I’m ready.
I want the position of Minister of Rites, and I want Taihe of the Celestial Master’s Residence as well.
Whether Emperor Luo is willing to give them to me is his concern.
My stance is right here. You figure out what to do.
Cui Shifan glanced at the other two and said indifferently, “There’s nothing much to say about Junior Preceptor Gu’s record. Let’s just state our positions.”
“I propose adding Gu Chengyin to the list of candidates.”
Cui Shifan’s tone was perfectly calm. He showed none of the patience he had displayed when he proposed Xiao Yuliang, when he had carefully listed his reasons one by one.
Nor was there any of that roundabout persuasion, that step-by-step maneuvering.
It was simply a straightforward statement of support.
Neither Hu Juzheng nor Shangguan Yuan objected to skipping over Gu Chengyin’s record.
Although Gu Chengyin’s official record was short—so short that he practically had none at all.
How long had he even been in government?
The time he had truly been active at court amounted to no more than a few months.
He had never served in a local post, never been a commandery governor, and never held office in any of the Six Ministries. Even his position as Vice Minister of Rites was only concurrent.
By rights, someone like him should never have been able to enter the list of candidates for a ministerial post in the Six Ministries.
When the Great Luo selected officials, seniority came first.
Without sufficient experience, no matter how powerful one’s background or how capable one was, it would be difficult to command public support.
But Gu Chengyin had achievements to his name.
From Luoshui Commandery to the present, every one of his accomplishments had shaken the imperial court, and every one had been terrifyingly impressive.
Moreover, these achievements could not have been accomplished by ability alone.
There were plenty of capable people. The imperial court had never lacked clever men.
But every one of Gu Chengyin’s achievements involved far more than mere ability.
His precise grasp of human nature, his keen sense of timing, and his understanding and manipulation of the rules.
His ability to take one step while seeing ten steps ahead, and to hide three layers of meaning in every sentence.
His habit of never placing his true trump cards in plain sight.
None of these things could be summed up with the simple word “capable.”
Their value far exceeded that of any so-called official record or political achievement.
A commandery governor who worked diligently for ten years in the provinces, achieved outstanding results, and received excellent evaluations was certainly a capable official.
But someone who could turn the imperial court upside down, leaving his opponents unable even to understand how they had lost—
That person was no longer merely a capable official.
He was a leader.
Using the standards for evaluating capable officials to judge a leader was itself a fundamental misalignment.
Then there were the several women with whom he was romantically involved. Any one of them, taken alone, was enough to make the entire Great Luo sit up and take notice.
Yet now, all of them stood at Gu Chengyin’s side.
That made his influence impossible to measure by the four words “Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince” alone.
So essentially, no fool would choose this moment to nitpick over his record.
To challenge his qualifications would be to question the value of his achievements.
To question the value of those achievements would be to question the people he had defeated.
That included the abilities of several people present in the room. Who would willingly slap themselves in the face?
Besides, the three Grand Councilors could all see that Gu Chengyin only wanted to become Minister of Rites as a stepping stone.
He had no intention of remaining in that position for long.
Gu Chengyin’s target was the Grand Council, the position of Grand Councilor, and perhaps even the higher office of Chief Grand Councilor.
To him, the Ministry of Rites was merely one step on the path to something higher.
Once he stepped onto it, he would continue climbing. He would not turn back.
A person like that might be obstructed for a time, but never for a lifetime.
Rather than make an enemy of him, it was better to form an alliance.
That was why Cui Shifan was the first to express his support.
Even though he knew that after becoming Minister of Rites, Gu Chengyin might eventually set his sights on Cui Shifan’s own position.
The Chief Grand Councilor was the head of all officials, the highest position a civil official could attain.
That was almost certainly Gu Chengyin’s ultimate goal.
And Cui Shifan currently occupied that position.
By rights, no one would willingly cultivate his own gravedigger.
Yet after sorting through his thoughts, Cui Shifan voiced his support without the slightest hesitation.
The reason was simple: he and Gu Chengyin had never become enemies.
From the very first day he met Gu Chengyin, Cui Shifan had maintained the clear-headed perspective of an observer, watching the young man’s every move at court.
He nodded when a nod was needed and shook his head when a shake was needed.
Their relationship could not be called close, but it had never suffered a breach.
In private, the two of them even got along quite well.
Gu Chengyin had always shown Cui Shifan the respect appropriate on the surface.
He had never publicly slighted the Chief Grand Councilor, nor had he ever damaged the dignity of the Cui clan.
Even when forcing Cui Zhenji into retreat, Gu Chengyin had left him room and had not driven matters to an absolute conclusion.
Cui Shifan remembered this unspoken understanding.
What was more, there was Cui Zilu.
Cui Shifan understood Cui Zilu’s feelings for Gu Chengyin better than anyone.
Although he had temporarily abandoned the idea of marrying Cui Zilu to Gu Chengyin, Gu Chengyin had now given him another path.
He could have Cui Zilu serve as the Crown Prince’s chief lady attendant.
This path was not as direct as marrying her to Gu Chengyin, but it was more stable.
And Gu Chengyin had made the implication clear enough just now: the Crown Prince had already agreed. All that remained was for Cui Shifan to give his approval.
Cui Shifan could not refuse to accept such a favor.
Besides, what if?
What if Cui Zilu not only became the chief lady attendant, but also became his woman?
Then he would have even less to worry about.
So what if Gu Chengyin’s ultimate target was Cui Shifan’s position as Chief Grand Councilor?
That office would have to be handed over sooner or later.
If Gu Chengyin truly had the ability to take it from him, then that was Gu Chengyin’s own ability. He would not have stolen or seized it.
All Cui Shifan could do was deepen the foundations of the Cui clan before stepping down and make the clan’s position at court even more secure.
And if Gu Chengyin truly became Chief Grand Councilor, would the Cui clan suffer turmoil as a result?
No. It would only become more secure.
Because Cui Zilu would be serving at the Crown Prince’s side as chief lady attendant.
Because the Cui clan and Gu Chengyin had no old grievances between them, only old ties of friendship.
Because today, during the council meeting in the Grand Council’s deliberation hall, Cui Shifan had been the first to express his support for Gu Chengyin in front of the other two Grand Councilors.
Gu Chengyin could not possibly forget such a favor.
“I disagree with adding Gu Chengyin to the list of candidates.”
A voice broke through Cui Shifan’s thoughts.
Just as expected, Shangguan Yuan once again voiced his opposition.
His tone was even more decisive than when he had opposed Xiao Yuliang—a flat-out, unequivocal refusal.
Cui Shifan was not surprised. His gaze therefore shifted to Hu Juzheng.
After Shangguan Yuan voiced his objection, he did not offer a reason.
He had no need to. Everyone present knew perfectly well what his reason was.
He was opposing Gu Chengyin simply for the sake of opposing him. No matter what the matter was, he still had to put on a proper show of opposition in public.
Therefore, whenever anything had to do with Gu Chengyin, Shangguan Yuan would object without the slightest hesitation.
Once again, the final decision fell to Hu Juzheng.
It was exactly the same situation as when they had voted on Xiao Yuliang.
Cui Shifan supported him. Shangguan Yuan opposed him.
Hu Juzheng’s vote would be decisive.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
