The Empress’s Gigolo

“Regardless of whether she’s Her Majesty, treat her like a normal customer, as if you don’t know her identity.” Xing Rong pondered. He felt almost certain that the other party was Her Majesty.

The previous time Ren Baqian came to House Yunyan, it was Her Majesty who came and created a mess.

This time, Ren Baqian led the way in, followed by a lady dressed as a man. Furthermore, she looked very much like Her Majesty, and there weren’t any qualms about it anymore.

“They want to go to House Yunyan.”

“Let them be. Let them go wherever they want.”

A moment later, Xing Rong’s subordinate came back and reported, “They have chosen the upper hall next to Minister Tong! And they asked for ladies as well…”

Xing Rong used the only hand he had left, scratched his head, and said, “Serve them good food and wine. Bring them some ladies with etiquette and propriety.”

He heaved a sigh after his subordinate left. So mentally draining!

He wasn’t originally exhausted… but now he was!

“Sir, Minister Qin and his guests are here to visit House Yunyan, and they want the Yun Hall next to Minister Tong,” someone came reported not too long after.

Xing Rong rubbed his nose. On other days, he definitely wouldn’t agree to this because it was almost certain that Qin Chuan and Tong Zhenye would end up fighting if they saw each other.

However, today was an exception.

This was because there was someone stronger up there. As long as he didn’t enrage her, the others could do as they wished.

He no longer minded that Ren Baqian got someone to take that girl away.

Regardless of whether she would live or die, she would be better off than staying here. Even if she were to be killed, at least it would be a clean cut.

After all, despite not even remembering her name, Xing Rong didn’t wish to see her depraving herself here given her status and what her mentor had been working hard on.

This was simply a brief interlude, and everyone on site naturally wouldn’t take it seriously.

“Sir Ren, drink, drink. It seems like we’re pretty fated to have bumped into each other at the clinic while even having the same ailment.” Tong Zhenye burst out laughing as he forced Ren Baqian to drink.

Ren Baqian’s face turned black. Could he not bring up this matter? The thought of it made him feel terrible.

With a lady in his embrace, Feng Hou smiled and asked, “Sir Tong and Sir Ren were sick?”

“Nothing much, just a small problem,” Ren Baqian hurriedly answered. Since this matter was too embarrassing for others to know, he was afraid of others investigating in detail.

Thankfully, Tong Zhenye didn’t seem to want to make this matter publicly known either and hence didn’t mention it any further.

“Drink, drink!”

After three rounds, Ge Yihong pushed Feng Hou aside, moved close to Ren Baqian, and asked, “Sir Ren, regarding the cotton that you talked about previously, when are you going to bring it out?”

“Dayao isn’t lacking in cloth to keep warm. Even though cotton can be used to weave cloth, it isn’t as important as keeping us full. We shall talk about this cotton again when Dayao at least has no problems with food.” Ren Baqian shook his head.

“I understand the logic behind that, but don’t you forget that even though we don’t have to keep warm, wearing leather clothes can be extremely hot. Many of the commoners are suffering from heat rash, especially the indigenous people. It will be good to have cheap fabric, and the civilians will greatly benefit from it.

A few days ago, they harvested all the potatoes, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes. This is the third harvest, and they have collected 50 million kilograms of crops in total. At present, the crops are being transported to various places. I have already passed down the orders that every city must plant those crops according to my requirements and that their rewards will be a thousand fold during the next harvest.

Crops like these can be planted three times in a year. Even if a portion of the harvest is used for consumption with the rest being planted again, it will multiply each time, and they wouldn’t have to worry about a lack of food in a year’s time. If Sir Ren can give us the cotton, we can first do some breeding and cultivation work.”

Ge Yihong explained everything clearly to Ren Baqian. These were his heartfelt words, and he had finally managed to get ahold of Ren Baqian now.

Ren Baqian pondered for a moment and answered, “If that’s the case, wait a few days and I’ll bring back the cotton seeds as well as the method of planting.”

“What about the wine brewing method?” Tong Zhenye immediately grabbed Ren Baqian’s shoulders as soon as he was done talking, almost pulling him into his embrace. Ren Baqian broke loose at once and stepped away.

“Put that aside for now. It won’t be too late to talk about it after the imperial treasury is up and running and we have ample provisions for winemaking,” Ren Baqian responded promptly.

“That ballista back then, which was powered by springs, it was pretty good as well.” Feng Hou looked over.

Ren Baqian’s face turned black. It wasn’t easy having a drink with these guys.

“Don’t even think about it. You won’t be able to make them even if I told you how. Plus, even if you could, they wouldn’t be usable. Besides, things at the frontline are going pretty well at the moment. By following orders through the walkie talkies, the power of the army is fluid like water and has the ability to aggregate and dissipate at will. Be it long range harassment or sudden attacks, we can easily catch our enemies off guard.

Furthermore, the strength of the aboriginals far exceeds that of the soldiers of the Yun Nation, granting us superiority over them. On the contrary, a bunch of ballistas may in fact encumber the speed of the army.”

“If Sir Ren could bring us the production method of that small little ball, we would not have to worry about this anymore.” Feng Hou laughed mischievously. The Ministry of Works had been coveting the production method of the grenade for a long time.

Unfortunately, Ren Baqian had already mentioned a long time ago that grenades couldn’t be manufactured.

With regard to this, they actually believed Ren Baqian’s words.

“What about the rubber that I requested. Have you found it?” Ren Baqian turned his head and asked.

“We have news that there’s something similar to what you mentioned near the borders of the Chen Nation. I have already sent people to fetch it. However, even with Her Majesty’s orders, you can’t simply keep all the benefits for yourself,” Tong Zhenye responded.

“This thing has tremendous use. Let’s see whether it fulfills my requirements before we discuss further. If it’s indeed what I want, we can actually use it to make quite a lot of useful stuff,” Ren Baqian said.

Rubber had a wide range of applications and wasn’t only used to make hot air balloons. It could also be used for sealing, shock absorption, and the manufacture of many other things.

No matter what it would be used for, its value was immense.

By then, giving some incentives to the Ministry of Works would be a trifle. For instance, things like rubber tires and shock absorption for horse carriages. Even though they were money-making tools, they weren’t exactly important to Ren Baqian. They were things that could definitely be given away and would be very useful to the Ministry of Works.

He could also make use of rubber to provide insulation for electrical wires. With these wires, many aspects of life could be improved.

“Sure, sure, sure. Sure enough, Principal Ren isn’t a stingy person.” Tong Zhenye immediately burst out laughing. Anything taken from Ren Baqian would definitely be useful.

“Well done Sir Qin, another jar!” A burst of laughter and jeering suddenly sounded from the hall next door.

Tong Zhenye’s laughter ceased on the spot, and he began to frown.

“It’s Lian Liang, an official from the Department of the Army,” Feng Hou said after his ears twitched.

“Let’s ignore them and drink.” Tong Zhenye became slightly more relaxed. He could naturally hear that they were people from the Department of the Army.

However, he had important things to discuss today and was in no mood to care about them.

In fact, Tong Zhenye intended to ask Ren Baqian about those street lamps in the palace. From the start, Her Majesty wouldn’t explain, so the lower ranking officials kept making guesses nonstop. Somebody needed to give them some answers.

Although the curiosity could be suppressed, it couldn’t stay this way forever.

In other words, considering their past friendly relations, he wanted to warn Ren Baqian.

Whatever the case was, he should allow Her Majesty to be extravagant.

Ren Baqian’s position would then be more stable that way. Otherwise, if the criticism toward him became too much, he would get into trouble sooner or later, no matter how fond Her Majesty was of him.

How did the Hao Nation perish back then? Why did the aboriginals rebel? If the emperor of the Hao Nation wasn’t decadent, how would things have turned out this way? Those people didn’t forget about this.

This was Tong Zhenye’s main objective for today.

Bang, bang, bang! Along with the laughter came the sounds of the wall being pounded as well. Tong Zhenye’s eyes glared like bronze bells as a murderous spirit permeated throughout.

You bunch of wretched fellows! Do you think I will lose to you in a contest of volume?