Feint to the east while attacking the west

As the sky was ablaze with the colors of sunset, Ah Shi returned carrying a somewhat empty fish basket. Had he caught nothing? "You came back empty-handed?" I asked, glancing at the basket. When I saw a tiny fish lying inside, I pursed my lips and offered a forced compliment: "Not bad, you did catch one."

"Hmm," unexpectedly Ah Shi seemed quite happy: "Yeah, I did catch a fish, and I think it's pretty good."

"Mmm," I nodded, "So...we're going back?"

"Yes, let's go back," Ah Shi said with a cheerful smile.

When we rushed back, we found the main gate of the Prime Minister's residence wide open, with a kind-looking steward standing at the entrance. He greeted us, saying, "Miss Xu, the Tenth Prince, greet General Mu."

Were they waiting for us? This is terrible!

I nervously led A-Shi towards the main hall, but Mu Li was stopped by the steward behind us: "Young General Mu, the Prime Minister met your father when he left court today. He's been looking for you everywhere. What do you think?"

Mu Li frowned: "Xu Yi, then I'll go back to the Mu residence first."

"Okay! You go back first."

After Muli left, I sighed and resignedly led Ashi to the main hall.

In the main hall, the prime minister stood with his hands behind his back, holding a rattan cane. He only turned around and looked at us calmly when he heard our voices: "You're back?"

It's over, the calm before the storm...

I stepped forward and nodded: "Yes, I'm back."

"Hmm," the prime minister nodded, then sat down in the main seat of the main hall, placed the rattan cane in his hand on his knees, and looked at Ah Shi: "I heard that my family members went to 'Xufeng Tower', is that true?"

Oh dear, Xufeng Tower… I quickly stepped forward: “Yes, it was me who took A-Shi there.”

"Oh?" A rising tone followed: "That princess is really thoughtful, isn't she? What's wrong? After being in the capital for so long, haven't you fallen into the allure of the world yet? Are you a little resentful?"

I felt a little embarrassed by what he said, and forced myself to explain, "No, we, we just went to listen to some music."

"Ha, just listening to music? Which melody did you listen to?"

"I...I didn't hear anything, I was just...I was taken out..." The prime minister's gaze was somewhat oppressive, and I unconsciously stammered.

"Oh...that's a real pity, Princess. You went all the way to listen to the music but didn't hear it?"

Ah Shi didn't dare say a word behind me, so I could only wave my hand and continue to respond: "No, no, it's not a pity, it's not a pity..."

"Isn't it a pity?" The prime minister stood up abruptly, holding the rattan cane. "You two had barely stepped into 'Xufeng Tower' when their spies showed up. Those idiots who love to watch the drama were all rushing to report to me, and I had to thank them politely and lie that my children were useless... You two are having a good time, aren't you?"

I dared not speak then. Seeing that we were both silent, the prime minister directly ordered, "Kneel down."

We both knelt down at the same time. The prime minister walked up to Ah Shi first and angrily rebuked him: "Don't you know that time waits for no one? The imperial examination is just around the corner, and you're still going to visit brothels? Have you finished reading all the books I told you to read? Are five policy essays a day not enough to write?"

Ah Shi raised his hand very consciously: "Teacher, I know I was wrong."

"And you," the prime minister turned around abruptly, "don't you know how serious the mess you made is? Now the crown prince is ruthlessly eliminating dissidents in court, and A-Shi doesn't even have a chance to stand on the throne. And you still have time to take him out to have fun?"

I shrank back and said, "I'm scared, scared that Ah Shi will go crazy from studying."

"Crazy? Ha, this is the first time I've heard of someone going crazy from reading. Is it because the broad road, the true words and techniques in the book aren't inspiring enough? If he can't even get past this hurdle, then he might as well give up now and let the court rot away, so I can retire sooner."

"I was wrong," I silently raised my hand, "I will change in the future."

The next second, the cane struck my hand. I gasped; it really hurt...

When Ah Shi saw me grimacing, his eyes widened. The Prime Minister then went over and hit Ah Shisan again. I could even see that his hand was so red it was almost swollen...

"Considering you only stayed at 'Xufeng Tower' for a quarter of an hour, I'll give you a small punishment today as a warning. If you do it again, don't even think about coming to me, even if the King of Heaven himself is about to die!"

I had to coax him. I tugged at his sleeve and said pitifully, "We'll never do it again, Uncle Xiang, don't be angry. What if you hurt yourself?"

"Oh, then thank you for your concern, Princess!"

I realized I hadn't been appeased. I quickly gave Ah Shi a wink, and Ah Shi, mimicking me, tugged at the Prime Minister's sleeve, saying, "Teacher, don't be angry. I'll definitely change in the future."

Ah Shiyi and I tugged at each other's sleeves, repeatedly saying, "Don't upset Uncle Xiang," "Don't upset the teacher," and so on...

After several rounds of nagging, he finally relented: "Alright, alright, what's wrong with that? One's a princess, the other a prince, let go!"

"You're not angry anymore? That's good. I breathed a sigh of relief and stood up with Ah Shi: 'Uncle Xiang, it's good that you're not angry anymore.'"

The prime minister glanced at me sideways and asked, "Where did you go after that?"

"I went fishing," Ah Shi replied quickly.

"Did you catch anything?"

"I caught one!" Ah Shi exclaimed happily when the fish was mentioned. "I've already given the fish to the housekeeper. I'll make a soup for the teacher later."

"Hmph, at least you have a conscience." The prime minister sat back down in the main seat and looked at Ah Shi: "Since you went fishing today, let's use fishing as an example!"

Fishing? What's there to say about fishing?

As I was wondering, Ah Shi spoke up: "Talented people in this world are like fish in the water. You can catch them with profit and get three points; you can catch them with power and get another three points; the upright use ideals as bait, and the greedy use high salaries as bait... As long as you have the will, all the talented people in the world can be put into my basket."

Is this...is this about the same thing?

"Hmm," the prime minister in the main hall nodded, "Not bad. He has not only learned the book, but can also use it. He has also added his own grammar and tone. Not bad."

Ah Shi smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment, teacher."

After speaking, the prime minister glanced at me and asked Ah Shi, "I heard that you used a 'feint attack' on your aunt today?"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Ah Shi immediately knelt down again: "Teacher, you misunderstand. How could I scheme against Aunt? When I entered 'Xufeng Tower,' I saw that the patrolling Imperial Guards recognized us and guessed that Mu Li was coming. This was a good opportunity to escape, so I didn't tell Aunt."

"If you were planning to leave anyway, why did you go to the brothel?"

"This... the student wanted to experience what it felt like to escape... it was my selfish desire that got in the way..."

"You have nothing now, yet you dare to act selfishly and run away. Who knows what kind of disaster you'll cause once you hold power!" The prime minister was even angrier than before: "Twenty strokes of the cane. Do you have any objections?"

“No,” Ah Shi swallowed hard, “the students have no objections.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the steward brought in two executioners. Fortunately, they were carrying small sticks, not the large wooden clubs used in court floggings, which relieved me.

The prime minister jokingly asked, "What? Feeling sorry for that lad?"

I lowered my head and touched my forehead, saying embarrassedly, "In short, it was because of me that Ah Shi went down this path. I... I still..."

"You feel guilty towards him?" the prime minister interjected. "So you're being extra lenient with him?"

"Hmm? Probably, probably!"

"Nonsense!" The prime minister shouted angrily, "The more tolerant you are of him today, the more tolerant you will be in the future. But the most important thing for a person's growth is to take solid steps one by one, without deviating from the right path. Your long-term tolerance will only make him complacent. In the long run, his mind will inevitably wander, and that will truly harm him!"

“Aunt, Teacher… Teacher is right…” Large beads of sweat dripped from A-Shi’s forehead as he gritted his teeth and replied, “For ordinary people, they only have a few acres of land, and at most they can’t even get enough to eat; for ministers, they have the villages and villagers of a county or township under their command… But for a ruler, there are millions upon millions of people on his shoulders, and indeed… he cannot, cannot be negligent!”

Unexpectedly, Ah Shi's awareness was even higher than mine. The Prime Minister also nodded approvingly: "Not bad. Considering that your nature has not deviated, let's reduce it by ten strokes!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the first ten blows were completed, and Ah Shi breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you... thank you, teacher!"

At that moment, a servant came in and reported: "Master, the meal is ready, and the head chef is asking if we should set the table now."

"Yes, set it up," the prime minister nodded, casually gesturing to Ah Shi, "Get up, let's go have a proper meal together."

Once we were seated at the table, the prime minister looked at the bowl of fish soup in the center, which was as bland as water, and the small fish floating in it. He sighed and said, "It must have been tough on the head chef. He managed to make this bowl of fish soup from such a small fish." Then the prime minister looked at the steward and said, "Go and give him five taels of silver."

The butler nodded: "Yes, sir, I'll take care of it in a moment."

"Alas..." The prime minister sighed again.

I felt a little embarrassed, but Ah Shi shamelessly took a bowl, ladled some soup for the Prime Minister, and handed it to him: "Teacher, this is my first time fishing, so please forgive me for this soup!"

The prime minister took the soup from Ah Shi with a displeased look: "You went out in such a big way, only to catch such a small fish. It's such a waste. I'll take you next time and teach you how to fish."

"Thank you very much, teacher," Ah Shi said, and very consciously ladled out a bowl of soup for me and handed it to me: "Auntie, you can have some too."

"Thank you. This is the first time I've had soup made from someone else's fishing. It's alright."

Speaking of which, I suddenly remembered that my body had grown flesh and blood. I wondered if I could eat these foods, so I took a small sip. It was alright; it didn't leak out like before. However, I probably couldn't digest it anyway, and it would still have to be excreted in the end. Oh well... I got to satisfy my craving...

The prime minister took two sips of the soup: "It's alright, it has more flavor than plain water..."

Hearing this, the three of us looked at each other, and then burst into laughter...

Laughter drifted far away in the lonely Prime Minister's residence.