Ren Xiyang saw Pollux eating well. At first, he helped scoop out food from Pollux’s pot for him. But at some point, Pollux started doing it himself—he even figured out how to use chopsticks.
“—Your Highness, you should try this too,” Hadrian was saying. “It’s tofu skin, it has a good flavour and texture.”
Pollux added the piece of ‘tofu skin’ that Hadrian had pointed out. “Do you eat this often here?” he asked.
“No, Your Highness. This is the second time. I’ve been told that they make it more in the winter.”
Pollux nodded thoughtfully. Yes, this would be good at winter, when the air was cold and food chilled quickly.
“We’ll definitely have more of it in the winter,” Ren Xiyang said. “There are also soups, spicy soup noodles, roasts, curries…”
“Slow down, my Lord, so that I can remember all of this and tell Mrs Cooks,” Kel joked.
“I better return to the fief frequently for her cooking,” Ren Xiyang said.
“I’m sure Mrs Cooks would be more than happy to accompany you to the Capital,” Maria said.
“And deprive everyone else of her cooking?” Ren Xiyang said.
“My Lord!” Kel protested.
Ren Xiyang turned to Hadrian. “So, Hadrian, would you prefer to stay here and enjoy Mrs Cooks’ cooking, or would you prefer to go to the Capital with me? I forgot, it’s too late for you to sign up for the University but you can get access to their libraries.”
Put-on-the-spot Hadrian flushed, not knowing how he should answer. “I, um, I’ll go with you,” he mumbled.
Ren Xiyang’s lips quirked up in amusement. “And even if you can’t access their libraries, Prince Pollux, you’ll help us, won’t you?”
Put-on-the-spot Pollux was just about to bite down. He regretfully put down his morsel of food and said, “Yes, I will.”
And so the conversation flowed.
Everyone ate and chatted and ate. By the end of the night, almost every person left that feast very very full.
Ren Xiyang took the lift with Pollux up to their quarters, as they were on the same top floor.
“Have a good rest,” Ren Xiyang said. “Tomorrow, we have many meetings to attend. The longest one will be with the Rosewood council—that should give you an overview of what’s happening around the fief.”
“Oh, yes?” Pollux belatedly realised that Ayden’s tone and phrasing had no option to not participate.
“See you at breakfast,” Ren Xiyang said. He headed into his quarters first—he had a sticky Rian to sweet talk before bed.
Pollux headed into his assigned quarters. His servant had gone ahead of him and had already prepared the bath.
The Rosewood fief’s version of a welcome-back feast had been even more casual and noisy than the welcome-back feast at the Sedaverian Palace. And yet, unexpectedly, Pollux had enjoyed it.
Now, he wondered if he’d enjoy the Rosewood fief’s version of meetings too.
As it turned out, meetings were exhausting no matter where they were held.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The Rosewood fief’s version of meetings was casual; the frequent my Lord’s didn’t sound formal in the way the Rosewood council members said it. But a whole morning of five-minute reports on different areas quickly added up.
“Ktf aboe kbgxrtbq ijecmtfv j cfk ilcf bo qgf-wjglcjafv aboe…”
“Ktf rbjq kbgxrtbq qgbvemfv j cfk ogela-rmfcafv rbjq…”
“Ktf gbjv yfakffc W abkc jcv T nliijuf tjr yffc mbwqifafv…”
“Ktf mbwweclas mfcagf lc nliijuf I tjr olclrtfv mbcragemalbc…”
Pa vlvc’a tfiq atja Ubiiez vlvc’a xcbk jcs bo atfrf abkcr jcv nliijufr, klat wjcs cjwfr jcv afgwr ublcu lc bcf fjg jcv bea atf batfg.
When they started talking about hiring more people, and about setting up a task force to revise building regulations and do something about the new poorly built structures popping up outside the towns as new people flocked to the fief, Pollux wondered if he should be in this meeting or not.
When they started talking about the development of new laws in the Rosewood fief and about their five- and ten- year plans, Pollux deeply wondered why Ayden was letting him, a foreign prince, sit in these meetings.
Little did Pollux know that Ren Xiyang didn’t care because these things weren’t private. If anything, the Rosewood heralds often went around announcing their plans, and village chiefs and town mayors were also technically on the Rosewood council, with several attending the meetings right now. This way, the people wouldn’t be surprised. It gave them time to get used to what will happen, and they could use that information to make their own plans.
The Rosewood council meeting ended in time for lunch. During the morning, Kel had prepared Ren Xiyang’s meeting schedule for the rest of the time he was here. Over lunch (steamed, boiled, and fried dumplings), Ren Xiyang showed it to Pollux.
Pollux looked at it and suppressed a shudder. From 9 am to 4 pm, there were meetings and meetings. Some were at the Rosewood estate, and many were elsewhere around the fief. The schedule had small notes, such as “hospital in Redmond”, “(village chief, Grassy Hill village)”, “medical clinic, Healers’ Assc.”, “curriculum”, “advanced curriculum”, and “education training”. He noticed that his own name was marked down— “Meeting with Prince Pollux, project”. Some of the lunches were also scheduled lunch meetings.
“So, do any of the meetings sound interesting?” Ren Xiyang asked.
Pollux looked over the meeting schedule again and desperately tried to find something that he would be willing to attend as to not completely spurn Ayden’s offer. “…I’ve heard about your Royal Healers’ Association.”
“Okay, I’ll have Kel prepare a copy of my schedule for you in case you find something else interesting,” Ren Xiyang said. “From this third day onwards, I’ll be travelling to some scenic spots. You can come along, and I’ll have someone show you around while I’m in the meetings.”
“Yes,” Pollux said, inwardly relieved. He felt a new appreciation for Aurelia—her schedule must be as busy, if not busier.
Ren Xiyang’s first two days back were dedicated to meetings at the Rosewood manor: there was the Rosewood council meeting earlier. In the afternoon, he met with the finance team, the agriculture team, and the social welfare team.
In the morning of the second day, he met with the trade and logistics team, and the glass workshop team, followed by a separate meeting with Hadrian (his student). On that afternoon, he inspected the Rosewood staff building, which was almost completed, and visited all the different workshops around the estate and greeted the staff.
From the third day, as promised, he took Pollux out. While Sir Allen Copper showed Pollux the nearby natural scenic spots, Ren Xiyang met with the nearby village chiefs and town mayors and residents about how their crops were coming along, their autumn and winter preparations, the local reforestation, water quality, the new community centres and schools, road construction, healer visits and so forth.
From Pollux’s perspective, he saw a lot of trees, lots of quaint little villages and towns, new buildings, and construction. He had complex feelings when he saw his first old lady in a floating wheelchair. But as he saw more and more people around the Rosewood fief using a floating wheelchair, he started to become numb to it.
He was getting a better understanding of Ayden now. Of course the people in the Rosewood fief who needed a wheelchair would use a floating wheelchair. Ayden was one of the producers of the floating wheelchairs, and Ayden spent all of his day in meetings about life-improvement projects for his people.
The meeting that Pollux attended, with the Royal Healers’ Association members in the Rosewood fief, turned out to be about overwork.
While the healers set visiting hours, it was very common for them to continue working longer—it was difficult to turn away patients. Sometimes, those patients just wanted or only needed a check-up. But if they instated a rule that patients should only come if they were sick, then patients who were truly sick might not come because they thought “it wasn’t that bad”—and farmers notoriously had a different definition of ‘bad.’
But the number of mage healers was limited, and the training for local doctors and nurses took time.
There were problems that even Ren Xiyang couldn’t solve—at least, not immediately. But money would definitely help.
“For now, you can hire another person who can help with tasks such as receiving patients and preparing your meals. We’ll see if there are any particularly bright doctors-in-training who can start their internships early or any pharmacists or apothecaries who can accompany you. If you know anyone suitable, then you can also hire them directly and bill all these costs,” Ren Xiyang said.
The healers nodded.
“And I’ll talk with Rian—Crown Prince Rian—about expanding the remit of the Royal Healers’ Association to include development of medical tools that non-mages can use to help identify and/or heal common injuries and diseases.”
“Thank you, my Lord.”
Pollux didn’t know how his father or Aurelia governed in practice—he had never attended morning court. But he found that Ayden was direct in how he solved problems, and the meetings often had a well-planned agenda.
Suddenly cognisant of Ayden’s limited time, Pollux put in a lot of work to prepare for his own meeting with him. He wrote an agenda too, organised his draft designs and preliminary spell-makings, and isolated some key points for discussion.
They met in the Rose meeting room.
Pollux set down multiple papers in front of Ayden. “First, I’ve made several drawings for a more comfortable chair.”
Ren Xiyang leaned forward with interest. Pollux had done more than he expected. If Pollux had been a prospective PhD student, he would have recruited him right away. “Tell me more.”
Pollux neatly explained what he had done and raised the issues he had encountered.
Ren Xiyang provided feedback on how he thought those issues could be resolved. “—See what you can do. I’m sure Alexius would have some ideas too.”
Pollux nodded, gathering up his papers.
“Before I let you go, how has the Rosewood fief been? Did the staff show you some interesting places?” Ren Xiyang asked.
“Your fief has a lot of trees,” Pollux said politely.
Ren Xiyang quirked his lips. “Nature improves mental wellbeing and increases the speed of healing.”
Before Pollux could fully process the usefulness of nature, Ren Xiyang continued:
“If there anything you want to do or see, don’t hesitate to ask me or to notify one of the staff.”
“I know.” People here were friendly and willing to help. Pollux felt as though he had become friendlier—he even talked to Hadrian again outside the context of meals (albeit quite briefly).
Ren Xiyang wrapped their meeting up at that point. “I’m sorry I don’t have more time to talk. When you head out, can you call in the next group in for me?”
“Yes, of course.”
Pollux had seen Ayden’s schedule—he understood.
Ren Xiyang had kept in touch with various matters in the Rosewood fief while he was travelling, so he didn’t have to meet with absolutely everyone. In addition, the handover of various projects was slowly happening, one by one, due to all his travel to Angio and Hraun, and because of his future absence due to academy attendance.
Ren Xiyang took a day off, and then launched into his second week in the Rosewood fief.
A large chunk of Ren Xiyang’s second week was devoted to educational matters in the Rosewood fief. Since he had to go to school, he’ll make more Rosewood residents go to school too.
He wanted to increase the number and range of Rosewood residents attending class, to have them be able to read and learn about things about the world, from all around the world. Once the Rosewood residents could read, there would be more people who he could hire in jobs requiring reading skills; once the Rosewood residents could read, he could roll out voting and democracy in the fief; once the Rosewood residents could calculate, he could make a more complex tiered taxation system.
But making all Rosewood residents literate required a lot of work.
Firstly, there needed to be places to study. Now that new community centres were being built in all the villages in the fief, those centres could be used to run classes.
Secondly, there was materials. Classes were already completely free, and the Rosewood fief also provided pen, paper, books, and meals for students. The Rosewood Group now had their own printing press, making it easy for them to print out course material.
Thirdly, there was all the staff needed, from the teachers who could read and calculate, to the cooks who prepared the meals for students.
Fourthly, there was the curriculum that the teachers taught. It wasn’t just letters and numbers. There was also hygiene and society and science and geography and yes, even history.
And finally, there were the students themselves.
Unfortunately, data about the students gathered revealed that certain groups were over-represented, while other groups were under-represented. Unsurprisingly, it was mostly young, non-working children who attended the classes.
Those who couldn’t attend a class tended to be working, or had caring responsibilities, or found it hard to move, or hard to hear, or hard to see, or lived away from even a village…
Ren Xiyang didn’t want anyone else to miss out on an education.
This meant hiring more staff, so that classes could also run sessions during the night. This meant setting up childcare arrangements which also involved hiring more staff. This also meant hiring more staff who would travel and teach at individual homes. It also meant encouraging students who attended class to go home and teach their family members. This also meant hiring people to further develop the rudimentary sign language that already existed, and developing a device that would read out words for those visually impaired…
There was a lot of planning to do. The implementation was in the hands of the different relevant teams.
Ren Xiyang was sure he had missed things. But soon, he’ll get to personally re-experience what it was like to be a student. It might give him a new perspective on how to make students’ lives easier and not actually be a complete waste of time…
Ren Xiyang: *fief management fief management fief management*
Thank you to Trin and Sushi for the ink support!
The 28th prompt for Inktober was ‘sparkle.’ Of course, I had to draw Rian!!
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one sad pout because you skimmed over ren xiyang’s sweet talk to rian
lots of love for giving us another chapter tho!
🤣🤣🤣🤣 I guess I should add more of those chats, huh?
Thank you for reading!
ren xiyang mindset is quite literally “if i need to suffer, everyone will suffer with me”
In this case, yes 🤣🤣🤣
Poor Ren Xiyang! So many meetings. Glad Pollux is feeling better though!
Thank you for the chapter.
With great power comes great meetings after all 🤣🤣🤣 No surprises about Pollux feeling better ^_^
important work!!!!!! GOOD LUCK REN XIYANG
Very! 🥰🥰
Sounds so exhausting 😨
I would not want his schedule…
Am happy for Pollux!
Thanks bafflinghaze.
Yes, I’m sure the nightly sweet talk with his sweetheart would give him more energy to go on.
I also wouldn’t want his schedule 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Oohh, that sweet talk with his sweet heart giving him more energy, so cute!
If democracy is established, everyone would still vote for xiyang if he stands for elections tht is (which he most prolly won’t 👩🏻🦽)
Even if he didn’t they would still write him into the ballet 😱
😏😏😏😏
Tht emoji’s sus…
Lmao they rlly would ☠️
HAHAHAHAHAHAH 😏😏😏😏
Thank you for the chapter and the drawing! As always, so nice! Huh, Pollux is getting the hang of things. He must have had a real culture shock 🤣But I guess, at some point, Ren will pay him for his work, then Pollux realizes he can actually afford the treatment without mentioning it to Aurelia… Am also starting to sniff another side couple…🧐😂
Thank you!!!!! A huge culture shock, for sure! 🤭🤭🤭🤭
And what side couple is this? 😏
Ren Xiyang is so not a salted fish…lmao! Thanks for this story—I’m hurrying to catch up! 🤪
Ren Xiyang is the opposite of a salted fish 🤣🤣🤣🤣