had been sent to Ghao as a hostage, and was in poor circamstances. He was a customer of L^'s, and somewhat of a simpleton. The merchant, however, said to himself in trade phraseology, *'This is stuff worth holding for a rise;" and with the consent of I-jen proceeded to Ch4n, and by representing to the childless but legal wife of the Heir Apparent that on the death of the latter her own power would come to an end, he persuaded her to adopt I-jen as her own son. The ruler of Chao was then induced to release I-jen, whom Lii forthwith escorted to Ch4n, where he was acknowledged as son of the Heir Apparent who was devotedly fond of his wife and ready to fall in with any of her wishes. To please his new mother, I-jen was dressed according to the style prevailing in the Ch'n State, of which she was a native; and this caused his name to be changed to -^ ^ Tzti-ch'u. Meanwhile, Lu Pu-wei had married a beautiful girl, and had lived with her but a short time when she was casually seen by I-jen, who not only fell deeply in love with her, but even begged JM to hand her over to him. Ltl did so; and it has been asserted that she was already pregnant, so that the son, named Ghfing, afterwards First Emperor, who was born later on, was really the son of Ltl Pu-wei. In B.C. 251 Ghao Hsiang, ruler of Ch*in, died, and I-jen's adopted father reigned in his stead. A year later the latter also died, and I-jen succeeded him. He at once ennobled LQ Pu-wei, and appointed him to be Minister. Three years afterwards the new ruler was dead-, and the boy Gh£ng came to the throne; whereupon Ltl*s title was raised, and he further received the honorary designation of "^ ^ Second Father. All this time Lii had been secretly indulging in a criminal connection with his former wife, now queen-dowager. But fearing discovery by the rapidly-developing young sovereign, and in order to shift the blame from himself, he introduced to the amorous lady a handsome youth named ^ ^ Lao Ai, and caused him to enter
