The Empress’s Gigolo

After reading the newspaper, Tong Zhenye burst into hearty laughter.

The article in the newspaper was giving him what he considered to be the proudest moment in his life.

He never imagined that anyone would remember, let alone publish it.

He really cherished this memory.

He recalled that it was during the year 360 of Dayao’s calendar and that the rainy season was coming soon.

A year earlier, Dayao’s first emperor had taken the brave veterans who fought 36 years ago as well as many top experts from the imperial court and journeyed deep into the Sixty Thousand Mountains. From that point on, all contact was lost.

The new emperor had just been enthroned, and Great Xia was eyeing the northern region of Dayao like a tiger waiting to pounce.

The weapons that Dayao had acquired after conquering the Hao Nation were all taken away by the previous emperor. The important officials and experienced soldiers were all gone. What was left were young officials that were promoted ad hoc. Other factors were also grim, and the situation was precarious.

Tens of thousands of able young people came out of the Sixty Thousand Mountains to join the army and the imperial court.

Tong Zhenye was one of them. Relying on the power of his Kismet Heaven level cultivation, he often fought with others, making some enemies along the way, but also some friends. Qin Chuan was one of them.

Their friendship was formed as a result of these two fighting with each other.

By the time they arrived in Lan City together, the quota for conscription had already been filled. They were destitute, lived in abandoned houses, and didn’t have enough to eat. They thought of the idea of eating without paying at the risk of being beaten up.

In the end, most of them didn’t want to do such a shameful thing, so they went hunting and collected fruits before going to the Yun Nation to raid and make a fortune. These people later became officials in the Protectorate of the Northeast. One of them was its Assistant Protector General, Zhi Sheng.

Only Tong Zhenye and Qin Chuan went to eat without intending to pay, but the expected beating didn’t happen.

“Looks like you are here to join the army, right? The quota is already full. If you have nowhere to go, you can come in the evening to eat, but I can’t provide you with a full meal.” The person talking to them was a young lady who was about 17 or 18 years old. She had a slightly unrefined appearance, but was energetic and cheerful.

“Why…?” Tong Zhenye asked in surprise. This shop looked like it wasn’t making money and was only getting by.

“You came here to join the army in order to protect our Dayao! Although you didn’t succeed, you have the right intention, so getting a few meals from me is no big deal. I don’t think the two of you will be eating here for life.” The lady laughed cheerfully.

At that moment, the two young men were moved by her cheerful personality.

“I want to marry her,” Qin Chuan said after coming out of the shop.

Tong Zhenye didn’t say anything because he didn’t know what to say.

The two of them spent some time mucking around in Lan City, got to know that lady better, and found out that her name was Tie Muxin.

Recognizing their abilities, the two were asked to join the Ministry of Works.

After gaining some status, the two went to her shop more frequently.

Both of them were interested in Tie Muxin, but Qin Chuan was more expressive and obvious, so Tie Muxin was gradually moved by him.

Tong Zhenye tried to express his feelings too, but was one step slower than Qin Chuan in the end.

As time went by, Qin Chuan and Tie Muxin started making eyes at each other.

Because of this matter, Tong Zhenye was very vexed for a period of time by this common problem for young men.

One day, Tong Zhenye told Qin Chuan that there was a young master in the city who was stronger than him. Subsequently, Qin Chuan went to challenge him and was badly defeated.

After that, Tong Zhenye gave Qin Chuan a martial arts manual that he happened to obtain and said to him, “You aren’t strong enough—how can you marry and protect the one you love?”

Although Qin Chuan was already outstanding among his peers, he agreed with this statement since he had just been badly defeated. He took the secret manual and plunged into the world of martial arts.

From then on, the number of times he visited Tie Muxin gradually decreased because he was unable to extricate himself from his obsession with martial arts.

On the other hand, Tong Zhenye took great pains to find secret manuals to give to Qin Chuan. Every time Qin Chuan mastered one manual, Tong Zhenye would find another one for him. Over a period of three and a half years, he had given Qin Chuan seven different manuals.

If everything had ended here, they would still be good friends as Qin Chuan was extremely grateful to Tong Zhenye for all the things he had done for him.

It wasn’t until three and a half years later that Qin Chuan was reborn and came out of his martial arts craze… Tie Muxin was already betrothed to Tong Zhenye by then…

Qin Chuan’s mood at that time was abysmal.

However, because he was too naive, Qin Chuan still didn’t suspect Tong Zhenye.

Furthermore, although his relationship with Tie Muxin was about to blossom into romance at that time, his plunge into martial arts fanaticism for more than three years had resulted in everything changing.

Not long after that, Qin Chuan was drinking alone in a restaurant. Tong Zhenye and that young guy who had defeated Qin Chuan all those years ago happened to be drinking at the next room.

That guy was Hong Wu…

Even at this juncture, Qin Chuan still didn’t suspect anything… Seeing Tong Zhenye enjoy himself, Qin Chuan wasn’t in the mood to join Tong Zhenye for a drink.

This continued until Tong Zhenye and Hong Wu spilled the beans while drinking.

Qin Chuan finally realized that he had been betrayed! These two guys were in cahoots with each other! Those secret manuals given by Tong Zhenye were meant to keep him absorbed in the world of martial arts!

From that point on, Qin Chuan and Tong Zhenye changed from being good friends to enemies.

When Tie Muxin died a few years later due to postpartum blood loss, they became archenemies.

Qin Chuan remained unmarried for his entire life, Tong Zhenye didn’t remarry either, and both of them frequented the brothel. They seemed to fight every time they met—sometimes they didn’t even remember why they were fighting.

…

Tong Zhenye relived these past events and smiled at the vicissitudes of life.

Although he betrayed Qin Chuan at that time, he didn’t regret it at all!

The proudest thing that he had done in his life was to trick Qin Chuan in order to marry Tie Muxin.

Every time he thought about this matter, he would happily drink a jar of wine.

“Old Tong Zhenye, come and fight 300 rounds with me!” A roar rang out from outside the Ministry of Works.

“Minister Qin has come knocking on the door!”

“He must have read the newspaper,” people inside the ministry whispered.

“Old Tong was purported to be so treacherous at that time!”

“It’s obvious that Minister Qin was too stupid. He indulged in martial arts and lost his wife!”

“If Sir Qin hears this, he will not let you off!”

“Haha! You dare to stir up trouble in my ministry?! I must capture and send you to see the empress today!” Tong Zhenye laughed nonstop after hearing the challenge from Qin Chuan and came out with a hammer that weighed 150 kilograms.

…

“I only learned about the matter between Qin Chuan and Tong Zhenye today. What happened back then is rather unexpected.” The empress sighed as she put the newspaper aside.

She had no idea why she felt kind of strange after reading the article. It seemed like she sympathized with Qin Chuan.

“You can’t blame Sir Tong since love is like a battlefield and defeating the enemy is the first priority. Sir Tong only used a small trick to get Sir Qin to become addicted to martial arts. In the final analysis, martial arts was still the most important to Sir Qin.”

Ren Baqian laughed as he put a fruit into the mouth of the empress and casually brushed her lips with his fingers, making her feel like she experienced an electric shock.

“Your Majesty, Minister Tong and Minister Qin are fighting outside the Ministry of Works.” Xin Zhe came in to report.

“This trouble was caused by your newspaper!” The empress glared at Ren Baqian.

“Forget it. Based on what happened between them in the past, I will let them be and ignore them.” It was rare to see the empress being so soft-hearted.

“The Ministry of Works has been half-demolished, and they are in the Ministry of Culture now… The Ministry of Revenue is next to the Ministry of Culture…” Xin Zhe reported, causing the empress to immediately turn cold.

She had originally intended to forgive them this time, but she couldn’t do so now!

Ren Baqian saw the change in her expression, sighed in his heart, and thought,Are you two behaving like huskies? Don’t take off the roof!