The Empress’s Gigolo

There seemed to be no change at the Qingxin Palace Hall.

There were only two people in the huge building, Librarian Lin, whose coughs weren’t known to be real or fake, and Lin Qiaole, who was always sleeping and dreaming.

When Ren Baqian walked into the courtyard, he saw Lin Qiaole sprawled on the ground soundly asleep and conveniently basking in the sunlight.

She seemed to be more daring than before. Previously, she would sleep inside the Qingxin Palace Hall and would wake up in shock when others came in.

However, she slept openly in the courtyard now, and even thunder wouldn’t rouse her.

Ren Baqian walked past her, opened the main door, and walked a dozen steps before opening the door to a room on the left. He saw piles and piles of secret manuals.

As a matter of fact, the loot taken from Tianjing Basin was bountiful.

The treasure taken from the various rebellious sects and residences of the city lords was finally tallied. The inventory of gold, silver, and jewelry was worth at least 100,000 taels of gold, which was equivalent to millions of taels of silver. The empress’s annual income from the gold mines was around 120,000 or 130,000 taels of silver. These millions of taels of silver were considered a very huge amount for Dayao.

However, all of this income ended up in the state treasury.

Just over 13,000 secret manuals, piled up in this hall, belonged to the empress. After taking into account the duplicated copies, there were more than 6,000 manuals at the very least.

People weren’t the only ones ranked according to their relative level, the manuals were also ranked according to their relative value. Based on ranking, 80 percent of the books were of superficial value, 18 percent were of medium value, and two percent of the secret documents were highly valuable.

Only less than 0.1 percent of the manuals were super top grade. One example was the treasure from the top eight sects.

There was also some miscellaneous stuff, such as materials used for disguise. Ren Baqian was initially interested, but after further observation, they were found to be similar to modern cosmetics, though they lasted longer due to the materials used. They weren’t like the human skin masks mentioned in stories that could change the identity of a person immediately.

Some manuals were about methods of making medicine, a few were about the domestication of snakes, insects, war elephants, monkeys, and birds in the Six Doors, whereas others were about trivial stuff.

Among them was an interesting recipe from a small sect about how to make a “Bataan Death March” pill. If made according to the recipe, a pill as big as a nail would be enough to satisfy the stomach of an ordinary person for one meal.

Even for an aboriginal soldier, a pill about half the size of a fist would be enough.

With this product, a soldier could carry half a month’s or up to one month’s supply of rations by himself and do away with the onerous logistics needed for a long-range raid.

The only problem was that many of the ingredients were from the Sixty Thousand Mountains. These ingredients were scarce and expensive, so supplying the whole army would be difficult unless substitute ingredients could be found by the physicians.

Ren Baqian selected more than 500 basic level, 50 intermediate level, and three advanced level secret manuals.

The next step was to translate these secret manuals to simplified Chinese characters.

The ancient people said, “When something happens, the disciples will handle it. When there are food and wine, the senior will eat first. Is this considered filial piety?”

The ancient people also said, “A son with deep filial piety will be gentle. A gentle person will look happy. A happy person will look pleasant. The most difficult part of filial piety is your appearance. Just taking care of your parents isn’t enough.”

This meant that the disciples worked and the teacher ate.

Moreover, the disciples ought to be happy and cheerful. If they didn’t work happily, then that wasn’t filial piety.

The next day, Ren Baqian smiled as he handed out the homework.

“From today, everyone has to take 12 secret manuals and translate them into simplified Chinese at home. Hand them in one at a time. If there are mistakes or omissions, you will flutter in the wind from the lamp post outside! If you can’t finish it, not only will you flutter in the wind for a day, you will also receive the gift of a bullet!”

Most of the students in Black Bamboo Academy turned pale after hearing this and seeing the stacks of secret manuals that were brought in by Ren Baqian.

Everyone was responsible for 12 secret manuals and given seven days to complete the translations. They still had to attend classes in the morning, and as a result, the light in their rooms remained bright well into the night this whole week.

Seven days later, 49 students with panda eyes and gnashing teeth placed those secret manuals in the classroom. They had slept for no more than four hours every night during these seven days!

Over the past seven days, they were beginning to have doubts about the meaning of life.

One benefit of this project was their improvement in writing simplified Chinese, and they became better than Ren Baqian. After all, he could hardly write after using the computer for so long.

“Take three days off. Use the knowledge that you have learned in physics class to start building a steam engine after three days!” Ren Baqian smiled gleefully as he gave everyone three days off after collecting the more than 500 secret manuals.

It was high time to make a steam engine because it would usher in an industrial revolution. Although the technology in this world hadn’t reached this point, it would improve very quickly with him driving it.

With the production of the steam engine and his involvement in pushing it, technology would take a quantum leap in a short time.

Everyone leaned their heads on the table after hearing this and didn’t even have the energy to cheer. They were burned out, and the steam engine wasn’t something they wished to think about.

Ren Baqian brought the secret manuals to Earth that night. The tutor, Ding Jie, was drinking with the six winged cavalry warriors. In principle, six people were drinking, whereas Ding Jie was slurping his water from a cup.

Two of them were bragging about their adventures while the other four were envious.

Ren Baqian grinned at the thought that these two rascals went to find young ladies and ended up wrecking the place! Then, they smashed up a drug den!

Since the physical constitution of these winged cavalry warriors was very strong, things like ecstasy pills, ketamine, and soft drugs basically had little effect on them.

They smashed up the drug den because they felt cheated when the ecstasy pills and ketamine had no effect on them. The two didn’t know what these things were and only heard that these substances would give them a flying sensation…

“The boss’s wife!” The six burly winged cavalry warriors stood up to greet him. Ren Baqian immediately picked up a decorative ornament beside him and threw it across.

“Boss!” Only Ding Jie sincerely greeted him as the boss. Only honest people deserved his love.

“It’s Second Boss!” Ren Baqian groaned. He went upstairs to change and gave Yang Sen a call. He got people to move the secret manuals to a car and then asked a winged cavalry warrior to escort him out.

By the time he reached the Messier 87’s underground garage, Yang Sen and others were already waiting for him there.

Yang Sen was shocked to see the backseat and trunk filled with manuals! The Messier 87 staff behind him inhaled sharply.

Although Ren Baqian had promised and called him beforehand, Yang Sen didn’t expect to receive so much.

These were secret manuals on cultivation techniques, not cabbages!

The previous batch of secret manuals, in their original version, were usually packed in safes when they were delivered by Ren Baqian.

Although he knew that these items weren’t that big of a deal to Ren Baqian, bringing them in a car like a load of cabbages was rather shocking.

Ren Baqian really made a big contribution this time! With these secret manuals, the development would be faster and more methods could be developed to cater to different people. Through these secret texts, cultivation methods and their special characteristics could be better understood.

When Ren Baqian went home, he gave Ding Jie a secret book that had been edited by the nation. This was similar to the one he gave to his parents.

“This is for you. It’s easier to learn and less problematic, but remember not to pass it on to others. The end result, as you know, will hurt others as well as yourself.”

Previously, Ding Jie was stopped by Ren Baqian from learning martial arts from the winged cavalry warriors. Din Jie regretted this and would sometimes feel disappointed while lying in bed. Therefore, he was very happy to receive this secret manual from Ren Baqian.

He kept on saying, “Boss, I will certainly do my work well!”

“Ask me if you do not understand something. Don’t ask these idiots or else you may die without knowing why.”