Looking at Chengjiao’s appearance as if he had been frightened, Empress Dowager Xia did not rush to urge him to answer this question. Instead, she looked at him with extreme patience, waiting for the young boy’s reply. After all, for such an important matter, if he answered too quickly, that would instead make her feel somewhat surprised.
— Chengjiao was usually so clingy with Ying Zheng, and his relationship with Ying Zheng was that good. If, when facing such a question, he could say without hesitation or thought that he wanted to replace Ying Zheng, that would instead make people feel that this child could not be plotted with.
Empress Dowager Xia just stared steadily at Chengjiao. After a while, she saw Chengjiao first take a deep breath, then the youth raised his eyes, and within his usually clear young voice there was a trace of hoarseness.
A light of unclear darkness flickered in Chengjiao’s eyes as he asked her, “It is now already the third year since the Royal Brother ascended the throne, and not long ago he also just rectified the court and cleared out traitors. Under such circumstances… how does the Royal Grandmother intend to let Chengjiao replace the Royal Brother as king?”
Struck dizzy by Empress Dowager Xia’s question, his worldview collapsing in an instant, Chengjiao worked hard to steady his mind, drawing in breaths to stabilize his emotions.
He knew that at the moment he heard Empress Dowager Xia’s question, if the answer he gave was not the one she wanted to hear, if he did not board Empress Dowager Xia’s boat, then he would definitely not be able to leave this room. He would be confined by Empress Dowager Xia, and she would also go seek out a new target capable of plotting with her.
— Empress Dowager Xia wanted to usurp the throne. She wanted to establish another ruler, thereby holding the court and grasping great power.
Chengjiao felt that in this moment his mind was turning faster than ever before, but the more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became. Yet now there was no extra time to let him feel chills — he had to stay calm. Only then could he help the Royal Brothers and not let those who wanted to harm Ying Zheng succeed in their schemes.
So after taking a deep breath, he deliberately pretended to be tempted by Empress Dowager Xia, to develop desire for the throne and “the power possessed by the king,” in order to reassure Empress Dowager Xia’s heart, making her feel that she already had someone she could support, and would not need to go unite with others to plot this matter.
He also wanted to… protect Royal Brother.
He thought so in his heart.
And upon hearing Chengjiao’s reply, Empress Dowager Xia immediately revealed a satisfied smile, raised her hand to touch the young boy’s head, and said, “Good child.”
Looking at the elderly person in front of him who had always treated him so kindly, yet at this moment was clearly already blinded by greed but still pretended to care for him, Chengjiao suddenly very much wanted to knock her hand away. But he knew in his heart that he could not do that, so he could only silently accept it.
Then after a short while, Chengjiao finally could not endure it anymore, feeling that Empress Dowager Xia’s touch was very disgusting. He stepped back one or two steps, raised his head and eyes to look at Empress Dowager Xia, and asked her, “Royal Grandmother, what should I do?”
Upon hearing Chengjiao’s question, Empress Dowager Xia did not answer him directly, but lightly pushed it back to him, counter-asking, “Then Chengjiao might as well think — how can Ying Zheng be pulled down from the throne?”
Encountering this question, the young boy could not help but curse inwardly a few times, but since he was under someone else’s roof now and could not flare up, he put on a pretense of thinking.
Then he worked hard to make his voice sound colder, both carrying a kind of helpless confusion and a kind of innocent cruelty, as he said, “Royal Brother has always treated me well, and has never guarded against me. If I hide a dagger in my sleeve and assassinate the Royal Brother, I can definitely succeed in one strike.”
“But, Royal Grandmother,” Chengjiao did not blink as he looked at Empress Dowager Xia and asked, “If the Royal Brother is gone, can I really become the King of Qin?”
Upon hearing this sentence from Chengjiao, Empress Dowager Xia’s gaze toward him became even more loving, and behind that love burned a raging ambition for power, as she said, “Of course you can. Chengjiao is one of my son’s only two children. Now that Ying Zheng, who is king, dies, and he has no offspring, as the royal family’s only bloodline, Chengjiao succeeding to the throne — is that not only natural?”
She sneered secretly in her heart. In front of power, what do brothers even count as? Royal clans and noble houses — such places where people kill without seeing blood and eat people without spitting bones — where is there real brotherly affection? Not to mention that Ying Zheng grew up in Zhao, and was only brought back to Qin at the age of nine. Before that, Chengjiao had always been the only prince in the palace. Toward this suddenly appearing elder brother, and moreover the legitimate eldest brother, did he really not have even the slightest resentment in his heart? They were merely half-brothers of different mothers — even sons can recognize enemies as mothers for the sake of wealth and fame…
As if suddenly thinking of something unpleasant, a flash of hatred passed through Empress Dowager Xia’s eyes.
That Hua Yang bitch. Not only did she steal her husband and cause her to lose favor, making even palace servants dare to cast looks at her in the deep courtyard of the Qin palace, she also stole her son, forcing her Yiren to change his name to Zichu… All of this — why? They were both princesses of their states — why was Hua Yang’s fate so much better than hers?
“Royal Grandmother, Royal Grandmother… what’s wrong with you?” After hearing Chengjiao’s call, Empress Dowager Xia withdrew from her hateful emotions toward Empress Dowager Hua Yang. Seeing the young boy’s confused gaze, she then realized she had lost her composure.
She had not fought or contended her entire life. She thought she had not fought or contended her entire life, but only now did she realize she could not deceive herself. When she was young, she could not care about her husband’s favor, but after she grew old… she also wanted power like Hua Yang’s!
Thinking of this, Empress Dowager Xia smiled at Chengjiao and said, “It’s nothing.” Then she looked at Chengjiao and said gently, “Indeed, Ying Zheng will not guard against our Chengjiao, but assassinating the king with a hidden dagger is not something a future new king should do. If word spreads, it will be too disgraceful and hard to cover up.”
“Then according to the Royal Grandmother’s meaning?” Chengjiao followed her words and asked.
“Come.” Empress Dowager Xia held her grandson’s hand and led Chengjiao inward. They finally came before a cabinet, from which she took out a small locked box from the very bottom, then found a key hidden very discreetly and opened it. Just from how Empress Dowager Xia had hidden the contents of this box, Chengjiao already felt a bad premonition in his heart.
Sure enough —
During the unlocking process, he heard Empress Dowager Xia say, “Compared to assassination, using poison is more suitable. Chengjiao will take food laced with poison to Ying Zheng to eat. When the matter comes to light and Ying Zheng dies, push everything onto the palace servants in the kitchen for doing their work poorly. Chengjiao can then rid himself of the crime of killing his brother and murdering the ruler, and peacefully and happily become the new king.”
Such a vicious method.
Chengjiao could not help thinking inwardly.
And Empress Dowager Xia had not yet spoken of another layer of intent behind poisoning Ying Zheng, but Chengjiao, whose mind was not dull, could think of it.
He would be the one to hand the poisoned food to Royal Brother, poisoning him to death. Although this matter would cause the kitchen servants to be unlucky and take the blame, the person who truly acted was still him. Thus, he would have an enormous handle left in Empress Dowager Xia’s hands. Even if he later ascended the throne as king, he would still be controlled by her, because such a shameful affair that would be mocked by all under heaven could not be made public.
Truly killing two birds with one stone. A chill filled Chengjiao’s heart, but his face became even more obedient, fully appearing as though he had already been led along by Empress Dowager Xia, bewitched by her, knowing nothing except killing Ying Zheng and taking the throne himself.
He took from Empress Dowager Xia’s hand that package of poison, said to be extremely lethal and to kill on contact with blood, and with a face full of innocence said, “Then should I go poison Ying Zheng now?”
Hearing that at this point Chengjiao no longer even called him Royal Brother, directly calling Ying Zheng by name, Empress Dowager Xia nodded smugly in her heart, and then said, “Chengjiao, do not be anxious. The position of King of Qin will sooner or later be yours. Before killing Ying Zheng, we still need to make some further arrangements.”
Here it comes!
Finally hearing what he wanted to hear, Chengjiao immediately became alert and gathered his spirit. He had played along with Empress Dowager Xia until now, pretending to be completely deceived by her, precisely for this moment — to extract from her mouth the accomplices plotting this matter together with her.
— He absolutely did not believe that Empress Dowager Xia, who was normally fine, would suddenly produce such thoughts on her own. One must know that although his Royal Brother was not as close to her as Chengjiao was, he did not treat her badly.
Empress Dowager Xia had been Buddhist and detached her entire life — how could she suddenly want to chase power and seize profit on her own?
So Chengjiao raised his little face and, as if asking casually, asked, “We? Besides the Royal Grandmother, who else is there?”
Empress Dowager Xia had never harbored any suspicion toward Chengjiao from beginning to end, and in addition Chengjiao had just directly called Ying Zheng by name, seemingly leaving not even the last bit of respect. So she had no intention of hiding anything from Chengjiao. After smiling lightly, she opened her mouth and spoke several names that Chengjiao was not unfamiliar with.
Chengjiao silently memorized them in his heart, preparing that once he left here, he would hurry to see the Royal Brother and report this matter, letting Ying Zheng thoroughly investigate these people, and then catch all these rebellious traitors in one net.
Thinking of this, Chengjiao unconsciously tightened his grip on the package of poison from Empress Dowager Xia, then said to her, “Does Royal Grandmother have anything else to instruct me? If not, Chengjiao will go back first. I fear that if I stay here too long, it will reveal something and be discovered, which would not be good.”
Hearing this, Empress Dowager Xia thought for a moment, then gave Chengjiao several more “points to note.” Seeing the young boy carefully memorize each one and even recite them back to her, Empress Dowager Xia, whose suppressed desire for control for decades was suddenly satisfied, nodded and said, “Since that is the case, Chengjiao may return to his sleeping palace first.”
Hearing Empress Dowager Xia say this, the young boy obediently nodded his head, then tried his best to maintain steady footsteps, walking out as if everything were normal.
Because he was worried that Empress Dowager Xia might send people to monitor him, even after leaving Empress Dowager Xia’s palace by a great distance, Chengjiao did not dare to run, and walked back to his own palace as slowly as possible.
Not until evening, when the sky was about to darken, did Chengjiao take a cuju ball and pretend to be playing as he ran around his sleeping hall. After observing and confirming that there were no palace servants sent by Empress Dowager Xia watching him, he finally dared to go see Ying Zheng.
Chengjiao ran all the way, and only when he saw the black-robed youth sitting at the table reading something did he dare to reveal his true thoughts. He called out to Ying Zheng with a slight sob in his voice that even he himself did not notice, “Royal Brother!”
The black-robed king, flipping through bamboo slips, responded and turned his head. His narrow phoenix eyes quietly gazed at Chengjiao, who seemed to have run in a hurry. He did not ask what had happened to his younger brother — this gaze was as if everything was self-evident.
Upon seeing this look, the young boy immediately sniffed, and said to Ying Zheng, “Royal Brother, something big has happened!”
The Li family.
When Li Si arrived home, Li Xi was holding the bamboo screen tool that she had specially had artisans make earlier in Liyang, performing pulp scooping. On the table beside her were the pulp sheets she had previously scooped out and that were now already dry — no, perhaps they should be called by another name instead. From the night she returned to Xianyang and stayed up all night working, what Li Xi had been making with bamboo bark over these past two days, at the final step, produced something that was nothing else but: paper.
— Bamboo-based paper, Lianshi paper.
Watching his sister’s actions that looked somewhat like washing rice, Li Si could not help but feel curious and asked, “A Xi, this is…?”
He could not help muttering inwardly again, thinking, how was it that before he went out, what his sister was making was still bubbling purple-black liquid that looked like it was about to kill some enemy with whom she had a deep hatred, but now that he was back, that strange black liquid was gone, and instead had turned into something that even looked a bit edible — “rice slurry”?
Thinking this, Li Si simply asked aloud, “Can this thing be eaten?”
Anyway, the person in front of him was his own sister. Even if he asked wrong, he did not need to feel embarrassed or anything.
And after hearing her older brother’s question, Li Xi fell silent for a moment, then seriously began thinking about whether paper could be eaten. After all, from a practical standpoint, this thing really can be “eaten,” and after eating it people would not have any problems — in student days, the number of people who had eaten little paper notes was simply too many, okay?
So thinking of this, Li Xi could not help hesitatingly pointing to the stack of paper sheets on the table, which she had pressed down with stones she casually picked up in the courtyard and washed clean, and said to Li Si, “How about… Brother, you try it? See if you can get used to eating it?”
As she spoke, Li Xi also went to smell the pulp in front of her. It carried a faint bamboo fragrance and smelled as if it was indeed not bad.
Li Si: “……”
Alright — seeing his sister’s reaction and this kind of action, Li Si immediately understood that this thing his sister made was not for eating.
He walked over to the stone table in the courtyard and reached out to touch the paper sheets pressed under the stones used as paperweights. Thin and even, white like the finest mutton-fat jade, with a texture so delicate it made one reluctant to let go.
At this time, Li Xi also began to explain what the thing he was touching was, “This thing is called paper. Like silk, it is used for writing and painting, but its production cost is much lower than silk.”
As she spoke, Li Xi seemed to remember something, turned her head back, and said to Li Si, “Brother, take a brush and try writing on it?”
Hearing his sister say this, Li Si truly went into the house to get brush and ink. After returning, he took a sheet of paper and tried writing a few characters on it. The young man instantly praised the thing his sister made, saying, “The ink spreads immediately, penetrating three layers into the paper. Truly a good thing.”
Upon hearing Li Si’s words, Li Xi put down the bamboo screen in her hands, walked over, and looked at what he had written on it. With that glance, she froze. “Zhao State? Guo Kai?”
Looking at the extremely beautiful handwriting on the paper, Li Xi could not help but be astonished. What did these two things have to do with her brother?
Seeing his sister’s surprise, Li Si opened his mouth to explain, telling her about Ying Zheng summoning him to the palace that afternoon. “The king asked me to go to Zhao State, and the target is this person.”
“Oh.” As soon as Li Si began speaking, Li Xi understood. After all, Guo Kai was someone she had “recommended” to Ying Zheng, she had just not immediately reacted to the fact that Ying Zheng would have her brother go to bribe someone.
But after hearing Li Si finish describing what happened in the palace, she understood everything.
From a theoretical standpoint, finding Guo Kai to sow discord was indeed not wrong — it could even be said that he was not just the right person, but exactly the right one. But the key problem in this matter was that even if Li Mu were hurt to the core by Zhao State, that SSR general of Zhao might not necessarily come to Qin.
Thinking of this, Li Xi could not help shaking her head. She thought, could Li Mu become “the Han Fei of history”? An unattainable SSR, and Brother Zheng would directly tear the card — one could say he was a domineering emperor.
Seeing the changing expressions on his sister’s face, Li Si could not help asking, “A Xi, what’s wrong?”
Li Xi shook her head and said, “Nothing. Brother, just do your best in this matter.”
Do your best — do everything possible to stir things up with the King of Zhao, let Li Mu become completely disheartened with Zhao State, and then await fate — to see whether this SSR that Brother Bei Zheng took a liking to, this lucky (unlucky) goose egg, could escape the fate of having his card torn.
“I know,” Li Si replied.
Then he said again, “However, if I go to Zhao State, this trip will likely take a lot of time. You being alone at home, I always feel uneasy…”
Seeing that her brother was about to activate the nagging, doting, daughter-raising mom mode — brother traveling a thousand miles worrying about the sister at home — Li Xi hurriedly said, “Why worry about me? I’m not a child anymore, and I’ve long since stopped being stupid. And,” at this point she suddenly changed her tone and looked at Li Si, “Brother, did you forget that once you leave, I also won’t be at home, but will return to Liyang?”
This time she returned to Xianyang originally because Ying Zheng took power personally. Now that the “excitement” on the Xianyang side was over, it was about time for her to return to Liyang and continue working on her infrastructure.
Although even if she was not there now, the players in Liyang were still diligently working for her. She could see from the system screen that the players at the Liyang brick kiln, in addition to discussing with artisans how “glass” should be fired, had also made many more brick molds in the past two days to increase the number and speed of brick production, firing more bricks in less time for their daily contribution points.
And on the side of the second-test players newly assigned the task of making cement, things had also begun to show some progress — they had preliminarily started to get the hang of the task.
All progress was very pleasing. According to the current model, Li Xi felt that in another half month, Liyang could begin building houses and repairing roads.
At that time, when Chengjiao led people to look for gold mines, Qin’s economy would then have taken its first step toward success.
But speaking of the economy…
Li Xi turned her head to look at Li Si and asked, “Brother, how much do you think people would be willing to pay if I took this paper and released it into the market to sell? I mean, those scholars.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she seemed to think of something and immediately added, “I mean rich young masters from wealthy families, not poor people like us.” From beginning to end, she never considered selling to poor scholars — merchants seek profit; if there is no profit, what business is there? Did she really think that the amount of paper that could currently be produced was enough for internal use within Qin?
Actually, when it came down to it, her original purpose in making paper was very simple — it was for Ying Zheng.
After all, according to historical records, Brother Zheng handled government affairs like a typical workaholic, having to read one hundred and twenty jin of bamboo slips every day. Just hearing that weight made people feel it was heavy. Li Xi felt that continuing like this long-term was not good either. Handling so many heavy bamboo slips every day — if he accidentally twisted a muscle or bone, it would instantly become a hundred days of serious injury. So she thought of making paper. Coincidentally, when she was in school, they had once had a handicraft class on ancient papermaking methods, and she just happened to know how to do it.
So not long after going to Liyang, she had people make the bamboo screens needed for papermaking. The tools had just been handed over to her shortly before Ying Zheng and the others went to Liyang, and on the first night they arrived, because her brother wrote “notes” for her using bamboo slips, she had someone quickly go cut some young bamboo and find some lime the next morning, preparing to make paper.
However, on that very day, Ying Zheng invited her to Xianyang. For an invitation from Ying Zheng, Li Xi naturally would not refuse, so she packed her “luggage” and brought all the things needed for papermaking back here to work on.
But now, she suddenly had a new idea.
And the reason for this new idea was nothing else — poverty.
And hearing Li Xi’s words, Li Si, the poor scholar with no money whose heart was unintentionally stabbed by his sister’s words, could not help but fall silent for a moment.
After a while, calming down the feeling of being shot in the heart, Li Si lowered his eyes to look at the clear and bright paper, thought for a moment, then gave his sister an extremely high number, and then coughed lightly and added, “This is the price for the rich young masters you mentioned. If they are royal descendants or nobles, it could be even higher.”
“Eh~” Hearing Li Si say this, Li Xi drew out a long sound and said thoughtfully, “Then this is actually worth doing~”
Li Xi thought to herself that once she returned to Liyang, she would have the Liyang magistrate find her an empty plot of land and build a paper mill, which would thereafter specialize in producing paper.
And regarding what kind of paper to produce, she could also develop some tricks. Everything has grades and distinctions — good and bad. In the future, she would take the highest-quality batch produced by the paper mill, set the highest price, release it in limited quantities, and then sprinkle a little gold powder on it, specially selling it to those wealthy fools who had money and nowhere to spend it.
And some relatively failed defective products could also be sold, just at a lower price — there was no fear of no one buying them. Paper is light and easy to carry. Compared to the bamboo slips commonly used in the current era, it was unknown how much more convenient. Anyone who had even a little spare money — who would not be willing to spend some money to buy paper instead of carrying roll after roll of bamboo slips back and forth? Silk was also light and convenient, but that was not something everyone was qualified to use — only those who could afford it.
— Even Confucius had said that poverty does not reach plain silk.
And seeing that his sister had another new idea, Li Si did not stop her, only saying, “If you make anything too novel, remember to inform the king.”
Hearing this hidden expression of concern in Li Si’s words, Li Xi immediately revealed a big smile. “Got it.”
The royal palace.
“…That’s how it is.” Chengjiao reported in detail to Ying Zheng everything that had happened at Empress Dowager Xia’s place today, and also placed the poison he had obtained from Empress Dowager Xia on the table, handing it to Ying Zheng to have someone take it for testing later.
Then, looking at Ying Zheng, who had not spoken a word throughout and whose expression remained faint, Chengjiao finally remembered that earlier in Liyang, Ying Zheng had invited Li Xi back but had not mentioned his own matter. The young boy could not help but ask, “Royal Brother, earlier the reason you did not want me to return to Xianyang with you — was it because… Royal Brother already knew this would happen?”
Ying Zheng’s brows and eyes slightly relaxed, and he simply said calmly, “It was only a suspicion.”
And this was also the final chance he gave those who had developed such thoughts but had not yet acted.
“Then, I…” Chengjiao hesitated at the corners of his lips, looking at Ying Zheng, not knowing what to say for a moment. After hesitating for a long time, he still asked the sentence he wanted to ask, “Am I… am I still Royal Brother’s younger brother?”
Hearing this, Ying Zheng raised his eyelids slightly, his phoenix eyes sweeping over the uneasy young boy. He suddenly smiled and said, “You and I share blood — how could our relationship be severed?”
The two people’s words did not match each other at all, but this kind of inexplicably mismatched answer nevertheless made Chengjiao’s heart feel especially stable.
Because regarding Empress Dowager Xia’s temptation of him, he truly had not felt even the slightest bit of temptation. Although Ying Zheng had not been in the palace in the past, he had known since childhood that he was a concubine-born son and also the second son, and his mother was not someone with ambition. So from beginning to end, he had never thought about that position. He did not want to be king.
Later, Lü Buwei brought back Ying Zheng and Zhao Ji, who had suffered greatly in Zhao State. That year he was six years old. The first time he saw them, he felt fond of them — what child does not like good-looking people?
Later, he liked to follow behind his older brother, and although the Royal Brother always told him not to follow him, he never had anyone drive him away. At that time, he knew that this older brother who looked hard to approach was not at all like what others said — not aloof, not untrainable, not a wolf cub.
His Royal Brother was actually a very gentle person.
After Chengjiao left his side, Ying Zheng also lost the heart to continue reading government affairs. After a moment, the black-robed youth put down the bamboo slips in his hands, stood up, and headed outside, walking toward Ganquan Palace.
Unexpectedly, after arriving at Ganquan Palace, the palace servants who saw him were all as if they had seen a ghost, widening their eyes, their expressions filled with panic and confusion. When something is abnormal, there must be something wrong. Seeing the palace servants like this, Ying Zheng naturally lifted his steps and walked deeper into Ganquan Palace.
“King, King…” Some palace servants tried to stop him from walking inside.
Ying Zheng directly swept a cold glance at them, and faintly gave a single word that made the palace servant being stared at tremble in fear and immediately kneel to the ground: “Scram.”
Then Ying Zheng no longer intended to pay attention to these palace servants, and directly walked inside.
…
“Hehe, Lao Ai, come chase me, Lao Ai hurry up~”
“Empress Dowager, please slow down, this servant can’t even catch your hand.”
“I won’t. If you still can’t catch up, I will punish you.”
And only when he arrived in front of Zhao Ji’s sleeping palace, looking at the tightly closed wooden door and listening to the joyful sounds coming from inside, did Ying Zheng finally understand why those palace servants had looked at him with that kind of expression.
At the same time, the youth’s heart sank completely to the bottom.
His mother — his biological mother — at the very moment when he was on the verge of being assassinated by his own younger brother under the manipulation and guidance of his own grandmother, was here seeking pleasure with someone.
So she had secretly brought a male favorite into the palace. No wonder in the recent period she had not come to greet him even once, not even sending a single palace servant.
Ying Zheng was not stupid. He knew very well what his mother’s temperament was like, so combining that with the sounds inside the room, it was easy to figure out that the person accompanying her was a real man smuggled in.
— How could Zhao Ji be someone who would have so much fun with a eunuch, with a castrated man?
The laughter inside grew even louder, while outside the door Ying Zheng’s expression grew colder.
Heh.
He suddenly laughed in his heart — laughing at his own naivety, knowing that Zhao Ji was no longer the mother she had been in Zhao State, yet still wanting to hold onto a bit of unrealistic expectation toward her.
Truly foolish.
The corners of his lips curved into a self-mocking arc. Then the black-robed youth flicked his sleeves and turned around, unwilling to remain here any longer.
Only Ying Zheng himself knew that at the same time he turned away, he had also completely cast aside his regard and concern for Zhao Ji.
From now on, toward her, he would only fulfill the duty a son should fulfill toward his mother.
As for the rest — no matter what she wanted from him, he would never give it again.
Before leaving Ganquan Palace, looking at the palace servants kneeling sparsely all over the ground, Ying Zheng swept his narrow phoenix eyes over them and warned with the authority of one in power, “If Empress Dowager finds out about my coming here today, you will not need to keep your heads on your necks anymore.”
Upon hearing this, the palace servants on the ground hurriedly responded nervously, “Yes.”
And after walking out of Ganquan Palace, Ying Zheng thought for a moment, and in the end decided to leave the palace and go to Li Si’s house.
… He suddenly really wanted to see Li Xi.
When Ying Zheng arrived, Li Xi was still in the courtyard scooping pulp, working on the last remaining unfinished “paper liquid.”
At that time, it was already late, and most households had already closed their doors.
So when she heard the knocking sound at the door, to be honest, Li Xi did not want at all to go open the door for this uninvited unexpected guest.
— She truly could not be bothered to take those few steps.
In the end, because the knocking outside was so persistent, Li Xi finally agreed to move her feet a bit to open the door for the stranger outside. She thought to herself that the person outside had better have something urgent and important to find her brother, otherwise she could throw the person straight into the trash heap on the spot and make him lose all attachment to this world.
But as soon as she opened the door, Li Xi froze, because she had never expected that the person who came would actually be —
“King?” Looking at the black-robed youth in casual attire, she could not help widening her beautiful peach blossom eyes, her gaze full of astonishment.
Then she first saw him lightly nod his head. Immediately after, she heard Ying Zheng ask her, “Walk with me?”
He said this as a question.
Li Xi immediately frowned slightly, feeling that something was abnormal. With Ying Zheng’s personality… logically, he would directly say a definite statement, right?
After looking at the black-robed youth in front of her twice, Li Xi suppressed the doubts in her heart, sneakily came out from behind the door, closed the door behind her, curved her beautiful peach blossom eyes, and said to Ying Zheng, “Let’s go.”
At this time, the streets were completely empty. The cool evening breeze blew gently, accompanied by the sound of the wind, and occasionally a few chirps of cicadas from some distant place, adding a bit of liveliness to the quiet atmosphere.
【Host, have you noticed that in this kind of environment, you and the King of Qin are just like on a date!】
“Thank you, but the moment you speak, you completely ruin the atmosphere.”
She replied to the system in her heart, making the little useless system become autistic and go cry in a corner. Then Li Xi tilted her head slightly and looked at the black-robed youth walking side by side with her, who seemed to be in a bad mood today, and gently spoke, “King?”
In the next moment, Li Xi’s peach blossom eyes that naturally carried an affectionate effect met the youth’s beautiful phoenix eyes, and then she heard Ying Zheng say, “Don’t call me that.”
“Then…” Li Xi blinked, then tentatively said, “Ying Zheng?”
Hearing her call him that, the black-robed youth did not speak, only stared steadily at her with those phoenix eyes, without blinking.
Under Ying Zheng’s gaze, Li Xi suddenly froze.
Then, before the pink little flowers in her heart floated everywhere, she gently and slowly called out to the youth in front of her, “A Zheng.”
After her words fell, she heard Ying Zheng softly respond,
“Mm.”
Li Xi thought, perhaps she now knew… the reason why Ying Zheng was in a bad mood.