Romancing the Son of Heaven

Stratagem 36: Continue Being Patient While Not Hiding Your Intentions (2)

When Qiu Ling came back to the Nine Heavens the next day, he was prepared. Walking into the palace, he immediately took out a scroll of paper, waving it in the air. He didn't forget to first make sure that Jing He was alright. "How are you doing today?"

Jing He had been sitting in his study, brooding over a half-finished painting, but immediately got up when he heard steps outside. "You came by. And don't worry, I am well." He couldn't help but look at what Qiu Ling was holding, quite curious what this might be about. Of course, he didn't need to wait long to find out.

Qiu Ling walked over to him, happily motioning at the paper in his hands. "I thought a lot about our conversation yesterday and I've come to the conclusion that my suggestion was a really good one albeit it lacked a few details. So I used the time in the evening to come up with those and made a list. Here, have a look!"

Jing He was startled but still accepted the list. Yesterday's conversation ... Why couldn't he remember what Qiu Ling meant? They had spent the whole day together as usual, but there wasn't anything particular about yesterday that stood out to him.

He unfurled the scroll and took a look at what was written down. As soon as he did, he blanked before his thoughts managed to catch up and he realized just what was going on: That so-called 'suggestion' was the notion of them taking a trip together. And Qiu Ling had indeed taken the time of finding some spots that might be worth visiting. But this list ... he really didn't know what to make of it.

Jing He's expression turned complicated. This list had points such as 'a moonlight stroll at the banks of the East Sea', 'camping in the Northwestern Heaven's twilight forest', or 'a visit to one of the picturesque towns at the Southern Heaven's border to the dragon realm like Huangjin Yang'. Taking these points for themselves, they didn't seem all that bad but when thinking about it closer, it became apparent that this was not something that could be done.

Visiting the East Sea wasn't a problem. This was where the goddess Hui Jin reigned, who was a very sensible person. In fact, this could probably be called a diplomatic visit if he was to go. Surely, they could stay at her palace and nobody would find that there was anything wrong with it. But having a moonlight stroll at the banks of the sea ... that would cause people to have some thoughts.

In the same vein, how could they go camping anywhere? Doing so would require them to sleep outside, likely without anybody accompanying them, making people have some doubts about what was going on in that forest. It didn't help that the twilight forest was a place where even in the day, you usually couldn't see much. This was hardly a place anyone would visit for sightseeing. Unless you were searching for something specific or going to hunt, what reason was there to go? He was afraid that people would think of something nefarious such as wanting to do things that should not be seen.

As for the picturesque towns in the Southern Heaven ... While that sounded good in theory, Qiu Ling had suggested Huangjin Yang town out of all the ones available, which was a spot famously visited by young lovers. If they really went there, that would be akin to acknowledging that they were in that kind of relationship. How could they do that?

He figured that maybe these were just some of the ideas but then, no matter which one he looked at, there was one part about it or another that disqualified it from being feasible with their current relationship. It was a pity, really.

It seemed as if Qiu Ling had looked for spots both in the Nine Heavens and the dragon realm, even going so far as to look up a few in the spiritual beasts' territory, and had come up with a whole tour through the immortal realms that they could do together. The sentiment was very much appreciated but, unfortunately, each and every spot was much too ambiguous.