Romancing the Son of Heaven

Stratagem 23: Make Use of Weak Moments! (1)

Jing He was not the only person that was nervous. If his father could, he definitely would've rushed right back to his palace to guard next to his bed. He did remember the god of Medicine's words though and every single time he reached the threshold of his own palace, he kept himself from going to disturb his son's rest.

Ah, he wanted somebody to talk to, somebody he could share his worries with! Unfortunately, his wife had scolded him fiercely just yesterday so he didn't dare to go and try to talk to her. Who knew what she would say if he came to tell her about Jing He's condition?

Pacing up and down for a while, the Heavenly Emperor finally muttered under his breath and then went to visit his brother-in-law. He was still a little angry that he had taken up so much of his time yesterday when he would've much rather spent the festival with his son and wife but since he couldn't go and talk to Bai Fen, it was much better to at least talk with Qiang Yan even if he still was angry.

At that moment, Qiang Yan was sitting in the study, going over the shifts of the Heavenly guards, pondering over what to do with some of the more ... difficult once. Namely, his best friend's child and his new lover. Or was that even still his lover? He should probably go and make sure of that first.

When the door was pushed open unceremoniously, he glanced up, and put down the brush with a sigh when he saw the person in question. "What's the matter, brother-in-law? Did something happen?"

Rong Su closed the door behind him and then went to sit down in front of Qiang Yan, furrowing his brows tightly. "Jing He is sick."

Qiang Yan raised his brows in surprise, leaning over the table with a worried expression. "What happened?" His nephew was definitely somebody who was a little more reclusive and might not deal too well with a crowd the size of what the Jiyi festival would gather but he wasn't frail to the point where just this much would make him get sick. After all, he was still the trueborn god. Even if he had never trained in sword arts, his spiritual energy was still very strong. To actually get sick ... also wasn't an easy feat.

Rong Su furrowed his brows even further. "It must be because of that festival. I knew it would have been better if I went to spent time with him."

Qiang Yan leaned back and sighed, feeling that he wouldn't get any useful information out of his brother-in-law at all. "Well, did the god of medicine have a look at him?"

Rong Su nodded at that. "Yes, he told him to take a rest. And then, he actually threw me out! I really can't believe it. I do understand that Jing He might need a few hours of sleep but wouldn't it be better if there was somebody with him that he trusted? How will he be able to sleep without worries if there is nobody taking care of him?"

Qiang Yan picked up the brush and bend over the scroll of paper in front of him again, feeling that he didn't need to worry after all. 'Take a rest' was probably just code for 'I know your father is annoying, let me take him off your hands'. If he had to guess, Jing He wasn't sick at all.

The Heavenly Emperor felt annoyed when he saw this lack of reaction. "What's with you?! We're talking about your favorite nephew here!"

"We are talking about my only nephew here. Anyway, Jing He isn't a small child anymore. He is already a fully-grown adult. Don't smother him too much."

Rong Su got up and started to pace around his brother-in-law's study, shaking his head incessantly. "There's really no use in talking to you. I should've gone to Bai Fen after all."

"My sister would say the same and probably in much less nice words. Honestly, if the god of medicine says to let him rest, then just let him rest. It's probably nothing much. Maybe he just didn't sleep very well last night." Saying so, he paused with the brush in hand, wondering if there could be something more to this. His nephew was a bit like his father in that he liked to overthink things. It was just that the things they did overthink were different. In Jing He's case ... Could it be that the dragon king had said or done something yesterday that made him this worried? It wouldn't be completely impossible.