The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

The news of Zhao Gao's promotion reached the servants' quarters that very evening.

Manager Liu announced the news to everyone at dinner, his tone filled with a sense of pride, as if he had also contributed to Zhao Gao's success.

"I knew long ago that kid was no ordinary person. Back when he was sweeping floors for me, I already felt that he was different from others."

An uproar erupted in the dormitory room.

Some people were envious, some were jealous, and some thought the kid had gotten incredibly lucky. Only the people in the three bunks in the corner remained silent.

Wei Zhongxian sat on his bunk, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of the straw mat. He wore his usual smile, but a sharp glint flashed in the depths of his eyes.

He wasn't jealous, or rather, it wasn't entirely jealousy.

In his previous life, he rose from a street ruffian to the position of the Ninth Prince by virtue of his ability to quickly assess situations in any environment.

Zhao Gao's rapid rise far exceeded his expectations, forcing him to readjust his pace.

He could reach the first rank in ten days and the second rank in a month. Even Wei Zhongxian couldn't match such martial arts talent.

But Wei Zhongxian was never someone who relied on his martial arts talent for a living.

His strengths lie elsewhere.

"Brother Zhao's move is truly beyond words." He shook his head with a smile, his tone half-serious and half-joking, "I admire you, I admire you."

Gao Lishi sat opposite him, slowly folding a coarse cloth short jacket in his hands.

His movements remained composed, and his gaze remained gentle, as if Zhao Gao's promotion had nothing to do with him.

But those who know Gao Lishi know that the calmer he appears, the deeper his thoughts are.

His thinking differed from Wei Zhongxian's; he did not regard Zhao Gao as a rival, but rather as a reference point.

Zhao Gao proved how fast one could climb the ranks in the palace, and also proved which paths were open and which doors could be pushed open.

For Gao Lishi, this information was more important than anything else.

"Brother Zhao's martial arts talent is indeed unmatched," Gao Lishi said softly, placing the folded clothes beside his pillow. "However, the four of us have different paths. Brother Zhao follows the path of martial arts and literature, Brother Wei follows the path of networking and coordination, and Brother Zheng follows the path of body tempering and foundation building. Each has its own pace, so there's no need to force it."

Zheng He sat cross-legged on the outermost bunk, his hands resting on his knees, without saying a word.

He remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking, his voice steady and calm.

"Brother Zhao's breakthrough illustrates one thing: in this world, martial arts cultivation is the foundation of everything. No matter how deep your strategies are, how wide your network is, or how well-informed you are, without cultivation to back you up, it is ultimately just a castle in the air."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Wei Zhongxian and Gao Lishi. "My Iron Bone Skill has reached a minor level of mastery. If nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to break through to the first rank this month. You two, we also need to step up our efforts."

Wei Zhongxian raised an eyebrow, and Gao Lishi nodded slightly.

The three of them remained silent, but a tacit understanding permeated the darkness.

Zhao Gao had already taken a significant lead, but neither of them was willing to lag behind.

This covert competition among the four is far from over.

Three months later.

Time flows by silently like water.

The flowers in the Imperial Garden were changed from plum blossoms to peach blossoms, and then from peach blossoms to a pond full of lotus flowers.

Zhao Gao secured his position as the purchasing inspector.

Over three months, he reviewed all the procurement accounts of the Imperial Household Department over the past three years and compiled a list of problems that was dozens of pages long.

These problems range from minor to major. Some involve irregular accounting records, others involve false reporting of tens of taels of silver, and still others involve a kickback chain involving the head maidservant of a favored concubine in the harem.

Zhao Gao kept quiet and locked the list in the innermost cabinet of his duty room, only reporting a few of the most insignificant minor issues to Chen Ju.

Chen Ju's face turned ashen after reading it. He ordered rectification, but he was also secretly glad that the child not only had talent, but also a sense of propriety.

Knowing what to investigate, what to suppress, what to say, and what to keep to oneself.

Chen Ju's trust in Zhao Gao grew day by day.

He began to take Zhao Gao to higher-level meetings and introduce him to the chief eunuchs of other inner court departments.

The Director of the Imperial Horse Administration, the Chief Secretary of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, and the Chief Steward of the Imperial Kitchen—these were the true power core of the inner court.

Zhao Gao always remained silent during his entourage, serving tea and water and standing respectfully with his hands at his sides, like a dutiful junior. But his eyes and ears were never idle.

He memorized the temperament, manner of speaking, and subtle relationships between each head eunuch and others, and wrote them down in a private notebook after returning home.

Wei Zhongxian had become the de facto "second-in-command" in the servants' quarters.

Manager Liu listened to him without question, and the twenty or so servants were all under his control.

To Chen Ju's surprise, Wei Zhongxian had quietly broken through to the first rank of cultivation.

Although there was a significant gap between him and Zhao Gao, who held the second rank, considering that he practiced the most basic "Health Preservation Technique" of the inner court, it was not slow for him to break through from zero to the first rank in three months.

Chen Ju noticed him during one of his inspections of the servants' quarters. After returning, he mentioned to Zhao Gao, "Your colleague Wei Zhongxian is quite clever and efficient."

Zhao Gao simply smiled upon hearing this and said nothing more.

Gao Lishi is still in the kitchen, but he is now Chef Sun's most capable manager.

He was in charge of all the food procurement, storage, and meal preparation for the various palaces.

What's even more intriguing is that the head of the Imperial Kitchen noticed Gao Lishi during a routine inspection. He greatly admired this meticulous young man and secretly sent someone to inquire about his background.

Gao Lishi pretended not to know and continued to dutifully manage his food inventory, but he knew in his heart that his next step was not in the Imperial Household Department, but in the Imperial Kitchen.

Zheng He's breakthroughs were the most low-key.

After chopping firewood for nearly half a year, he quietly stepped into Yipin on an ordinary night.

There was no celebration, no fanfare, and the next morning he went to the woodshed to chop wood as usual.

But a careful observer would notice that he was chopping wood twice as fast as before, and with each swing of the axe, the logs didn't split open, but were instead shaken apart by an invisible force.

After his Iron Bone Skill reached the first rank, his strength and physique far surpassed those of other martial artists of the same level.

More importantly, the warehouse manager of the Imperial Household Department noticed him. The warehouse was short of a skilled person who could lift heavy objects and keep watch at night, and Zheng He's physique and taciturn personality made him the most suitable candidate for the position.

Four people, four roads, all silently extending upwards.

The Ninth Prince, Zhou Xing, is seven years old.

He had grown taller, and Chunlan made him two new sets of clothes.

His daily routine remained regular—paying respects, reading, strolling in the garden, and catching insects.

The Empress would occasionally glance at him, thinking that although the child came from a humble background, he was well-behaved and sensible, and did not cause trouble.

The other princes and princesses still ignored him, and he continued to timidly make way, lower his head, and shrink into a corner.

No one noticed that when this seven-year-old child was catching insects in the Imperial Garden, he would always happen to "bump into" certain people behind the artificial rocks, deep in the bamboo forest, or in the pavilion by the lotus pond.

They happened to run into Zheng He, who was delivering firewood. The two brushed past each other without exchanging a word, but Zheng He found a note in his hand.

I ran into Gao Lishi, who was delivering the meal. In the instant the food boxes were handed over, the note in the interlayer had already been replaced.

They bumped into Zhao Gao, who was hurrying past in the corridor of the Imperial Household Department. Their eyes met for a moment, Zhao Gao nodded slightly, and then they turned away from each other.

His net is being woven layer by layer at an extremely slow but extremely solid pace.

And yet, no one in the palace noticed him.

Just like no one would notice a vine quietly growing in the corner of the wall until one day it covered the entire palace wall, and people would be surprised to find out when it grew so big.

Zhou Xing squatted by the lotus pond in the Imperial Garden, holding a small twig in his hand, casually poking at the duckweed on the water's surface.

The duckweed disperses and gathers again, gathers and disperses again, like a constantly changing game of chess on a chessboard.

He is only seven years old.

There is still plenty of time.