The Empress’s Gigolo

Ren Baqian turned on the induction cooker and boiled some water. When he turned his head around, the empress was behind him all of a sudden.

“That will give off water, how is it done?”

“This thing doesn’t have fire?”

The empress was as curious as a child, and everything she found was a fresh experience for her. Everything here was full of bizarreness and was different from what she knew.

Ren Baqian had no choice but to explain what was tap water, an induction cooker, and electrical energy to the empress. Even though she didn’t fully understand any of it, she did, however, manage to grasp the general idea of it.

Fortunately, the empress didn’t say that she wanted those items this time round.

After all, regardless of whether it was fetching water or cooking, she didn’t have much concept about them.

Ren Baqian was cooking instant noodles while the empress looked at him from behind. In no time, the aroma of the instant noodles was being emitted.

He placed the bowl of instant noodles on the table. At the same time, he indicated to the empress, “Your Majesty, this thing is meant to be eaten with a fork. Of course, it will be fine using a chopstick as well. But, be careful Your Majesty, it’s piping hot.”

Dayao didn’t have any food like noodles. At the very least, Ren Baqian had not seen it before. He was obliged to explain it detail to the empress.

He couldn’t help but to say that even when the empress was eating instant noodles, it felt as if she was having a sumptuous meal. Her each and every movement were so delicate and refined.

“Why aren’t you eating?” The empress lifted her head to ask after eating a few mouthfuls.

“Your subject just ate a little before going to Yangxin Palace Hall. I’m not hungry now. Please wait a moment Your Majesty, I’m going to tidy up my room.” Ren Baqian told the empress and placed a box of tissues by her side.

“Go ahead.” The empress paid no attention to him anymore. Ren Baqian went up and saw the completely smashed glass and door. He then pondered if he should find something to seal it up first, before getting someone to install new glass for the door.

Upon returning to his room, Ren Baqian immediately searched for his phone. It had been charged continuously for 20 days, and so it actually still had power.

He just turned on the screen of his phone and saw over a hundred missed calls. There were missed calls from his parents, his brother—Ren Wannian, Chen Qing, and from a lot of unknown numbers as well.

Ren Baqian quickly returned his mother’s call. It rang once and got through, “Baqian?”

“Mum, it’s me.” Ren Baqian lowered his voice.

“Where have you been? Why haven’t I heard anything from you in the longest time? If your friend didn’t tell us that you might be in the mountains meeting someone, we would have made a report to the police. Where are you now? Come back without any delay…” Ren Baqian’s mother lashed out when she questioned him. Towards the end of the conversation, she broke down into tears.

Ren Baqian felt a burst of guilt, “I was indeed occupied with something for the past few weeks. Also, I didn’t bring my handphone as I was in the mountains. Originally, I wanted to come back in ten or eight days. Never did I expect that something would crop up, and it wasted some of my time.”

“How are you now? Where are you? You have disappeared for so long, do you know how worried are we?” This time, it was Ren Baqian’s father on the line. It seemed that his entire family was worried to death for the past few weeks.

“I’m at my rented apartment. Just got back.” Ren Baqian replied.

“Make a trip back within these two days?”

“I’m afraid that I will still need some more time. Previously, it was due to my company’s issue. Now, after I have returned, I need to appropriately handle the issues in my company. The both of you need not worry, I’m fine. It’s just that I have to run around everywhere these days and can’t settle down yet. However, it’s part and parcel of starting up a company and I can’t help it. Right?” Ren Baqian pretended to be relaxed.

“Turn on the video function, I want to see where are you now and if you are fine.” Ren Baqian’s father hung up just after he finished speaking.

Following closely, Ren Baqian’s parents made a video call to him and he had no choice but to accept it. Two faces which were squeezed together, appeared immediately on the screen. His father’s eyes were bloodshot while the surrounding area of his mother’s eyes were a little red and swollen as she just cried.

“As I have said, I’m really fine. I just got back from outside, take a look inside…” Ren Baqian aimed the camera at the surroundings and it was filled with a layer of dust everywhere. “You see, such thick layers of dust, I just returned and haven’t had the time to tidy up.”

Subsequently, he went by the window and shot his neighbourhood. Then, he turned the camera back at himself and said, “See, I’m already back. But, I estimate that I will be busy for another period of time.”

“As long as you are alright, it’s fine. As long as you are alright, it’s fine. In any case, we have seen you and can finally be at ease.” Only then did his parents heave a sigh of relief. “Next time, you must call home regularly. It would be best if you could call back weekly, not any longer than once a month. Otherwise, we will go straight to the police.”

“Got it. Anyway, you were saying that one of my friends mentioned that I went to the mountains? Is it Chen Qing?” Ren Baqian pondered as he asked. He was the only one who would say that. But, how did his parents managed to contact Chen Qing? His parents shouldn’t be aware of his own social circle at all.

“He’s called Chen Qing, that fellow is fair, dashing and has good family upbringing as well…” When the two of them spoke till here, they stared blankly for a while. After which, both of their eyes lit up.

“Who is that lady behind you?”

At first, when Ren Baqian saw his parents’ expression, he felt somewhat astonished. When he heard what they asked, he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

“I still have something on, talk another day.” Ren Baqian hung up the call, turned around and saw the empress behind him. Her face was nearly touching the back of his neck and a very alluring flower fragrance directly filled his nose.

Ren Baqian instantly froze. He did not even dare to make the slightest movement. At this moment, his face was only about five centimeters away from the empress and could even feel the empress’s breathing.

“Why are there people inside?” The empress extended two of her fingers and wedged Ren Baqian’s phone away and walked away unconsciously. “What is this thing?”

“Your Majesty, this is a mobile phone. It is being used for long distance communication. Previously, I told Your Majesty that we have an enormous network which covers the entire world. It enables people to know what’s happening on the other side of the world in an instant. The mobile phone is a product which allows long-distance communication regardless of when or where someone is.”

“Is it possible in Dayao?” The empress was obviously very interested in this thing. To be directly aware of news from afar and also to speak to people who were a distance away, no matter what happens, the imperial court would be able to get hold of the news.

The value of this thing was immensely huge.

“Your Majesty, if we want to make use of the wireless network, we must have a considerable scientific and technical foundation before the phone can be deemed useful. This is because the phone requires a base station to transmit information to far away places. Constructing the base station and also to manufacture phones, I’m afraid that it will not be possible to do so in this short period of time.

If there are copper ore mines and iron ore mines within the borders of Dayao, perhaps, I would be able to make a wired phone within my lifetime. But, that would be a long time later. At present, the technology level in Dayao is indeed too low,” Ren Baqian explained in detail.

“I don’t really understand, you mean that it is not possible to use it in Dayao?” The empress asked. There wasn’t any trace of displeasure on her face, rather, she wanted to find out even more.

“It was the same as passing on the fire beacon, there must always be one person standing at different locations. When this person sees the fire beacon from afar, he or she would have to ignite the fire beacon to pass on the information to another location. The base station utilizes this function. However, the information transmitted is even more complicated.

From the steam engine, to electrical power, then the network, all this has been developed for hundreds of years to be able to reach the present stage.

Even if I know the technology from within, Dayao still lacked this kind of basic technology.

It is just like a baby during infancy stage, even if you give the baby a knife, the baby wouldn’t know how to make use of it. Only when the baby grows up, then would the baby learn to employ it.

And the development of technology is just like this analogy, advancing step by step and developing step by step.”