The Empress’s Gigolo

When Ren Baqian saw the other party did not seem to care about him, he asked, “May I know how to address you?”

After thinking for a while, she felt it was likely that she was going to face this man every day. Following which, she replied, “My name is Lin Qiaole, you can call me Librarian Lin.”

Librarian? That is like the caretaker of a library, right? Ren Baqian thought to himself. Then, he asked the question that he was concerned about.

“Nice to meet you, Librarian Lin. May I know what do I need to do?”

“I don’t know. Find yourself a place to stand and don’t disturb me. Wait for Her Majesty to summon you,” Lin Qiaole replied casually.

“…” Upon hearing these words, Ren Baqian found himself a place to stand by himself. After standing for a while, he became tired and sat down on the floor.

The floor here was rather clean. There should be people cleaning the floor here every day, making it sparkling clean.

Lin Qiaole ignored him and sat down to read her book. After a while, Ren Baqian noticed her head was falling towards the table bit by bit.

When Ren Baqian saw this, he found it very funny. She was the epitome of laziness. He couldn’t believe someone that was in charge of a library would fall asleep behind a book like this every day. This wasn’t what he had expected of a librarian.

“Thump.” Ren Baqian saw her face collapse down onto the table. This Librarian Lin was really funny. He could watch her sleep for the entire afternoon.

“Ah!” Lin Qiaole rubbed her nose. Her eyes brimmed with tears looking as though they were going to fall any moment.

When she noticed Ren Baqian looking at her, she grabbed her own hair with annoyance.

How can I not control my sleepiness? Now someone has seen me doing this…

In an instant, she became Mei Chaofeng.

[Mei Chaofeng – A very powerful character in Legend of the Condor Heroes]

“What are you looking at! You never see anyone doze off before?” Lin Qiaole blew her top.

Ren Baqian held in his laughter and turned his head around.

I have really never seen anyone that kisses the table with their face before, especially one that is covered in saliva.

After another three to four minutes, Ren Baqian reckoned Lin Qiaole had cooled down and turned his head back. He saw her pouting while staring ahead in a daze. When Lin Qiaole noticed Ren Baqian was looking at her, she turned her head around and looked at the other side.

“Temperament of a small girl,” Ren Baqian said to himself. He was very curious how she ended up as the librarian here.

“Librarian Lin, are you literate?” Ren Baqian asked.

“Of course!” Lin Qiaole raised her head abruptly, resembling a proud hen.

“Can you teach me how to read?” Ren Baqian chuckled. He did not know how many more times he would be coming to this world. He couldn’t possibly be illiterate forever, right?

There were so many books here. After he had learned how to read, he could read these books. There might even be some that he would be interested in.

“You don’t know how to read?” Lin Qiaole widened her eyes with surprise. It was the biggest joke that the Storyteller of Qingxin Palace Hall was illiterate.

Ren Baqian spread his arms and replied, “I really don’t know how to read, can you teach me?”

“No, I don’t want to,” Lin Qiaole turned her head around again.

Ren Baqian merely smiled. Given Lin Qiaole’s temperament of a small girl, he reckoned that she was still feeling angry.

He decided to talk about it again after her anger had subsided.

In any case, he was in no rush to learn their written language.

After staying there for another hour, two maids that were holding cleaning tools walked in. They cupped their fists at Lin Qiaole and greeted her, “Librarian Lin.”

It seemed that cupping one’s fists was the universal etiquette of the Dayao Nation. It was done regardless of gender. Only when one saw the empress would he or she then need to go down on one knee.

Lin Qiaole hid her face and nodded her head at the two maids. After giving Ren Baqian a curious look, the maids began their cleaning session.

Just as the two of them began cleaning the place, a guard arrived at the entrance, “Is the Storyteller of Qingxin Palace Hall here?”

“Yes, I am.” Ren Baqian jumped up from the ground. He swatted away the nonexistent dust on his butt and stepped forward.

“Her Majesty has summoned you,” the guard replied and led him outside.

Ren Baqian initially thought he was going to the same palace hall. However, after making a few turns, he realized the route was different. The sound of a mysterious musical instrument resounded through the air from far away. The sound was bleak and gloomy, sounding like an instrument of an ancient tribe. It was filled with the sense of simplicity and nature.

Following the sound from this mysterious instrument, they arrived at a garden.

Every spot in the garden was filled with unusual-looking flowers that contended against each other in fragrance and fascination. There were also trees of different heights. Unlike the neat gardens in China, the plants in this garden were all over the place, but they were full of vitality.

A shallow-looking river passed through the garden. Atop the river, there was a stone bridge.

Not far away from the stone bridge, the red-dressed empress sat in a pavilion. Beside the empress, there was someone blowing an unknown instrument. Qing Yuan and Hong Yuan were standing not far away.

No matter where the empress was, these two persons would be standing somewhere nearby. This made Ren Baqian realize that everyone in the place could be offended, except for the empress and these two persons.

They were indeed the members of the empress’s inner circle.

There were no eunuchs in the imperial palace of Dayao. There were only female officials, maids and guards. Qing Yuan and Hong Yuan were definitely the empress’s most trusted aides.

“Greetings to Your Majesty,” Ren Baqian greeted the empress while going down on one knee.

“You have learned quickly.” The empress shifted her gaze to Ren Baqian. Following which, her gaze froze for a split second. She raised her eyebrows and lowered them slowly after a while.

“How did you get into such a sorry state?” The empress’s cold voice resounded through the air.

“I got into some sort of accident just now. Your Majesty, please forgive me,” Ren Baqian hurriedly said.

“Even though Dayao doesn’t value etiquette as much as Great Xia, you still have to pay some attention to it since you’re an official. The next time, if you let me see you like this… you will definitely receive a bout of physical pain.” The empress’s words caused Ren Baqian to be drenched in cold sweat.

“Yes, I’m aware of my mistake,” Ren Baqian quickly said. Deep down, he was cursing those fellows at the beast park. If it weren’t for them, he wouldn’t have ended up in this state.

The empress furrowed her eyebrows and said, “Where did you learn such words from?”

Ren Baqian laughed weakly. He couldn’t say he learnt them from the television. As such, he could only say, “We speak like this in China.”

“Are you an official in China as well?” the empress asked plainly.

Ren Baqian had never even been a class monitor before, let alone an official. Deep down, he considered whether or not should he boast of something about himself. In any case, any lies he said couldn’t be verified by anyone.

However, when he raised his head and saw the empress’s cold eyes, he became terrified. Just as the words were about to leave his mouth, he swallowed them. Then, he shook his head and replied, “No, I have never been an official before.”

He was feeling apprehensive. The empress’s gaze was indeed sharp, looking as though it could see through his mind. He was so terrified that he did not dare to speak the lie that he had thought of.

“Continue your story,” the empress leaned back and said.

Ren Baqian cleared his throat. It felt extremely pleasant to be able to tell the story of Investiture of the Gods under this bleak-sounding music.

Just as Ren Baqian mentioned “If the king wants me to die, I have to die”, the empress asked, “People in China are like this?”

Ren Baqian’s brain tweaked as he replied with prudence, “There’s another saying in China, ‘As water can float a boat, so can it swallow the boat’.”

After the empress discussed this saying, she pondered for a while before nodding her head and said, “It does make some sense. As a ruler, he must look after his people. If the people don’t even have food to eat, what’s the use of that ruler? It is natural for the people to start a rebellion.”

He had no choice but to admit that the empress was indeed very clever. Even though this was the first time she heard such words, she immediately knew what they meant. She could even complement them with a few extra words.

“Your Majesty’s thoughtfulness is the people’s blessing,” Ren Baqian quickly found an opportunity to bootlick the empress.