The First Powerful Minister

[There are probably only a few chapters left before it ends, and then there will be extra side stories about the future world/body swap and so on. It’s just that my physical condition really can’t support such high-intensity typing. Sorry. (bows)] Pei Qi had never been very smart; he had a single-minded mind. Aside from a pretty face and a strangely abundant strength that seemed never to run out, he had almost nothing worthy in the eyes of the Pei family. Later, his father died, and his younger brother, who had placed third in the imperial examinations, inherited the title. The title went to his younger brother, and the family thought they couldn’t just let Pei Qi starve to death. So the Pei family went to great lengths to have someone arrange for him to become a Jinyiwei. When Pei Qi put on the flying-fish uniform, with his red lips and white teeth, broad shoulders and narrow waist, he really did look the part. By day he went out to seize houses, and by night he came home for dinner. Life was quite pleasant. But good times did not last. His younger brother made a mistake, lost the title, and was transferred out of the capital to serve as a county magistrate in the south. The whole family went with him, leaving only Pei Qi alone in the capital. Before they left, his mother worriedly instructed him: "Xiao Qi, remember, you work for the emperor. No matter what others say, don’t listen. Listen only to the emperor." Pei Qi nodded and took it seriously to heart. —— Over the next few years, he really did just that. He listened to no one but the emperor, and would go through fire and water for him. No matter how many colleagues around him defected or chose sides, he never followed the crowd. In the end, when the former emperor died and the new emperor ascended the throne, once again making use of talent, the Pei family finally managed to be transferred back to the capital from the local post. When they returned, they stared in disbelief at the lavishly decorated Pei residence and at Pei Qi, dressed in an imperial python robe. By then, Pei Qi had risen to Commander of the Northern Pacification Commission, a favored man by the new emperor’s side, and in the past two days he had even been granted the title of Duke Protector of the Nation. His younger brother stammered, "E-elder brother, what have you done?" Pei Qi thought for a moment, recalling the things those people in the prison had cursed him with, like "hawk dog" and "lapdog." So Pei Qi said with utter seriousness: "I’m a dog for His Majesty." Younger brother: ? The new emperor, whose reputation had been ruined: ? [Things are a bit better now. Updating steadily for the time being. There are too many typos; any earlier edits were only to correct typos...]