General Wang said to Meng Yi with a wry smile, "General Meng, we have no personal grudges against each other. We are both subjects of the King, so you must understand me."
Meng Yi sighed and said, "I understand..." Then he glanced behind him and said, "Principal Xiao, what do you think we should do?"
I said, "Let's wait and see when the new orders arrive."
I find it strange too. The two orders were issued less than 10 minutes apart. Logically, this shouldn't have happened. Could it be that the allure of the herbal medicine is starting to fluctuate more frequently?
Eunuch Xu stared blankly at General Wang and asked, "Why haven't you made a move yet?"
I chuckled and said, "I've never seen a eunuch as clueless as you before. Can't you see the situation clearly?"
Only then did Eunuch Xu glance at the scene and see General Wang and his few pitiful men surrounded by us in layers. He couldn't help but scream, "Do you dare to rebel?"
I was furious at the sight of him and ordered, "Drag him down! You neither-male-nor-female thing!" After saying that, I quickly turned to the first eunuch who came to deliver the decree and said with a smile, "Your Excellency, I wasn't talking about you."
The eunuch chuckled, "It's alright. Although I was born a boy, once that filthy thing is cut off, I'll be a woman." He then glanced contemptuously at Eunuch Xu, who had already been pulled off his horse by the soldiers, "Who's like him, that neither-male-nor-female thing!"
I shuddered and asked, "I haven't yet asked for your honorable name, Father-in-law."
The female eunuch covered her mouth and giggled, "What do you mean by surname and given name? Everyone around the king is his servant. But before I was castrated, I did have a common name, Zhao Gao."
I almost collapsed, unable to catch my breath. Before I could say anything, another eunuch appeared from afar, frantically waving his arms across his chest and shouting, "By order of the King, General Wang, return to the palace immediately! You are not to set foot in the Xiao Mansion..."
This time, before General Wang could give the order, his men hurriedly put away their weapons. Meng Yi's army seemed somewhat used to this, and easily lifted the encirclement. The soldiers on both sides looked at each other, both amused and exasperated.
General Wang sighed and sheathed his sword, saying, "You know, Your Majesty..." He didn't finish his sentence, but it was probably not a compliment. He cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards me and said, "Xiao... that principal, I'd better hurry back and see what's going on. Who can withstand this onslaught?"
I smiled and said, "No rush, I'll go back with you."
Seeing that I was basically not going to die, a group of old men gathered around me again, one telling me to wear more clothes, another urging me to take care of myself. Li XX, who had almost successfully seduced me with the "pot-knee woman," stepped forward and said with boundless enthusiasm, "King Qi, my daughter is actually quite beautiful..."
I quickly waved my hand: "Please don't stand on ceremony." Putting aside the matter of the pancakes, I can't handle this father-in-law who's like a barometer of the weather. In the future, I'll try to get along with these old men if I can, and if not, I'll keep my distance. This isn't a political novel.
I went back to my room to change my pants, took the two sharpened swords and the prepared blood pouches, and led Meng Yi's troops and General Wang and the others into the palace.
In the short time I went inside to change clothes, two more eunuchs arrived at the Xiao Mansion. Naturally, one was there to deliver the order to kill me, and the other to cancel it. By now, Meng Yi and General Wang's men were already used to this. As soon as the order to kill me came, both sides smiled and pretended to draw their weapons. If someone else rode up on horseback, they would put away their weapons before the other side could even speak. At first, they enjoyed it, but later they all got tired of it—on the way from the Xiao Mansion to Xianyang Palace, we received no fewer than a dozen imperial edicts, some ordering executions and others pardons. Moreover, due to the different riding skills or routes taken by the eunuchs, there were instances where two consecutive edicts were either both ordering executions or both ordering pardons.
Later, the soldiers who accompanied me into the palace began to find amusement in this. Whenever they saw someone approaching, they would wink and chuckle at each other, "Hey, do you think this decree is for execution or pardon?"
Chapter 100 Jing Ke's Assassination Attempt on the King of Qin
As we arrived at Xianyang Palace, people continued to rush out of it. I was immediately faced with a dilemma: should I go in or not, given the current situation?
A eunuch stood at the palace gate with his hands at his sides. When he saw us arrive, he smiled and said, "His Majesty said that if Xiao Qiang comes, he can come in without worry."
I turned to Meng Yi and General Wang and said, "You've seen the situation. If the King tries to kill me again when we go inside, you'll have to protect me."
Meng Yi couldn't help but feel uneasy. If he openly disobeyed orders after entering the Qin King's palace, the situation would be completely different.
I patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I won't do anything reckless, and I certainly won't hurt your king."
Meng Yi said, "Then it's settled. As long as your orders don't harm the King, I will carry them out without hesitation."
That being said, still unsure of what was going on, I cautiously approached the place where we had parted ways. Li Si was pacing around the entrance. I called out tentatively, "Li...Doctor?"
When Li Si saw it was me, he gestured towards the house and said, "Come in quickly, the king and the others are waiting for you."
Li Si seemed to be in a lucid state, so I asked him, "Brother Li, what exactly happened?"
To everyone's surprise, Li Si's eyes lit up, and he suddenly looked a little timid, saying, "So it's the King of Qi. Please come in."
Well, that wave has just passed.
When I entered the room, I saw Fatty Ying and Jing Ke sitting opposite each other. My heart was at ease for a moment, but I still stood at the door and tentatively asked, "Your Majesty... what brings you here?"
Fatty Ying raised his hand and said, "Xiao Qiang, come in."
I was finally relieved and went over to sit between the two of them, saying, "You scared me to death! What are you two up to?"
Qin Shi Huang said, "I was so hungry just now that my head was all messed up."
I said, "Do you know what you've done?"
Qin Shi Huang said, "I know. But there are some things I'll forget very quickly."
"Do you remember all the orders you gave to kill me?"
The fat man said embarrassedly, "I know, but I'll correct it right away, won't I?"
I said, "Yes, making mistakes, correcting them, then making the same mistakes again—that's pretty much the style of your leader." Then I asked, "How often does this happen?"
The fat man said, "Sometimes twice a minute, sometimes once every two minutes."
I exclaimed in surprise, "So high? Wouldn't you be going crazy going back and forth like that?"
I suddenly remembered what Liu Xiazhi had told me: after consuming the Temptation Grass, there would indeed be severe aftereffects for a period of time, like a fever, with alternating chills and fever, and a feeling of wavering between past and present lives. However, Fatty's situation was somewhat special; regardless of his past or present life, he was Qin Shi Huang, the only difference being whether he recognized me, Xiao Qiang. Consequently, the orders to kill or not kill repeatedly clashed.
I looked at Ersha and asked, "What about you? What were you doing just now?"
Ersha said firmly, "I think he's acting crazy."
I chuckled and said, "It's a good thing Brother Ying didn't kill you."
At this moment, Li Si walked in and said, "Your Majesty has heard that there is a King of Qi in Qin, and he no longer cares about killing others—in fact, we should also be glad that Jing Ke did not kill Your Majesty."
I slapped my thigh, secretly relieved. The fat man, upon hearing someone proclaim themselves king, disregarded everything else. Even seeing Jing Ke, he saw him merely as a foreign envoy. But Jing Ke had plenty of opportunities to kill Qin Shi Huang!