A fierce wife enters the house: She helps up a house full of spineless people.

Time flies, and the county examination is just around the corner.

As dawn broke over the capital, every household was already bustling with activity.

Inside the Liu residence, the lights were bright. Liu Mingyuan watched his son, Liu Jinghong, packing his writing implements into the examination basket. He stepped forward, straightened his collar, and said earnestly, "Jinghong, don't be impatient today. I don't expect you to be like Yunfan, coming out on top. Just try your best and pass on the first try, and your father and mother will be satisfied."

Liu Jinghong smiled and said, "Father, please don't worry. This time, I'm not only going to pass the county exam, I'm going to do a fantastic job!"

Meanwhile, the scene inside the General Zhenguo's mansion was quite different.

Li Jingyue wore a bitter expression, clutching several pages of scriptures tightly in his hand, muttering to himself, looking like he was cramming for battle.

Li Jing'an strode over, looking at his son's appearance with a mixture of amusement and helplessness. He slapped Li Jingyue's shoulder with his large, warm hand, almost making Li Jingyue stumble.

"Alright, stop reading! You'll wear a hole through this paper if you keep reading!" Li Jing'an laughed heartily. "Jingyue, our Li family has been in the military for generations, skilled in swords, spears, and clubs. Writing isn't really our forte. I don't have high expectations for you. Just make sure you don't hand in a blank paper today and try to pass on your first try. Your grandfather will probably be so happy he'll go to the ancestral hall to offer incense to our ancestors!"

Li Jingyue sighed and said with a bitter expression, "Dad, Jinghong and Chang'an are full of confidence, but I really have no confidence. Just looking at those classical Chinese phrases gives me a headache."

"What's there to be afraid of!" Li Jing'an's thick eyebrows shot up. "Show us the spirit of a tiger cub from a military family! The examination hall is like a battlefield; don't panic. If you really fail, you can always come back and join me in defeating the enemy!"

"No, no, no, I'd better focus on the exam." Upon hearing that he was going to Polu Army, Li Jingyue was startled and quickly hugged his exam basket and ran outside.

As dawn broke, crowds thronged outside the county examination hall, with carriages from various families bringing their children to the exam making the streets impassable.

Liu Jinghong and Li Jingyue met outside the examination hall.

"Jinghong, did you sleep well last night? I didn't sleep a wink." Li Jingyue had faint dark circles under his eyes and looked anxious.

"You're eating well and sleeping well." Liu Jinghong teased Li Jingyue, "You're not in good shape. Your legs are already cramping before you even enter the exam room?"

Just then, the Prince's carriage arrived.

Wang Yunfan jumped off the carriage first, followed by Gu Chang'an, who was carrying the examination basket. Compared to Li Jingyue's anxiety, Gu Chang'an, although only a page, stood tall and composed, with a determined look in his eyes, clearly full of confidence.

"Yunfan, Chang'an!" Liu Jinghong waved.

The four of them reunited. Wang Yunfan, seeing Li Jingyue's nervous expression, chuckled and comforted him, "Brother Jingyue, relax. Your essay may not be fancy, but its theme is upright. As long as you perform normally, passing the county exam will be more than enough."

Gu Chang'an nodded in agreement: "Young Master Li, as long as you remember the key points of the questions we usually discuss, you will be fine."

With their reassurance, Li Jingyue took a deep breath, feeling a great weight lifted from his shoulders. He gritted his teeth and said, "Alright! I'll give it my all!"

-

Xiahe Village has completely changed its appearance.

The dilapidated thatched huts were all razed to the ground, replaced by a huge construction site bustling with activity. Not far from the village, the abandoned kiln was once again billowing smoke, and truckloads of freshly fired bricks and gray tiles were being continuously transported into the village.

Li Zheng acted swiftly and decisively. Within two days, a thousand wounded and disabled veterans arrived in Xiahe Village with their families.

When these people first arrived, their eyes were filled with fear and numbness about the future.

But when they saw that there were not only hot meals and spacious, bright dormitories, but also workshops and construction sites specially prepared for them, those men who shed blood but not tears on the battlefield all had tears in their eyes.

Without any unnecessary words, the thousand people spontaneously devoted themselves to the reconstruction of Xiahe Village the day after they settled in.

The scene at the construction site would surely shock outsiders.

A man missing his left arm steadily carried buckets of water with his only remaining right hand; an old soldier without a leg sat on the ground mixing mud until it was even and sticky; the family women were also busy, some helping to cook in the canteen, some weaving cloth in the workshop, and even the half-grown children were running around the construction site, helping to pass bricks and deliver water.

In the entire Xiahe Village, there wasn't a single idle person, nor a single complaint. In everyone's eyes, a light called "hope" shone.

The news quickly reached the Imperial Study.

After hearing Li Zheng's report, Liang Song remained silent for a long time. Then, with a flourish of his pen, he issued an imperial edict, allocating all the wasteland within a ten-mile radius around Xiahe Village to Xiahe Village for the purpose of expanding the village site.

This expanded the territory of Xiahe Village several times over.

Early in the morning, Wang Jinzhu, accompanied by Feng An and Zhao Dezhu, inspected the new village, which was already taking shape.

The wide, flat streets have been tamped down, with the foundations neatly arranged on both sides. The walls of the first few dozen courtyard houses that were under construction are already more than half built, with blue bricks and gray tiles, giving them a sense of solidity.

"Madam, look!" Zhao Dezhu pointed to the busy crowd ahead, his weathered face beaming with excitement. "The new brothers are all incredibly capable! At this rate, the first batch of five hundred houses will definitely be topped out before winter, and everyone will be able to enjoy a warm New Year in their new homes!"

Wang Jinzhu looked at the disabled veterans sweating profusely and nodded slightly.

"With more people, the previous plans seem rushed." Wang Jinzhu stopped and turned to look at Feng An. "Old Feng, since His Majesty has allocated all the surrounding land to us, we can't let it go to waste."

Feng An bowed respectfully: "What does Madam mean?"

Wang Jinzhu pulled a thick wad of silver notes from her sleeve and handed it directly to Feng An: "Here's 100,000 taels. The blueprints don't need changing. Continue with the previous courtyard house style, and expand outwards to build another 500 units!"

Feng An accepted the silver notes with both hands. Even though he was used to grand occasions, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat at this moment.

Another 100,000 taels were spent!

Adding that to what came before, that's a full two hundred thousand taels of silver! Looking across the entire Great Liang, even the most powerful and wealthy families would find it incredibly painful to spend so much cash to build a village for wounded veterans. Yet, his mistress didn't even blink an eye as she took out the money.

"Not only do we need to build houses," Wang Jinzhu continued, "but with more people, there will be problems with food, medical care, and children's education. The school needs to be expanded to accommodate at least five hundred children for their early education at the same time; we also need to build a large clinic and hire several doctors from the capital who are skilled in treating injuries and ailments. The scale of the livestock farm also needs to be doubled, and chickens, ducks, pigs, and sheep should be raised on a large scale."

Zhao Dezhu's legs went weak as he listened. If it weren't for a wooden stake nearby supporting him, he probably would have knelt down again.

"Madam...this...if we add another five hundred, that'll be a thousand houses!" Zhao Dezhu's voice trembled. "How much silver will that cost! Even if we brothers toil like oxen and horses for the rest of our lives, we could never repay your kindness!"

"Uncle Zhao, I've said it before, this is what you deserve." Wang Jinzhu's tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable strength. "You shed blood and risked your lives on the border, protecting not only the land of Daliang, but also the peace and tranquility of us common people. Now that you've retired, I, Wang Jinzhu, will ensure you a comfortable life for the rest of your days. What's wrong with that?"

Zhao Dezhu took a deep breath, straightened his hunched back, and gave a perfect military salute with reddened eyes: "Madam, you are truly righteous! The entire Xiahe Village is willing to die for you!"

"There's no need to die for me. Just live well and make a good life for me; that's the best way to repay me." Wang Jinzhu smiled, then turned to Feng An. "Old Feng, if you need more money, just come to me anytime. I only have one request: before winter, I want to see all one thousand courtyard houses completed so that all the veterans and their families can move into new homes!"

"Your subordinate obeys!" Feng An clasped his hands in a fist salute, a fire burning in his eyes. "Madam, rest assured, your subordinate will immediately go to the capital to recruit another batch of skilled craftsmen. We will work day and night, and the project will not be delayed!"

With Wang Jinzhu's latest large investment, the construction speed of Xiahe Village has once again soared.

Truckloads of timber and stone were being transported into the village like a flowing river.