Chapter 2: How to Cultivate a Ten-Thousand-Mile Empire for the Young Emperor Qin? Part 2

 

Chapter 2: Steamed Eggs with Pork Fat (2/2)

 

After Lin Zhi finished laughing, he reassured, "Even if you change those odd parts of yourself to become an official, it's fine if you don't change too. My father and I will protect you, and the way you are now is good too."

 

Zhu Xiang simply thanked him with a bitter smile and didn't say much.

 

He adjusted his posture, holding the child in his arms. The child closed his eyes again, as if crying had exhausted him.

 

 

Lin Zhi looked at the child in Zhu Xiang's arms with compassion. "If Xue doesn't want to raise him, I can take him home temporarily today and gradually find him a new family to adopt him. This way, you and your wife won't argue."

 

Zhu Xiang muttered, "Xue and I never argue."

 

Lin Zhi teased, "That's right. Whenever Xue raises her voice even slightly, you immediately start apologizing and lose all your spirit."

 

Zhu Xiang stayed silent, pretending not to hear.

 

As they returned to the city, there were fewer vehicles on the road, so they made better time.

 

Xue had been waiting at the door, mending shoes while listening for the sound of the carriage. As soon as she heard it, she put down her needle and thread and went to greet them.

 

When she saw Zhu Xiang holding the child, her face immediately turned dark.

 

"When we arrived, Chunhua had already been gone for several days," Zhu Xiang briefly informed Xue of the situation after entering the house.

 

Lin Zhi knew that Zhu Xiang was likely going to lose face in front of Xue again, so he deliberately stayed outside in the carriage to give them privacy. He would wait for Zhu Xiang and Xue to work things out before coming inside.

 

Xue furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "And then?"

 

"Well, then..." Zhu Xiang tried to speak with a smile, "I see this child as quite pitiable, and I was wondering if we could..."

 

Before Zhu Xiang could finish his sentence, Xue interrupted him loudly, "My dear! Do you remember what Chunhua did in the past? After your parents worked tirelessly and passed away, you fell ill and were grieving, despite that, she actually took all the family's belongings and left. She was unfilial to your parents and disrespectful to you. With such unfilial and disrespectful conduct, you want to raise her child?!"

 

"Zanghuo" was a derogatory term used to refer to slaves or servants, and it was considered very vulgar in this era.

 

Xue was so angry that she resorted to using profanity. Zhu Xiang immediately nodded and bowed, trying to appease her. He covered the child's ears, who was in his arms, and said, "It's my fault, it's my fault, please don't be angry. People often say that a nephew resembles his uncle, and he looks so much like me. He was also abandoned like me, so I couldn't help but empathize... We won't raise Chunhua's child. I'll have Lin Li take him away..."

Before Zhu Xiang could finish his sentence, Xue grabbed his arm and asked, "Wait, what's this saying about a nephew resembling his uncle?"

 

"Oh, there is," Zhu Xiang was taken aback and explained, "The child is said to be a piece of flesh fallen from his birth mother. Their appearance should resemble their birth mother. However, there's a saying that unless it's a case of male and female siblings, the child will resemble the birth mother even more if they share the same father and mother."

 

"Let me take a closer look," Xue snatched the child from Zhu Xiang's arms and examined the child's face carefully for the first time. She had known that the child was Chunhua's, and she had been harboring resentment, so she hadn't paid much attention to the child's appearance before.

 

The child was forced to stare directly at Xue, showing a frightened expression.

 

"It's true," Xue said, her expression softening.

 

She placed the child on the ground and crouched down to examine him carefully once again, turning him around a few times.

 

The child looked at Zhu Xiang with a pleading expression.

 

As soon as he showed this pleading expression, Xue burst into laughter. "He really does look like you."

 

Zhu Xiang was puzzled. "What's so funny?"

 

Xue said, "He looks like you, so I'm not mad."

 

Seeing how quickly Xue 's mood had changed, Zhu Xiang felt a bit apprehensive.

 

"It's okay, as long as you're not mad. I'll take him away now," Zhu Xiang tried to pick up the child but was slapped on the back of his hand by Xue.

 

Xue protected the child and said, "I'll raise this child."

 

Zhu Xiang's expression was somewhat dumbfounded. "Huh?"

Xue explained, "Since he looks like you, we'll raise him, and he'll be our son in the future. My dear, I want to raise a child who looks like you."

 

Xue lifted her head, her expression very earnest.           

 

Zhu Xiang instantly blushed. He also crouched down and awkwardly said, "Um... alright, we'll raise him."

 

Xue smiled happily and gently stroked the child's hair. She said, "Come on, say 'Father' and 'Mother.'"

 

The child glanced at Xue and then at Zhu Xiang, who was looking at him expectantly. His lips moved, and he made an almost inaudible sound.

 

Xue turned the child to face Zhu Xiang and said, "Why so quiet? Come on, say 'Father.'"

 

The child first hung his head, clenched his small fists, then suddenly raised his head and shouted with a hint of a crying tone, "I am the great-grandson of the King of Qin, the son of Prince Yiren, Ying Zheng! I won't recognize anyone else as my father, I can't recognize anyone else as my father!"

 

After shouting, the child, perhaps overwhelmed by the events of the day, went limp and fainted.

 

Zhu Xiang caught the child, staring in disbelief.

 

The husband and wife sat on the ground, looking at each other.

 

Xue's voice trembled. "My love, what did he say? He was speaking nonsense, right? No, no, maybe I misheard."

 

Xue kept rubbing her ears, her face filled with disbelief.

 

Zhu Xiang mumbled, "Aba, Aba," for a while, finally managing to speak coherently. "Ying? Ying Zheng? My nephew is Ying Zheng?! My sister is Zhao Ji?! But wait, my sister's name is clearly Chunhua!!"

 

Zhu Xiang held his fainting nephew and his eyelids drooped before he also passed out.

 

Oh my heavens, my nephew is Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng! Who can handle this kind of surprise like a normal person?!

 

Fainted, fainted... *mumbling*

 

"My dear! My dear, wake up!"

 

Xue let out a high-pitched scream, startling Lin Zhe, who had been eavesdropping at the door. He kicked the door open and rushed in.

 

...

 

After a brief darkness, Ying Zheng found himself back in this room.

 

The room was small, with only a wooden table and a cushion inside. The ghostly figure of a middle-aged man sat at the table, resting his chin on one hand and sleeping with his eyes closed.

 

The man wore a tall hat and a plain black robe, with only the lower hem embroidered with alternating black and blue patterns, giving it a simple look.

 

Ying Zheng knelt beside the middle-aged man and sat down. His once confused and muddled mind quickly became clear and wise.

 

Meanwhile, his eyes gradually became filled with sorrow and anguish.

 

He couldn't remember when it started, but every ten days, Ying Zheng would enter this room after falling into a deep sleep and encounter the ghostly figure of this man who appeared to be resting.

 

Whenever he approached the shadow of this man, his mind would instantly become as wise and clear as an adult's, and he could "browse" the memories of Qin Shi Huang, who had ascended to the throne and unified the realm as the emperor, currently traveling across the empire.

 

At first, Ying Zheng was ecstatic, believing this to be a divine gift. However, he quickly realized that it might not be a blessing, but a curse.

 

There was an hourglass on the table, counting down the time. Ying Zheng could only stay in this room for half an hour. During that time, he possessed profound knowledge and sharp thinking, believing himself capable of anything.

 

But when he left this room and woke up in the real world, all that wisdom would recede like a tide, and he would revert to the ignorant child he was, less than two years old.

 

The traces left by the receding tide in the child's mind didn't make him any smarter than other children. Instead, it made him more foolish and reckless.

 

Children tend to be easily overconfident, believing they are invincible with even the slightest bit of ability.

 

After leaving this room, Ying Zheng immediately turned into such an arrogantly ignorant child.

 

He no longer regarded his mother's words as the truth, no longer believed the insincere lies of the adults, and no longer endured when he felt uncomfortable;

 

He advised his mother to maintain her chastity, he threatened the merchant who had an affair with his mother, reminding him of their identities, and he scolded the servants who insulted him for his youth;

 

As a result, he received a furious slap from his embarrassed mother, the merchant openly mocked him while cavorting with his mother, and the servants, with their master's approval, began to withhold his comforts.

 

As time passed, his temperament became increasingly irritable, and he found it more challenging to get along with those around him.

 

Ying Zheng continuously asserted his identity to others, but everyone mocked his unrealistic claims.

 

His father had already abandoned him, and there was no hope of being taken back to the Qin Kingdom. His current status in the Zhao Kingdom was even lower than that of an ordinary commoner because commoners wouldn't be killed out of anger due to the Qin-Zhao conflict.

 

Even his own mother, realizing this, conspired with a merchant to escape, fearing that her son's presence would lead to their downfall.

 

Ying Zheng overheard this plan and, after entering the room with his future self's apparition in his dreams, realized that his own foolishness had pushed him to the brink of life and death.

 

It was impossible for a child less than two years old to survive alone, and staying by his mother's side was the only way to prove his royal lineage from the Qin Kingdom.

 

Now he had to show vulnerability to elicit his mother's love, in order to escape death and eventually return to the Qin Kingdom to fulfill his dream, perhaps even surpassing his dream self's achievements.

 

 

But once he left the room in his dreams, all of Ying Zheng's careful considerations turned into the fear of being abandoned by his mother, making his behavior even more hysterical.

 

This created a vicious cycle, as his biological mother grew even more disgusted and afraid of him, to the point of seeking a shaman to exorcise him.

 

Ying Zheng had once been full of confidence, believing that since he already knew the future, he could change it, altering the hardships, pains, and betrayals experienced by his "future self."

 

For example, the harm caused by his own mother, he believed he could change that as well.

 

His current mother treated him so well, so he just needed to be good to her, carefully choosing who got close to her, even if his mother might have other lovers in the future.

 

His mother having other lovers didn't matter to him; he only cared about whether his one and only mother would continue to treat him kindly as she did before.

 

However, he had indeed changed the future – he was now the one being abandoned.

 

"Sorry, it seems I can't become you."

 

Ying Zheng cried as he apologized to his future self, curling up into a small ball, huddling closely to his future self as if relying on his only family.

 

...

 

Splashed awake by Lin Zhi, Zhu Xiang squatted at the bedside, furrowing his brow as he watched the weeping Ying Zheng in his dream, feeling distressed.

 

Oh my heavens, my nephew isn't just an ordinary human child; he's the future First Emperor of Qin!

 

The future First Emperor of Qin!!!

 

Zhu Xiang felt a pang of envy towards his elder sister Chunhua. Why was this person so fortunate? Don't good people die young, and evil ones leave a thousand years of trouble behind?

 

With a troubled expression, Zhu Xiang held a bowl of pork fat-steamed eggs and continuously fanned Ying Zheng with it. He tried to use the aroma of the food to pull the future First Emperor of Qin out of his nightmare, while looking at Xue, who was utterly speechless.

 

Ying Zheng was indeed awakened by the aroma.

 

With tears still in his eyes, he opened them and his stomach rumbled. "Hungry..."

 

Zhu Xiang chuckled. "If you're hungry, then eat."

 

Ying Zheng quickly climbed out of bed, picked up a small wooden spoon, and began to eat the steamed eggs from the bowl that Zhu Xiang had brought.

 

The smooth and tender steamed eggs melted in his mouth, and Ying Zheng closed his eyes in delight.

 

As for the apologies he cried out in his dream, it seemed that he had completely forgotten them in the deliciousness of the pork fat-steamed eggs.

 

After all, he wasn't the First Emperor yet, just a wobbly-walking young version of the First Emperor!

 

 

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