As the Emperor and the Empress of the Wind Kingdom were seated in the Dragon Throne, every official did their greetings and then it was turn for the n.o.bles and the Merchant families invited to the Coronation to give gifts to the Emperor congratulating him." Did the Water and the Earth Kingdom send any congratulatory tributes?", Xing asked the Emperor as she was curious. The Wind Kingdom doesn"t have any va.s.sal states who pay tributes and the neighbouring Kingdoms sould send gifts at least for formality, right? After all their kingdom is the mother kingdom for the Water and the earth kingdom.
" Out relations.h.i.+p with those countries is non-existent. We didn"t send any congratulatory gifts for their Emperor"s coronation either", he replied.
That"s no good... Xing thought. With war approaching from the tribals, it is not good for a kingdom to be completely isolated from their neighbours, right? How come no one addressed it seriously till now?
Xing remembered that the envoys sent to the Earth Kingdom were killed by their soldiers even at the borders... This all seems fishy...
Xing felt a splitting headache but she could not leave that place because she is supposed to be here... What a drag!
As the biggest merchant family, Huang Family was the first one who gave the Emperor first wishes and there were all kinds of expensive and exquisite Jade ornaments and Treasures in there.
But everyone was surprised more by the five thousand horses the Huang Family gifted the Emperor.
Are they trying to cajole the Emperor to go easy on them with the investigations on them?
Everyone were murmuring among themselves when Huang Zedong said his greetings to the Emperor. He froze seeing Shengli beside her and he didn"t know what was going on when he was told by his little brother to announce the death of Huang Shengli. Also he didn"t understand why his niece chose to enter the palace and why she is being the Empress now. But... There should be a reason, right? Or else his little brother wouldn"t have allowed his only daughter inside the inner palace.
" Your advice made dogs chasing me", Zedong spoke in a lower tone for Xing to hear. If he didn"t take the Ran family"s businesses there won"t be this investigation going on about them and their a.s.sets won"t be temporarily frozen.
"Aren"t you a fox? Just dodge", Xing smirked. As if her uncle was surprised by those investigations!
And so many other merchants were prostrating before them and giving them gifts. Xing knew of the alliance between the merchants who control the majority of the court and they are here to show their face to the Emperor out of obligation and nothing else. Who knows..? These merchants may be the ones spoiling the relations.h.i.+ps between the kingdoms as it would benefit them! If there are official trade sanctions between the Kingdoms, they might have to pay more taxes... That could be a valid reason for their disapproval!
But Shengli has control over most of these alliances as Li ChengNuo and he"d know if those merchants are the ones planning against the Official Trade between the Kingdoms. So who else could spoil the relations between them? Could it be s.h.i.+hong? Could he have reach over other kingdoms too?
It was Haru"s turn and he did the formal bow to the Emperor and Xing too and it made Xing cringe hard. He was someone she grew up with and he"s like a family to her...
It was highly cringe worthy for Xing who was used to being called animal names by Haru and him kneeling before her made her feel odd. She definitely didn"t like it. It made her feel like she was somewhere in a distant place from him even though he was feet away from her.
"Long live your majesty!", he greeted the Emperor.
"Shurei is pregnant. We found out this morning", he said in a low tone kneeling in front of her.
"Congratulations! Take good care of her. If you need medicines or anything ask me. I"m really happy for you! Don"t let her work hard and protect her well...", Xing who was uncontrollably joyous had to hide her emotions because everyone"s eyes were in her. She knew once she entered the palace, Shurei would be "allowed" to bear her friend"s children. The G.o.ds are honest that way! Good thing that her illness was cured!
"Stupid!", Haru gritted his teeth making Xing surprised and a little glad too since he didn"t call her "highness" or something of the sorts.
Okay, now what?
" You entered the palace two months ago and she is two months pregnant now. Someone who had no chance of carrying a child, suddenly became fine. See the correlation there? Her pregnancy has everything to do with you entering the inner palace, right? How stupid are you? Why do you have to do this?", he voiced his displeasure as his servants explained his gifts to the Emperor.
" Hmpf!", Xing snorted. Of course he is smart to find out about this. But I"m not that selfless, right?
" Haru ", Xing smirked, " Stop looking for coincidences and take care of your wife well! Forget about other things and don"t worry about me. You have your own family to look after now ", she spoke in a commanding tone making Haru sigh. Why is she always this way? Can"t she look after herself first? He looked at Shengli who had a sombre expression as if he was in deep thoughts.
"How is the East", she asked. She didnt know how her properties in the East were doing.
"The Qingze river almost dried up. A heavy drought is approaching. I thought you might know", Haru replied.
Wow! How much did I miss on the past days? Xing wondered. When she was back home, she knew every latest updates on their kingdom but now she doesn"t even knew such big news...
Qingze river dried up..? How is that even possible for the biggest river in the kingdom to dry up in mere months?
Xing thought about it hard and there was only one feasible possibility...
The Qingze River G.o.d must have taken the side of Old Rong! How infuriating for a G.o.d to abandon the welfare of the people for his own sake!
Heavens! Our Kingdom is in serious trouble!