The Empress’s Gigolo

Before Ren Baqian arrived, there were already several people. A few men that were wearing red and purple ceremonial robes went straight into the palace without stopping. Their servants placed the gifts on one side, had their masters’ gifts registered, and waited outside the palace.

Ren Baqian overheard what they were saying. After registering and presenting the gifts, those followers would say out loud what the gifts were. For example, thirteen bales of sun grass, one Heaven-grade weapon.

After waiting for a while, it was finally Ren Baqian’s turn to present his gift. He took some time to think of a name for his gift. Just the Dayao officials alone had presented the empress with numerous gifts. Including the gifts from the three nations’ nobles, the number of gifts presented to the empress would be tremendous.

It was very unlikely that the empress would look over every single gift. At most, she would pick a few that she was interested in and take a look at them. The rest would be sent to the imperial warehouse. This meant the step of writing down the name of the gift was very important.

If his gift wasn’t sent to the empress, he would not be able to bootlick her. Other people’s gifts could be ordinary as they had their statuses to back them up. As long as their gifts weren’t unpresentable, they did not care whether or not would their gifts be selected by the empress.

His case was different from the rest’s.

Ren Baqian reported the name of his gift and everyone looked at him with an astonished look on their faces.

However, since he was a Secondary class, Rank 6 official, no one dared to say anything about him.

They merely felt that he was slightly arrogant.

After all the gifts had been registered, they would be sent to the palace. The empress would personally look over the gift list.

Ren Baqian waved to Tie Dao and Teng Hulu, signaling to them that they could go back first. Following which, he entered the palace.

In front of him, a palace maid led the way. Not far in front of him, the others were also led by palace maids. Ren Baqian did not fidget and look around. Meekly, he followed the palace maid to an unknown, enormous palace hall.

At this point of time, the left and right sides of the palace hall were filled with tables. To Ren Baqian’s liking, there were two chairs placed behind every table. This setting was much more comfortable than the setting with kneeling on the floor, which he’d seen in those ancient drama series.

There were not many people inside. On the left side of the palace hall, there were huge men that were either short-haired or bald. All of them were chatting and laughing loudly. That side of the palace hall was rowdy. Opposite them, the nobles from the other three nations had arrived. All of them were sitting down and resting with their eyes closed.

The arrival of Ren Baqian did not attract much attention. His table was on the left side nearest to the entrance. After he was led to his table, he thanked the palace maid. Following which, he sat at his table in a daze.

Afterwards, he saw a lot of big shots however he knew none of them.

Basically, the men were either short-haired or bald, and their bodies were muscular. Meanwhile, the women looked martial and charismatic. Similarly, they were also wearing ceremonial robes but theirs looked more complicated than the men’s.

Unlike the ancient Chinese times, females in Dayao were allowed to hold official positions. The proportion of females holding an office wasn’t low in Dayao. After all, the empress was Dayao’s number one expert. The strength of aboriginal women was comparable to aboriginal men’s.

However, female officials mainly held office in the Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of Appointments. They were mainly in charge of taxation and imperial examinations. There was an extremely small number of girls that served in the army.

The mother of Liu Ruoyao was an imperial treasurer that was in charge of levying tax.

After a while, Mister Emptiness, Ning Caichen, and the rest arrived at the palace hall. Ren Baqian wondered where Ning Caichen placed his sword. In any case, he came here alone. Similarly, Mister Emptiness came here alone with his four female escorts.

To Ren Baqian’s surprise, Ning Caichen sat at the center of the palace hall slightly towards the front while Mister Emptiness sat at the center slightly towards the back. Both of them were merely separated by seven or eight seats.

As time passed, the empty palace hall began to fill up with people. The seats of honor at both sides of the palace hall were still empty.

Following which, the people who arrived were the legitimate big shots. For example, the Second Elder. At the most front of the palace hall, there were three empty seats.

Soon after, the Seventh Prince of Great Xia arrived too. This time around, out of all the guests from the three nations, he was the most senior. Therefore, he sat on the seat of honor at the right side of the palace hall.

After Seventh Prince entered the palace hall, he cast his gaze in the direction of Ren Baqian. Then, he nodded his head at the person who had the exact same facial appearance as him.

Seventh Prince wasn’t the only one looking at Ren Baqian. The people that arrived after him also did the same as well.

After all, there were two persons that looked exactly the same. One was the Seventh Prince of Great Xia, and the other one was a Secondary class, Rank 6 official of Dayao. This type of scenario piqued everyone’s interest.

When Ren Baqian saw Seventh Prince, he felt an urge to kill him again. Furthermore, the urge was stronger than before, making him squint his eyes.

After Seventh Prince and his counterparts sat down upon the seats of honor at the right side of the palace hall, Ren Baqian lowered his head and placed his gaze on the table in front of him. His tightly clenched fists slowly loosened up.

Soon after, an old man that had a crooked back entered the palace hall. His body was skinnier and weaker than the ordinary aboriginals’. The palace hall immediately quieted down. Following which, everyone stood up and greeted him. Even those arrogant and fearsome army big shots lowered their volumes when they saw him.

This man was the Great Elder, Shi Qing. It was because of him that the Shi Family had so many of its members holding an office in the palace.

For example, Shi Hu and Shi Wanshan.

Shi Qing wore a deep-red ceremonial robe, looking extremely festive. If it weren’t for the scar on his face, he would look like any random old man on the street.

Similarly, the Junior Elder, Zhe Kouhai, was dressed in a deep-red ceremonial robe too. He entered the palace hall right after Shi Qing. After their arrival, the clamor in the palace hall lessened and everyone became slightly quieter.

The two of them sat on the seats of honor at the left side of the palace hall. There was still one more seat of honor that was empty.

Even Ren Baqian knew who that seat belonged to.

Indeed, after a few minutes, an ordinary-looking yet imposing, middle-aged man entered the palace hall. Everyone quieted down. This had not happened even when Second Elder arrived.

Everyone stood up as a form of respect to this expert.

“Sir Hong Wu!” Everyone greeted him in unison. Especially those army big shots, their voices were the loudest.

On the right side of the palace hall, the nobles from the three nations shifted their gazes to the most revered man in Dayao. All of them were filled with curiosity towards Hong Wu.

After Hong Wu sat down on his chair, the palace hall quieted down further. Everyone knew the banquet was about to begin.

At this moment, Ren Baqian re-adjusted his frame of mind and looked opposite him. Seated across from him, were bunch of pretty boys, and there were many types of them. There were handsome-looking, sunshine-looking, sissy-looking, melancholy-looking…

If they were in other nation, they might be able to attract many infatuated young girls and find themselves suitable marriage partners.

However, given the empress’s ice-cold personality and superior strength, Ren Baqian felt that these people had no chance at all.

After all, the empress wasn’t a fifteen-year-old girl who had never seen guys before. One couldn’t deceive her with looks alone.

Even if your eyes can discharge electricity, it will be useless against her.

Ren Baqian cringed upon seeing the pretty boys opposite him.

While Ren Baqian was examining the pretty boys and letting his imagination run wild, lines of palace maids entered the palace hall to serve the dishes.

This time around, the palace hall really quieted down completely.

An absolute silence.

When everyone saw the dishes, all of them were thinking about one, “What the hell are these?”

When Hong Wu saw the dishes in front of him, his face could not help but twitch.

Has Her Majesty been pressured until the point that she wants to take everyone down with her?