The Empress’s Gigolo

“Mister Ye, is it huge outside?”

“Mister Ye, how big is it outside?”

“Mister Ye, have you seen the ocean? What does it look like? What color is it? From what I read, an ocean doesn’t have boundaries. Is that true?”

“Mister Ye…”

Since noon, Ren Baqian had been hearing “Mister Ye” as well as a series of questions from her. He couldn’t help but ask, “Are you ‘One Hundred Thousand Whys?'”

¹

Having said that, Ren Baqian actually didn’t feel fed up. This girl had a trait that made it difficult for people to detest her. Even though she asked very naive questions, it only made people feel that she should be like this.

“What’s ‘One Hundred Thousand Whys?'”

Ren Baqian didn’t know how to reply to her.

“In the future, you’ll look at it with your own eyes. Listening to what others say isn’t as good as looking at it with your own eyes,” Ren Baqian answered. He had yet to see the ocean in this world. Just in case he said it was blue, but it was actually red, yellow, green, or even black in reality, what would he do?

There was also the Red Sea and the Black Sea on Earth. Although he had never been to those places before and didn’t know if they were really red or black, at least some parts of the Yellow Sea were indeed yellow, mainly because there was too much sand in the water, and it made the sea muddy. “I don’t know when I will be able to go out and see…” When she talked about going out, Zhan Caixian was also somewhat distracted. She had never even traveled far away before, and the furthest place she ever went with her father was Mount Tianyun. From a young age, she knew that she couldn’t leave Tianjing Basin as there were ferocious barbarians lurking outside.

Her father, as well as the uncles in the residence, hated the barbarians. From a young age, even though she was influenced by them, she didn’t really hate the barbarians. She only wanted to leave Tianjing Basin to take a look at the outside world because she heard that it was huge and even more beautiful than the Golden Ring Residence. For a moment, Zhan Caixian fell into a daze.

Ren Baqian looked at her side profile for a while before darting his gaze elsewhere.

Zhan Caixian had the characteristics of the Hao Nation remnant citizens. Her forehead was very wide, her facial features weren’t that refined, and her mouth was slightly big. Still, her facial features looked just right on her face and took people’s breath away.

No matter who saw her, their first reaction would be to compliment her beauty.

Ren Baqian didn’t mind appreciating her beauty, but he didn’t want to get too close to her. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have the heart to leave her. “Mister Ye, is the Yun Nation very big? I heard that the Yun Nation is prosperous. Is it even more prosperous than Jici City?” Zhan Caixian kept quiet for a short while before placing her attention on a new question.

After asking a series of questions, she suddenly stopped talking and looked in one direction. A few minutes later, she ran over cheerfully.

Originally, Ren Baqian still felt that this was rather strange. After looking over at her, he realized that she went to chase a butterfly.

Ren Baqian and the others took 12 day to complete a journey that normally took nine days. Over these 12 days, Ren Baqian went back to Earth for two days. In addition, there were many times when Zhan Caixian went far away to chase after butterflies and bugs.

Although Ren Baqian did his best to avoid her, he still became familiar with the girl named Zhan Caixian during these 12 days. After all, she was the kind of girl who was difficult to hate.

He obviously knew that she was an enemy, but still gradually accepted her.

Even Lin Qiaole was very familiar with her.

However, being familiar didn’t mean that they had a good relationship. On the contrary, their relationship wasn’t good. There was a reason for this…

The incident occurred on a bright and beautiful afternoon.

“Spring is coming to an end as the flowers start to wither. There are already unripe fruits on the apricot trees. Swallows can be seen flying across the sky, and clear rivers are surrounding the villages. There are still plenty of fish in the sea! Behind the walls, a young girl is currently playing on the swings while laughing pleasantly. Naturally, the people outside the walls starts to laugh too. However, the laughter behind the walls gradually stopped, and the people were frustrated, as if they lost something. It seemed that their emotions were hurt by the ruthlessness of the girl.”

²

The voice from the other carriage was crisp and sweet. Ren Baqian pried open the curtains of his carriage and looked toward the other carriage, only to see that Zhan Caixian was sticking her head out to look at the roads on both sides. At the same time, she was also singing. She looked very content. In fact, she was always happy. Over the past few days, Ren Baqian could see that she was happy, cheerful, and full of energy, as if the word “worry” didn’t exist in her dictionary. The people traveling with her looked at her with the intention of wanting to spoil her. Her liveliness also infected the others and made their journey less dull.

Ren Baqian stretched his body and said to the carriage driver, “Let’s take a break.”

A while later, the entire team stopped by the roadside. Here was a piece of boundless farmland, and the farmers were busy with their farming chores while kids ran around the small paved areas in the field.

When team stopped, everyone got out of their carriages to stretch their bodies.

“Mister Ye, what kind of clothes do the people in the Yun Nation wear? Are they similar to the ones you are wearing?” Zhan Caixian jumped out from the carriage, ran toward Ren Baqian, and continued asking a series of questions. However, after just a few minutes, she saw a butterfly in the distance and happily ran over.

From the way Zhan Caixian got off the carriage, Ren Baqian felt that she was somewhat skillful. However, when she was chasing after butterflies, she was just like an ordinary person. In addition, she didn’t seem skillful at all and was actually rather clumsy.

Moments later, Zhan Caixian ran back from a distance with a big blue butterfly in her hands. Out of fear of hurting the butterfly, she was extremely careful. Every time she got off the carriage, she couldn’t help but catch butterflies whenever she saw them. However, when they were on the move, she would later release these butterflies.

“Look, it’s so beautiful!” Zhan Caixian ran over to Ren Baqian and lifted her both hands for him to see.

“Very beautiful,” Ren Baqian echoed.

Zhan Caixian ran to Lin Qiaole’s side, “Sister Lin, look at this!”

“Wow, so beautiful.”

Then, a gust of wind blew, and Zhan Caixian’s hands became empty.”Oh, it’s not that tasty.” Lin Qiaole smacked her lips and was slightly regretful.

Zhan Caixian’s face was lifeless. Her mouth was wide open for a long time, and she couldn’t speak at all. After a long time, she finally reacted to the fact that her butterfly had been devoured by Lin Qiaole. Following which, she quickly ran back to her carriage. Only after seeing that she ran back to her carriage did Ren Baqian walk over and casually ask, “Was that intentional?”

“Intentional? I really wanted to eat it, but it wasn’t tasty,” Lin Qiaole said in a lazy tone.

Ren Baqian didn’t say anything much, but when he was resting at night, he saw that when Zhan Caixian got down from her carriage, her eyes were slightly red. It seemed that she had cried in the afternoon. He wondered if she had cried because of the tragic fate of that butterfly or cried because Lin Qiaole ate her precious butterfly.

This was the first time Ren Baqian ever saw her upset.

The next day, Zhan Caixian regained her vitality. However, whenever she caught a butterfly, she didn’t dare to approach Lin Qiaole anymore. Furthermore, when she released the butterflies, she would sneak a peek to see if Lin Qiaole was back in the carriage or not. It was as if she was guarding herself against a thief. After traveling for 11 days, Mount Tianyun was finally within their sight.

“How long before we arrive at our destination?” Ren Baqian opened the curtains and looked at the distant mountains.

“Mister Ye, we’ll arrive in one day.”

…

Gu City. The empress was looking at the empty candy tree. She had already been in a daze for a long time.

When the colorful candy was gone, this tree was just a dead tree.

After Ren Baqian left, she was on her own.

“Your Majesty? What do you want to eat for dinner?” Hong Luan, who was behind the empress, asked.

“Your Majesty?” Hong Luan gently called out to her again.

“What?” The empress regained her senses.

“What do you want to eat for dinner?”

“Anything,” the empress replied indifferently.

After consuming her dinner, the empress suddenly said, “Get ready. I want to make a trip to Tianjing Basin tomorrow. I still don’t know how the living conditions are for the Hao Nation remnant citizens. Also, I wish to find out why are they always agitated.”

“Yes. I’ll inform Protector General Xi to arrange the manpower now.”

“There’s no need to inform him.” The empress stopped her. “I want to take a look on my own and don’t wish to listen to his nonsense.”

“Your Majesty!” Qing Yuan and Hong Luan were both startled. Soon after, they continued, “Your Majesty, we’ll inform Bodyguard Xiong in that case.”

“I will not be bringing along any bodyguards either,” the empress answered. “I’ll go as a commoner to take a look at the situation personally. The both of you will accompany me while the rest stay here in Gu City. ”