Chapter 75

256 BC, Pei County.

The sun was hanging high in the sky, scorching the ground until it smoked.

Liu Ji lay crookedly under the big locust tree at the entrance of the village, crossing his legs, holding a grass stem in his mouth, his eyes half-closed, watching a few children chasing a stray dog in the distance.

The dog had a lame leg, couldn't run fast, was hit by stones thrown by the children, yelping, running around the courtyard.

"Tsk tsk, this dog's legs are not good."

Liu Ji spat out the grass stem and shook his head,

"If my big yellow was still here, one could beat five."

Fan Kuai, who was squatting nearby sharpening his knife, raised his head when he heard this, and gave a silly laugh,

"Third Brother Liu, didn't you stew your big yellow last year? You even said dog meat is fragrant."

"That's right!" Liu Ji slapped his thigh, "Dog meat rolls three times, even immortals can't stand still!"

"It's a pity, that dog was fat, had a lot of meat, it's just that the legs were a bit old, stuck in the teeth."

Fan Kuai swallowed his saliva and continued sharpening the knife.

He was a dog butcher, had good skills, and was honest, but his brain wasn't very bright, he recognized that Liu Ji was a character, and followed him around all day.

In the distance, Liu Taigong carried a hoe back from the fields, saw Liu Ji's sloppy look, and his anger "swooshed" up.

He stuck the hoe on the ground and pointed at Liu Ji's nose and cursed:

"You rascal, all day long you only know how to lie down, look at your second brother, he knows how to save family wealth, knows how to farm. Look at you again, besides drinking and bragging, what else can you do?!"

Liu Ji dug his ears, sat up slowly,

"Father, you are wrong. Second brother knows how to farm, that's his duty."

"What can I do? I know how to make friends! Look at Xiao He, the county's main official, calls me brother; Cao Can, the prison official, also listens to me. This is called connections, do you understand?"

"Connections?"

Liu Taigong's beard trembled with anger,

"Can connections be eaten as food? Can they farm? You're almost forty, and you don't even have a proper wife!"

"Look at the people in the village who are the same age as you, which one doesn't have children running all over the ground?!"

Liu Ji curled his lips and didn't say a word.

The wife thing was indeed a heart disease of his, it's not that he didn't want to marry, it's that no one was willing to marry him.

Which family would be willing to marry their daughter to a rascal who was idle all day, eating and drinking for free?

"Father, don't worry."

Liu Ji stood up, patted the dirt on his butt,

"Wait until your son makes it big, I'll marry ten daughters-in-law for you, let you hold your grandchildren every day!"

"Get out!"

Liu Taigong kicked him.

Liu Ji dodged flexibly and ran away with a smile.

Running far away, he could still hear his father cursing behind him:

"Rascal! Prodigal son!"

He ran to the river, found a stone and sat down, watching the river flowing.

The sun was about to set, the sky was full of fire clouds, red and dazzling.

He suddenly remembered sending corvée to Xianyang a few years ago, seeing Qin Shi Huang's patrol scene.

That array, that style, armor bright, surrounded by people, majestic.

He stood in the crowd at that time, looking at that magnificent carriage, and a sentence popped into his mind:

"Alas, a real man should be like this!"

Yes, a real man, should be like that.

But what is he now?

A rascal cursed by his father, a bachelor who couldn't even marry a wife, a waste who was over forty and could only watch dogs fight.

He sighed, took out a wine gourd from his bosom, pulled out the stopper, and took a sip.

The wine was inferior, spicy to the throat, but strong enough.

He took another sip, then looked up at the sky.

It was getting dark, stars popped out one by one, dense, like a handful of sesame seeds.

He stared at those stars for a long time, and suddenly laughed.

"I don't believe it," he said to the sky, raising the wine gourd, "in this life, I can't make something of myself!"

After speaking, he looked up and poured the remaining wine into his stomach.

209 BC, Mangdang Mountain.

It was raining heavily, clattering, as if the sky had leaked.

Liu Ji hid in the cave, looking at the pouring rain outside, his face gloomy enough to wring out water.

He followed a dozen people, one by one ragged, sallow and thin, their eyes revealing despair.

"Third Brother Liu, can we... can we still live?" a young man asked with a crying voice.

Liu Ji didn't say a word.

Live? How to live? He escorted criminals to Lishan, and ran away halfway.

According to Qin law, this is a death penalty.

He simply released all the remaining criminals, took these dozen who were willing to follow him, and hid in this Mangdang Mountain.

But there was nothing to eat in the mountains, nothing to drink, and he was worried all day long, afraid of being caught by the officials.

He was forty-eight.

Forty-eight, half his body in the soil, he should have been at home holding his grandchildren, enjoying happiness.

But him? Became a fugitive, became a rebel, became a street rat that everyone shouted to beat.

"Third Brother Liu, look!" suddenly someone pointed outside the cave and shouted.

Liu Ji looked up.

In the rain curtain, a big white snake as thick as a bowl was lying in the middle of the road, raising its head, spitting out its tongue, looking at them coldly.

"Snake! Big snake!" someone shrank back in fear.

Liu Ji stared at the snake for a long time.

Then, he laughed, laughed very loudly, very crazily, laughed until tears came out.

"Heaven wants to destroy me, Liu Ji?"

He stood up, pulled out the rusty sword from his waist,

"I don't believe it!"

He strode out of the cave and into the rain.

The rain soaked him instantly, but he didn't notice.

He walked to the white snake, looked at those cold snake eyes, and raised his sword.

"Those who block me, die!"

A sword slashed down.

The snake head fell to the ground, the snake body twisted a few times, and stopped moving, blood mixed with rain, dyeing a piece of ground red.

Liu Ji leaned on his sword, standing in the rain, panting.

The rain flowed down his gray hair, into his eyes, salty and astringent.

He wiped his face, looked at the snake corpse on the ground, and suddenly felt that something was different.

"Go!"

He turned around and shouted at the dozen people in the cave,

"Follow me! I'll take you, to break out a world!"

202 BC, Dingtao.

Liu Ji sat on the high platform that had just been set up, looking at the black crowd of civil and military officials kneeling below, his brain a bit confused.

Just now, his brothers forced him to put on that heavy and hard dragon robe, put on that heavy crown, and then a group of brothers knelt on the ground, shouting "Long live."

Long live? He was fifty-four this year, how many more years can he live? Still long live?

He looked down at this bright yellow robe.

The material was good, embroidered with dragons, baring fangs and brandishing claws, looking expensive.

But he felt awkward wearing it.

This robe was too tight, choking him;

This crown was too heavy, pressing his neck in pain.

"Your Majesty, it's time to announce the edict." Xiao He reminded in a low voice.

Liu Ji came back to his senses, cleared his throat, picked up the edict that had been written long ago, and began to read.

After reading the edict, there was another shout of long live below.

Liu Ji waved his hand, signaling them to get up.

Then, he looked at the few people standing at the front.

Xiao He, Cao Can, Fan Kuai, Zhou Bo, Xiahou Ying... and Han Xin, the little soldier he dug from Xiang Yu, now is the Great General, commanding the national army.

These people, some grew up with him, some joined halfway, some were even his enemies.

But now, they all knelt in front of him, calling him "Your Majesty."

Liu Ji suddenly felt that all this was really like a dream.

"Alright, disperse."

He said, "Go do whatever you want."

"Xiao He, you stay, I... I have something to tell you."

The crowd dispersed, leaving only him and Xiao He on the high platform.