Chronicles of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 63, Section 62: Mutual Generation and Mutual Restraint
Zhangtai Palace has finally returned to peace.

Qin Shi slowly sipped a mouthful of sweet osmanthus honey tofu pudding, savoring the cool taste as if it had just been taken out of the ice chest, and breathed out silently.

If she had known that the princes and princesses would be criticized so harshly today, she should have stayed in the palace kitchen pressing tofu.

Fortunately, the king's anger had subsided, allowing Princess Wen to discuss politics and Prince Chenghu to demonstrate his abilities. Apart from the dim-witted sports student, Prince Qian, everyone had a bright future.

Taking another bite of the steamed bun filled with brown sugar, the satisfaction brought by the starch and high sugar content instantly relaxed Qin Shi.

On the higher level, Ji Heng slowly gazed at her, his hands tightly gripping the hilt of a short sword within his wide sleeves, his expression quite complex.

Zhou Ju, observing the situation closely, quickly brought out the freshly prepared lunch, a smile playing on his lips.

"Your Majesty, the Three Dukes have important matters to discuss this afternoon. Let's have some more food."

"This is Qin Qing's sincere devotion to the sovereign; Your Majesty should also show Qin Qing some respect."

Ji Heng slowly glanced at him with his long eyes, then exhaled softly, loosened the hilt of the sword in his sleeve, and finally picked up his chopsticks again.

Zhou Ju remained calm, but a gentle breeze from outside the hall made his back feel damp and cold.

He thought to himself: Qin Qing, oh Qin Qing! I'm taking such a big risk now, I hope Qin Qing will be rewarded someday.

-

Qin Shi knew nothing about this.

No matter how adept she is at understanding people's hearts, she is still an ordinary person raised in peacetime, completely devoid of any sense of crisis.

Her words and actions were deliberate, but to gain the King of Qin's trust, nine out of ten of them were true.

Therefore, she could not have imagined the crisis she would face when her words easily calmed the King of Qin's anger and brought him back to joy.

Ji Heng was both a tolerant and benevolent ruler of ten thousand chariots and a domineering and tyrannical emperor who held the power of life and death.

How can the heart of an emperor be easily manipulated?
The moment he gripped the sword hilt, a strong killing intent truly arose within him.

However, the person below was completely unaware, still enjoying the newly made steamed buns without any worries, as if every meal, every drop of rain, and every drop of dew in this world could bring her heartfelt joy.

He had not seen this kind of natural freedom without any sense of crisis in Xianyang Palace for many years.

At that moment, Ji Heng thought of his former warhorse.

That was a tall, warhorse that had been brought as tribute from Hequ. Its eyes shone brightly when it looked at him. If you gave it two candies at that moment, its long, pointed ears would flutter slightly backward.

When the emperor led the army to attack Chu, it bravely charged forward with Ji Heng, but was eventually pierced through the belly by a bronze halberd.

After the war, someone carried it back to their tent.

It was panting, its body was unusually hot, and its once strong and powerful neck was raised slightly, but then fell down hard a moment later.

Its strong hooves thrashed helplessly on the ground, then it gasped for breath. Its large, bright eyes gradually blurred, and then filled with tears of pain.

Ji Heng held its burning head and neck, carefully feeding it water and maltose, until its breathing gradually subsided...

He looked at his hand hidden in his sleeve, where no one knew him.

The hilt of the sword was warmed in his palm, yet his hand was trembling slightly.

That's how he broke the horse's neck in the blink of an eye.

Now, with just a single command from him, the soldiers outside the hall would rush forward and drag Qin Shi down to be beaten to death.

but……

He calmly drank another spoonful of tofu pudding, his mind remarkably composed.

Back then, he was powerless to change the situation.

Now that everything is at peace, how could Qin Qing possibly control him?

The four seas and nine provinces, the eight wastelands and six directions, all belong to the king.

And all the millions of people in this Great Qin were subjects of the king. ...

The task of providing emotional value feedback in Qin Shi today, though fraught with difficulties, has ultimately been completed.

She calmly left Zhangtai Palace again, only to find Princess Wen and Prince Qian, the brother and sister, arguing and pulling at each other outside the side hall.

Upon seeing her emerge, Princess Wencai was about to say something to Prince Qian when she saw that the other had broken free from her grasp and then ran aggressively to Qin Shi.

Akane Ikeaki tensed up instantly.

However, Prince Qian stopped three steps away.

It was hot outside the palace, and he had avoided the canopy. Now his cheeks were covered in layers of sweat, and his healthy tan skin was faintly red.

"Qin Qing."

Although he is young, he has probably inherited his height from Ji Heng, and now he looks to be over 1.7 meters tall, which is still quite advantageous compared to Qin Shi.

He gave a perfunctory bow, his eyes fixed on her: "Qian has not been kind to you, yet why do you dare to defy the King and still speak up for us siblings?"

As he spoke, he noticed Qin Shi's shoes, which he hadn't concealed. The lustrous pearls on them shone brightly in the sunlight, making his already awkward mood even more depressed.

Princess Wen slowly stepped forward: "Qian, where is your princely demeanor? Why are you so flustered?"

Wang Ziqian stubbornly insisted, "I must find out the truth!"

"Qin Qing, if you think that just because you've spoken well of us in front of the King, I'll treat you with even greater respect in the future... absolutely not!"

Qin Shi smiled as he looked at him, thinking to himself: It's so great to be a "brainless" person. You can ask questions when you have doubts and explore when you don't understand something. Life is free from internal conflicts, and you must be much happier and more carefree than others.

But Wang Ziqian frowned at the scrutiny: "What are you looking at!"

“Qian,” Princess Wen said from the side, “How can you be so rude?”

After speaking, he bowed slightly to Qin Shi: "Your Majesty Qin spoke frankly today, and I will remember it."

This is the difference between the siblings.

Although Prince Qian may seem reckless, his frankness surpasses that of others—you may be clueless, you're just plain clueless.

Princess Wen is meticulous in everything she does, never going to extremes in her actions or words. Sometimes this seems very appropriate, but at other times, it makes her appear merely clever in a superficial way.

For example, right now, she clearly wasn't genuinely grateful; she even seemed to be trying to find out something.

Qin Shi found it quite interesting.

So she nodded and said, "I'm new here and have no property. If you want to thank me, don't worry about it for long."

"Just give me two gold coins."

Princess Wen looked somewhat taken aback, and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "It's just a few gold ingots. With the Qin King's great kindness, how can I possibly repay this?"

Prince Qian impatiently replied, "Since you say it's a great favor, why not give me two hundred more gold coins?"

Princess Wen choked up for a moment.

She's just a princess, where is she supposed to get two hundred gold coins?
Qin Shi almost burst out laughing.

In a sense, the plant-related concepts of "mutual generation and mutual restraint" can also be applied to humans.

Her original intention was simply to imitate Ji Heng and poke at the girl's sore spot, but she didn't expect that the other party had a relative who didn't follow the usual path.

Prince Qian, a true warrior!

　I've already lain down, but the thought of how my schedule will be just as packed every day from now on...

　　He scrambled to his feet again, looking disheveled.

　　That's all for now, I'm so sleepy I'm nodding off... Goodnight.

　　(End of this chapter)