“I know Ruhui – he would absolutely never lie to me!” Pei Qiancheng forcefully wiped away the tears in his eyes and said hoarsely: “Why? The Cui family already has power and influence, and you’re the only son of the main branch of the Cui family. You can have whatever you want – what more could you be dissatisfied with?”

“Du Ruhui won’t lie to you, but I will?” Cui Ji shook his head: “Brother Pei, your words truly hurt.”

Pei Qiancheng grabbed his clothes by the collar and said sternly: “Answer me – what else are you dissatisfied with?”

Cui Ji ignored his words and only pushed him away, saying: “Where is Du Ruhui?”

“I’m here.” Along with this voice, a figure walked out from a small room connected to this place, saying in a deep voice: “How did you see through it?”

Cui Ji walked up to him and said coldly: “First tell me why Pei Qiancheng can imitate Zheng Yang’s voice.”

“Brother Pei once learned ventriloquism from a wandering performer. After leaving the Cui residence yesterday, I went to see Brother Pei and had him try to imitate Brother Zheng’s voice. After a night of practice, he could indeed imitate it perfectly.”

“I see.” Having gotten his answer, Cui Ji said: “This scheme was indeed quite clever. I almost believed it. The mistake was that you…” He pointed at Pei Qiancheng: “Shouldn’t have followed me out. If not for that, I wouldn’t have seen the shadow on the ground. From the moment I heard the word ‘ghost,’ I knew that ghosts don’t have shadows, so… this wasn’t a ghost at all, not to mention he absurdly told me to go confess to the authorities.”

“Clap, clap, clap.” Du Ruhui applauded while saying: “Young Master Cui is truly observant – even such a tiny flaw didn’t escape your eyes.”

“Du Ruhui, you cannot prevent me from marrying the princess. If I miss this auspicious time, there will naturally be the next auspicious time, and the one after that. But as for you, playing ghost tricks and obstructing my wedding to the princess – if His Majesty learns of this, he certainly won’t spare you. And you too, Pei Qiancheng!”

“Killing your own brother without a trace of remorse, you…” Pei Qiancheng was so angry he didn’t know what to say. After a long while, he finally managed: “I must have been blind to recognize you as a brother!”

Cui Ji said nothing in response to his cursing: “Well, I should go now. I hope that after tomorrow, the Pei and Du families still exist in this city of Luoyang.”

His attitude made Pei Qiancheng even angrier, blocking his way: “Don’t think about leaving here today without making things clear.”

Cui Ji said coldly: “I’ve already said everything I needed to say. What more do you want me to say?”

“What are you doing all this for? Don’t tell me it’s because you’re infatuated with the princess – I won’t believe such bullshit!” Faced with Pei Qiancheng’s crude language, Cui Ji didn’t get angry but smiled: “You should go back and ask your elder brother if he’s satisfied with the current state of affairs.”

Du Ruhui said coldly: “You’re not satisfied with the Cui family’s current power and want to climb even higher?”

This time, Cui Ji didn’t evade the question, but before speaking, he first went to the room where Du Ruhui had been, obviously afraid he might arrange for someone to eavesdrop. After confirming there was no one else inside except for a few cabinets, he slowly said: “That’s right. I want the Cui family to become the foremost family of the Great Sui Dynasty, not just one of the Seven Clans and Five Surnames!”

“I understand now, I understand.” Du Ruhui slowly nodded: “From the beginning, your friendship with us was full of calculation. To you, we weren’t brothers but chess pieces – pieces you could abandon without hesitation whenever you needed to. Heartless and unrighteous – you don’t deserve to be human!”

Pei Qiancheng said sarcastically: “Don’t say human – calling him a beast would be giving him too much credit. At least beasts don’t harm their own kind. To raise something like you, your parents probably aren’t anything good either!”

“Shut up!” This remark made Cui Ji’s expression turn cold.

Pei Qiancheng sneered: “What, does it hurt? I’m telling you, I won’t just curse you now – I’ll go curse at the Cui residence gates, let all of Luoyang City know what the Cui family is really like, know how you married the princess!”

Pei Qiancheng’s cheek twitched as he stared at him: “Don’t go too far!”

“What, scared now?” Not only did Pei Qiancheng not restrain himself at these words, he became even more aggressive: “Cui Ji, I’m telling you, even if it costs me my life, I absolutely won’t let you off. In a moment I’ll go before His Majesty and tell him everything – let’s see if His Majesty will still let you marry the princess.”

Cui Ji laughed in extreme anger: “Tell him what? That I killed Zheng Yang? Pei Qiancheng, you’d better worry about yourself. After today’s commotion, forget about your head – even your elder brother’s head can’t be saved! And…” He turned his gaze to Du Ruhui: “You’re wrong. It’s not that I treat you as chess pieces, but that you overreached and took things that don’t belong to you, just like Zheng Yang. I should have been the prince consort candidate, but he interfered and snatched it away!”

“When the princess said you couldn’t do what you promised, I didn’t agree. Only now do I realize that all along, the person who saw most clearly wasn’t me, but the princess!”

Cui Ji sneered: “I merely chose the answer she most wanted to hear. Who knew… she would end up choosing that brainless Zheng Yang.” He snorted coldly, then smiled again: “But I’ve never failed to get anything I set my sights on, and the princess is no exception!”

Looking at that face full of cold smiles, Du Ruhui felt it was completely unfamiliar. After a long time, he shook his head: “The princess was right – you truly are far inferior to him.”

The “him” Du Ruhui referred to was naturally Li Shimin, but Cui Ji knew nothing about Yunyi’s experiences in Honghua Prefecture and thought he was talking about Zheng Yang. He said coldly: “Say whatever you want. In any case, I’m the one who’s winning now!”

As Cui Ji stepped one foot over the threshold, Du Ruhui suddenly said: “Do you think you’ve really won?” Under Cui Ji’s puzzled gaze, he said: “Did you all hear clearly?”

Pei Qiancheng sneered: “Very clearly. I’ll definitely report every single word to His Majesty!” With that, he suddenly walked toward the inner room.

Cui Ji couldn’t be bothered with Pei Qiancheng’s actions and shook his head: “You’re wasting your effort. Even if you speak with silver tongues, His Majesty won’t believe a single word.”

“Then would His Majesty not believe a single word of what we say either?” The sudden voice startled Cui Ji greatly. When he saw clearly the people filing out from the inner room, his face immediately became more ashen than a dead person’s. How… how could this be? He had clearly gone in to check – there was no one inside. Why had so many people suddenly appeared in the blink of an eye?

Three people emerged from the inner room: Father Zheng, Mother Zheng, and Pei Qiancheng. As soon as Mother Zheng saw Cui Ji, she rushed over, hitting him while shouting: “Yang’er treated you like a brother, yet you killed him! Give me back Yang’er, give him back!”