After making a quick escape from the celestial palace, lian song and cheng yu made their way to qingqui. They didn't want to loiter around the celestial heavens and give hao de another chance to target them. Wising up they understood that no matter what was waiting for them in Qing qui, it was bound to be better than the traps hao de is going to lay out for them. Again, they thought, it was feng jiu who had called them, her whole essence was based on love, she would only congratulate them for this. So, hoping for the best, they appeared outside the fox den.

The door opened to reveal migu, the fox den steward. Bowing, he greeted them both, before he guided them inside. He took them to feng jiu's study. Walking inside the study, they looked around only to find it empty.

"her majesty is busy in the kitchen. She will be with you in a minute. Please, take a seat, have some tea, and make yourselves comfortable till then." Migu explained before he walked out leaving them alone. They watched each other's faces, trying to figure out what was going on. Unable to reach a conclusion, they quietly took their seats in front of the tea table and waited for feng jiu.

Few minutes later, feng jiu came strolling in with a plate in her hand. Settling down in her seat on the other side of the tea-table, she put down the plate on the table between them. On the plate were several pieces of a minty green pastry with a core in the midst. Pushing the plate a little towards them, she said, "it is called the lily love cake, I made it especially for the both of you. I wanted to celebrate you two finally getting together. It's been a tough ride for you."

Cheng yu gave a shy smile while lian song beamed with pride at feng jiu's comment. Feng jiu made them both tea to go along with their cakes. After pouring their teas, she quietly got up and moved towards the work table tucked in the corner of the room. They watched as she opened and closed several drawers, grabbed and mixed a few things, before putting it all away. After she was done with whatever she had started, feng jiu again walked towards them and sat down in her seat opposite them. She put down a small transparent vial in front of lian song. The vial seemed to contain a clear liquid in it that was held inside with the help of a cork. After examining the vial, Lian song looked up at her puzzled.

With a small smile on her face, she spoke, "I don't know what you did that has diminished your cultivation so much and I won't ask. But your aura is really weak right now. This replenishing serum will help you recuperate and cultivate twice as fast. Take two drops with your tea every day and you should be back to full cultivation in a weeks' time."

Lian song was touched by her attention and care. He had always known that feng jiu was a warm and caring woman at heart but he had never been on the receiving side of that care. He felt unequipped on handling such compassion and care, unbridled with the want of anything in return. He felt himself getting clammed up as he bowed, "thank you so much, your majesty.

"don't stand on ceremonies, lian song. It is just us three, here. Call me feng jiu, or xaio jiu, whichever one you feel more comfortable with. If you won't, I will also start referring to you as third prince. You wouldn't like that, will you?" Feng jiu arched an eyebrow at him mischievously. While she meant what she had said, she had also been trying to lighten up the gloomy mood that surrounded her two friends. But her casual remark had backfired. Instead of brightening up, lian song seemed more lost.

With a painful undertone to his words, he remarked, "I don't even hold that title, anymore. It wouldn't be prudent for you to refer to me by that rank."

"you are wrong there, third prince. I know everything that happened in the court today and from what I remember, your sentence excluded your ranks and powers. Uncle ye hua only ceased your rights to live and earn in the sky kingdom, everything else under your name still remains as yours. From what little I understand of the celestial laws, ranks, power and wealth can only be removed if it is stripped by the ruler or forsaken by the person himself. Since you two come under neither option, I concur that you still hold equal ownership of all three." She watched the two with meaningful eyes, trying to help them come to terms with the reality of the situation. As she watched them comprehend her words, she prodded a little further.

"I understand that you two have lost a lot today, including your home and livelihood. But at the same time, you have gained a lot too. You are now free to love the one you want and live the way you want." Feng jiu said trying to show cheng yu and lian song the silver lining to these events.

"but at what cost, feng jiu? We have now been sentenced to a life of continuous running and looking over our backs. We will never again be free from the worry of what new trap tianjun is going to plant for us. That is not freedom, feng jiu. It is a sentence for eternal misery. We are thankful to dijun for saving us from absolute damnation, we really are. But, with the situation as it is now, we are not far off from where we started in this case." This time it was cheng yu that voiced her thoughts. Her apprehension and fear were evident from her voice. Feng jiu understood that they were struggling with how to proceed from here.

So, in order to free them from their worries, she softly answered, "cheng yu, I empathize with you. I can understand what it is like to live while waiting for the other shoe to drop. Believe me, I get that. But still, I urge you to take a step out of that anxiety bubble and look around at what you have got. I promise you will find your answers there." Feng jiu had meant that last sentence both literally and figuratively. While cheng yu understood the figurative meaning of love, life, and friends, lian song got the literal meaning behind feng jiu's words. He blinked as her meaning registered with his brain. Realizing the full meaning of what feng jiu had said, he stumbled out, "you... you... you can't possibly mean that. Please tell me what I am thinking is not true."

Feng jiu merely smiled in response to his statement. Meanwhile, cheng yu was completely clueless to what lian song was saying. Unable to understand what he meant, she questioned, "what do you mean, lian song? Is something wrong with what she said? No, that can't be true. You must have misunderstood something."

Still staring at feng jiu with an incredulous expression, he answered cheng yu.

"no, cheng yu, I don't think I misunderstood. What she meant by looking around you was exactly that. Look at the place you are at. She wants us to stay here in qing qui. She wants us to build our lives on her land so that we can be completely free from the clutches of tianjun. And while we will live here happily, all the burden and stress that comes with sheltering us will fall completely upon her shoulders. Feng jiu, you have to realize that we can't hide in qing qui forever. It will create unnecessary burdens for you and qing qui. My father will try everything to get you to give us up. He will create discord between you and the realms. It will affect the trade and lives of the people of qing qui. You can't do that for just the two of us."

As cheng yu comprehended what lian song had said, she shook her head, vehemently. Placing her hand on top of feng jiu's, she implored her not to do this. She didn't want her friend to suffer for something she had done. Also, the innocent people of qingqui didn't deserve to be subjected to such cruelty at the hands of hao de. This was their burden to bear, not anyone else's.

Smiling softly, feng jiu placed her hand on top of cheng yu's, squeezing it reassuringly, she explained, "I fully understand the implications, lian song. I can't shelter you here without bringing enormous harm and damage to my people when they have done nothing to deserve hao de's wrath. And believe me, I don't plan on putting the innocent people of qing qui through such an ordeal."

Lian song heaved out the breath he had been holding. He had never felt so relieved at being wrong. But his relief hadn't even taken hold completely when feng jiu resumed speaking.

"at the same time, you weren't wrong with your deductions. I meant exactly what you thought. The difference is in the terminology of it. I can't shelter you in qing qui as the fox queen and I understand that, but I can shelter you in sarai xingfu as the queen of living. Here, I have to think of the people of qingqui first, but if hao de comes to me with the matters of sarai xingfu, I stand as the queen of all living which makes him my subject, too. In that case, he neither has the rank nor the power to fight. That island is the condensation of my spiritual powers and no one can touch you there for all of eternity"

Lian song nodded his understanding of her words. He agreed with her reasoning. His father would never place himself into a position of powerlessness, willingly. If he and cheng yu were to stay in sarai xingfu, their safety would never be a question and it wouldn't affect negatively on anyone else. Though, it seemed like the best possible option for them, his heart wasn't ready to agree with it. It felt like he was missing out on something huge here, something he wouldn't be able to get if they were to live in state of almost seclusion for the rest of their life. He was trying to put words to this feeling, when feng jiu gave them an opening out of it.

"however, there is another option, if the two of you are open to it. Both of you already know that I stand to inherit the throne of my grandfather, the fox emperor, as his only heir. But what you don't know is that my grandfather has already started the process on this. If it was up to him, he would have crowned me as the fox empress the day of mine and dijun's wedding, and gone traveling with my grandmother. I am the one whose dragging her feet, this time. Though part of it is because of me wanting to enjoy this time with dijun but there are other major factors to it, too. One of which is the difference in the way my grandfather and I lead. There is an intrinsic difference between his approach to ruling and mine. So, we are making significant changes to the way qing qui is governed. The control and power of the capital is being shifted here to the eastern lands, along with the imperial court. Well, whatever is left of the court anyway. Since, most of the court members would be retiring along with my grandfather. This bring us to the matter at hand, when I ascend my grandfather's throne, I want a court that I trust and respect completely, courtiers who understand my values and concerns instead of pushing the archaic ideas upon me. So, in another option, I am offering you both a seat in the imperial court of qing qui, under my regime. As active members of the imperial court, hao de cannot force you out without facing the implication of going to war from qing qui." Here, feng jiu paused to allow what she had said to sink in. She waited as her audience of two processed her words. She saw as several emotions flicked through their face in a matter of minutes before they both settled on shock as the primary emotion.

It was cheng yu who spoke up first, "with due respect, I am gratified by your offer but I don't think I can hold a position in the imperial court. I am a water fairy that only know to keep track of the water beings."

"it is only an option, cheng yu and hear me out before you completely cross it off, okay. I know you are a water fairy and very efficient one, too. Your cultivation and powers are born from dijun's. So, you are more powerful than you realise. Apart from that, I have seen the way you keep the records of the millions of water beings all over the universe. Your job was never easy, cheng yu and I pity the person who has to takeover your duties, now. You have a talent for numbers that is truly rare. I just want you to realize your talent and your gift to their full potential. The position I offer you is of the trade and commerce. Since, most of qing qui's trade is held through our waterways, you would be in the domain you are familiar with and it will give you the chance to utilize your gifts to their full ability. Also, don't worry about the mechanics of it. The current courtier that holds this position will fully prepare you and guide you through all its aspects before you takeover for him. Trust me that I won't be handing you such an important post, if I didn't know you were the best person for this job. I am giving you this offer as the fox queen who recognizes what is good for her people, cheng yu and not as your friend. Sarai xingfu was the offer of a concerned friend, the position in the imperial court is the decision of a queen. You are free to choose whichever option you think is good for you. Think about it." After explaining the dynamics to cheng yu, she focused her attention on lian song.

Softly, she asked him, "what are you worried about, lian song?"

Dragging himself out of his thoughts, he answered, "you just said that tianjun stands to go to war with qing qui if he tries to force us out while we are active members of the imperial court but I don't know in that case, what could hold him out of that? Just the factor of losing trade is not enough for my father, when qing qui doesn't even have an army to protect itself from an attack. I understand that the bai family alone is more than enough to defeat the entire celestial army but as we both know, my father can be extremely hard headed at times. He would attack only to tuck tail afterward and run. It will result in the loss of so many innocent lives that I simply don't want on my conscience. I do not understand, why you think it will work?"

"why do you think hao de was so eager to marry off first, your elder brother and later, the crown prince to my gugu, lian song?" She asked him.

Lian song thought through what he knew, before he replied, "that was simply qing qui is the wealthiest kingdom across all the realms and my father wanted to keep bathing in luxuries without having to pay for it."

Feng jiu chickled before she elaborated further. "while what you say is true, there is another factor that no one knows about except for your father, my grand father and as their respective heirs, uncle ye hua and myself. It is correct that hao de wanted to enjoy the opulence and wealth that he got from being connected to qingqui but what he wanted to hide more was the fact that the sky kingdom is deep in debt with the imperial crown of qing qui, the fox emperor. Long before you were born, when your father took the throne, he got messy in handling the finances of the sky kingdom. It took hao de a few years to understand how much it cost to run an entire state and by the time he understood, the damage had already been done. To hide his mistakes from dijun, he personally approached my grandfather for a loan. You already understand the brotherhood between these two old gods, so you can understand that the minute hao de left, my grandfather went straight to dijun. As punishment for hao de, dijun tripled the interest rate for his loan. Since then, no matter how hard he tries hao de hasn't been able to pay off that loan. The debt has gone so deep that if one day, we were to demand complete repayment, hao de can give us the entire sky kingdom and still, he won't be able to pay it off. So, one of the most important condition, he had put forward for the crown prince's wedding was the dissolution of this debt."

"my grandfather, on the other hand understood the security this debt had provided to qing qui and its people, since then. The highlight here is that according to the laws of the realms, if a kingdom owes a debt to another then the beneficiary cannot wage a war on the lender, until its cleared or the ruler answers to my husband's sword. Wise as my grandfather is, he made hao de sign a contract that stated the dissolution of this debt only and only when gugu is crowned as the celestial empress alongside uncle ye hua. Until the day of their official coronation, the debt still stands. So, till the time hao de sits on the throne even as the interim ruler, he is bound by his fear of canghe not to attack qing qui. And we both know that after today's incident dijun wouldn't let him be the ruler for more than a month or two." Feng jiu chuckled at the last statement.

Lian song though was shocked at what she had revealed. He knew his father had been a lousy king but he didn't know the situation had been so horrible. He could only agree more with dijun's decision to hand over the decision-making power to ye hua, prior to his enthronement. While feng jiu's explanation had cleared out most of his doubts, he still had one question left for her, "can you tell me what position you have in mind for me?"

Nodding her head at lian song's request, feng jiu answered, "let me continue where I left off, okay and you'll understand slowly, what I am getting at. There's another reason why any attack against qing qui is bound to fail. Since, the day dijun unified the realms, it has been made apparent that qing qui doesn't believe in keeping armies. At the beginning, it was because of the trust and loyalty my grandfather had for dijun. He knew that under his reign, no harm can come to qing qui, no matter the circumstance. Even after the throne was handed over to hao de's father, he found him to be a just ruler and forewent the process of creating an army. But after the qing cang attack, where war god mo yuan died, my grandfather and uncles saw the utter disaster hao de was as a ruler. They could no longer put the safety of the people of qing qui in the hands of tianjun. Still, my grandfather held firm to his trust and belief in dijun, so a compromise was agreed upon. The four fox kings and the fox emperor started to build a battalion instead of an entire army that ensure the safety of the people of qing qui with no outside help at all. Today, qing qui holds a batallion of 10,000 strong, that has been personally trained by the fox kings. Each of these soldiers have sworn a blood oath to the imperial crown of qingqui and have more than enough power to defeat my father and uncles altogether. This battalion is housed in the depths of the capital and apart from the reigning rulers of qingqui, zhe yan and dijun, no one is aware about it."

"I am telling you this because handling those soldiers will fall under your position. These soldiers lack leadership and direction, since the fox kings have their own lands to look after and are unable to guide them after the training process. Essentially, you will be their general. Owing to the fact that this line of defense is not public knowledge, your official title would be for external relations wherein you would have to work on the whole spectrum of networks that qing qui holds through out the realms. This is an advanced seat than the previous lord held, so while you can avail his guidance, you will have to ascertain your own guidelines. And there is the other matter of your current rank, lian song. To prevent anyone from questioning your loyalty towards qing qui in the future, I will recommend that you forsake your title of third prince, if and only if you decide to take this position. Both options are open to both of you. I will respect whatever decision, you make. I only want a happy and fulfilling life for the both of you."

Feng jiu had watched lian song carefully while she had explained everything to him. Throughout her part of the dialogue, he had listened with eager attention and focus. Judging from his expressions, he had appeared to be interested in what she had been saying. It wasn't until the part where she had mentioned his actual position that the light had faded out from his eyes and was replaced with the raging fire of doubt. Still, she watched as the he warred with himself over something, she hadn't been sure of earlier. Now, though his entire countenance was centered around one name that she knew intimately.

Instead of speaking out loud, she spoke gently in his mind, "you are worried about dijun, aren't you?"

He watched her wide eyed when she mentioned dijun. With a soft smile, she said again, "you should know by now, I notice everything that concerns him. Even though, he hadn't expressively told me in what capacity you work under him, I can still figure out the bare mechanics of it. I digress. Are you concerned that this position will put you in a difficult position with dijun?"

"I am" lian song replied.

"I understand your fears, lian song. They are valid in every aspect. And to quell your fears, all I can give you is my word and permission. As the queen of living, I give you complete authority to put dijun's command over mine and in case, our orders happen to conflict each other, you are to give preference only to his. And as his wife, I can give you my word, that no matter what disagreement or arguments we might have your duty towards him will never be pulled into it. Regardless of situation and command, lian song, I will never question your loyalty towards him. My only command that you will always have to follow religiously and without fail, is to always be completely loyal towards him and only him. As for him, i'll tell you the same thing I told si ming once, I can save you from his wrath but believe me, he can't save you from mine."

She watched as he nodded his head in understanding and the war that had waged in his eyes before went silent. She waited for them to make their decisions as she calmly sipped on her tea. It took them a few minutes to finally give her the final answer. It was cheng yu that spoke up for the both of them, "so, as your courtiers now, do we get to call you as the fox empress?"

Feng jiu laughed aloud at this before chortling out a reply, "oh, heavens, no! I am delighted that you two accepted my offer. But the title of fox empress will only ever belong to my grandmother. And did you forget I'm already an empress. Dijun gave me the title of dihou when we got married. So, that kind of makes the other one redundant. Thus, my dear grandfather has come up with a new a title "her imperial highness, the queen supreme" which I have shortened down to imperial queen. So, only in active court, you are allowed to call me by the title, otherwise I am feng jiu to you both."

This time the laughter came from the couple opposite her. The two were literally holding their bellies as they laughed. Tittering down, lian song rumbled out, "absolutely not, your imperial highness, the queen supreme..." he couldn't even hold in his mirth to complete his sentence before he dissolved into another bout of laughs. Feng jiu watched at the cackling pair in front of her before she heaved out a sigh and resigned herself to the amusing title she was sure would now, follow her everywhere.