Chapter 105 Reciprocation

Chapter 105: Return Gift

Cheng Ge didn't know what the jade pendant was for. He had spotted it in the Liu family's secret chamber, figured it must be worth something, and grabbed it while he was at it.

Seeing Cui Ji's reaction now, he seemed to like it quite a bit, so Cheng Ge reached out and patted the back of Cui Ji's hand.

"Keep it for now. Next time when I've made it big, I'll get you something even better."

Cui Ji looked at Cheng Ge with a faint, unreadable smirk on his face, but he still grunted in response.

Cheng Ge felt pretty pleased with himself—now he had even more justification for mooching around the mansion.

"What time will you be leaving the city? I'll see you off."

"At the Mao hour (5–7 AM)."

...

Cheng Ge stayed up all night sorting through the stolen evidence. Not that he had nothing better to do.

But this stuff in his hands was like a ticking time bomb—if Liu Xianyue found out, he'd definitely land himself in deep trouble.

As Cheng Ge sorted through all the evidence, the more he read, the more alarmed he became, and he couldn't help but let out a low whistle.

No wonder Liu Xianyue was so emboldened—these lists of bribery and corruption.

They ranged from the emperor's closest ministers down to petty officials, dragging nearly half the court into it.

If all of them were to be punished, it'd kick up a bloody storm.

He ran his eyes over the registers, and for a fleeting moment, Cheng Ge felt lost. Was he really going to do this?

The candlelight flickered gently, making it hard to see clearly in front of him.

*Knock knock*—a knock sounded at the door.

Cheng Ge came back to his senses, quickly stashed the items away, and asked cautiously, "Who is it?"

Cui Ji's voice came from outside the door: "It's me."

Cheng Ge got up and opened the door. Cui Ji walked in, holding a letter and a wooden box.

"This is your father's letter. I brought it along for you." Cui Ji handed the letter to Cheng Ge.

Cheng Ge nodded, took it, and opened it without hiding it from Cui Ji.

"To my son, personally read:

Seeing this letter is like seeing me. I recall the days when you, as a child, sat on my lap reciting texts—it feels like only yesterday. Now you have grown up, with ambitions spanning the four corners of the land, and your father is truly proud.

The world is treacherous, power is as fierce as a tiger, and ordinary people often bow down to survive. But true heroes must stand tall with their spines straight.

In the past, Qu Yuan drowned himself to prove his integrity. Yue Fei suffered injustice, yet remained loyal to the end.

Power can crush a man for a while, but it can't keep him down forever. To be a gentleman, one would rather be shattered jade than whole tile.

Your father does not ask you to act with reckless courage, but hopes that when faced with a matter of great principle, you can look back without shame before heaven and earth, and your ancestors.

In the treacherous seas of officialdom, it is easy to lose one's original heart. Stay honest, stay straight, and don't bend, stay clear as autumn streams.

Help the ruler become like Yao and Shun, and restore honesty to the world—your father encourages you to strive for this too.

I just want you to:

Stand like a sharp sword, cutting through all the wrongs in the world.

Be like a bright moon within your heart, lighting up the mountains and rivers for a thousand miles."

Cheng Ge clutched the letter, his eyes fixed on those short sentences, and remained silent for a long time.

"Cui Ji, when you can't have both the fish and the bear's paw, which one do you pick?" Cheng Ge looked up at Cui Ji.

The night wind seeped through the window, the calls of partridges drifted in, and their shadows mingled on the wall.

"Go with your gut. You want benevolence, you got it—why regret it?"

Cheng Ge listened to Cui Ji's words, lowered his head in thought for a moment, then said slowly, "I understand."

He carefully folded the letter and tucked it into his robe. Then he looked at the wooden box in Cui Ji's hand. "What's inside this box?"

Cui Ji pushed the box toward him, a slight smile on his lips. "Open it and see."

Cheng Ge took the wooden box and opened it. Inside was a wooden hairpin.

A little confused, he glanced at Cui Ji, then carefully picked it up and examined it closely.

Cheng Ge stared at the hairpin wide-eyed for a solid ten minutes.

Finally, he determined...

This was indeed a simple, unadorned sandalwood hairpin, with no intricate carvings—its style exceptionally plain.

The wood was nice enough, but the surface of the hairpin was unnaturally smooth, like it had been handled for years.

He raised his eyes to Cui Ji, a look of confusion in his eyes, wondering what this meant.

"This is something Emperor Taizu himself carved and gave to our ancestor before he founded the dynasty. Now I give it to you as a return gift."

"Holy shit!" Hearing Cui Ji's words, Cheng Ge couldn't help but jump.

This was actually a keepsake from the old Zhenbei King, Cui Shu, and according to Cui Ji, it was hand-carved by the founding emperor of Great Zhou!

That was freaking surreal. Cheng Ge suddenly felt it was way too hot to hold onto.

"This is a family heirloom... It doesn't feel right for me to take it. You should hold onto it."

As he spoke, he carefully placed the hairpin back and gently pushed it back toward Cui Ji.

"It doesn't matter. If you don't take it, it'll have no one to belong to." Cui Ji gently placed the wooden box into Cheng Ge's palm.

Cheng Ge was taken aback, looking at Cui Ji's intense gaze. He thought that sounded kind of weird.

But he couldn't quite figure it out at the moment, so he decided not to rack his brain over it. He packed it away carefully.

The next day, after waking up, Cheng Ge dressed neatly, even his hair was perfectly combed.

He drank three whole large bowls of fish congee, his usual ferocious appetite on full display.

With a firm gaze and a serious expression, he marched with a steady, deliberate gait all the way to the Cheng Tian Gate.

After a whole night of mulling it over and weighing his options carefully, he had made his decision.

Now that he held evidence of those people's corruption and embezzlement, if he kept quiet, he'd be complicit—no better than a scoundrel.

My father was killed by treacherous men, and the people were being gnawed by parasites; though he had no grand ambitions, he was not such a coward.

If I look within and know I'm in the right, I'll go ahead even against a thousand. To seek goodness and find it—what's there to resent?

Cheng Ge: Look, it's just a damn worthless life—let's go at them!

Cui Ji, though holding a high position, was hemmed in from every side, and the matter involved too many heavy hitters—powerful ministers and old-money families.

If he dragged him into this, who knows—out on the frontier, court schemers might seize the chance to get back at him.

While sorting through the list, Cheng Ge discovered that many officials from the Lin family were also implicated.

Although he and Lin Nanshu were sworn friends bound by life and death, since ancient times, kin keep each other's secrets; if he forcefully dragged him into this, it would unavoidably land him in a morally compromising spot.

Now that his official post was stripped, getting an audience with the emperor was a pipe dream.

If he waited for Liu Xianyue and the others to react, they would probably be on guard; now was the time to catch them off guard.

With no other choice left, his only option was to file a direct appeal to the emperor.