The Demon Lords

Chapter 789 172: Enter My Web _6

He said,

"You must be Liu Chucang. Is your wife's condition any better? That illness requires careful recuperation. She must be kept from the cold; absolutely no negligence is permitted.

Even though winter has passed, the transition between winter and spring is when relapses are most common."

Liu Chucang was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened, an expression of disbelief on his face.

His wife's illness stemmed from overexertion while supporting his studies. Back then, she had nearly died, and he had no money for medicine. He was planning to sell some books from the house for silver to hire a doctor and get some medicine when, unexpectedly, the bookstore owner not only refused his books but also gave him a sum of silver and helped him engage the best doctor in the county to treat his wife.

He had never spoken of this matter to anyone. When he returned home last year, having attained the highest honors in the imperial examination, he wanted to personally thank his past benefactor, but the bookstore had closed, and the owner was nowhere to be found.

Thus, while friends often joked he was henpecked, it was actually due to the profound guilt he felt towards his wife. Even now, despite his success, he refused to take concubines.

Ji Chengjue then pointed to a somewhat short and stout man and said,

"Hu Zhengfang, it's only been a few years, yet you've put on so much weight. When you were falsely accused and imprisoned, you were as thin as a rail, weren't you?"

Shock also appeared on Hu Zhengfang's face.

"Qin Xiaosheng, is your esteemed father well now? Have the local authorities stopped causing him trouble? Your branch of the family separated from the main lineage generations ago. Yet, simply because you still hold some prime farmland, they target you as if you're part of the main powerful Qin clan. Those local officials truly devour people without spitting out the bones."

A horrified expression also appeared on Qin Xiaosheng's face.

"You..."

"And you..."

"Ah, you are..."

"Hahaha, you young fellow, remember when..."

Ji Chengjue pointed to each person in turn, greeting them, speaking to them one by one.

The atmosphere in the private room suddenly grew heavy.

No one dared to raise their voice, much less question him.

When he had completed his circuit,

he had addressed each one, sharing a specific memory or fact about them.

Ji Chengjue reached out, poured himself a glass of wine, and took a sip.

"I heard that the Crown Prince invited all of you successful scholars from last year's examination who remained in the capital to a banquet in the East Palace the day before yesterday. Tell me, how was the wine in the East Palace? Was it good?"

No one dared to answer. Firstly, because the matter concerned the Crown Prince, and secondly, because everyone was still too stunned to recover their wits.

"What's the matter? You are all the finest talents of Great Yan, the future of Great Yan, the pillars of Great Yan! Are you all capable of composing magnificent essays yet unable to speak?"

At this moment,

Liu Chucang licked his lips, cupped his hands in a salute to Ji Chengjue, and said,

"May I venture to ask... who might Your Excellency be?"

Ji Chengjue paused for a moment in thought,

smiled,

and, as he poured himself another glass of wine, said slowly,

"The current Emperor is an enlightened monarch, a rarity in any generation. He has broken the stranglehold of the great clans, sought out talent for the good of the nation, and opened avenues of advancement for those from humble families.

His Majesty hopes that the talented individuals of our Great Yan, irrespective of family background and unconstrained by lineage, if they possess ability, should serve the nation in the royal court and virtuously govern the people in their local jurisdictions.

You are the first batch. Once the Spring Exam begins, there will soon be a second.

You are the future of Great Yan.

I,

Ji Chengjue,

the sixth son of the current Emperor, offer a toast to all of you!"

The Sixth Prince?

He is the Sixth Prince?

Ji Chengjue didn't wait for these shocked scholars and officials to react; he drained his cup of wine in one go.

At this moment, the words the commandery princess had spoken to him earlier in the West Garden surfaced in his mind.

She had said that once she became the Crown Princess, she would inevitably eliminate him.

Ji Chengjue sighed.

He looked up.

At that time,

he had desperately wanted to retort:

If Father hadn't deliberately kept me off the board,

do you think you, or your husband, would have ever stood a chance?

You all only see Father deliberately suppressing me, crushing me until I can barely breathe, making me endure endless humiliation;

but you never truly use your heads to think:

Father is such a proud man.

If he truly disliked a son, he would have casually dismissed him. Why would he go to such lengths to be so harsh specifically with me?

He painstakingly schemed to pare me down, suppress me, strike me, reprimand me, demote me.

Heh.

If not for his blood flowing in my veins,

I might have been long gone.

But,

who asked me to be so like him?

Who asked him to know that I am truly like him?

This struggle to seize the throne,

this contest for the seat of power...

Let the old man (the Emperor) ponder it himself: if *I* were allowed to truly compete, would any of you still stand a chance?

Do you, Ji Chenglang, think that by acting as a patron or personally presiding over a Spring Exam, you can become the revered mentor of these newly successful scholars?

And thus gather batches of young officials to serve your cause?

Yes,

you've taken the trouble.

You stood there, propped open that Dragon Gate, and watched those carp leap through;

do you truly believe that all the talent under Heaven has fallen into your grasp?

Don't you even consider,

these carp,

before they leaped the Dragon Gate,

who was it that was actually feeding them?

Truthfully, once you exclude the scions of the great clans, the number of so-called scholars from humble families, the supposed seeds of Great Yan's literati, isn't that large. The cost of identifying those with good character and bestowing favor upon them early on is truly negligible compared to the subsequent returns.

Of course, one cannot sponsor just anyone. There will always be ungrateful wolves, but one mustn't have too many, or it all goes down the drain.

He, Ji Chengjue, never makes a losing deal.

It's a pity Lord Zheng isn't here right now; otherwise, he too would have to inwardly applaud such foresight.

In the history Lord Zheng is familiar with, the Jin Party of the Ming Dynasty, and financial magnates in later eras of other nations, employed similar methods of strategic cultivation to ultimately influence court politics.

Once capital reaches a certain scale, it instinctively seeks to permeate and expand, not merely confining itself to commerce.

Ji Chengjue sat down in his chair.

Right now, you all think that I, Ji Chengjue, have only backed one Lord Pingye!

Little do you realize,

when my enterprises fully spread out years ago, just how many people I actually sponsored!

At this thought,

Ji Chengjue's gaze sharpened slightly.

He swept his eyes over the group of men standing before him,

a faint curve touched the corners of his lips, and

he said,

"You are all scholars, and indeed, the most learned group of people in Great Yan.

There is a question,

that I, Cheng Jue, unworthy as I am,

would like to pose to everyone.

It is this:

In your esteemed opinions,

the grace of giving life versus the grace of nurturing—

which weighs more heavily?"

Silence.

Silence.

Silence...

Finally,

it wasn't that one person moved first; rather, it was as if by an unspoken, collective understanding.

The dozen or so scholars, all officials in various departments, who were present in the room,

knelt towards Ji Chengjue, seated at the head of the room,

and declared in unison:

"We pay homage to our benefactor!"