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

Inside the main hall, three tables were set up for the banquet.

A dozen maids moved about, bringing out a continuous stream of delicacies to the table.

Chen Shi held the wine glass, his hand trembling uncontrollably. The wine in the glass rippled, splashing onto his calloused hands.

Even though he had spent time with Li Zheng several times before, he still couldn't help but feel flustered and weak-kneed every time they sat at the same table. Deep down, he was still a country bumpkin, and he couldn't suppress the nervousness and awe that a nobody feels when facing someone of power.

"Father-in-law, don't be shy, make yourself at home!" Li Zheng sat in the main seat, his voice booming, and laughed heartily while holding up a large bowl.

Chen Shi forced a stiff smile and stammered, "What the Duke says is true."

Without Jinzhu, the elderly couple would have spent their entire lives toiling in the yellow earth of Chenjia Village, never worthy of witnessing such extraordinary wealth. Now, sharing a table and drinks with these esteemed figures, they dared not even breathe too loudly, fearing that even a loud breath would offend the dignitaries.

Sitting next to her, Wang Jinzhu noticed her unease. She used serving chopsticks to place a piece of soft, tender fish on the plate in front of her and leaned closer to comfort her in a gentle voice: "Mother, don't be nervous. Tianfang and the children are here. Try this fish; all the bones have been removed."

Chen Yuxiang's tense shoulders relaxed slightly, and she nodded gratefully to her.

On the other side, a large, well-defined hand reached out and steadily supported Chen Shi's trembling wrist.

Wang Tianfang remained calm, took the wine jug from his father's hand, and refilled the cups of Li Zheng and Wei Dunqian's wine: "Father, this wine is strong, please drink less."

He turned around, picked up his wine cup, and looked at the two bigwigs at the head table: "Uncle Li, Lord Wei, on behalf of my father, I would like to offer you both a toast."

He raised his head and drank it all in one gulp.

Li Zheng looked at Wang Tianfang with admiration in his eyes.

"What a great drinker!" Li Zheng downed the wine in his bowl in one gulp, then turned to Wei Dunqian, his face beaming. "My dear in-law, look at the commotion tonight! It's so lively! Our Li family's ancestral graves are truly blessed!"

Wei Dunqian slowly picked up a piece of bamboo shoot with his chopsticks, swallowed it, and then said, "My dear in-law, it's just a county exam, and he ranked fifth from the bottom. It's not worth making such a fuss."

Even so, a hint of a smile lingered in Wei Dunqian's eyes. It was rare for a military family to produce someone who could wield a pen.

"My dear in-law, you're wrong about that!" Li Zheng slapped his thigh, making the dishes on the table jump. "Going back three generations, our Li family doesn't even have a single person who can recite the entire 'Thousand Character Classic'! This kid Jingyue, eleven years old! He passed the county exam at eleven! What does that say?"

Li Zheng leaned closer to Wei Dunqian, lowered his voice, but his tone was extremely smug: "This shows that Jing Yue has inherited the literary spirit of your Wei family! This kid's bloodline has awakened!"

Wei Dunqian was momentarily speechless at the phrase "bloodline awakening," and picked up his wine glass to hide the twitching at the corner of his mouth.

Li Jing'an, sitting at the lower end of the table, drank his wine in silence, finding it more bitter than bitter herbs. He had only passed the county examination at the age of fifteen, and this afternoon his own son had shoved the results in his face. Now his father was bringing it up again, repeatedly hurling insults at him.

Another table.

Li Jingyue sat calmly in the armchair, peeling an orange in his hand, his eyes looking down at him with disdain.

"Brother Jingyue, if you keep shaking your leg, the chair will fall apart." Wang Yunshu swallowed a bite of crispy pork and mercilessly exposed his antics.

"Sister Yunshu, you don't understand." Li Jingyue tossed an orange segment into his mouth, chewing it noisily. "This is called the scholar's sense of relaxation. From now on, in this General's Mansion, that's what I am!"

He gave a thumbs-up, beaming with pride.

Chen Tianrun and Li Bing sat beside him, watching their nephew's expression, and couldn't help but chuckle.

Wei Dunqian put down his wine cup and looked across the two tables, his gaze landing precisely on Li Jingyue, who was sitting with his legs crossed, peeling an orange.

"Jingyue," Wei Dunqian said slowly, his voice not loud, which made the originally noisy main hall quiet for a moment, "Since you have barely passed the county examination, the next one is the prefectural examination."

Li Jingyue had just put a segment of orange into his mouth and hadn't even had a chance to chew it when he heard those two words. He coughed violently and almost choked to death on the orange juice.

"Cough cough cough... Grandpa, what did you say?" Li Jingyue's eyes widened, and he quickly put his legs down. The smug "relaxed scholar's feeling" he had just had vanished instantly, and he looked like a duck with its neck being choked.

Wei Dunqian stroked his gray beard, looking at him with a half-smile: "The county exam is just a stepping stone on the path to the imperial examinations; the prefectural exam is where the real test comes in. With your score of fifth from the bottom, if you were to take the prefectural exam, you probably wouldn't even be able to touch the bottom of the list. The prefectural exam is only a few months away at most. Starting tomorrow, stop playing with those walnuts you're playing with and focus on studying."

Upon hearing this, Li Jing'an, who was sitting at the lower end of the table drinking alone, suddenly brightened up like a copper bell, feeling as refreshed as if he had drunk a mouthful of ice water on a sweltering summer day.

He slapped his thigh and loudly agreed, "Father-in-law is absolutely right! This little rascal is like a dog that's climbing on the roof if he's not disciplined for three days straight. He got fifth from the bottom in the exam and now he's all high and mighty! Starting tomorrow, I'll personally supervise his memorization. If he can't memorize an entire article, he won't get any food!"

Li Jingyue felt a sudden darkness engulf him; the arrogance he had built up that afternoon was instantly shattered. His face contorted in pain, he turned to Li Zheng in the main seat and wailed, "Grandpa! Look at my father! I just passed the county exam, and he hasn't even had a chance to catch his breath!"

Originally, Li Zheng thought that his grandson passing the county examination was already a great blessing for the Li family's ancestral graves, but now, with his in-laws' provocation, his mind started to wander as well.

He stroked his stiff stubble and slammed his hand on the table: "Jingyue, strike while the iron is hot! Your grandfather is right! Look at Yunfan, he got top marks in both the county and prefectural examinations at the age of ten. If our Li family can produce a scholar who passes both the county and prefectural examinations, I can walk sideways in court! That's settled!"

After saying that, Li Zheng turned and glared at Li Jing'an: "Jing'an, you better keep a close eye on him! If he fails the Jingyue prefectural exam, I'll beat you too! Who told you to only pass the county exam at fifteen, passing on your bad luck to your son!"

Li Jing'an's smile froze abruptly. How did things come back to him again? But he gritted his teeth, looked at his son's utterly hopeless expression, and nodded fiercely: "Father, don't worry, even if I don't sleep, I'll still force him to sit at the desk!"

Li Jingyue's face was filled with despair: "Grandpa, that's Yunfan! His brain isn't like ours! Who am I? I'm a military general who's going to conquer the world on horseback! I just need to pass the county exam to prove I'm not blind, why would I need to take the prefectural exam?!"

"Pfft, hahaha..." Wang Yunshu couldn't hold back her laughter any longer and laughed so hard she almost fell over. She patted Li Jingyue's shoulder and teased, "Brother Jingyue, your thumbs-up gesture just now was so cool! You must keep it up during the prefectural exam!"

Wang Yunfan smiled gently, then added seriously, "Brother Jingyue, the prefectural examination requires you to write classical texts and miscellaneous essays, which demands a very high level of understanding of the classics. It is indeed much more difficult than the county examination. But don't worry, if you have any questions, come to the Wang residence anytime. I will answer them to the best of my ability."

Looking into Wang Yunfan's sincere eyes, Li Jingyue almost burst into tears. Looking for you? You were ten years old and ranked first in the prefectural examination; for me to look for you would be asking for trouble!

Seeing his nephew's miserable state, Chen Tianrun, who was sitting at the same table, shook his head with a smile, picked up a piece of food for Li Bing next to him, and said softly, "It seems that Jing Yue's days ahead are not going to be easy."

Li Bing covered his mouth and chuckled: "Jade must be carved to become a gem. With Yunfan as a good example, it's time for him to settle down."

Red lanterns swayed in the night breeze throughout the courtyard. The victory celebration at the General's Mansion reached its climax amidst the cheers and laughter of the crowd and Li Jingyue's gloomy expression. Having just experienced half a day of "scholarly privileges," the young master Li sadly discovered that his hard times had only just begun.