"Grandfather, why did you accept their things?" Xiang Ji stood angrily in front of Xiang Yan, his fists clenched.
He was stuffed with a mouthful of radish cake, and he involuntarily chewed it a couple of times; it tasted pretty good.
Xiang Yan's hair and beard were all white, but he was still in good spirits. While eating radish cake, he smiled wryly and said:
"A prisoner under the stairs, what ambition do I have left?" The voice grew increasingly bitter.
"Do you want the entire Xiang clan to crawl through the mud with their hands tied with ropes, just like everyone else?"
Xiang Yan's gaze fell on her grandson, and she said meaningfully:
"If it weren't for Nüba's favor and the King of Qin's magnanimity in wanting to subdue your White Tiger destiny, the Xiang clan would have been reduced to dust."
Having spent most of his life in the treacherous Chu state, Xiang Yan was naturally quite shrewd. From the Qin army's attitude and the few words they revealed, he could easily guess the truth.
That's why he was able to eat all that radish cake!
With Xiang Ji around, it was not impossible for the Xiang family to rise to prominence in the Qin Dynasty.
With this hope in his life, Xiang Yan had the motivation to survive after the fall of Chu, and he devoted himself entirely to protecting his grandson and ensuring the Xiang family's foothold in Qin.
Xiang Ji opened his mouth but couldn't speak. His face was stubborn yet bewildered. The goddess Nüba had been defeated and had even become the guardian deity of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty. No, she was forced into it!
"Anyway, Lady Nuba said she wants me to oversee the Nuba Palace, so I'll go and watch it be completed."
After finishing the radish cake, Xiang Yan patted the crumbs off her hands and said proudly to her grandson:
"Good grandson, you should say the same thing to the King of Qin. I estimate that the world will be unified within two or three years, and there will naturally be plenty of slaves to build the Nüba Palace."
He thought to himself, since Xiang Ji is still young, it would be good for him to supervise the construction of the Nüba Palace. This way, he could avoid the limelight for a while and not let the King of Qin forget about Xiang Ji.
After saying this, Xiang Yan touched his old face, put his hands in his sleeves, and strolled over to Wang Jian's military tent to make connections for his grandson...
The old man was self-righteous, saying, "So what if I'm a little shameless? We're all just trying to make a living."
……………………
One day, inside Fusu Palace.
"My lord, the King has ordered the palace of Lady Chu to be sealed off, and no unauthorized personnel are permitted to visit her."
The attendant said to Fusu with difficulty, as he was also in a dilemma. Although Fusu was in fact the crown prince, he could not compare to the prestige of King Ying Zheng of Qin.
Since the fall of the State of Chu, Lady Chu has been weeping inconsolably and making all sorts of requests, hoping to secure a high-ranking official position and a life of luxury for the King of Chu.
To this, Ying Zheng only had one sentence for her: "Lady Chu is mad."
"You may leave."
Fusu's face fell. He waved his hand to dismiss the servants and sat there alone, sighing.
Before he could finish his sigh, the wooden door was flung open by a powerful rabbit paw, and the rabbit, still wearing its jade rabbit shell, swaggered in.
With each step it took, it swayed three times, like a smug country bumpkin. Fusu was delighted at the sight of it and quickly embraced the jade rabbit.
"Jade Rabbit, you're finally back..."
This kind of care made the Jade Rabbit breathless. After struggling to break free, it attacked Fusu with all four of its legs:
"You little brat, are you trying to suffocate this Jade Rabbit?"
"No, I just miss you so much," Fusu said joyfully, her voice so sweet it could drip honey.
The charm of this system is truly irresistible; let's just forgive this little human brat.
He said hesitantly, "Chang Xi took this Jade Rabbit with her last time, it's not that I didn't want to stay."
One person and the other began to exchange feelings, describing the oppression they had suffered in their daily lives in a half-true, half-false way, and received comfort from Fusu.
Fusu and the Jade Rabbit recounted the pain he felt caught between his birth mother and father.
The two talked more and more pitifully, almost wanting to hug each other and cry their hearts out, and their revolutionary friendship was further enhanced.
The system figured that the building of rapport was about done and it was time to get down to business; the great task of expanding the territory still rested on his shoulders!
Just then, a faint rustling sound came from the doorway, startling the person who had been talking behind their back. They shouted:
"Who is it!"
Looking up, the system was dumbfounded. A fair-skinned child, drooling, was trying to climb over the threshold with his hands and feet, but couldn't get down, like a turtle that couldn't turn over.
"Why did you climb over here all by yourself again?" Fusu ran over, scooped up the baby, and struggled to put him on the mat.
The baby didn't cry or fuss. As soon as it was put down, its eyes curiously fell on the jade rabbit, and its little hands were itching to reach out...
"Ahhhh, Fusu, make her let go!"
I felt like a tuft of rabbit fur was about to be forcibly pulled off, the pain was excruciating, and I couldn't help but scream in despair, only to see the brat giggling.
Fusu was flustered, sometimes coaxing the child, "Good boy, let go," and sometimes comforting the jade rabbit.
Finally, when all the disasters were over, Fusu looked at the Jade Rabbit and the child facing each other with a headache. They were staring at each other with eyes full of hatred.
The baby clutched the rabbit fur tightly in its hands, its face bearing red marks from the rabbit's struggles, and it sobbed occasionally, looking utterly pitiful.
I was so angry I was practically fuming. I thought this brat was just faking it; he was laughing so happily when he was plucking the rabbit's fur.
"Fusu, which sister is this child? Why is she so annoying!"
The little girl who appeared in the Qin palace was dressed so exquisitely that I assumed she was one of the Qin princesses. I gritted my teeth and glared at her fiercely.
Fusu, holding the baby with practiced ease, exclaimed in surprise, "This isn't my little sister!"
"Um?"
Fusu patiently explained, "My father received a revelation from the Moon Goddess and learned that there were many talented people among the common people. After searching for them one by one, he brought them into the palace, and she was one of them."
As he spoke, Fusu pulled the child's sucking finger out of her mouth and wiped it with his sleeve without any disgust.
"What...what's her name?"
"Lady Lü, Lü Zhi"
The Jade Rabbit leaned back, so surprised that it landed on its back. Holy crap, Ying Zheng's move was really impressive! This little brat is none other than the infamous Empress Lü in history.
"Then why was Lü Zhi raised by you, Fusu?"
Fusu replied matter-of-factly, "My father asked me to take care of Lü Zhi."
So you happily started taking care of him? The system looked at Fusu with a complicated expression. Do you even know that this drooling kid is... sigh.
He sighed softly. Ying Zheng's actions were as clear as day; everyone knew his intentions.
The system's Jade Rabbit wasn't in a hurry to find Ying Zheng anymore. Instead, it lay on the ground and asked curiously:
"Besides Lü Zhi, who are the others?"
He remembered the host mentioning five people plus Xiang Yu, making a total of six: Liu Bang, Zhang Liang, Xiao He, Lü Zhi, Han Xin, and Xiang Yu—the most elite combination of talents from the late Qin and early Han dynasties.
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