Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

"Am I supposed to just let those old bastards bully me?" Xiahou Che said indignantly. "If being an emperor means having to swallow my pride, then I might as well quit being the ruler of this country!"

"Don't hold a grudge." Yan Zhen tapped his forehead with the memorial. "It's normal that you've never studied the art of rulership and don't know how to deal with those cunning old ministers. I have an idea that can not only teach Grand Secretary Zhang a lesson for his insubordination, but also bring him under my thumb."

Xiahou Che became interested: "Tell me about it."

Yan Zhen whispered his idea to Xiahou Che, who thought about it and nodded, "I'll give it a try."

-

A few more days passed.

That day, Yan Zhen was practicing calligraphy in Zhaoyang Palace when Xiahou Che came over after court. As soon as he entered, he excitedly picked her up and spun her around twice: "Xiao Lingyi, today Grand Secretary Zhang came to apologize to me."

Yan Zhen wasn't surprised at all, but his expression was one of delighted surprise, like he was coaxing a child: "So fast?"

"Your idea was brilliant!" Xiahou Che's face was full of undisguised joy. "Find someone to report that Grand Secretary Zhang's great-grandson was patronizing prostitutes, and his grandson and son were implicated and suspended from their duties, creating the illusion that Grand Secretary Zhang was being kicked while he was down after being imprisoned."

When the entire Zhang family was in a passive position, and court officials were distancing themselves from them, with no one offering a helping hand, I personally stepped in, pardoned Grand Secretary Zhang, and clarified the matter of his great-grandson being wrongly accused of patronizing prostitutes. Grand Secretary Zhang indeed fell for this, and this morning after court, he went to the Imperial Study to plead guilty, even saying that he would swear to be loyal to me to the death.”

"Well done, that's a tactic called 'first intimidation, then kindness'." After praising him, Yan Zhen didn't forget to give him a warning, "You need to learn more about how to manage your subordinates in the future, so you won't be led by the nose by the court officials again."

Upon hearing this, Xiahou Che's face fell: "I don't want to learn. Dealing with these old fogies is exhausting. They're all so cunning, and they're always trying to trap me with their words... It's much easier to go back to the military camp to train and fight."

Yan Zhen chuckled and said, "If you go to train troops and fight battles, who will handle the political affairs?"

Xiahou Che choked and mumbled, "If I had known being an emperor would be this tiring, I wouldn't have wanted to be one. It would have been so much better to be a carefree prince and then snatch you away to the southwest to be my princess."

"Alright, stop being so temperamental." Yan Zhen instructed Green Pearl to bring over some sweet cakes. "Have something to eat and rest. You should go back to the Imperial Study to read the memorials."

After eating the sweet cake, Xiahou Che became lazy and lingered in Zhaoyang Palace, unwilling to leave.

Yan Zhen sat at the table practicing calligraphy, leaning against her and braiding a strand of her hair.

Yan Zhen urged him several times but he refused to leave. Helpless, she asked Yang Pei to bring the memorials from the Imperial Study and let Xiahou Che work in Zhaoyang Palace.

The memorials were piled up like a small mountain on the table in Zhaoyang Palace. Xiahou Che read a few, but then became impatient and threw the vermilion brush in his hand aside in agitation.

He was used to the hardships of military life, so his handwriting was crooked and messy, and he didn't have the patience to look at these densely packed words for a long time.

Yan Zhen looked up at him: "What is it now?"

The complaint that Xiahou Che was about to say turned into, "My eyes hurt," when he met Yan Zhen's slightly furrowed brows.

As he spoke, he even pretended to rub his eyes.

"Let me see." Yan Zhen pretended not to notice his little scheme, put down the pen in her hand, and made a move to examine his eyes.

The moment she cupped her face in her hands, Xiahou Che leaned in and kissed her, then winked and smiled at her.

Yan Zhen then revealed a helpless expression, realizing he had been tricked: "You're trying to slack off again, aren't you?"

"I don't want to read the memorials." Xiahou Che looked utterly dejected. "These words look like insects crawling on the paper; they make my eyes uncomfortable."

"What do you want?"

Xiahou Che thought for a moment, then picked up a memorial and stuffed it into Yan Zhen's hand: "Read it to me."

"The empress and concubines must not interfere in politics..."

"If you don't tell and I don't tell, who will know?" Xiahou Che thought he had found a perfect solution and leaned back on the chaise lounge with a straight face. "Come, Empress, read to me what's written in this memorial."

Yan Zhen held the folded document in his hand as if he were holding a celestial book that was faintly burning.

This small memorial could determine the life and death of countless people.

At that moment, she finally understood why men were so obsessed with the feeling of having power; it was indeed captivating.

She suppressed her excitement and asked in a serious tone, "Do you really want me to read it to you?"

"Read!"

Yan Zhen sat down, quickly read through the contents of the memorial, removed the sycophantic nonsense that took up half the document, extracted the main points, and informed Xiahou Che, who would then decide how to annotate it.

Xiahou Che listened patiently at first, discussing with Yan Zhen how to make annotations, but after less than an hour, his mind wandered to other things, and he eventually fell asleep on the chaise longue.

When I woke up, it was almost dark outside, and palace lanterns were lit in Zhaoyang Palace.

Xiahou Che lifted the folded document covering his face and looked up to see Yan Zhen still sitting at the desk, intently reading something. On the table beside him, the folded documents that had been reviewed were stacked together, neatly arranged.

"Xiao Lingyi." Xiahou Che sat up, casually picked up a memorial and flipped through it. Not only were there comments written in red ink, but they were also thoughtfully imitating his crooked and ugly handwriting. "Have you finished commenting on them all?"

"Hmm." Yan Zhen was busy with his work and didn't look up. "Otherwise, if we wait until you wake up to review them, it will probably be late at night."

As she spoke, she casually picked up a folded document next to her: "These are some of the important matters in the memorials presented today. I have copied them down. Take a good look at them. You don't have to read the memorials, but you can't be completely ignorant of what the ministers discuss with you during the morning court session."

Xiahou Che was deeply moved. He leaned over and put his arm around her waist, nuzzling her head with his chin: "You've worked hard, Your Majesty."

Yan Zhen pushed him away with disdain: "Go away, I'm busy."

Xiahou Che asked, "What are you looking at?"

“Jincheng suffers from flooding every year during the high-water season. I was thinking about whether we could build a dam to solve this problem.”

Xiahou Che's gaze fell on her, and he became more and more fascinated as he looked at her.

What initially attracted him was her strategic and decisive aura.

Ignoring Xiahou Che's gaze, Yan Zhen finished looking at the map and then discussed with him: "In a few days, send someone to Jincheng to conduct an on-site survey. If it is feasible, you can persuade the Ministry of Revenue to allocate funds to build the dam."

Xiahou Che nodded: "Okay."

He agreed without hesitation, and Yan Zhen thought he was just making a casual remark. He then emphasized, "Building a dam is not something that can be done overnight. The entire project may take decades. It is a huge sum of money that will require continuous expenditure every year. The Ministry of Revenue may refuse for various reasons."

“I know that if they won’t give it to me, I will.”

Yan Zhen asked doubtfully, "You have money?"

"Yes." Xiahou Che added, as if worried that she wouldn't believe him, "My maternal family's business is growing bigger and bigger, so we don't have to worry about money. You can do whatever you want."