After Prince Zichu had laughed enough, he drank some honey water to calm down and regained his composure: "It seems that the confidant that Lu Buwei left for her is not smart or loyal."
The servant said, "Yes. After the merchant learned the news we had deliberately revealed to him, he no longer believed in Lü Buwei."
"Lü Buwei is a businessman, and his confidants are also businessmen. Businessmen pursue profit over loyalty, and his confidants are very similar to him." Prince Zichu said indifferently, "Zheng'er was adopted by Zhu Xiang, and Chunhua is even dumber than I thought, so I can rest assured."
The servant hesitated for a moment, but still spoke: "Lord Father, with Duke Zhu Xiang's wisdom, once Duke Zhu Xiang learns of Lord Father's identity, he will immediately realize that this is Lord Father's plan. Will he be angry with Lord Father?"
My name is Bu. I followed Prince Zichu from Qin to Zhao and back to Qin. I am one of Prince Zichu's few confidants.
Before Prince Zichu met Lu Buwei, he was so poor that he couldn't even afford a carriage to travel. Bu Chang went out to work to supplement the family income.
In order to expand the experimental fields and breeding farms, Zhu Xiang set up a permanent stall outside the gate of Handan City to recruit workers. Bu went to work at Zhu Xiang's house.
Although Prince Zichu was in a difficult situation, he still had lofty ambitions. After hearing about Zhu Xiang from a fortune teller, he became very curious and, after a little disguise, he befriended Zhu Xiang by posing as a poor scholar who had fled to Handan.
It happened that he was only one year older than Zhu Xiang, and as they were of similar age, they quickly became good friends. He then asked Zhu Xiang for a job as an accountant.
After Prince Zichu came to Zhao State, he hardly ever left the house due to his difficult life. Everyone in Zhao State knew that he was an abandoned person and no one came to visit him, so he ate at the same table with Lin Zhi and others, and Lin Zhi did not realize his identity.
Who could have thought that a prince would go to a commoner's house to work as an accountant? If others knew about this, they would definitely curse the Qin royal family with disgust, saying that they were indeed ignorant barbarians.
Prince Zichu didn't care at all.
His life was indeed difficult at that time. Living in Zhu Xiang's house and getting free food, drinks and books greatly eased his financial pressure. He also found a rare genius. Reputation was not as important as reality.
Furthermore, Prince Xinling of Wei could go in and out of the common people's streets to seek talents, so why couldn't he, a prince of Qin
Prince Zichu worked as an accountant in Zhu Xiang's household for three years. After receiving financial support from Lü Buwei, he was worried that his return to China would bring trouble to Zhu Xiang, so he cut off contact with Zhu Xiang under the pretext of visiting his relatives in Qin.
Although the relationship between Bu and Prince Zichu was that of master and servant, it was closer than that of ordinary relatives, so he spoke more freely.
Bu admired Zhu Xiang very much.
At this time, rituals and music were in disarray, and anyone with a little fame among the people could be respectfully addressed as "gong". Many wealthy merchants called themselves "gong".
Although Zhu Xiang was not summoned by the King of Zhao, his reputation among the people was not low, and many farmers respectfully called him "Duke Zhu Xiang". Moreover, Zhu Xiang was a relative of his own master, so Bu called him "Duke Zhu Xiang" with sincerity.
He was emotionally close to Zhu Xiang, and knew that Zhu Xiang was the only good friend of his master for many years, so he naturally couldn't help but worry.
Prince Zichu patiently explained: "Bu, a gentleman can be deceived by his own methods. Zhu Xiang is a rare true gentleman in the world. Even if he knew that I was scheming him, he would not be too angry with me for Zheng'er's sake."
The corner of Bu's mouth twitched slightly.
A gentleman can be deceived by his own tricks... My Lord, don't you feel guilty for saying this
Soon after the Lord Father accepted Lu Buwei's support, Lu Buwei went even further and asked for an exorbitant price. Not only did he "make the most of" his own Lord Father, he even targeted the Lord Father's next generation, forcing the Lord Father and the concubine he sent to have children, hoping that the Lu family's wealth and prosperity would continue for at least two generations.
The master father naturally refused. Unless he was in a desperate situation, he would never accept such a threat.
Bu really had a deep understanding of his master.
In another time and space, Yiren accepted Lu Buwei's concubine during the Battle of Changping (260 BC) and fled Zhao in a hurry before the Battle of Handan.
During this time and space, when Prince Zichu was flirting with the beauties given by Lu Buwei, he discovered that one of the beauties was actually the sister of his good friend Zhu Xiang.
Bu Ben thought that his master would take the woman as a slave to vent his anger on Zhu Xiang. Who knew that his master actually agreed to Lü Buwei's threat, took the woman into his room, and asked his subordinates to call the woman mistress, and promised Lü Buwei that if the woman gave birth to a son, he would make him the legitimate son.
The mistress was very pregnant and gave birth to a son a year later. When the child was one year old, Lü Buwei confidently handed the mistress and the child over to his confidant, replaced the master's status as a hostage, spent a lot of money to bribe Zhao officials, and took the master back to Qin.
The Lord Father had become a relative of Duke Xiang of Zhu without anyone noticing, and had designed to hand the young Lord over to Duke Xiang of Zhu to raise. Bu really didn't know what to say.
He remembered a sentence that Duke Xiang of Zhu often said, "Are you bullying the honest people?!"
"It doesn't matter if he's angry with me." Prince Zichu saw his confidant's speechlessness and said with a smile, "Zhu Xiang's talent is as vast as the stars and the universe. It's worth it to coax him to come to Qin even if he no longer considers me a friend."
Prince Zichu put the bamboo slips aside, stood up, put his hands behind his back and walked a few steps on the spot.
"Zhu Xiang figured out the art of papermaking at the age of a child, which showed his intelligence; when he was penniless, he sought refuge with Lin Xiangru as a commoner, which showed his courage; after only five or six years of studying, he became well-versed in history and the present, and knew everything about astronomy and geography, as if he had been granted wisdom by God. It is clear that his future is limitless!"
"He has a noble character, preferring only to live and not to kill. He devotes himself to studying farming, and increases the yield of the land every year. It is like having the help of Shennong himself. No wonder he dares to call himself 'Zhu Xiang'!"
"He is so powerful, yet too modest, thinking that he is nothing special! Not only does he have no ambition, he is also not good at plotting and scheming! If there is no king who trusts him to protect him, such a talented person would definitely be harmed by ordinary people!"
"Besides me, who else in this world can understand him and protect him?"
"The Lin family? The King of Zhao is so incompetent that he refused to give Lin Xiangru the title of Lord. They can't protect him!"
“When the world is undergoing great changes, a powerful ruler must have wise helpers, just as Tang of Shang had Yi Yin, and King Wen of Zhou had Lü Shang.”
"I am the only one who can let Zhu Xiang show his talent!"
Young Master Zichu's smile grew brighter, and a flush of excitement appeared on his pale face.
“A-choo!”
Zhu Xiang sneezed loudly, sat up in a daze, and found that the quilt was gone.
He looked down and saw that the domineering Qin Shi Huang had wrapped himself up into a ball, leaving his poor uncle outside.
How much power is hidden in this tiny body that it could snatch all the adults' quilts
Zhu Xiang had a mischievous smile on his face. He picked up the quilt and shook it, shaking out the little Ying Xiaozheng.
When he lifted the quilt, Zhu Xiang saw that there was a very obvious puddle of water under the quilt.
Zhu Xiang immediately laughed out loud and said, "Zheng'er, you wet the bed!"
Ying Xiaozheng, whose mind was not clear, woke up immediately: "I am not, I don't have it!"
Zhu Xiang: "Hahahahahahahaha! Xue! Come and see! Zheng'er wet the bed!"
Hearing Zhu Xiang's sudden shout, Xue thought something bad had happened and rushed into the room.
Then, she showed a helpless look on her face: "My dear, it's normal for children to wet the bed. Clean it up quickly. What are you yelling about?"
Ying Xiaozheng was still holding his head and trying to escape reality. I am not like that. I didn’t do that. I am the First Emperor. How could I wet the bed
Woo woo woo, this has never happened before, and I don’t remember it happening again!
The simple-minded Ying Xiaozheng didn’t realize that a normal person wouldn’t store his or her dark history of bed-wetting in his or her memory, and he thought he had “changed the future” again.
Do I have to "change the future" even in such a small matter
No! It's so embarrassing!
Zhu Xiang was still laughing. He had never thought that the First Emperor was so shy when he was young that he was too ashamed to call himself "I". It turned out that the First Emperor liked calling himself "I" since he was young. No wonder he took this as the exclusive title of the emperor when he grew up.
Ying Xiaozheng, who was enraged and humiliated, was so angry that his inherent ferocity was aroused. He pounced on Zhu Xiang and bit his hard arm, almost breaking his baby teeth.
When he bit Zhu Xiang, his mind suddenly became clear.
In the past, he kicked and bit people around him and got beaten badly. He had changed this bad habit a long time ago.
This time he had just been adopted by a strange relative, and he actually bit someone again. He will definitely be beaten again.
Ying Xiaozheng was so frightened by the impending beating that he could not move.
Zhu Xiang held up the arm that was bitten by Ying Xiaozheng and laughed even louder: "Hahahaha, Xue, look, Zheng'er is angry! He's even biting me with his little baby teeth! Doesn't he look like a little dog that's been tickled and mad?"
Xue originally had mixed feelings towards Ying Xiaozheng because she was annoyed by Chunhua, and the child's identity might bring trouble to her husband.
Seeing this scene now, Xue couldn't help but feel sympathy for the child and couldn't help but stand on the child's side.
"My dear! Since you know that you have made Zheng'er angry, why are you still laughing? Hurry up and clean up Zheng'er, don't let him catch a cold!" Xue raised her voice and said in dissatisfaction, "You said that you can take care of the child, but this is how you take care of him?!"
"Oh, oh, oh, I won't laugh anymore." Zhu Xiang pulled Ying Xiaozheng off his arm and tucked him under his armpit. He put on his coat and rushed to the bathroom with Ying Xiaozheng, whose butt was wet. "Your aunt is angry, run!"
Ying Xiaozheng: “?”
My aunt got angry, but I wasn't beaten.
But looking at the look on my aunt’s face, it seems like she’s going to beat my uncle up
Ying Xiaozheng, who was being tossed around by Zhu Xiang's armpits, hugged his head again, his little brows furrowed.
It's so strange, I don't understand. But I'm glad I didn't get beaten.
Every day when Zhu Xiang got up, he would run and do exercises in the courtyard to exercise, then go to the bathroom to rinse his body before going out to work.
The servants would always boil water before Zhu Xiang got up, so when Zhu Xiang rushed into the bathroom with the baby, he could take a bath immediately.
While helping Ying Xiaozheng wash, Zhu Xiang laughed again, which made Ying Xiaozheng so angry that he clenched his fists.
"Is it funny?" Ying Xiaozheng pouted.
Zhu Xiang patted Ying Xiaozheng's butt and said with a smile, "Not funny, not funny, uncle won't laugh anymore."
Zhu Xiang decided that from today on, he would start recording the true history of raising the First Emperor, and then bury it secretly for future generations to dig it up.
Who can resist recording the dark history of historical celebrities when they were young? Zhu Xiang couldn't. Even though he knew it was a suicide pact, Zhu Xiang couldn't resist the temptation!
Ying Xiaozheng said resentfully: "But uncle, you are still smiling now."
Zhu Xiang reached out and wiped his face, with the corners of his mouth curled down: "Look, you're not smiling anymore."
Ying Xiaozheng: “…” I don’t know why, although my uncle did not laugh anymore, his little fists were clenched even tighter!
When Ying Xiaozheng bit someone, Zhu Xiang knew that this kid did have a bit of a temper. The two of them were not too familiar with each other, and Zhu Xiang did not want to destroy the little trust and intimacy that had been built with great difficulty. He said he would stop laughing, and he really did not laugh at Ying Xiaozheng.
Xue brought new clothes and couldn't help complaining, "Children are such wastes of clothes."
Ying Xiaozheng, who was putting on his clothes with the help of Zhu Xiang, suddenly froze.
Zhu Xiang helped Ying Xiaozheng tie his belt and said, "You said you didn't allow me to stay up late. You stayed up late to cut this set of clothes, didn't you? Children have useless clothes. You can use my clothes to make ends meet. Now you can slowly make winter clothes. Why bother cutting new clothes for him?"
Ying Xiaozheng: “!”
I don't like the new clothes my aunt cut for me overnight?!
He looked down at himself. The sleeves and trouser legs were just the right length. It seemed that these were indeed not his uncle's clothes
Xue Jian was a little embarrassed when Zhu Xiang exposed her: "Since you have decided to raise this child, you must take good care of him. I just used your clothes to modify them. They are not new clothes and it is not troublesome."
Xue opened Ying Xiaozheng's sleeves and said, "I roughly sewed it a few times, and it's barely wearable. I'll get by for a few days. I've asked someone to find some wealthy families with children and buy some old clothes from their children. I heard from other women that children need to wear old clothes to grow up well."
Zhu Xiang said, "No need to look for it. I have already told Lin Li that he will go and find some for us. We just need to give him the money."
Xue hesitated and said, "Will Mr. Lin refuse to take our money? It would be bad if he didn't."
After serving the nephew of the First Emperor, Zhu Xiang wrapped his hair with a dry cloth to prevent it from catching a cold: "He certainly won't take the money, but I gave him something he couldn't refuse."
Zhu Xiang blinked at Xue, keeping her in suspense.
Xue cooperated very well and asked, "What is it?"
Zhu Xiang smiled and said, "A recipe for brewing wine."
Xue was stunned for a moment, then sighed and said, "My dear, you can also make wine?"
Zhu Xiang said, "Yes. But grains and fruits are very precious. I don't like wine, so I didn't think about making wine."
In ancient times, a recipe could become a family heirloom. For example, recipes for making wine and sauce were basically controlled by the rich. If you wanted to find out, it would cause bloody conflicts.
The Lin family started from humble beginnings. Although Lin Xiangru was appointed as a senior minister, his family background was not deep, and his wealth was naturally not as rich as that of other nobles. Zhu Xiang's recipe for brewing rice wine could be passed down to the Lin family.
Zhu Xiang was only a retainer, not a servant. He was also a good friend of Lin Zhi, so the Lin family would not steal his achievements. But Zhu Xiang knew that it was a crime to possess a treasure, so even with the support of the Lin family, he rarely took out these things that would attract attention. He only used ordinary steaming, boiling and roasting for cooking, and did not make complicated meals. When he occasionally had a feast, he would cook it himself, and he and Xue would enjoy it secretly behind closed doors, without even the servants knowing.
Zhu Xiang now took the risk of giving Lin Zhi the wine-making recipe, the value of which was enough to buy Ying Xiaozheng several years' worth of clothes.
Lin Zhi couldn't refuse the wine-making recipe given by Zhu Xiang. His whole family was fond of drinking. When he accepted the recipe, he looked at Zhu Xiang with a resentful look.
Zhu Xiang said sorry in his heart and continued to play dumb and ignore it.
He already owed the Lin family a lot, and he couldn't take their things for free.
Zhu Xiang always has excuses to justify the source of his knowledge, but Xue grew up with Zhu Xiang and naturally knew that those were all fake. My beloved must have some magical powers.
Xue knew that although her husband was smarter than other children when he was young, he liked to pester the merchants in the village to learn how to read and write, and occasionally helped the family with some creative ideas. He even named himself "Zhu Xiang", but her husband's behavior did not exceed his age by much.
It was not until she encountered the disaster of her family being broken up and her elder sister abandoning her that her lover suddenly became unusually mature and reliable, and his abilities grew as if he appeared out of thin air.
Xue heard from the villagers that many people had sudden enlightenment after a disaster, and some people might even be rescued by invisible gods and blessed by the gods.
Xue thought that maybe her lover really had someone guiding him from the gods.
But she doesn't care about this, never investigates it, and is not afraid of it. It is enough for her lover to live a good life.
Seeing that Zhu Xiang had solved the problem, Xue was no longer bothered by it and said, "Then I will tell them that they don't need to look for it. But you still have to make your own shoes, as other people's old shoes won't fit. My dear, you should wear straw sandals recently. I will cut the soles of your shoes to make shoes for Zheng'er."
Zhu Xiang pretended to be shocked: "Xue, Zheng'er just came to our house, has my status dropped so much?"
"Ah?!" Ying Xiaozheng looked up blankly as he tried hard to understand what his uncle and aunt said. He intuitively felt that there was a lot of information hidden in these words, but he couldn't figure it out at the moment.
Xue chuckled and followed Zhu Xiang's joke, "Yes, yes, your status has fallen. I made you a pair of good shoes, but you wore them out in a few days. You might as well wear your straw sandals. In winter, I will make you a pair of sturdy shoes with good leather."
Zhu Xiang put his hands through Ying Xiaozheng's armpits and lifted Ying Xiaozheng in front of Xue: "Zheng'er, uncle, I am so pitiful."
Ying Xiaozheng flapped his short legs twice, his little head tilted, and his brain completely shut down.
What are my uncle and aunt doing? I have no idea.
Xue chuckled again, stretched out her hand and took Ying Xiaozheng into her arms: "Zheng'er, I'll take him away. You can continue to make trouble. I won't pay attention to you."
After saying that, Xue hugged Ying Xiaozheng and turned away, leaving behind Zhu Xiang and the quilt and sheets that Ying Xiaozheng had urinated on.
Zhu Xiang looked down at the quilt and sheets that were soaked with the Emperor's urine, then squatted on the ground and began to rub them.
While rubbing, he thought randomly, I heard that people nowadays believe that boy's urine can cure all diseases. The boy's urine of the first emperor should be more effective, right? If I sell it...
Well, other people don’t know that their child will become the first emperor in the future, unless he stores his own Zheng’er’s boy’s urine for twenty or thirty years and turns it into aged urine.
Zhu Xiang was amused by his own wild thoughts and continued to rub the sheets while laughing "Hahahaha".
Xue was holding Ying Xiaozheng, standing outside the ventilated window of the bathroom, watching. She was waiting for Zhu Xiang to call her back, and then she would wash the quilt and sheets.
But I didn't know that my lover washed the quilt and sheets himself.
Xue stood at the window in a dilemma. She didn't want to ask her lover to do more work, but she was too embarrassed to go in and tell him that she was joking.
"Aunt, why is uncle laughing?" Ying Xiaozheng stayed in Xue's arms stiffly and asked curiously.
Xue touched Ying Xiaozheng's bald head, sighed in her heart, and walked into the room with Ying Xiaozheng in her arms: "Who knows? He often thinks about random things while doing things. Maybe he suddenly thought of something interesting and laughed out loud?"
The sheets and quilts have been washed by my husband, so I will make a hat for Zheng'er. Children's heads cannot be blown by too much wind. Xue thought about the gossip of women with children. She heard that children grow strong only when they wear tiger hats, so she decided to make a tiger hat for Ying Xiaozheng.
Ying Xiaozheng thought that since his aunt didn't like him, she would put him down and walk away quickly. Unexpectedly, his aunt directly carried him into the room, put him on her lap, and wanted to measure his head to make a hat for him.
Ying Xiaozheng's neck shrank, and his fingers and toes also shrank.
His mother hadn't hugged him for a long time, and the other young servants in the house were unwilling to get close to him. Only the old slave who abandoned him at his uncle's door that day would occasionally hug him.
Ying Xiaozheng was not used to being treated gently by someone like a mother, and he was so nervous that his lips were tightly pursed.
"Are you afraid of me?" Xue saw Ying Xiaozheng's nervousness and asked in confusion, "You are not afraid of your beloved, but you are afraid of me. Why?"
Ying Xiaozheng quickly shook his head, his voice trembling: "Don't be afraid!"
Xue thought about it and didn't ask Ying Xiaozheng why he was nervous. She just continued making the hat.
She never likes to get to the bottom of things and just does her job well.
After Xue measured the size of Ying Xiaozheng's head, she put Ying Xiaozheng on the bed and stuffed a wooden puppy that Zhu Xiang had carved when he was bored into his hands, letting him play with it by himself.
She selected some bright satin given by the Lin family and sewed a hat for Ying Xiaozheng.
The Lin family treated Zhu Xiang very well. Zhu Xiang had worked diligently for the Lin family on the farm for many years and had saved a lot of money. In fact, his family could afford to wear satin.
But Zhu Xiang knew that his family was common and did not dare to be too high-profile. Therefore, he and Xue usually only wore clothes made of fine linen, which showed that there was someone behind them who could afford to wear good clothes, but also did not show off too much.
Occasionally, when our family received good satin as a gift from friends, we would save the snow and make the lining for winter clothes, which was neither ostentatious nor too warm.
Xue had already started making winter clothes, and now there were a lot of scraps of good satin fabric in the room. Now these scraps of fabric were quickly turned into a beautiful little hat in her skillful hands, and the only thing left was to sew the stitches more tightly and add some decorations to the hat.
Ying Xiaozheng was holding a wooden puppy as big as his palm, feeling very confused.
Why did my aunt put a piece of wood in my hand? What should I do now
As far as Ying Xiaozheng could remember, he had never had a toy. So he didn't know what a toy was, and naturally didn't understand why Xue put a wooden puppy in his hand.
However, children are born to play with toys. Even though Ying Xiaozheng was confused, he quickly put the puppy on the bed and pushed it around, and uncontrollably dubbed "Woof woof woof" for the puppy.
After Zhu Xiang washed the quilt and sheets, he went to Xunxue and Ying Xiaozheng to have breakfast. He also went to the room where gifts from friends were stored and took out a green jade ring with animal patterns as a gift for Ying Xiaozheng.
This piece of green jade ring with animal pattern was a farewell gift from Zhu Xiang's long-time friend. He said it was a talisman prepared by his family for children. It was a good thing he got during the one-year-old celebration, blessing him to survive the adversities until now. Now he gave this good luck to Zhu Xiang.
Zhu Xiang suddenly thought of this incident while washing clothes. He thought that this jade ring was just the right style for children of this age to wear, and it had auspicious meaning, so he planned to give it to his nephew as a talisman.
When Zhu Xiang found Xue and Ying Xiaozheng with the box containing the jade ring, he happened to see this scene and almost couldn't help laughing out loud.
Look! There's a little Shi Huang cub barking like a dog!
(End of this chapter)