Chapter 7 Part 1

Two days later, Ying Zheng finally saw Fan Ju again.

The man had changed completely. His sleeves fluttered as he walked, a piece of lustrous green jade hanging from his waist. He already carried himself like a senior official of the court.

“Pack our things. We’re moving.” Fan Ju’s voice was slightly hoarse, but his eyes shone with unmistakable excitement.

After reading Fan Ju’s memorial, King Ying Ji of Qin had been so impressed that he kept Fan Ju talking for two whole days. They had only paused once both men were too parched to continue.

Ying Zheng showed no surprise. He merely smiled as if to say, Just as I expected, and cupped his hands. “Congratulations, Sir. You’ve achieved what you set out to do.”

Fan Ju accepted his congratulations without a trace of false modesty.

“Will you help the King wrest power from the Queen Dowager and Lord Rang next?” Ying Zheng glanced around to make sure they were alone before moving closer and lowering his voice.

Fan Ju shook his head. “Not yet. The King and I haven’t built enough trust. He can’t be sure I can help him seize power, and I don’t yet know whether he’s willing to protect me.”

“This is a matter of blood and family. I’m an outsider trying to interfere. I must tread carefully. One wrong step, and I’ll be ruined.”

Then Fan Ju smiled and leisurely straightened his collar. “Still, without danger on a grand scale, how can there be riches to match?”

When the two of them were ready to leave, they found a carriage and servants waiting outside the courtyard. The head servant saw Fan Ju step out with Ying Zheng and hurried forward with a bow.

“My lord, we are all servants bestowed by His Majesty. We await your orders.”

The others sprang into action, deftly loading the few simple bundles into the carriage. These new servants were neatly dressed, clean-shaven, and quick on their feet—nothing like the old servant, who could barely get a sentence out.

Less than half an hour later, the carriage stopped before a spacious mansion. The front gate was made from a single slab of oak, its edges clad in bronze nearly three inches wide.

The courtyard was paved with bluestone. Not a weed grew between the stones, and only two neatly trimmed pines stood in the southeast corner.

Most importantly, the estate lay barely three miles from the palace. If the King wanted to summon Fan Ju, he could be there in no time.

Yet neither Ying Zheng nor Fan Ju paused to admire their new home, ten times grander than their last.

Fan Ju wanted the chancellor’s residence of Qin to outshine Wei Qi’s mansion. Ying Zheng, meanwhile, had his eyes on the towering Qin King’s Palace three miles away.

Once they had settled in, Fan Ju led Ying Zheng to the study.

The mansion had once belonged to a noble who had fallen into disgrace. After his estate was confiscated, it had become royal property. Hundreds of bamboo scrolls still stood neatly on the shelves, cared for by servants and untouched by insects.

“You can read in peace here. I doubt I’ll have much time for you over the next few months.”

Fan Ju gestured toward the shelves, then turned and went into the adjoining room.

Ying Zheng gazed at the shelves of bamboo scrolls and slowly blinked.

Did Fan Ju think he was the sort of person who lived and breathed books? He had read before because there was nothing else to do, and he had no interest in Wei. Now that he was back in Qin, why would he want to lose himself in books?

[Stream comment: Here we go! I knew the little streamer wouldn’t let learning slide!]

[Stream comment: Notes ready, milk tea ready. Come on, streamer, take us through finals week!]

[Stream comment: Why didn’t the streamer get a Song-Ming instance? He’d be top of the exam lists in no time!]

[Stream comment: Hahaha, I already graduated. It’s so much fun watching the streamer study with you guys.]

[Stream comment: Hey, don’t go! Drop your coordinates and let’s settle this offline.]

[Stream comment: Those bamboo scrolls look so heavy… If only they had paper…]

Ying Zheng hesitated, then rose onto his toes and took down a scroll from a high shelf. He settled at the writing desk.

I’m here already. Might as well learn something, whatever it is. It’s not as if I have anything better to do.

He sat there for three hours.

The comments gradually shifted from “Hahaha” to “Terrifying” and “A scholar has descended.”

Only after finishing the entire scroll did Ying Zheng let out a long breath. He put it down, stood, and stretched.

Rubbing his aching eyes, he pushed open the door and saw lamplight spilling from the study next door.

He thought nothing of it and went to eat. But even after dinner, Fan Ju still hadn’t appeared.

“Is Sir still in his study?” he asked one of the servants.

When the servant confirmed it, Ying Zheng thought for a moment, then walked over and knocked lightly on the door.

Fan Ju opened it. Seeing Ying Zheng, he stepped aside to let him in.

A huge silk map hung from a wooden frame inside. Colored threads marked the borders of the Six States, and cinnabar notes crowded the map like stars.

Fan Ju returned to the map and said without preamble, “I advised the King to attack Huai City in Wei first.”

“Once we take Huai City, we can move on Xingqiu. Both cities border Qin. Once conquered, they can be incorporated into our territory at once. After that, we turn on Han. Its lands are interwoven with ours. Take Xingyang, and we can swallow up the parts of Han that jut into Qin…”

“By then, the King will have enough leverage to stand against the Queen Dowager and Lord Rang.”

Then Fan Ju turned to Ying Zheng. “That was my plan. But now, it needs to change.”

He said no more. He simply watched Ying Zheng.

Ying Zheng understood that Fan Ju was testing him. After a brief pause, he answered, “You thought Lord Wu’an was one of Lord Rang Wei Ran’s men, so you wanted the King to establish his authority by expanding Qin’s borders first. He would prove that he was no less capable than the Queen Dowager. That would take time.”

“But now that we know Lord Wu’an isn’t loyal to Lord Rang, the King no longer needs to fear Bai Qi when he seizes power. He might even be able to win Bai Qi’s support.”

“Even if Bai Qi refuses to obey, as long as he stays neutral, the King can order Meng Ao to mobilize the troops and seize power.”

Ying Zheng’s expression was calm, his voice even.

Fan Ju couldn’t help looking at him askance. He had known Ying Zheng was far more intelligent than an ordinary child, but he was still struck by how sharply the boy saw the political situation.

This kid was born for court intrigue.

“The Queen Dowager has governed Qin for thirty years without a single mistake. You’re oversimplifying things.” This time, Fan Ju was the one who hesitated.

He was a man of many plans. Men like that often struggled to make a decision.

Ying Zheng raised his eyes. “The Queen Dowager is eighty, and she has no desire to depose the King and install someone else. Besides, she’s his mother. He can afford to take the risk. The worst that could happen is that he fails to seize power. But even then, would an eighty-year-old woman depose her own son after he’s been on the throne for thirty years?”

Fan Ju’s breath caught.

Ying Zheng’s words had stunned him.

“Let me think about it…” Fan Ju slowly sat down, his mind in turmoil.

He had only meant to test Ying Zheng. He hadn’t expected the boy to give him a problem in return.

Under his original plan, he would spend a year building trust with the King, establishing his authority through victories and testing the attitudes of the generals. It was a cautious, dependable approach.

But Ying Zheng was suggesting that they secure the home front before turning outward: seize power first, expand the borders later. It was the fastest course—and the riskiest. If it succeeded, Fan Ju wouldn’t have to wait two or three years. Once Lord Rang was removed, he could immediately take his place as chancellor.

If this had been the idle talk of a child, Fan Ju could have laughed it off. The trouble was, the plan sounded as though it had a good chance of succeeding. Worse still, Fan Ju himself enjoyed taking risks.

Fan Ju shook his head and laughed bitterly. “It seems my words have come true. Without danger on a grand scale, how can there be riches to match?”

“Enough. I’ll leave this problem for His Majesty to decide.” Fan Ju closed his eyes and tossed the question to Ying Ji.

In the end, whether to move against the Queen Dowager—and how to do it—was for the King to decide.

At that, Ying Zheng’s lips curved into a smile. He left the study with a light step.

On this point, he thought he understood his great-grandfather better than Fan Ju did. The man had been on the throne for thirty years, with the Queen Dowager looming over him and four powerful ministers embedded in the court. What ruler could endure that without resentment for thirty years?

I lasted only eight years in Zhao before I wanted to turn the whole state upside down.

“Fifty-eight…” Ying Zheng stood in the courtyard, gazing at the half-moon rising above the treetops. “That feels so far away.”

In the real world, he was barely eight. He had aged a little over a year in the instance, which made him not quite ten. He wasn’t even a fraction of his great-grandfather’s age.

No. 108 chose that moment to encourage him.

[The current King of Qin didn’t begin seizing power until he was fifty-eight. Even after twenty years, his name still resounded throughout the land.]

That was part of No. 108’s agreement with Ying Zheng. It couldn’t reveal their real identities inside an instance, so it had to refer to Ying Ji as “the King.” It couldn’t go around saying, “He’s my great-grandfather.”

Ying Zheng thought for a moment, then said seriously, “The King was once held hostage in Yan State. Queen Dowager Mi brought him back and put him on the throne. Other people looked down on him because of it, and now, nearly sixty years old, he still can’t rule alone.”

When someone gives you something, you end up under their thumb. He said the words so quickly and indistinctly that even the viewers in the Livestream Room didn’t catch them.

Then he changed the subject, making it sound like an offhand remark. “If I were King of Qin, I couldn’t stand waiting thirty years. I’d seize power as soon as I came of age.”

[Stream comment: Hahaha, the little streamer talks a big game for someone so young!]

[Stream comment: …But what if he really can do it? The advice he gave Fan Ju sounded pretty solid to me.]

[Stream comment: Any player who travels back in time can talk a good game. The guy next door who calls himself Wilderness Survival GOAT is still fleeing famine!]

No. 108 checked the records in its database: Ying Zheng had ascended the throne at thirteen, and after his coming-of-age ceremony at twenty-two, had quickly eliminated Lao Ai, Queen Dowager Zhao, and Lu Buwei’s faction.