The Empress’s Gigolo

The wooden door of the clock tower was open and a few men in coarse clothing came out of the tower. The person leading the way was someone Ren Baqian had met before, a senior of Zhang Junzheng and the current leader of the Zhang family in Lan City.

He cupped his hands to greet the crowd and said, “My respects to Your Majesty and my respects to all the officials.”

“Have the adjustments been completed?” Ren Baqian went forward and asked.

The elderly man and the people who were suppressing their excitement behind him opened up as their faces flushed with excitement.

“Sir Ren, everything is ready. In a quarter of an hour, the clock will chime for the first time.”

Although the blueprint was provided by Ren Baqian, the dial above and the mechanism inside were completely constructed by the Zhang family.

The appearance of this clock tower in this world had earned great glory for the Zhang family.

As long as this clock tower remained, people would remember the name of the Zhang family.

Even with the demise of this clock tower, the history books wouldn’t fail to mention the name of the Zhang family whenever clock towers or clocks were mentioned.

Having stamped their name in history with this deed, how would it be possible not to be excited?

By now, the Zhang family was absolutely convinced by Ren Baqian. Everything that Ren Baqian introduced could benefit the Zhang family and could allow them to gain greater fame.

To work for such a person was a sure bet.

“Make sure that nothing goes wrong,” Ren Baqian reminded.

“Sir Ren can rest easy because we have tested it many times. The clock tower has been monitored since yesterday and was found to be faultless. I can vouch for it with my head,” the elderly man said.

“You can keep your head since this lifeless tower isn’t comparable to your head.” Ren Baqain shook his head.

The master craftsmen in this world were hard to find.

“Thank you, Sir. I’m simply confident.” The elderly man smiled. He was warmed by Ren Baqian’s words and gratified by Ren Baqian’s appreciation of his work, especially since it was from a master in this field.

It seemed like the step they took to bring the whole family to Dayao was a good decision.

“Count the time and remind me in a few minutes,” Ren Baqian said.

“Sir, you can rest assured.” The elderly man raised his head to look at the sun, then took out an hourglass and held it in his palm.

During this period, others were observing the colorful clock tower that was decorated with layers of colorful stone. This was quite different in appearance and style from the rough buildings previously seen in Dayao. Under the sunlight, the building reflected various colors that were mesmerizing.

“Does Your Majesty like it?” Ren Baqian whispered into the ear of the empress.

“It’s pretty good.” The empress nodded slightly. “I want to build one in the palace.”

“Might as well add an observatory at the top of the clock tower so that I can accompany Your Majesty to watch the stars.”

“Observatory?” The empress turned to ask.

“It’s a place used to observe the night sky.”

“A roof will do.”

“An astronomy telescope can be put in the observatory to make the viewing of the stars more beautiful. Your Majesty hasn’t used an astronomy telescope before!” Ren Baqian laughed and continued, “When the time comes, we can drink heartily under the stars and appreciate the night view. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

The empress was impressed and said, “In that case, I want to look at it, and it must be more beautiful than this one!”

Ren Baqian felt innumerable murderous stares directed at him from all over the place and whispered in her ear, “Sure!”

The stares of these people were like needles, and Ren Baqian felt like his back was going to be punctured with holes.

The empress is my wife. What can any of you do?

He was purposely going to whisper in her ear in front of them.

Ren Baqian refused to retract his head, putting his lips next to the empress’s ear instead. Since it looked like he was putting his head on her shoulder, this caused many people to fume with jealousy.

Although they already knew he had been chosen as her husband and had seen him many times before, they were still furious when they saw such a scene.

The empress noticed his strange behavior and asked him with a frown, “What are you doing?”

“Many people are envying me, are jealous of me… I want to give them a chance to envy and be jealous of me!” Ren Baqian laughed mirthfully.

“That’s ridiculous!”

“Sir, it’s almost time. In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, it will be the noon hour.”

“Your Majesty, you will unveil the red cloth in a short while,” Ren Baqian said. “The best way is to unveil it just before the clock chimes.”

“Okay.”

“Just pull this string down.” Ren Baqian pointed at a string that was beside him.

“That isn’t necessary.” The empress didn’t even look at the string. She estimated the time, lightly pressed her leg against the floor, and propelled herself like a red cloud into the sky. As she passed by the clock face, she took the red cloth along with her.

The solid bronze dials, golden in color, were exposed to the public and gave off a golden brilliance in the sunlight.

Bong! The clock bell sounded clearly at the correct time as if it was synchronized to the empress removing the cloth.

It tolled 12 times in a row, melodiously chiming in the city like it was coming from the sky. With the addition of the golden glow from the dials, it evoked a sacred feeling and amazed everyone.

Whether it was a security officer, an ordinary citizen, or the people in all corners of Lan City, everyone raised their heads to look at the chiming clock with wonder in their eyes.

Even the red figure of the empress, who was standing at the top of the clock tower, was outshined by something else for the first time.

“This is the so-called clock tower that is used for telling time, isn’t it? It’s marvellous.” Tong Zhenye sighed from below.

“In the future, there is no need to use the sundials anymore. In Lan City, you just have to raise your head to look at the clock tower to check the time. It can be seen day or night regardless of rain or wind. In all directions, there are two fire pans on each side of the clock face to illuminate it at night,” Ren Baqian said.

“I wish to let the people of Great Xia and the Yun Nation come here to have a look before asking them whether they can make this thing.” Tong Zhenye roared with laughter. He was looking forward to see the reactions of people when they came and saw the clock tower in Lan City.

“Great Xia and the Yun Nation don’t have this because this is the only one in this world,” the leader of the Zhang family said as he stroked his beard.

“However, after seeing this thing, they may be able to make their own after spending more than 10 years of effort.”

“It doesn’t matter because we will have better things by the time they manage to make their own,” Ren Baqian said.

“That’s up to Sir Ren.” Tong Zhenye said with some regret, “In fact, the Ministry of Works is the most suitable for Sir Ren, so it’s a pity that you are reluctant to join.”

…

For the rest of the afternoon, many people gathered below the clock tower to try to figure out how the dials turned and cheered every time the clock chimed.

Most of the spectators felt that there had to be some people inside continuously moving the dials.

The crowd only started to disperse when it was night time.

After nightfall, flames rose from the firepans and illuminated the faces of the clock.

The people in the city, who were already amazed by the clock tower during the day, were again amazed by it at night.

Many people who had left came back again to the base of the clock tower and looked at the lights in the night.

For a continuous half a month in Lan City, those people who normally went back home at night to discipline their children and be intimate with their spouse switched to sitting in their courtyards to chat and look at the clock tower from afar. At the same time, they disciplined their children and then went inside to be intimate with their spouse.

While the people of Lan City were absorbed in this new thing, the students at the school were preparing to bring the steam locomotive to the circular track outside the city for a trial run.