Romancing the Son of Heaven (Part 2)

Stratagem 50: Stay Calm in the Face of Adversity! (3)

Jing He made up his mind fast. Without knowing, he wouldn't be able to keep calm. Thus, he could only do this now. As for how to check what was going on in the dragon realm ... he didn't have many ways. Anyway, Qiu Ling himself couldn't be contacted without knowing the situation and he was too embarrassed to contact any of his advisers as well. His father certainly couldn't be asked either so that only left his mother and uncle.

Thinking for a moment, Jing He asked Mu Kun to see whether his uncle was available for a visit. Anyway, he was the one who had the most contact with the dragons and thus might be able to answer his questions.

At this moment, Qiang Yan was busy with official duties. Hearing that Jing He wanted to see him though, he naturally wouldn't ignore him. Looking at the document in front of him, he gave a faint hum. "I currently can't leave here but you can tell Jing He that he may come over at his convenience. Otherwise, I can also come to his palace this evening."

Mu Kun inclined his head and rushed back to the crown prince's palace, relaying the words of the God of War.

Jing He felt slightly troubled when he heard this. Even though his uncle hadn't said it directly, it seemed he was very busy. In that case, should he really go and bother him with such issues?

Anyway, he didn't know whether there was really anything going on. Maybe Qiu Ling simply hadn't felt like stopping by. Or even if something was going on, this was a matter concerning nothing but his love life. How could it compare to his uncle's duties? At the same time, he really wanted to know though.

Jing He thanked Mu Kun and sent him back out first, not immediately going over to his uncle's palace. He really felt torn on this issue. In the end, his worry over Qiu Ling's attitude toward him prevailed though. Anyway, he could just go and take a look. Maybe his uncle would appreciate a short break. If not, he could still apologize and leave.

When he reached the study and knocked faintly, Qiang Yan was still working. These days, there were some issues in the Western Heaven so work was more stressful. It wasn't like he was hard-pressed though. Since he had been waiting for Jing He to maybe come over, he immediately called out and put the brush aside.

Seeing his nephew step in hesitatingly, Qiang Yan smiled and waved at him. "Jing He, you came by after all. Come on, sit and have some tea. Was something the matter?"

Jing He glanced over the stack of documents lying at the side and felt like he was wrong. "Am I disturbing you?" Even though he asked, he still sat down, folding his hands in his lap.

Qiang Yan pushed over a teacup and the pot and shook his head. "If I didn't have any time, I'd have told Mu Kun. Anyway, what's going on? Did something happen?"

Jing He lowered his gaze to his hands, his fingers rubbing over the hem of his sleeve. "It's nothing much, just ... have you heard anything from the dragon realm these days?"

Qiang Yan looked at his serious expression and almost wanted to laugh. He managed to hold back but his lips still twitched. Thankfully, Jing He had lowered his head and didn't dare to look at him while asking such a question.

He hurriedly cleared his throat and thought for a moment. "Nothing much but I've also been busy with other issues. Why do you ask?" In fact, he didn't need to ask for anything but the details.

If his nephew came to ask him something like this, the general situation was already clear: He was worried about something regarding the dragon king. Either the guy hadn't turned up for a day or two or he had but had acted differently to the point where Jing He wondered if something was going on. Then, he'd come to clarify so he could put his worries to rest.

Jing He faintly furrowed his brows. He had really hoped that his uncle would know something. Since this wasn't the case, it likely mean that Qiu Ling simply didn't want to come.

His heart squeezed painfully when he thought of that but he still owed his uncle an explanation. After all, if he disturbed him just for this, he'd better tell him why. He felt embarrassed to say it but since the situation was already like this ... "It is nothing much. Just that ... Longjun hasn't been here in a while and I was wondering if something urgent had happened."

"Oh." Qiang Yan really couldn't say that he was surprised. Well, maybe he should say that he was surprised at his nephew's use of 'in a while'. He didn't think that meant what Jing He was currently pretending it meant. But then, maybe when you were in love, even an hour apart seemed like a year to you so the dragon king being late once was already a major occurrence. Well, to be honest, with how often that guy was hanging around his nephew, it indeed was special when he wasn't for once.

Qiang Yan gave a hum, wondering how to solve this issue without embarrassing Jing He too much. "Well, I guess I could contact adviser Fu Heng to sound him out."

Jing He raised his head with panic written in his eyes. "Ah? But ... but it doesn't seem quite right to bother him about something like this. Anyway, it's probably nothing." He didn't know Fu Heng but he already felt embarrassed enough going to his uncle. If his uncle now contacted somebody to ask what Qiu Ling was doing ... he would probably seem troublesome.

Qiang Yan simply raised his brows. "Am I not the God of War? And isn't there currently trouble in the Western Heaven? I think it's only right to contact our partners in the alliance to find out whether the western regions of their realm have been facing any problems as well, isn't it?"

Jing He looked at his uncle's serious expression and finally nodded. Anyway, he wanted to know and if his uncle felt that he should inquire ... In any case, this wasn't directly about Qiu Ling s it should be alright.

Qiang Yan gave a hum when his nephew didn't argue further and took out a transmission stone. He couldn't directly contact Qiu Ling or his other advisers but he did have one for Fu Heng and Qiang Wei. The former was in charge of the dragon realm's overall defense and the latter was at least responsible for the guards in the capital city. Naturally, he was familiar with them.

Transmission stones were usually used to contact specific people. Seeing the one that connected him with the God of War light up, Fu Heng naturally didn't dare to delay. He imbued his spiritual energy and stared at the image that sprang up with his red brows furrowed. "God of War, is there an attack?"

Qiang Yan smiled, quite happy with how straightforward this guy was. "Something like that. We've been having some issues in the Western Heaven. It's nothing we can't deal with on our own since it's on a pretty small scale but I figured I should inquire how things are on your side. Were there any recent attacks? I think the northern and western regions specifically might be targeted."

Fu Heng directly shook his head. "No, nothing at all." Of course, there were people responsible specifically for those regions and if the scale was small, they might not even bother to inform him.

Qiang Yan gave a hum. "Well, it's good if nothing happens. It's the common people who suffer from attacks so everything being peaceful is better."

Fu Heng gave another hum but didn't say more.

Qiang Yan wasn't surprised. Fu Heng had never been talkative. If a response could be summarized in one word, you'd only get that one word. If he had to use a few sentences, he'd also say them but he wouldn't go on any tangents. It was nice when dealing with official business but not when trying to get some information out of him.

He cleared his throat and finally thickened his skin under Fu Heng's patient gaze. "So ... how has Longjun been doing? I haven't seen him in a while."

Fu Heng blinked his eyes. Well, neither had he but he couldn't very well say that, could he? "Good?" Thankfully, nobody expected him to say much so he left it at that. Seeing as the God of War seemed unusually chatty today, his gaze roamed about before finally returning. "Ah, somebody just came to report. If there's nothing else, I'm afraid I'll have to end this here."

Qiang Yan could only smile wryly. "Sure, I wouldn't want to keep Adviser Fu Heng from his duties."

The next moment, the transmission was already ended. Qiang Yan could only sigh and then look at his nephew with some pity. It seemed like he wouldn't get the answer he wanted today.