While Qiu Ling and Bai Fen were talking, Qiang Yan had finished organizing the additional guards for the Heavenly Emperor’s palace that would be on shift. He leaned back on his chair and sighed deeply, rubbing his forehead.

Having Qiu Ling stay in the Nine Heavens seemed like a good idea. It would strengthen the alliance at a time when the people were worried about a new demon king taking over, made the relationship between him and Jing He more official even if it hadn’t been announced just yet, and might even change his brother-in-law’s attitude slightly if they had to get along every day. At the same time, he felt worried about the next weeks or maybe months.

There was no saying how long this state would last and while Qiu Ling could probably pull himself together and put on a nice face while dealing with Rong Su, the same wasn’t necessarily true the other way around. And he really didn’t want to be caught between these two when his brother-in-law started to make trouble.

Qiang Yan stared at the ceiling, not wanting to go over right away. He knew he had suggested it himself but that didn’t mean he was actually ready to face the consequences. Frankly, he had mostly said that because every other possibility had been ruled out because of his brother-in-law’s suspicion. Where else could they put Qiu Ling that Rong Su couldn’t have complained about, after all? Anyway, now, he had to deal with this mess.

Other than Qiu Ling’s matter, there was also his sister’s suggestion of asking Bai Mu and Nie Huang to move into the palace as well. This … was a bit complicated. He would have loved to have Bai Mu closer and get the chance to spend an extended amount of time with him. The same was naturally true for Nie Huang. This was the woman his son loved and wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Naturally, he wanted to know more about her as well. The problem was, once again, his brother-in-law.

Rong Su had always been opinionated. He didn’t like the dragons very much, believing that their support in the war against the demons had little effect and feeling like they only added to the trouble outside of that. He also had a not-so-positive opinion about anything that happened during a trueborn god’s trial. This was why he hadn’t been able to accept Zhong Jing Yi and also why he couldn’t understand how he still wasn’t over Huan Yin. Naturally, he wouldn’t accept Bai Mu as his son either, and knowing him, there was a decent chance that he wouldn’t keep that opinion to himself and would instead blurt that out right in front of Bai Mu.

Did he really want to do this to his son?

Qiang Yan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Of course, he didn’t. Even though Bai Mu had forgiven him for his absence during pretty much all of his life, their relationship couldn’t be considered close. If anything, he should make even surer that he kept him away from this kind of issue. But at the same time … keeping him away, keeping him at arm’s length if there was something big going on that involved his family … wasn’t that also like telling him that he didn’t consider him to be family?

He felt torn and for a while, he couldn’t decide what to do. Sitting in silence for a while, he finally sighed and got up, walking out of his study. He had no idea how to decide but he knew what to do when faced with this kind of problem: Ask for help!

He thought of going to Bai Fen first since this involved her as well, after all, but finally figured that she might be too close to give him a good answer. Anyway, she was even the one who had suggested this in the first place so she might not be neutral enough. No, rather than that, it was better to ask someone who knew the general situation but wasn’t personally involved. Thus, a few minutes later, Qiang Yan walked down the corridor leading to Li Yin’s study in the Court of Justice.

Before he could actually reach the door, an official that had been standing in the corner stepped forward and inclined his head. “God of War, the God of Justice asked not to be disturbed for the time being.”

Qiang Yan raised his brows and then glanced at the door that wasn’t too far away. He could even see another official standing in the corner on the other side. Obviously, Li Yin was serious about this. But thinking about it … he should just be working and if what he was working on was related to Jing He’s matter, this was probably just a precaution so nobody unrelated would see anything they shouldn’t.

Thinking of this, he simply waved. “I’m sure that doesn’t apply to me.” He smiled, stepped around the official who seemed to want to protest, and walked right up to the door. He knocked quickly and then opened it, leaning inside. “Are you —” Busy?

The last word got stuck in his throat and he pulled the door close with a bang, clamping the hem of his sleeve. He tugged and finally managed to pull it out without having to open the door again and only then heaved a sigh of relief. Not knowing what to do, he turned around and rapidly blinked his eyes, trying to get his thoughts to work again.

Li Yin … had not been alone in that study. He definitely hadn’t been working though unless he had been examining a suspect really, really closely and it sure hadn’t seemed that way. That was to say … it seemed like he might have interrupted his best friend’s good time right at the beginning. Thinking of how Li Yin seemed to have been alone since whatever happened to Ru Zhen’s other parent, he felt guilty for ignoring that official’s warning just now. Ah, what to do?