[Various] The Deposed Crown Prince's Survival Story

It was nighttime, the stars and moon shone brightly, the full moon hung high in the sky, and moonlight fell from the heavens like a beam of light, shining through the window and landing on the cold, handsome face of a young man.

The man was about twenty years old, with handsome features, sword-like eyebrows and phoenix eyes, a tall and upright figure, and fair and healthy skin. Bathed in the moonlight, he looked like a god.

"Your Majesty, it is late. You should change your clothes and rest." A ghostly figure emerged from the darkness, knelt behind the man, and spoke.

The man addressed as "Your Majesty" responded and flicked his sleeves, preparing to leave the window, when he saw a strange star in the sky suddenly appear.

A white light, trailing a long tail, swept across the eastern night sky like a broom.

In an instant, the stars paled in comparison, and even the moon could not obscure its brilliance.

A look of shock appeared on the man's indifferent face. His long, strong hands gripped the windowsill tightly, his knuckles turning slightly white. His sharp, hawk-like eyes were fixed on the white light in the sky, watching it rage across the eastern sky, stretching from west to east, and then getting closer and closer to the ground, as if it were about to fall.

No! It really did fall!

The man clearly saw the white light disappear into the sky above Xianyang Palace.

"A jinx!"

From the *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Annals of Qin Shi Huang": In the seventh year, a comet first appeared in the east, then in the north, and in the fifth month in the west. General Ao died. He then attacked Long, Gu, and Qingdu, and returned his troops to attack Ji. The comet reappeared in the west for sixteen days. Empress Dowager Xia died.

The ancient "broom star," now known as a "comet," is a rare and unusual astronomical phenomenon.

The "broom star" that the man saw was even more extraordinary. It was Halley's Comet, which has been talked about by countless people in later generations. It returns to Earth every seventy years or so, and 99% of people on Earth can only see it once in their lifetime.

For modern people, seeing a comet at night is at most a matter of taking a few photos and posting them on Weibo or WeChat Moments to show off. Apart from having a few more topics to talk about later, it doesn't serve much purpose. However, for ancient people, the appearance of a comet meant that disaster was imminent, whether it was a natural calamity or a catastrophe. In any case, everything was inauspicious, and everyone should be careful.

Therefore, in the "Annals of Qin Shi Huang", Halley's Comet became a "scapegoat", silently bearing the blame for the deaths of Meng Ao and Empress Dowager Xia.

It was precisely because he remembered the comet's various "misdeeds" in the past that the man panicked unusually when he saw the comet disappear into the sky above Xianyang Palace.

Actually, the man really didn't need to panic this time, because Halley's Comet wasn't coming to Earth to do anything bad; it was coming to act as a fertility goddess—although people in this era didn't know what "Guanyin" was.

On Halley's Comet, which has come to Earth, there is an alien from a distant Virgo galaxy called "Star Planet," who is attached to it in the form of radio waves. They are preparing to descend to Earth with Halley's Comet and attach themselves to the inhabitants of Earth so that they can observe them up close.

The alien was not very knowledgeable. The first thing he saw when he arrived on Earth was the Xianyang Palace, which was said to "cover three hundred miles". At the same time, he sensed that there was a small embryo in the Xianyang Palace that was just developing but not very healthy and could be miscarried at any time. The weak constitution of the small embryo was just right for him, who was now low on energy, to possess it.

So the alien happily possessed the embryo and actively used its remaining energy to transform the embryo's constitution.

Star and Blue Star belong to the Virgo Supercluster and are also the only two planets in this galaxy with intelligent life. Unlike Star, which is technologically advanced, Blue Star is still in a primitive stage. Therefore, although Star longs to communicate with Blue Star, it is afraid that its presence will interfere with Blue Star's natural evolution.

Therefore, every so often, Star can only send a few Star People to Blue Star to disguise themselves as Blue Star people, blend in among them, observe their behavior and interests, and provide intelligence for future communication between Star and Blue Star.

Because of the unpredictable nature of evolution, Star and Earth are now two planets with completely different social customs and human geography. Therefore, when Star people come to Earth, their logical thinking often leads them to make one strange assumption or another when facing Earth people.

For example, at this moment, the current observer is like creating a secondary account in an online game, enthusiastically tailoring his favorite character design for his future body.

Hmm, I just saw a wall made of stone by the Earthlings from the sky. To be able to build such a long wall with such big and heavy stones, the Earthlings must be quite strong. So, is the power of this embryo designed to be... one ton... a bit too little? However, the brothers in the fandom who have been to Earth as observers all say that the Earthlings have a trend of handsome, refined young men.

If it's a pretty boy, one ton should be enough; any more would violate his character.

Soon, nine months passed, and Lady Mi's pregnancy was due.

Lady Mi was a princess of the State of Chu and the current Queen Dowager of Qin. She was the grandniece of Queen Dowager Huayang, the grandmother of King Ying Zheng of Qin. Three years ago, she came to Xianyang with princesses and noble ladies from five other states to participate in Ying Zheng's selection ceremony for the Queen of Qin.

Unfortunately, because of Ying Zheng's statement that "whoever gives birth to the eldest son first will be the queen," none of them were able to ascend to the position of queen.

Thanks to the Empress Dowager Xuan, in the past few decades, the people of Chu have not only gained great power in the Qin court, but the Qin king's harem has also been filled with young women from Chu.

Empress Dowager Huayang, who had been instrumental in Ying Zheng's ascension to the throne, was a highly respected elder of the royal family and ultimately held sway over the Chu faction in the Qin court, was one such figure.

Having a powerful maternal family makes things easier. With such a powerful aunt who rarely interferes in state affairs, Lady Mi not only holds a high position among the many new wives, but even Ying Zheng has to look at her with special regard.

Under these circumstances, Lady Mi was already six months pregnant not long after entering the palace, and the imperial physician said, "It's most likely a boy."

Young master! This is the eldest son!

Lady Mi was overjoyed, eagerly awaiting the birth of her eldest son, who would then ascend to the position of queen through his mother's status. However, unexpectedly, "misfortune struck from the sky while she was sitting at home." Someone in the court, citing the "five states' alliance against Qin earlier this year," advised Ying Zheng to send his son as a hostage to the State of Qi in exchange for an alliance between Qi and Qin.

For a mother, this is simply unbearable!

If she weren't heavily pregnant, Lady Mi would have loved to slap that shameless bastard to death.

Send your son as a hostage to the State of Qi! Why don't you send your own son as a hostage?

The term "prince" refers to the sons of the current King of Qin and the sons of the previous King of Qin.

The previous Qin prince, Prince Chu, died young, leaving only three children: Ying Zheng and two sons, the second prince, Chang'an Jun Chengjiao, and the third prince, Ziying.

Logically speaking, it would have been acceptable to use Chengjiao and Ziying as hostages, but Chengjiao was recently executed for treason, leaving only Ying Zheng and Ziying as the bloodline of the former king.

Because of Cheng Jiao's death, rumors circulated throughout the Qin court that "Ying Zheng was not the son of the former king, but the son of Lü Buwei, and that he killed Cheng Jiao to eliminate the bloodline of the former king." Therefore, if Ying Zheng were to send Ziying to Qi as a hostage at this time, most people would believe that the rumor was true and that the king was busy eliminating the bloodline of the former king.

Now the question arises: since Ziying, as a brother, cannot be a hostage, the only person who can be a hostage is Ying Zheng's son.

For a moment, everyone's eyes were fixed on the baby in Lady Mi's belly, for the imperial physician had said, "It's probably a little prince."

As a mother, who would want their child to be handed over to the state as a hostage before even being born?

In a fit of anger, Lady Mi went into premature labor.

Lady Mi was beautiful and charming, and was greatly favored by Ying Zheng. In addition, she was of noble birth and was carrying his eldest son. Ying Zheng, who was becoming a father for the first time, was extremely nervous.

Although he didn't pace anxiously like fathers outside delivery rooms in later generations, but instead sat calmly in his study, holding a scroll of bamboo slips...

But in the eyes of Zhao Gao, who knew Ying Zheng's personality well, hehe... even the ruler who had always only loved Legalism had started reading the Analects, which he hated the most.

Ying Zheng sat in his study, "reading" the Analects of Confucius while patiently awaiting news of his child's birth.

He waited from midday until the moon was high in the sky, only absentmindedly consuming two bowls of porridge before ordering the almost untouched meal to be taken away.

"Your Majesty, it is late at night, you should rest," Zhao Gao said cautiously, glancing at the hourglass.

"What about Mi Ji..." Before Ying Zheng could finish speaking, he heard hurried footsteps coming from outside the palace.

Ying Zheng gave Zhao Gao a wink, and Zhao Gao immediately withdrew from the hall. After a while, Zhao Gao walked in with a joyful expression, knelt on the ground and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations, Your Majesty! May the ancestors of the Ying family bless you with the birth of your eldest son, and may both mother and child be safe and sound."

"Really? That's wonderful! Prepare the carriage! I'm going to visit Mi Ji!" Ying Zheng stood up abruptly, his face beaming with joy.

Ying Zheng was very happy, but the midwives in the delivery room were extremely anxious.

Because... the newly born eldest son doesn't cry.

Every baby cries when they are born. If a child doesn't cry, it means that the child is unhealthy or has a defect. How could the eldest son of the Qin Dynasty be an unhealthy or defective child?

To get the eldest son to cry, the midwives tried all sorts of methods, and one even dared to pinch his bottom, but the eldest son remained silent and quiet, as if the outside world had nothing to do with him.

Oh no, could it be that the eldest son has been in the womb for too long and has become stupid?

———————————————— Additionally, considering modern reading habits, many Qin Dynasty titles have been modified (for example, Qin people wouldn't casually address others as "Sir," commoners would call them "Qianshou," they wouldn't refer to themselves as "Xiaguan," and there were no titles like "Father" or "Grandmother"), so please don't correct me anymore; I know I was wrong.

I always miss the author's note and point out errors, so I've included it in the main text.