Chapter 3 - Speculations

The following morning, Yu Lexuan got up late because he was so tired from the long journey back home. He opens his eyes slowly, seeing Feng Long sitting on his bed:

-Ma...ma... Majesty, good morning! I'm so sorry for sleeping too much! 

Yu Lexuan tries to get up quickly. Feng Long puts a hand over Yu Lexuan's chest, holding him down. He smiles:

-No need to hurry up. I come here just to know if you had a good night. You traveled way too much, Nanchang is so far away, so I understand you must still be tired.

Yu Lexuan puts his hand over Feng Long's, kindly moving it to the side while tenderly staring at him:

-I'm flattered with your consideration, your majesty...

-No need. If you can, let's get up. Zhong Kunyi is here. It would be nice if you could share your progress with him too.

-Of course, I'll do it shortly. 

Yu Lexuan gets up and follows Feng Long. They met with Zhong Kunyi in a separate room. They all bow to each other:

-Good morning. How was the negotiation going with Jiangxi, Yu Lexuan? 

-I told my majesty it was a success. We've gotten Shangrao back to our territory. Meng Zhang told me he was tricked. It was not his intent to annex Shangrao to his empire, so he apologized for that. We have normal relations now, but his kingdom is under a food shortage due to flooding in the crop fields. I offered him some help, sending food to them, produced by our farmers who live the closest to the border.

-Excellent. Fortunately, our production has been consistent in the last year, and giving away some of it will not cause any problems for us by now.

Shortly after, they went to the tea room to drink together. Yu Lexuan serves the tea:

-Your majesty, may I tell you another piece of information I got, not related to the matters I was dealing with during my trip to Jiangxi?

-Please, feel free to do it.

Yu Lexuan sits between Feng Long and Zhong Kunyi:

-I've heard about an unknown disease, probably a serious one, causing some fuss in the neighboring empire of Anhui, especially Hefei. All the currently available data is not enough to pinpoint what is causing that. However, it is spreading quickly in Anhui. Deaths have been recorded, but since Anhui does not share this information, maybe we should prepare for the worst.

Feng Long thinks for a while:

-This may escalate to be a critical issue. Maybe we should report it to Zhang Yi so he can elaborate a plan to fight it early. We can even send him to the border to investigate it.

Yu Lexuan gets up:

-I can accompany him on that. I think soldiers are not really needed for it even though Anhui does not like to talk with their neighbors, they won't attack us.

-Well, if you want so, you can do it. I hope this all goes well. Our empire is having a good time, and I don't want to fight an epidemic now. 

-Agreed. I'll meet with Zhang Yi shortly. 

-You can go. Please take care of yourself and of Zhang Yi. 

-For sure.

...

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