Chapter 84: Meeting Yingxin [Jinjiang Authentic Edition Exclusive: Kid!]...

The night is deep, the moon and stars are sparse.

On one of the busiest streets in Huaiyin County, several big yellow dogs were sleeping soundly in a broken wooden shed at the corner of the street.

Suddenly, the sound of wheels rolling came from the street entrance. The awakened big yellow dog immediately stood up with bared teeth and barked loudly at the passing carriage.

In a guest room on the second floor of an inn facing the street, Meng Yi, who was sleeping in bed with his clothes on, was awakened by the barking of a dog. He immediately touched the sword beside the bed and turned over to sit up. In the dim light, he saw the child sleeping on the bamboo couch also rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

Meng Yi then waved his hands and said softly, "Han Xin, it's okay. Go back to sleep."

Han Xin, who had a rare good night's sleep since entering the city, nodded and lay down on the bamboo couch in a daze and fell into a deep sleep.

Meng Yi got out of bed quietly, holding his sword. With a "creak", he opened the window a crack and looked down.

I saw a carriage stopped at the door of the inn under the illumination of the lights in front of the inn, and then a middle-aged man got out of the carriage and waved to the coachman to thank him.

The carriage turned around and left again.

After seeing the commotion below, Meng Yi couldn't help but frown slightly.

On his way from west to east, he passed through Qin, Han, Wei, and Chu, and he deeply felt that the farther he was from Hangu Pass, the less deterrent the Qin law became.

In order to prevent thieves from causing trouble in the dark, the Qin area strictly enforced a curfew system both before and after unification. After the curfew, not only carriages but even pedestrians were not allowed to move around unless they had something important to do.

However, looking at the carriage rolling by below, Meng Yi shook his head and silently closed the wooden window.

If you want all the people in the world to abide by Qin laws and completely complete the ideological unification that Your Majesty longs for from regional unification, the Qin Dynasty will need at least two generations to slowly work on it.

Xiang Liang, standing at the gate of the inn, watched the carriage that the county magistrate had sent him drive out of the street entrance along the same route. Then he frowned and looked up at the sign hanging on the inn.

He really didn't expect that the internal historian "Meng Yi" would also end up in this inn.

He stayed up from morning till late at night, patiently waiting with County Magistrate Huang for the soldiers who were investigating Han Xin to return from Nanchang Pavilion.

However, even though the soldiers worked quickly and investigated Han Xin's eleven-year life experience clearly, Xiang Liang, who sat with County Magistrate Huang in the county government office and discussed for a long time, still couldn't figure out what was so special about this poor little kid that he could attract the attention of the emperor's eldest grandson and even cause Qin Shihuang to specially send an internal historian to this remote county in Chu to look for him.

This matter seems weird no matter how you look at it.

Xiang Liang turned around and walked into the inn. He took out a few Qin Banliang coins as a reward to the waiter who was walking towards him with a smile, and then walked up to the second floor along the wooden stairs on the side in two steps.

When he passed Room A on the second floor, he paused for a moment, then walked straight to the adjacent Room B. He pushed the door open gently with a creaky sound and saw his eldest nephew, who was sitting on the bamboo couch, suddenly jumped down from the couch as if his butt was on fire. He hurriedly walked up to him and said in a low voice anxiously:

"Father Ji, you are finally back!"

"I met a guy from Xianyang at the morning market this morning..."

Xiang Liang knew what his nephew was going to say after only hearing half of the sentence. He immediately covered his eldest nephew's mouth with his hand and shook his head towards the next door with a serious expression.

The tacit understanding formed between the uncle and nephew over the years made Xiang Ji understand what his uncle meant in an instant.

He couldn't help but stare wide-eyed in shock. He truly hadn't expected that Ji's father, who had been staying in the county government office during the day, not only already knew about the high-ranking official from Xianyang quietly coming to Huaiyin, but also lived next door to them?!

Xiang Ji, who was always proud of his family and status, was shocked and broke out in a cold sweat when he accidentally ran into a high-ranking official from Xianyang who was staying in the guest room next to his at the morning market when he went out in the afternoon.

With something to hide, he almost subconsciously closed the door and went back into the room, anxiously waiting for Ji's father to come back.

At this moment, seeing Ji's father coming back late at night, he knelt on the seat with a gloomy face as soon as he entered the door, as if something really big was going to happen.

He clenched his fists and whispered through gritted teeth:

"Father Ji, why don't we contact someone and kill that guy directly!"

"We just came to Huaiyin from Xiaxiang, and this person also came to Huaiyin, and just happened to follow us to live with us. It's obvious that he has been paying attention to us for a long time."

"Even though he's not ordinary, this is our Chu territory. Even if he's a powerful dragon from the west, he has to stay put here!"

“Nonsense!”

Xiang Liang, who was already in a state of confusion, couldn't help but scold his nephew in a low voice when he saw his nephew's irritable look.

Even though he also felt that Monesi was coming for them, uncle and nephew, he was now very sure that he had not caused any trouble yet. How could they rush to attack before the enemy even made a move?

The Internal Secretary was a close associate of the First Emperor. If Meng Ao's grandson died in Huaiyin, Ying Zheng would be furious and would send people to Huaiyin to investigate. Magistrate Huang would be the first to suffer, and then the Xiang family would not be able to escape.

Xiang Liang, who had been secretly planning an anti-Qin campaign for several years, did not want to die in Huaiyin so early.

He lowered his eyes and thought deeply for a long time before saying to his nephew:

"Ji, don't worry. Tomorrow morning, County Magistrate Huang will go next door to meet with the Internal Affairs Secretary. No matter what they find out tomorrow, we must leave Huaiyin quickly this afternoon."

Hearing what Ji's father said, Xiang Ji suppressed his anxiety and nodded.

Even though he has a rather rebellious personality, he has just celebrated his twelfth birthday this year.

The emperor was far away, and he could insult the tyrant in Xianyang to his heart's content in Chu, and follow Ji Fu to win over the heroes in Chu to prepare for the anti-Qin plan. But when he saw that the tyrant had sent a high-ranking official to live in the room next to him without anyone noticing, Xiang Ji became a little panicked.

They didn't even know when Meng Neishi came to Huaiyin, but he had already quietly moved in next door to them. Doesn't this mean that the First Emperor has always been paying close attention to the Xiang family and knows what they are doing secretly?

Isn’t this a terrifying thing?

Only one oil lamp remained in the guest room.

The uncle and nephew, lying on the wooden bed and bamboo couch, listened anxiously to the noises coming from next door, struggling to wait for dawn.

Meng Yi, who was just across the wall, really had no idea that after he accidentally stayed in Room A of this inn yesterday, the young King of Western Chu who lived in the next room would be so anxious that he wanted to take the risk and kill him!

The night passed in a flash.

As the morning light dimmed, the chirping of birds could be heard outside the window.

Han Xin, who had a sound sleep, had his eyelids moved. When he sat up from the bamboo couch with sleepy eyes, he saw Meng Neishi, who had washed and dressed neatly, already sitting at the table.

He was startled and quickly got down from the bamboo couch, clasped his fists and said, "Meng Neishi."

Meng Yi looked up at the child's face and found that after a night's rest, the little kid looked much more energetic and no longer looked like the beggar who was almost starving to death yesterday morning.

He raised his chin slightly towards the door and said softly:

"Han Xin, go downstairs and quickly wash up. We'll have some breakfast in the lobby on the first floor and then we'll set off back to Xianyang."

Hearing what Meng Neishi said, Han Xin showed a little hesitation.

Meng Yi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows slightly when he saw this:

"Why? Do you have any concerns?"

Han Xin shook his head when he heard this, scratched his head embarrassedly, turned around and walked out.

He hesitated for a moment because he thought of his parents sleeping in the loess and the kind-hearted washerwoman who had given him food for many days without asking for anything in return.

Originally, he wanted to return to Nanchang Pavilion to bid farewell to his parents and thank the washerwoman in person, but then he changed his mind and realized that he, Han Xin, was only summoned by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Apart from the few Qin Banliang coins he picked up in his arms, he was still the same person. He didn't know why the Crown Prince, who was of noble status, specifically asked Meng Neishi to come all the way to find him, and he couldn't see who and what was waiting for him in Xianyang.

Han Xin couldn't help but sigh in his heart as he walked down the stairs of the inn. He decided to follow Meng Neishi's schedule.

His parents' graves will not disappear, and he can roughly remember where the floating mother's home is. When he becomes rich one day, he will think about returning to the pavilion to kowtow to his parents and repay the floating mother.

Having made up his mind, Han Xin secretly encouraged himself.

When he arrived at the backyard of the inn, carrying a wooden basin and preparing to draw water from the well for washing, he saw a tall and strong young man coming out of the public bathroom after washing.

When the two looked at each other, Xiang Ji recognized Han Xin as the poor little beggar in the market yesterday, but Han Xin did not notice Xiang Ji holding the buns in the crowd yesterday.

At this moment, under the golden sunlight, he saw a young man who was much taller and stronger than him and had a pair of extremely rare double pupils.

This appearance was obviously not that of an ordinary person, so Han Xin couldn't help but take a few more glances.

However, the two did not know each other after all, and did not stop to say hello when they passed each other.

After Han Xin quickly fetched water from the well with a wooden basin and washed himself, he didn't even have time to wipe the water droplets off his face before he hurried into the lobby of the inn. After walking up the stairs to the second floor, he saw several soldiers standing at the door of Room A.

He felt a little surprised. Under the gaze of several soldiers, he stepped into Room A and saw an old man with white hair and beard sitting opposite Monnesi.

Upon seeing him, the old man immediately stood up from his seat excitedly, pulled his arm without saying anything, walked in front of Monesi, and said with a happy smile:

"Hahaha, Mr. Meng, I never thought that a little girl like us in Huaiyin could grow up to be favored by a noble."

"Don't worry, take Han Xin with you. I'll have the head of Nanchang Pavilion take good care of his house and land back home."

Han Xin was very smart. He had guessed the identity of the old man in front of him from his incoherent words. He should be the county magistrate, the highest-ranking official in the county.

Meng Yi also stood up from his seat. When he took out the token at the morning market yesterday, he had guessed that the county magistrate would come looking for him.

He glanced at Han Xin, who looked a little confused, then looked at the old county magistrate and said:

"Magister Huang, I have something important to attend to. I must take Han Xin away from Huaiyin. His talisman has been prepared."

"It's done. It's done."

The old county magistrate took out a piece of poplar wood from his bosom with a smile, as if he was looking at the future of his own children and grandchildren. He touched Han Xin's head and said happily and kindly:

"Xin, it is a great blessing for you to be summoned by His Royal Highness the Emperor's eldest grandson this time."

"Don't worry, just follow Monnesi to the imperial capital. When you grow up, you'll have the chance to come back to visit your hometown more often."

Han Xin nodded slightly when he heard this, but there was indifference in the depths of his eyes.

Although this place was his hometown, he had no happy memories here until he was eleven years old. Only countless faces of being ridiculed and mocked were firmly imprinted in his mind.

Seeing that Han Xin was not a lively and active child, Meng Yi picked up a bundle from the table and said to Han Xin:

"Han Xin, it's getting late. Please leave with me."

"promise."

Han Xin hurriedly followed Meng Yi out of the room like a little tail.

County Magistrate Huang followed the two, one big and one small, with a shy smile on his face. He accompanied them to check out of the hotel in the lobby on the first floor. He then watched them buy a cloth bag of steamed buns and fill two cowhide water bags. Then they rode away together on a horse, and the worry that had been in his heart for a day and a night finally settled down.

Xiang Liang, who had been sitting in Room B since dawn, anxiously waiting, saw County Magistrate Huang finally come to his guest room. He hurriedly brought his eldest nephew to greet him, frowning and asking:

"Brother Huang, that Monarch..."

"Hahahaha, Mr. Xiang, there's no need to be too anxious. I've just found out. Meng Yi was ordered to come to Huaiyin this time only because the emperor's eldest grandson happened to dream of a little boy who was destined to be with him."

"After waking up from the dream, I told His Majesty the Emperor. His Majesty loved his eldest grandson, so he sent Meng Yi all the way to Huaiyin to find the person in his eldest grandson's dream."

"Just because of this?"

When Xiang's uncle and nephew heard this, they both frowned, and they were obviously a little bit unbelieving.

County Magistrate Huang stroked his gray beard with his hand and said affirmatively:

"That's right, Mr. Xiang. Meng Yi has no need to hide this from me. If His Majesty really wanted to do something to Chu, he wouldn't have sent only Meng Yi."

"But why did Meng Yi choose to live next door to us, uncle and nephew?"

Xiang Ji asked doubtfully, frowning his thick black eyebrows.

Upon hearing this, the old county magistrate shook his head and smiled at the uncle and nephew, saying, "It's just a coincidence. Meng Yi doesn't know you two, and I've heard before that the emperor's eldest grandson, who lives in Xianyang City, was chosen by the black bird, a gift from heaven, quite miraculous. Han Xin is just a poor boy who happened to appear in the eldest grandson's dream by chance. He's not important at all, and will not have any impact on the overall situation in Chu. You two don't need to worry too much about it, just put your minds at ease."

Seeing the old county magistrate's determined expression, Xiang Liang really couldn't think of any questions to ask. He could only reluctantly exhale a foul breath, suppress the various chaotic thoughts in his mind, and then, with his nephew beside him, clasped his fists to the old county magistrate and said:

"Thank you, Brother Huang, for your hospitality to us uncle and nephew these past few days. We uncle and nephew have something else to attend to, so we will leave Huaiyin first and will not bother Brother Huang here any more."

"I understand, I understand. Mr. Xiang, please take care of yourself and everything goes well."

The old county magistrate then bowed and watched the uncle and nephew leave hurriedly with their gifts, their brows furrowed.

He went back to the next door room A and walked around. He didn't find that Meng Yi had left anything behind, so he hummed a little tune, put his hands behind his back, and left leisurely.

Meng Yi, who had already taken Han Xin several miles away from the inn, had no idea that after the two of them left Room A, a large anti-Qin leader from Chu also left from the adjacent Room B.

It's hot in the summer.

The two men rode out of Huaiyin City and headed straight west along the official road.

Han Xin, sitting on the back of Meng Yi's horse, held Meng Neishi's clothes tightly. At the moment when the horse ran out of the Huaiyin city gate, he couldn't help but turn his head to take a look at the Huaiyin city wall.

On this day, Han Xin's predetermined life destiny was completely pulled onto a completely opposite path, and he was transformed from the future "anti-Qin" main force into the "protect Qin" main force.

The summer breeze is warm and the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

As they rode on horseback, invisible waves of heat in the air blew towards the two of them, one big and one small.

Han Xin, who left Huaiyin for the first time at the age of eleven, sat behind Meng Neishi's horse and walked and watched along the way.

Perhaps out of consideration for Han Xin's age, Meng Yi was not in a hurry on his way back.

On the way, he not only told Han Xin many things that the emperor's eldest grandson had done in Xianyang, but also gave Han Xin a brief introduction to the emperor's eldest grandson's character.

Han Xin, who rarely received kindness from others, was able to keenly perceive Meng Neishi's friendliness towards him. On the way to Xianyang, he also tried hard to absorb the new content that Meng Neishi told him like a sponge.

He never imagined that in the past two years, the people in his hometown making wheat food, bean food, digging various wild vegetables, and the novel paper notices that occasionally appeared on the propaganda wall were all closely related to the emperor's eldest grandson.

The emperor's eldest grandson is not only intelligent and clever, but can even communicate with the black bird in the sky! Isn't this something only an immortal can do?!

Such an outstanding and capable person should be similar to Meng Neishi, a tall and handsome nobleman from Xianyang, right?

Han Xin, sitting on horseback, blinked his bright black eyes and guessed in his heart expectantly.

As time went by, the two of them got closer and closer to Hangu Pass.

…

Inside Xianyang city.

As the notice issued by the court spread further and further, His Majesty the Emperor also received many memorials sent to the imperial capital by county governors. The content of each letter said that certain local nobles and wealthy people were willing to generously donate a certain amount of money to the national treasury for the construction of the Great Wall or the Qin army's expedition to attack the Baiyue.

Looking at the specific amounts of money written on the memorials from various places, the treasury official in charge of supervising this matter was smiling so hard that his mouth was almost stretched to his ears.

The First Emperor had never imagined that so many wealthy people would be eager to have their names engraved on the "Merit Stele." If it weren't for his grandson proposing this ingenious crowdfunding method in early summer, he wouldn't have expected that even after the six kingdoms were destroyed, there would still be so many wealthy people in the former lands of the six kingdoms! Their wealth was so abundant!

That's good. Too much money can easily lead to trouble. Now these wealthy people are willing to sacrifice themselves just to get the reputation of "having their names engraved on stone tablets, immortalized through the ages." The First Emperor naturally issued an order, ordering all the merit stone tablets in various places to be built as high as possible! Build them as big as possible! If one isn't enough, build two! If two aren't enough, build ten!

His Majesty the Emperor, who loves carving stones and building monuments, will definitely take this opportunity to reap part of the wealth of the local rich people in preparation for more expeditions and wars in the future.

The imperial capital is bustling all day long.

Every morning after waking up, Ying·Little Fatty would turn to the taskbar when signing in to the system, and watch the progress bar of the "Conquer Han Xin" task continuously increasing by "1%".

In the midsummer of July, the century-old locust trees growing in the Xianyang Palace were lush and green.

At the end of the Si hour, Qin Ying, who had just finished his morning class, opened the system mall again during the break and successfully bought the "Ancient Method of Salt Making Secrets" and "Ancient Method of Sugar Making Secrets" that had been added to the shopping cart a long time ago with the blind box coins he had saved for several months. He finally fulfilled the two big promises of "salt making" and "sugar making" that he passionately painted to his grandfather and officials at the court meeting that day, which were both very profitable.

After saying goodbye to Dr. Qi Ren in the side hall, the little fat boy ran excitedly towards the main hall with his short legs.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived at the outer hall today, he heard a familiar voice coming from the inner hall. The little fat boy listened attentively, and his beautiful phoenix eyes lit up instantly!

Meng Yi is back in the capital?!

He hurriedly and happily walked around the screen and ran to the inner hall. The first thing he saw was his grandfather kneeling on the imperial steps. The second thing he saw was Meng Yi's familiar back and a thin figure standing next to Meng Yi.

He guessed that the little figure was most likely the military genius Han Xin, whom he had never met before, but whose favorability towards him had risen to "fifty percent"!

The little fellow's already bright almond-shaped eyes shone even brighter than stars. He hurried forward with joy, tossing his two short legs and shouting:

"Ying greets Grandfather."

The First Emperor, who was sitting at the head of the table, was also very happy to see his adorable grandson coming from the side hall. He pointed at the thin figure beside Meng Yi and smiled at his grandson:

"Ying, Yi has brought the person you've been thinking about from Huaiyin for you."

After hearing what the majestic and tall Emperor Qin Shi Huang said, and realizing that his benefactor and nobleman was standing behind him, Han Xin, whose heart had been pounding since entering the palace, not only turned red in the face, but his excited heart almost jumped out of his throat.

He hurriedly followed Monishi beside him, lowered his head, turned back and bowed, saying:

"Meng Yi/This humble servant pays homage to His Royal Highness the Emperor's eldest grandson."

"Get up quickly."

Ying·The little fat boy ran forward two more steps, stood on tiptoe to give Meng Yi a hand, then looked at the dark and thin boy who was lowering his head beside Meng Yi with curiosity and asked with a grin:

"Little boy, look up. Are you Han Xin?"

[Hmm? ?] Han Xin, feeling agitated, originally expected to hear a clear and pleasant young man's voice, but he really didn't expect to hear the tender and tender voice of a baby. He was stunned and subconsciously raised his head to look at the person who called his name.

He really didn't expect that the distinguished person standing in front of him was not the handsome young man he had expected when he came, but a fair, tender, chubby, short and stocky little baby.

This, this is the noble man who saw him in the dream and sent Meng Neishi all the way to Huaiyin to rescue him - His Royal Highness the Emperor's Grandson?!

The skinny and dark-skinned boy opened his mouth unconsciously in shock.

Qin Ying tilted his head slightly to look at Han Xin, and was slightly surprised when he saw Han Xin's pupils shaking in shock when he looked at him.

According to the idiot system's magical perspective of seeing everything "ten years later," although he guessed that Han Xin should be a very young boy now, didn't this Han Xin look too young? Not only was he dark and thin, but his height only reached Meng Yi's waist, so he was only about 1.2 meters at most?!

[Is this the child version of the Immortal Soldier?!]

Looking at the funny scene of a baby and a little child looking at each other in front of him, with each one more surprised than the other, Meng Yi wanted to laugh but tried hard to hold it back.

He and Han Xin rode together for more than 2,000 miles, ate and slept together, and spent quite a while together. He was quite fond of this steady and reserved dark and thin child, and hurriedly said to the dazed child beside him:

"Han Xin, His Royal Highness the Emperor's eldest grandson is talking to you."

Han Xin immediately came back to his senses upon hearing this, and hurriedly bowed respectfully to the little baby in front of him, who was half a body shorter than him, and said, "Yes, my dear, my name is Han Xin, and I come from Huaiyin in Chu."