The Empress’s Gigolo

Even though Ren Baqian was taught “why the flowers were so rosy” by Tong Lan once again, he still felt happy.

After all, he was becoming more powerful than before. The sensation of having his body filled with strength made him very happy.

Furthermore, he had just attained the level of Man Wheel.

He had only been in this world for six months and he had already reached this level. This was enough to make him happy and proud. He felt that he was a genius for someone that did not have any foundation to attain the level of Man Wheel in six months’ time.

Upon thinking about it, he realized he had only cultivated for four months at most.

Didn’t they say one in one thousand practitioners could attain the level of Man Wheel?

This is the difference between a genius and an ordinary individual.

Moreover, he had reached the level of Man Wheel before the new year of Dayao. He wouldn’t be embarrassed when he attends the lantern-grabbing contest.

Humming a tune, Ren Baqian arrived at Yangxin Palace Hall. The moment he reached there, he heard a voice that was filled with contempt and killing intent, “He is seeking death! Find out where he is!”

Walking into the palace hall, Ren Baqian saw two men clad in armor. Their armors looked slightly old, covered in blade scars.

“Dismissed, remember to hunt him down!” the empress said coldly.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” The two men cupped their fists and left. There was a miserable look on their faces. It was not easy task to hunt down an expert like Lu Pinghai. If he was in Dayao, it wouldn’t be that difficult. However, he mainly moved around in Great Xia, which made it extremely difficult to track him down.

It was at this moment that Ren Baqian realized the two men were twins. If he did not remember correctly, they were from the Protectorate of the North. He had seen them before at Ping City previously.

After two of them had left, Ren Baqian stepped forward and asked, “Your Majesty, why are you so angry?”

“I want something from Lu Pinghai and I even allowed him to choose anything he wants in return for it. As long as it’s not too much, I will grant it to him. However, he acted high and mighty and rejected my request.” The empress was still furious.

Ren Baqian laughed bitterly in his heart. There was nothing unusual about it.

However, in the empress’s eyes, it was exceptionally unusual.

The name “Lu Pinghai” sounded quite familiar to Ren Baqian. Upon thinking about it, he realized Lu Pinghai was the eighth most powerful expert in the world. He had been doing his own research dutifully.

“Is that thing very important to you?” Ren Baqian asked. Given that the empress was in such a huge rage and her target was even the eighth most powerful expert in the world, he reckoned that the thing must be very important to her.

“I guess so!” The empress declined to give a direct answer. The Spirit Yuan Pill was useless to her, she wanted it purely for Ren Baqian.

Previously, Ren Baqian’s body constitution was too weak and he could only cultivate [Ruyi Visualization]. Therefore, she asked Hong Wu to send someone to find Lu Pinghai and ask him for the Spirit Yuan Pill. The Spirit Yuan Pill could improve Ren Baqian’s body constitution and increase the speed of his cultivation progress.

However, to her surprise, Ren Baqian smoothly reached the most important stage of [Ruyi Visualization] and attained the level of Man Wheel in just a few months’ time. [Ruyi Visualization] was indeed powerful. She couldn’t believe that it could elevate someone whose body constitution was so poor to the level of Man Wheel.

However, she had paid a huge price for it.

Having no use for the Spirit Yuan Pill was one issue, Lu Pinghai not giving it to her was another. She was still extremely angry that Lu Pinghai rejected her. After all, it was in her nature to feel this way.

I have already made an offer to you, and you can request whatever you want. As long as it’s not too much, I can grant it to you. If you reject me, I will beat you to death.

“Lu Pinghai really doesn’t know how to appreciate Your Majesty’s kindness. If we find him, we should just throw a bottle of sarin gas at him. After we have killed him, we will take all of his belongings.” Ren Baqian behaved like a good-for-nothing adviser.

Whether the empress was right or wrong, he would definitely stand on her side.

There were two rules that he lived by.

The first rule, the empress is always right.

The second rule, please refer to the first rule.

The empress was gratified after hearing Ren Baqian’s words.

“He knows that even if someone tracks him down, he would be long gone by the time I arrive. After all, no one can keep up with his speed. Otherwise, I would really want to meet him personally and hear what he has to say before he dies,” the empress said with fury. Even though she had already asked the twins to track Lu Pinghai down, she knew they wouldn’t be able to find him

Ren Baqian racked his brain. Without a satellite, he couldn’t make a GPS tracking unit. He couldn’t do anything about it.

“Doesn’t he have a fixed home?” Ren Baqian asked curiously.

“His whereabouts are always unknown. We only know that he will visit a fishing village in East Sea for a few days every November.”

“And we can’t be sure of that either. We can only wait for him there next year.”

The empress nodded her head. She had already changed her goal. Previously, her goal was to get Spirit Yuan Pill, now her goal was to beat Lu Pinghai to death.

Since this was her goal, she did not mind letting him live one more year.

“Have you picked your team for the lantern-grabbing contest?” the empress changed the topic and asked. She wanted to see how Ren Baqian would perform during the event.

“Can’t I just choose a few imperial guards that are young?” Ren Baqian asked.

“I’m afraid you can’t even find nine imperial guards that are under the age of twenty-five,” the empress said. There were very few newcomers among the imperial guards. Most of them had been here since previous emperor’s reign. It was very hard to find replacements for them these days.

“Eh?” Ren Baqian was stunned, and his eyes were widened. He did not expect that there would be less than nine imperial guards under the age of twenty-five in the palace.

“Go and ask Xin Zhe how many imperial guards in the palace are under the age of twenty-five in the palace!” the empress ordered and Qing Yuan left the palace hall in a rush.

After a while, Qing Yuan returned and reported to the empress, “Your Majesty, there are three persons that are under the age of twenty-five!”

“Fill up the six remaining slots yourself,” the empress turned around and said to Ren Baqian.

Ren Baqian scratched his head. It was not that hard to fill up the six remaining slots. He could easily pick an aboriginal from the streets, but he couldn’t possible choose a few ordinary individuals to make up the shortfall, right? It would be very humiliating.

He might not want to be the champion, but he also did not want to be humiliated.

It seemed that he had to seek help now.

Ren Baqian racked his brain. Since he was closer to the people from Ministry of Works, he decided to seek help from Tong Zhenye.

Accompanied by a few imperial guards, Ren Baqian headed to the Ministry of Works. When he reached there, he found out Tong Zhenye had already gone home. Since the end of the year was near, the Ministry of Works wasn’t really busy.

As such, Ren Baqian went to the Tong residence. After stating his intention in visiting the Tong residence to the gatekeeper, he and his imperial guards waited outside the gate.

After an hour, Ren Baqian was then brought into the Tong residence.

After taking a few mere steps into the residence, Ren Baqian saw a white-dressed Lolita skipping out of the house. There was a female guard following behind her.

“Eh? Good-For-Nothing, why are you here!” The Lolita looked very surprised.

“Due to the inhumane acts you have done to me, I have decided not to pay your grandfather back his three thousand taels of silver. This amount of money will be a compensation for the trauma you have caused me. I’m here today to notify your grandfather about it.” Ren Baqian had a you-are-the-main-culprit look on his face.

I let you to call me “Good-For-Nothing” in the palace because you’re still a child and I don’t want to argue with you. How dare you call me “Good-For-Nothing” outside of the palace? How can I face other people if you call me that?

“I have already asked Grandpa and he said you have already returned the money you owed him,” the Lolita had a disdainful look on her face. “I would’ve used more strength to beat you up if you haven’t returned the money. Grandpa taught me that, if a person refuses to pay you the money he owes you, you have to beat him to death.”

“I heard that you’re going to become my student in half a month’s time, right? A person should first be changed by a teacher’s instructions and guided by principles of ritual. Only then can he observe the rules of courtesy and humility, obey the conventions and rules of society, and achieve order. Remember to respect your teacher!” A sagacious look appeared on Ren Baqian’s face.[“A person should first be changed by a teacher’s instructions, and guided by principles of ritual. Only then can he observe the rules of courtesy and humility, obey the conventions and rules of society, and achieve order” is a line from Xunzi, a Chinese Confucian philosopher who lived during the Warring States period and contributed to the Hundred Schools of Thought.]

Tong La blinked her eyes with a blank look on her face. “What are you talking about?”

“Just remember this line, ‘He who teaches me for one day is my father for life!'”

“I also want one more son, but I’m afraid Her Majesty won’t agree to this!” Tong Zenye’s voice rang across the air.

“Goddamnit!” Ren Baqian yelled in his heart.

He had completely forgotten about this.