Romancing the Son of Heaven

Stratagem 15: Make Your Loved One See Things in a Different Light (1)

Qiu Ling had no idea that he had barely escaped his worst nightmare. Instead, he put all of his energy into his relationship with Jing He or, well, the relationship he wanted to have with Jing He.

Unfortunately for him, since the day of the picnic, things hadn't been going too well. It wasn't that Jing He had a problem with spending time with him or was behaving any differently. On the contrary, his beloved seemed quite a bit more open than before as if this day had helped him make significant progress.

Unfortunately, there was still his beloved's old man around. As soon as the Heavenly Emperor noticed that a certain someone wasn't able to accept 'no' for an answer and was still pestering his precious son, he couldn't help but get involved.

Whenever Qiu Ling would come to visit, the Heavenly Emperor would very coincidentally make his way over to his son's palace, planting his butt on one of the chairs and trying to hog all of his attention to himself. Sometimes, he would even call his son over in the morning so that he wouldn't be home when Qiu Ling came to visit. Then, he would basically chain him to his side all day, making sure that Qiu Ling wouldn't be able to spend even a second with him.

For a while, Qiu Ling was willing to take things in stride. After all, the Heavenly Emperor was important to his beloved and he didn't want to be responsible if their relationship became strained. Anyway, a mature man would certainly not lower himself to the same level as a person trying to steal his beloved but instead be generous and let them be. This way, he could even use this unfavorable situation to convince his beloved that he was the right person for him.

This plan indeed wasn't bad and Jing He's impression of Qiu Ling became even better, seeing that he was willing to take a step back and accommodate his father despite his unreasonable demeanor.

Unfortunately, the Heavenly Emperor noticed at the same time that precisely this unreasonable behavior enabled him to ensure that Qiu Ling and his son spent less time together. Thus, he doubled his efforts, finally making sure that Qiu Ling and Jing He weren't able to meet for almost a month.

This time, Qiu Ling couldn't hold back. That damned old man had gone too far! He would take it if he just tried to separate them for some time but this really was too much. How could he go more than a week without seeing his beloved? And just being able to glance at him for a few, stolen moments was definitely not enough. No, he had to find a way to spend more time with him again.

Qiu Ling pondered the issue for quite some time. Getting to the palace before the Heavenly Emperor could wouldn't work. Even though he was able to sneak in, as soon as they left the palace, somebody would notice. As far as he knew, that old man had put somebody in charge of spying on his son to make sure that nobody would be able to visit him.

So if he didn't want to be cooped up inside the palace every day with Jing He, he could only try to circumvent the Heavenly Emperor's observation some other way. Mn ... Most likely, there wouldn't be somebody around for twenty-four hours a day?

No, there should only be somebody at times when the Heavenly Emperor expected him to come over. That meant that if he came very early or very late, it shouldn't be a problem.

But then again, wouldn't he bother his beloved then? He knew that Jing He adhered to a rather strict schedule most of the time. There were days when he stayed up late to paint or do some calligraphy but those were more of an exception. Although ...

Qiu Ling narrowed his eyes and leaned back, glancing at the window where the sun was slowly going down. Today, he hadn't been able to see his beloved either. When he came over, the Heavenly Emperor had already called him over, making him miss Jing He by more than just a bit.