The Empress’s Gigolo

The scheduled fight between Du Laoliu and Tu Yu was between the younger generation of the three families.

The huge disparity in strength between the two combatants made the three families treat it as just a formality. As a result, nobody greatly promoted the fight and nobody paid attention to it.

Even Tu Yu’s aunt, Tu Wan, didn’t care about it because it was just a fight between children. If it wasn’t for the elopement of Du Laoliu and Shi Jiyue, which led to the three families searching everywhere for them, this matter wouldn’t have reached her ears.

Nevertheless, the day before the duel, the empress suddenly mentioned her intention to watch it, catching many people by surprise and causing many people to take notice of this matter.

The venue of the duel was almost changed from a small courtyard to the square in front of the palace. When Ren Baqian heard of this news, he felt as if he was lying in bed after taking an arrow to the knee.

If the duel was really held in the palace square, he would become the scapegoat.

And the empress wouldn’t forgive him!

All the senior court officials would not let him off either.

Thinking of having to stand among these smelly people in court every day for half a day and then going to court with a stinky body for the next 10 days or half a month… was unimaginable.

“‘Why can’t it be held at the square in front of the palace?” Seeing the strong response from Ren Baqian, the empress became suspicious.

“Whatever the reason, it can’t be held there! It will be like committing suicide!” Ren Baqian said seriously.

“Did you intervene? What have you given them?” the empress asked.

“No, absolutely not!” Ren Baqian vehemently denied. “He was the person in the wrong, so how could I intervene?”

“Although it doesn’t matter to me, these two were the cause of the trouble and should be punished,” the empress said.

“Does the empress still want to go and personally watch?”

“Didn’t you intentionally say this to make me go? Since you have this idea, I will take a look. Anyway, the students in your academy are as weak as you!” the empress said provocatively.

Ren Baqian felt that he couldn’t tolerate this rebuke and needed to prove himself, so he retorted, “The brain is ultimately the greatest weapon! If we compete in mathematics, physics, and chemistry, nobody in Dayao can compete with us!”

“Oh, I know,” the empress said perfunctorily. “So why can’t it be held in front of the palace?”

“I lost some things… Among them is a skunk bomb…” Ren Baqian hemmed and hawed.

“What?” The empress stared at him fiercely and asked with a sneer, “Lost?”

Ren Baqian said seriously, “It was stolen! Nowadays, students even dare to steal the things I keep in my office. I definitely need to punish them!”

The empress nodded and said, “Forget it. I don’t want to see it. Let them choose a place further away.”

“Your Majesty just said you wanted to take a look—how can you go back on your word? I think the place where the lantern-grabbing contest is held is not bad as it’s big enough and well- ventilated. The wind blows from the southeast during this period, and if you sit in the right direction, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

…

Just after noon on the next day, Ren Baqian accompanied the empress in her carriage as it left from the west gate.

In the vast empty land far ahead, people were already waiting. The majority of the 50 students from the academy were there too.

Members of the three families, Du, Tu and Shi, had arrived and were sitting apart from each other.

Tu Wan, Tong Zhenye, and Shi Qing also came. Tu Wan was here because of her nephew and also because the empress was coming.

Tong Zhenye and Shi Qing were here because Tong Lan and Shi Gan were students of the academy. They were naturally interested to see a fellow student battling against someone who was one level higher and were hoping for a good show.

There were also some middle and low ranking officials looking for places to sit on the left side. Most were from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of War, and other ministries. They had old ties with the three families and also wanted to know why the empress was interested in this matter.

Upon arrival, she parted the curtains and casually said, “I’m just here to take a look. You don’t have to mind me.”

She proceeded to take a card from Ren Baqian and frowned when she saw herself holding a card with the letter A and a card with the number 2.

Ren Baqian looked at the A card in his hand, laughed, and moved his finger toward the A card in her hand, but before he could touch it, the empress’s face blackened as she stared coldly at him.

Ren Baqian smiled at the empress and asked, “Am I the type of person who gives up because of a threat?”

“Am I that kind of person?”

“Of course he will take back the card with the number 2!”

The empress didn’t wait for Ren Baqian to retract his hand. Instead, she quickly took the A card from him, threw it in front of him, and declared, “I win!”

“As expected, Your Majesty can’t be tricked in such a game.” Ren Baqian laughed.

The empress then used a calligraphy brush to draw a moustache on his face and said, “This looks more pleasing.”

Ren Baqian pinched his chin and exclaimed, “I look more manly with a moustache!”

The empress looked at the empty stage and rolled her eyes before asking, “Why hasn’t the duel started?”

“Don’t be anxious—it will start soon!”

Tong Zhenye, who was sitting nearby, stroked his full beard and looked at the empress with a “isn’t my beard looking great?” kind of smile.

The corner of his eye kept twitching.

“They are on the stage,” Ren Baqian said.

“In which direction is the wind blowing?” the empress asked.

“Why is Your Majesty asking about the direction of the wind?” Tong Zhenye asked suspiciously.

“No reason. Just casually asking,” Ren Baqian replied.

Tong Zhenye put on an unconvinced look and turned to look at the two people on the stage.

The two were both about 17 or 18 years old, but Tu Yu was slightly taller and looked much stronger. Du Laoliu appeared to weigh about 100 kilograms, whereas Tu Yu was at least 150 kilograms. From their appearances, it was clear that they weren’t at the same level.

For aboriginal men who were below the Cardinal Heaven level, those who were stronger had better physiques and those who were weaker were thinner. This made it easy to distinguish their strength.

Tu Yu carried an iron baton that weighed more than 50 kilograms. He looked at the tightly wrapped Du Laoliu and sneered, “I didn’t expect the empress to be here. Anyway, victory and defeat have already been decided. This is your last chance, but unfortunately, you didn’t take it, so you will have to struggle in vain. You can only blame yourself for being useless.”

Du Laoliu was tightly wrapped in a cloak of unknown origin and only had one arm exposed that was wielding a mace.

He didn’t respond to Tu Yu and turned to look at the crowd around the stage, which included the students from the academy and also the red-eyed and worried looking Shi Jiyue who was wedged in the middle of the Shi family.

Then, he turned to look at Tu Yu and said, “For the sake of Jiyue, I must win even if my life is at stake.”

“If we compete verbally, maybe you can win,” Tu Yu said sarcastically. “However, words aren’t as useful as physical strength.”

A guard from the Tu family came to the stage, raised his hand above his head, and swung it downward. A faint line seemed to appear out of nowhere. It looked as if someone used something to trace it.

“Begin!”