocated 12.5% ​​of the profits to them in the plan, and they still vetoed it?"

"Under normal circumstances, 12.5% ​​is more than enough."

The subordinate stated his opinion in a serious tone: "But as you know, this matter is very troublesome. It requires relocating and arranging for the residents in the original residences, finding places to resettle them, demolishing buildings, selecting suitable brick and stone merchants, and finding suitable people to design... In short, it is a long and arduous task, at least that's what the Finance Committee thinks."

Ultimately, it will cost more.

Veronica, of course, knew all this, and she countered, "Who is the main opponent?"

"The First, Third, and Seventh Finance Ministers," the subordinate replied.

"I understand, you may leave."

"Yes."

The study returned to silence. Veronica sat quietly at her desk, closed her eyes, and inhaled the fragrance in the air, lost in thought.

Ever since she received £100,000 (later added) from the Earl of Anderson and didn't know how to spend it, Veronica's mind started to wander, and she began to devise a plan that could showcase her achievements.

It must be eye-catching, immediately noticeable, and constantly demonstrate its presence.

This is the purpose of the plan.

Coincidentally, during her conversation with Anderson that day, she had made a joke that "unless London were to suddenly catch fire, the government's finances would be able to support the war." Recalling this, Veronica had a flash of inspiration.

What could be more impactful than infrastructure?

Why is the church so obsessed with accumulating wealth to build towering cathedrals? Isn't it simply to demonstrate their existence?

As for what to build...

Veronica hadn't decided yet, so she sent people to survey London's architectural layout to see what would be suitable to build.

After some investigation, Veronica discovered that the joke she made back then might not actually be a joke.

Due to policies restricting London's urban sprawl, living conditions in the City of London were appalling, with many people crammed into tiny houses. A single small house could house four tenants, and timber-framed buildings were often three stories high, sometimes even including attics.

In addition, the streets are narrow, there are haphazard constructions, sewage flows everywhere, the buildings are mainly wooden structures, and flammable and explosive materials are stored haphazardly.

These factors all contribute to serious fire hazards. If dry weather were to occur, coupled with even a tiny spark, it could very well have caused the Great Fire of London.

So Veronica decided to take action, targeting the residential areas of the entire city of London.

In this way, as long as the buildings that were built still exist, the citizens will not forget this achievement.

Veronica acted swiftly and decisively, first repealing the original Restriction Act, and then enacting the preliminary Urban Construction Act. The various measures in the Act were all based on the realities of London and its development bottlenecks, including but not limited to street width and building structure.

It's not difficult. In fact, many people have thought about doing this before, but due to inertia, irrelevant interests, or simply because they find it troublesome, they've all been too lazy to do it.

The preliminary preparations went smoothly, but the plan got stuck in the implementation stage.

The finance committee simply wouldn't approve it.

The Urban Development Act is a trivial bill that can be enacted at will, but when it comes to specific expenditures, it's not something that can be decided with a single sentence; it requires the approval of the Finance Committee.

Incidentally, in this era, the Ministry of Finance was usually operated by a committee rather than by a single individual. The members of the committee were named in order of rank, such as 'First Minister of Finance', 'Second Minister of Finance', and so on.

"The Third and Seventh Chancellors are alright, but persuading the First Chancellor is too difficult; it's easier to just fire him."

Veronica bit her lower lip and said with a troubled expression, "But the problem is, where can I find someone who understands economics, is capable, and is obedient to replace him? If I can't do that, there's no way to guarantee that the pounds will be used in the right way."

Just as she was lamenting the lack of suitable candidates, a deep male voice came from outside the study.

"Your Highness, we have obeyed your orders and brought Mr. Albert Lee here. He is now downstairs awaiting your summons."

Aber Lee?

“Make him wait a little longer,” Veronica said, frowning.

"Yes," Guard A replied.

Veronica wasn't in the mood to see that troublemaker who only sent half a book and wasn't very respectful, so she decided to give him the cold shoulder for a while.

But at that moment, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered the theory of free market economics that the other party had mentioned. It had confused her for a long time at the time, but the more she thought about it, the more profound and interesting it seemed.