DLERB -Chapter 25 I’m Only Eight Years Old—If I Lie, Heaven Will Strike Me Down!

Ying Ziye looked at those pairs of eyes—filled with greed, fear, and suspicion—while the smile on his face remained unchanged.

He did not answer.

Instead, he turned around, twisted his little body, and sat directly on the muddy ridge beside the field.

His two small legs in black riding boots dangled in the air, swinging back and forth.

Lowering his head, he rested his chin in his hands and stared at the tips of his boots.

Then, in a soft childish voice carrying a faint trace of grievance, he murmured:

“You all… don’t believe me.”

Everyone froze.

Just a moment ago, he had been the Regent Young Master who decided life and death with casual laughter in Qilin Hall, who stood above mountains of corpses and seas of blood at the execution grounds.

Now, he looked like nothing more than a wronged little child sulking at adults.

The enormous contrast instantly transformed the tense atmosphere into something indescribably strange.

Old Sun, still kneeling on the ground, raised his head blankly and stared at that tiny back.

Within the crowd, the woman whose son had died found the hatred on her face suddenly stiffening.

Beside her, a young wife softened with sympathy and subconsciously whispered:

“The Young Master… still seems like just a child.”

The voice was tiny, yet within the eerie silence, everyone heard it clearly.

Ying Ziye’s shoulders seemed to tremble slightly.

He lifted his head and turned around.

Those clear, innocent eyes now looked faintly red.

“This Young Master knows… that many people died last night.”

“And I know you’re all afraid of me.”

His voice no longer carried any authority.

What remained was only the grievance and honesty of a child.

“But…”

He stretched out his pale little finger toward the distant execution grounds that still had not been fully cleaned.

“But those people were bad people!”

“They carried blades and set fires, trying to turn Xianyang into a sea of flames!”

“They even wanted to storm the palace and kill this Young Master!”

Whispers immediately spread through the crowd.

“Now that I think about it… that’s true. Those people went mad last night, smashing every shop they saw.”

“My neighbor Butcher Wang got robbed. They even broke his leg.”

“They were shouting about killing the Young Master and restoring the kings of the Six States…”

The common people were not stupid.

They were simply afraid.

Afraid of the Regent high above them.

And afraid of the rioters hidden among them, looting and wreaking havoc in the chaos.

Watching the changes in their expressions, Ying Ziye continued speaking in his childish voice, saying words shocking enough to shake the world.

“This Young Master… is only eight years old.”

He stood up and patted the dirt off his backside.

“I don’t know how to govern a nation. I don’t know how to wage war. I don’t know anything.”

Behind him, Li Si nearly collapsed upon hearing those words.

Grabbing onto the wheel of the carriage, he barely managed to steady himself. Cold sweat instantly soaked through his court robes.

You don’t know anything?

You “don’t know anything,” yet you manipulated the officials of Xianyang, the great noble families, and the remnants of the Six States in the palm of your hand?

You “don’t know anything,” yet you forced me—the Chancellor of Great Qin—to turn white-haired overnight and willingly become your blade?

The little ancestor had begun again!

Ying Ziye seemed completely unaware of Li Si’s reaction.

Facing the countless citizens before him, he spoke with utmost seriousness.

“But!”

“This Young Master does know one thing!”

“That ordinary people need food! They need to survive!”

“Before Father Emperor left on his eastern tour, he told me that as long as the people of Great Qin have food to eat in every household, then Great Qin will never perish!”

Simple.

Direct.

Without any grand or elegant rhetoric.

Yet those words struck every heart like a heavy hammer.

That’s right.

Who cared about kings, nobles, or dreams of restoring the Six States?

For poor commoners like them, having enough to eat and surviving was the greatest matter in the world.

Ying Ziye walked over to the large chests and slapped them repeatedly with his little hand, making loud thumping sounds.

“That’s why this Young Master brought these potatoes here!”

“This Young Master just wants everyone… to have enough food to eat!”

He turned around and spread his tiny arms wide, as though trying to embrace the whole world.

“This Young Master guarantees it with my own honor—these potatoes will definitely grow!”

His gaze swept across one moved face after another.

Then suddenly, his tone shifted. His little mouth puffed out, and he once again became that innocent child.

“If… if they really don’t grow…”

He lowered his head and counted on his fingers, as though making a very difficult decision.

“Then you can all line up and come find me at the palace!”

“This Young Master… this Young Master will share my lotus seed soup, osmanthus cakes, and all my candied fruits with you!”

Pfft—

Someone in the crowd could not hold back and burst out laughing first.

That single laugh was like a spark landing on dry grass.

“Haha! The Young Master’s going to give us his snacks!”

“T-this Young Master is actually pretty amusing.”

“Yeah… he’s still just a child. What child would tell a lie like this?”

The oppressive atmosphere of fear and suspicion was greatly washed away by those absurd childish words.

The expressions on people’s faces were no longer numb and terrified.

Instead, there was now a trace of warmth—an almost helpless mixture of laughter and emotion.

Old Sun, still standing there, watched the scene with a complicated expression on his aged face.

Struggling slightly, he slowly rose to his feet.

This time, he did not kneel.

Instead, he bowed deeply toward Ying Ziye.

“Young Master.”

In a hoarse voice, he asked the final lingering doubt in everyone’s hearts.

“What you said… is it true?”

The entire crowd fell silent once again.

Every eye focused on Ying Ziye.

Ying Ziye slowly withdrew his smile.

Looking at the old farmer before him, he nodded with complete seriousness.

“It’s true!”

Then he paused, apparently feeling that those two words alone were not convincing enough.

He raised three soft little fingers high toward the sky.

“This Young Master never lies!”

“Because…”

His tiny face became utterly solemn.

“Mother said that children who lie will be struck by Grandpa Thunder God’s lightning from the heavens!”

The childish oath was almost laughably naïve.

Yet it completely shattered the final defenses in the hearts of everyone present.

That’s right.

What child would swear such a thing unless he truly meant it?

Perhaps he killed people without mercy.

Perhaps his methods were ruthless.

But in the end…

he was still only an eight-year-old child.

A child who wanted everyone to have enough food to eat, and who was even willing to share his own sweets.

Just as Old Sun opened his mouth, about to say something—

“I’m willing to plant them!”

A hoarse yet thunderous shout suddenly exploded from the back of the crowd.

The people instantly parted to the sides.

Everyone turned toward the direction of the voice.

Then all of them sucked in a cold breath.

A tall figure was limping slowly out from the crowd.

He had only one arm.

His forehead was wrapped in bloodstained bandages, and one eye was swollen shut like a walnut.

His entire body was covered in wounds, and every step looked unbearably painful.

“It’s… it’s Old Zhang!”

“The one-armed officer who guarded the grain depot!”

“Heavens! Wasn’t he trampled to death by the rioters?!”

Shocked cries erupted through the crowd.

The one-armed veteran ignored everyone’s stares.

Using all his strength, he walked to the experimental field.

Then, under the stunned gaze of all present—

thud!

He dropped heavily to one knee before Ying Ziye with his one remaining good leg.