Before long, Wei Nisheng took his seat as invited and chatted about everyday matters.
Throughout, his expression remained composed, his gaze neither wandering nor darting about.
He neither stared so directly as to intimidate nor lowered his eyes in a show of weakness.
Soon, a servant came in bearing tea.
Wei Nisheng accepted it with both hands and set it beside him, in no hurry to drink.
Instead, he first answered Jiang Shi's questions one by one.
They were merely questions about his daily routine and how demanding his official duties were.
He answered each at an unhurried pace, saying little, yet every sentence carried substance.
The more Jiang Shi looked at him, the more delighted she became; the smile at the corners of her eyes scarcely faded.
Just as Wei Nisheng and his future mother-in-law were chatting happily,
Feng Guan lifted his teacup, took a sip, and set it down.
Then, in a measured tone, he began.
"I hear that within half a month of entering the Ministry of Revenue, Zi'an, you identified twenty-three points of suspicion.
That prompted the Qing Faction to submit a memorial and His Majesty to investigate the arrears.
Word of this has spread throughout the Capital. Even in Hangzhou, I heard of it."
"There is just one thing I do not understand..." He raised his gaze slightly, settling it on Wei Nisheng's face.
"Please speak freely, Uncle," Wei Nisheng said politely.
"The Revenue and Expenditure Bureau's Underlying Accounts are said to have their years jumbled and their entries overlapping. Even veteran clerks find them troublesome.
The Hanlin Academy's methods of compiling history are certainly meticulous, but the Ministry of Revenue's accounts and the Hanlin Academy's historical archives are different things, after all.
How did you find your way through them in just half a