The Empress’s Gigolo

Du Changkong had no idea why Ren Baqian was looking for him. With a pensive look on his face, he went downstairs and saw Ren Baqian who was surrounded by imperial guards.

Ren Baqian’s skin looked much darker than before. He was also exquisitely adorned now. The most noticeable change about him was that his essence, qi, and spirit had become abundant.

In the past, Ren Baqian was frail and had a lack of courage, appearing like an introvert.

Now that his status and strength had soared, he was no longer the same person as before.

“Deputy Prefect Ren!” Du Changkong cupped his fists and greeted Ren Baqian.

“Brother Du!” Ren Baqian took a close look at Du Changkong. He looked older than he actually was. He was only eighteen years old, but he looked as though he was thirty to forty years old, appearing mature and reliable.

However, after the previous encounter, Ren Baqian knew that Du Changkong was a fraud and a typical good-for-nothing teammate.

If Ren Baqian wasn’t in need of people for his team, he wouldn’t have reached out to him.

“Long time no see. I did say that I was going to look for you, but so many things have happened during this period of time, and I couldn’t spare any time to find you.” Ren Baqian put his arm around Du Changkong’s shoulder. However, Du Changkong was much taller and more muscular than him. This made Ren Baqian very uncomfortable, and he had no choice but to put his arm down.

“At least Deputy Prefect Ren still remembers me.” Du Changkong grinned.

“Anyway, what’s the matter?” Du Changkong hesitated for a while before asking. Given Ren Baqian’s current status, Du Changkong was sure that he wasn’t here to reminisce the good old times with him.

“You should know about the lantern-grabbing event, right? Have you gotten a team? My team still has empty slots and I immediately thought of you. After all, we are such close friends. I have faith in your capability.” Ren Baqian patted Du Changkong’s back.

“I’m in my younger brothers’ team, we already have four members!” Du Changkong was in a predicament. Actually, he was well aware of Ren Baqian’s strength. However, he did not really care if he won or lost the event. For him, friendship came first, and the event came second.

Furthermore, everyone knew that Ren Baqian was highly regarded by the empress now. This was a very good opportunity for Du Changkong to build up his relationship with Ren Baqian.

Even though aboriginals were honest and straightforward, they still knew how to seize an opportunity when they saw one.

“How powerful are they?” Ren Baqian asked.

“They are slightly weaker than me,” Du Changkong answered after thinking about it for a while.

“Tell you what, the four of you can join my team. It’s settled then,” Ren Baqian chuckled and said. This was a win-win situation for the both of them. All Ren Baqian needed to do now was kick off one imperial guard from his team.

If he was to exclude the weakest member, that would definitely be he himself. It was also not good for him to exclude the members from either the Tong family or the Du family. Therefore, he could only kick one of the imperial guards off the team.

“How shall we split the work then?” Du Changkong asked. There were ten people in team and every member had a different job. For example, the person who was in charge of opening a path to the lantern was called “tooth gate”, the person who was in charge of snatching the lantern was called “lantern head”, and the person who was in charge of blocking opponent teams’ attacks and attacking opponent teams was called “broom”.

Of course, these roles were not fixed. In reality, if the “lantern head” was gotten rid of, the “tooth gate” or the “broom” could try to grab the lantern as well.

Just like in the game of soccer, a goalkeeper might run to his opponent’s field and try to score a goal as well.

“We will have a meeting the day after tomorrow,” Ren Baqian said.

“Who else is in the team?” Du Changkong asked again.

“Do you know who Tong Lan is? She is the granddaughter of Sir Tong, the Minister of Works!” Upon hearing this name, Du Changkong’s facial expression turned weird, looking as though he was having a toothache.

“Do you need me to introduce you to some people?” Du Changkong’s face twitched, appearing as if he was going to give up.

“Why?” Ren Baqian was curious. He did not know why Du Changkong would have such a reaction when he mentioned Tong Lan’s name. Was Tong Lan really that powerful?

“That girl’s mouth is way too smelly. Furthermore, she is so young that we might become a laughingstock if we team up with her.”

Ren Baqian agreed with Du Changkong. That girl’s mouth was really smelly.

Patting Du Changkong’s shoulder, Ren Baqian said, “It’s alright that her mouth is smelly, and it’s also alright that she is too young. You need to be more broad-minded. Given your current mentality, no wonder you’re still single.”

Du Changkong was dumbfounded. What was Deputy Prefect Ren talking about?

“It’s settled then, we will meet at the practice arena beside the imperial palace on the morning after tomorrow,” Ren Baqian concluded. Following which, he jumped onto the horned cow and left before Du Changkong could reply.

Du Changkong stood there and scratched his head. He found Tong Lan to be extremely annoying.

After going upstairs, several people looked at him. “You know that guy!”

“I have borrowed a crossbow from him before in the past. She knows about it,” Du Changkong pointed to Liu Ruoyao and said. Her face immediately darkened.

He had touched her sore spot.

Because of that crossbow, she was chided by Ren Baqian, humiliated in front of Her Majesty, and punished severely in the end.

Meanwhile, that man soared in status and power and even became the fiancé of Her Majesty.

Du Changkong’s words were a slap to her face.

“What did he find you for?” someone asked curiously.

“The lantern-grabbing event!” Du Changkong sat down and spoke with a muffled voice.

“He wants to join the lantern-grabbing event?” Everyone was shocked.

To everyone, Ren Baqian was like an ant. He could be killed with a single punch. He actually dared to join the lantern-grabbing event?

Is he going to cheat?

Who dares to touch him? A slight push would cause him to fly through the air.

Du Changkong nodded his head. However, he did not say anything about the increase in Ren Baqian’s strength.

His strength was equivalent to the strength of a Great Xia native that had just attained the initial level of Man Wheel. He was still very weak in everyone’s eyes.

“Have you agreed to his request?” someone asked.

“Yes!” Du Changkong spread his arms and replied.

“Humph!” A snort resounded through the air. Obviously, it was from Liu Ruoyao.

“I’m afraid all of you can’t even get close to the frame,” Liu Ruoyao sneered.

“That’s none of your business.” Du Changkong wasn’t someone to be trifled with. He was afraid of Hong Xian, not Liu Ruoyao.

Liu Ruoyao grinded her teeth in rage as she prepared to find Hong Xian later. Hong Xian had stated that she wouldn’t be joining the lantern-grabbing event this year. However, Liu Ruoyao reckoned that she would change her mind if she knew Ren Baqian was joining the event.

Usually, she wouldn’t be able to touch him. However, now that he was participating in the lantern-grabbing event, no one could blame her if he was severely injured by her.

Actually, Liu Ruoyao wasn’t the only person with such a notion. After all, the empress was the idol of countless people in Dayao. Many people hated Ren Baqian out of jealousy. There were a lot of people that wanted to give Ren Baqian “a soft nudge” accidentally during the event.

Even though everyone had this intention, they did not display it.

…

Two days later, Ren Baqian left the palace early in the morning and headed for the practice arena beside the palace. Now was the time when the guards changed shifts and not many people were there.

By the time Ren Baqian reached the arena, Du Changkong was already there. There were three other persons beside him. The four of them were squatting like a Slav beside a wall while gnawing on some supersized biscuit rolls in their hands.

“Deputy Prefect Ren!” Du Changkong stood up and greeted Ren Baqian.

“Brother Du!” Ren Baqian got down from his horned cow and examined the three other people. They slightly resembled Du Changkong, but they did not look as old as him.

Those who did not know them would think that Du Changkong was a father that was bringing his three sons out for a walk.

“They are Du Changyue, Du Changqing and Du Changjiang, they are my younger brothers. Deputy Prefect Ren, you can just call me by my name, otherwise I would be quite uncomfortable,” Du Changkong introduced his younger brothers to Ren Baqian.

“Nice to meet you,” Ren Baqian cupped his fists and greeted the three persons. The three immediately returned his greeting. At the same time, they were examining this legendary individual curiously.

“That girl is still not here yet?” Ren Baqian turned his head around to look for Tong Lan.

After waiting for an hour, Ren Baqian saw a few persons approaching the arena. Tong Lan was standing on a horned cow. When she arrived at the arena, she jumped into the air and did a somersault before landing on the ground. Then, she pointed her index finger at Ren Baqian with an annoyed look on her face. “How dare a good-for-nothing like you participate in the lantern-grabbing event? How dare you ask Grandpa to make me join your team? In any case, we are not going to win, I might as well eat some fruit and watch you from the sidelines.”

“And these people, even though they are slightly better than you, who is the greatest good-for-nothing, they still can’t get rid of the good-for-nothing tag on them. Being on the same team with all of you, other people might think that I’m in same rubbish league as you. I’m still so young, how can I face other people in the future?”

One by one, Tong Lan pointed her finger at Ren Baqian, the Du Brothers, and the two youths who were smiling bitterly behind her.

“Can you defeat her?” Ren Baqian turned around and asked Du Changkong.

Du Changkong had a constipated look on his face, but he did not fly into a rage. In the end, he shook his head sullenly. If Ren Baqian did not stare at Du Changkong, the former would not have been able to tell that the latter was sullen.

Ren Baqian widened his eyes in shock.

Du Changkong couldn’t defeat this girl?

I still thought she is just more gifted than ordinary children. Since she started training from young, it is natural that her martial arts are better than other children’s. I thought that was why the empress made her my sparring partner.

Tong Lan isn’t a girl, she is a demon. How can Her Majesty lie to me for so long?

I still thought I’m so weak that I couldn’t even defeat a ten-year-old child… It turns out I’m not alone…

“Do you feel relieved now that you realize they couldn’t defeat me as well? Are you surprised that I’m not as weak as you think? Humph! Even the strength that I exert to bite my rice is more than the strength you exert to launch a punch.” Tong Lan’s little face faced the sky. Arrogance was written all over her face as she sneered at them.