Chapter 32: I’ve Tricked You [Jinjiang Official Edition Exclusive. Qin Ying Offers Treasures Again…
From the perspective of later generations, although the words spoken by a few Confucian officials at the court meeting were a bit harsh, they did make sense. If the elixir of immortality really existed, the wise rulers of the Shang and Zhou dynasties would not have died.
But emotionally speaking, these words were difficult for Qin Ying, who was the eldest grandson of the First Emperor and a "grandfather's boy", to accept!
[Arrogant! This is truly too arrogant!]
As soon as the little fellow heard what Zhao Gao said, he became so angry that his eyes flashed with fire and he clenched his two tender little fists. He felt that these Confucian officials were so arrogant that they had no boundaries!
If you want to criticize elixirs, then go ahead and criticize them! No one's stopping you! But why do you have to so cynically link "wise rulers" with "taking elixirs"? What's your intention? Are you secretly praising King Tang of Shang and King Wu of Zhou and disparaging my father in order to bring back the Shang and Zhou dynasties? So you can show off your Confucian scholarship to the rulers?
[They all talk all day long, but never do anything useful! If China didn't have my great-grandfather, the strife and chaos that has raged for hundreds of years wouldn't have stopped yet! The Seven Heroes would be fighting each other until their brains were ripped out!]
[Let's take a step back and consider that my grandfather, while having the alchemist make elixirs for him and wanting to drink the elixirs himself, was always striving for his lifelong dream of immortality. He wasn't like the old Taoist priests of the Ming Dynasty who spent their days away from court, confined to the palace to make elixirs?!]
"Whether the elixir is good or bad, that's all my great-grandfather's doing to his own health. It's the royal family's own business! He didn't force anyone to take the elixir! How could you, a bunch of scornful Confucian officials, take the high ground in public opinion and criticize it after it happened? Look at how capable you are!"
The more Qin Ying thought about it, the angrier she became, and her eyebrows were almost knotted.
His great-grandfather's dream of immortality had just been shattered, and he hadn't recovered from his depression and loss yet. Aren't the words of these sour Confucian scholars just rubbing salt into his great-grandfather's wounds?
[Too much! This is really too much!]
In the history books of the previous life, Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng laughed at his grandfather for being deceived by the elixir of immortality and not knowing it. After being caught by his grandfather, he ran away, which made his grandfather angry and wanted to kill the alchemist to vent his anger!
But in this life, with great difficulty, thanks to his intervention, his grandfather let Han Zhong go and let the alchemists refine gunpowder. In a blink of an eye, the sour Confucian scholars in the court who loved to complain all day long were whining and talking about the Zhou Dynasty and dared to put random accusations on his grandfather's head!
During battles, you're never seen charging forward, and afterward, you're all filled with resentment! You can't stand the Legalists' dominance in the court, but they truly transformed the Qin State from a weak state into a powerful one! Confucianism simply didn't thrive in the Qin Dynasty. Instead of adapting to the situation, a Confucian official attempted to kidnap his father using ancient methods!
Humph! His great-grandfather's temper was too good! If it were his great-great-great-grandfather, the fiery-tempered Great Devil King Zhaoxiang, who dominated the Warring States period for half a century, oppressing the monarchs of the six kingdoms into submission, with a reputation tarnished by the sea, and yet was incredibly shameless and willing to take risks, these sour Confucians would have been dragged out and beheaded before they could even open their mouths!
For a ruthless ruler who could even order the God of War, Wu'an Jun Bai Qi, to commit suicide, wouldn't dealing with these inaction-seeking Confucian scholars be as easy as chopping melons and vegetables?! And yet they're still making random accusations, saying things like, "A wise monarch wouldn't take elixirs"?!
Pooh!
His great-grandfather was truly the greatest emperor of all time! The ancestor of China! Didn't he simply dream of immortality, transcending the rules of the world? The Pig Emperor of the Han Dynasty, the Two Phoenix Emperors of the Tang Dynasty—which dragon, phoenix, or pig wasn't superstitious? Which of them, in their later years, didn't trust a few alchemists, hoping for a vague dream of immortality through the three-no elixir? Who dares to say these three emperors weren't wise rulers?
[Stupid, sour Confucian! Stupid, sour Confucian! I screwed you! I screwed you! Pah, pah, pah!]
Inwardly, the young grandson cursed and lashed out at the sour Confucians! The fury on his tender, round face was unmistakable. Even Zhao Gao, the ruthless man who had emerged from the hidden palace and was always cold-hearted and only wanted to cling to the Emperor's thighs to climb the ladder, saw the young grandson's eyes, which had brightened unusually with anger, and could not help but sigh inwardly: "What a deep bond between grandfather and grandson!"
Listening to Li Si still scolding the Confucian officials behind the screen, Zhao Gao thought for a moment and then lowered his head and whispered in the little fellow's ear:
"Your Highness, at today's court meeting, the Chief Justice and the Confucian officials were arguing fiercely. To suppress the Confucian officials, the Chief Justice once again brought up the Book Burning Order in front of His Majesty. The Confucian officials, unable to rebuke the Chief Justice, resorted to verbal abuse, saying that the Chief Justice's book burning was simply against heaven, condemned by both humans and gods! If the Chief Justice insists on burning books, he will have no grandchildren!"
[ha? ]
Qin Ying, who was so angry that smoke was about to come out of her head, was so shocked when she heard Zhao Gao's next irrelevant words that she raised her head in surprise, her face full of astonishment.
Sure enough, the real business war is to secretly water the opponent's money tree to death, and the real political war is to curse the opponent to have a grandson without eggs!
What a superstitious ancient era we live in. These sour Confucian scholars wave high in their hands the banner of "A Master does not speak of strange things, supernatural powers, or demons". They cannot defeat Li Si in an argument, but instead use curse words to attack Li Si's grandchildren, dealing a spiritual blow to them.
Tsk tsk tsk! What a despicable and shameless atmosphere! No wonder it forced Prime Minister Li Si, who always insisted on acting cautiously, to take the initiative to jump out of the Zhangtai Palace to give advice to his grandfather and bury these sour Confucian scholars alive!
Looking at the young grandson's face filled with emotion in his arms, Zhao Gao pursed his lips and said nothing more. Everyone in the court knew that Li Si's second son had recently married the eldest princess, Ying Yinman. So, the curses of the sour Confucian scholars at court today, about Li Si fathering a grandson without balls, weren't they most likely curses for His Majesty to have a grandson without balls in his daughter's womb?
Li Si's curses behind the screen seemed to be impulsive, but he was actually clearly cheering for His Majesty! He took the initiative to bear the infamy for His Majesty. The Chief Justice was able to give it his all and not care about his reputation after death. As a small Shangshu Zushi, he still had a lot to learn.
The two, one big and one small, each with their own thoughts, stood quietly at the door of the inner hall, listening to Li Si behind the screen scolding several sour Confucian officials without repeating himself or stopping for half a cup of tea.
When Qin Ying finally heard Li Si's firm proposal that his grandfather immediately order the beheading of several of the most enthusiastic sour Confucian officials in the court to serve as a warning to others, he couldn't help but frown, feeling a little confused. Admittedly, if Old Li were to engage in politics, he would definitely be a strong hand among the strong, but when it comes to public opinion issues, why is it that this old man can only come up with violent solutions such as "burning books" or "killing people"?
Although he could hear that Li Si firmly stood on the side of his grandfather, this proposal really made him look like a treacherous villain who slandered the emperor!
No wonder his father hadn't sent Zhao Gao to the palace to fetch him today. Perhaps he was too bothered by the bickering between the Confucian and Legalist factions in the court. He was clearly fed up with the trolls' words, but the immortality elixir was truly poisonous. Their words this morning, though harsh, were truthful. His father hadn't dealt with them in court, probably because he understood that if he executed all the Confucian officials simply for speaking the truth, it would blur the lines between good and evil, and affect the morale of the court.
Qin Ying thought for a moment, then patted Zhao Gao's arm, which was holding his little body, and signaled Zhao Gao to carry him in. At the same time, she stretched out her tender little voice and called out to the inside in a childish voice:
"Grandfather!"
"Grandfather!"
The First Emperor, who was kneeling beside the lacquer table with a gloomy face listening to the red-faced Li Si's speech, suddenly heard his grandson's baby voice and subconsciously looked up towards the door of the inner hall.
Li Si, who was cursing passionately with a flushed face, couldn't help but pause when he heard the sudden sound of the tender baby's voice.
The next moment, when the two saw the baby hurriedly brought in by Zhao Gao, the First Emperor was a little surprised. He couldn't understand why his grandson came to the palace at this time today.
Qin Ying immediately stretched out her two short arms and looked at her grandfather with tears in her eyes, babbling:
"Aiyaah..." (Wuwuwuwuwu, Grandfather, I just heard it outside. The sour scholars are scolding Grandfather at the court meeting. The sour scholars are so bad!)
The Emperor, whose mood was originally as pent-up as an active volcano about to erupt, felt as if he had found an outlet when he heard his grandson's baby voice, saw the little guy looking at him with a distressed expression, and even saw the crystal tears of anger at the sour Confucianists. He subconsciously took the grandson that Zhao Gao had carefully handed to him and took him into his arms. While wiping the tears from the little guy's round face with a soft handkerchief, he said with a smile:
"Ying, don't cry. Grandfather won't be irritated by a few sour scholars. Why did you come to the palace at this time? How did you get here?"
Qin Ying choked up and pointed in the direction of the harem with her little finger.
The First Emperor understood instantly that it was his daughter-in-law who came with him.
Seeing the arrival of the Emperor's eldest grandson, His Majesty's gloomy eyes instantly brightened. Li Si, who had been cursing the sour Confucian scholars until his body was hot, couldn't help but think with relief as he accepted the honey water Zhao Gao offered him: "The Emperor's eldest grandson is really promising! If it were the Emperor's eldest son, not only would he not comfort His Majesty, he might even join the sour Confucian scholars in criticizing His Majesty's elixir!"
Seeing that her grandfather's face had improved, Li Si stopped cursing. Qin Ying wiped away her tears with her little hands, waved her chubby little hands at her grandfather, and grinned:
"Aaaah..." (Grandfather, don't be angry! I met the Black Bird in my dream again last night! The Black Bird gave me four treasures! I helped you fight off those bad guys who bullied you!)
Seeing that his grandson, who was not even one year old, was not only full of thoughts and eyes about him, but was also waving his little hands to beat away those who bullied him, even though he knew that the little guy was deliberately trying to make him happy, the First Emperor couldn't help but feel happy. Most of the anger that remained in his heart disappeared in an instant, and a bright smile was stained in his narrow and long phoenix eyes, vividly demonstrating what it means to be sunny after the rain.
Zhao Gao couldn't help but look away upon seeing this, taking a closer look at the emperor's eldest grandson. This little prince was truly remarkable! His ability to please the emperor was truly unmatched, unmatched by anyone else in the palace. The effect was truly outstanding, and the emperor began to smile from the bottom of his heart!
"Don't worry, no one dares to bully you, Grandfather."
The First Emperor stretched out his big hand with distinct joints, touched the back of his grandson's round head with a relaxed look, and smiled gently.
Qin Ying blinked away her tears, opened her mouth and hiccuped, then struggled to grab her grandfather's long arms, tremblingly stepped on the seat to stand up, and like a little tiger, waved her fists and glared at her grandfather fiercely, saying:
"Ah..." (Don't worry, Grandfather! I have the treasure given to me by the Black Bird! I can really drive away all the bad guys who want to bully you!)
Seeing his grandson being so filial, so considerate, and so thoughtful of him, the first emperor's smile became even more curved, and he even laughed heartily. He very cooperatively asked the little fellow:
"Oh, you're so powerful! Grandfather is really curious about what treasure the Black Bird has bestowed upon you. It's so lethal! It can even drive away all the bad guys!"
Qin Ying grinned even more widely, and her phoenix eyes, which resembled those of the First Emperor, lit up. She immediately waved her hand, and a large brown cardboard box, about two meters long, two meters wide, and two meters high, fell heavily on the smooth wooden floor below the imperial steps with a "bang" like a large refrigerator that fell from the sky. The huge muffled sound made the entire inner hall silent in an instant.
The First Emperor raised his thick, dark eyebrows in surprise, wondering uncertainly, could it be that his grandson meant that he would use this big, tall brown box to smash to death those ministers who, in the name of direct criticism in the court, were actually secretly insulting him in various ways?
Although Li Si and Zhao Gao couldn't understand baby talk, they could read the expression on the little emperor's face. Seeing the indignant little emperor speaking to the emperor in a baby voice, he suddenly produced a strange object with his bare hands, pulling out a box so tall, so wide, and so large. Naturally, they assumed that the box must contain some incredibly powerful weapons!
Li Si's eyes immediately lit up with excitement, and he leaned over to the grandfather and grandson above and asked:
"May I ask, Your Highness, what is in this large box?"
Qin Ying shyly held her chubby little hand and babbled loudly:
"Aiyaaaa!" (It's a diaper!)
"What diapers?"
The First Emperor, who also had fantasies about powerful weapons, couldn't help but look down at the little guy standing in his arms in surprise when he heard his grandson answer Li Si's question with the word "diaper".
Li Si and Zhao Gao were also numb when they heard the word "diaper" from His Majesty's mouth.
Looking at the large box on the floor that was as tall as His Majesty, Li Si couldn't help but swallow his saliva and thought to himself:
The Emperor's eldest grandson truly pleases the Xuanniao! While His Highness is currently in need of diapers, and the Xuanniao's timing in giving them to the Emperor's eldest grandson is perfect, and appropriate for his status, isn't the Xuanniao's gift of diapers a bit too much? A box this big wouldn't be enough for the Emperor's eldest grandson to use up even after he's eighty years old, right?!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
