Romancing the Son of Heaven

Stratagem 8: ... Don't Take Chances with Your Rivals (2)

In the dragon realm, Fu Min was startled awake by the faint feeling of somebody's breath brushing his face. He extended his claws and lashed out only for his hand to be swatted down.

"What are you trying to do?" Qiu Ling scowled at him. There was already some wild man going after his beloved and now one of his so-called advisers even wanted to scratch his face. The audacity! Was this some kind of plot against him? Did they not want him to get together with his beloved?!

Fu Min awkwardly received his claws and wriggled away. "Your Majesty ... What are you doing here?" In the middle of the night? Didn't you say you were into the Son of Heaven?

Qiu Ling frowned even more and planted his butt on the edge of the bed. "It's a disaster!"

"Uh ..."

"You have to help me!" He whirled back around to Fu Min, making him shrink into the corner.

"With what?"

"There's some wild man going after my beloved! And he ... Ugh." Qiu Ling clenched his fists. "My poor Jing He. He's just way too nice to reject somebody. He actually accepted that man visiting him in the middle of the night even though he was only scarcely dressed."

"Scarcely dressed?" Fu Min's brows raised. He had tried to find out as much about the crown prince as he could since their king fell in love with him last year and he was sure about one thing: There was no way this person would ever be scarcely dressed. In fact, three layers of clothing should be what he normally wore. In some cases, he might even put on another one if he felt that the occasion asked for it. Rumor had it that he had worn seven of them on the day when he came of age and was presented to the most important gods residing in the capital and that the Heavenly Emperor had then draped a coat over them because he felt that people were looking too closely at his son. So ... How many layers did 'scarcely dressed' mean?

Qiu Ling nodded. "Yes! Very scarcely dressed! He only wore his inner robe and a coat that was loosely draped over his slender shoulder, almost exposing his fair ankles to anyone's prying eyes. His beautiful, silky hair was also not in order. There were three strands hanging into the overcoat!" Qiu Ling leaped to his feet and clenched one hand into a fist, staring ahead equal parts enthralled by the memory and offended by the thought that another man would have seen his beloved like this.

"That ... sounds very ..." Fu Min shut up.

"Yes! Exactly that! I'm also speechless! How can any man just take advantage of how unguarded my beloved is? Such scum!"

Fu Min tightened his lips. He'd really like to ask just why His Majesty had been there to see something like that but he was afraid of what the answer might be so he kept his mouth shut. He didn't need to say anything anyway. Qiu Ling very happily rambled on.

"Argh, this Huang Lan! How dare he try to take advantage of my beloved? That guy should be ashamed! If he wants something, he should come and challenge me first. I'll show him that he doesn't deserve my Jing He! This guy needs a good beating daring to surprise him in such a situation."

"Huang Lan?" Fu Min perked up at this small piece of valuable information he might be able to work with. "Who is Huang Lan?"

"How would I know?! It's that bastard who wanted to surprise my beloved in the middle of the night!"

Fu Min raised his brows. So ... If he had understood correctly, then His Majesty had run to the Nine Heavens in the middle of the night, broken into the crown prince's palace once again and surprised him while he was only wearing his inner robe and had draped an overcoat over it. The question was ... How did another man come into this equation?

"Uhm, Your Majesty?"

"Yes? Have you figured something out?"

Fu Min coughed. "Eh, not yet, I still need to acquire more information. For now, it'd help if you could tell me what you already know about this person."

"His name is 'Huang Lan'. What a stupid name."

"And?"

"Mn?" Qiu Ling raised his brows. "What do you mean?"

"Well, what else do you know about him?"

"Nothing. Why would I know anything about him?"

"That ..." Fu Min pursed his lips. Well, with how their king was, it wasn't that surprising that he would only bring back the information that somebody was interested in the crown prince without knowing anything more about the person. "Then can you at least describe him? Or maybe paint him?" Wasn't His Majesty a surprisingly good painter? At the very least, the paintings of the crown prince had been lifelike.

Qiu Ling blinked. "How would I know?"

"That ... Didn't you see him?"

"No."

"Then ... How do you know about him?"

"Jing He said his name!"

"Ah?"

"Yes, yes. I just came to look for him and he called out for that guy!"

Fu Min furrowed his brows. "Your Majesty, are you sure he was calling out for ... Uh ... Well, somebody who had any ulterior motives."

"Why else would any man be in his palace at such a late hour?!"

So you're admitting that you were there with ulterior motives? Fu Min gulped his comment down and smiled. "Well, it could have been a servant or —"

"What are you even talking about? My beloved doesn't have any servants! He likes being alone so he wouldn't want to have any of them there."

"Well, that's also true."

"Hmph." Qiu Ling sat back down on the edge of the bed. "You don't know anything about who that Huang Lan is. I shouldn't have come here. I should have stayed there and made sure I beat that guy up when he really comes over! How dare he visit my beloved in the middle of the night?!"

Fu Min cleared his throat and slid closer to Qiu Ling. "Your Majesty, how about I go and find out some more information about who that Huang Lan guy is? I could also look into whether there are other men trying to go after His Highness. Then you can deal with them all at once."

"Mn ... Sounds good! Then you go do that." He motioned to the door and leaned back.

Fu Min watched him and finally came to a surprising realization. "Your Majesty, you ... you want me to go ... now?"

Qiu Ling glanced over. "Of course. When else did you want to go?"

"Uh ... Tomorrow? It's still in the middle of the night."

"Yes. But what if that Huang Lan is there, lying in ambush for Jing He? We can't let that happen! You have to gather information as fast as possible!"

Fu Min tightened his lips but in the end, he could only sigh and get up. He put on his clothes with a yawn and turned back to Qiu Ling. "Then I'll go and take care of it, Your Majesty. I'm sure I'll be able to bring back news by tomorrow."

"Mn. Go, go!" Qiu Ling waved him away, not caring too much. Ah, he just wanted to know what was up with that Huang Lan. What did his beloved feel for him? Did he really like that wild man? Ah, how depressing ... That guy couldn't be better than him! He was the most handsome man in all three immortal realms, ah! He knew Jing He better than anyone else! There really was nothing where he was lacking, was there?