“It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that you care too much.”
Jiang Jianming glanced at the comment section under the video, just in time to see several hot comments being banned for violations.
He showed a helpless expression. “Now everyone is learning to rule the country like a true crown prince, and they are still bullying big and small friends on the Intelligence Network. Does Your Highness have this kind of tolerance?”
Garcia was silent, and the cold wind outside blew in through the broken windows.
After a while, an invisible sense of oppression flowed out of his icy green eyes. He said, “This is within the territory of the empire, and I am the crown prince of the empire. Naturally, I will not allow my subjects to insult you.”
Garcia walked over, took a thick collar coat from the side, and put it on Jiang Jianming, “Change to a different room to sleep tonight.”
After saying that, the prince pushed the door and went out, and Jiang Jianming hurriedly followed Garcia. “Are you childish?”
A bright crescent moon cast their shadows in the corridor, floating robots flew leisurely, and the silhouette of the distant rose bush was faintly visible.
The previous night in the White Jade Palace, they seemed to be arguing too.
“Yes, now some people scold me and misunderstand me. But Your Highness, you also think about it.”
Jiang Jianming said, “A young disabled person of civilian origin suddenly appeared under everyone’s eyelids, carrying the double military rank of Silver Big Dipper and Golden Sun Wheel, and the speed of promotion is unheard of in the history of the empire. Civilians and non crystal races regard him as a hero, the old noble head of the Lance family calls him a close friend, the Silver Big Dipper’s General Xie calls him Little Excellency, the commander-in-chief promotes him exceptionally, even the crown prince favors him…”
“It seems that all the powerful and influential people in the world dote on him, and even the heavens seem to be favoring him. He is so eye-catching, but he does not suffer from a few discriminations, criticisms, and suspicions. Is there such a good thing?”
“You have suffered enough.”
Garcia opened the authority of another bedroom, pushed the door open, and said coldly. “You are dying.”
“They don’t know what you have paid. You should have such a good thing.”
Jiang Jianming walked in calmly and casually turned on the light. He could see it clearly and then calmly said. “There won’t be such a good thing.”
As soon as he said this, he guessed that the person behind him would make a fuss. Sure enough, in the next moment, Jiang Jianming’s shoulder was grabbed, and a huge force came—he staggered two steps, tripped and fell on the bed. Garcia pressed down angrily, his nose almost touching his, “Shut up. Dare you say one more word?”
Of course, Jiang Jianming dared. He even pinched the cheek of His Highness the Crown Prince, his eyes filled with a cold smile. “You are too naive.”
“Now can you understand why His Highness did not publicly announce our relationship back then?”
Because reality has such irresistible power, Jiang Jianming thought to himself.
It’s not just a friction at the military conference, nor just a disturbance at the corner of the Star City. There will be more and more in the future.
In front of them, there is a thorny dangerous road extending upwards, and at the end is a high crown shining with light. Ordinary people can only see the brilliance of the crown, but they can’t see the thorns in the dark.
There will always be bloody falls. Look, even Emperor Kaios was forced into a political marriage, right? Didn’t the first Holy War also end in a disastrous defeat?
“You have to choose, Your Highness.”
Jiang Jianming got into the quilt, his tone lazy, “Don’t look at me saying that today, the people’s hearts are lost, but I am not a politician, and their admiration is really useless.”
“In this way, no one will put expectations on me in the future, and my troubles will be much less. After I die, the people will not be hit too hard, which is good for both sides.”
The anger in Garcia’s eyes almost burst out. “Are you still considering them?”
Jiang Jianming avoided answering, but picked up a few strands of platinum hair that Garcia had fallen, and kissed it affectionately.
“Learn to give up some things, it will be much easier, Your Highness.”
He closed his eyes, his eyelashes flickered twice, and he said with a sigh. “Because you are not omnipotent, and I am not invincible.”
“…What?”
Garcia opened his eyes wide. As proud as he was, he never imagined that he would one day be gently mocked as “incapable” by his beloved.
The crown prince stared at the person on the bed, in a daze and lost in thought.
If it were anyone else, he might not even bother to give half a point of emotional fluctuation, he would just use the crystal bone to let the other party taste who was powerless.
But at this moment, the disabled human on the bed couldn’t be beaten or scolded. Even if he spoke harshly like before, he was afraid that he would really upset the person and cause them to fall ill.
Garcia was so angry that his breathing trembled, and he had to endure the crystal bone from exploding again.
In the end, he turned around and left. Halfway through, he paused, gritted his teeth and turned to increase the temperature of the air conditioner in the room, and then slammed the door out.
…So, they had a cold war again.
The next morning, Golden Sun Wheel Building.
Jiang Jianming went to work on time, with Bei Man’er and Zheng Yue following him.
Now that he had a real military position, he had brought Bei Man’er to his side as a secretary. It’s not favoritism. He felt that Miss Bei was a very capable girl during his time as adaptation period officer in the Silver Big Dipper. He made a profit.
“Colonel Jiang,” now that he had a military position, Miss Bei couldn’t call him classmate anymore, but her caring and gentle heart was as always, “These chores don’t need you to worry about, just send a communication order to us, why do you have to come over…”
Zheng Yue also said, “Exactly, Little Highness, you really are…You’re sick and you don’t tell anyone. The news broke out yesterday and we were scared into a cold sweat.”
Jiang Jianming was both amused and annoyed, and straightened his military cap, “You two have been nagging all the way, it’s enough. I’ve had this disease for more than a day or two…Come on, let’s go to the meeting.”
****
At noon, Crown Prince Ryann stepped into the Golden Sun Wheel Building. He just met three officers walking out of the main gate, they immediately stood straight and saluted.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince!”
“Helllo, Your Highness!”
“Colonel Jiang just finished the meeting!”
The voices of the three people were clear and neat, especially the last sentence was so naturally connected that it made His Highness Ryann’s face gloomy. “……”
“…Official business,” a few seconds later, the crown prince indifferently moved his gaze away and asked succinctly, “Where is Lieutenant General Luther?”
“Lieutenant General Luther is in the large conference hall on the fourth floor.”
The three people eagerly said, “However Colonel Jiang should have returned to his office, still on the eighth floor.”
Ryann nodded at them to indicate that he understood, then stepped into the elevator at a steady pace.
The door closed with a “hum” in front of several Golden Sun Wheel officers. The three turned their heads to look, only to see that the “8” button on the elevator lit up first.
So the three looked at each other, winked at each other tacitly, and each showed an “I knew it” expression.
Eighth floor.
Jiang Jianming handed over the documents summarized from the meeting to Bei Man’er for her to handle, and he leaned back in the chair to relax, closing his eyes and rubbing his brow.
As for the meeting, it was about the arrangement of the Golden Sun Wheel Royal Guard in a few days.
According to the plan recognized a few months ago, the emperor’s birthday banquet and the new crown prince’s enthronement ceremony would be held at the same time. Of course…the situation had changed drastically now, because of His Highness Ryann’s return, there was no more dispute over the position of the crown prince.
The next thing to do was more like going through the motions, pulling out the Little Highness for a walk, and showing the people that he was indeed alive.
However…there were unstable factors hidden everywhere inside and outside the empire now, and it must not cause trouble this time.
The door of the office opened at this time. Jiang Jianming heard Bei Man’er and Zheng Yue call “Your Highness” one after another, and quickly opened his eyes and sat up straight.
Ryann was already standing in front of his desk, casting a shadow on Jiang Jianming from a high position, expressionless.
Jiang Jianming hesitatingly said his greeting, “Hello, Your Highness?”
Ryann took out a medicine bottle from his arms, “dong” put it on the table, and then turned around without saying a word.
Jiang Jianming pursed his lips, unscrewed the cap and drank the daily medicine he had almost forgotten.
Bei Man’er on the side was both surprised and doubtful, and came over to ask in a low voice, “You guys, this is?”
Jiang Jianming also answered her in a low voice, “His Highness thinks we’re in a cold war, I’m giving him some face.”
“…” Ryann’s knuckles creaked, he wanted to turn back and yell “I can hear you”, but opening his mouth would mean losing the cold war.
In front of this cunning disabled human, he could only choose between forbearance and submission.
Jiang Jianming finished his medicine, casually threw the empty bottle into the recycling bin, and sighed with a frown, “I actually don’t really want to take this kind of medicine, there’s no significant effect, but there are a bunch of side effects.”
Ryann suddenly turned his head, “What side effects!?”
“…”
Bei Man’er and Zheng Yue covered their faces and walked away, both showing expressions that they couldn’t bear to look directly, thinking that this was too unbearable…
However, Ryann had already thrown the cold war behind him, and seriously and solemnly grabbed Jiang Jianming to ask what side effects there were. The latter quickly laughed and said it was a lie.
The crown prince simply drove Colonel Jiang off the chair, pulled him to rest on the sofa, and took over the documents he was supposed to handle himself.
Bei Man’er and Zheng Yue had already left. Time passed by every minute and second, and Ryann quietly did almost an hour by himself. When he had roughly finished everything, he slowly came back to his senses.
It’s over, he can’t be bottomless to this extent.
The matter from last night is not over yet, he should continue to be angry.
The crown prince abruptly put the electronic touch screen pen on the table, got up with a straight face, but saw that Jiang Jianming on the sofa had already closed his eyes and fell asleep.
He froze, realizing that if it weren’t for this person insisting on being discharged from the hospital, Jiang Jianming should still be lying in the hospital bed at this moment.
…The crown prince sat back down with a straight face.
Half an hour later, Jiang Jianming opened his eyes in a daze and woke up.
A few seconds later, he saw Ryann in front of the desk clearly and was startled, “Why are you still here!?”
Ryann raised his sharp and beautiful eyes, his face pale, “Are you driving me away?”
“No…” Jiang Jianming got up from the sofa in a daze, “Your Highness, did you come to see me specifically, are you so free today?”
Lian’s eyes moved, and he opened his mouth slightly, “…”
Jiang Jianming: “?”
“…Forgot.” Ryann drooped his head in despair, inserting his fingers into the soft pale gold curls, “I was looking for Lieutenant General Luther.”
Jiang Jianming couldn’t help but laugh, and hurriedly sent the crown prince out the door. Ryann stopped at the door, suddenly turned around, and pressed Jiang Jianming’s shoulder with his palm.
“The enthronement ceremony will be in the White Jade Palace.”
He looked deeply at the black-haired and pale young man in front of him. For a moment, his eyes seemed to flash through many things, and finally settled down, and said in a low voice, “You have to come.”
Even though there was no one around, he deliberately used a volume that only two people could hear, “You watch me truly succeed the name Ryann.”
Jiang Jianming happily raised his eyebrows, covering Ryann’s back of the hand with his own palm, “It is my honor to be able to look up to the glory of the emperor, Your Highness.”
Garcia smiled silently. In retaliation, he suddenly got closer, bit the white earlobe hidden under the black hair with his sharp canine teeth, and even stuck out his tongue, maliciously poking it.
Jiang Jianming didn’t expect this person to make such a fuss outside, he was so stimulated that he shivered all over, his legs were numb, and he said annoyedly in a low voice, “Your Highness!”
Just as he was about to hold him accountable, his Little Highness had already turned around and left, closing the office door as well.
Jiang Jianming laughed for a moment, shook his head and rubbed his earlobe hard, and turned back to his desk to check what Ryann had completed.
Gradually, his expression converged, and a look of praise appeared in his eyes.
It’s not surprising that he was his Little Highness, Ryann’s learning ability was amazingly fast.
Even though he had never cared about the internal situation of the empire in the past three years, he was now handling the affairs of the Golden Sun Wheel with ease. Perhaps some details still need to be polished, but the overall direction was almost perfect, at least he couldn’t pick out any mistakes with his eyes.
A gentle and melancholic look flashed in Jiang Jianming’s eyes. Perhaps, the day when he could look up to the glory of the true emperor would not be long.
****
——Of course, Colonel Jiang, who was immersed in imagination at this moment, naturally wouldn’t notice.
Outside the closed office door, the future “emperor” stood there, stiff as if frozen.
Ryann leaned against the door, biting his teeth slightly. He temporarily lost the ability to think calmly, and could only feel the accelerating heartbeat in his chest.
Just now…
He bit, and even licked.
Ryann stood there with his head down for a full half minute, and his stern cheeks actually became hot.
He slowly raised his palm, frowned and pressed his tight lips.
Could it be so…addictive?
“It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that you care too much.”
Jiang Jianming glanced at the comment section under the video, just in time to see several hot comments being banned for violations.
He showed a helpless expression. “Now everyone is learning to rule the country like a true crown prince, and they are still bullying big and small friends on the Intelligence Network. Does Your Highness have this kind of tolerance?”
Garcia was silent, and the cold wind outside blew in through the broken windows.
After a while, an invisible sense of oppression flowed out of his icy green eyes. He said, “This is within the territory of the empire, and I am the crown prince of the empire. Naturally, I will not allow my subjects to insult you.”
Garcia walked over, took a thick collar coat from the side, and put it on Jiang Jianming, “Change to a different room to sleep tonight.”
After saying that, the prince pushed the door and went out, and Jiang Jianming hurriedly followed Garcia. “Are you childish?”
A bright crescent moon cast their shadows in the corridor, floating robots flew leisurely, and the silhouette of the distant rose bush was faintly visible.
The previous night in the White Jade Palace, they seemed to be arguing too.
“Yes, now some people scold me and misunderstand me. But Your Highness, you also think about it.”
Jiang Jianming said, “A young disabled person of civilian origin suddenly appeared under everyone’s eyelids, carrying the double military rank of Silver Big Dipper and Golden Sun Wheel, and the speed of promotion is unheard of in the history of the empire. Civilians and non crystal races regard him as a hero, the old noble head of the Lance family calls him a close friend, the Silver Big Dipper’s General Xie calls him Little Excellency, the commander-in-chief promotes him exceptionally, even the crown prince favors him…”
“It seems that all the powerful and influential people in the world dote on him, and even the heavens seem to be favoring him. He is so eye-catching, but he does not suffer from a few discriminations, criticisms, and suspicions. Is there such a good thing?”
“You have suffered enough.”
Garcia opened the authority of another bedroom, pushed the door open, and said coldly. “You are dying.”
“They don’t know what you have paid. You should have such a good thing.”
Jiang Jianming walked in calmly and casually turned on the light. He could see it clearly and then calmly said. “There won’t be such a good thing.”
As soon as he said this, he guessed that the person behind him would make a fuss. Sure enough, in the next moment, Jiang Jianming’s shoulder was grabbed, and a huge force came—he staggered two steps, tripped and fell on the bed. Garcia pressed down angrily, his nose almost touching his, “Shut up. Dare you say one more word?”
Of course, Jiang Jianming dared. He even pinched the cheek of His Highness the Crown Prince, his eyes filled with a cold smile. “You are too naive.”
“Now can you understand why His Highness did not publicly announce our relationship back then?”
Because reality has such irresistible power, Jiang Jianming thought to himself.
It’s not just a friction at the military conference, nor just a disturbance at the corner of the Star City. There will be more and more in the future.
In front of them, there is a thorny dangerous road extending upwards, and at the end is a high crown shining with light. Ordinary people can only see the brilliance of the crown, but they can’t see the thorns in the dark.
There will always be bloody falls. Look, even Emperor Kaios was forced into a political marriage, right? Didn’t the first Holy War also end in a disastrous defeat?
“You have to choose, Your Highness.”
Jiang Jianming got into the quilt, his tone lazy, “Don’t look at me saying that today, the people’s hearts are lost, but I am not a politician, and their admiration is really useless.”
“In this way, no one will put expectations on me in the future, and my troubles will be much less. After I die, the people will not be hit too hard, which is good for both sides.”
The anger in Garcia’s eyes almost burst out. “Are you still considering them?”
Jiang Jianming avoided answering, but picked up a few strands of platinum hair that Garcia had fallen, and kissed it affectionately.
“Learn to give up some things, it will be much easier, Your Highness.”
He closed his eyes, his eyelashes flickered twice, and he said with a sigh. “Because you are not omnipotent, and I am not invincible.”
“…What?”
Garcia opened his eyes wide. As proud as he was, he never imagined that he would one day be gently mocked as “incapable” by his beloved.
The crown prince stared at the person on the bed, in a daze and lost in thought.
If it were anyone else, he might not even bother to give half a point of emotional fluctuation, he would just use the crystal bone to let the other party taste who was powerless.
But at this moment, the disabled human on the bed couldn’t be beaten or scolded. Even if he spoke harshly like before, he was afraid that he would really upset the person and cause them to fall ill.
Garcia was so angry that his breathing trembled, and he had to endure the crystal bone from exploding again.
In the end, he turned around and left. Halfway through, he paused, gritted his teeth and turned to increase the temperature of the air conditioner in the room, and then slammed the door out.
…So, they had a cold war again.
The next morning, Golden Sun Wheel Building.
Jiang Jianming went to work on time, with Bei Man’er and Zheng Yue following him.
Now that he had a real military position, he had brought Bei Man’er to his side as a secretary. It’s not favoritism. He felt that Miss Bei was a very capable girl during his time as adaptation period officer in the Silver Big Dipper. He made a profit.
“Colonel Jiang,” now that he had a military position, Miss Bei couldn’t call him classmate anymore, but her caring and gentle heart was as always, “These chores don’t need you to worry about, just send a communication order to us, why do you have to come over…”
Zheng Yue also said, “Exactly, Little Highness, you really are…You’re sick and you don’t tell anyone. The news broke out yesterday and we were scared into a cold sweat.”
Jiang Jianming was both amused and annoyed, and straightened his military cap, “You two have been nagging all the way, it’s enough. I’ve had this disease for more than a day or two…Come on, let’s go to the meeting.”
****
At noon, Crown Prince Ryann stepped into the Golden Sun Wheel Building. He just met three officers walking out of the main gate, they immediately stood straight and saluted.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince!”
“Helllo, Your Highness!”
“Colonel Jiang just finished the meeting!”
The voices of the three people were clear and neat, especially the last sentence was so naturally connected that it made His Highness Ryann’s face gloomy. “……”
“…Official business,” a few seconds later, the crown prince indifferently moved his gaze away and asked succinctly, “Where is Lieutenant General Luther?”
“Lieutenant General Luther is in the large conference hall on the fourth floor.”
The three people eagerly said, “However Colonel Jiang should have returned to his office, still on the eighth floor.”
Ryann nodded at them to indicate that he understood, then stepped into the elevator at a steady pace.
The door closed with a “hum” in front of several Golden Sun Wheel officers. The three turned their heads to look, only to see that the “8” button on the elevator lit up first.
So the three looked at each other, winked at each other tacitly, and each showed an “I knew it” expression.
Eighth floor.
Jiang Jianming handed over the documents summarized from the meeting to Bei Man’er for her to handle, and he leaned back in the chair to relax, closing his eyes and rubbing his brow.
As for the meeting, it was about the arrangement of the Golden Sun Wheel Royal Guard in a few days.
According to the plan recognized a few months ago, the emperor’s birthday banquet and the new crown prince’s enthronement ceremony would be held at the same time. Of course…the situation had changed drastically now, because of His Highness Ryann’s return, there was no more dispute over the position of the crown prince.
The next thing to do was more like going through the motions, pulling out the Little Highness for a walk, and showing the people that he was indeed alive.
However…there were unstable factors hidden everywhere inside and outside the empire now, and it must not cause trouble this time.
The door of the office opened at this time. Jiang Jianming heard Bei Man’er and Zheng Yue call “Your Highness” one after another, and quickly opened his eyes and sat up straight.
Ryann was already standing in front of his desk, casting a shadow on Jiang Jianming from a high position, expressionless.
Jiang Jianming hesitatingly said his greeting, “Hello, Your Highness?”
Ryann took out a medicine bottle from his arms, “dong” put it on the table, and then turned around without saying a word.
Jiang Jianming pursed his lips, unscrewed the cap and drank the daily medicine he had almost forgotten.
Bei Man’er on the side was both surprised and doubtful, and came over to ask in a low voice, “You guys, this is?”
Jiang Jianming also answered her in a low voice, “His Highness thinks we’re in a cold war, I’m giving him some face.”
“…” Ryann’s knuckles creaked, he wanted to turn back and yell “I can hear you”, but opening his mouth would mean losing the cold war.
In front of this cunning disabled human, he could only choose between forbearance and submission.
Jiang Jianming finished his medicine, casually threw the empty bottle into the recycling bin, and sighed with a frown, “I actually don’t really want to take this kind of medicine, there’s no significant effect, but there are a bunch of side effects.”
Ryann suddenly turned his head, “What side effects!?”
“…”
Bei Man’er and Zheng Yue covered their faces and walked away, both showing expressions that they couldn’t bear to look directly, thinking that this was too unbearable…
However, Ryann had already thrown the cold war behind him, and seriously and solemnly grabbed Jiang Jianming to ask what side effects there were. The latter quickly laughed and said it was a lie.
The crown prince simply drove Colonel Jiang off the chair, pulled him to rest on the sofa, and took over the documents he was supposed to handle himself.
Bei Man’er and Zheng Yue had already left. Time passed by every minute and second, and Ryann quietly did almost an hour by himself. When he had roughly finished everything, he slowly came back to his senses.
It’s over, he can’t be bottomless to this extent.
The matter from last night is not over yet, he should continue to be angry.
The crown prince abruptly put the electronic touch screen pen on the table, got up with a straight face, but saw that Jiang Jianming on the sofa had already closed his eyes and fell asleep.
He froze, realizing that if it weren’t for this person insisting on being discharged from the hospital, Jiang Jianming should still be lying in the hospital bed at this moment.
…The crown prince sat back down with a straight face.
Half an hour later, Jiang Jianming opened his eyes in a daze and woke up.
A few seconds later, he saw Ryann in front of the desk clearly and was startled, “Why are you still here!?”
Ryann raised his sharp and beautiful eyes, his face pale, “Are you driving me away?”
“No…” Jiang Jianming got up from the sofa in a daze, “Your Highness, did you come to see me specifically, are you so free today?”
Lian’s eyes moved, and he opened his mouth slightly, “…”
Jiang Jianming: “?”
“…Forgot.” Ryann drooped his head in despair, inserting his fingers into the soft pale gold curls, “I was looking for Lieutenant General Luther.”
Jiang Jianming couldn’t help but laugh, and hurriedly sent the crown prince out the door. Ryann stopped at the door, suddenly turned around, and pressed Jiang Jianming’s shoulder with his palm.
“The enthronement ceremony will be in the White Jade Palace.”
He looked deeply at the black-haired and pale young man in front of him. For a moment, his eyes seemed to flash through many things, and finally settled down, and said in a low voice, “You have to come.”
Even though there was no one around, he deliberately used a volume that only two people could hear, “You watch me truly succeed the name Ryann.”
Jiang Jianming happily raised his eyebrows, covering Ryann’s back of the hand with his own palm, “It is my honor to be able to look up to the glory of the emperor, Your Highness.”
Garcia smiled silently. In retaliation, he suddenly got closer, bit the white earlobe hidden under the black hair with his sharp canine teeth, and even stuck out his tongue, maliciously poking it.
Jiang Jianming didn’t expect this person to make such a fuss outside, he was so stimulated that he shivered all over, his legs were numb, and he said annoyedly in a low voice, “Your Highness!”
Just as he was about to hold him accountable, his Little Highness had already turned around and left, closing the office door as well.
Jiang Jianming laughed for a moment, shook his head and rubbed his earlobe hard, and turned back to his desk to check what Ryann had completed.
Gradually, his expression converged, and a look of praise appeared in his eyes.
It’s not surprising that he was his Little Highness, Ryann’s learning ability was amazingly fast.
Even though he had never cared about the internal situation of the empire in the past three years, he was now handling the affairs of the Golden Sun Wheel with ease. Perhaps some details still need to be polished, but the overall direction was almost perfect, at least he couldn’t pick out any mistakes with his eyes.
A gentle and melancholic look flashed in Jiang Jianming’s eyes. Perhaps, the day when he could look up to the glory of the true emperor would not be long.
****
——Of course, Colonel Jiang, who was immersed in imagination at this moment, naturally wouldn’t notice.
Outside the closed office door, the future “emperor” stood there, stiff as if frozen.
Ryann leaned against the door, biting his teeth slightly. He temporarily lost the ability to think calmly, and could only feel the accelerating heartbeat in his chest.
Just now…
He bit, and even licked.
Ryann stood there with his head down for a full half minute, and his stern cheeks actually became hot.
He slowly raised his palm, frowned and pressed his tight lips.
Could it be so…addictive?
