[Various] The Deposed Crown Prince's Survival Story

Young Master Gao sobbed as he looked at the jerky forced into his hand, his little mouth opening as he began spitting out mouthfuls of saliva. (This is a novel with super-fast and stable updates, first published by...)

"Hey! How could you be so unhygienic? You sprayed my face with saliva! Father said that if someone sprays saliva on your face, you'll grow up with pockmarks." Fusu shouted, wiping the saliva off his face with his sleeve in a huff.

Gongzi Gao ignored Fusu and spat out a tooth mixed with blood and saliva from his mouth several more times. Upon closer inspection, it was a front tooth.

“The peach is hard, and the teeth are gone…” Young Master Gao turned his head to look at Madam Zhao and pointed at Fusu’s round face.

Lady Zhao, who wanted to hug Prince Gao, but was told by Ying Zheng that "children are just kids, they grow up together by playing around, don't interfere with their brotherly bond," gave Ying Zheng a troubled look and said, "Gao'er, what are you saying? That's your brother Fusu's face, not Taozi's. Hurry up and apologize to your brother."

"No! No! No! Peach! Peach! Peach! Hard!" Gongzi Gao said, reaching out to pinch Fusu's face.

Fusu was fat, and fat people usually have fair and tender skin, delicate flesh, rich nutrition, and delicious taste... Stop, in short, Young Master Fusu was a young master with smooth skin and flesh.

When Gongzi Gao tugged at Fusu's face, a red mark immediately appeared on his fair skin. Mi Yan felt heartbroken and wished she could hold her son in her arms and give him a loving rub.

"Children's business is none of our concern. Let the brothers make a fuss," Ying Zheng said softly, glancing at the two women on either side of him.

"Yes!" Mi Ji and Lady Zhao responded.

Because of Ying Zheng's intervention, no one disturbed Fusu and Prince Gao's argument, and their nonsensical conversation continued.

"How could this be a peach? What I am is..." Fusu pinched his chubby cheeks with both hands, pulling his face apart. When he let go, his cheeks bounced back to their original positions, the plump cheeks bouncing with delight. "A genuine thin-skinned, meat-filled bun face, do you understand what a bun face is? A big meat bun, full of youthful collagen, every bite is full of meat, so delicious."

As Fusu spoke, he slurped up a mouthful of saliva.

The forum users said that steamed buns are delicious, and that they even look like their own faces. But he had never eaten one, and then someone else mistook him for a steamed bun and tried to bite him. The other person even lost their own tooth and blamed him for the tough flesh.

My baby's meat is so tender, soft, and melts in your mouth; it's so delicious that I wish I could bite myself.

"Steamed buns... I've never had them." Gongzi Gao shook his head, still pointing at Fusu's chubby face, and said, "Peach, peach, peach, peach..."

"Father, I'm so upset, so sad, so heartbroken..." Fusu said, tilting his head and leaning into Ying Zheng's arms, his head buried in Ying Zheng's chest, his bottom sticking up high, and said aggrievedly, "Father, please comfort me."

This guy, a tough guy who's all about animal protein—no, I mean energy—is being compared to a sissy food like a peach! It's just unbearable!

Ying Zheng, who witnessed the entire conversation, was already laughing uncontrollably to himself, but since his son had already called for help from the sidelines, he could only say with a serious face: "Su'er, you are Gao'er's elder brother, and the eldest brother at that. An elder brother is like a father, so you should care for him and love him more."

"The eldest brother is like a father? What does that mean?" Fusu hugged Ying Zheng's waist, buried his head in his clothes, and said in a muffled voice.

"That is to say, as the eldest son of the King, you should assist the King in taking care of your younger siblings. When the King is not around, you should also take on the King's responsibility to take good care of your younger siblings and fulfill your duty of raising and educating them."

"Ah! Father, Su'er is only one year old!"

I gained a son at the age of one, becoming a father. It feels like... it feels like becoming a father right after getting married, or even being an unexpected father.

“Even a year older makes you an older brother,” Ying Zheng said with a smile, gently patting Fusu’s back. “Brothers should love each other, help each other, and not fight or quarrel, understand?”

Although Ying Zheng himself killed his brothers as ruthlessly as he killed chicks, as a father, he hoped to see all his children healthy, happy, and harmonious, and he absolutely did not want to see his children play the same game of fratricide as he had.

“But he’s stupid.” Fusu said with a hint of disdain in a voice only Ying Zheng could hear, “He’s not as smart as Su’er at all.”

"Then you should find a way to make him as smart as you. There's a saying, 'One who stays near vermilion becomes foolish, and one who stays near ink becomes black.' It means that you will gradually become like the person you spend the time with. If Gao'er plays with Su'er more, he might gradually become as smart as Su'er." Ying Zheng discovered that he also had a talent for fooling children.

"I see..." Fusu turned around, looking at the young master Gao, who was being held in Madam Zhao's arms, drooling and looking dumbfounded. He sighed and said with the expression and tone of a martyr before his execution, "For Father's sake, Su'er will risk becoming stupid and reluctantly play with my second brother for a while."

That's what they say, but in reality, Fusu didn't have much time to play with Gongzi Gao.

Because of the fact that Fusu was taken hostage by Zhao Ji, Ying Zheng felt guilty and showed unusual affection for Mi Ji during this period. As he showed her affection, Mi Ji's belly grew bigger.

Compared to the foolish young prince Gao, Fusu was more interested in the baby in Mi Ji's belly.

To prevent Mi Ji from giving birth to a foolish younger sibling, Fu Su decided that the baby's education should begin in the womb, and began to take a serious and responsible approach to Mi Ji's prenatal education—for example, telling stories to the baby in Mi Ji's belly every day.

At first, Mi Ji was not used to it at all, but Ying Zheng was very pleased that his eldest son, at such a young age, had such the demeanor of an elder brother. Not only did he not stop Fusu's behavior, but he also praised his behavior and even gave him a reward.

"Father, what kind of reward is this? This is torture!" The chubby, three-headed boy, forced to change into a formal suit, looked up at his father and said.

“Su’er, you mustn’t speak nonsense. Receiving foreign envoys is a serious matter; how can you be impolite? Moreover, this time it involves the monarchs of two countries.” Mi Ji, her belly protruding, bent down with difficulty to adjust Fusu’s ceremonial robes, and whispered, “Su’er, you must be good. Do whatever your father tells you to do, and listen to your father, understand?”

“Su’er has always been very well-behaved.” Two-year-old Fusu said with a pout, looking unhappy.

After saying that, Fusu turned to look at Ying Zheng standing beside him, grabbed his sleeve, and said coquettishly, "Father, am I right? Su'er has always been very good, hasn't she?"

"Good boy, good boy, good boy!" Looking at his adorable eldest son, Ying Zheng's mood, which had been terrible because of the affairs of the court, improved considerably. "Come on, let's go." Ying Zheng reached out his hand to Fusu and said with a smile, "Do you want your father to carry you?"

"No way! I'm a two-year-old big kid now, not some little kid who's only a year and a few months old." Fusu ran to Ying Zheng's side, grabbed his hand, and made a face at him.

Because of the good genes he inherited from Ying Zheng, and because although the food in Xianyang Palace wasn't great, there was plenty of meat, Fusu, although only two years old, was quite tall and looked like a five or six-year-old child.

Although he hasn't lost weight, he still has a chubby face, a round face and short arms, making him look like a little ball. But Fusu is full of spirit, especially his beautiful and expressive big eyes, which don't give people a feeling of being fat. Instead, they feel happy and blessed.

"You...you're such a little rascal." Ying Zheng reached out and gently pinched Fusu's nose.

Although Mi Ji was too pregnant to serve the emperor, Ying Zheng would visit her and her two children at Mi Ji's palace every few days because of Fu Su's favor with him. If he didn't have time to come himself, he would order someone to bring Fu Su to his own palace to play.

Relationships are built through interaction.

The relationship between Ying Zheng and Fusu is now much closer than it was a year ago, when it was purely based on blood ties.

As time went on, Ying Zheng treated Fusu better and better, even taking the two-year-old boy with him to personally receive foreign envoys from afar, King Jian of Qi and King Yan of Zhao.

Because of Qin's basic national policy of "befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones," Qi has been a close ally of Qin for decades. Back then, the King of Qi even echoed King Zhaoxiang of Qin, calling himself "Eastern Emperor" and "Western Emperor" from the east and west respectively. The relationship between Qi and Qin is still good, and they have often joined forces to bully other states.

Compared to the pure and sweet platonic friendship between Qi and Qin, the relationship between Qin and Zhao was much more complicated. The two countries shared the same roots and had once joined hands to fight against the Hu people when they were down on their luck. However, their relationship deteriorated after a major conflict at Changping.

A few years ago, the Qin state wanted to join forces with the Yan state to attack Zhao, but the envoys going to the Yan state had to pass through the Zhao state. So Lü Buwei sent a retainer to the Zhao state to ask for passage so that the envoys could pass through the Zhao state safely.

Normally, such a thing would be impossible even for a fool, but the retainer sent by Lü Buwei was very capable. He managed to change the plan from Qin and Yan joining forces to attack Zhao to Qin and Zhao joining forces to attack Yan. Moreover, Qin did not have to send a single soldier; it was all Zhao that sent troops to attack Yan. Qin could simply sit back and collect the land.

Afterwards, the young retainer named Gan Luo was granted the title of Shangqing (a high-ranking official).

This time, in order to congratulate Ying Zheng on assuming power, to inquire about the political direction of the young Qin ruler after he took over the country, and to show their regard for Qin as an ally, both the King of Qi and the King of Zhao personally went to Xianyang to pay homage to Ying Zheng.

Ying Zheng, together with Fusu, held a grand banquet at Xianyang Palace to entertain the two kings.

Just as everyone was enjoying their drinks, someone outside the palace announced that a man from the state of Qi named Mao Jiao was requesting an audience.