[Various] The Deposed Crown Prince's Survival Story

After hearing Lu Sheng's plan, Hou Sheng and Han Zhong felt as if the door to a new world was slowly being opened by Lu Sheng's powerful imagination.

"This... seems to be..."

"Although it may sound absurd at first, it's not something you can't try..."

"That's right, but we need to organize our thoughts to convince His Majesty."

"Well... now His Majesty listens to us without question, so persuading him shouldn't be difficult."

"Then, should we tell His Highness the Crown Prince?"

The three of them fell silent for a moment, then looked at each other in bewilderment. It seemed inappropriate to make such a big decision on their own, but it seemed even more inappropriate to inform His Highness the Crown Prince.

What should I do?

After thinking for a while, Lu Sheng said, "Forget it, let's not tell His Highness the Crown Prince."

"Why?" Hou Sheng pointed at Lu Sheng and said sternly, "Are you trying to take matters into your own hands and deceive His Highness the Crown Prince? Or do you have ulterior motives?"

"No, no, don't talk nonsense." Lu Sheng waved his hands and said helplessly, "I just think that His Highness the Crown Prince is filial and kind. If he knew about our plan, he would not only disagree, but would also try to sabotage it. Therefore, rather than making His Highness hesitate, wouldn't it be better for us to strike first and then talk to His Highness after it's done?"

Lu Sheng's words made Han Sheng and the others nod repeatedly. After a discussion, the three of them quickly came up with a plan to talk to Ying Zheng.

Lu Sheng and the other two first prepared an altar, and then told Ying Zheng that this year would be filled with misfortune, so the three of them decided to ask Heaven for a heavenly book, and Ying Zheng would come to see it.

It was a dark and windy night. On the Yin-Yang altar at Mount Li, Ying Zheng, dressed in the robes of a Taoist priest, knelt before the altar where the three sacrificial animals had been laid out, his hands clasped together as he repeatedly reported something to Heaven.

If someone gets close, they might hear keywords like "death," "elixir of immortality," and "Mars guarding the heart."

Beside Ying Zheng, Lu Sheng and the others, with disheveled hair and bare feet, held peach wood swords and chanted incantations as they sang and danced around the altar.

At the climax of the song, Lu Sheng and the other two suddenly pointed their peach wood swords at a small flowerpot on the altar.

There was a green seedling in the small flowerpot. Ying Zheng didn't recognize what kind of seedling it was, but he thought it was lush and particularly cute.

"Long!" Lu Sheng and the other two exclaimed in unison.

Then, something that Ying Zheng could hardly imagine happened. The seedlings, which were originally only about a foot tall, began to grow rapidly toward the sky, and they grew longer and longer, winding upwards like a pillar of heaven. Before long, the top of the seedlings could no longer be seen.

Ying Zheng raised his eyebrows and looked at Qing Miao. Although his expression remained calm, his breathing became heavier, indicating that he was not at peace.

"Open!" Lu Sheng and the other two shouted in unison.

The seedlings, which originally only had leaves, suddenly sprouted countless flower buds in that instant. Then the buds bloomed, and the whole tree was covered with red flowers. A gentle night breeze carried the fragrance of the flowers, and Ying Zheng seemed to smell it.

Before Ying Zheng could figure out what kind of flower was emitting the fragrance, a gust of wind blew in, causing all the flowers on the tree to sway and fall, creating a beautiful and colorful scene.

"Stop!" Lu Sheng and the other two shouted again.

The seedlings began to wither and shrink, becoming tiny and tiny. Before long, the seedlings that had reached the sky had returned to their original size of about a foot tall.

Ying Zheng rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The seedling was still the same seedling. Everything just now seemed like a dream. However, the celestial book that had appeared on the seedling seemed to be telling Ying Zheng that none of this was an illusion.

"This is truly amazing! This is the first time I have ever seen such a wondrous sight! You three gentlemen are truly living gods!" Ying Zheng clapped his hands, his face flushed, his voice excited and somewhat incoherent.

Lu Sheng and the other two exchanged glances, their eyes revealing a sense of relief.

To perform illusions in front of an emperor requires not only superb acting skills but also excellent mental fortitude; otherwise, one could easily malfunction due to nervousness.

Fortunately, the three of them had gotten used to deceiving Ying Zheng, so they were calm and focused when they did it, and they could also make up for any mistakes made by their teammates in time, which allowed them to work together to coax Ying Zheng.

This illusion technique was learned by Lu Sheng and the other two from a man from the Western Regions. This man not only knew how to make flowers bloom instantly, but also how to cut out tongues, breathe fire, and sever heads. Each of these techniques was extremely exquisite, so realistic that it was easy for people to believe them.

For someone like Fusu, such an illusion would at most elicit a comment like, "Although it looks very real, it's definitely not real. I just haven't figured out the scientific principles behind it yet. I'll think about it when I get home."

However, Ying Zheng, who had been fooled by Lu Sheng and the other two for several years and was still being fooled, was so bewitched by the illusion that he almost worshipped Lu Sheng and the other two as gods.

Therefore, when Lu Sheng and the other two handed the heavenly book on the green seedlings to Ying Zheng, Ying Zheng had no doubt about the words written on the heavenly book.

"The Jade Purity Nourishing Life Classic? What is this?" Ying Zheng asked Lu Sheng and the other two with a puzzled look, holding the heavenly book in his hand.

Lu Sheng was the first to kneel on the ground, kowtowing several times and saying, "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

Ying Zheng waved his sleeve, signaling Lu Sheng to stand up and speak, "What brings you joy? Quickly tell me... tell this true man."

"Your Majesty, Yuqing refers to Yuqing Yuanshi Tianzun, who is one of the Three Pure Ones, the highest deities in Taoism." It was not Lu Sheng who spoke, but Han Zhong, who was standing to the side.

Han Zhong had the face of a kind and honest elder, and now he was using that very trustworthy face to deceive people. "The Jade Purity Nourishing Life Classic says that this classic was specially bestowed upon Your Majesty by the Primordial Heavenly Venerable to help Your Majesty overcome this calamity."

"Really?" Ying Zheng's hand holding the celestial book began to tremble, his eyes gleaming with an emotion called "ecstasy." "I...I am simply too..."

"Your Majesty must not question the Primordial Heavenly Lord!" Lu Sheng roared, interrupting Ying Zheng sharply. "Otherwise, if the Primordial Heavenly Lord becomes angry, the scriptures will lose their effect."

"Yes, yes, yes! Yuanshi Tianzun, please don't be angry! This mortal Qin Zheng misspoke." Ying Zheng gripped the Heavenly Book tightly with a look of fear, as if he was afraid that Yuanshi Tianzun might make the book lose its effect in a fit of anger.

Just as Lu Sheng and Han Zhong were trying to persuade Ying Zheng with their words, Hou Sheng, who had been frowning and silent all along, suddenly spoke up: "No! Relying solely on scriptures won't do!"

Ying Zheng was startled by Hou Sheng's words and immediately turned to look at him, asking, "What do you mean, sir?"

Hou Sheng looked at Ying Zheng, a hint of hesitation on his face.

Ying Zheng, being astute, immediately guessed that Hou Sheng had a secret addiction he couldn't tell anyone, and promptly said, "Please speak freely, sir, I won't blame you."

"In that case, I will... speak frankly." Hou Sheng said, giving Ying Zheng a sympathetic look that made Ying Zheng feel a chill run down his spine, as if he were made of ice.

As Hou Sheng spoke, he carefully chose his words, “Although the scriptures can avert death, the calamity of Mars guarding the heart cannot be avoided. After all, Mars guarding the heart is aimed at the emperor. As long as Your Majesty is the emperor, the calamity of Mars guarding the heart will be there.”

"You mean... if I want to avoid this calamity, I must..." Ying Zheng's body jolted, and then his sharp gaze fell on the three of them. An inexplicable aura emanated from him, pressing down on Lu Sheng and the other two.

The three knew that the moment had come, so although they were intimidated by Ying Zheng's imposing presence, they remained calm and looked at him with peaceful eyes, showing no sign of anything amiss.

Ying Zheng restrained his dignified demeanor, remained silent for a while, and then suddenly asked, "If I abdicate, will the calamity of Mars guarding the heart befall Su'er?"

"Logically, that should be the case, but Your Majesty should know that His Highness the Crown Prince comes from an extraordinary background and is a lucky person. Lucky people are naturally blessed by Heaven. The calamity of Mars guarding the heart would be a death sentence for Your Majesty, but for His Highness the Crown Prince, it would only be a tribulation. Although it is difficult, there is a way to resolve it," Hou Sheng explained.

"This... allow me some time to think about it," Ying Zheng said, waving his hand with a somewhat forlorn expression.

Lu Sheng and the other two also knew that this matter could not be rushed. They could only let Ying Zheng figure it out himself. Forcing him would only cause more trouble.

Half a month later, Ying Zheng, who rarely attended court and had been living in seclusion in the palace, suddenly issued an imperial edict, abdicating the throne to Crown Prince Fusu. From then on, Crown Prince Fusu became the Second Emperor of Qin and styled himself "Retired Emperor".

At the same time, Ying Zheng also announced that after the coronation ceremony of Qin Er Shi Fusu, he would move to the new palace in Shanglin Garden and would no longer concern himself with state affairs.

The imperial edict caused an uproar throughout the land.

No one knew that Ying Zheng, who was in the prime of his life, suddenly abdicated. For a time, the court officials started to speculate wildly, discussing what had triggered Ying Zheng's actions. Was he perhaps humiliated by the little prince again, and that's why he couldn't think straight?

The Qin prince, who was kneeling before his father's palace with all his officials, begging Ying Zheng to retract his decree, exclaimed, "I'm so damn wronged! Who slapped him? He's so thick-skinned, what's the point of slapping him? If slapping someone would lead to abdication, Ying Zheng would have abdicated eight hundred years ago!"

Fortunately, while the speculation is wild, no one has guessed that Ying Zheng's abdication was caused by Fusu. Otherwise, why would His Majesty have rarely attended court in recent years? This can be seen as an affirmation of the father-son relationship between them.

Fusu led his civil and military officials to kneel at the palace gate for several hours. Under the scorching sun, several elderly and frail officials collapsed behind him with a "thump, thump".

Just as Fusu was pondering whether to resort to a "crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide" tactic to force Ying Zheng to come out, Zhao Gao's figure finally appeared at the palace gate.

Fusu let out a long breath and spoke to Zhao Gao in the tone of seeing a relative: "Zhao Ling, you've finally arrived. Are you here to convey the Emperor's decree? Does the Emperor wish to see us?"

“Your Highness, the Emperor has already slipped out the back door, so you… well…” Zhao Gao stammered, “There’s no need to kneel anymore, kneeling won’t… be of any use… cough cough.”