Chronicles of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 162, Section 161: Flowery Fist and Ineffective Legs
That's very true.

Although Princess Wen found it hard to accept that Qin Shi would become the queen, compared to Lady Chu, she was naturally a thousand times better.

After all, her mother, Madam Zheng, was always straightforward, and she would easily get angry at Madam Chu's gentle and delicate demeanor.

Fortunately, the king didn't fall for that, otherwise he would have been crushed into the dust.

Unfortunately, while the king didn't buy into that approach, he also didn't buy into this one.

In short, after years of bickering, we've all come back to the same level.

But now a queen has risen to power...

Ugh.

Prince Qian was carefree and didn't consider the deeper meaning, but Princess Wen had already worried about it in advance.

Now he gave the same cold snort.

Their words were so frank, yet Cheng Hu smiled faintly, a hint of Lady Chu's charm gracing his delicate face:
"I don't need to worry too much. With my body like this, whether I can live to adulthood is another matter entirely. If this queen gives birth to a child in the future, it will have nothing to do with me."

"but……"

His eyes, reminiscent of Lady Chu's, slanted upwards, gazing meaningfully at Prince Qian, his voice growing increasingly soft:
"Where is my elder brother? He is strong and healthy, and will be of marriageable age in a few years. He is also the eldest prince of our Great Qin... If the Queen has a son, the future crown prince position..."

He smiled faintly and subtly took back what he had said.

Wang Ziqian stared at him for a couple of seconds. His eyes, similar to Ji Heng's, were wide open. Instead of showing the same oppressive aura as his father, he exuded a more foolish air.

Even the tiger couldn't help but look away.

But then Prince Qian suddenly said:
“Father was right! Chenghu, you are clearly weak, yet you still have to think about these unnecessary things every day. Thinking too much will harm your health, no wonder you can never get strong.”

He was in a state of resignation: "I still can't even memorize a single volume of Han Feizi. If my father really wanted to make me the crown prince, why would he skip over me every time he asked about my studies?"

Although both Lady Zheng and Princess Wen still harbored faint ambitions, he, being rather dim-witted, could easily sense whether his father valued him or intended to nurture him.

After realizing this, he disliked memorizing even more.

Anyway, he just couldn't memorize it no matter how many times he tried. His older sister could memorize it after reading it three times, and Chenghu had a photographic memory, but he would forget it as soon as he turned his head after reading it 8 or 10 times...

Ugh!
Just then, the servant reported:

“Your Highness, my lord has important business to attend to today and cannot see me.”

Princess Wen was instantly enraged: "The imperial edict hasn't even been issued yet, and she's already so arrogant!"

Prince Qian, however, didn't care: "Given Father's personality, now that he has spoken of this matter, the imperial edict is only a matter of time—hmm, should I be more respectful when I see the King of Qin next time?"

Chenghu looked at his elder brother with almost affection: "Not only should we be more respectful, but we should also address her as 'Empress Dowager' or 'Queen Mother'."

Prince Qian remained silent for a moment.

"If I were to call you 'Empress Dowager,' I wonder if Lord Qin would teach me all the games he knows?"

Princess Wen was utterly speechless: "Little brother, you should at least be more ambitious! Reading a couple more books would be good enough!"

Even if he doesn't become the crown prince, can't he still share his father's burdens?

Prince Qian thought about it and agreed: "If I were to call her 'Mother Queen,' would the King of Qin write down all the foreign stories she knows and give them to me?"

He looked at Chenghu again and couldn't help but boast, "On the way back to Pinyang, Qin Jun told me the story of a remarkable Lady Ma. Chenghu, you probably never heard of it while you were in the palace."

Prince Riding a Tiger: ...

He wasn't interested in Madam Ma's story, and at this moment he simply said, "To so easily call another woman 'Empress Dowager,' Madam Zheng, who raised you with such hardship, must be heartbroken now."

Prince Qian felt that Cheng Hu was acting strangely today.

His heart and mind were completely empty, untouched by the stab, and instead puzzled:
“According to the Qin law, even if you and I become the crown prince, we still have to address the queen as ‘Mother Queen.’ Are you planning to stop doing so for the sake of Lady Chu?” “Besides, Mother raised me with great hardship.”

"She often said that she was in good health, and even when she was pregnant, she often practiced martial arts. In addition, she had already given birth to her older sister, so I was born in just over an hour."

"My mother even praised me for being considerate."

At this point, he felt a pang of sympathy for Chenghu.

At this moment, I temporarily set aside my prejudices and said with deep feeling:
"Lady Chu then passed away. My mother said that when she was in Chu, she often went hungry, and the King of Chu ordered his ministers to tighten their waists to be this thin—"

He clasped his hands together, showing a waist that was less than 1.5 feet long.

"Lady Chu must have been starving, which is why she had a poor appetite even after entering the Qin palace. It is said that she almost died when she gave birth to Chenghu..."

These things would not normally reach his ears.

But when Lady Zheng first arrived, she was trembling with fear and harbored great ambitions, hoping to win the king's favor.

But she soon discovered that the king looked at her more than at a bamboo scroll.

She was as delicate as Lady Chu, so she performed sword and spear dances for the king—

But the king looked at it carefully for a quarter of an hour, and then left.
"Fancy moves, useless in actual combat."

In short, Madam Zheng immediately quieted down.

The palace was desolate, and she only found some joy in the company of her children. So, taking advantage of their ignorance, she dared to say anything.

Even as the children grew up, this habit didn't change much.

Otherwise, Prince Qian would never have known that the South Sea pearl his mother wore was inferior to the one on Qin Jun's shoe!
However, while she spoke, Princess Wen had her own thoughts and ideas, while Prince Qian's mind was blank.

Whatever others instill in him is like a swallow skimming across a cold pond in his mind.

With just a light touch, there was no ripple again.

Now, he also sincerely and gently patted Chenghu's thin shoulder:

"Brother, you should at least eat a little more."

……

very scary.

Qin Shi shivered in the palace: "So all those princes and princesses are going to call me 'Mother' now?"

She's still young; it'll be hard for her not to feel awkward when she meets her grown-up son later.

The Red Maiden explained, "If the King of Qin is not used to it, he can have the princes and princesses call themselves 'Queen,' and this trip will not be overstepping any bounds."

They just don't seem that close.

However, the Empress's power in the harem is supreme. Whatever she commands, everyone else simply obeys. Qin Jun has no need to worry at all.

Qin Shi glanced at her and thought to himself: Indeed, the morale boost to subordinates from having power is incomparable to that of having power.

In the past, the Red Woman would never have dared to make such a self-evident suggestion.

This also proves that what the Queen of Qin possessed far exceeded that of later dynasties.

What do you mean by "the empress dowager must not interfere in politics"?
At this time, it was only natural for the Queen to intervene in politics.

　Thank you everyone for your generous donations! I'm so grateful!

　　(End of this chapter)