The Empress’s Gigolo

This gamble, which had decided the fate of many in the Zhang family, had started a commotion even thousands of kilometers away, but on the contrary, there wasn’t much of an uproar in Dayao where it all happened.

Even those court officials who witnessed it for themselves felt that the contest simply created a deeper impression on others. Besides military skills, Ren Baqian was very proficient in other aspects.

At present, it was only three days away from the empress’s birthday celebration, and Lan City started bustling with noise and excitement.

Even though there weren’t any diplomatic envoys that visited this year and both the southeast and northeast were in fact still at war, these circumstances hadn’t affected the moods of Lan City’s commoners.

This wasn’t due to the fact that they didn’t understand the hardships at the front line. Instead, it was because since decades ago, the aboriginals had been fighting against beasts and all sorts of things for their survival since birth. War had already become a part of them, and this wasn’t something that a few short decades could erase.

Another reason was that carts and carts of edible salt were transported back to Dayao after the aboriginals had sacked three cities in the Yun Nation some time ago. This replenished the salt supply that Dayao’s market had been lacking. Taking this opportunity due to the salt abundance and the empress’s birthday celebration, large groups of mountain civilians came down. Many others also journeyed by foot for a few days to come to Lan City just to let the place rustle in the air before all the supplies were wiped out.

Additionally, Hong Wu and the others had also successively returned over the past few days, and many people conveniently took a look outside his residence as they passed by.

Ren Baqian had witnessed such situations many times. The few times that he had passed by the area, he had seen people from afar who were looking over at Hong Wu’s residence and talking about stuff.

He supposed that these people were most likely saying, “I can replace him!”

They might also be telling their children, “Others can replace him!”

Stuff like that.

Ren Baqian imagined these conversations and made himself laugh for a long time. If someone was actually thinking of this, he would definitely and greatly support the cause.

This would save Hong Wu from being uncomfortable when he looked at himself.

Over the next three days, the palace made preparations. Ren Baqian had someone decorate the trees by coiling pieces of red muslin tied together with knots. From afar, the imperial palace turned into a sea of red flowers.

As for Ren Baqian’s actions, the empress commented faintly when she saw him, “It’s a little wasteful.”

Even though she rarely paid any attention to this kind of stuff, the arrangement by Ren Baqian made her feel a little distressed.

Dayao didn’t have the expertise to weave cloth. All of it had been transported over from the other three countries previously, and their prices weren’t cheap.

The imperial palace was such a huge place, and it was too extravagant to have those red flowers everywhere.

“You like it?” Ren Baqian replied with high spirits. The empress was never one to do such things. Other than attending court to handle official matters, drinking, being dazed, and also her latest interest in watching soap operas, she rarely cared about other matters.

There weren’t many imperial guards in the palace, and there were even fewer palace maids. The palace had always been a rather cold and cheerless place.

With Ren Baqian going crazy over this stuff, the place had livened up quite a bit.

The empress thought about it and felt that she actually liked it. She slightly shifted her gaze to the side and said, “It seems like you’re going to empty out the imperial palace’s warehouse.”

“Only like this can it be worthy enough for Your Majesty! Besides, after using it this year, we can save it for next year as well as the year after that. With this in mind, it won’t be considered extravagant anymore.” Ren Baqian laughed. “We have made some profit these days by selling glassware and drinking glasses. Those funds are enough to sustain all of this.”

Before the glass store was opened for business, the glass factory had already stocked up quite a number of drinking glasses. When the store started its operation, it sparked a buying craze. Such clear, translucent, and crystal-like cups and bowls were priced at only 15 taels each. Which imperial big shot wouldn’t grab dozens of these?

In just over a short span of two weeks, the glass store had sold over 30,000 taels worth of glassware, which was then used by Ren Baqian to buy the red muslin that now decorated the palace.

Hearing that, the empress didn’t speak further.

In fact, the empress rarely bothered with most of the things that Ren Baqian did. She would just watch from the side and wait silently for the outcome.

She might portray herself as a little cold at times, but more often than not, it was something that she indulged in.

Even after watching so much television, the empress didn’t know how to express her feelings. Or rather, if she expressed her emotions to others, it might make her feel shy.

As a result, such indulgence was essentially how she expressed herself.

Ren Baqian was also well aware of this, which was why he would sometimes intentionally tease the empress. Of course, he would usually end up receiving a kick from her.

Three days passed by in a flash. Over these three days, all the palace maids and bodyguards had been endlessly ordered to run errands by Ren Baqian. The outcome was an entirely new color for the whole palace.

Even Xin Zhe would frequently lift her head while patrolling around the palace to look at the treetops that were filled with red flowers.

Even though she might look like a man most of the time, she had a meticulous mind at times as well.

Ren Baqian only managed to finish decorating the entire palace on the afternoon of the empress’s birthday celebration. He went back to change into a set of blue ceremonial robes; this was the color of robes for Rank 4 officials.

This time last year, he was dressed like a patch of grassland.

Thinking back, everything must have started on this day a year ago.

Exactly one year.

It was still the empress’s birthday celebration.

In fact, this might be a good thing because almost everything had happened on the same day, which saved him from needing to remember all sorts of occasions.

If possible, it would be best to have their future wedding on this day as well.

Ren Baqian rushed to the empress’s bedroom as his thoughts fluttered.

Dressed in a red gown, the empress sat on a stool. In front of her was that mirror with the words “Without the birth of Your Majesty, there would have been an eternity of darkness” carved into the sides, and to her side was the dressing table.

Qing Yuan and Hong Luan were currently both grooming her.

Ren Baqian’s eyes glowed when he saw the empress sitting there. Her red gown had a print of a golden phoenix spreading its wings. He had that gown custom-made at a cosplay store back when he was returning from Great Xia. The empress had actually chosen to wear it on this day.

Furthermore, Ren Baqian looked at the profile of that exceptional and slightly cold face. The sight of a beauty being groomed would definitely be an heirloom treasure if it was painted as a work of art.

It was unfortunate that such a painting didn’t exist since Ren Baqian had a lot of faith in his artistic skills.

If he were to paint a painting today of the empress being groomed, he was afraid that he would be beaten to death on such an occasion.

If Jack from the movie Titanic had Ren Baqian’s painting skills, then there wouldn’t be that much of a story left anymore.

Ren Baqian took out his camera and captured this beautiful moment before walking up behind the empress to take a close look at how Qing Yuan and Hong Luan bunned up her hair.

To groom a beauty was a joyous thing, and Ren Baqian was actually rather keen on learning.

“You’re done with all those things?” Through the mirror, the empress looked at Ren Baqian standing behind her. Three and a half days of effort for just half a day of celebration. Even though it was very beautiful and she liked it a lot, she still felt that Ren Baqian might be a little too free.

She should probably get him to brush up on his martial arts skills starting from tomorrow.

“Your Majesty’s beauty today is like Mother Nature being blessed by Heaven and Earth!” Ren Baqian complimented the person in the mirror.

He wasn’t sure if beauty did indeed lie in the eyes of the beholder, but he felt that the empress was becoming prettier!

“If Your Majesty’s beauty was previously 9.8 points out of ten, you would be a 9.9 today. I have deducted 0.1 points in case you become proud!” Qing Yuan and Hong Luan both smiled with pursed lips when Ren Baqian finished talking.

The empress twitched her fingers under her sleeves and felt more strongly that Ren Baqian had indeed had too much free time lately.