Chapter 50 - Needy Feng Long

 Back in Zhejiang, Feng Long and Zhong Kunyi are still on their way home. The ship moves very slowly, and they have spent a full day covering a distance that downstream would only take a few hours. The night arrives and Feng Long sits in the bow, looking at the stars. Zhong Kunyi brews some tea and offers to him:

-Your Majesty, would you accept some tea?
-Of course. - Feng Long smiles. 

Zhong Kunyi serves the tea in a cup, and gives it to Feng Long, sitting at his side next:

-Your Majesty... I always wondered what are your plans for the future... I mean, in 20 years, so many things can change...
-Well, Zhong Kunyi... I am a very young emperor, at least considering other emperors out there, not as young as Ding Qi, of course... But I have no plan. I have no intention to expand Zhejiang, maybe Xia Chunyu wants to reunite our empires and create a single one, maybe someday Ding Qi gets mad at us for any reason, or even Bai Chongye realizes he can easily conquer all our empires just because his army is the strongest...
-We must be prepared, your Majesty...
-I know, Zhong Kunyi... I am very satisfied with my life now. I am very happy to have you, to have Yu Lexuan, Zhang Yi... Your love, collectively, helps me thrive, be a good emperor for our people, and make better decisions when I am stranded. 

Feng Long moves his left arm behind Zhong Kunyi, gently hugging him. Staring at the stars, a tear falls from his eyes:

-Zhong Kunyi...
-Majesty...

Feng Long leans to the side, and Zhong Kunyi holds him while stroking his head delicately:

-I love you all so much... I cannot even think of losing any of you... I cry just by thinking about it happening...

Zhong Kunyi caresses Feng Long:

-I am here, everything will be fine... I know your position is not as easy as it appears to be, and also how much value you give to us...

Feng Long slowly rises and returns to his original position. He touches his head on Zhong Kunyi, both looking at the starry sky while the boat slowly moves upstream:

-Those stars are so beautiful... as you are... and I have a constellation with me.
-Your Majesty's love is a blessing to us. - Zhong Kunyi smiles.
-So do you. 

A hundred li away, Yu Lexuan behaves similarly. His heart feels that Feng Long is coming back home, and he is very eager to meet his emperor again. 
In Huangshan, Ding Qi receives the replies from Zhejiang, and also from Jiangxi. To his surprise, Jiangxi was aware of the disease, and have already started to develop medicine as well. The emperor has also sent estimate figures of the caseload and deaths:

-This is very intriguing... Well, they can't really test people for the disease, as probably no one except me has the tests produced by Zhang Yi, how come the emperor has an estimate? Did he produce a new kind of test or is he only considering the symptomatic cases? 

Zhang Xiaofan arrives, and bows to Ding Qi:

-Your majesty, have you received a reply?

Ding Qi quickly rises and helps him to rise, smiling:

-Rise, please... Yes, I got replies from Zhejiang, and also from Jiangxi, and I'm surprised with the last one.

Zhang Xiaofan rises, and reads the letter from Jiangxi:

-How is it possible? Did the emperor developed a new type of test, or is he just guessing? Nanchang is a big city!

Ding Qi thinks for a bit:

-Zhang Xiaofan, do you remember how all this "unknown disease" thing started?
-No, your majesty... We were treating people that were ill due to the flood...
-I can now remember clearly the day Yu Lexuan and Zhang Yi told me that there were rumors in Jiangxi about this unknown disease. Jiangxi's emperor probably moved ahead of everyone else and started to look more closely at it. Of course, he had no resources to test and track, but given that some people started to get ill, their doctors probably find this disease to be "new" and also relayed it to the emperor, who could then take the necessary measures. Basically, what everyone does when a new disease is discovered. 
-Your majesty is right! But haven't they find a treatment yet? 
-The emperor only wrote they were testing an assortment of medicines. Maybe we should all share our progress. I'm eager to know what Jiangsu has to say about that, their emperor rules like Feng Long and will probably react in the same way.
-A great alliance between four empires!- Zhang Xiaofan gets excited. 
-Yes, it should have been five, but I think Bai Chongye does not care. So, let's try to unify our effort, and collectively beat this plague. 

Ding Qi's plan sounds a bit optimistic but is remarkably possible. He only has to convince the emperor of Jiangxi to share information, as Xia Chunyu, from Jiangsu, already agreed with Feng Long to do so. 

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