"The Crown Prince and the King of Qin were arguing loudly."
Lord Changping muttered to himself, "Appointing Han Fei as the Crown Prince's tutor might delay the Crown Prince's career."
Li Si: "..." He bumped into him across the table. Are you sick? Why do you have to say whatever you don't like?
Lord Changping simply brushed it off, pretending he hadn't been bumped into.
His voice wasn't low; at least everyone present could hear it.
Han Fei stopped in his tracks, standing before Lord Changping's desk. "How can we delay?"
Banban hugged her son, looked at Ying Zheng with a puzzled expression, and he gently shook his head.
Lord Changping stared at Han Fei, scrutinizing him closely. "I have long admired Han Fei's name. I have heard that you and the Chief Clerk are from the same school, so you must be quite close?"
Han Fei replied coldly, "What does this have to do with being the Grand Tutor?"
Upon hearing this, Lord Changping felt slightly embarrassed. The solemnity and hesitation on his face disappeared, and he took the initiative to stand up, cup his hands, and apologize, "Grand Tutor, please forgive me. It is not that I doubt you, but it is said in various states that Han Zi stutters and cannot speak, but he is good at writing books."
The prince is learning to speak, and if he follows someone who stutters, what if he also develops a stutter?
Changping Jun believes his concerns are quite reasonable.
Han Fei: "..."
Li Si: "..."
The two looked at each other across the crowd.
Ying Zheng had also considered this question, but after bringing Han Fei to Qin, he couldn't see any stutter in him, so he could only assume it was just a rumor from the other states.
What kind of expression is that?
Changping Jun: "Han Zi?"
Han Fei was silent for a moment, then said, “I do have a stutter, but it does not hinder my teaching and learning. My speech and behavior are no different from those of ordinary people.”
The difference is not obvious when speaking in short sentences, but it becomes noticeable when the sentences become longer. Han Fei speaks at a slower pace, and the pauses after each sentence are slightly longer than those of ordinary people, giving a sense of earnestness and concern.
Changping Jun: "???" He immediately turned to look at the King of Qin.
Not only him, but everyone else was observing the King of Qin's reaction.
The King of Qin was slightly stunned, and his expression was strange.
Instead, the queen beside him immediately opened her eyes wide and looked Han Fei up and down with curiosity, as if she were looking at something rare.
The prince in the queen's arms was focused on the food on the table, and judging from his expression, he was probably debating whether or not to grab it.
"What does the Chief Secretary think?" Lord Changping couldn't stand Li Si's deadpan act whenever trouble arose, so he kicked him. "Chief Secretary?"
Say something!
Meng Tian opened his mouth: "That—"
Meng Wu immediately pulled his arm, interrupting his speech.
The people below looked at each other, exchanging bewildered glances.
Banban couldn't help but cover her lips, hiding her barely suppressed laughter, and secretly glanced at Ying Zheng's expression.
Ying Zheng remained expressionless, his thoughts unreadable, and he did not speak.
Li Si glanced at the King of Qin's expression, pondered for a moment, then pretended to be woken up from a daze, "Ah? Ah? Oh." He gestured for Lord Changping to get up on his own and stop kicking him. He stood up respectfully and chuckled a couple of times, "Hahaha."
Upon hearing this laughter, Changping almost couldn't help but roll his eyes.
“Your Majesty,” Li Si replied honestly, “does Han Fei stutter? I truly do not know.”
"?" Changping-kun's lips moved, finding it absurd: "Aren't you classmates?"
"Ah, yes." Li Si scratched the back of his head, thought carefully, and said seriously, "I really didn't know, this is the first time I've heard of it."
Now Changping Jun understood what he meant. If even his classmate couldn't tell that Han Fei was a stutterer, then what difference was there between Han Fei and an ordinary person?
He wished he could kill Li Si with his eyes.
The King of Qin, sitting at the head of the table, finally smiled. "I don't think Han Fei is any different from ordinary people. You should all be understanding of him. Who in this world is perfect in every way? Don't you all have flaws?"
Changping Jun immediately frowned.
"However, what the Prime Minister says makes sense. In that case, we can find another Grand Tutor for the Crown Prince. Does the Prime Minister have anyone in mind?"
"Huh?" Lord Changping was stunned. He was angry for only a second before he was coaxed into calming down. "...Then I need to think about it carefully."
Li Si secretly tugged at his sleeve: Me, me, me, me.
Changping pulled back forcefully: Get out!
For the rest of the time, the group stopped discussing the attack on Zhao. Although Han Fei was currently serving as the Crown Prince's tutor, no one present was a fool. They could see that although the King of Qin intended to use him, he did not trust him, so naturally he would not take the initiative to reveal political matters.
After lunch, the officials withdrew from Chengzhang Hall.
Banban finally found a chance to speak privately, "Han Fei actually stutters? I couldn't tell at all during our previous interactions. How could he have such a normal stutter?"
Ying Zheng's face showed a hint of annoyance. He was naturally not happy to have been toyed with. "If he had said so earlier, I would not have appointed him as Grand Tutor. This boy must be harboring a desire for revenge and did this on purpose!"
"Oh dear, cousin, calm down." Banban didn't expect her cousin to be so angry, so she quickly patted his chest. "Who would talk about their own shortcomings? Stuttering is already looked down upon, and besides, it doesn't interfere with daily conversation. It's quite normal for Han Fei not to talk about it."
This feels like a true fan turning against you and criticizing you.
Zhao'er tugged at Ying Zheng's hand, "Sir, it's very good."
"Isn't it time for him to call you an idiot? You've already turned your back on him so quickly," Ying Zheng scolded him.
Zhao'er gripped the bronze wine vessel and swung it around vigorously, splashing the clear wine all over Ying Zheng.
"Ying Zhao!" Ying Zheng's face suddenly turned dark. He lifted him up and roared in exasperation.
"Ahhhhh!" The short, stocky body thrashed about in the air, yelling and screaming, arguing loudly with his father, "Ahhh!"
With everyone in disarray, they still had to let Banban take charge of the overall situation.
A moment later, she rolled her eyes at her cousin. It was easy to understand why he was sulking. The person he had chosen turned out to be problematic, and Changping Jun had made him lose face. He had to praise Han Fei even if he had to hold his nose, otherwise he would be admitting that he had made a mistake.
Han Fei's "flaw" could be a big or small matter, but it was a big one when applied to educating the crown prince, as Changping Jun said, the crown prince was indeed learning to speak.
Fortunately, Li Si was very good at reading people and knew what Ying Zheng was thinking.
He immediately said to Zhao'er, "How could you spill wine on your father? Quickly apologize to him."
Zhao'er shouted loudly: "Yes, cloth chicken!"
Ying Zheng changed his clothes and was pulling at his sleeves when he glanced at Zhao'er, then looked at his cousin, "She looks exactly like you."
"I apologized sincerely, how could you do this?" It's clearly like you.
Banban asked the father and son to sit down again. After this incident, the lunch she had prepared had almost cooled down, so she asked Congyun to send it to the kitchen to be reheated, and also ordered two new dishes.
After leaving Xianyang Palace, Li Si chased after Lord Changping, saying, "Prime Minister, Prime Minister, please wait."
Changping Jun flicked his sleeve, not even sparing a glance, and said, "Get out of my way!"
“I’m telling you, I won’t choose you.” He reached out to warn Li Si, “Don’t touch my clothes. Pulling at me in public violates Qin law. I’ll report you to the authorities and have you arrested.”
Li Si, with his hands tucked into his sleeves, chuckled, "You make it sound like the King will definitely choose the person recommended by the Chancellor."
"Hey you—"
"Just kidding, just kidding."
Li Si covered Changping Jun's finger, which was about to poke his face, and forced him to put it down. "Why are you so angry?"
"Why am I angry! Why am I angry!" Lord Changping even kicked him, as if he wanted to pinch him. "The Crown Prince is of utmost importance! How can you appoint a stutterer as your tutor!"
Li Si dodged slightly: "Whether I stutter or not is not for you or me to decide."
He sighed deeply and shook his head, saying, "I was once a fellow student of Han Fei... Although I am older than him and learned Xunzi's knowledge and thought earlier, his talent is far superior to mine, and I consider myself inferior to him."
Upon hearing this, Lord Changping couldn't immediately discern whether Li Si was being modest or had some other deeper meaning.
"Before I learned that he had been chosen as Grand Tutor, I did want to compete for the position, but I gave up that idea as soon as I found out," Li Si said earnestly. "The king wanted to use Han Fei, and neither you nor I could stop him. Han Fei refused to back down, so the king gave him to His Highness the Crown Prince. He was determined not to miss out on such a talent."
"What I'm worried about is that if Han Fei no longer holds a grudge against the king for destroying the state of Han, then with his talent, he could easily become the prime minister."
Changping Jun: "Stop trying to sow discord between me." He rolled his eyes at him and stormed off.
"Stop trying to sow discord between me." Li Si mimicked his speech with a pout, then wiped his face and sat down in the pavilion to gaze at the distant scenery.
Snowflakes started falling again.
When the snow stopped, Li Si got up to leave the palace and bumped into Han Fei, who was with a troop of Qin soldiers.
He was always surrounded by people, not to protect his safety, but to guard against him.
Han Fei seemed to have not expected to meet Li Si alone. He slowed his pace, paused, and finally spoke: "Senior Brother."
He nodded in acknowledgment to Li Sichong outside the pavilion.
Seeing that he had no intention of coming out to reminisce, Han Fei hesitated for a moment, then bowed and said, "Just now in Chengzhang Hall, Junior Brother thanked Senior Brother for helping me out of the predicament."
"No need for thanks, I'm just telling the truth." Li Si smiled and then said, "I was the one who advocated that Your Majesty attack and destroy Han... In fact, I foresaw this when we were classmates, so why did you have to do this?"
Han Fei raised his head and glanced at Li Si.
“I knew long ago that my senior brother wanted to go to Qin, but that’s irrelevant.” He said calmly, slowing his pace. “So what if I knew? I am a prince of Han. Am I supposed to just stand by and watch my motherland perish without doing anything?”
Li Si remained silent, sensing something, and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"I won't do anything." Han Fei's words came out of nowhere. "Senior brother, if I wanted to serve the King of Qin, there would be no place for you in the court."
Li Si said, "I know you."
What do you know about me?
"You're not that kind of person."
"People change!"
"Look how impatient you are."
"..." Han Fei calmed his breathing, then said with a confident smile, "Senior brother may not be worse than me. How about it? Let's have a contest and see who comes out on top."
“…” Li Si scolded, “You should teach the Crown Prince properly first. The King hasn’t convinced you yet, so what are you pretending for?”
Han Fei understood Li Si and knew that his expression meant he wasn't on guard and was ready to fight. "Just wait and see," he snorted and turned away.
"He's become arrogant because of the favor he enjoys." Li Si shook his head. Serving a king is like serving a tiger. How can one presume to guess the King of Qin's intentions? This is the treatment of a chosen one. In comparison, he had wasted several years by Lü Buwei's side before finally entering the King of Qin's sight. He was truly envious.
On the other side, after having lunch, Zhao'er needed to rest.
Banban was too lazy to walk, so she took her son to the back hall of Chengzhang Hall for a midday rest.
"Cousin."
"They've arrived." Ying Zheng glanced one last time at the memorials on the table, closed them, tucked them under his books, and hurried over to rest with his wife and children.
“You don’t sleep well at night and you don’t get much sleep. What should we do if you don’t get any rest?” Banban pulled his hand, pressed him onto the bed, and personally took off his clothes.
"Your scalp must have been sore from wearing your headband all day." He removed his headdress, and his long hair fell loose.
"Don't you also tie your hair up every day?"
“My hair is not tied up so tightly like yours men’s; it’s not right if even a single hair falls out.”
As they spoke, Ying Zheng glanced to the side and saw Zhao'er holding up his crown, looking at it from left to right, before loosely putting it on his head. However, the crown was too big for his small head, and it ended up covering his eyes.
Feeling utterly bored, he picked a handful and tossed them onto the bed.
"Zhao'er, stop playing and quickly close your eyes to rest."
"oh."
After rolling over, Zhao'er rolled to the innermost part of the bed, pulled up the blanket, closed his eyes, and went to sleep. After a while, he rubbed his eyes, turned to his side, and wanted to lean against his mother's arms to sleep. But when he looked closely, there was no mother's embrace, only his father's broad back.
After staring at it for a while, he finally closed his eyes.
He pulled his cousin into his arms, his long, slender fingers gently kneading her lower back. "How do you feel?"
"I'm fine." Banban nestled in his arms. "I saw the little rabbit my cousin made this morning. Did you make it based on mine?"
"You can tell from that too." He closed his eyes, buried his face in the crook of her neck, letting her breath fill his nostrils and reach his heart.
She felt ticklish from his rubbing, so she curled her neck around his nose and rubbed it against him. "It tickles."
He moved a little distance away and stroked her cheek.
Banban raised her cheeks, her soft lips brushed across his chin, and kissed his lower lip, gently licking it with the tip of her tongue.
He lifted the back of her neck and pressed closer to return her kiss.
A tender kiss, devoid of any desire.
After the kiss, Ying Zheng stroked her soft hair and said, "Sleep now."
Banban hugged his waist, lifted her eyelids, and saw that Zhao'er had sat up at some point and was looking at his parents with a blank and curious expression.
"..." Banban tensed up, "Zhao'er!"
Ying Zheng released his cousin and turned his head to look back.
The problem lies in not wanting to sleep in the same bed as my son.
Compared to his cousin's embarrassment and discomfort, Ying Zheng asked with a stern face, "What are you doing instead of sleeping?"
Zhao'er pouted.
The next second, his small face was pressed down by a large hand, forcing him to lie back down.
He didn't actually understand what his father and mother were doing; he was just instinctively imitating them, and as a result, he was punished by having his face pressed down.
Banban felt so embarrassed that she wanted to disappear. She buried her face and refused to say another word. She heard her cousin chuckle. "I remember when we were little, my uncle and aunt did the same thing. You were watching with your eyes wide open, just like Zhao'er."
"What you were thinking then is what Zhao'er is thinking now."
"...I've forgotten everything." So embarrassed, is that really true? Who still remembers things from childhood?
"How come my cousin remembers everything?"
-----------------------
Author's Note: Here we go, as usual, there's an extra chapter!
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