The Empress’s Gigolo

On the way up the mountain, Ren Baqian didn’t pay attention to the surroundings. He sat quietly behind the empress, holding her waist with both hands and listening to her talk.

After meeting Qi Ziting, the empress finally clarified some information. Combining this with the information that Ren Baqian already knew, he was able to piece together the full picture of Dayao’s 72 years of history.

In that year, Ya Peng changed the royal surname to Qi out of gratitude toward the man who had single handedly destroyed the Hao Nation before taking his own life.

Of course, this matter wasn’t as simple as it seemed on the surface, and there were reasons that outsiders weren’t privy to.

Despite this, Ya Peng was renamed Qi Peng.

Earlier on, the Hao Nation had poisoned the salt mine in the Sixty Thousand Mountains, causing the Qi village to suffer great casualties. Only a seven or eight year old kid from the family of Ya Peng survived while the rest were wiped out.

This surviving kid was Qi Yinghao, the father of the empress.

Qi Yinghao disappeared nine years ago, and the empress ascended to the throne when she was only 16.

At that time, Qi Ziting was 41.

However, something happened to Qi Ziting the year before.

At that time, Qi Ziting was the Protector General of the Protectorate of the Northeast, was ranked the fifth most powerful expert in the world, and was known for being ruthless and brutal.

Qi Ziting was so well known in the Yun Nation that his name was used to stop children from crying at night. He achieved great military honors in many battles.

The reputation of Qi Ziting was high in Dayao because “the enemy of my enemy is my hero.”

However, success or failure could be due to the same factor. He was homicidal by nature and was very prominent as a general that defended the empire. If he was elevated as the emperor, given his temper, it wouldn’t take very long for complaints to surface in Dayao.

In fact, many soldiers and high ranking officers from the Protectorate of the Northeast were already complaining about his high handed ways.

However, he continued in his bigoted ways and still treated them harshly.

Due to these circumstances, Qi Yinghao appointed the empress as the next monarch.

The subsequent events were what Ren Baqian had heard about.

Qi Ziting took the opportunity to return to the palace for Qi Yinghao’s birthday celebration. After dinner, he attempted to assassinate the emperor and had his legs chopped off on the spot.

Qi Yinghao didn’t kill him and only exiled him to the Sixty Thousand Mountains.

One year later, Qi Yinghao went missing and the empress succeeded him due to her position as his daughter.

“As a matter of fact, my elder brother treated me well when I was young. He would bring me new gadgets whenever he came back,” the empress said emotionally.

Ren Baqian thought about Qi Ziting’s behavior just now and whispered to the empress from behind, “I think that he still feels for Your Majesty.”

He moved his hands from her waist to her abdomen and held her in his arms.

The empress stiffened her body for a moment, sighed slightly, and didn’t say anything. It could be seen that although she spoke resolutely, her innermost feelings were complex. She didn’t even respond strongly to this brazen act from Ren Baqian.

After all, Qi Ziting was currently her only living relative.

However, in spite of her position, she still couldn’t let go of things that he had done in the past.

With regard to these matters, Ren Baqian didn’t find it appropriate to intervene.

When the empress was about to reach the village, she saw a few thousand people, young and old, waiting outside.

Three to four thousand people lived in this village in front of Mount Yulong. Within a radius of a few hundred kilometers, it was the biggest village in the area.

After all, it was the ancestral land of the royal family and was restored after being destroyed a few decades ago.

“Our respects to Your Majesty!” The crowd greeted her with cupped fists.

Even the ignorant children followed the actions of the adults and looked at the empress with curiosity.

The empress looked at the crowd to search for familiar faces and found some that she had seen before when she was young.

She could still remember many things even though a lot of time had passed by.

She didn’t say anything, but looked at those people one by one. These people were excited even though the eyes of the empress lingered on them for only a moment.

This showed that the empress still remembered them.

The empress raised her head, replacing the complex emotions she showed earlier with her usual coldness.

Ren Baqian felt that this could be her habitual expression.

She used this expression to keep a distance from other people and to hide her fears and insecurities.

Plus, this expression had become second nature to her.

The empress said, “Please dispense with all this etiquette as there are too many people. Let’s go to the village.”

The crowd entered the village with the winged cavalry following behind. The empress was in front riding Qi Shui. At the end of the village, there were three ordinary stone houses with their doors wide open.

The empress dismounted and entered the innermost building where several strange stones were displayed on the table.

“Is this the room where Your Majesty used to stay?” Ren Baqian took a glance and noticed the very high ceiling that was about four meters in height. There was a bed, a table, a few chairs, and a cabinet. There was nothing else inside.

The room didn’t seem to be lived in, but was very clean. Qi Ziting had most likely arranged for someone to tidy it.

“I lived here for half a year.” The empress took a monkey-shaped stone from the table and played with it. “I found this on the mountain and took it back because it looked interesting. I didn’t expect it to still be here after all these years.”

“Your Majesty even picked up a heart-shaped stone!” Ren Baqian picked it up and laughed. In Dayao, this shape didn’t have the connotation it had on Earth, but unexpectedly, the empress had collected one.

The empress looked a bit awkward and said embarrassingly after some hesitation, “I was young then and felt that it looked like a butt!”

“Cough, cough!” Ren Baqian almost choked on his saliva.

Ren Baqian soon made other discoveries. He found a pair of small hammers in a corner. The heads were made of animal bone and the handles made of wood. They were designed for a child who was six or seven years old.

This pair of hammers were blocked from view by the chairs.

“Do these hammers belong to you?”

“My elder brother used a pair of hammers as his weapons. I admired hammer-fighting techniques since I was young and pestered my brother to teach me,” the empress said.

“Too bad I can’t use hammers anymore.” A voice came from the doorway.

The sound of crutches hitting the ground was heard.

Qi Ziting was about to step inside, but was blocked by a winged cavalry warrior. His demeanor instantly changed as he roared, “Gong Zheng, you are audacious enough to block me?!”

“Let him enter,” the empress said.

Since the empress said so, nobody dared to stop him anymore. Gong Zheng cupped his fists toward Qi Ziting and retreated.

Qi Ziting entered the house and only looked at the empress as he said, “This house has been looked after for all these years and I had it cleaned recently when I heard that you were coming. You arrived at the right time since they just hunted a flower camel a few days ago. You aren’t able to eat it in the palace, but tonight, you will get to enjoy it.”

The empress turned and said to him, “Elder brother, thank you for taking the trouble.”

“I will inform you in due course.” Qi Ziting then took a glance at Ren Baqian and said, “In deference to Xiao Ya, you can come along!”

After Qi Ziting departed, Ren Baqian asked with a laugh,”Xiao Ya?”

The empress was rather embarrassed. Nobody had mentioned this nickname for so many years, yet he had heard it now.

“Was this used to usher in prosperity? The late emperor was quite a literary figure,” Ren Baqian said.

The empress gave a slight hum. She didn’t mention that she had been given this nickname because she had small teeth and the gaps between her incisors were big.

If he were to find out about this, she didn’t know what kind of comments he would make.

“Are we going to see the Queen Mother tomorrow?” Ren Baqian asked with some difficulty.

After all, he was a millennial. He was used to addressing the empress as Her Majesty, but wasn’t used to addressing her mother as Queen Mother.

“Our marriage is already confirmed, so you can call her Queen Mother if you like,” the empress commented when she saw him struggling with the term.

Ren Baqian saw that there was only one bed in the room and said, “The empress has said that I mustn’t leave your side while we are in this village, but there’s only one bed here. Are we going to share a bed tonight?”

The empress pointed at the floor and replied, “I will give all the space on the floor to you.”