It is said that Qin Shihuang was controlled by a daughter

Chapter 529: Pawns in Front of the Horse
In the third year of the emperor's reign, in winter, the Empress Dowager was formally laid to rest and buried in Zhiyang, where she was buried with Prince Zhuangxiang.

The death knell tolled, and the highest officials and nobles attended the ceremony.

Xu Zhi alighted from the carriage and saw that Ganquan Palace had changed color. The palace stood dark and gloomy against the gray and white sky, the music was somber, and the cries were endless, such was the desolation of the world.

The palace maids lowered their heads.

Only members of the Ying clan were allowed inside the palace. As they ascended the steps, the royal robes were all adorned with white mourning clothes. Ying Teng, holding a staff, strode over and said, "Your Highness, I have kept this old minister waiting. His Majesty the Emperor and the eldest son are both inside. Princess, please enter the palace quickly."

"How has Father been these days?"

“Princess,” Ying Teng hesitated, but still couldn’t help but advise, “When you enter the palace, you must be careful with your words and actions.”

As Xu Zhi stepped into the dark hall, the court officials all turned to look at her, including several older men she had never seen before. She suddenly understood what Ying Teng meant by being cautious in her words and actions.

Ying Zheng seemed to have aged considerably, and the weariness in his eyes suddenly tugged at her heartstrings.

Many words were on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't say them. A twelve-year-old daughter and a twenty-two-year-old daughter are ultimately different.

After a long silence, she could only follow the crowd and say, "Father, please accept my condolences."

Ying Zheng looked at her, and according to Zhao Gao, Ying Hehua's condition was confirmed because she had gone to Fufeng.

Zhang Liang entrusted the scroll containing the Hetu and Luoshu to the Qin state through Zheng Guo, and offered Zheng Li the antidote as a bargaining chip for self-preservation. Everything was aimed at mitigating his danger.

But ever since Ying Zheng read the half-scroll of the "Book of Forecast" that was passed to him, his suspicion has never faded.

—'Zhang Liang, Marquis of Liu, overthrew the tyrannical Qin Dynasty and became the foremost minister of the Han Dynasty.'

Marquis Liu, Zhang Liang.

In fact, before the prophecy could even appear, seven years earlier, after investigating the Bolangsha incident, Ying Zheng had already ordered the extermination of the Zhang clan.

He never expected that his daughter would devise a scheme to secretly eliminate Zhang Liang's political affiliation and sever his memories, thus sending him away from Xianyang.

Zhang Liang heeded and practiced Qin's political theories, leading the way in relocating the former nobles of Han to Qin territory. However, an accident occurred on the way: the wife of General Han Cheng, a relative of the King of Han, was unexpectedly killed by bandits.

Aside from Zhang Liang and Liu Bang, the village head who was in charge of escorting the child, probably no one knows where that infant is now...

After a while, Xu Zhi heard Ying Zheng order Zhao Gao to escort her to Zheng Li's palace.

Zhao Gao stood to the side, his gloomy gaze sweeping over, like a wild beast lurking in the night.

"This servant will escort Your Highness this far. It is thanks to Your Highness's ability to do what ordinary people cannot. What the eldest son cannot do, Your Highness can do. Your Highness must have paid a heavy price to get help from others."

Xu Zhi retorted, "You flatter me, Prefect. However, the matter of the Empress Dowager's illness is indeed suspicious. I wonder if the palace investigation has yielded any results?"

Zhao Gao's face darkened, but soon he raised an eyebrow and said with a hint of a smile, "The Empress's serious illness may be closely related to her lifespan. I wonder if the princess knows the secret behind it?"

"While lifespan is determined by Heaven, it is also a matter of human effort. If the Prefect carefully considers whether his actions are appropriate, Hehua believes that the Prefect may be able to live out his natural lifespan in peace."

Perhaps, it is possible...

She was being sarcastic, but her words prevented Zhao Gao from retaliating.

He said nonchalantly, "If that's the case, then if one searches diligently, one can live as long as the heavens. Your Majesty, I sincerely hope your wish will be fulfilled."

Looking at Ying Hehua's slightly stiff back, Zhao Gao gradually smiled. There was one thing he was now certain of—Ying Hehua, like Li Xian, was someone who had lived another life.

People who come from the past are different from those like Zhao Gao who foresaw the future outcome.

The Qin Dynasty fell. In this tragedy built on bloodshed, everyone had their own enemy.

For Zhao Gao, Ying Hehua had every reason to put him to death.

We need to eliminate the danger before she makes a move.

"Prefect. The Inspector has been waiting for you for a long time."

Zhao Gao's smile vanished, and when he turned away, his tearful act was completely gone, leaving only a turbulent gloom in his eyes, much like the lingering, cold clouds outside the palace. A thin layer of snow had accumulated under the eaves of the Censorate. Li Xian stood before the steps, a few snowflakes clinging to his dark official robes, his plain white mourning sash swaying slightly in the wind, adding to the somber atmosphere even more so than the imperial family members inside the palace.

"Ah. It seems Lord Li has thought this through very well. I see your eye injury has healed. Congratulations."

"Thanks to the prefect who brought Xu Fu here."

“I did not intend to steal Lord Li’s credit. It was not His Majesty’s request, but rather an urgent matter.” Zhao Gao smiled insincerely. He thought for a moment, “Just now I was escorting the princess to the Empress’s palace in a hurry.”

“Prefect Zhao.” Li Xian raised his hand and brushed the snow off his sleeves, seemingly unconcerned about Ying Hehua’s presence. His voice was as flat as a frozen lake. “I just received a secret report that when the Empress Dowager’s coffin passed through Baqiao, a eunuch secretly carried something he shouldn’t have. I was just about to ask Prefect Zhao to take a look.”

Zhao Gao was interrupted as he tried to use Ying Hehua as a starting point, and his face immediately fell with sorrow. "Your Excellency is joking. During the Empress Dowager's mourning period, who would dare to commit such a treasonous act? Could it be that someone is trying to use this to cause trouble and disrupt the rituals of the national mourning?"

As he spoke, his gaze lingered on Li Xian like a venomous snake—like Ying Hehua, he thought he could rewrite something with the help of the "prophet," unaware that he had already been drawn into the ending he had foreseen.

Li Xian stepped aside, revealing the clerk behind him holding a wooden box.

The box was opened, revealing half of a tiger tally stained with ink. The character "Gao" engraved on the corner had been scraped by a sharp weapon, but it was still legible.

Li Xian's fingertip touched the talisman. "The Prefectural Magistrate is in charge of the palace security. He should know which Imperial Guard unit is assigned to this half of the tiger tally, right?"

Zhao Gao's pupils contracted, then relaxed, and he even laughed out loud: "Oh dear, isn't this Zhao Cheng's thing, who was demoted to the border by His Majesty a few days ago? He is my distant nephew, who has always been restless. I'm afraid he holds a grudge and wants to cause trouble during the national mourning! It's thanks to the censor that he was caught in time, otherwise I would have been in serious trouble."

As he spoke, his eyes swept over Li Xian, his words laced with sarcasm, "I just wonder who delivered this secret report? To be able to pinpoint the location of the hidden item so precisely, it's as if... they already knew all along."

Li Xian met his gaze without flinching: "You jest, Prefect. My duty is to investigate hidden matters. However, I happened to overhear a few words of your conversation with Her Highness the Princess outside the palace regarding the 'matter of lifespan'—I wonder if you have found a way to live as long as the heavens?"

These words were like an icicle, unexpectedly piercing Zhao Gao's most secret thoughts.

His smile froze for a moment, then turned into a deeper sinister look: "This servant was merely chatting with the princess. But it seems that you, Inspector, have been getting quite close to the princess lately? With the Empress Dowager gone and the Empress ailing, His Majesty is troubled. Her Highness the Princess is now a widow after marrying a man from Chu, so it would be best if you, Lord Li, stopped these inappropriate rumors as soon as possible."

The wind under the eaves swirled snowflakes against the windowpanes, sounding like countless tiny footsteps.

Li Xian watched Zhao Gao turn and leave, his hand clenching the jade pendant he had found on the eunuch—the pattern on the pendant was exactly the same as the items belonging to the former subordinates of the King of Han that were seized during the Bolangsha assassination case.

The "Zhao Cheng" that Zhao Gao just mentioned should have died of illness during his exile three years ago.

Why did Liu Bang and Zhang Liang rescue his wife on the road?

Was this also orchestrated by Zhao Gao?

The death knell continued to toll heavily, one toll after another, as if counting down for someone.

Li Xian looked up at the tightly closed door inside the hall.

This game of chess, which began with death, is finally about to begin.

-

Xu Zhi entered the Empress's palace, which was much warmer than outside. There was an underfloor heating system and the fragrance of autumn osmanthus rose in the air.

She carefully stepped onto the blanket, afraid of waking her mother.

Zheng Li wasn't a heavy sleeper; the slightest noise woke her up, and she immediately saw Ying Hehua standing nervously at the door, looking somewhat timid.

Before she could hug her daughter, the child, who had come through wind and snow, rushed to her feet.

"Seeing Mother awaken, a great weight has been lifted from my heart. These past few days have felt like an eternity, I was so afraid that something might happen to Mother... Please rest assured, I will take care of everything."

She bowed her head to the ground, her words revealing an unprecedented sense of unfamiliarity, as if nothing but power could bring her warmth, and even her words were full of distant politeness.

Zheng Li felt a pang of pain in her heart when she noticed the dark red lining the edge of her plain white collar.

At this moment, Xu Zhi's body seemed to slowly react; she had been very cold before, which was a physical cold.

Her mother brushed aside her long hair and draped a thick cloak over her shoulders. Suddenly, she grabbed her collar, and she instinctively tried to pull away, but was caught red-handed.

Why is there a wound here?