The Empress’s Gigolo

Upon returning from Earth, Ren Baqian and the empress were in the mood to take a tour around the small city.

Xuyang City was very small, had a population of tens of thousands, and was the only city within 200 kilometers.

Similar to other cities in Dayao, fights were seen everywhere. For example, some people were chased after breaking down the walls of other people’s houses and fights between two people sometimes escalated to three people fighting.

It was bustling! Messy might be a more appropriate description!

The abusive phrase “chou pi er” could constantly be heard.

It was said that this was derived from a local village dialect.

Ren Baqian and the empress went incognito to stroll around the city. They specifically went to a side street to see the Lan City Newspaper that was posted on a bulletin board just to check whether anyone was there to explain the contents of the newspaper to others.

Although it was called the Lan City Newspaper, it was distributed to most parts of Dayao. Besides being sold in Lan City, the rest were distributed by caravans and pasted on bulletin boards.

Ren Baqian considered this the most basic way to enlighten people by letting them know about the outside world.

Therefore, he didn’t slack when it came to this matter even though he was losing money all the time.

In addition, he also saw the familiar signboards of the Royal Shop and the Dayao Trading Company.

The former mainly sold mirrors, glassware, and spices, whereas the latter was a shop under the Department of Commerce that sold soaps and seeds for pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. Wooden chess and Gobang sets were also sold there.

He had to admit that the deputy who volunteered his services was very capable. Ren Baqian didn’t have to spend too much time in the Department of Commerce and only needed to set the general direction.

The two spent half a day in the city and had a brief look at the living conditions before the convoy set off again.

Five days later.

“Your Majesty, that is Mount Liucui!” Ren Baqian pointed at a faraway mountain in front of them.

The empress put down her tablet and stretched her head to take a look.

Mount Liucui looked like a bowl on the ground, and according to legend, it had a very strong spiritual presence. The first emperor entered its depths after attaining the realm of Longevity Heaven and returned with serious injuries. After recovering from his injuries, he brought along many experts from his court and entered deep into the Sixty Thousand Mountains where they were never heard of again.

Although so many years had already passed by and ordinary human skeletons would have gone cold, the empress knew that the spiritual presence inside the mountain was still alive. This was because it had already existed for thousands of years before the arrival of the first emperor, and it was unlikely to have died during these past few decades.

The empress had always wanted to see what kind of spirit existed there and also wanted to know where the first emperor went.

By knowing where the first emperor went, she would be able to know the whereabouts of the previous emperor.

The empress gazed at the mountain in the distance with twinkling eyes. After a long time, she retracted her gaze and said, “I will go there personally in the future, but now isn’t the time to do so.”

“Maybe we can arm a robot with a camera and send it in first,” Ren Baqian suggested.

“There’s no entrance since the original one already collapsed at that time. Therefore, we must dig an entrance. Digging this pathway will lead to a direct confrontation with the spirit.” The empress shook her head.

“It isn’t necessary to use people to dig a hole. Maybe we can find a place to drill a hole about the size of two fists and send a remote control robot inside that’s armed with a camera.”

The empress was convinced that there could be a hope of seeing the mountain spirit this way.

She considered this for a long time before saying, “This sounds feasible, but we are in a hurry. We will talk about this on the way back.”

“Okay!” Ren Baqian nodded joyfully.

It was a location that appeared close, but was actually very far away.

They saw Mount Liucui in the afternoon and arrived when the moon was almost visible.

It was the same place Ren Baqian had stopped at before entering the iron mine. There was a thin forest and a stream by the side.

Ren Baqian jumped down from the imperial carriage to stretch, pointed to the darkness in the distance, and said to the empress, “I saw the bichi there the last time I came here! It’s said that fortune and misfortune are interlinked, and I truly experienced these changing fortunes during this period. I was buried under the house during the earthquake, but didn’t suffer any injuries. I was also attacked by a lower hawk and found cloud crystals inside its stomach after killing it.

After returning to Lan City, an assassination attempt was made on me and Your Majesty had to carry me for thousands of miles to snatch away the antidote. On the way back, we were chased by Great Xia soldiers and were surrounded! As they say, fortune and misfortune are interlinked. In the end, I was safe and sound!”

Although he only came here once, his impression of this place was very deep. It could be said that this was the starting point of the events that followed.

Even on Earth, thieves broke into his house and he was harassed by the Jin family.

During that period, many things happened and all the bad things seemed to happen together.

Fortunately, after half a year in Dayao, he was safe and sound.

The time that he had spent on Earth and Dayao added up to about a year.

It was a year full of misfortunes after just one glance, and this thing was more powerful than a jinx.

“You also found a small and unique white flower here!” the empress added.

Ren Baqian was momentarily stunned and laughed when he recalled the incident.

He laughed for a long time before saying, “That flower always reminded me of the empress because I feel both of you are very similar in certain ways.”

After everyone had eaten dinner, Ren Baqian sat in front of the carriage talking with the empress about the things that happened when he was here last time. Inevitably, that bichi was brought up again.

“Last time, it was attracted by the milk candy. It shouldn’t show up this time since the distance is too far. Otherwise, I would like to show it to the empress because it’s actually quite cute.”

On the contrary, the empress felt an urge to eat some candy after hearing this and popped a piece of chocolate into her mouth.

“It may also be good not to see it since the goal is to see my mother. I do not want too many distractions,” the empress said casually.

Although she was very interested in such strange things, the cost was simply too high.

Anyway, it wasn’t some kind of mascot.

Seeing it wouldn’t bring one good luck and would instead bring bad luck.

When the empress was unwrapping a second piece of chocolate, her eyes were suddenly transfixed on something. Then, she flung her fist at Ren Baqian’s side.

This sudden move gave Ren Baqian a shock.

He saw a small object turn to evade this punch and fall to the ground. All the hair on its body was erect as it lowered its body, arched its back, and bared its teeth fiercely.

“Oh my gosh!” Ren Baqian turned his head to look and was shocked.

It looked like a fox, was red in color, and had a pair of fleshy wings on its back.

The empress frowned and looked at the little animal with concern.

“Is this the bichi?”

Ren Baqian nodded his head incredulously.

Did this thing have a feud with him?

The last time he saw it, it was inside the mountain and he had nothing to say about it. This time, however, it appeared at the base of the mountain. When he mentioned the bichi, it actually appeared.

This damn thing was even faster than the legendary Cao Cao![1.Cao Cao: a Chinese warlord and the penultimate Chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power in the final years of the dynasty]

“Why is it here?” The empress frowned deeply.

The two of them were chatting just now and didn’t expect this thing to appear.

The consequences of seeing this animal were rather unsettling.

This would herald more trouble!