Zhu Xiang asked himself in his heart, why
Is this probably the romance of a time traveler
"Interesting?" Zhu Xiang said.
Ying Xiaozheng rolled his eyes again: "As you wish."
Zhu Xiang sighed and said, "Zheng'er, have you noticed that your temper is getting worse and worse?"
Zheng Er has indeed entered his rebellious phase. A thirteen-year-old boy is truly in his rebellious phase.
I don’t know how many years this rebellious period will last, it’s really a headache.
Ying Xiaozheng crossed his arms and said, "No! I've always been like this!"
Zhu Xiang said: "Forget it, it's not an important matter. You usually control yourself well. Remember, it's okay to yell in front of your uncle, just be respectful to your father. Your father is the King of Qin, and you are the prince, so you should pay attention to your status..."
Ying Xiaozheng's eyes were blank. Nagging again, uncle is nagging again, so annoying.
He listened to Zhu Xiang's nagging patiently and responded with a perfunctory "hmm hmm".
How could he not know that his father was different now that he was the King of Qin? But his father had not yet shown any intention of insisting that he become a crown prince, so he treated his father in a way that made him feel comfortable.
When the attitude of the king and father changes, his attitude will naturally change as well.
The two chatted as they came to the cafeteria of the Xianyang Academy. Zhu Xiang and Ying Xiaozheng did not ask for special treatment. They just used their "employee cards" to queue up and ordered a portion of freshly-baked barbecue, which they ate between white flour buns.
Zhu Xiang's appearance can be recognized at a glance wherever he goes. The gloomy-faced young man in black beside Changping Jun can only be the prince.
Changping Jun and the Crown Prince had the simplest meal in the Xianyang Academy, which made many students drop the steamed buns in their hands.
Xunzi used his salary and rewards to subsidize the food supply of Xianyang Academy. Zhu Xiang reported to Qin Wangzhu and asked him to use the output of the imperial farm to provide food for Xianyang Academy. The dishes in the cafeteria were cheap and affordable, and most of the students who came from afar ate in the cafeteria.
But cheap and affordable means not so refined, so students with more money will go to another canteen to "order meals". That canteen also provides delivery service.
This was Zhu Xiang's idea. He could make money from the rich and use the profits to subsidize another cheap canteen, thus reducing the burden on the national treasury.
Logically, Lord Changping and Prince Zheng should have gone to another canteen with a higher level of style to eat, but the two of them seemed to not care about the noisy environment at all and quickly finished the white steamed buns in their hands without leaving any.
After Zhu Xiang and Ying Xiaozheng finished eating a steamed bun to fill their stomachs, they went to attend a class and listen to the debate of the new scholars.
The students in the cafeteria finally let out the anger they had been holding.
Before, they didn't even dare to breathe.
"Why are you so surprised? Lord Changping often took the prince to walk in the fields to teach him that farming was not easy for common people. The prince used to eat with common people in the fields, so it is normal for him to eat here and inspect the canteen that provides food for poor students." An old student said dissatisfiedly, "Your surprise now is an insult to them."
Zhang Cang said, "Ah, yes, yes, here are the roasted meat and white steamed buns that Lord Changping bought."
Meng Yi quickly put the roasted meat into the white steamed bun and imitated Changping Jun in eating the roasted meat between steamed buns.
It smells really good!
Zhang Cang munched on a steamed bun with roasted meat and sighed. Meng Yi had just dragged him to review his lessons, but halfway through he suddenly said he wanted to see what Changping Jun was eating, and dragged him to the cafeteria again.
He was extremely embarrassed when he followed Meng Yi to hide in a corner and watch Lord Changping and the Crown Prince eating roasted meat and steamed buns. This friend's admiration for Lord Changping was definitely abnormal, right
Maybe it’s because my friend’s father and brothers are officials in other places, and my friend has grown up in a crooked way
I hope that my friends’ behavior will be corrected when they study with me under Xunzi’s tutelage.
When Meng Yi and Zhang Cang started eating the roasted meat sandwich, the students also reacted and rushed towards the roasted meat.
Even the students who were usually frugal and hardly ate meat gritted their teeth and took out Qin money to buy the same roasted pork bun that Changping Jun and Prince Zheng had.
The cafeteria suddenly became noisy.
Zhu Xiang and Ying Xiaozheng only realized that they had caused such a commotion when they left the Xianyang Academy.
The uncle and nephew smiled at each other.
“It’s so boring.”
"Yeah, hahahaha, but if I were them, I would do the same thing."
"Humph, I won't."
"Zheng'er definitely won't. I want to go see Zhang Liang, Zheng'er, do you want to come with me?"
"No, I want to visit Xunzi."
"Okay. Dinner at home tonight?"
"I'm not going back to the palace tonight."
"Then I'll come back early and make you roast duck."
"Um!"
Zhu Xiang and Ying Xiaozheng parted ways in front of the Xianyang Academy and rode on horseback to the place where Zhang Liang was imprisoned.
Although Ying Xiaozheng said that Zhang Liang should be put in jail, there are still differences in prisons.
But for the children, being locked up in a dark prison and looking at the iron bars, they finally stopped crying, but then burst into tears again out of fear.
Zhang Liang finally remembered all the terrible rumors he had heard about the Qin State. He was spoiled by his family and was fearless, but he finally got scared after being put in prison.
When Zhang Sheng met Zhang Liang, he saw his brother crying loudly, and he couldn't help but laugh although he was originally very anxious.
Zhang Liang cried even more miserably. He was imprisoned in a prison, and his brother was still laughing?! I will go to my father's tablet and accuse my brother of being unfilial!
Zhang Sheng laughed and said, "You deserve it! Being imprisoned by Prince Qin is still good enough. If you were kidnapped, you would lose your life!"
Zhang Sheng was not worried about Zhang Liang's safety. Although Han could not hold his head up in front of Qin, the King of Qin would not bother with a child in an envoy group and would definitely let Zhang Liang leave.
Seeing that Zhang Liang was still crying, he took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and reached over the iron bars to wipe Zhang Liang's tears and nose.
Zhang Liang finally stopped crying.
When he saw that his brother didn't look worried at all, he knew that he might be safe, so he became bolder and complained to his brother about the strangeness in Xianyang.
After listening to Zhang Liang's words, Zhang Sheng sighed inwardly and said, "Liang, do you think you can walk freely in Xinzheng because of your intelligence? You are wrong. It was my father who secretly reminded the guards in the city that they turned a blind eye to your poor acting skills. And every time you go out, the servants follow you."
Zhang Liang's face turned red: "Poor?!"
Zhang Sheng nodded: "Poor."
Seeing his second brother in such a miserable state, Zhang Sheng could not bear to scold him, but he was still angry. He told him about Zhang Liang's "arrogance" in Xinzheng and the protection of his elders.
The two brothers sat on the ground and chatted across the fence.
Zhang Sheng had long been complaining about Zhang Liang's "arrogance" in Xinzheng, but the elders all indulged Zhang Liang.
All elders are like this, they prefer smart and lively children.
Zhang Ping had few children. Zhang Ping's third brother was born in his old age and is still in his infancy. For a long time, Zhang Liang was the youngest son of the Zhang family, and you can imagine how much he was loved.
Zhang Liang was protected by his elders and knew nothing about the reality. He only knew that his grandfather and grandfather were prime ministers for five generations of the King of Han. The Zhang family was a very prominent family of nobles in Han. Han was one of the most powerful countries in the world. The King of Han was very fond of talented people and treated the Zhang family very well.
In the eyes of the young Zhang Liang, Xinzheng was his whole world. If he had not been curious about his father's will asking him to take Gongzi Fei as his teacher and pestered his brother to go on a diplomatic mission to Qin together, he would have had no idea of the world outside Xinzheng.
He also didn't know how much of his intelligent words and deeds, which he was so proud of, were false because of the doting of his elders.
When Zhu Xiang came to visit the young Marquis Liu who was imprisoned, he saw that Zhang Liang looked wilted, like a cabbage hit by frost.
"Lord Changping, why are you here?" Zhang Sheng quickly stood up.
"Your second brother pretended to be Prime Minister Lin's son and broke into the Xianyang Academy. He was caught by the Crown Prince himself in public. If he is not punished, it will affect the Crown Prince's reputation." Zhu Xiang did not say anything polite and said directly, "I ask the Crown Prince to allow your second brother to work as a book boy in the Xianyang Academy for one month as an atonement for his crime. Do you have any objection?"
Zhang Sheng's face turned pale: "Not only that? My second brother is so young..."
"He is not young anymore. When the prince was his age, he was already the governor of Wu County." Zhu Xiang said, "Xianyang Academy is full of talented people. He can learn from the great sages in this month. It will only benefit him."
Zhang Sheng wanted to say something, but Zhang Liang spoke first: "Liang is willing to be your schoolboy for one month! Did Lord Changping specially ask me to stay in Xianyang Academy to study?"
Zhu Xiang looked at Zhang Liang and said, "You are very smart."
Zhang Liang asked, "Is Changpingjun doing this for my father's sake?"
Zhu Xiang laughed, his smile was a bit ironic: "Not to mention your father, even if it was the King of Han, I wouldn't dare to say that I would do anything for his sake."
Zhang Liang's face changed drastically.
Zhang Sheng smiled bitterly: "Liang, please don't say that. This is Qin, not Han."
Zhang Liang looked at his brother helplessly.
Zhu Xiang put away his smile and said calmly, "I originally thought that Zhang Ping sent you two to find Han Fei and bring him back to Han because he looked down on Han Fei. But after a night of thinking, I realized that although Zhang Ping has no talent in governing a country, as a prominent figure in Han, he would not be bad at dealing with people. You two may not know that Han Fei and I are on good terms, but he would know it. He would not irritate me."
Zhu Xiang expressed his disdain for the father of the two Zhang brothers. The two Zhang brothers wanted to argue with Zhu Xiang, but were intimidated by his aura and dared not say a word.
"People are gone and the tea is cold. Zhang Ping is dead. Although you two brothers will continue to be taken care of by relatives and friends in Han and live a life of luxury, the relationship in the court is a matter of etiquette. Han Fei will definitely not be able to use the Zhang family's relationship when he returns to Han." Zhu Xiang took a deep breath and said sarcastically, "Because he wants to implement reforms in Han, the interests of the ministers in the Han court will be damaged."
"Zhang Liang, do you think you were stopped by the Qin guards because your identity was exposed?"
"No, even if Lin Li came in person, he would still be stopped at the door if he didn't bring the 'verification'!"
"A young son of a nobleman can enter a key government office to play around at will after saying hello to the prime minister. This kind of thing will never happen in the Qin State today."
Zhu Xiang said, "Do you understand? Han Fei will definitely be abandoned by the King of Han after he returns to Han. Zhang Ping must know this, so his purpose was not to invite Han Fei back to Han."
Zhang Sheng seemed to have thought of something and said, "Could it be that father's goal is just to make my second brother become Han Fei's disciple?!"
Zhu Xiang glanced at Zhang Sheng, whose face was pale and regretful, and said calmly, "That should be the case."
"Han Fei is more familiar with your father than I am. He should be able to see what I can see. What he wants is for Zhang Liang to be a disciple of Han Fei, who is highly valued by the King of Qin, rather than for Prince Fei to return to Han." Zhu Xiang sighed, not knowing whether it was with emotion or sarcasm. "Parents who love their children will make long-term plans for them. He knew that Han was going to be destroyed."
(End of this chapter)