TL: Hua
After suddenly getting warmer, the weather has turned cold again. Although the snow outside has disappeared and the ice layer on the lake is gradually melting, the constant temperature system in the palace is still on due to the occasional cold weather.
After the Mermaid Center gradually got on track and recruited a group of new keepers who were personally trained by Ji Mingjiang, he finally gave himself a day off during the working day.
At this time, Ji Mingjiang was slumped on the sofa with a pillow in the shape of a black dragon cub in his arms, although Clarice denied it several times and insisted that it wasn’t a black dragon cub.
The high temperature in the room and the doll warmed by the sun in his arms made him drowsy. Ji Mingjiang’s chin rested on the ear of the doll in his arms, and just when he was about to close his eyelids and fall asleep in the warm spring sunshine, Clarice’s voice suddenly sounded in the room.
“Um?”
Ji Mingjiang’s brain was a little sluggish due to the surging sleepiness. He was stunned for two seconds before lazily making a questioning voice from deep in his nose. After realizing what Clarice had just said, his eyes, which were about to close, opened in shock. He sat up straight and looked at Clarice, his tone rising: “Invitation from the Federation? Us?”
Are you kidding? After the fight between the two sides, to be precise, the Federation was unilaterally beaten, and the speaker of the House was humiliated and kidnapped on his own territory. Although they finally sat down to negotiate, he still remembered the ugly and almost aggressive expression of the Federation people and the murderous look in Abbot Wilson’s eyes.
“Are they being dishonest again after just one year?”
Ji Mingjiang held the little black dragon in his hand and yawned as he walked towards Clarice.
Leiden’s gaze lingered for a few seconds on the doll that was held by Ji Mingjiang and had its ears drooping, and then he looked at the mermaid whose face was filled with disbelief, shook his head, and said, “It seems to be serious.”
He also just received the news.
It was not sent from the official operating account on the other side, but from Abbot Wilson personally contacting him. The reason is…
“It has something to do with the mermaids from the Federation.”
After reading a long list of tedious words sent from the other side, mixed with all kinds of honorifics and explanations that seemed not to be sincere, Leiden closed his eyes with a headache and said.
“?”
Ji Mingjiang was very puzzled. “Why are they still asking us about the mermaid issue? Didn’t they already discuss a solution last year?”
What he was talking about were the matters discussed at the peace talks after the hasty blitz.
In addition to the relevant compensation matters agreed upon at the beginning, because of Ji Mingjiang’s own situation and their subsequent arrangements, the dirty things done by the senior officials and the so-called upper-class people in the Federation to satisfy their own selfish interests were truly exposed to the public.
This is when Ji Mingjiang and the others caught a lot of small fish and shrimp that were of little use.
So among a large number of Federation people who were sent to die and were immediately abandoned and almost silenced after being caught, it was naturally very convenient to pick a few who wanted to survive or seek revenge.
With the description of Greni, an eyewitness, embellished by a couple of well-written officials, and the real actions of those Federation people confessing everything, it creates an image of a prodigal son who has been tormented by conscience and eventually turns back.
All it took was a little bit of inconspicuous publicity, and it directly caused an uproar in both the Empire and the Federation.
Because the situation at that time was somewhat grim in the eyes of the uninformed ordinary people, neither the Federation nor the Empire believed the confessions of these people for the first time.
It wasn’t until senior Federation officials at the peace talks learned about it.
Ji Mingjiang now recalled the secretary who suddenly broke into the conference room and the senior executives whose expressions changed drastically after listening to the secretary’s report, and the corners of his mouth couldn’t stop rising.
The executives present at the time, including Abbot Wilson, all knew clearly that this must have been done by Ji Mingjiang and others. But because there was no clear evidence and various reasons, they could only swallow this anger in the end and interrupted the meeting for a moment to issue a simple apology statement.
This apology statement was equivalent to directly confirming the rumors. The Starnet was abuzz for a while, but the reactions from both sides were also completely different.
On the Empire’s side, the first emotion that arose among netizens was naturally rejoicing—rejoicing that their own little mermaids had not encountered the bad things these disgusting people had done and rejoicing that the leaders of their own country weren’t so muddleheads. And when the feeling of joy faded away, the emotions that arose naturally turned into anger, sympathy, and… disgust.
Anger and sympathy are due to the previous and current situation of the Federation mermaid. The relationship between the two parties wasn’t good in the first place. During the Chinese New Year, they were even hit on the door. The people of the Empire now have more resentment towards the Federation than ever. Although it may be inappropriate, such a timely topic was delivered to the door, so it’s natural to hold onto it well and ridicule the Federation.
The people of the Federation… had just recovered from such a nasty incident in their own families. They were originally the unreasonable party, and now their tone of quarreling with the Empire netizens is much weaker.
They were ridiculed all over the Internet in a one-sided manner, but unfortunately, it’s all facts. The Federation netizens were furious but couldn’t refute anything.
Afterwards, whether it was out of genuine anger about the plight of the Federation mermaids, to avoid being mocked by the Empire people that the Federation government is equally bad from top to bottom, or to vent their anger on the Empire for the actions of their own government, the criticism of the Federation government online and protest offline didn’t go down. They won’t stop until Abbot Wilson gives an explanation.
Naturally, their peace talks were also affected. The meeting, which was originally estimated to take about a week, was shortened to two or three days due to several secretaries rushing in to report on the latest progress, and they hurriedly signed several documents. After the treaty, Abbott Wilson led his people back to the Federation.
Within a few days, Ji Mingjiang saw the solution they gave.
In fact, it’s very simple. Punish what should be punished, destroy what should be destroyed, and then make every subsequent arrangement for the mermaid public. Although it’s certainly not what Ji Mingjiang wants, it’s probably the biggest concession that the Federation side can make in a short period of time.
After all, if one day they were locked up in darkness and the next day they were put out on the street and told that they had equal rights as everyone else…it’s not realistic even if you think about it.
“So why are they suddenly looking for us?”
After recalling all the causes and consequences of last year’s process results, Ji Mingjiang’s fingers weaved in and out of the stuff pillow on his lap, his face still a little puzzled.
“I haven’t heard of any problems with the mermaid management over there recently.”
“No problem is the biggest problem.”
Leiden finally couldn’t stand the movements of Ji Mingjiang’s hands. He grabbed the brutally beaten little black dragon and put his communicator into Ji Mingjiang’s free hand.
While letting Ji Mingjiang read the news, Leiden explained: “Speaking of which, this has something to do with you.”
“?”
Ji Mingjiang turned his head slightly and looked at him, gesturing for him to continue.
The long string of words sent by Abbott Wilson really demonstrated the politician’s rhetoric skills incisively and vividly, and the true meaning was perfectly hidden in the complicated written language. Leiden handed the communicator directly to Ji Mingjiang, just to let him understand it more comprehensively. After receiving the puzzled look from Ji Mingjiang, he directly explained in a nutshell: “To put it simply, it’s because the gap caused by the comparison is too great. The people of the Federation feel very embarrassed and put pressure on Abbot Wilson. He had no choice but to come to us for help.”
Ji Mingjiang: “…”
Ji Mingjiang: “???”
He was stunned for a moment, and then several question marks quickly appeared above his head.
What’s he doing? Why did he act like they had a good relationship? !
After reading the message from Abbot Wilson, Ji Mingjiang finally understood what was going on. It’s related to him and the little mermaids at the center, who can now handle their own affairs independently, and the live broadcast.
Ji Mingjiang has never stopped live broadcasting, and besides him, Kiro and Greni naturally also appeared in the live broadcast room.
The two Empire mermaids, who have completely transformed into human forms, exude confidence and trustworthiness in every word and deed. One former Federation mermaid has also transformed into human form but chose to become an Empire resident because of the past actions of the Federation government. Those full of vitality, lively, cute, and energetic little mermaids also appeared in Ji Mingjiang’s live broadcast room and other personal live broadcast rooms.
Compare this with those mermaids in the Federation who have made no progress even a year later; every time they send out photos, they still have empty eyes and look like mindless dolls. Whether the problem lies with their mermaids, the Federation’s guidance method, or the psychological shadow of these mermaids that have not yet been eliminated, the people of the Federation, who always like to compete with others, feel that it’s the fault of their shabby government, so of course they started making trouble again…
After Ji Mingjiang read the cause and effect, he fell into a confused mood. He didn’t even remember how he returned the communicator to Clarice.
“Abbot Wilson probably has no choice.” Leiden put away the communicator, pushed back the silver-white hair that was adsorbed to his clothes by static electricity due to Ji Mingjiang’s approach, and said: “He was already slipping badly in popular support because of last year’s incident, and this time he probably didn’t dare to gamble on that possibility, so he simply approached us directly.”
After all, it was a matter of discussing how to let the mermaids return to normal. For Ji Mingjiang’s sake, the Empire will definitely not make it too difficult. At most, it would be a matter of losing face.
But if he completely loses the support of the people for the sake of face…Abbott Wilson isn’t that crazy to do such a loss-making business.
Ji Mingjiang curled his lips. After figuring out the cause and effect and the true thoughts that Abbot Wilson might have in his heart, his interest was mostly lost. Unfortunately, he thought he could go to the Federation to have some fun again.
“He is really confident. Why is he so sure that we will help him?”
“Buzz-”
Just as he was talking, Leiden’s communicator rang again. After taking it out, he chuckled and said, “I guessed wrong; he wasn’t sure, so I just need to make a decision within a week. If you are willing to accept this invitation, the Federation will use the official account to publicly issue a formal invitation.”
Looking at Ji Mingjiang’s thoughtful expression, Leiden threw the doll by his leg back into his arms and asked, “Do you want to accept this invitation? In fact, there are several tourist stars in the Federation as well. It’s very unique. If you accept it, we can go on vacation after finishing their matters.”
It’s been a while since the New Year’s holiday. Considering that Ji Mingjiang hasn’t relaxed much since then until now, Leiden was very confident when he said these words.
“It’s not impossible…” After briefly recalling his increasingly fixed itinerary during this period, Ji Mingjiang thought for a moment and then nodded.
Leiden also nodded.
Seeing that he seemed to have nothing else to say, Ji Mingjiang stood up with the black dragon ears in his hand and stretched his arms lazily.
The sunlight thrown through the window was obscured by his figure, casting a beam of light in front of Leiden’s eyes now and then, which was really dazzling.
He lifted his head and looked in the direction of Ji Mingjiang. The shirt on the other person’s body had some wrinkles due to the friction on the sofa just now. With Ji Mingjiang’s arm stretching movement, it lifted upwards, and a section of the waist line that was even fairer in the sunlight appeared in front of him.
Leiden’s mind went blank for a few seconds. It wasn’t until Ji Mingjiang’s shirt fell back that he gradually regained his thoughts. His forehead twitched a few times, and the emotions in his heart suddenly became complicated.
But he quickly attributed this complicated emotion to his ignorance of the changes in Ji Mingjiang’s body shape.
“I’ll ask Rowlett to make a few more pieces for you later. Your clothes now don’t fit. And if you go to the Federation in the future, you’ll definitely have to dress more formally. I haven’t prepared these kinds of gowns or anything for you before.”
After pinching his brows, Leiden quickly spoke. At the same time, he took out his own light brain and finished sending the message to Rowlett.
“Oh.” After being reminded by him, Ji Mingjiang lowered his head and glanced at his pants, which exposed part of his ankle.
My waist seemed a little cold when I stretched just now…
“Just arrange it.” After discovering that the clothes did not fit well, Ji Mingjiang didn’t pay too much attention. He waved his hand to Clarice and said, “I’m going back first. I promised Lin Nan to fight with him in the game today.”
After Leiden said “hmm,” he lowered his head and read the news again.
It’s unknown what Rowlett was busy with, but after knowing that Ji Mingjiang needed new clothes, he directly pushed the contact information of the designer he had contacted before to Leiden and said, “This guy used to make clothes for Berek and Shanas. Your Majesty and His Highness Mingjiang’s clothes were also made by him before. You can contact him directly, and there won’t be any problems.”
Fine.
From this perspective, the other party should not be trembling and hesitant to speak or propose ideas due to their imperial status.
Feeling that this conversation should go smoothly, Leiden directly sent the friend request without much hesitation.
Rowlett probably said hello to the other party in advance. The friend application was approved quickly, and Leiden also immediately sent the request he just thought of.
Then he fell into silence while looking at the message from the designer on the other side.
The message is indeed routine and a must-ask when customizing clothes.
“Wen: Got it.”
“Wen: Then when will I come to help His Highness Mingjiang measure the specific dimensions? Of course, if it’s inconvenient, Your Majesty, if you have specific data, you can send it to me directly.”
“Wen: height, shoulder width, chest circumference, arm circumference, waist circumference, leg length…”
“Wen: That’s all.”
Such a routine question, so routine that later Leiden felt that something might have gone wrong with his mental state at the time.
How else to explain that when he saw those keywords, such as waist circumference and leg length, he didn’t answer the designer’s question immediately but suddenly thought of the scene where Ji Mingjiang stretched his waist in front of him.
He didn’t know if his brain automatically merged the sunlight that was about to blind people at that time with Ji Mingjiang standing diagonally in front of him. When Leiden replayed the scene in his mind, he actually felt that Ji Mingjiang’s exposed waist was also dazzlingly white.
In addition, there is the other party’s thin waistline that can be seen even when his shirt is dropped, and his ankles that are exposed due to the same ill-fitting pants.
Speaking of which, did he hug Ji Mingjiang for a few seconds on that deserted star last year? Although he did so in order to catch the person who jumped out of the exploded starship at the time, but…
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
What is he thinking? He must be out of his mind.
After sending the message “I’m not sure about the exact size” expressionlessly and agreeing on a specific time with the designer, Leiden looked at his own face reflected on the off-screen light brain and fell into contemplation.
How about waiting for Ji Mingjiang to finish playing the game tonight and asking him to help with some mental counseling?
