The Empress's Gigolo

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

In the palace, Ren Baqian limped forward with a cane, looking sad.

“Stop pretending! I merely gave you a kick!” the empress muttered.

“One kick and my leg broke!” he exclaimed as he looked at her.

“You deserve it!” she declared before complaining, “Who asked you to make those things? We have become laughingstocks!”

“It’s because of the nation’s birth rate! Look at the others! They have more than five children in their families. Look at us! All we have are cats. Even pigs are better than us!” Ren Baqian replied angrily.

The empress glared at him.

He lowered his voice and repeated, “Pigs have a higher birth rate than us!”

She lifted her leg, ready to give him a kick.

“My bad!” Ren Baqian apologized promptly and earnestly.

He continued, “Besides, this is a normal form of entertainment for the commoners. How can we allow officials to visit brothels, but not allow them to read these magazines?”

He lifted his head again and reported, “Not to mention that group of old clappers who go to the brothels, Tu Wan bought three magazines, Tong Zhenye bought 10, Qin Chuan bought 15, Great Elder bought two, Zhuo Yan bought 10, Xuan Hua bought six…”

This pack of people openly bought stacks of these magazines to read and brought them back to their own ministries. The female officials in the Ministry of Revenue weren’t even embarrassed at all.

Instead, it was Lin Mengsheng and the students from the Jing Tribe who were blushing.

The bookstore on Jingyang Street was the one that students visited the most, apart from the library in the school.

“Everyone knows that you are the one who did it. The royal family’s reputation is tarnished, and that’s why I won’t allow it!” the express explained to Ren Baqian with a glare.

“Oh!” Ren Baqian threw the cane aside. Wouldn’t it be better if she had said so earlier?

He would be discreet next time and get a merchant from the Yun Nation to do it. In this case, he wouldn’t be able to use those magazines from Japan. He would have to find a few ladies from the brothels and make the magazines himself.

Didn’t he just need a camera and a photocopier? These were products from the 19th and 20th century. Wouldn’t he be able to make them with his full suite of craftsmanship?

“I want to go to Mount Liucui,” Ren Baqian said as he followed behind the empress.

The empress pondered for a while and said, “Go.”

She then turned around and warned, “Stay away from the thing inside the mountain.”

“I’m not stupid…”

The first emperor went in there and came out defeated. Why would Ren Baqian go there?

Besides, he wasn’t too interested in what was inside.

Or perhaps it wasn’t time yet.

It was just like the savage people of Shennongjialin[1.Shennongjialin: a forestry reserve in east Hubei]. Ever since he was a child, Ren Baqian had seen all kinds of weird magazines that swore upon the traces of these savage people. Didn’t he simply avoid going to that place?

He bade farewell to the empress and set off the next day with a few guards.

Mount Liucui was in the hinterland of Dayao. The empress wasn’t too worried about his safety, but she still wanted a few Cardinal Heaven level experts to accompany him. After all, he held an important position and his strength was too low. No one wanted to see any mishaps.

Many of the Cardinal Heaven experts had taken positions in the imperial court.

However, Ren Baqian only thought of one person.

Qingyun Sword.

He had been idling his time away in Lan City lately, painting the mountains in the sunlight every day on Jing Street.

Furthermore, he only drew two mountains at once.

When Ren Baqian called for Qingyun Sword, he naturally agreed without hesitation. He originally came to Lan City to see if Ren Baqian’s words would come true. Seeing that the situation was getting better, he was also becoming more relaxed and was almost in a state of retirement.

A few days later, Ren Baqian and his team arrived at the forest outside Mount Liucui. As he leaped off the back of the crow general, it gave a low-pitched hoot before flapping its wings and running into the forest to hide from the sun.

He ignored it. As long as it didn’t run into top experts, it had no other natural enemies.

It took him half a day to walk through the forest and arrive at the base of the mountain. In front of him was the towering Mount Liucui, and all he could see at night was its silhouette.

There was an unknown existence in the heart of the mountain.

However, as long as it wasn’t disturbed, it was almost completely safe. Most of the time, people would ignore it.

After a night’s rest, Ren Baqian followed a half-meter wide path along the mountainside for half a day. There were overhanging cliffs on one side and mountain streams that were hundreds of meters deep. He could only hear the flow of water streaming below and occasionally saw reflections.

At noon, he finally saw the valley surrounded by three cliffs.

He was discovered as soon as he stepped into the valley.

A man immediately came forward and said, “Everyone!” (TLC. Not sure about this part.)

“We have come from the palace, and we want to see two people,” Ren Baqian explained.

“Yes… Zhao Prince Consort?” The man felt curious after looking at Ren Baqian for some time.

“You can still recognize me…” Ren Baqian laughed. He had only stayed here for a few days the last time he came and didn’t expect anyone to actually remember him.

However, these people hardly saw any visitors other than aboriginals.

At the thought of this, it actually wasn’t very surprising.

Ren Baqian didn’t expect the man to scratch his head and say, “I heard you are bald. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to recognize you.”

Ren Baqian immediately looked defeated and asked, “Who said that?”

News of his baldness had even spread here? Were those people too free?

“That Lin lady said it. Zhao Prince Consort, you came here to see them, right?” The man sold Lin Qiaole out without hesitation.

“Well, where are they?”

“Come in, Zhao Prince Consort,” the aboriginal guard replied. These people had no idea what courtesy was. He showed no respect to Ren Baqian at all and spoke to him as if he was speaking to an ordinary person.

In fact, this was the case for most of the aboriginals.

They would only react differently when they met people like the empress, the six ministers, and the 24 secretaries.

After all, there were too many dumb people among the aboriginals. Many times, they changed their attitudes toward people like the empress, not because of their status, but because they could fight!

There weren’t many people in this iron ore mine. There were more than 700 criminals and only about 100 guards.

The composition of the iron ore here wasn’t very good, the mine’s output wasn’t high, and the transportation of ore was difficult. Being one of the only two iron ore mines in Dayao, it used to have some value, but now that there was the Yun Nation, this mine’s sole remaining purpose was to imprison these criminals here.

This place would probably be abandoned after these criminals were released in a few years.

There were more than 100 houses in the middle of the valley. As soon as Ren Baqian and his people approached, the guard pointed at one of the houses and said, “Miss Lin is there.”

Ren Baqian looked up at the house and couldn’t spot Lin Qiaole. He then managed to spot her taking a nap when he leaped up to the roof.

Wearing just a short skirt and a tube top made of animal hide, she lay there openly with her arms supporting her chin.

He landed in front of her, only to see her arm glistening. It was covered in her saliva.

Lin Qiaole’s body wasn’t exactly dirty, but she had stalks of grass in her messy hair.

Ren Baqian circled around her, but she completely failed to notice his presence. He then gave her a kick.

Her small butt cheeks began to deform and sink in from where his toes landed. She then jumped up and stretched out her claws at him.