The Empress’s Gigolo

When Ren Baqian woke up, it was already early morning. After taking a look at the first glimmer of light outside the window, Ren Baqian lay back down on the bed for a very long time before getting up.

Today was the engagement day between Chen Qing and Jiang Nan. No matter what, he had to attend their engagement feast.

Inside his wardrobe, the suits that he previously wore to work could no longer be worn. Ren Baqian took some body measurements and realized he had become heavier by at least 6 kilograms. He used to weigh 71 kilograms. Now, he weighed approximately 77 kilograms.

He ate meat for almost every meal in that world. It was no wonder that he became heavier.

On Earth, his physique was just right, not too shabby. However, in Dayao, he was frail and weak like a chicken—according to Caretaker Shi.

He put on a random shirt, went out to have his breakfast, and went to buy a blue-colored suit. He spent a few thousand yuan on the new set of clothing. It wasn’t considered too expensive, and it fit him very well.

Following which, he gave Chen Qing a call and asked about the time of the engagement feast.

When he knew it was set at night, he went to the supermarket and bought a heap of White Rabbit Creamy Candies and various types of chocolates. He spent roughly 2000 yuan on 8 kilograms of White Rabbit Creamy Candies and the chocolates.

After stuffing these things into the boot of his car, Ren Baqian went to buy a copy of Three Hundred Tang Poems and Three Hundred Song Poems.

The empress had personally given him the task ,and he did not dare to be negligent about it. He had to memorize the poems so that he could attack whoever that dared to show off to him.

After driving back home to drop off the things he bought, Ren Baqian lay on the sofa and moaned. He felt that the sofa on Earth was much more comfortable and softer than the stool in that world.

He still could not make a sofa yet. After all, it would still take some more time before the leather was ready. The leather would take approximately eight to ten days before it was ready. When the leather was ready, he would make one sofa and gift it to the empress. Then, he would make one for himself and placed it in his house [his house in the other world]. With a sofa in the house, he could find somewhere to lie on at night.

After lying on the sofa for a while, he got up and charged the stun baton. Subsequently, he uploaded the photos from his camera onto his computer. Then, he registered a new Weibo account, named it “The New Life in The Strange World”, and uploaded the photos of Tiantian and Gungun onto it.

There were photos of them sleeping, playing, rolling about, and hugging his legs. He uploaded a total of thirty photos.

He had uploaded a few photos of sceneries that he deemed not bad as well.

He did not care whether or not would people take note of the photos he uploaded onto Weibo. To him, these photos were records of his life in the strange world.

After uploading the photos onto Weibo, Ren Baqian took out Three Hundred Tang Poems and began to recite the poems silently. If he wanted to keep those people’s ego in check, he had to know these poems by heart.

A month’s time was neither too long nor too short. One day in that world was equivalent to three days on Earth. He got to return to Earth from that world roughly seven times a month. As such, the time he had in the two worlds added up to be approximately half a month.

However, he was still short on time. He had to work hard to keep those people’s ego in check.

Wait, did he remember something wrongly? A streak of light flashed across Ren Baqian’s mind. He realized something was amiss.

First, there was still one month before the empress’s birthday. Caretaker Shi said it was approximately one month to the empress’s birthday. He did not say it was exactly one month’s time.

Second, a feudal society wasn’t the same as a modern society. The means of transport in that world weren’t developed. Ordinary people usually did not travel far away from their homes. Every time they had to travel far, they would take up ten days to half a month to do so. Furthermore, this was travelling within the country. For a huge event like the empress’s birthday, they would certainly set off earlier. There was an eighty percent chance that they would arrive earlier. It was normal that they would arrive ten days to half a month earlier.

Ren Baqian did not have much time left. If they were to arrive one month earlier, he would only have enough time to take a quick look at the poetry books.

Time wasn’t just running short, he was basically in a desperate situation.

When Ren Baqian thought of this, he jumped up from the sofa. For the whole afternoon, he tried to memorize the poems in the book. He did not even work so hard during the final year at university.

The last time he possessed such a degree of diligence was when he was studying for university entrance examinations.

After half of the day was gone, Ren Baqian then put down the book with his head spinning. After resting for a while, he changed his clothes and headed to the restaurant where the engagement feast between Chen Qing and Jiang Nan was being held.

When he reached the entrance, he saw Chen Qing wearing a red-colored suit and Jiang Nan wearing a red-colored qipao. Both of them were merrily receiving the guests at the entrance.

Chen Qing came from a rich family. Even though Jiang Nan’s family wasn’t as wealthy as Chen Qing’s, her parents were university professors. She still came from a literary family after all. Standing there, both of them looked extremely compatible.

Yes, Jiang Nan wasn’t extraordinarily pretty, but she possessed an extremely tranquil charm.

When Chen Qing saw Ren Baqian, he smiled and stepped forward to give him a hug.

“My presence itself is your gift. What I have, you already have. What I don’t have, you still have it,” Ren Baqian spread his arms and said. He indeed did not think of giving Chen Qing any present.

“It’s hard to even meet up with you nowadays, your attendance alone is enough,” Chen Qing patted Ren Baqian’s shoulder and said.

Ren Baqian gave a grimace of a pain. Chen Qing did not use a lot of strength but

Ren Baqian’s shoulder still felt painful. His shoulder was already swollen after it was patted by Caretaker Shi several times.

“Congratulations, Jiang Nan,” Ren Baqian greeted Jiang Nan. “This day has finally arrived.”

Jiang Nan’s face was filled with bliss. She pursed her lips and smiled, “Thank you, but it has indeed been very long since I last saw you.”

“I’m quite busy recently, you should know it,” Ren Baqian chuckled and waved his hand.

“Busy with eating? You have fattened up so much.”

Ren Baqian burst into a laughter.

After exchanging greetings, Ren Baqian was led to a table next to the main table.

The two families did not arrange this engagement feast without any restraint. Only close family members and friends were invited. There were roughly four to five tables.

“Little Ren, you have come,” Chen Qing’s dad greeted Ren Baqian when he saw him.

“Uncle, you can just call me Baqian. Otherwise, every time I’ll feel like you’re scolding me,” Ren Baqian said helplessly.

Hearing these words, Chen Qing’s dad laughed heartily.

However, since today was the engagement feast for both families, Chen Qing’s dad did not have much time to entertain Ren Baqian. He placed his main focus on familiarizing himself with Jiang Nan’s family members.

Ren Baqian sat to one side sipping his tea. He was reciting the poems from Three Hundred Tang Poems in his head, reinforcing his memory.

Subsequently, Ren Baqian went into his own world, looking as though his soul had left his body. Occasionally, he would return to his senses and looked the blissful faces of Chen Qing and Jiang Nan. He felt happy for both of them too.

After attending the engagement feast, Ren Baqian thought about how his mum pushed him to go on a blind date and shook his head lightly.

If his situation did not change, he couldn’t find a stable girlfriend.

Ren Baqian walked out of the restaurant and a cold wind blew across his face, causing his neck to shiver and pull back. Today was indeed very cold.

He quickly got onto his car and switched on the heater. Within a short period of time, he felt warmer.

He drove home, switched on his computer, and checked his newly-created Weibo account. Even though he did not really care if there was anyone checking out his Weibo account, he still hoped someone would see and notice the photos he uploaded.

After all, those were the footprints of him going to that strange world.

After Ren Baqian logged in to his Weibo account, he realized his album had a few hundred likes and ten over comments. He felt slightly happy.

He opened up the comment section and looked at it. Most of the comments were asking him whether or not he worked in a zoo, which zoo he worked in, and etc. Only two comments were directed at his scenery shots. The two comments were asking him about where took the pictures so that they could visit the place too.

Indeed, a national treasure had the most captivating power.

[Pandas are often considered national treasure of China.]

The second day, Ren Baqian studied the poetry book for the entire day. During the afternoon, he felt dizzy and that his mind was in a muddle. He threw the poetry book aside, went downstairs, got into his car, and went out for a spin to relax himself.

He drove aimlessly through the city. As he turned a corner, he saw an unadorned girl carrying several things while walking forward with great effort. He sighed silently in his heart. A few months ago, he was just like her: struggling to survive in the city.

The speed of his car couldn’t be considered fast. When he passed her, he turned around to look at her. She looked delicate and pretty. The next second, he found her somewhat familiar.

After thinking for a while, he still couldn’t recognize who she was. When he noticed a red-colored hearing air on her ear, he suddenly recalled who she was.

It was the counter lady with a hearing disability that he had encountered previously in the restaurant. He reckoned that she must have developed the hearing disability when she was very young, causing her not being able to speak. Even though she could hear people talking with the help of the hearing aid, she still lost part of her speaking capability. This caused her voice to be slightly awful and her words to be unclear. As such, even if she could talk, she would choose not to.