Romancing the Son of Heaven

Stratagem 21: You Have to be a Match Made in Heaven (4)

When Jing He emerged from his thoughts, the two of them had already put quite some distance between themselves and the teahouse they had gone to before. In fact, looking around, he couldn't recognize this place at all.

Glancing over his shoulder, he realized that none of the palaces that he was used to were in sight. It seemed that they had already left the part of the capital city where the titled gods were living and working.

He slightly furrowed his brows and then hurried up, falling into step next to Qiu Ling. "Long..." He interrupted himself and glanced at Qiu Ling's face but with the mask on, he couldn't see his expression. "Qiu Ling."

Qiu Ling immediately stopped and looked over, pulling Jing He closer. "What's the matter?"

Jing He hesitated for a moment but with another look around, he finally couldn't hold back. He was indeed worried. "Where are we?"

Qiu Ling looked around and found himself presented with the very same problem. Yeah, where were they?

In fact, it wasn't a wonder that he didn't know. Anyway, he had only ever come to the Nine Heavens to see Jing He. How could he know every single place here? It was great already that he was able to find some of the more important palaces.

Even though that was the case, Qiu Ling was naturally unwilling to admit that he had done something wrong. "Uh ... Weren't we going to play some games?"

Even though Qiu Ling had no idea where they actually were either, he managed to look so confused at Jing He's question, that the Son of Heaven couldn't help but second-guess himself. Maybe this was actually the right way? Maybe it was him who was wrong because he normally didn't leave his own palace and only took the same ways. It could very well be that the dragon king who had come to visit him several times already might've seen more of the capital city than he who actually lived here. There was such a possibility.

Thinking it through, Jing He finally gave a slightly embarrassed smile. "That was my fault then. I will just follow ... Qiu Ling." He almost would've used his title again but caught himself at the last moment.

Qiu Ling looked at him in a daze, way too happy that Jing He had used his actual name when addressing him to realize that he was in a bit of a pinch right now.

Jing He glanced up after a moment when Qiu Ling didn't start walking again and slightly raised his brows behind the mask. "Is something the matter? We can continue. I'm sorry for stopping you before."

Qiu Ling cleared his throat and shook his head. "There's really no reason for you to apologize. If there is a question you have, then you should always ask it." He held Jing He's hand, gazing into his eyes.

He looked really calm on the surface. Inwardly, he was panicking though. Ah, now, he had pretended that he actually knew what he was doing and that they were on the way to do something. If he wasn't able to lead Jing He to a place where they could actually take part in one of these games, then that really wouldn't be looking good for him.

He once again cleared his throat and then turned around, pulling Jing He with him. He didn't say anything for once and instead made use of his senses to try and figure out the way to go.

Most people had been gathered in the center of the capital city just a bit away from the palaces of the Imperial family and those palaces of the titled gods that helped with running the matters of the Nine Heavens. By now, they had long left that place though so the big crowds weren't anywhere to be seen.

In fact, there were hardly any people close to them and there wasn't any indication that the festival was actually going on around them. It was as if everyone had gone to the center of the capital to celebrate there. Well, that actually wasn't too strange. It was just very inconvenient for him.