Stratagem 26: Do the Right Thing for Your Beloved! (3)

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The two of them sat together for a while. Jing He was still mostly keeping silent but this time, Qiu Ling didn't think too much about that. His beloved was clearly not well-rested. He probably just needed to relax a bit more right now. Still, since he was already there, it also seemed to be a base not to use any of the time they spent together. Thus, Qiu Ling used the opportunity to just chatter by himself while Jing He listened.

"So then, Fu Min just couldn't keep his ears to himself and went on to eavesdrop on them. As a result, he heard half their conversation and was convinced that they were going to get married. He immediately ran back to inform everyone else so when the two of them came out, everyone congratulated them. In return, they could only stand there, exchange a glance and then ask what exactly was going on.

"In the end, it turned out that there was no intention to get married at all. Fu Min had completely misunderstood what they were talking about. The proposal had not been for a wedding but for a fight instead.

"Recently, one of them had gotten a new weapon and wanted to try it out but since his level of strength differed quite a lot from the others, he went to Fu Heng to ask if he would have something against giving it a try. You know, Fu Heng is the one who is the strongest among my advisers.

"In any case, I guess Fu Min was quite embarrassed by the whole story but he never would've admitted that. So for the next few weeks, whenever somebody would listen to him, he would instead be saying how they definitely had been proposing marriage but had been scared off when they saw everyone's reaction. Fu Heng absolutely wasn't amused but what was he supposed to say? He isn't a person of many words anyway so he could only sit that one out until Fu Min got tired of speaking about it by himself."

Jing He couldn't help but smile faintly. "It sounds like it is quite lively in the dragon realm. And Longjun seems to be really close to his advisers."

Seeing his beloved's faint smile, Qiu Ling was entranced for a moment. Who would've thought that the random gossip of the dragon realm could actually entertain him? He had feared when he started to talk that Jing He would either be bored or feel that it was scandalous for him as the king to gossip like this. But now, it turned out that Jing He was not thinking any of that.

He lightly cleared his throat, trying to get his feelings back under control. "Well, contrary to the Nine Heavens, we don't have palaces to ourselves. Both me and my advisers, as well as a lot of the families of the guards, are living in my palace with just a room or a suite of rooms depending on their status. So it's inevitable to hear some things. I guess in the Nine Heavens, something like this wouldn't happen as easily."

Jing He nodded faintly. "At least I wouldn't have heard of it." Although that might also be because he was living rather reclusive. He definitely couldn't deny that.

Qiu Ling nodded. "I guess it might really be the case then. Well, it can be quite amusing from time to time. At the very least, you will get to hear a lot about other people. That might not be good if you just want some time to yourself though."

"Does ... does Longjun want that kind of time sometimes?"

Qiu Ling smiled faintly. "I guess everybody would want that kind of time at least every now and then. And I believe I have already said it once before: In a position such as ours, things aren't that easy. There will be expectations placed on you. There are things you have to do, but also things you can never do even if you want. It can be quite exhausting to live like that. If there was nobody around, you could just ignore it and be yourself but it's not really possible when others are around. But what are you supposed to do?"

Jing He nodded faintly. "Yes. What is one supposed to do?"

Looking at Jing He, Qiu Ling felt like his beloved looked a little down. That really wasn't what he had wanted to do. Ah, if only he could cheer him up a bit. Well, he seemed to have liked to hear that kind of silly story. So maybe it would be nice to tell him a bit more about that. He thought for a moment and then remembered a few more of his advisers' shenanigans. "Anyway ..." With that, he dived back into telling Jing He all about the daily life in the dragon king's palace.

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