Chapter 38 - Better than any orchid

In the morning, Ding Qi releases the pigeon which will deliver the letters to Feng Long. He goes to the lab and finds Zhang Xiaofan sleeping over his bench. Ding Qi moves away from the lab, trying not to produce any noise. He walks down a hallway back to his room.

Meanwhile in Zhejiang, Yu Lexuan and Feng Long are walking in the woods. Yu Lexuan picks an orchid and puts it on Feng Long's hair:

-Now Your Majesty is a bit more handsome. - Yu Lexuan smiles.

Feng Long notices the smell from the flower, and smiles too:

-Yu Lexuan... always trying to make my life better.

-Every single day... One orchid at a time!- Yu Lexuan hugs him.

Feng Long reciprocates the hug:

-No orchid in existence is better than you. 

Feng Long kisses Yu Lexuan on the forehead. Zhang Yi walks in a path similar to theirs and eventually they meet. He bows to Feng Long:

-Your Majesty is wise!

-You may rise. I like the collection of flowers you have in this basket, are you studying them too?

-Yes, Your Majesty. Some of the flowers have very specific properties, and I'm confident I can use some or all of them on the medicine Your Majesty ordered. I am also curious to know how things are progressing in Huangshan, maybe tomorrow can we send a letter to them?

-No problem. I feel that we might receive one today. I think Ding Qi might feel grateful for receiving the gift.

-Yes, Yout Majesty. He has a talented physician called Zhang Xiaofang, I instructed him how to prepare the test solution, and he mastered it on the first try. I also think Huangshan is trying to develop their own medicine as well, so I think it would be a wise move to share our progress and strengthen our mutual efforts to fight the disease. 

-You are correct, Zhang Yi. I feel so alleviated now that Ding Qi is finally on our side. As I told you before, we were not good friends. Actually sending you to Huangshan was a dangerous move, but since Yu Lexuan offered himself, I got the necessary confidence to do it. 

Yu Lexuan smiles:

-Better than that, Ding Qi loves us now. I'm looking forward to the day he will step on our land and bring good news!

-I want it too. 

They return to the palace. As strange as it sounds, the pigeon sent by Ding Qi arrives in Zhejiang in the noon, exactly, which means that it covered almost 400 li in just four hours. 

Feng Long was eating with Yu Lexuan when the pigeon arrived. The bird landed on the table, and walked towards him:

-Hey, Feng Long, this is a messenger pigeon! Seems to be from Huangshan! - Yu Lexuan is excited. 

Feng Long takes the pigeon and carefully opens a tiny container attached to its back. Feng long removes the small roll, that when opened turns into two letters. He reads the letter so Yu Lexuan can also know the content of it:

-"To His Majesty, Feng Long, the Huangshan empire humbly thank you for the generous donations and essential support given by His Highness, Yu Lexuan, the minister of health, Zhang Yi, and His Majesty's heartwarming act of kindness to my Huangshan. I hope all our people will be protected from this disease, and we are deploying all the resources we have to keep it under control and allow our economies to keep functioning normally and trading as the friends we are. Humbly, Ding Qi, Emperor of Huangshan."

-That's great, they received our donations in time! -Yu Lexuan smiles.

-Yes, and Ding Qi seems to be pretty happy with it. Well, let's see what the other letter says.

Yu Lexuan gets closer to Feng Long, so they can read the letter at the same time:

-"Hi, this letter is addressed to the health minister of Zhejiang, Zhang Yi. We are reporting back to Zhejiang that from the first 1000 tests performed, 196 resulted as contaminated. His Majesty, Ding Qi, is building a temporary city to treat the infected, and we are keeping them and their families in isolation for the next 18 days. Travelers will also be tested and quarantined if necessary. A mix of different minerals and herbs is being tested, based on previous experiences from other diseases, and we managed to reduce the pain on the infected, but given the small number and time span, we do not know how effective the medicines are. Our emperor is testing another recipe in Anhui, we do not know how they are performing, but I can guarantee their formulae is ineffective. Kindly waiting for a reply from his Minister, Zhang Yi. Humbly, Zhang Xiaofan, health minister of Huangshan."

-This is critical, Yu Lexuan, almost 200 cases! - Feng Long is scared.

-Yes, really a lot of cases. And they have only tested a thousand people.

-At least, it sounds that Ding Qi is willing to take it very seriously. He's building another city just to keep the infected people isolated!

-Yes, Your Majesty, after all, Huangshan has 50 thousand people living there, twice as many people as we have. And there are also the travelers. 

-Well, let's visit Zhang Yi. This letter was written for him. Also, let's write back and use the same pigeon to reply. 

-Sure!

...

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