Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 12, Part 2)

295 A Positive Side Effect

Over in the demon realm, the voting period of the painting competition had come to an end and the guards were busy counting the jade slips that had been cast for each of the paintings. The artists stood next to them, keeping a close eye on what they were doing to ensure that they wouldn't be duped.

Of course, the opportunity to do so had been given by Ye Yang to ensure fairness. The guards he had used were Xia Wei's people and the half-bloods, dragons, and gods living in the demon realm had been invited to take part as well. No matter who it was, they all felt that for once, the outcome of the competition might actually be the result of everyone's true thoughts. Well, as far as everyone had actually voted for what they considered the best painting but ... that seemed to be their own issue and not that of their king.

The visitors who were crowding on the square outside looked at their recently crowned king who was leisurely sitting at the side, watching with a neutral expression as another result was announced before the painting was brought back inside and the next one was carried out.

Yes, the jade slips were actually counted under the eyes of the public and from beginning to end, there were always at least two people next to the painting so nobody could be accused of having tampered with the results. This naturally made the process long and tedious but ... the audience still continued to stand around, not feeling tired in the least.

Anyway, they were all immortals and food and sleep were optional if you relied on spiritual energy to keep yourself in good condition. Also, as demons, they could just use their dark energy to flash back home or over to a stall for a moment before returning to their previous spot. The food vendors in the capital city had long since made use of this and set up all around the square, making sure that the audience had a direct line of sight to them to come over and that they had enough food prepared to hand it over just as fast.

Some vendors had even taken the opportunity and grabbed a few small demons to deliver food for a small additional fee so the viewers wouldn't need to worry about losing their spot at all. Seeing their earnings skyrocket, they felt that the new king was definitely more pleasing to the eye than the previous ones. Where had they been handed such prime opportunities during Jin Ling's reign? It certainly hadn't happened. No, during those years, they had had to create opportunities on their own. Now, it was much better. Hopefully, he'd keep up the good work!

Ye Yang looked as if he was seriously watching the counting of votes to further ensure fairness but, actually, he was keeping an eye on everything but that. He knew that the competition was as fair as it could be. He had made sure of that when he started to plan it and carried out the preparations step by step. What he wasn't sure of was how the competition would be perceived.

So far, the pagoda with the paintings had generated a lot of interest. To a certain degree, this was thanks to his daily visits though, and not necessarily because the demons cared about the competition itself. Still, he'd take whatever he could get.

Now, on the day the competition ended, it finally seemed as if things might change. Sure, his sitting in front of the pagoda and watching the proceedings might play a part in this but it shouldn't be the most important. No, judging from how most people were focused on the counting of votes, it seemed like his people were actually interested in how the competition had gone, after all. The most surprising though ...

His gaze slipped to a small demon that was flying over the heads of the audience and delivering a stack of bing to a demon in the first row who hadn't wanted to give up his spot but clearly also wanted something to eat while watching.

This development was something Ye Yang hadn't expected. He probably should have but ... well, he indeed had no experience in being king and Jin Ling hadn't bothered doing any events. As someone who wasn't all that outgoing, Ye Yang had to admit that he had hardly any idea how events in the demon realm usually worked. Was this normal? Judging by how late it had started, that didn't seem to be the case. The vendors were also unusually excited so this should be new but welcome.

He quietly pondered but then dropped the thought. Yes, this was something he should consider more in the future but, for now, that wasn't the most important. He first had to finish this competition and introduce the next step. Then during the preparations for that one, he could focus on the possibility of making these competitions worthwhile for other parts of their population as well.

Anyway, he'd need Lin Shi's help for this. She should be a lot more knowledgeable about previous events in the demon realm or could find out even if she wasn't. Then based on that, he could try to come up with a few possibilities.

Even though Ye Yang hadn't made up his mind about any further steps, he was in a good mood after discovering this kind of positive side effect. Wasn't this proof that he was on the right way? He definitely wasn't doing everything right as king but ... it seemed that at least the direction wasn't wrong.

If he continued working hard and held on to his plan, pursuing his goal step by step, he could indeed shape a better future for his people. Even if not everything was part of his plan, new opportunities would arise as the overall situation slowly bettered itself. He just had to trust in that and not give up prematurely.