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

One of the eunuchs serving the emperor accidentally knocked over a pot of hot wine, which spilled onto the carpet and splashed onto the hem of the robe of Zhou Jing, one of the Three Dukes and Grand Commandant, who was sitting in the front row.

Zhou Jing himself didn't say anything, just waved his hand to indicate that it was fine, but the chief eunuch in charge of the emperor, Eunuch Wang, immediately turned pale.

The eunuch who had knocked over the wine pot was so frightened that he trembled all over and knelt on the ground, not daring to lift his head.

The scene became very awkward.

Suppressing his anger, Eunuch Wang dealt with the situation, ordering the carpet to be changed immediately and an apology to the Grand Commandant. He then announced that a new dish would be served first to calm things down.

According to the procedure, the next dish is roasted mutton, which should be prepared in advance by the kitchen and served up by the people delivering the dishes in order.

But at that very moment, the order in which the dishes were served went wrong.

In their haste, the eunuch in charge of serving the dishes brought the wrong dish to the west side, serving the venison soup that should have been for the military officers on the east side to the civil officials on the west side. Meanwhile, the roasted mutton for the civil officials had not yet been served, leaving the civil officials to sit idly by and watch the military officers feast.

The face of Kong Yan, the head of the civil officials and Grand Tutor, immediately darkened. Although he did not lash out on the spot, the dissatisfaction in his eyes sent chills down the spines of anyone who saw it.

The manager who was serving the food turned pale with fright. He immediately sent people to rearrange the order while ordering the roasted mutton to be served again.

Meanwhile, the kitchen was in complete chaos. Chef Sun was sweating profusely from the pressure, and the heat on the stove was out of control. The roasted mutton was overcooked and tasted much worse when it was served.

Grand Tutor Kong Yan took a bite and then put his chopsticks down.

Although the banquet eventually came to a successful conclusion, accountability measures were inevitable afterward.

The next morning, Eunuch Wang summoned the head steward of the Imperial Household Department and berated him for half an hour.

After the steward returned, he summoned all the stewards and berated them, scolding them one by one until finally, all his anger was directed at the lowest-ranking servants.

"Investigate! Who messed up the order of serving the dishes?" Manager Liu slammed his fist on the table in the servants' quarters, his face ashen. "We in the servants' quarters can't take the blame for this. We must find the culprit!"

The room was completely silent, no one dared to utter a sound.

The servants responsible for serving the dishes were trembling in their legs.

Just then, Zhao Gao stepped forward.

He stepped out of the crowd, holding the tea room record book in his hand. He walked up to Steward Liu, slowly turned to a page, pointed to a line of text, and said, "Eunuch Liu, according to my tea room records, the time when the wine pot was overturned before the Emperor last night was around 1:15 PM."

"The point at which the order of serving dishes went wrong should be around 2:45 PM, which is a 15-minute time difference."

"Several dishes were served between the spilled wine pot and the mistake in serving the food, indicating that it was not caused by panic, but rather by someone taking the wrong order slip when changing the dishes."

He paused, then turned to another page in the booklet, where the types of tea ordered by the various palace ladies the previous night and the times they were served were meticulously recorded.

"When I was taking notes in the tea room last night, I noticed that around 7 PM, several palace maids from the Empress's side came to fetch tea."

"One of them was in such a hurry that he almost bumped into a waiter coming out of the kitchen. I suspect that the chaos probably happened around that point."

"But to determine whose responsibility it is, whether the person serving the food took the wrong one or the person preparing the food in the kitchen mislabeled it, we need to compare the original menus from both sides to confirm."

After he finished speaking, the entire servants' quarters fell silent.

Everyone stared at Zhao Gao with disbelief in their eyes.

Despite the chaotic scene last night, with everyone frantically rushing to finish their work, he still managed to memorize all the timelines and personnel movements in the tea room.

Manager Liu looked at Zhao Gao, opened his mouth, and after a long pause, finally managed to utter, "You...you wrote it down last night?"

"It is my duty," Zhao Gao said, lowering his eyes. "I dare not slack off."

Manager Liu took the booklet and flipped through a few pages, becoming increasingly alarmed as he read.

How detailed are the records on this page?

The corresponding palace for each tea snack, the name of the person who took the tea, the time of taking the tea down to the minute, and even the time it took for the tea delivery person to travel back and forth are all noted.

This is not the skill a menial servant should have; it is clearly the skill of a seasoned clerk who has worked as a clerk for ten years.

That afternoon, Steward Liu took Zhao Gao's booklet to see the Chief Steward of the Imperial Household Department.

After finishing flipping through the document, the steward remained silent for a long time before asking, "Who wrote this down?"

Manager Liu said it was a new young man named Zhao who had just arrived at the servants' quarters.

The steward was silent for a moment, then slammed the booklet on the table: "This person will be transferred to my office tomorrow to be my clerk."

When the news reached the servants' quarters, the entire dormitory was in an uproar.

Less than a month after entering the palace, he was transferred directly from a menial servant to the study of the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department as a clerk. What does that mean?

Ordinary servants might not be able to get to serve the chief eunuch even after three to five years in the palace, but this kid got promoted in just one month.

Moreover, he didn't rely on connections or flattery; he rose to the top through sheer hard work and a solid record book.

That evening, the atmosphere in a corner of the dormitory was particularly subtle.

Wei Zhongxian was the first to speak, his tone a mix of admiration and resentment: "Brother Zhao, one month. You're really something."

He gave a thumbs up, a smile on his face, but the smile was a little fainter than usual, and there was a hint of seriousness in his eyes.

Gao Lishi sat on his bunk, slowly folding a coarse cloth short jacket, making it neat and square.

He looked up at Zhao Gao with a calm gaze and a faint smile on his lips: "Brother Zhao, I admire your skill. You seized the opportunity and made thorough preparations. If it were me, I might not have been able to remember the timeline and personnel movements so clearly in last night's situation."

Zhao Gao sat on his bunk, his face expressionless, and shook his head slightly: "Just lucky. The tea room is located right at the intersection of the kitchen and the food delivery passage. I just remembered it."

"Just a little something?" Wei Zhongxian chuckled. "Brother Zhao, don't be modest. From the moment the wine pot was spilled in front of the Emperor until the banquet ended, at least an hour had passed. You were sitting in the tea room, recording the tea and snacks served to the empresses, observing the movement of the kitchen and the food delivery corridors, and you even managed to match all the timing together. And you're telling me this is just a little something? How many hands do you, Zhao Gao, have?"

Zhao Gao raised his eyelids and glanced at him, the corners of his mouth curving slightly, but he did not answer.

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

His expression was calm, revealing no emotional fluctuations, but those who knew him understood that beneath this calm lay deeper contemplation.

"A bet is a bet." Zheng He finally spoke, his voice as steady as ever. "We made a bet that night to see who would leave this dormitory first. Brother Zhao was transferred to the chief steward's study in just one month. I concede this bet."

"I concede defeat too." Gao Lishi smiled and placed the folded clothes beside his pillow. "But Brother Zhao, I have a question I'd like to ask you."

"explain."

"When you were taking notes in the tea room, had this step already planned out in your mind, or were you just doing your duty and then doing it as it came?"

That's a tricky question.

They figured it out, which means Zhao Gao's cunning was even deeper than they imagined.

His ability to do his duty and act in accordance with the situation demonstrates that his intuition and adaptability are extraordinary.

No matter how he answers, it will raise people's evaluation of him to a higher level.

Zhao Gao was silent for a moment, then said something that silenced everyone.

"No, not at all," he said. "I'm just laying the first brick for my master."

All four of them fell silent.

The other people in the dormitory were already asleep, their snores filling the room, and no one noticed the conversation between the four people in the corner.

Moonlight seeped through the tattered window paper, casting a blurry patch of light on the ground.

Wei Zhongxian was the first to break the silence. He chuckled softly, "Brother Zhao, now that you say that, the three of us seem rather petty."

"The size of the scale is not important." Zhao Gao's voice was very soft, like a blade slicing through silk. "What is important is that now someone has entered the chief eunuch's study and has access to the core documents and personnel transfers of the Imperial Household Department. What this means is clear to you better than anyone else."

Zheng He nodded, his eyes sharp: "Now that you've entered the chief steward's study, it's as if we have the first pair of eyes in the Imperial Household Department. Now it's the three of us who need to step up our efforts."

Gao Lishi gave a soft "hmm," his tone gentle but firm: "Chef Sun from the kitchen has begun to trust me."

"The kitchen is one of the places in the palace where news flows the fastest. Purchases from various palaces, banquets in various places, and the taste preferences of each family are all discussed in the kitchen."

"Within a month, I should be able to figure out the food supply chain and the network of personal relationships within the harem."

Wei Zhongxian chuckled: "Then I'll continue my life of wandering the world. I've already gathered seven or eight of the twenty or so men in the servants' quarters."

"Give me another month, and I can mold the entire servants' quarters into a single sheet of iron."

He paused, then winked at Zhao Gao, "Besides, if you go up there, there will be a vacant position for a trusted confidant next to Steward Liu. I think that position is quite suitable for me."

The four men exchanged glances in the darkness and remained silent.

But the silence already hinted at a tacit understanding, not the kind between friends, but the kind between chess players.

They may not like each other, or even trust each other, but they both know that every move they make is ultimately for the benefit of the same person.

The next morning, Zhao Gao packed his meager belongings and left the dormitory.

He left before dawn, when most people were still asleep.

Wei Zhongxian turned over, squinted at his departing figure, muttered "He's gone," and then turned over to continue sleeping.

Gao Lishi had already gotten up and was sitting on his bunk tying his shoelaces.

He watched Zhao Gao's figure disappear into the morning mist outside the door, and gently exhaled, the white mist dissipating in the cold air.

Zheng He stood in the courtyard, having already finished chopping the first batch of firewood.

He saw Zhao Gao come out carrying his luggage, stopped hitting him with his axe, and nodded slightly to him.

Zhao Gao nodded as well.

Without exchanging any further words, Zhao Gao turned and walked along the passageway toward the office of the head steward of the Imperial Household Department.

His footsteps echoed on the stone path in the early morning, unhurried and gentle, like the prelude to some kind of ritual.

Behind him, the dawn was gradually illuminating the vast palace.

In the courtyard of the servants' quarters, Zheng He picked up his axe again, Gao Lishi tied his shoelaces and headed to the kitchen, and Wei Zhongxian got out of bed, rubbing his eyes as he began to arrange the day's tasks.

The three people's paths remained ordinary and unremarkable, but the moment Zhao Gao stepped out of that door, this silent game of chess was no longer just the beginning.

Of the four hidden pieces, the first one has already been placed in the center of the board.