Chapter 193: Ying Zheng: This is too much! Nezha mentioned...
Nezha came back swaggeringly, carrying a few lotus leaf bags.
Although his magic power was sealed, his fighting strength was still there, and the vigilance developed on the battlefield was not lost.
As he entered the alley, he could clearly sense three pairs of eyes following him from the dark. As he got closer to the residence of Ying Zheng and his mother, more and more people were watching him.
He was bored and counted them secretly. At most, there were seven or eight.
This is really strange. The most valuable Ying Yiren has already run away. Zhao Ji and Ying Zheng are just orphans and widows who have been abandoned and don’t even have the ability to survive independently. Why are they keeping such a close eye on them?
Are you afraid that they will run away or that they will die?
Nezha thought of the children fighting with Ying Zheng. They were clearly just children fighting, with an older child watching from the side. Behind these children, there must be someone older in the family instigating them.
Thinking of this, he smiled slightly, with a hint of contempt in his eyes: They must be afraid that if they die, Qin will have an excuse to attack Zhao.
Then he thought that Ying Yiren had successfully returned to Qin, changed his name to Zichu, and recognized Lady Huayang, who was from the royal family of Chu, as his mother, thus becoming the first-in-line heir to Crown Prince Ying Zhu.
As long as he is willing, it is not a problem at all to secretly send a few people to look after his wife and children.
But he did nothing, as if he had forgotten that he had married and had children in Zhao State.
Either Ying Yiren was cold-hearted by nature, or someone stopped him from doing so.
The person who tried to stop him wanted Zhao Ji and Ying Zheng, mother and son, to die in Zhao State, so that he could use this as an excuse to attack Zhao State again.
After he entered the house, after a while, those gazes slowly withdrew.
Nezha placed the cooked food he bought in the main hall, asked Zhao Ji, and then went to the east wing to find Fu Li and Ying Zheng.
"You've arrived just in time." Fu Li smiled and waved to him, "Come here quickly, let Zheng'er offer you a bowl of water, as if you were his disciple."
While Nezha was muttering "This is too perfunctory", he walked over without hesitation, moved his other heel next to Fuli, and knelt down properly.
In fact, by this time, chairs from Shuzhong had already been introduced to the Central Plains. However, due to the differences in materials and craftsmen, they were only popular among the upper class aristocracy, with the common people having at most small stools or small stools.
Ying Zheng's family did not have any of these.
Even when he had Lu Buwei's help, Ying Yiren, as a hostage, did not dare to do anything out of the ordinary. His whole family knelt obediently on mats and heels.
Even the mats they knelt on were woven by Zhao Ji herself.
Little Ying Zheng ran to the kitchen to fetch water again, and saw his mother washing a few white porcelain plates that the mother and son rarely used. Those were the few decent things in their home.
Zhao Ji was overjoyed to see her son approach, but afraid the two retainers might overhear, she lowered her voice and said excitedly, "Zheng'er, we have meat to eat today. That retainer named Yin bought a lot of prepared food, including venison, tiger meat, pork, and mutton. Your father is quite considerate in sending these two retainers here."
After hearing what his mother said, little Ying Zheng felt a little embarrassed.
Because he knew the inside story, Fu Li and Nezha were not sent by his father at all. He just said this in front of Zhao Ji to avoid trouble.
Regardless of whether the other party saw his potential or not, now both mother and son were receiving favors from the other party, and young Ying Zheng did not want his mother to really treat the other party as a retainer.
It was because he knew his mother very well: she came from a poor family, was bought by Lu Buwei to be raised as a singer because of her beauty, and later was favored by Ying Yiren because of her beauty and became the wife of Gongsun of Qin.
She had believed that all her hardships would eventually pay off, and that even if she couldn't become his principal wife, she would still enjoy a life of wealth and prosperity when Yiren returned. After giving birth to her son, Ying Zheng, this belief became even more certain.
Unexpectedly, Yiren went back but left them, an orphan and a widow, behind, where they were repeatedly bullied and humiliated by the people of Zhao.
This fluctuating situation changed Zhao Ji's mentality. Her inferiority complex and pride intertwined, causing her to unconsciously swell her pride when facing people of lower status than herself, just to suppress and ignore her inferiority complex.
If Zhao Ji really treated Fu Li and the other two as ordinary guests, many embarrassing things would have happened between them.
He thought for a moment and said to Zhao Ji, "Mother, I have officially accepted Mr. Dai and Mr. Yin as my teachers. They have traveled thousands of miles from Qin to Handan to teach me. This is a great favor."
We, mother and son, must not neglect them. If they leave in anger and word gets back to Xianyang, I'm afraid no one will risk coming here again."
"How can that be?" Zhao Ji almost screamed, "If no one comes, won't we lose contact with your father?"
——This is what she fears most.
If her husband really abandoned her and her son, would she have to live this miserable life for the rest of her life?
Ying Zheng struck while the iron was hot: "That's exactly it."
He paused, a conflicted look on his face, as if he was hiding some secret that he didn't want his mother to know.
Zhao Ji grabbed his shoulders and demanded, "Zheng'er, you are my son. I carried you for ten months and raised you with great difficulty. You can't hide anything from me."
Being watched closely by his mother, little Ying Zheng felt a little guilty. But for the sake of his mother and the two teachers to live in peace in the future, he decided to finish the lie.
Maybe it's not a lie.
He hesitated for a moment before stammering, "It's...it's about my father."
"Your father? What happened to your father?" In a hurry, Zhao Ji subconsciously exerted force with her hands, grabbing Ying Zheng so hard that he frowned. However, she didn't notice it at all and just kept asking about her husband's news.
After all, it concerns her wealth and glory for the rest of her life.
Little Ying Zheng spoke faster: "I heard from the two teachers that after my father returned home, my grandmother gave him concubines."
In fact, neither Fu Li nor Nezha said anything. They both felt that such dirty things between adults were not appropriate to be told to a four-year-old child.
No matter what achievements this child will make in the future, he is only four years old now, which means he is just smarter than ordinary children.
But little Ying Zheng was more precocious than they expected.
He deduced this lie from the behavior of the Zhao nobles and felt that it was very likely to happen after his father returned to Qin.
So, it’s not a lie.
Zhao Ji was stunned for a moment, and slowly loosened her grip on her son's shoulders.
After a moment, she forced a smile on her face, not knowing whether she was comforting her son or trying to convince herself: "After all, your father is a prince of Qin, it is normal for him to have more concubines around him.
My mother is his first woman, and you are his eldest son. No matter how many concubines he has or how many sons he has in the future, he will never forget us, mother and son."
No, he will!
Little Ying Zheng was calm and determined in his mind, but he still had to comfort his mother on the surface.
In fact, he didn't hide it very well. After all, he was only four years old and had limited cunning. But Zhao Ji was so confused at the time that she didn't notice her son's abnormality at all and was easily fooled by him.
After taking care of his mother, little Ying Zheng walked to the water tank, stepped on three bricks and fetched another bowl of water. He carefully brought it back to his room and presented it to Nezha.
Nezha grinned at him, and young Ying Zheng became alert instantly.
However, he didn't know that the other party just scared him and drank the water he brought to him happily without any teasing at all.
Little Ying Zheng was stunned for a moment before realizing that he had been fooled. He was so angry that his cheeks turned red and he glared at him with an accusing look on his face.
"Why are you glaring at me?" Nezha said innocently, "I just drank your water, and you brought it to me."
Little Ying Zheng: “???”
——This is too much, this is too much!
Fu Li couldn't stand it any longer, fearing that he would make the child angry and cause harm, so she quickly patted Nezha, gave him a warning look, and smiled to smooth things over: "Okay, okay, after you drink the water you brought me, I will be your teacher.
Starting tomorrow, I will teach you literature in the morning and martial arts in the afternoon. Once the classes start, rain or shine, cold or hot, we will continue. Zheng'er, do you have any objections?
"Yes." Little Ying Zheng said seriously, "Teacher, can we start today?"
Fu Li smiled and said, "If you are willing to make progress, I will only support you. How could I stop you? But..."
She gently tapped Ying Zheng's cheek and said softly, "Your injuries haven't healed yet. You should study literature first today and then martial arts tomorrow."
Nezha nodded in agreement, "That's right. There's still a long way to go, no need to rush."
Little Ying Zheng looked at Fuli, then at Nezha. He seemed to understand something and suddenly smiled at Nezha. He said seriously, "I will follow the instructions of the two teachers."
Nezha's heart skipped a beat when he saw his smile, and he felt that something bad was going to happen.
He would not think it was an illusion just because Ying Zheng was young. Although he remained calm on the surface, he was already alert in his heart.
But little Ying Zheng behaved very well afterwards. Fu Li took him to the yard, dug out a piece of soft soil near the wall, used a branch as a pen, and asked him to write all the Zhao characters he had learned.
After he finished writing, the couple were a little surprised.
——The child is only four years old this year. Even if he started learning at the age of three, he has only been learning for one year at most, but he already knows more than 800 words.
Nezha leaned over and whispered to Fu Li, "Your school is truly filled with geniuses."
In front of her was Jiang Shang, a master of both military and political skills, and in the back was Ying Zheng, a brilliant young man. Although Shen Gongbao and she were not known as her master and disciple, she had taught him, and his political savvy was unparalleled.
Fu Li asked with a smile, "Zheng'er is also your disciple. Are you praising me or yourself?"
Nezha said seriously: "Even I am yours, of course I am praising you."
"You're such a smooth talker!" Fu Li glared at him and squatted down beside Ying Zheng again. When Ying Zheng was so lost in thought that he couldn't write a single word, she immediately praised him, "Zheng'er is really smart. You know so many characters at such a young age."
Little Ying Zheng was so flattered by her praise that he said shyly, "Teacher, you are too kind. I don't deserve it."
Fu Li said seriously, "Master praises you because you have done well. If you make a mistake in the future, Master will not show mercy when criticizing you."
Upon hearing this, Ying Zheng put down the branch, stood up, stepped back two steps, and saluted properly: "Teacher, if you have any teachings, I will reflect on them."
"Don't be so serious." Fu Li smiled and pulled him over. She circled the first ten characters with a branch. "These are the ten you wrote first. I think they're the ones you're most familiar with. Our task today is to learn how to write these ten characters in the scripts of the Seven Kingdoms of the Central Plains and the Kingdom of Shu."
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