Golden Lotus Restaurant, Time: 12:00 noon

At noon as invited by the Magistrate, Alex brought Jacob to the entrance of the Golden Lotus Restaurant but just when he had arrived at the door, he happened to see the Magistrate's face which was flushed with something akin to excitement and...relief?

"Young Master Alex, at last you have finally arrived! It was not easy for me to invite you these days."

"I have been waiting for you since the morning."

"Now that you are finally here let's take a seat, come!"

County Magistrate Sai spoke with excitement clearly evident in his tone and then he led Alex to a private room on the second floor of the restaurant.

In the private room there sat a man dressed in fine clothing and his eyes remained calm and penetrating. His posture was relaxed yet somehow commanding and even his casual movements carried weight.

A bodyguard stood beside him with his hands positioned protectively while his bearing was clearly akin to that of a rich man's personal guard.

The man's eyes constantly scanned the room and his hand never strayed far from his weapon.

"Young Master Alex, let me introduce you to him. This is a wealthy merchant from the capital that you have asked me to find on our last meeting..."

County Magistrate Sai introduced the man dressed in fine clothes opposite to Alex while internally praising himself for his intelligence to come up with this plan.

Initially when the Emperor asked him to find a way to meet Alex as a merchant, he didn't know what to do to convince Alex to arrange a meeting with the Emperor.

But when he remembered the conversation days ago when Alex had asked him to find that particular merchant that once sold him something he came up with an idea to introduce the Emperor as that merchant.

In this way both the needs of the Alex and as well as Emperor will be fulfilled and the Emperor secret will remain secret.

Truly a clever idea!

During the introduction throughout he forced himself to remain calm not to look guilty but his words still contained some nervousness and his hands trembled slightly as he gestured.

"Just call me Mr. Shah."

The Emperor smiled faintly and his attitude appeared composed with a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Mr. Shah..."

Upon hearing this County Magistrate Sai nearly stumbled and fell to the ground.

This was the current Emperor!

He actually asked to call himself Mr. Shah to Alex! What a great honour.

"Mr. Shah, nice to meet you, my name is Alex Carter but others close to me call me Alex. You can call me whatever you prefer."

Alex did not stand on ceremony after the introduction and he too sat down in the chair while introducing himself casually.

Looking at how respectful and nervous the magistrate was in front of this merchant Alex deduced something important.

This person must operate a very successful business in the capital.

Otherwise why would this county magistrate value this person so greatly?

So, he made up his mind to speak with caution.

Soon after just as they settled down the restaurant served the dishes.

There was a wide variety of dishes presented to them including braised pork belly glazed with honey, steamed fish with ginger and scallions, stir-fried vegetables with garlic, roasted duck with crispy skin, and delicate dumplings filled with minced meat and vegetables.

They were specially made today by the orders of the Emperor for this meeting.

These dishes were prepared very well and the color and aroma were complete.

The fragrance made people's appetites increase significantly and even Jacob who stood behind Alex could not help but swallow.

"Alex, I too will call you that, please do not be so polite and eat as much as you like."

Mr. Shah smiled and added a piece of food while placing it into Alex's bowl.

Previously he had heard the county magistrate say that Alex was so handsome that he has never seen someone like him in his life before.

Now that they had met he could see for himself.

As expected the report was accurate. Seeing is believing.

Although this young man was slightly less impressive than the Emperor himself had been in his teens his handsome appearance was still quite rare and his bearing was unusual for someone of common birth.

"You are welcome."

"I can serve myself."

He gently blocked the food Mr. Shah attempted to place into his bowl while smiling politely.

This simple action nearly made the county magistrate and sheriff leap out of their seats in terror.

He had refused a dish personally offered by the Emperor!

They swallowed hard anxiety gripping their chests as their faces turned as pale as paper.

"Please eat if you want," Mr. Shah said calmly not minding his own behaviour any mind.

Alex noticed the county magistrate and sheriff staring directly at him, their expressions stiff with fear. He couldn't help but think to himself:

"It seems this merchant holds a tremendously high position in the capital."

He always felt that the county magistrate and sheriff were acting strangely today.

But he could not quite pinpoint what was strange about their behavior.

In the end Alex could only attribute the changes in the magistrate and sheriff to this Mr. Shah's superior status.

He did not consider the possibility of the Emperor traveling incognito because such a scenario seemed too unlikely and far-fetched.

"Alex what do you think of the current Emperor?"

Suddenly Mr. Shah asked a pointed question.

"What?!"

The question came out of nowhere frightening Sheriff Bowen and Magistrate Sai as they stared at each other and their eyes widened with disbelief.

They had not expected this development.

The Emperor's very first question was such a tricky one!

Now they could only hope that Alex would have good fortune and speak wisely.

He must not say the wrong thing.

"Hmm?"

Alex had sharp eyes and he naturally spotted Sheriff Bowen and Magistrate Sai's nervous expressions and their twitching muscles.

This served as a reminder to him.

He knew this was ancient times.

One should absolutely not speak ill of the Emperor.

"Where royalty is concerned one must discuss freely only with great caution."

"We ordinary people cannot speak out carelessly."

Alex smiled diplomatically.

"It is perfectly fine."

"Say whatever you wish."

"You can tell us and we will not report you."

"Actually I just wanted to hear if we were thinking the same thing."

Mr. Shah spoke with obvious enjoyment and interest while leaning forward slightly.

"Very well then."

Alex thought for a moment before speaking carefully.

"As far as I can judge, he is neither particularly good nor particularly bad. I've never seen him personally, but he seems to possess a conscience and cares about the people."

"This is evident in the state of the dynasty today while there are barbarian invaders outside threatening the borders.

Yet despite these troubles His Majesty still provided relief grain when Ironhold suffered drought and in my opinion His Majesty is truly a wise ruler."

As someone who had received severe history lessons by his teacher and spent several years studying about the kings and emperors, Alex understood ancient history reasonably well.

Finding an emperor who genuinely cared for his people was extraordinarily rare in ancient times, it is as rare as finding a needle in haystack.

Although by now he knew that the ancient world he was in was a parallel world and when the emperors of this dynasty faced both external troubles and internal problems.

Yet under these circumstances they were still willing to provide grain relief to Ironhold.

This implied that the Emperor was not a bad person.

He had the common people in his heart.

Otherwise he would not provide food relief.

Magistrate Sai and Sheriff Bowen dared not listen any longer and they focused only on drinking while trembling.

This was genuinely frightening...

Alex was far too outspoken.

Saying "not particularly good"?

Saying the Emperor was not particularly good at his face, who gave you the guts?

If the Emperor became enraged not only would Alex suffer but they would suffer with him too.

This young Master Alex was too outspoken!

Not only them but the other guests on the second floor also could not help but widen their eyes upon hearing this commentary.

These guests were actually the Emperor's elite soldiers and at this moment they were all disguised as regular guests while protecting Mr. Shah's safety. Their hands moved closer to their concealed weapons but they waited for their lord's signal.

But the situation was still redeemable.

Alex had concluded by saying the Emperor was a wise ruler.

Only then did they dare to breathe a sigh of relief and their hands moved away from their weapons.

"The evaluation is really fairly balanced and fair."

Mr. Shah nodded and he carefully considered what Alex had just stated.

"Then let me ask you again."

"How do you view our relationship with the northern barbarians?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.