The Empress’s Gigolo

As for whether the balloon would catch on fire when it flew up to the sun, this question inexplicably engulfed half of Lan City. Even Feng Hou specifically came to ask Ren Baqian if it would really catch on fire.

“It won’t reach the sun.”

“Why not? If it does, will it catch on fire?”

“Yes, it will.”

“Why will it catch on fire?”

“The sun is a huge ball of fire—it’s like a torch. You asked if it will catch on fire? Why don’t you put your finger into a fire and give it a try?”

“Fingers can’t catch on fire. Instead, they will get roasted. The sun is a huge ball of fire… So what’s the sun burning?”

“What is the sun burning…? Are you filming “100,000 Whys?”[1.100,000 Whys – a Chinese educational show for children] Ren Baqian realized that he would never be able to make it clear to Feng Hou.

“You don’t know?” Feng Hou looked at him in disdain.

Admit it if you don’t know. Why raise your voice?

Ren Baqian almost spat out blood.

“The sun is made up of basic elements like hydrogen, helium, etc. They convert the pressure of the sun’s magnetic field into light and heat.”

“What’s hydrogen? What’s helium? What’s a magnetic field? What’s conversion? Why doesn’t the sun extinguish? Do you know? Do you really know? Just admit it if you don’t know and I’ll ask somebody else.”

Ren Baqian immediately flew into a rage. Why didn’t he previously realize how nasty Feng Hou’s mouth was?

Such a blockhead actually questioned Ren Baqian? If he didn’t know, who else did? This was utterly intolerable!

Ren Baqian spent the entire afternoon educating Feng Hou about science. The sun converted hydrogen and helium into light and heat. The light and heat, in the form of a magnetic field, was then transformed into pressure. Hydrogen and helium would then convert the pressure into light and heat again. This way, the energy repeatedly transformed from one form into another, maintaining a constant amount of total energy. This was also the conservation of energy studied in physics.

“Do you understand?” Ren Baqian had already finished three large cups of tea, and a bunch of students had gathered outside the house to listen to Ren Baqian’s lecture.

“I don’t understand. It’s too complicated. Forget it! I’ll just leave it as it is.” Feng Hou shook his head and left, looking relaxed.

Ren Baqian almost spat out blood again.

Why did I waste the entire afternoon on you then? Huh?

I drank three cups of tea and talked nonstop for the entire afternoon, yet you just walk out as if nothing happened?

At the moment, Ren Baqian was feeling extremely pissed off!

Very soon, the court officials had also stopped mulling over the problem of how to find the sun.

Less than two days later, another new thing attracted their attention.

It was a freestanding clock that was two meters tall and half a meter wide. A quarter of it was the face of the clock, whereas the lower portion housed a pendulum.

The outer surface was completely made out of wood, except for the clock face and pendulum case that had glass in the front.

When the clock was placed at the imperial court, it immediately attracted everyone’s attention.

The purpose of this thing was to keep track of time. It was much more accurate than a sundial and didn’t have all the restrictions of a sundial. After everyone came to realize all of this, they all admired the precise time-keeping device so much that all of them went forward to take a closer look.

“Do the 12 numbers on it represent the 12 double hour periods in a day?” Tu Wan asked as she gently caressed the glass that covered the clock face. She was standing so close that her eyes almost stuck to the glass.

“How was this thing made to move on its own?” Zhuo Yan was very curious.

“With this, we can keep track of time more accurately in the future.” Shi Qing nodded as he stroked his beard.

The empress sat on her throne looking delighted as the rest of the officials examined the clock.

She liked this clock a lot. Since it was the first clock in this world, it would be ideal to keep it as part of her own collection.

Besides, this was also made by Ren Baqian. She now enjoyed watching everyone’s astonished looks whenever Ren Baqian created something new.

However, at that moment, she suddenly heard a cracking sound from the crowd…

Her originally cheerful expression immediately froze.

Crack… Crack… Crack…

The crowd moved away, leaving a stupefied secretary of the Ministry of War, Lian Liang, standing there alone with the broken clock.

“Take him out and hang him on the wall!” the empress ordered.

“I… It wasn’t… It wasn’t me…” Lian Liang looked extremely anxious. He turned his head to look at his superior Qin Chuan, but Qin Chuan simply lifted his head and looked away.

Lian Liang then looked at Shi Qing, but Shi QIng simply looked down blankly.

He then turned to look at Zhuo Yan, the Minister of Justice, but Zhuo Yan simply looked down at his palm.

“If not you, then who?” The empress’s deathly cold gaze swept across everyone in the room.

Everyone looked at Lian Liang with very explicit gazes—it was him.

“Sir Lian, admit it!” Tie Yan said unhurriedly.

Lian Liang remained dumbstruck for some time and was extremely angry with all these people.

He didn’t even exert any force at all just now! So many people were touching! Why did it become like this?

The moment Ren Baqian returned to the palace, he saw Lian Liang hanging from the palace walls and fluttering in the wind. He stood outside the palace and stared at Lian Liang for a while and wondered who hung him up there. The method used to tie someone up there was indeed sorrowful…

They actually tied a tortoise shell to Lian Liang, and the result was similar to the Chanel logo.

He wasn’t sure why, but after looking at the tied up Lian Liang who was hanging from the top of the wall, Ren Baqian suddenly thought of the mitten crabs of Yangcheng Lake and had a craving for crab.

Upon careful reflection, he hadn’t seen any crabs in Dayao before and wasn’t sure if any existed here.

The quality of food here was a few grades better than food on Earth. It seemed like other than searching for all sorts of natural resources here, he had to look for ingredients as well.

Ren Baqian thought about this as he walked back to the palace.

“Sir Ren!” Lian Liang’s face changed as he shouted at Ren Baqian, who had sized him up for some time before looking down. He didn’t know what Ren Baqian was thinking about.

“Secretary Lian, what’s the matter?” Ren Baqian stopped in his tracks, looked up, and smiled.

Lian Liang pondered for some time as to whether he should ask Ren Baqian to put in a few words for him or to endure it up there.

After careful thought, Her Majesty couldn’t possibly keep him up here for too long. There also wasn’t much need for Ren Baqian to help plead for him since Lian Liang would then owe him a favor.

“Umm… Umm… What I want to say is that the view here is extremely good!” Lian Liang tried his best to lift his head and act as if the view up top was indeed very good. His bald head glistened in the sun.

Ren Baqian originally thought that Lian Liang would ask him to put in a few good words in front of the empress so she would let him down. However, Ren Baqian was stunned when Lian Liang said such a thing.

“If that’s the case, I shall not bother you anymore.” Ren Baqian cupped his fists at him.

“Noting your kindness, I’ll continue enjoying this view for a while longer! “Lian Liang nodded his head.

Ren Baqian felt like laughing out loud, but still remained calm and collected.

“Your Majesty, what did Sir Lian do wrong?” Ren Baqian asked as he entered her quarters.

“Look!” The empress sat cross-legged on her couch, completely disregarding her own image. In front of her was a laptop with the music of the Anipop game playing.

After hearing what Ren Baqian asked, she lifted her head and tilted her jaw.

Ren Baqian then saw the fragmented clock sitting at the side. It only took a day, or half a day to be more precise, for it to be reduced to this.

The aboriginals were indeed great destroyers!

“The speed of destruction is indeed very fast! Sir Lian did that?” Ren Baqian was taken aback. Then, he casually remarked, “I saw him just now, and he said that the view up there is great.”

“I shall let him continue hanging there then.” The empress raised her eyebrows.

“Does Your Majesty want to go back to Earth with me to relieve your boredom?” Ren Baqian asked.

“Great! I want to eat some pot stew!”