Romancing the Son of Heaven

Stratagem 5: Utilize Your Subjects' Talents Well (3)

Jing He enclosed the teacup with his hands and looked at the golden-colored liquid in a bit of a daze. Longjun had indeed struck him as quite forceful in the last few days. But he also couldn't deny what An Bai had said just now. He had heard about how treacherous the demons were, after all. And there was obviously more to Longjun than that. Just remembering how he had happily brought that flower over the other day ...

Jing He glanced at his uncle's back and then back to the teacup in front of An Bai. "Scholar An Bai's words make me realize just how well-beloved Longjun is in the dragon realm. He is certainly happy for his subjects to value him this much."

An Bai smiled wryly, feeling rather thankful that the Son of Heaven wasn't looking at him right now. Actually, their king didn't seem to care too much about them. Sure, he would fight against the demons to save them and just his name alone was enough to get a lot of them to flee in terror but other than for fights it was hard to get even a glimpse of him.

If Xiang Yong and he didn't take it upon themselves to take care of all the miscellaneous matters in the dragon realm that needed someone to govern them, then their realm might already have collapsed. Well, he couldn't mention that in front of the Son of Heaven.

"I am sure he would be, although His Majesty probably feels that caring for us is the natural thing to do. Most likely, he doesn't expect us to thank him so, for the most part, we keep this in our hearts. It's just that ... seeing how much our king values the Son of Heaven I couldn't keep this to myself and had to speak up for him."

Jing He nodded but glanced at his uncle again. "That, scholar An Bai, there is something I'd like to ask in that regard."

"Ah, please go ahead. If it's a matter I can shed light on, I would be more than happy to do so."

"Could it be that ... gifting a heart has a special meaning in the dragon realm?" He lifted his gaze a little further, trying to gauge from the way An Bai's lips moved if he was saying the truth.

After a day of rest, he could only imagine that there had been some meaning to this gift that the dragon king had failed to explain. But because of how it looked he had become afraid. Most likely, it was once again a misunderstanding between them caused by their different origins.

"A heart?" An Bai repeated the words and his lips tightened for a moment.

Jing He's brows drew together slightly. What did this mean? Had he ... misunderstood?

An Bai finally sighed. "Well, there is something like that. It's ... something regarded a little ... controversial though."

"Oh?" The frown between Jing He's brows disappeared. It seemed he had thought too much right now. This scholar An Bai just seemed a little uncomfortable with this subject. "Then maybe I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's ... Actually, the God of War already hinted that His Majesty might have ... made use of that custom. So I feel it's better for Your Highness to know about it."

Jing He glanced at his uncle once again. Qiang Yan hadn't told him anything yet so he still wasn't aware of what the heart meant. He had only guessed but it seemed his uncle already knew more. That was probably the reason why he had brought this scholar over in the first place.

An Bai wrapped his hands around the teacup and cleared his throat. Normally, he would have liked to only talk about how this was a custom of their race like he had done yesterday in front of the God of War. But looking at the Son of Heaven he felt like that wouldn't be such a good idea. He was obviously a quiet and thoughtful person. If he still only said positive things after he had praised their king this much, then the Son of Heaven might become distrustful. That wouldn't help their king at all.