"I wonder if Ying Xiao Mi has taken too much of your allotted lifespan. It hasn't been long, and now even you're failing."
The Qin Palace was solemn and silent.
Dowager Empress Huayang, Empress Dowager Zhao, Ying Zheng, and Prime Minister Lu Buwei sat quietly in the lower hall.
Only Verdant Green Maiden was unconstrained. She muttered under her breath as she looked at Ying Zichu, pale and weak on his sickbed. Such disrespectful words about King Zhaoxiang made everyone lower their heads, not daring to agree. Only Ying Zheng stared at Verdant Green Maiden, his gaze blazing.
"Cough, cough..."
Ying Zichu coughed incessantly.
Gripping Verdant Green Maiden's sleeve, he opened his mouth and said, "Master... protect my Zheng!"
It was a deathbed request much like Ying Zhu's, but the words were entirely different.
Perhaps he understood how much he owed Ying Zheng. For nearly half of his childhood, he, his Ruler and Father, had been absent from Ying Zheng's life.
Now Qin had lost two kings in three years, and many in the Six States of Shandong were stirring with ambition. Ying Zichu was deeply worried about Ying Zheng, who had ascended the throne while still a boy.
Verdant Green Maiden patted his hand. "Let go of me! Honestly, you're just like your father..."
She pulled her sleeve from Ying Zichu's grasp, then said, "Don't worry, don't worry. He's a child I watched grow up, so of course I'll keep him safe! You don't need to ask; I'd do it anyway."
Ying Zichu looked toward Ying Zheng, worry in his eyes.
Ying Zheng stepped forward and clasped Ying Zichu's hand. "Father, Zheng will not disappoint you or Master!"
Ying Zichu nodded faintly. "My son, you are destined to rule all under Heaven!"
In the third year of King Zhuangxiang's reign, the King died, and his son, Ying Zheng, ascended the throne.
The King's final decree appointed Verdant Green Maiden, Dowager Empress Huayang, and Empress Dowager Zhao as regents, until Ying Zheng came of age and took power himself.
The envoys of the Six Kingdoms once again set foot in the court of Great Qin.
They looked at the young boy on the throne, their expressions varied. In private, the Six States of Shandong all said that Qin's destruction of Zhou and its relocation of the Nine Cauldrons to Xianyang had brought down Heavenly Punishment upon it! The deaths of two kings in three years after King Zhaoxiang's passing were proof of this rumor!
The young King of Qin could not hold up the vast realm of Great Qin!
Ying Zheng sat high on the dais, looking down at the expressions of those below. Amid the vast crowd, he did not see the person he wanted to see.
He looked to his left and right, where Dowager Empress Huayang and Zhao Ji sat, and asked, "Where is Master?"
"Great King, at a time like this, you should not be thinking about Master!"
Dowager Empress Huayang knitted her brows, reminding Ying Zheng.
On the other side, Zhao Ji spoke to him quietly. "Master isn't here. Once the ceremony is over, you can go find her! Zheng, you are now the King of Qin. Your urgent task is to send these envoys from the Six Kingdoms on their way. Don't disappoint Master!"
Hearing this, Ying Zheng nodded faintly. "Zheng understands."
"Great King!"
Dowager Empress Huayang quietly reminded him again, "You should call yourself 'the lonely one'!"
The lonely one?
Alone in the world!
Ying Zheng fell silent. Once he took the throne, he would be alone in the world!
Verdant Green Maiden was not in the Qin Palace, or even in Xianyang. She was hunting in the countryside, with Hong Luan serving as her falcon. It was a shame she didn't have a big yellow dog. Perhaps she'd get Ying Zheng to find her one someday, so she could achieve the feat of leading a yellow hound on her left and carrying a falcon on her right.
When Hong Luan flew back with a wild rabbit in her claws, Verdant Green Maiden said to her, "Bird Sister, how about dyeing your feathers?"
"Make them black!"
At that, Hong Luan flung the rabbit straight at her face and cursed, "Go die, you Stupid Snake!"
Verdant Green Maiden ducked to dodge it and protested, "Can't you wish me well for once..."
As she spoke, Verdant Green Maiden spotted a company of Black Armored Qin Army riding toward them in the distance. Ying Zheng, dressed in his royal robe, rode at the front. His Black Gold Royal Robe snapped in the wind as he waved his whip and shouted, "Master—!!"
He hurriedly dismounted right in front of her. Verdant Green Maiden knitted her brows.
"You're King now. Why are you still so impatient?"
Ying Zheng tossed his riding crop to a soldier behind him and looked at Verdant Green Maiden, asking with a hint of grievance, "Master, why didn't you come to my accession ceremony?"
"I've seen plenty. It's boring."
Verdant Green Maiden shook her head. "I'm waiting for your Coronation Ceremony!"
"Coronation?"
Ying Zheng echoed, "Do you mean becoming Western Emperor like King Zhaoxiang? If that's what you want, Master, I'll declare myself Emperor right now!"
"No, no... What's so great about Western Emperor? It just sounds impressive. What I want is for you to surpass the Three Sovereigns in merit and the Five Emperors in virtue! I want you to become the Emperor of all under Heaven. When that day comes, I'll come to your ceremony without you even having to invite me!"
Verdant Green Maiden smiled as she told Ying Zheng what she hoped for.
When Ying Zheng heard her, a spark lit in his eyes. He solemnly made her a promise.
"Don't worry, Master. Whatever you want, I'll make it happen!"
Ying Zheng stared at her, eyes shining. Verdant Green Maiden smiled, her eyes curving into crescents, and patted his shoulder in praise. "Good, good. You're a promising young man!"
Ying Zheng stared at Verdant Green Maiden for a while, then suddenly smiled. "I'm taller than you now, Master!"
"You little brat... So what if you'll grow to be two meters tall with long legs?"
"Don't you know talking about height hurts people's feelings?"
Verdant Green Maiden's face fell. Turning away, she grumbled, "I want to be taller too, but what can I do when I only become five-foot-three as a human? You have no idea how many things I've tried! Nothing works! Why don't we compare our true forms? You'd be scared to death!"
Did she not want to be tall?
She'd been six feet tall in her previous life. What good had it done her? She'd opened her eyes and found herself turned into a female snake all the same!
Watching Verdant Green Maiden chatter on with her back to him, Ying Zheng couldn't stop smiling.
"Though Master may be short in stature, her abilities reach to the heavens."
Verdant Green Maiden: "..."
She ground her teeth, ready to hit someone.
But the brat had only just taken the throne today. He was a king, after all. If she beat him up in front of the Qin Army, the future First Emperor would lose all face!
Considering the brat's dignity, Verdant Green Maiden managed to hold her temper in check.
Ah, what a kind-hearted snake she was!
Suddenly, Ying Zheng grabbed Verdant Green Maiden by the shoulders and turned her around to face him. "Master! Don't be angry."
Verdant Green Maiden shook her head, glanced at the hand gripping her shoulder, and said, "Get your claws off me! If you don't, I'll chop them off! I'm your Master, after all. Even your senior fellow disciples wouldn't dare talk to me like this. You brat, have you no respect?"
"Who are those senior fellow disciples? Did you watch them grow up?"
Ying Zheng suddenly asked.
Verdant Green Maiden counted on her fingers. "Pang Juan, Sun Bin, Su Qin, Zhang Yi... Anyway, quite a few! But you're the only one I watched grow up!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Ying Zheng's somber expression brightened. He released her shoulder and waved to the Qin Army behind him. A soldier brought him a bow. "Are you hunting here, Master? Let me join you. I'll hunt a cow for you to eat!"
Verdant Green Maiden's eyes lit up. "Do you mean it?"
Ying Zheng nodded seriously. "Absolutely! Whatever you want, Master, I'll get it for you!"
Verdant Green Maiden raised two fingers, her eyes curved in a smile. "Can I have two?"
"Of course!"
Before you continue