Zhao Xiheng tugged at Wei Li's sleeve and whispered a few words to him.

Wei Li nodded.

"The Prefect of Jiangdong Commandery has written a good summary this year. Let me explain how you wrote it so that everyone can learn from you."

Wei Li raised his chin and spoke to the skinny middle-aged man at the head of the table.

The man stood there shivering, his two small goatees twitching, and his two dark, beady eyes darting around.

"Bravo!!!" Someone suddenly shouted from below, followed by a round of applause.

All eyes were drawn to it, and upon closer inspection, they saw that it was the Prefect of Ji'an County. Seeing that no one responded, he blushed and awkwardly stopped his flattery.

His wife secretly pinched his thigh and whispered, "Shut up."

The Jiangdong prefect's face turned pale and then flushed, creating quite a scene. He stammered for a long time before finally saying, "This...this is what I...this is what I should do..."

"Wait, after the banquet is over, I will personally write down my experience for you all to review."

"What are we going to do after the banquet? Now that we have some free time, tell me." Wei Li wasn't a very patient person to begin with, and his stammering had made him even more furious. If Zhao Xiheng hadn't been holding him back, he would have gotten up and started hitting him long ago.

For now, all I can do is fiddle with the wine bottle in my hand to distract myself and vent my frustration.

The man shuddered again, but forced himself to remain calm. “Jiangdong…Jiangdong County has a large population. I have thought about it repeatedly. We should plant more grain so that the people can have enough to eat and live in peace and prosperity.”

"Really? I seem to remember that in your memorial you wrote that while grain is important, the county should focus more on developing commerce?" Wei Li raised his eyes and looked at him with a half-smile.

"Yes, is that so? Then I must have misremembered." The man wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Indeed, developing... developing agriculture, and... we cannot neglect commerce either; they should be given equal importance..."

Wei Li and Zhao Xiheng understood immediately, and everyone around them frowned. Although they couldn't remember every word and sentence of what they had written, how could they possibly make a mistake about something that concerned the production of a prefecture and was a summary?

Wei Li threw the wine cup in his hand, which hit the Jiangdong prefect on the head, causing him to bleed profusely. He clutched his head and wailed, but dared not be too loud, "My lord, spare my life! My lord, spare my life!"

"Did you really write that memorial?" Wei Li gripped the wine cup next to Zhao Xiheng's hand between his fingers. "I was just trying to fool you, and you actually believed it? It clearly says to build water conservancy projects, grow more rice, and raise ducks in the rice paddies!"

The governor of Jiangdong County collapsed to the ground, drenched in cold sweat. Seeing that his scheme had been exposed, he hurriedly kowtowed, "My lord, spare my life! My lord, spare my life!"

It seems like those are the only four words he can say.

The others in the room clicked their tongues, unsure what to say. They thought hiring someone to write it was easy, and that some of them had done it before, but at least you should have memorized the draft. Even if you couldn't, you couldn't write it too well. If you wrote it well, wouldn't that be glaringly obvious?

Wei Li hurled the wine cup at him again, causing another head injury and drawing blood. Then, he softened his tone and said loudly, "Come closer."

The governor of Jiangdong stumbled and crawled up the steps, knelt at Wei Li's feet, and stammered, "My lord, spare my life! It was indeed... it was indeed not my own handwriting..."

Wei Li stood up, kicked him hard, and then shouted, "Climb back up!"

After being subjected to this ordeal twice, the man was rolling around in pain, his head bleeding profusely, tears streaming down his face. He looked utterly miserable. Zhao Xiheng couldn't bear to watch any longer and tugged at his sleeve, saying, "Punish him if you want, but don't go through with this kind of humiliation."

Seeing that Wei Li was in a fit of anger, with veins bulging on his forehead, everyone knew that if Zhao Xiheng spoke up at this moment without any tact, she might incur his wrath.

Wei Li remained standing upright, his brows furrowed. Seeing that he didn't move, Zhao Xiheng assumed that her voice was too soft, so she simply pulled him down to sit.

One tug didn't budge it, and two tugs still didn't budge it.

Zhao Xiheng frowned, grabbed his sleeve and pulled him down hard, causing Wei Li to stumble and sit on the bear-shaped mat.

He turned around angrily and looked at Zhao Xiheng.

Zhao Xiheng hadn't expected to use so much force, and felt rather embarrassed.

The crowd couldn't bear to watch. Why would someone suddenly show such kindness? There's a limit to how much you can take someone's favor! Back then, the Prince of Zhenbei also had a favorite concubine whom he took everywhere. But because he didn't know his own worth, he pleaded for a criminal at a banquet and ended up being dragged out along with him.

Although Zhao Xiheng was his principal wife and pregnant, and Wei Li couldn't do anything to her, she went against his wishes and even made him stumble and lose face, so it was certain that she would fall out of favor.

Zhao Xiheng slipped her hand into his sleeve, seeking his hand. After grasping it, she slowly intertwined her fingers with his. The soft warmth of their skin against each other made Wei Li pout at her, "What are you doing?"

"Didn't we just agree not to get too angry?" Zhao Xiheng shook his hand. "It's fine if you hit or scold him, but making him climb up and roll down like that is too humiliating, especially in front of so many people."

“I’m angry. He doesn’t even understand the situation in his own prefecture. How can he govern a prefecture well? He deceives his superiors and subordinates. I hate it when people deceive me.” Wei Li’s brows remained furrowed.

"Then you should scold him, instead of kicking him around like that." Zhao Xiheng nodded, then tried to let go of his hand.

Wei Li grabbed her hand and held it tightly, not wanting to let go. "You took my hand yourself, why are you pulling it away now?" He paused. "It wasn't that I wanted to hold your hand, you insisted that I do."

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Zhao Xiheng silently thought to herself, "If you don't want to hold my hand, then let go!"

However, she still intended to save face for Wei Li in front of others; pulling him down to sit earlier had already embarrassed him enough.

The servants below saw the two whispering amongst themselves for a long time, but Wei Li didn't seem to get angry at Zhao Xiheng. Instead, the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned, and he seemed to be bubbling with joy. They were secretly amazed; Wei Li wasn't angry at all, he was even smiling.

"Since you say it was written by someone else, then bring that person up here!" The Jiangdong Prefect was stunned by the kick, trembling and unable to utter a word. Wei Li looked at his wife, "You know about it, don't you?"

The wife of the Prefect of Jiangdong, who had been quietly huddled in the corner, was surprised to be called out and quickly tried to deflect blame, saying, "I have often advised him not to do this, but my husband does not listen to my advice. This has nothing to do with me..."

"Shut up! I've told you to say so much. I'm telling you to bring the person up here!" Wei Li interrupted her.

"Oh, oh." The wife of the Prefect of Jiangdong nodded quickly and instructed her maid, who responded and left.

She tried to sit down tremblingly, but Wei Li slammed his hand on the table. "You and your husband kneel down together! Do you think you can escape?"

The wife of the Jiangdong Prefect knelt down with a bitter face, but she was secretly pleased with her husband, whose head had become like a pig's head.

Before long, a thin young man was brought up. To say he was thin was an exaggeration; he was so thin that he was just a skeleton, as frail and withered as a bamboo pole.

He lowered his head and knelt down tremblingly, saying, "This humble subject, Shen Du'an, pays his respects to my lord."

When Wei Li saw him, his tone softened slightly, and he had someone hand him the memorial about Jiangdong County. "Did you write this?"

Zhao Xiheng carefully examined the young man named Shen Du'an. His brows and expression revealed weakness, but his eyes were very clear.

Shen Du'an read the memorial with trepidation and apologized, saying, "It was written by a lowly person, but I don't know how the lord saw it. It was my fault."

"Since you've written it down, why don't you explain your thinking?"

“My humble opinion is dull and foolish, and I fear that speaking it out would offend Your Excellency.” Shen Du’an was not being modest; he genuinely felt that his writing was poor, like a pile of dog excrement. “It is all my fault that I have written something like this and displeased Your Excellency.”

Wei Li was annoyed. Why was this person so indecisive?

Zhao Xiheng stopped him and asked slowly, "Who told you that your writing is bad?"

The Jiangdong Prefect trembled. Before Shen Du'an could speak, the Prefect's wife spoke first.

“My lady, you are wise. Young Master Shen was a child prodigy in the surrounding villages when he was young. This old man saw that he was a rare talent and spent money to buy him from his parents and hire a tutor to train him.”

Fearing he would become too independent and refuse to be controlled, they kept him confined to the house every day, preventing him from seeing outsiders. They allowed the scholars to belittle Chen Du'an, saying his writings were utter nonsense. One day was alright, but after years of this, he truly felt worthless and became completely subservient to them.

Heaven help it, this old man's annual summaries are all written by Shen Du'an, and he always gets praised for them. All the rewards he receives also go to this old man.

"I have told you the truth, please, my lord and my wife, spare me."

Shen Du'an stared wide-eyed, his eyes filled with confusion. He looked at the lady to the side and waved his hand in alarm, "Madam, you, you're joking... I am worthless."

Zhao Xiheng fell silent, as if she understood something.

"Since you think what you've written is utter nonsense, then explain how you wrote this nonsense," Zhao Xiheng said, looking at him.

"I am deeply grateful for the prefect's kindness. Despite my dull and foolish nature, he has been given a job and a teacher to instruct me. He has also shown me all kinds of documents from Jiangdong and treated me like his own son."

The petty man noticed that grain trade had surged last year, but trade in various non-essential goods had been scarce. He reasoned that the current situation had led people to reduce their purchases of non-essential goods and instead hoard grain for unforeseen circumstances. Therefore, he believed that the trade in jewelry, tonics, and other such items should cease, and that instead, the trade in grain should be expanded.

Although Jiangdong has abundant water and soil, it suffers from minor insect infestations every year, resulting in poor rice harvests. Therefore, they thought that raising ducks in the rice paddies would not only eliminate pests, but also provide fertilizer from duck droppings, and fish could be raised in the fields..."

As he spoke these words, his eyes shone brightly, but the light faded in an instant. "But the gentleman said that I have been raised by the prefect and am unaware of the hardships of the world. This method simply won't work. The ducklings will eat the rice and the fish fry..."