Ying Yiren was terrified.
He sought out Lu Buwei for help.
Lu Buwei did not hesitate either.
He and Ying Yiren had been using each other.
Ying Yiren coveted Lu Buwei's wealth.
Lu Buwei coveted Ying Yiren's status as a member of the Qin Dynasty royal family.
On a dark and windy night,
Lu Buwei eloped with Ying Yiren.
"Are we not taking Zheng'er and Zhao Ji with us?"
Before leaving, Ying Yiren asked unwillingly.
Lu Buwei shook his head. "Your Highness, the more people there are, the bigger the target. Safety must come first."
"Alas."
Ying Yiren let out a long sigh. "It can only be this way."
Lu Buwei spent a fortune bribing the guards at Handan's city gates.
Leaving Ying Zheng and Zhao Ji behind, he fled Handan overnight with Ying Yiren and headed straight for a nearby Qin Dynasty military camp.
Once they reached the Qin Dynasty camp, Ying Yiren's identity as royalty would naturally earn them the Qin army's protection.
And that was indeed the case.
Under the Qin army's escort, Ying Yiren and Lu Buwei safely arrived in Xianyang.
As for Zhao Ji and Ying Zheng...
At that moment, they knew nothing.
A widow and her orphaned child, left without support in the Zhao State, which regarded them as enemies—their circumstances were imaginable. They were utterly miserable!
They hid from place to place, concealed their identities, lived from hand to mouth, and endured each day as though it were a year.
During this period, Zhao Ji truly deserved the title of "mother."
A mother became strong for her child.
Though she was a frail woman, a lowly dancing girl, she still protected Ying Zheng and raised him to adulthood.
In the blink of an eye, five years passed.
Ying Zheng was now seven