DESCENDANT OF THE DRAGON 2

The king invited Zhu Su in a special way into his private room.

When Zhu Su entered the room, he found that it was not only the king who was sitting there. The princess was also sitting near the table, busy pouring tea into several cups.

"Ah, Mr. Su!" She smiled as seeing Zhu Su bowed to her respectfully. "Such a good chance for us to receive a very fragrant tea. This is so fine-flavored, you must try it! Wait a minute, let me pour it."

"Princess, please don't do that! It is improper for you to pour it for me!..." But before Zhu Su prevented her, the princess had offered one of the cups to him. She smiled again. "Please," She said warmly.

"Please forgive my impoliteness, Your Highness..." And Zhu Su thus accepted the cup reverently.

"You don't need to be so humble, Mr. Su. You are our savior, we must treat you in a special way," The king said kindly. "By the way, my purpose in calling you to come here is, to ask you about what kind of reward you want in return for healing Queen Dowager."

"Sire! That's too much! I... don't deserve..."

"No, no. It's not too much. I somehow think that your position as a royal physician is still not enough. I want to raise your status. Well, what if I appoint you as the Minister of Health?"

The king appeared very happy. "I want Ava to be a big and prosperous country, but not limited only in political and military sectors. More than that. People's welfare is the most important sector, including the needs of clothing, food, shelter, education, and health. I find that Chinese Medicine has a very unique principle and it will be good to be added as one of the health treasures in our country. The Chief Royal Physician Khine Thant highly appreciates your treatment methods. He said, your principle in sorting herbs is very unique and worthed to study. He even wants to learn from you. So, your job after being inaugurated is, to educate all royal physicians about Chinese Medicine."

Minister of Health? Grand Teacher for all Royal Physicians? It was a position he did not expect to be achieved just in a short time. He was not only welcomed and could live a proper life in Ava, more than that, he was treated like a nobleman!

Such a great achievement!

No need for him to return to Ming! No need anymore!

"Yes... Your Majesty... I..."

"... Our blood will never change wherever we go!..."

Just the way it was, Wu Qi's voice echoed so loud that it shocked his whole ears.

It continued with other negative comments.

"For all this time I never like the Ming. You Ming people always have your tongues spinning here and there, once say north, but later can say south, depending on your own interests!..."

"Your Majesty, how can you trust foreigners to hold such important and influential position in our country?"

"If you thought your former physician is bad, but after all, he is still our own person. Don't become a pro-foreigner and by then not respecting our own people!"

"But will it a big risk for you to trust a stranger whose origin is unclear?"

"What will the future of Ava be if you can give a very high position to a stranger from an unclear origin so easily? You want our country to be humiliated?"

"Still, certain limitations are supposed to be employed, Your Majesty! Have you ever seen in any history, the position of high officials can be arbitrarily occupied by lowly, unclear strangers?!"

Foreigner... foreigner...

He was a foreigner in Ava. Or in any other countries. No matter how big the contribution and sacrifice he had devoted for the country... he would still be labeled as a foreigner, forever.

The king and other members of the royal family were indeed nice to him, but what about the other officials? Those who assumed that they were being surpassed by "foreigner" would not be able to accept his presence gracefully, would they?

And, everytime some problems occurred, whether it was big or small, the label "foreigner" would beat him very hard, like before. Forcing him to realize his true identity. That he... was a foreigner.

Only in Ming, he was not a foreigner.

He was a Ming.

Zhu Su's hands balled tightly. Suddenly, he knew what he had to do.

"Sire..." Zhu Su said softly, but firmly. "I have to apologize first..."

The king's expression changed. "Don't tell me, you are unwilling to accept my reward?..."

"I highly appreciate your reward... and will gladly accept it..."

"That's good! I'm just worried, but evidently, I am wrong!"

"But... may I ask for another reward?"

The king turned perplexed,

"You want another reward? What is that?"

"Military forces consist of three hundred soldiers."

The king gasped, "Why is it the kind of reward you are asking for?!"

"Because I need it more right now."

"But... why?..."

"You want to war, Mr. Su?" The princess asked.

Zhu Su nodded.

The king's face hardened. "I get to know the problem clearly first!"

Zhu Su stared deeply at the king and the princess, for quite a long time.

"At first, I have to do much apologize towards all of you, because I have lied to you all this time. Actually... I am not an orphan drifter. I have family, I live the same way all commoners live... more than that, I am not a non-person. I am Zhou Wang from Kaifeng, the fifth son of the Previous Ming Emperor, Zhu Su."

The princess even rose from her seat. She walked closer to Zhu Su, her face was as astonished as the king's since she was flickering in disbelief.

"It can't be... so you... are the Ming Prince who has written the medical book?..." The king's voice was no louder than a whisper.

Zhu Su nodded again.

"But... why do you have to lie to us? Why don't you tell the truth from the beginning?"

"Because I am no longer a Fan Wang. The current emperor throws me into exile, even tries to kill me, I am forced to flee from Ming and thus come to Ava. Actually, I try not to bother you... that's why I lie to you..."

The princess covered her mouth with her hand. "How cruel!"

"My goodness." The king sighed. "But... I've felt it from the beginning. Then, my guess is correct? You are not like a drifter, you behave like a nobleman, very polite and full of integrity. And now it's obvious why Ming Envoys never mentioned you even the slightest. My curiosity has all been answered."

"So, Mr. Su... ah, no, now I must call you Lord Su..." Princess said sheepishly, the surprise was still not gone from her face. "You... want to go back to Ming, to war?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Right now Yan Wang, my fourth brother, is waging Jingnan Campaign against the Emperor. We, all Fan Wangs, are trying to get released from Emperor's clutches. Me, too. Besides, the residence I once dwelled in has been sealed by the government, and my subordinates have also been arrested. I am obliged to release them. I... want to have an army to regain my sovereignty in Ming!"

The king frowned. He indeed remained shocked because of a matter he never expected would happen. And it turned out that another thing appeared and disturbed him.

"Lord Su, of course, I would love to help you, it is indeed our duty to return the favor to our savior as Lord Buddha has taught us... but... right now we are also in a battle... Ava still has to face other countries... hence the army becomes an inevitable important need..."

This time Zhu Su's face turned cloudy. He just thought that he had got a very brilliant idea to solve all of his problems. But instead, reality turned out to be different from expectations.

"Can we try anything to help him, Sire?" The princess asked.

"Well... I also want to help him, but right now we are facing a quite serious issue with the border area. Hanthawaddy is truly a formidable opponent, their king is also very aggressive in launching attacks, and we must defend against him." The king took a deep breath. "Lord Su, it is just a suggestion, maybe a little offensive, but I think it will also be good for you. Doesn't Ming treat you badly? While here we welcome you with open arms. Why don't you just stay here? I will not only give you the position as minister, I will give you a noble title too. That's certainly better than fighting, right? How is your opinion?"

"Sire..."

"Geez, Your Majesty, how can you make such an offer! Lord Su is the Prince of Ming Empire, and also the son of Ming Emperor, and now you tell him to serve us? My goodness!" Princess grumbled.

"Well... it's just a suggestion. If Lord Su is willing to accept the offer, it will be far more profitable for us too... I guess." He looked back at Zhu Su. "Lord Su, would you accept this offer?"