The author said: The second protagonist appears (not the second protagonist)
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Zheng Rong didn't take it seriously, but his guards didn't dare to slack off, and stood up to protect Zheng Rong with knives. A guard had already knelt on one knee and reported: "When I was making my bed, I saw someone hiding in the firewood. I called out several times but couldn't get out. I'm afraid it's an assassin. Please make a decision, Your Majesty."
Zheng Rong nodded, and said with a hint of anger: "It's just a cat or a dog. Come on, move the firewood away so you can see clearly, right?"
After receiving the order, the soldiers sheathed their swords, rolled up their sleeves, and started moving the grass. In just a few moves, most of the firewood was moved away, and a skinny little white dog was seen, baring its sharp teeth, growling in a low voice, staring with a pair of almond-shaped eyes, seemingly full of hostility. The soldiers found it funny, but they also admired the beast's courage to fight a strong opponent with a small force, so some of them took torches and wanted to drive it away. Unexpectedly, the dog showed no intention of retreating, as if it was guarding something, and the pile of grass behind the dog actually swayed a few times. The safety of King Youyan was no small matter, so the soldiers kicked the puppy away without saying a word, and then cleaned up the remaining firewood. The soldiers almost emptied the pile of grass, and then they could see clearly that there was a young man curled up in the corner.
Zheng Rong saw it from a distance, and didn't know whether the boy was dead or alive. He shouted "Wait a minute", walked forward, bent down, and stretched out his hand to feel the boy's breath. Before he could figure out what was going on, the boy suddenly raised his hand and slapped Zheng Rong on the wrist. The hand came very fast, and Zheng Rong couldn't dodge in time. He was hit on the wrist joint, which was a bit painful. The guards around him saw that the dignified King Youyan was beaten by a kid of unknown origin, and they all came up to catch him aggressively. Unexpectedly, Zheng Rong didn't care. He waved his hand to stop the guards, and said to the boy with a smile: "It turns out that you are still breathing. I am sorry for being rude."
The boy's tightly curled body relaxed a little, and he turned his head to glance at Zheng Rong. Seeing that he looked kind, he pouted and said, "Who are you? Why are you making such a big noise and disturbing my sleep?"
Seeing that the young man was quite courageous, Zheng Rong replied, "Haha, we are soldiers escorting grain and grass to Youyan Road. We were greedy for a few steps and missed the post station, so we wanted to stay in this dilapidated temple for one night."
"Hmph, this is my home. How can I let you stay here casually?" The young man said as he stood up, casually wiped the dust off his face with the hem of his clothes, and brushed off the strands of firewood hanging on his body. He stood in front of Zheng Rong and dozens of guards with neither arrogance nor servility.
Zheng Rong tied his hands behind his back and looked at the boy carefully. He saw that he was about twelve or thirteen years old, with a full forehead, a round face, a square mouth, thick eyebrows, big eyes, red lips and white teeth. He had a very good appearance. He liked it very much and joked, "This deserted temple has no owner. As the saying goes, 'All under heaven belongs to the king'. We are the emperor's soldiers and horses, so we can stay here."
The little white dog that was driven aside heard his master talking, and hurriedly wagged its tail, crawled into the boy's arms, opened its eyes and listened to the boy's words: "As the saying goes, 'All the people in the world are the emperor's subjects', I am also a subject of the emperor, and this temple is also my home. What's more, first come first served is an unspoken rule. You enter my house privately and disturb my rest. Do you think it's reasonable?"
"What a powerful mouth!" Zheng Rong thought to himself, but retorted: "Young man, you are wrong. The master of the temple is Sakyamuni Buddha, but at the command of our Holy Ancestor Emperor Wu, all temples in the world are in ruins. How can there be a first come first served principle?"
The young man was speechless after hearing what Zheng Rong said. He thought for a long time with a red face, but he still couldn't think of a reply. Then he heard Zheng Rong laughing and said, "This is just a far-fetched argument. But I am very impressed by your extraordinary words. May I ask where your father is?"
The young man's confident face was instantly covered with a shadow, and he gritted his teeth and replied: "My father died for his country in the battle against the Turks before I was born. It has been twelve years."
Zheng Rong listened to the young man's tearful statement, and a huge grief surged in his heart: he had defended the north for twelve years and earned endless fame, but who would remember the names of those soldiers who sacrificed their precious lives? Zheng Rong calmed down and said, "I am sorry for my rude words, I hope you will forgive me. May I ask your name?"
The young man said nothing, picked up a dead branch, found a piece of mud, squatted down and wrote three big characters. Zheng Rong took the torch from the guard's hand, approached the ground and carefully distinguished it. It was three big characters, and silently said in his heart: "Qiu Yizhi, Qiu Yizhi, if you succeed, all officials will come to you!" Zheng Rong squinted his eyes and stared at the very immature but well-balanced handwriting. Suddenly, he realized something and said: "Your father Qiu Feng was a close guard of the Youyan Palace. Fifteen years ago, when he was fighting against the Turks, he was unfortunately hit by a stray arrow to protect the commander and died heroically for his country..." As Zheng Rong was speaking, a gust of wind blew through the entire hall, swirling around the beams and pillars, mixed with countless dust, and enveloped everyone.
The young man's eyes narrowed as if due to the wind and sand, his eyes were red, he looked up at the handsome middle-aged man and asked: "You...how do you know?"
Zheng Rong's nose seemed to smell blood, and he said solemnly: "To be honest with you, young man, I am Zheng Rong, the King of Youyan!"
His father died protecting the King of Youyan, who resisted the Turks and protected the people of the country. This was the proudest thing in Qiu Yizhi's life. Now someone claimed that he was Zheng Rong, but he couldn't believe it. He gritted his teeth and asked, "Don't lie to me!"
"If you tell me even a single lie, may the heavens punish you and the earth destroy you, and may you die by the sword!" Zheng Rong said as he took off the jade pendant from his waist and handed it to the young man.
This jade pendant was a personal item given by the late emperor when Zheng Rong took the initiative to become a vassal of Youyan. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a token of the King of Youyan. But Qiu Yizi had no idea of its origin. She only felt that this person spoke very sincerely. As she stroked the unusually warm and beautiful jade in her hand, she was very sure that it was the famous King of Youyan, Zheng Rong. This really frightened Qiu Yizi, and she didn't know what to do. She could only hand the jade pendant back to Zheng Rong.
Zheng Rong pushed back Qiu Yizhi's hand holding the jade pendant, looked directly into Yizhi's eyes, and asked, "I don't know where your mother is now. I have something important to discuss with you."
When Qiu Yizhi mentioned his mother, his eyes could no longer hold back tears, and he burst into tears. In his cry, he could vaguely hear "Mom is dead too", which was very miserable. Zheng Rong sighed leisurely, held Yizhi in his arms, and whispered in his ear: "Yizhi, don't cry, and tell me slowly." He turned around and ordered his soldiers to cook, and he wanted to talk with Qiu Yizhi while eating.
Qiu Yizhi obviously hadn't eaten any proper meals for many days, but he wolfed down some rough food that was made temporarily during the march. So he cried, ate, and talked, and finally told the whole story. It turned out that Qiu Yizhi's mother was the sister of Zhao Fuyi, a local tycoon. Although she was sad when she heard the news that Qiu Feng died on the battlefield, she had to raise her posthumous son, and she was a wealthy family with several hectares of good land as a dowry, which was enough to raise her son. But a few years ago, the elder brother Zhao Fuyi cheated the orphan and widow's land for some reason, and then drove the mother and son out of the Zhao house. The two had nowhere to go, and because Zhao Juren had a bad behavior, the mother and son were in the Zhao Mansion, and no one in the village was willing to help them, so they had to live in this dilapidated temple. Within a few months, Yizhi's mother suddenly caught a cold, and because she had no money for treatment, she died before she could hold on for long. Fortunately, an elder in the clan presided over the burial of Zhao, but he refused to help Qiu Yizi on the grounds that he was not a member of the Zhao clan. As a result, a natural disaster occurred and it was difficult to find food. Yizi had no choice but to return to the dilapidated temple and live a lonely life of scavenging and begging, with only a puppy he picked up as company.
Zheng Rong felt miserable at Qiu Yizhi's experience. He sighed deeply and suddenly stood up again, saying, "Yizhi, kneel down first."
This sentence came without warning, and Qiu Yizi heard it clearly, but she didn't want to kneel. However, seeing that King Youyan's words were unquestionable and his eyes were extremely firm, she had to put down her bowl and chopsticks and kneel straight on the ground.
Zheng Rong cleared his throat and said, "Qiu Yizi, your parents died because of me. Today, heaven and earth are witnesses. In order to repay your father for saving his life, I will recognize you as my son. What do you think?"
Qiu Yizhi hadn't responded yet, but Zhong Likuang beside him was shocked. He quickly dropped his cutlery and whispered in Zheng Rong's ear, "The prince already has three princes. If you see that Yizhi is happy today, why don't you just take him and raise him? Why do you need to recognize him as your adopted son?"
Zheng Rong simply said: "My mind has been made up, sir, there is no need to say more." His eyes were still fixed on Qiu Yizi who was kneeling on the ground.
Qiu Yizhi pondered for a moment, bowed deeply to Zheng Rong, stood up, and said, "It's rare that the prince has favored me, but I am the only descendant of the Qiu family left. How dare I marry into your family?"
Zheng Rong was even happier after hearing this, and said to Yizhi, "This is different from adoption. You don't need to change your name. You just need to call me foster father every day, and when I am a hundred years old, you can bury me and observe mourning for three years."
Qiu Yizi thought for a moment and shouted, "Godfather, I am here to pay my respects!" Then he bowed three times.
Zheng Rong nodded quickly, lifted Qiu Yizhi up with both hands, took him aside and announced to his soldiers that he would recognize him as his adopted son and treat him the same as the other three princes. He also called the tailors who accompanied the army and asked them to look at Qiu Yizhi's body size, split their own clothes, and make new clothes for him overnight. Even the little white dog was thrown a crispy roasted rabbit leg, and it feasted on it.
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PS. In ancient Chinese history, it was not uncommon for the royal family to adopt adopted sons. The most famous one was Chai Rong, the emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty who eventually ascended the throne. During the period of the Five Good Emperors of Rome, the adoption system was also adopted, which to a certain extent expanded the scope of selecting heirs to the throne and was reasonable. (To be continued)