Romancing the Son of Heaven

Stratagem 7: Take Every Chance to Be with Your Beloved ... (2)

In the end, Jing He couldn't convince himself to invite Qiu Ling. If he did, wouldn't it seem as if his intentions were more serious than they were? Well, even if he intended to marry Longjun, he still couldn't show it that outwardly, could he? What would people think if he did?

Thankfully, there still were some days until the Da He Festival and there was one visit of An Bai's scheduled before it. He anxiously waited and couldn't help but walk up to the door the day An Bai was supposed to arrive, staring off into the distance as if that could make the dragon appear sooner.

When An Bai arrived, he couldn't help but pause. Was that the Son of Heaven at the gate? Why was he standing there? Normally, he would be sitting inside his palace, painting or practicing calligraphy or maybe he'd be in the garden tending to his flowers. He had never seen him just wait somewhere without purpose.

He went over with a bad feeling. It couldn't be that His Highness had been waiting for him, could it? Please tell him he hadn't! His Majesty had been looking at him like he was a thorn in his side for the past few months already. If His Highness showed him any further positive feelings, he wasn't sure he could keep his life. Wouldn't His Majesty run crazy?

"Your Highness."

"Scholar An Bai!" Jing He straightened up and his lips unwittingly showed a relieved smile.

An Bai felt his scalp turn numb. What was happening here? He glanced around but couldn't see his king anywhere. Maybe he was lucky? He cleared his throat and forced himself not to smile back just in case. "Your Highness seems to be in a good mood today. Did something happen?"

Jing He froze and his smiled collapse. Had he really seemed so happy? Ah, he should have made sure to calm down beforehand. Now, what would scholar An Bai think of him? He reached up and touched his cheek, evading An Bai's gaze. "That's not it. I just thought of a question I'd like to ask scholar An Bai so ..."

"Oh? Then please go ahead."

Jing He smiled wryly and motioned at his palace instead of asking what had been weighing on his mind for the past two days. "Why don't you come in first? I'm a bad host, bothering you at the door already."

"Not at all." An Bai followed him inside, his skin crawling with goosebumps. He couldn't see him but his king definitely was around somewhere. He really had to be cautious with what he said today!

Jing He led An Bai to the table and motioned at the tea set. "Would scholar An Bai care for a cup of tea?"

"Mn." An Bai nodded and looked away. The less contact he had with His Highness today the better. He shouldn't give his king any cause to be jealous. He couldn't help but be curious what was able to weigh on the crown prince's mind though. It couldn't be that his king had made progress, could it? He glanced at Jing He and even though he knew he shouldn't, he still spoke up. "I'm curious ... What is it that Your Highness was wondering about before? It should be something very important."

Jing He froze with the teapot in his hands. "That ... might be. It's ... it's something I'm a little unsure about." He turned back to An Bai and brought the teapot over, carefully pouring him a cup. "Scholar An Bai might know that the Da He Festival is coming up soon. Is that a festival the dragons also celebrate?"

"Oh, yes, it is. Although the significance it has in comparison to other festivals isn't that high."

"Is that so?" Jing He took the seat opposite him and clasped his cup. "Then ... it might be a festival that not every dragon celebrates?"

An Bai shook his head. "Not necessarily. You see the Da He Festival is rather spiritual in nature. For the dragons ..."

Jing He nodded. "Right. If Scholar An Bai puts it like that, I feel like I should have known."