The Empress’s Gigolo

That afternoon, Ren Baqian finally received great news. The rubber that Tong Zhenye had sent people to look for had arrived.

After receiving this news, he immediately brought his men along and left the palace for the Ministry of Works.

Arriving at the Ministry of Works, Ren Baqian saw the rubber chunks that were stored in sacks and aggregated together like kernels. They came in various colors, like white, pale yellow, and brown.

He stretched out his hands and touched them. The elasticity was pretty good.

However, he still had to bring them back to Earth for testing to see whether they met his criteria.

Ren Baqian then gave the Ministry of Works a list of materials that they needed to source for, which included stuff such as sulfur, petroleum, permanent magnets, alnico, samarium-cobalt, neodymium iron boron, tungsten, tin, and aluminium. The list had an extensive number of items, and the characteristics and the places where they could be found were written on the back of each item. All the materials on this list could be said to be resources that were required for the development of technology.

As long as all these materials were found, the majority of the problems that might be encountered during the development process would be resolved.

For instance, sulfur could be simultaneously used to produce gunpowder and sulphuric acid. There was no need to explain the function of gunpowder, whereas sulphuric acid could be used to make explosives, dyes, fertilizers, batteries, etc.

Nothing more had to be said about the uses of petroleum either. On Earth, even a kid would know about its applications.

Permanent magnets could be used to make electric generators.

Tungsten could be used to make filaments, high-speed steel, etc.

Ren Baqian could only hope that they would find more varieties of materials so that the impediments in the future could be reduced.

If a certain material was lacking, he could only bring some of it back from Earth. Once the chemistry in this world was more developed, they could then slowly source for replacement materials.

Ren Baqian listed out the materials to his heart’s content, but Tong Zhenye was shocked after seeing it and asked, “So many? How are we supposed to find them?”

“Try your best. In the future, if you find anything that has special characteristics, bring it back and show it to me regardless of whether it’s useful or not. They might be things that I need. Remember to indicate the source of every item that you find. First, look for the items on this list which I have underlined. Currently, they are the most important.

There might be permanent magnets in Tianjing Basin. You will know when you take your swords and sabers to see which areas have the strongest magnetic attraction. As for sulfur, it should be easily found in places with volcanoes. You can probably find additional materials in those areas as well.”

“This isn’t a good assignment.” Tong Zhenye smacked his lips. How much manpower would he need to find so many things? Besides, many of the items’ descriptions were similar, and there was basically no way to locate them.

“These are things that are essential. You must find them. If you lack funds or manpower, you can report to Her Majesty, and she will agree to supply it,” Ren Baqian replied.

Tong Zhenye glanced at Ren Baqian and said, “That means Her Majesty supports you! Even though you have produced some pretty useful stuff, there are simply too many items on this list.”

“Remember the street lamps in the palace, the ones that we have an abundance of? As long as you find the tungsten and sulfur on this list as well as a large amount of copper ore and rubber, we can make these lamps in bulk. It will be just like what we did with glass at the glass store. At that time, all of Lan City can be filled with street lamps, transforming the city into a place that never sleeps. If we manage to manufacture these street lamps and sell them, would the Ministry of Works still lack funds?” Ren Baqian questioned. “As long as we find these materials, you will have performed a great service for Dayao!”

“Leave this to me. I will find them for you even if it takes my life.” Tong Zhenye patted his chest and guaranteed it when he heard Ren Baqian. His casserole-sized fists pounded on his chest like a drum.

“Thank you for your trouble, Sir Tong.” Ren Baqian cupped his hands and smiled before leaving with the sacks of rubber chunks.

At night, Ren Baqian and the empress appeared in his bedroom on Earth.

The empress swept her eyes around and saw the layer of dust on the floor as well as rows of footprints imprinted in the dust. She believed that as soon as she took a step, there would definitely be another such imprint beneath her feet.

In other words, there were already two more footprints beneath her feet where she currently stood.

The empress was a bit speechless. Why was it so dusty?

Most importantly, she came here barefoot! Ahhhh!

“What are you doing, Your Majesty? Hey, hey, hey?” Ren Baqian cried out in surprise.

“Behave yourself, and lie down.” The empress poked Ren Baqian at the waist, causing one side of his body to immediately go numb. She then placed him on the floor and turned him into a human carpet.

She then gently stepped on his belly.

“Ouch! Ouch!” Ren Baqian immediately screamed.

The empress took two steps on his belly before asking, “Why is it so dirty?”

“The last time I returned, the cleaners quit their job and went home to recuperate from their injuries… After all, every time I come back here, I see those blockheads playing with those barbells that are at least 100 kilograms. They drink alcohol, play the finger-guessing and slapping games, and send each other flying into the walls at the drop of a hat. I feel extremely stressed every time I see such a scene!

The cleaners wanted to resign a few times before, but I already gave them several pay raises. Eventually, when they came over last time, they saw people flying across the room and slamming into the walls when they were cleaning. They were so shocked that one of them fell from the stairs, broke their arm, and had no choice but to go home and recuperate.”

Ren Baqian had also been speechless when he received this news. Unfortunately, he was in a rush to leave at that time and couldn’t find another cleaner fast enough.

At the same time, he couldn’t let the winged cavalry warriors do the cleaning.

If they were left with this task, his bedroom would be reduced to ruins.

As such, the conditions were like this when they arrived back here.

The empress pondered for a bit before she commented, “Weak humans.”

“Your Majesty, you are also human!” Ren Baqian reminded her.

“I’m an aboriginal!” The empress didn’t seem concerned at all.

“Your Majesty, my stomach hurts!” Ren Baqian groaned with his mouth wide open. The empress only weighed about 50 kilograms, so why did it hurt so much when she stepped on him?

“You are too weak. Go back and train harder.” The empress moved her feet, stepped on his chest, reached out with her hand, and opened the door.

At this moment, Ren Baqian hastily moved his hand and lightly scratched her sole.

“Ah!” The empress felt the tickle go straight to her heart and cried out in surprise. She applied force to her feet and landed outside the room in a flash before turning around and shooting an angry look at him.

“Ugh…” Ren Baqian spat out a mouthful of blood… The pressure from her feet just now made him feel like his organs were going to explode…

“Your Majesty, I’m afraid that I’m not going to make it…” Ren Baqian looked as if he was about to cry, but there were no tears. “My organs have been crushed…”

The empress was doubtful.

Did I exert too much force with my feet?

However, Ren Baqian still continued spitting out blood repeatedly.

“I know it was unintentional, Zixiao, and I will not blame you. However, before I die, can you fulfill a wish of mine…” Ren Baqian’s expression turned gentle. Blood continued trickling down the side of his mouth, and it looked exactly like a scene from a Korean drama.

The empress’s heart skipped a beat as a scene from one of the dramas that she had previously watch flashed across her mind. She felt an indescribable feeling—it was as if something had been torn up inside her.

She then carefully felt Ren Baqian’s aura…

With one leg, she sent him smashing through the window…

“No!” The empress looked extremely resentful.

This wretched guy actually dared to fool me again! Faking a serious injury in front of me?! I will let you sustain a truly serious injury!

“Your Majesty, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go!” Ren Baqian shouted from the other side of the window as he experienced the sensation of free-falling.

Crash!

“Lady boss? What happened to you?”

“Quick… call… the ambulance…”