The Empress’s Gigolo

“Boo!”

Ren Baqian heard a series of jeers the moment he stepped out of the carriage. It suddenly made him feel as if he was in Deyunshe[1.Deyunshe: formally Beijing Deyunshe Culture Communication Company Ltd, a Chinese xiangsheng organization and folk art performance group based in Beijing] instead of Ya City.

Ren Baqian’s body was already considered extremely robust compared to an ordinary person’s, but the aboriginals still felt that he looked pretty scrawny.

According to an aboriginal’s concept of aesthetics, his appearance was too feminine. It lacked that ferocity and, to put it plainly, looked like a gigolo.

Although there wasn’t a word like this in their vocabulary, the meaning was pretty similar.

Being judged like this, Ren Baqian felt pretty innocent. His appearance and physique were already considered to be that of a hunk on Earth. However, the aboriginals still looked at him as a gigolo, which could only be considered as a form of racial restriction.

He and the empress showed their presence in the city and entered the general’s residence.

Even though there were no generals in this city, there was a general’s residence that had at least a few hundred years of history. It had the same style as the city and was entirely built out of stone. It didn’t seem to have changed much even after a few hundred years of wind and frost.

The only thing it lacked was housekeeping. Even though it had already been tidied up once before the empress arrived, it still appeared a little old-fashioned.

The group stayed in Ya City for three days.

Ren Baqian first took a trip back to Earth and brought crocodile meat back as a gift.

The crocodile corpse that was sent to the Messier 87 department had finally managed to generate results after various testing, one of which was the large amount of energy that the crocodile meat contained. It could also strengthen one’s bones and muscles, and this was extremely helpful for martial arts practitioners. Naturally, mentioning this was unnecessary since it was a beast at the Earth Wheel level after all.

It promoted longevity as well. Even though it wasn’t as powerful as elixirs like the Jade Embryo, which was able to increase one’s lifespan by 20 years and maintain one’s youthful appearance, its effects were extremely strong as well. It was already considered a rare treasure in the eyes of the people on Earth.

The crocodile’s liver could also aid in producing new blood, something that was very important for older practitioners.

The crocodile’s heart could be used to strengthen the heart, calm the nerves, and cure some heart related diseases as well.

The crocodile’s tail worked best for longevity. It could supplement one’s vital energy and reduce the aging of cells.

According to speculation, if an ordinary person consumed an entire crocodile, their lifespan could be increased by at least ten years.

This showed how precious this gigantic Earth Wheel level crocodile was.

The only downside was its effects on Earth Wheel experts that had lifespans which far exceeded ordinary people. For experts at this level, the crocodile could only provide large amounts of energy to satisfy their hunger and wouldn’t have any other pronounced effects.

Ren Baqian had managed to obtain a piece of land within Wuji City that was in the midst of planning and hence decided to do a favor for those elders in the capital city by gifting parts of a crocodile to them.

Apart from all these benefits, the crocodile’s kidneys had amazing effects in nourishing one’s kidney, and its penis had superb libido boosting properties. He wanted to keep these parts for himself and planned to grill the kidneys and infuse the penis in wine.

Returning from Earth, Ren Baqian took a good walk around Ya City.

In reality, this city was quite huge. After all, it was the largest city situated just outside the Sixty Thousand Mountains and could accommodate 100,000 people.

However, after merchants started leaving this city, it had become more quiet. Only a few thousand people lived here.

As such, the city grew to become a little cold and cheerless.

In spite of that, it was still an eye-opening experience for Ren Baqian as he walked around for three days.

There were all sorts of rare herbs, beasts, animal hides, and ores, all of which could be commonly seen in stalls all over the city.

Unfortunately, after those merchants left, there were only a very small number of aboriginal caravans that currently remained to gather those herbs.

For instance, the empress’s caravan, the people of the clinic, and the people of a store that Ren Baqian had opened called the Thirty Percent Hall.

It was needless to mention the clinic and the empress’s merchant caravan since their main purpose for gathering herbs was to supply the palace and Ren Baqian’s training use.

The Thirty Percent Hall gathered herbs and provided them to the protectorates.

The meaning behind the name of this store was that Ren Baqian purchased his goods at 30 percent of his selling price.

One must know that in this world where communication was under-developed and transportation was challenging, merchants only purchased their goods at ten percent of their selling price.

Even on Earth, the majority of the merchants would only purchase their goods at ten to 20 percent of their selling price.

By paying the people 30 percent, it could be said that he was giving back to the commoners.

As such, even though the Thirty Percent Hall in Ya City had only been established for two months, it enjoyed a great reputation and was highly complimented by everyone.

Other than these rare goods, Ren Baqian saw a lot of weird objects in the city as well.

For instance, there was a flower called the Fruit Man Flower that was shaped like a lifelike naked man.

It was said that consuming this thing was beneficial for boosting one’s libido. Ren Baqian felt very skeptical after hearing this, but ended up buying a sack of them and got someone to load it up in the carriage.

“Hmm, what’s this?” After walking a short distance away, Ren Baqian saw another pot of flowers on display. There were two blue flowers that looked like Earth’s mandarin ducks with their necks intertwined with each other.

“Cross-eared Flower! We use these as gifts for lovers!” The man who was setting up the store lifted his head and glanced at Ren Baqian because he knew who Ren Baqian was.

“Are you the empress’s husband? Thin and weak—you seem like him!”

Ren Baqian laughed and asked, “How much is this pot of flowers?”

“I’ll give it to you! It’s just a pot of flowers!” the man replied generously.

Ren Baqian then cupped his fists and said, “Thank you very much!”

The man waved his hand and replied, “Just make the empress happier!”

As Ren Baqian carried the pot of flowers and returned home, he saw a few students strolling around in the city. They immediately approached him when they saw him carrying the flowers and inquisitively asked, “Teacher, what’s that?”

“One who envies the mandarin ducks doesn’t envy the deities! This is the Mandarin Duck Flower!” Ren Baqian immediately changed its name.

The flower immediately felt more elegant after changing its name!

“What’s a mandarin duck and what’s a deity?” the students questioned again.

He wasn’t in the mood to explain to them, so he waved his hand to drive them away and hastily returned to the general’s residence in a good mood.

The empress was settling official matters via the radio. Ren Baqian waited for a while for her to finish her work. She immediately smiled when she saw the thing that he was carrying and asked, “What other good stuff have you seen?”

“Dang, dang, dang! Do you recognize this?” He walked in a circle and placed the flowers on the table as if he were presenting a treasure.

“Cross-eared Flowers?” The empress smiled again.

“You actually know what these are!” Ren Baqian was rather surprised.

“I also found this flower strange the first time I came here, so I asked about them. However, at that point in time, I didn’t understand some of the things that they said. Now, it’s slightly clearer to me.” As the empress pursed her lips, her gaze was rather charming.

Ren Baqian stepped forward and held her face in his hands. He gave her a serious look, gently knocked on her head, and smiled.

The empress didn’t understand what love was back then.

She understood it now.

“Get ready! We are setting off tomorrow,” the empress said. “You shall experience the ethos of the mountains!”

“You seem to love this place, Your Majesty!” Ren Baqian laughed. Judging from her expression ever since she arrived in Ya City, he somehow sensed that she felt exceptionally different about this place.

At the very least, her actions and words on the day of their arrival was something that he had never come across in Lan City and the other cities along their journey.

“When I was young, I always felt that this was the most interesting place in the entire world. There were so many strange things here, and there were always new discoveries every day. At that time, I thought to myself how great it would be if I could live here forever!” The empress reminisced.

“However, the civilians here don’t really have good living conditions.

The aboriginals seem very strong to others because they have to fight against beasts for survival and have gradually tempered themselves over hundreds and thousands of years.

Even so, they still lead a pretty tough life here in the mountains.

Back when the first emperor led his troops in rebellion, even though it was out of revenge, he still spared a thought for the commoners and helped them fight for a piece of land.

Unfortunately, the majority of the commoners here refuse to leave and abandon the place where they have lived for generations. Even though 70 years have passed, most of them still live here in the mountains.

When I visited this place back then, I had already noticed how difficult their lives were. Even though I was still young, I still remember all of this.

After I ascended the throne, I planned to make their lives easier. Sadly, not much has been done for them even after so many years.

I have felt guilty all this time!” the empress said slowly as she reminisced. She rarely told anyone about her true feelings.

She had kept many things to herself and worked hard to strive for them. However, she was confined by the limitations of the era and didn’t have the ability to fulfill her plans for many things.

For someone who was always reserved to say such words, Ren Baqian felt extremely sorry for her and couldn’t help but walk forward to give her a hug.