Yin Shuangshuang was ill for nearly half a month, drinking bitter herbal medicine every day. Yin Shuangshuang truly experienced what it felt like to be a medicine jar; it was terrible!

Fortunately, there was also good news during her illness. First, there was good news from the Emperor’s side: the Zhou Family, a major aristocratic family, had finally been eradicated. Along with them, the Emperor also conveniently removed seven or eight small and medium-sized aristocratic families closely related to the Zhou Family.

This immediately left many official positions vacant. Apart from those divided by other aristocratic families, the Emperor retained most of the positions for his own people.

Luckily, even though the reform had previously failed, the Emperor did not give up and had secretly been nurturing his own people. Although there were not many, they barely managed to occupy those positions.

Had it not been that he truly didn’t have enough of his own people, the Emperor would never have let those aristocratic families really snatch so many positions from him.

Because of this matter, Mr. Nameless and Wang Zhongxuan were urged repeatedly by the Emperor, making them turn in circles with anxiety. Talented people are not cultivated in a day, and no matter how much the Emperor urged them, they couldn’t produce talents instantly.

The Emperor also understood this point; he just got a little too excited and had to do something to vent. Most of the officials in the court were aristocratic, and he couldn’t talk to them.

He felt that just talking to Yin Shuangshuang wasn’t enough, so he remembered Mr. Nameless and Wang Zhongxuan. The secret edict was more to share his excitement than it was to urge them.

Apart from the Emperor’s side, there was also good news from Bai Hengru. Because of the matches, Bai Hengru achieved great political achievements, and now, the people in the county and nearby villages and towns have become prosperous.

The originally lower county had been promoted to the Upper County, and Bai Hengru had gone from an eighth-rank County Magistrate to a sixth-rank County Magistrate.

Bai Hengru was also lucky. Just after being promoted to County Magistrate of the Upper County, the Zhou Family had an incident. As the Emperor’s trusted aide, Bai Hengru was promoted again and is now Lord Prefect.

However, with joy came worry. After becoming a Prefect, Bai Hengru wrote a letter to Yin Shuangshuang to express grievances and seek strategies.

Previously, as a County Magistrate, managing just one county was relatively simple because he could have the final say. Now, becoming a Prefect, he found himself constrained everywhere.

The main reason was that some County Magistrates under Bai Hengru’s command were from aristocratic families, and they, relying on their family backgrounds, followed orders in appearance but opposed them in secret. Even more troublesome, the higher-ranking Prefect was also from an aristocratic family.

Now, Bai Hengru’s situation was like being a piece of meat between a wolf and a dog, with life being very difficult.

Bai Hengru felt that he couldn’t solve it with his intelligence, so he wrote a letter to Yin Shuangshuang, detailing his situation and seeking her help.

Yin Shuangshuang thought of several strategies, all aimed at taking advantage of the situation. She specially dispatched a few Hidden Guards from the Eagle Team to deliver the letters, to avoid the letters containing the strategies falling into the wrong hands and causing trouble.

The biggest piece of good news came from Mrs. Wang and Yin Zheng. After some efforts during this period, Mrs. Wang was successfully pregnant, and Yin Shuangshuang was about to have a younger brother or sister.

This news made Yin Shuangshuang very happy. She bought a lot of soft fabrics suitable for infants and local specialties from Qinglin County, as well as several sheep and a dairy cow.

In the end, after thinking about it, Yin Shuangshuang also sent back about ten pounds of sugar candies, which were currently scarce and required an equivalent amount of silver to purchase.

————————

The winter weather turned cold quickly. After lying in bed for a few days, the first snow had already fallen, and the temperature dropped sharply again.

Yin Shuangshuang, who had initially gotten a lot better, was knocked down again and even developed a cough. Wrapped in thick quilts, she felt heavy but not warm and thought she was going to freeze to death.

These winter days were terribly hard to endure. Previously, she could still light several pots of Silver Frost Charcoal to keep warm, but now, for some reason, lighting Silver Frost Charcoal made her feel chesty and short of breath, worsening her cough.

Unable to light charcoal for warmth, relying on blankets was not enough either. The blankets people had were filled with kapok instead of soft cotton, making them heavy and not warm enough.

Every time Yin Shuangshuang covered herself with two layers of quilts, even soft new ones, it felt like a boulder pressing on her chest, causing much suffocation.

The winter temperature in Qinglin County was very cold. When Yin Shuangshuang first took up her post, the weather was already much warmer, and she didn’t find it particularly hard to endure.

Now experiencing the day-by-day dropping temperatures, she realized the winter in Qinglin County was quite formidable.

In the past few days, as Yin Shuangshuang’s illness worsened, Heng Yue looked more worried each day, and Ying Chang’an didn’t even have the heart to scold Yin Shuangshuang, spending all day reading medical books in the study.

Wei Yingnan, Wang Ruibo, Wang Ruiqi, and Gao Yaluo Linlang took turns guarding Yin Shuangshuang, while she remained half-conscious, half-awake all day long.

After another bout of coughing that felt like tearing at her heart and lungs, Yin Shuangshuang thought she must find a solution or she might just die in Qinglin County.

Yin Shuangshuang started thinking about methods of staying warm in ancient times. Katong, although effective in warming, inevitably produced the scent of charcoal fire, which her weak body couldn’t handle now.

Additionally, Kang was also not an option. It was too hot, and with her weak constitution, staying there would definitely overheat her. After much thought, she could only think of one thing: fire wall.

The principle of a fire wall is similar to a kang but much more useful. First of all, a fire wall is equivalent to a large radiator. Its heating effect is even stronger than modern radiators, making it absolutely suitable for winter heating.

Additionally, a fire wall can be heated throughout the day, ensuring the indoor temperature remains constant, while a kang would roast a person into jerky if constantly burned.

When Heng Yue and Ying Chang’an were already discussing writing a memorial to the Emperor, reporting Yin Shuangshuang’s health issues and requesting the Emperor to transfer her back to Capital City, Yin Shuangshuang finally, during a rare moment of clarity, drew up the design for a fire wall.

Once Yin Shuangshuang completed the blueprint, Luo Linlang immediately mobilized people to construct the fire wall as quickly as possible according to the drawings.

After the fire wall was built and lit, everyone immediately felt its benefit. In the cold winter, the indoors felt like spring. Yin Shuangshuang, after moving into the room with the fire wall for just three days, recovered most of her health.

Yin Shuangshuang was awake, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Ying Chang’an was the first to request a fire wall in his room, while Yin Shuangshuang started planning to popularize the fire wall.

However, building fire walls could not be done with the common people of Qinglin County and Lin County. These two counties’ people were enthusiastically learning sugar-making techniques and couldn’t spare any time.

Yin Shuangshuang considered bringing in common people from nearby counties to learn the fire wall technology. Although it wouldn’t lead to rapid wealth, at least learning it would provide an extra source of income.

However, this required the cooperation of a County Magistrate, and Yin Shuangshuang needed to find one not from an aristocratic family. Her relations with aristocratic families were already like water and fire.

If she found a County Magistrate from an aristocratic family, they would certainly cause trouble for her, making cooperation impossible.