Chapter 83 Rise to Power

Chapter 83: Moving Up

Cheng Ge instinctively turned his head, chewing on the meat, as Cui Ji handed him a skewer.

"What'd you find?"

"Your Highness, when I found those two servants, they'd already poisoned themselves and died.

But after poking around, I found that before they became servants, the two were from the same family, and..."

Then he glanced at Lin Nanshu.

"Also, they have a cousin who's now a steward at the Lin mansion.

They met him in secret two days before the poisoning, but I don't know the details."

Everyone turned to look at Lin Nanshu at once. It was obvious he was behind it.

Lin Nanshu lowered his head, handing the skewered raw meat to Cui Ji, his face didn't change much.

But Cheng Ge could tell Lin Nanshu was giving off a dangerous vibe.

He glanced at Zhou Zhan, still grilling, and felt kinda sorry for him.

"Your Highness, want some?" Cheng Ge handed a skewer over.

Zhou Zhan didn't take it. Instead, he scraped off the burnt layer from his own skewers.

Then he handed Cheng Ge two skewers, "Here, try what I made."

Cheng Ge stared at the skewers, his eye twitching, but he steeled himself and took them.

As soon as he took a bite, Cheng Ge's expression twisted instantly. The meat tasted awful—dry, tough, and weirdly burnt.

But seeing Zhou Zhan's hopeful look, Cheng Ge choked it down and forced a smile that looked worse than crying, "Your Highness is an amazing cook. Delicious."

Zhou Zhan nodded, pleased, and went back to grilling.

Truth be told, Zhou Zhan wasn't stupid. Ling Feng had been way too obvious; anyone who didn't get it had to be brain-dead.

Plus the ambush at Gulei Mountain a while back, it was clear this was all aimed at Lin Nanshu, and Zhou Zhan had just been accidentally poisoned.

But knowing it and saying it were two different things—this couldn't be brought out in the open.

Fights between noble families were just as bad as at court, with endless twists and dirty tricks.

But family matters stay in the family—you don't air dirty laundry.

Of course, the Emperor wasn't about to let this slide. The Lin family would take care of the poisoner, but since the Crown Prince was caught up in it, they'd have to compensate him.

Those families had money and power. Who knew what the Emperor wanted?

"Got it. You can go now."

Ling Feng acknowledged and turned to climb back over the wall.

"Take the door." Cui Ji said coldly.

Ling Feng scratched his head and changed course, walking out through the door.

Right then, everyone acted like nothing had happened, keeping silent about the matter.

The next day, Zhou Zhan was called back to the palace. After all, the Crown Prince couldn't just crash at a prince's mansion forever.

As for Cheng Ge... he got an honorable discharge.

Yep, young Master Cheng got a taste of power and then was immediately put out to pasture.

But it was expected. That bastard emperor had wanted him dead not too long ago. So compared to that, this was a blessing in disguise.

Now unemployed, Cheng Ge had all the free time in the world. Besides eating and sleeping, he spent his days pestering Cui Ji to teach him martial arts.

And of course, he secretly saw doctors for his... problem. This was a matter concerning his lifelong happiness and couldn't be taken lightly.

Cheng Ge, who used to feel sick at the sight of those black herbal concoctions, could now drink them without changing expression, though his face was somewhat grim.

Not long after, news came that a major incident had occurred in the Lin family.

According to unreliable sources, while the Lin family's second son was sleeping at night, a roof beam fell from the ceiling and happened to hit Lin Hengyu squarely.

The beam, weighing hundreds of catties, instantly crushed Lin Hengyu's brains and guts, killing him on the spot.

Dong Wanrou, upon hearing the news, accidentally fell into a pond on her way to find Lin Hengyu. By the time she was pulled out, she had already drowned.

In addition, many of the Lin family's branches had properties confiscated, several Lin family officials serving in the capital were dismissed for certain faults, and a few collateral branches were even removed from the family genealogy.

When this news spread, everyone was in an uproar.

Although people discussed it endlessly, on the surface, they all said that Lin Hengyu and his mother had committed many evils and gotten their just deserts.

In private, everyone knew that this matter was likely related to Lin Nanshu.

But Lin Nanshu's status was extraordinary; people were eager to curry favor with him, so naturally, no one would dare risk offending him.

After this bloodbath in the Lin family, those with ill intentions became much more subdued.

Lately, Cheng Ge's enthusiasm for martial arts training has only increased, because he has thought of a way out.

The reason was that he accidentally learned the salary situation of Cui Ji's head guard, which nearly made his jaw drop.

Damn! It was over several dozen silver taels more than what he earned monthly at the Hanlin Academy!

Compared this way, Cheng Ge felt that his previous job was a waste of his youth.

At that moment, Cheng Ge decided that he wanted to work for Cui Ji!

For this purpose, he even devised a detailed job-seeking plan.

First, he would train hard, improve his skills, and make himself stand out.

Second, he would flatter Cui Ji in every way, building up good impressions with his boss in advance.

Finally, he would successfully move up, replace the head guard, become Cui Ji's personal bodyguard, and live as an ordinary person with an annual salary of only eight hundred taels.

As soon as Cui Ji entered the courtyard, he saw Cheng Ge holding two large knives, ferociously chopping at a scarecrow in front of him.

Each swing carried an unstoppable force, leaving deep, long slashes.

Cheng Ge huffed and puffed a couple of times, lowered his head and shook off the sweat from his forehead, and caught a glimpse of Cui Ji out of the corner of his eye.

Cui Ji was about to step forward—but the moment he lifted his foot—

In a flash, Cheng Ge's face was stone-cold still. Without any warning, he slowly withdrew his long blade, his body leaning slightly forward, half-crouched.

In an instant, the long blade in his hand lashed out like a gust of wind, cutting through the air with a sharp whistle, and with a sharp *thwip*, it pierced straight through the straw dummy.

But this was only the beginning.

The moment the dummy was impaled, Cheng Ge, as if yanked back by an unseen force, jolted two steps backward.

Then, he raised his right leg and sprang up fiercely, moving with the speed of the wind, his body carving a powerful arc in the air.

A loud *bang* resounded, the force of that kick like a boulder crushing an egg.

The straw dummy was kicked flying into the wall, instantly scattering into a pile of straw.

Cui Ji: "..."

Cheng Ge shot a deliberately casual glance at Cui Ji, then gently lowered his raised leg.

He thought, *Cui Ji must be blown away by that move—major points for me.*

Cheng Ge turned around, as if just noticing Cui Ji, "Your Highness, off duty already?"

As he spoke, he quickly ran to the side, poured a cup of tea, and scampered over to offer it to Cui Ji.

Cui Ji: "???"