Chapter 8 Qin 8
However, Zhu Qing'ai was far away in Handan, the capital of Zhao, and since Taishu Jiu didn't mention it, she naturally didn't know the specifics of what had happened there.
When she saw the message in the evening, she simply praised the other person's actions and replied with a question:
[System 99 (Zhu Qing'ai): Did Ying Ji make things difficult for you?]
[Host Taishu Jiu: No, he left after confirming I wouldn't move.]
[System 99: Okay, take care of yourself. I have something to do.]
After receiving Taishu Jiu's reassuring reply, Zhu Qing'ai closed the private chat. She figured that at most, Ying Ji would send people to keep an eye on Taishu Jiu, and since Taishu Jiu showed no intention of moving or running away, he was perfectly safe in Qin.
With Ying Zheng in a more dangerous situation than Taishu Jiu, Zhu Qing'ai felt at ease continuing to stay in Handan, the capital of Zhao.
****
The next morning
Ying Zheng got up and took his time to dress. When he opened the door, he saw the 'person' who had tested him yesterday standing at the door, smiling and greeting him: "Good morning, what are your plans for today?"
"Still studying? Kids this age don't need to work this hard."
Zhao stood against the light at the doorway, the morning sun streaming into the empty room from behind her. Unlike humans who would be bathed in a halo when standing against the light, she seemed to be radiating light from head to toe.
Even her lifeless, withered green robe seemed to come alive at this moment.
Ying Zheng yawned, stretched at the door, and pretended not to see her. The person and the country overlapped. 'Zhao' looked down at the child who stood boldly and naturally in the phantom she had created, and suddenly chuckled.
She said irritably, "You've got some nerve."
Ying Zheng looked up at the rising sun in the sky, stared for two seconds, then turned and went back into the house to get a scroll before walking back into the courtyard.
Zhao followed behind him, watching him stare at the words on the bamboo slips, and sneered: "You Qin people are always good at pretending."
"That guy also likes to carry a scroll in his hand, but whether he understands it or not is hard to say."
Zhao knelt beside Ying Zheng, lightly poked his cheek with her fingertip, and tilted her head to look at him:
Did you understand?
"..."
After a moment of silence, Ying Zheng remained focused on the book in his hands, ignoring the question about 'Zhao'.
Zhao, having received no answer and feeling bored, rested her chin on her hand and looked at him: "I won't kill you. Zhao Ji is a Zhao person, so she is my child. You are Zhao Ji's child, so you are also half of my subjects. What are you afraid of?"
She tried to reason with Ying Zheng, and the more she talked, the more reasonable it seemed to her, until she even convinced herself.
Although this person's fate is tied to 'Qin', that doesn't mean she can't steal his man.
So Zhao emphasized again: "I know you can see, you can hear."
But Ying Zheng felt that this statement was like a trap, and that if he agreed, something unpredictable would happen.
Ying Zheng: "..."
He reviewed the words he had learned before and rolled up the book. Zhao thought he was going to talk to her, but before her smile could even bloom, she saw the brat take the book and walk past her to put it away.
Zhao: "..."
'Zhao': The people of the Qin clan are all so annoying.
When Ying Zheng stepped out of the house again, the 'person' was gone. Ying Zheng didn't know if the other party had become invisible or really left.
Yes, he already felt that since the other party's methods were so elusive, it was not impossible for them to become invisible.
He had also speculated about the other party's identity, and he currently believed that the other party should be an ancestor of the Zhao royal family who transformed into a deity after death.
In this sense, the other side certainly had the right to refer to the people of Zhao as "children" or "subjects."
He just remembered that the King of Zhao should not have any women, so why wasn't it the king who appeared?
Zhu Qing'ai had already shed her 'Zhao' identity. In her invisible state, she glanced at Ying Zheng's reaction but didn't care much. She knew that at this time, there was no concept of national consciousness, and Ying Zheng would only think of her identity as something supernatural. But she wasn't in a hurry.
She knew that what she said wouldn't be of much use; people always tend to believe more in what they discover on their own.
The sense of accomplishment from discovering the truth of the world on your own is unparalleled.
****
After some time, Zhao continued to visit Ying Zheng from time to time, trying to get him to admit that he could see her.
Although it was only Zhao speaking unilaterally, Zhao still insisted that this "dialogue" was proof of her care for the next generation of the Warring States period.
One person, one country, mainly 'Zhao'. Her chat content ranged from national affairs to trivial matters, from the imminent outcome of the war between Zhou and Qin to casually cursing Zhao Yan to die on the spot and suggesting that the crown prince should be changed.
Of course, Ying Zheng did not utter a sound when Zhao spoke. He did listen carefully to the news from the various states that the other party brought, but that did not mean he would respond in any way.
As they talked, Zhao casually complained, "That's true, after all, I don't have a throne for you to inherit, no wonder you don't want to stay with me."
"but……"
Zhao looked at Ying Zheng and suddenly revealed a wicked smile.
Both 'Qin' and 'Zhao' are disguises of Zhu Qing'ai. Although the two countries are played by the same person, their personalities are quite different. 'Zhao' is more unconventional, or rather, impatient.
Knowing that the crown prince was an incompetent fool who couldn't hold his position in any country, and with Zhu Qing'ai's increasingly playful attitude, she wanted to use the identity of the Zhao state to instigate Qin Shi Huang to rebel in Zhao. Although she knew the other party wouldn't agree, it was still quite interesting.
“If you were to rebel in Zhao, I would definitely support you,” Zhao said, waving her hand. A vast city appeared before Ying Zheng, like a scaled-down map of Zhao. She pointed at it, and the entire capital city of Handan was magnified, its details revealed. “Look, this is Handan, where you live now. The entire Zhao kingdom is only about this size…”
"Anyway, Qin and Zhao both have the surname Ying, so you can just change your surname to Zhao."
Ying Zheng remained calm. Although it sounded tempting, he knew with a little thought that the other party was just making empty promises, and that the promises were nothing but castles in the air without a foundation and easily collapsed.
The most valuable things were the map of the Zhao state and the aerial view of Handan, a city with a large population, but he didn't dare to look at them for long.
However, when Zhao said that, he could also feel a vague sense of intimacy with the other party.
Zhao exclaimed in surprise, "Even this can't intimidate you?"
Wearing the alias 'Zhao', Zhu Qing'ai dispersed the buildings in mid-air. The main reason was that the simulation had to match reality, which consumed a lot of energy. She would not consume so much energy when she upgraded and loaded new modules in the future.
Fortunately, she never intended to pretend for long; she only wanted Ying Zheng to know that she, as the "Zhao," could monitor the Zhao state at any time.
"Alright, I'm actually starting to envy Qin now. First Qin Ji, and now you. Tsk, both of you share the surname Ying, but the difference is so vast..."
Ying Zheng discovered that this 'person' was quite polite; no matter how impatient she seemed, she still remembered to address her great-grandfather by his clan name rather than by his surname.
Soon, he realized that the 'person' beside him had fallen silent, but out of the corner of his eye, he could still see that withered green dress. He dared not make any rash moves and continued to look intently at the book in his hands, occasionally gesturing with his finger to indicate unfamiliar characters.
****
Since that day, Zhao would occasionally make surprise visits, but soon she would suddenly stop coming.
Ying Zheng thought that the deity had finally given up, but to his surprise, someone came again the next morning, only this time it was a different person.
The newcomer had a gentle appearance and a kind expression between her brows. The clothes she wore were clean and heavy, a pure black color, and the subtle patterns on the clothes made one feel as if they could see the majestic mountains and rushing rivers between heaven and earth.
She herself is as upright as a mountain, yet her temperament is gentle and inclusive.
Although she had ordinary black hair and black eyes, she possessed a strong sense of otherworldly nature, not only because of the way she appeared, but also because she looked down on everyone. Her eyes were as black and bright as obsidian, carrying an inorganic, lifeless quality. The world was vast, yet it did not enter her eyes.
That strange feeling returned; Ying Zheng felt as if he were closely connected to the 'person' before him, as if their fates were intertwined.
That feeling of goodwill kept growing as soon as we met; there was a sense of warmth and familiarity upon seeing each other, something even blood relatives couldn't feel more comfortable with.
Ying Zheng knelt before his master, learning literature and principles from this middle-aged man invited by the Zhao family.
Qin sat upright beside him, kneeling to see what the middle-aged man would say.
Zhao Ji's father was still quite clear-headed. Even if the person he invited was only to teach Ying Zheng to read, this person was a Legalist, not one of those Confucianists who talked about restoring the Zhou rites.
Qin waited quietly for Ying Zheng to finish his lesson, not in a hurry at all. She had plenty of free time now. Since Zhao wasn't here, she could stay as long as she wanted.
She didn't force Ying Zheng to chat with her. She only asked him how he was doing after class and emphasized again, "Don't pay attention to that 'Zhao' guy. If you ignore her, she won't come looking for you in time."
"It's good that you don't speak to other countries casually, so you won't be easily deceived by Zhao."
She casually pulled a scroll of bamboo slips from her left sleeve, and while untying the rope, she said, "You'll be able to go home in a little over three years."
She then took out two blank bamboo slips from the Qin law scroll, selected the section that stipulated that those under six feet and five inches in height were not subject to legal liability, made slight modifications, and turned it into a protective law. She then touched the two bamboo slips to Ying Zheng's brow.
The two bamboo slips then turned into streams of light and disappeared.
After doing all this, 'Qin' stood up: 'I may not come for the next two or three years, but even in Zhao, Qin Lu will protect you.'
She didn't look at Ying Zheng's reaction, but smiled gently as she looked south: "She's back, so I won't stay any longer."
Since it was her territory, Qin disappeared without a trace when Zhao returned home in a rage.
There's no rush; she's waiting. This child will come to Qin's cauldron sooner or later.
A note from the author:
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From the *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Basic Annals of Qin": In the fifty-first year, General Jiu attacked Han, capturing Yangcheng and Fushu, beheading 40,000. He attacked Zhao, capturing over twenty counties and taking 90,000 heads. The ruler of Western Zhou betrayed Qin, forming an alliance with the other states, and led the elite troops of the realm out of Yique to attack Qin, ordering Qin not to communicate with Yangcheng. Qin then sent General Jiu to attack Western Zhou. The ruler of Western Zhou fled and surrendered, bowing his head in repentance, offering up all thirty-six cities and thirty thousand people. The King of Qin accepted the offering and returned the ruler to Zhou. In the fifty-second year, the people of Zhou fled east, and their nine tripods were taken to Qin. The early Zhou dynasty collapsed.
**
Regarding the statement in the text that someone who is six feet five inches tall is not legally responsible, the Qin version of the Juvenile Protection Law (?) is based on height. Anyone under six feet five inches is considered a minor (1.5 meters), and for women, it's six feet (I think it's 1.4 meters). Minors are not criminally responsible for crimes, but those convicted of serious crimes will be sentenced after reaching adulthood (equivalent to delayed sentencing, not complete exemption from criminal responsibility).
Qin law protected minors. For general offenses, minors were not criminally liable. The *Legal Questions and Answers* states: "A, a child under six feet tall, owns a horse and herds it himself. Now the horse has been stolen and eaten a bushel of the child's crops. Should he be punished? No, he should not be punished for any loss of crops." Regarding those who instigate minors to commit crimes, the principle was to punish only the instigator, not the child. The *Yunmeng Qin Bamboo Slips. Legal Questions and Answers* states: "A sends B to steal and kill someone, receiving ten coins in return. B is under six feet tall. What should A be punished for? He should be executed by dismemberment." B is a minor and lacks criminal responsibility. A, who instigated the minor to steal and kill, should bear full criminal responsibility. For minors who commit serious crimes, sentencing is determined upon reaching adulthood. The *Legal Questions and Answers* states: "If A steals an ox, and at the time of the theft is six feet tall, he is detained for one year. After being measured again, he is six feet seven inches tall. What is A's punishment? He shall serve a full term of hard labor in the city." At six feet tall, a person is still a minor. Even though he committed a serious crime like stealing an ox, he was only detained. Only when he reached six feet seven inches tall, that is, after reaching adulthood, was his sentence determined and he served a full term of hard labor in the city. (This is the law; ceremonies like coming-of-age ceremonies are based on age.)
P.S.: Actually, I think judging by height is also a good idea. Some minors these days are so tall and strong that even adults can't beat them. They stand there looking menacing, and you can't tell they're minors at all. Victims also have a hard time fighting back. But because of their age, they can't be prosecuted… emmm
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