The Empress’s Gigolo

Ren Baqian walked up to the lecture stage and placed a book on the table. He glanced down and saw an empty space in the middle. Feeling a little puzzled, he asked, “Xu Peng, where’s Du Laoliu? Why isn’t he here?”

Xu Peng was already looking a little worried, and he didn’t get any better when Ren Baqian questioned him. He stood up and replied, “Teacher, he can’t make it today.”

“Why?” Seeing Xu Peng’s expression, Ren Baqian’s heart suddenly tensed up.

Xu Peng pondered for a bit. Since the Du family and Tu family already knew about the situation, there was no need to hide it anymore.

“Du Laoliu eloped…”

Ren Baqian was shocked when he heard this.

The other students became tumultuous as well and looked at Xu Peng with a stunned look.

Du Laoliu actually eloped?

Ren Baqian immediately recalled the incident that he had witnessed at the pub. Both he and the empress saw everything very clearly.

He originally thought that it was part of the growth process for students to experience such things. However, he didn’t expect Du Laoliu to act like this and actually elope…

“When did this happen?” Ren Baqian asked.

“It would have been yesterday after school,” Xu Peng replied.

Ren Baqian frowned and pondered for a little bit. Later on, he went to ask about Tu Yu’s family background. Her father was Tu Hong, an assistant of the prosecutor of the Ministry of Justice and a Secondary Class Rank 4 official. Tu Hong and Tu Wan, the Minister of Revenue, were close relatives as well.

As for Du Laoliu, his family background was similar to Tu Yu’s. However, he was the third son and also the most disappointing one.

As for the girl with the family name “Shi,” Ren Baqian didn’t ask about her.

By simply eloping with the girl, Du Laoliu had immediately tarnished the reputations of both families, and they both definitely wouldn’t let him off.

There was no telling whether they would succeed in running away.

If they didn’t succeed, the consequences for Du Laoliu would be worrying.

If they succeeded, he would have abandoned his studies, wasted his talents, and become an ordinary person, which was truly a pity.

At the thought of this, Ren Baqian felt a little regretful. He originally thought that Du Laoliu had made some progress and could have good prospects in the future. Ren Baqian had never expected such an unforeseen event to happen.

“Alright, let’s continue with class.” Ren Baqian knocked on the table after he collected his thoughts.

However, the students below weren’t really in the mood to listen to the lecture anymore. All of them were whispering and making eyes at each other. If it were how it used to be, Ren Baqian would use a gun and bullets to teach them what classroom discipline was. However, he wasn’t really in the mood either.

When he was halfway through the lesson, he heard an angry lady’s voice coming from outside.

“Principal Ren, is Du Changkong’s kid here with you?”

Needless to say, people had found their way over.

Ren Baqian placed the book down and said in a deep voice, “Read the book yourselves first.”

As soon as he stepped out, the class immediately became chaotic as all of the students gathered at the door and the windows to look outside.

“Who are you? What’s the matter?” When he arrived at the school entrance, Ren Baqian saw a lady in her fifties standing there while wearing a broad gown with large sleeves. Following behind her were six tall, strong, and aggressive looking men

Fortunately, these people knew that they weren’t allowed to barge into the school.

“Principal Ren, my daughter Shi Jiyue was taken away yesterday by Du Laoliu. Up until now, we still have found no trace of her. I want to ask him where my daughter went!” the lady declared with an angry look on her face.

Unruffled, Ren Baqian replied calmly, “Coincidentally, Du Laoliu has been taken away as well, and I have no idea where he is. If you see him, please remember to inform me. School regulations must be upheld, and students will be punished for being truant without excuse.”

You are asking me about him? I have no idea where to find him either.

“Du Laoliu isn’t here?” the lady asked with an overbearing tone.

Ren Baqian stood at the entrance and replied sourly, “If you can get Her Majesty to grant you a warrant, you can come in and search.”

The lady took a close look at the expression on his face, which looked extremely gloomy. Full of hate, she eventually said, “What a good student you have taught! Let’s go!”

Ren Baqian cursed to himself.

Do you think I’m the one who takes the blame?

Why are you putting the blame on me?

You are only looking for your daughter now?

Do you really not have any idea why she disappeared?

I have lost a student as well!

In any case, after teaching them for one year, he’s one of the talented students who understands the rules of arithmetic.

“Hmph!” Ren Baqian looked at her back. He brushed his sleeves, turned around, and walked back into the courtyard before ordering, “Shut the doors.”

Seeing that Ren Baqian looked unhappy, the students who were standing at the door quickly scuttled back to their seats.

After class, Xu Peng went to speak with Ren Baqian and asked, “Teacher, can you help Du Laoliu? He and Shi Jiyue are fond of each other. He even said that after he becomes more accomplished, he will seek out the Shi family and ask for her hand in marriage. However, he ended up getting kicked by Tu Yu.”

“How can I help?” Ren Baqian asked him in return. If Xu Peng had sought him for help before this happened, Ren Baqian would have been able to think of something.

Now that Du Laoliu was already gone, how was he supposed to help?

These were Xu Peng’s exact sentiments as well. Feeling deeply worried, he cupped his fists and bowed to Ren Baqian before leaving.

After Xu Peng left, Ren Baqian shook his head. He wasn’t too worried since aboriginal youths weren’t as useless as those on Earth. Even though he was only at the most basic Four-way Heaven level, he was much stronger than any ordinary Man Wheel expert. Furthermore, Shi Jiyue was probably at the Kismet Heaven level. As long as the two of them didn’t provoke the beasts in the forest, there shouldn’t be too much danger.

All he could do now was to wait and see when they would be brought back.

Many of the aboriginals were originally hunters in the mountains. There were many who were good at tracking.

Ren Baqian didn’t think that the two of them would be inseparable after they eloped. It was just a matter of time before they were caught.

After returning to the palace, he asked about the empress’s whereabouts. She was still at court with the officials discussing Great Xia’s trends.

For the past two weeks, Great Xia’s attacks were very aggressive with endless daily attacks on Dayao’s cities. People were growing puzzled since Great Xia didn’t make much progress despite attacking three cities for the past two weeks with a 500,000 strong army.

During the previous war, Ziyue City was captured in just one night. The Assistant Protector General was surrounded by many experts and died in battle.

After making this comparison, the problem could be seen.

Ren Baqian took a stroll to Pingle Park and gave both Tiantian and Gungun a slap yet again for trying to pounce on him. He then leisurely walked to a lake within the palace.

With a diameter of around three kilometers, the lake wasn’t exactly big. There weren’t any pavilions on the water either; it was just surrounded by a circle of trees.

Peering through the clear lake water, Ren Baqian could see a fellow with jade scales lying there at the bottom of the lake.

Ren Baqian first went to look for a comfortable place to sit down. He found a rock that protruded out of the shore and sat there to enjoy the refreshing feel of the surroundings.

He then raised his voice and shouted, “Qishui!”

At the bottom of the lake was the kirin that he once rode. However, it had dived into this lake and stayed there ever since it returned to Dayao. He would occasionally come and visit it when he was free, but he had never seen it come out of the water.

Ren Baqian sat by the shore and talked to himself.

“All humans have aspirations or in other words, dreams. The dreams of youth become desires when they grow up, and there will definitely be some things that they very much desire to do. Humans are like that. Is it the same for you, kirin? Even if it was pulling carriages or being a mount, there must be something that you wish to do, right? For instance, being the Mr. Perfect at pulling carriages or the heavenly king of mounts… Look at you now—all you do is stay at the bottom of this lake. You don’t even come up to the surface once a year, and there’s probably moss growing on your body already. Fortunately, you are in the water or else your body would definitely stink…

Did you know that humans who stay home every day are called geeks? What should a kirin who stays underwater every day be called? A geek beast? Speaking of which, I still don’t know whether you’re a male or a female… You didn’t allow me to see it back then…

Is there anything you feel like eating? Sashimi or something? I would recommend that you eat it with wasabi. Horseradish is pretty good too—I like that sort of pungent taste! How about this: you give me one of your scales and I’ll treat you to sashimi?”

After talking to himself for about an hour, Ren Baqian felt a little bored, so he stood up and said, “I’ll come back and visit you in a few days. Do consider my proposal!”

Qishui only opened its eyes in the water after Ren Baqian left. Its eyes shone like light bulbs in the lake, yet these eyes seemed to be filled with distress…

That man was indeed too talkative. Every time he came, he would chatter on for a long while. Even when underwater, Qishui could hear him clearly, so it couldn’t even sleep properly…