Jing He was absentminded for the rest of the day but Rong Su didn’t make too much of it. His son had always been a gentle person. It was natural for him to care about others’ well-being even if that person was a slimy dandy like that dragon king. Of course, Jing He would need some time to think about his words before he would come to terms with the truth that this was none of his business.

The next day, Jing He still returned to his father’s palace. After Qiu Ling returned, they would hopefully start to spend more time together again. Thus, he had to stay with his father now so he wouldn’t come and make trouble. And since Qiu Ling hadn’t shown up in the morning, he probably wouldn’t see him today either.

In fact, at that time, Qiu Ling was seated in his throne room, listening to Fu Min tell him about the … news of the dragon realm. Or maybe it would be more appropriate to say that Qiu Ling was listlessly lying on his throne and staring at the ceiling absentmindedly while Fu Min was excitedly spreading the gossip of the important people of the dragon realm. He at least still had an audience in Fu Heng who was standing to the side, following each of his words.

Just now, Fu Min was talking about the capital’s favorite brewer, the one everyone called Lao Chun. “Anyway, after he found out, he literally kicked them out of his house and then yelled at their faces how, if he ever saw them step one foot in there again, he’d pluck out all their scales one by one.

“Oh, you should have seen Qiang Wei’s face when I told him the story. I mean, he has always disliked Xia Rong since the time they were vying for the spot as captain of the squad and it still hasn’t died down. Personally, I think they’re just being immature. Xiang Yong has said the same.”

At that point, Fu Heng’s brows furrowed. He looked at the king and hurriedly interrupted Fu Min. “Your Majesty, do you want to do something about that?”

Qiu Ling curled his lips. “Of course, I want to. But what can I do? My mother-in-law said to wait a whole month and it has barely been a week …”

Fu Min blinked his eyes. “What?”

Qiu Ling finally raised his head and gave him an odd look. “What what? Am I speaking gibberish? I said my mother-in-law wanted me to wait a whole month and it’s only been a quarter of that. That means I still have to wait three more weeks until I can see my beloved!”

Fu Min blinked his eyes again. “Oh.” So the king hadn’t been listening … again. “Well, I don’t think anything needs to be done about the matter with Lao Chun either. I mean, Xia Rong wasn’t even directly involved and his friends aren’t part of the military. Unless Lao Chun himself brings it up, there is nothing we need to do. At most, give him a stern talking-to or something.”

He turned to look at Fu Heng who immediately nodded. Everything was alright as long as they didn’t talk about Xiang Yong.

Fu Min hummed with satisfaction and then turned to his king. “Now, what was that about your mother-in-law, Your Majesty? Maybe we can help?”

Qiu Ling cupped a cheek and gave the two dragons an insipid look. “Why? You suddenly gained unknown magic and can make another week elapse in a single second? If so, please go ahead and do it because I’m tired of waiting.” In fact, he had been tired of waiting since six days ago but he could hardly admit to that or who knew what that Fu Min would do again? It was already good enough if he wouldn’t take his gossip and run with it to every last corner of the dragon realm.

Fu Min pursed his lips. Naturally, he didn’t have that kind of ability. He didn’t believe that he couldn’t do something for his king though. “Well, maybe not that but … I am certain we could do something else. I mean, I could go and inquire about any news so you’ll know what His Highness is up to.”

“And sit here, torturing myself even worse after knowing how much my beloved is missing me?”

Fu Min stared at him, wondering if the Son of Heaven wasn’t rather treating this as a vacation. After all, it wasn’t like he had invited their king to bother him every day. Still, he could hardly say that. “Alright, then … maybe the time could be shortened a little?”

“Impossible! My mother-in-law said it should be a month and she knows what she’s doing.”

“Right, but … I mean, a month is basically just four weeks.” Fu Min shrugged his shoulders. “That makes it twenty-eight days.”

Qiu Ling curled his lips again. “Yes, twenty-eight days I have to spend without my beloved. As I said: torture! I don’t even know why I listened to my mother-in-law in the first place. I shouldn’t have pushed the issue. Not being married but being able to spend time with Jing He is still alright. Not being married and not being able to see him as well, now that … that’s impossible!”

Fu Min nodded along, even though he hardly had the patience to listen to his king go on and on about his issue. Their king could be happy that he even had a beloved to look forward to seeing again! What were they single dragons supposed to say?!

He hurriedly cleared his throat to get his king’s attention again and smiled. “I understand perfectly what you mean! That’s why I’m trying to help you. And you know, twenty-eight days is such an odd number. I think we should round that.”

Qiu Ling scowled. “That’d be thirty which is even longer.” Don’t kid him! He might not have gotten the best education thanks to his irresponsible parents but he knew that much.

“Well, I was thinking of rounding it down. Twenty-five sounds much nicer, doesn’t it?”

“I suppose so. But anyway, one week has gone by.”

“Right! Which makes this only nineteen days you’re supposed to wait, right?” Fu Min grinned brightly and then wiggled his brows at his king for good measure.

Qiu Ling looked at him solemnly. He might be pretending to be a fool most of the time but he still wouldn’t fall for that. Although … “I suppose you could look at it that way.” As long as it meant he could see his beloved again sooner.

“Exactly! And if we’re talking nineteen days, that is basically only three weeks, right?”

“True. And one of those has already passed, hasn’t it?” Qiu Ling quirked up one corner of his mouth and hummed to himself. Actually, looking at it like this … “That would only be two weeks remaining.”

“Yes! Which is fourteen days, isn’t it? Fourteen days don’t seem all that long.”

Qiu Ling nodded very seriously and sat up straight. “Especially if one week has passed already. You know, now that I think about the phrase ‘one week’, I believe my mother-in-law might have mentioned that it was ‘at least one week’ and that ‘a month might be even better’.

“But seeing as my beloved probably missed me greatly already, why go for the latter option? I should just count it as a week, right? And that … seems to have about gone by.”

His gaze swept from side to side and he wondered if he could really get out of this so easily. He really didn’t want to screw up but … he really missed Jing He. This was the longest they had been apart since … well, since Jing He fell sick because of that idiotic advice An Bai had given him at the time. And, well, he surely couldn’t risk that, could he?

Qiu Ling hummed and then jumped to his feet. “Ah, I’d better go and check on my beloved!” With that, the dragon king vanished from the throne room, rushing straight to the Nine Heavens.