The Empress’s Gigolo

After the empress was done with her grooming, the two of them sat face to face in the bedroom as they smoked electronic cigarettes. Huge clouds of vapor that were exhaled from their mouths engulfed the both of them.

The empress enjoyed smoking the electronic cigarette because this thing was sweet of course!

It was cooling as well.

They acted as if they were eating snacks. Mouthful after mouthful, the entire hall was filled with a fruity and milky smell.

The empress frequently lifted her head, looked outside through the glass, and was a little tempted to go out for a stroll. However, she dropped that idea when she thought about the blazing hot weather and decided to wait patiently in her bedroom.

When Xin Zhe arrived, Ren Baqian couldn’t even clearly see either of their silhouettes. This wasn’t the first time this happened, which was why he wasn’t surprised.

After estimating that it was almost time, Ren Baqian bade farewell and left to check on other arrangements. It took him all the way until the evening to be able to stroll back to Xingqing Palace Hall with his hands behind his back. Basically every event was held here, regardless of whether it was the empress’s birthday celebration or the year-end banquet.

It was called a hall, but it was, in fact, a very huge palace with only its main hall utilized for entertaining guests. The other halls there had lay wasted for quite some time. Even though there were people cleaning up the place quite often, it was still a little old.

When Ren Baqian entered the hall, many of the people were looking up and examining the light strips above their heads.

At present, Ren Baqian could bring over 600 kilograms worth of items in one trip, which made it much easier to transport things. Over this period of time, he brought over quite a lot of light strips to decorate the main hall. At this moment, the sky was shimmering with different colored lights that turned the entire hall into a fairy tale world.

Ren Baqian’s entrance had attracted the attention of a few people. He nodded in acknowledgement and began to locate his seat. He then waited for the event to commence while occasionally chatting with Feng Hou.

Feng Hou was actually very interested in Ren Baqian’s bet against the Zhang family with regard to the wine and the springs, especially since the springs could be used in a strong weapon like the ballista. It was a pity that this world still wasn’t capable of making such springs at present.

Both the materials and the crafting processes weren’t attainable.

As for the wine brewing, Ren Baqian had prepared for the royal family to build their own wine brewery. After all, there was a huge market for strong wine in this world, and the profits were great. Also, the conditions weren’t suitable for the wine to be distributed over a short period of time. Especially in Dayao, the output of grains wasn’t enough for large scale wine brewing.

Ren Baqian was actually prepared to introduce the craft of weaving and cotton production to this world. He had a few words with Feng Hou, and after hearing snippets of their conversation, Ge Yihong joined in as well. Ren Baqian and a few ministers from the Ministry of Works were gathered in a small circle whispering, which attracted many sidelong glances from the others.

They weren’t sure when Tong Zhenye appeared behind them. He listened to their conversation for some time before he couldn’t help it and asked, “Principal Ren, would you like to hold a position in the Ministry of Works? Given your talent, it’s such a pity that you aren’t here.”

“Sir Tong!” Ren Baqian turned over and greeted him. As for going to the Ministry of Works, he should just let it pass.

15 minutes later, after Shi Qing, Hong Wu, Xi Wanya, and the others successively took their seats, the words “Hail the empress” resounded in the hall. Decked in that bright red traditional Han Chinese dress, the empress slowly walked into the hall accompanied by Qing Yuan and Hong Luan.

After everyone paid their respects, the empress slowly sat down at the seat of honor.

The maids then began to bring the dishes into the hall one by one, and everyone’s attention was focused on Ren Baqian’s face.

The dishes from last year’s birthday celebration left a deep impression on everyone. Many of them didn’t really eat much.

At present, just as the dishes were served, everyone immediately thought of Ren Baqian. They hoped to get some insights from his expression in order to be mentally prepared for what was coming.

Ren Baqian looked all smiley and good-natured, which made many of the guests feel more relieved. All of this year’s guests were their own people, so everything should be the same as in previous years, shouldn’t it?

As the first dish was served, everyone’s faces immediately turned black.

The whole plate was filled with an entire coiled up blood sausage. Of course, Ren Baqian knew what it was, but the rest didn’t. Simply looking at it made them lose their appetite to eat.

When the second dish was served, people even started having thoughts of drawing out their blades to cut Ren Baqian.

A roasted goat’s penis and two goat testicles were placed neatly on the plate.

How is this even edible?

Does he want us to chew on it?

This thing just wouldn’t taste right!

The image of an entire hall of people seated properly and chewing on a goat’s penis just wouldn’t seem too glamorous.

Many people extended their heads and looked over at the empress, only to realize that the dishes she had been served were entirely different from theirs. Their expressions immediately turned murderous as they stared at Ren Baqian.

The third dish was a soup. It came in a copper pot, and inside, there was a bat the size of two palms that was doing a backstroke in the soup.

This bat soup immediately made everyone lose their appetites.

The fourth dish looked pretty good and smelled very fragrant. There were mixed expressions when everyone looked at the thing inside the bowl.

This thing in the bowl, it looks edible, right?

This dish was actually a specialty—a burning stew. Ren Baqian couldn’t see himself eating it the first time he saw this dish, but after that, he ate it under the influence of others and realized that it was actually pretty tasty.

The fifth dish. A bowl of raw beef minced into meat sauce.

The sixth dish. A wound up and roasted water snake.

By the looks of the sixth dish, everyone felt that there was finally one edible dish this year. They then continued to stare at Ren Baqian with murderous looks.

Are you trying to take us on?

Still not done with it, are you?

Ren Baqian was put on the spot as well. Out of this year’s menu, he only provided three of the dishes. These were the burning stew, the roasted goat penis, and the blood sausage.

The other dishes like the bat soup, the raw minced beef meat sauce, and the roasted water snake were all creations of the imperial kitchen.

He wasn’t sure if the imperial kitchen had enlightened the wrong part of their innate skill to have actually created such dark cuisine.

The dishes that the imperial kitchen made were usually for Ren Baqian and the empress. They had no one to share their creations with. Since there were so many officials present today at the empress’s birthday celebration, they brought out everything that they had.

Ren Baqian didn’t really have anything to do with this situation—well, just half of it at most.

Looking at everyone’s expressions and the food on the table, then back at her own food, the empress stopped paying any attention to anyone else. In any case, there didn’t seem to be any problems with the food that she was eating.

Next in line was a dedication speech; just a normal routine with nothing special about it.

Ren Baqian took this opportunity to look around the hall and realized that Li Fu, as expected, didn’t attend. In any case, Li Fu was the world’s number one expert, so Ren Baqian had to invite him out of courtesy. He wasn’t sure if Li Fu declined the invitation because he really didn’t like such occasions or if he didn’t want to see Qin Chuan, Tong Zhenye, Tu Wan, and the rest. Just now, Ren Baqian had sent someone to invite him again, but at present, it seemed like he really didn’t intend to come.

As the empress drank her first cup of wine, a group of young girls from the Jing Tribe entered the hall and performed a dance. These girls each had a silver bell attached to their waists. The bells chimed nonstop as the girls danced, and it sounded extremely pleasing. This dance was also different from the wild nature of the dances performed by the aboriginal girls. It was full of gentleness and beauty, imparting a different type of feel.

At the very least, Ren Baqian rather enjoyed such performances. They were great regardless of whether they had their clothes on or not.

After the girls from the Jing Tribe took their leave, a few musicians began to perform a tune that brimmed with passion. There were officials from the Imperial Duty Residence that started singing, and the ambience of the hall started growing ardent.