The Empress’s Gigolo

On the first day of class, Qing Lian discovered a serious problem. She was completely unable to understand what Ren Baqian was teaching.

When Ren Baqian said that the topic of the day was electricity, she was still very much looking forward to it and even a bit pleasantly surprised.

No matter which era it was, thunder and lightning were the most powerful and most difficult power that people had to deal with. Most importantly, the name of her sword was Sudden Thunder!

This name didn’t imply that it was as swift as lightning, but the sword had some relation to it.

As such, Qing Lian was pleasantly surprised when she heard that Ren Baqian was going to lecture about electricity. She didn’t expect to hear about such an interesting topic on the first day.

Afterward, her gaze, which was full of expectation, gradually began to stagnate. She completely didn’t understand these electrons, atoms, molecules, and electric charges that he was talking about.

Ren Baqian gave everyone a piece of silk cloth and a glass rod to perform an experiment, but she didn’t know what to do at all. She simply stood back and watched as the other students did their work.

Perhaps her pride wouldn’t allow her to do those childish looking things that the kids were doing.

Despite this, Qian Lian still felt very curious about the things that Ren Baqian talked about.

She was rather depressed when he gave her a book. She completely didn’t understand what was written in it, which made her a little frantic.

The words in it looked like an imperial edict. She could only distinguish a few characters after taking a long time and a lot of effort. Furthermore, she didn’t know if these characters had the same meaning as they did in Great Xia.

During the second lesson, Qing Lian’s attention shifted to the four-legged man in the room.

It was because she had seen this man outside before. He was strong and had two legs.

However, the man in the classroom was like a corpse and didn’t have any vitality.

Even though he could move his lips and speak, his voice felt very rigid and seemed extremely weird. It was as if someone had programmed and prepared the things that he said.

“They aren’t the same person, right?” Qing Lian very quickly realized this problem. No matter how she thought about it, they couldn’t be the same person.

After school, she couldn’t help it and went to find Ren Baqian, “Principal Ren, I don’t understand these words!”

Qing Lian was very unwilling to put it this way because it made her look like she was illiterate. However, that was the reality.

“Oh, you should read it with the new students. Their classes will teach you the characters.” Ren Baqian laughed.

Qing Lian’s face immediately changed. The new students were much younger. If she were to learn from scratch with them, aside from her unwillingness, how long would she have to stay in Lan City?

“Are there any other ways?”

“Let me give this to you.” Ren Baqian took a stack of papers from the table. Recorded on these sheets were the characters used in this world, which he had written out previously. It was equivalent to a dictionary.

“Remember to return it to me after you are done with it.”

“Many thanks!” Qing Lian took a closer look at the contents on the first page and felt delighted. Things would be much easier with this.

“You can ask if there are things that you don’t understand,” Ren Baqian added.

Qing Lian nodded her head. Her current problem was that she didn’t understand anything. It seemed like she should go back first and figure out the characters, then see how it went from there.

She left the school after bidding farewell to Ren Baqian. Qing Lian took a good look at the palace when she walked past it. Qi Zixiao, the fifth most powerful expert in the world was in there. Qing Lian didn’t know what kind of a lady the empress was like.

In fact, Qi Zixiao was the fourth most powerful expert in the world at the moment. Not many people knew about Teng Yue’s death, so most people thought that she was still the fifth most powerful expert in the world.

As such, Li Yuanzhu and Qi Zixiao were promoted to the third and fourth positions, respectively. Both of them were about the same age, with Li Yuanzhu being a few years older. However, both of them could be considered extremely brilliant.

Comparing strengths, Qi Zixiao should be a little weaker than Li Yuanzhu. However, in just a few more years, she probably wouldn’t be any weaker than Li Yuanzhu’s current state.

Qing Lian was indeed envious of them for having such great innate talent. Even though she was a sword master herself, she didn’t have the opportunity to cultivate and would have a much shorter lifespan compared to them.

10 to 20 years later, she would probably age like ordinary people, whereas Qi Zixiao and Li Yuanzhu would still be able to maintain their current looks.

Qing Lian felt a little sad and regretful at the thought of this. She had the dream of becoming the world’s greatest expert when she was young. Even though she wasn’t exactly considered weak now, it was a pity that she was a sword master.

Just when her emotions began to stir up, a screeching sound suddenly approached from the side. Her Sudden Thunder on her back also started shuddering as if it was giving her a warning.

In a flash, Qing Lian dodged to safety as a piece of rock smashed into the flagstone beside her, shattering it into pieces.

A young girl stood at the top of the wall. She was around ten years old, wore a white silk gown, and had fair and delicate skin. She was trying hard to put on a fearsome expression as she stared at Qing Lian.

“Hey, Great Xia person!” Tong Lan shouted from atop the wall, her voice crisp like a bell.

“Hmph! Haven’t the adults in your family taught you manners?” Qing Lian replied, looking unhappy.

“Grandpa has always told me to kill any Great Xia person I see before talking! A Great Xia person will only be good when dead!” Tong Lan leaped down from the walls and ran toward Qing Lian.

“Draw a circle!” Tong Lan leaned forward with her nose almost poking Qing Lian’s breasts. Looking at her huge bosom, Tong Lan loathed this woman even more.

“If you win this circle fight, I won’t find trouble with you again. If you lose, don’t ever let me see you in the future!” Tong Lan stared at Qing Lian’s bosom and articulated every word clearly.

“You are becoming cross-eyed!” Qing Lian suddenly said.

Tong Lan’s face began to blush before she jumped several meters away in a flash.

“Stop talking rubbish. If you lose, don’t ever show your face in front of me again!” Tong Lan stared at Qing Lian with a red face and put her hands on her hips.

“You were really cross-eyed just now! Besides, I have already said that we aren’t enemies!” Qing Lian replied.

“Hmph, hmph! In any case, a Great Xia person will only be good when dead! Plus, this time, it shall be a Great Xia person who is out of sight!” Tong Lan answered with her small head tilted slightly upward.

“What exactly do you want?”

“I said it already. Let’s draw a circle and compete—whoever gets knocked out of the circle loses!”

Qing Lian looked at this tiny thing in front of her and felt a little helpless. These aboriginals… Every one of them had a temperament like a bull. She wasn’t actually afraid of Tong Lan. No matter how Qing Lian looked at her, she was ten years old at most. She could also sense that Tong Lan’s strength was weaker than her own.

However, why did she have to participate in this fight? Every time a sword master used their spirit sword, it would consume part of their life! Yet, if she didn’t agree, Tong Lan would probably keep finding trouble with her, which would be a headache!

“This wager is too unfair for me! I would need to pay a much larger stake!” Qing Lian said.

“This is Dayao, not Great Xia! What kind of fairness do you want? Then again, I will not bully you. Say it!” With her hands on her hips, Tong Lan informed Qing Lian that this was her territory before changing the tone of her voice.

“If I lose, I will not show my face in front of you again. However, if you lose… you have to reverently and respectfully greet me as “Sister” whenever you see me. If anyone finds trouble with me, you will be responsible for handling it!”

“Do you take me for a fool? If you return to Great Xia, am I supposed to go there to protect you?” Tong Lan replied with disdain.

“It will only be limited to Lan City. We can even reduce the proximity to be just within the school. As long as if anybody in the school finds trouble with me, you will be responsible for dealing with it,” Qing Lian responded.

Even though she had only spent one day at the school, she could tell that this girl was different from the rest. Not only was she the youngest, but many people also seemed to fear her a lot.

With this, as long as she beat this little girl, she didn’t have to worry about anyone finding trouble with her anymore. She would also be able to prevent incidents like the current one from happening again!

…

“Shi Gan, do you think Tong Lan can win?”

A few young boys and girls squatted in the corner and watched.

Tong Lan used her toes and drew a large circle. There were only a few people in the vicinity watching the show.

Thankfully, they were in Beihong District, which was near the palace. If such entertainment, which the masses enjoyed, occurred in crowded places, they would probably be surrounded by people holding nuts and shaved ice who were waiting to watch the show.

“Not sure. Normally, according to little Tong Lan’s strength, not many people from Great Xia would be able to defeat her. I can’t sense much danger coming from this lady either. However, I somehow feel that this lady has some sort of weird aura,” Shi Gan commented.

“Shi Gan, will anyone find trouble with us for squatting over here?” One of the youngsters smiled mischievously.

They were squatting atop the walls of the Shi residence and hadn’t forgotten about the previous incident where they smashed through the Shi residence’s walls.

“You may choose to go down. No one will find trouble with you.” Shi Gan rolled his eyes at him.

“There’s a better view here!” That youngster looked around and felt that this spot was still the best.

“Should we go inform Yagui?” someone else asked.

“By the time Yagui arrives, the fight will be over. Furthermore, she’s just a Great Xia person!” another person immediately replied disdainfully.

“Forget it! Let’s just stay here and watch!” The person who gave that suggestion decided to drop the idea.

While those people were busy chit-chatting, more and more students started coming around. There was Shi Gan’s group of senior students as well as the new students who had just joined today. Seeing the duo at the scene, they immediately stopped in their tracks and began to join in the excitement.