The Empress’s Gigolo

Ren Baqian hurried down the stairs with a frown and asked, “What happened?”

“Your Highness… A woman is looking for you!” one of the winged cavalry warriors replied with a strange expression.

The others stood around the door and seemed to be looking at something strange.

“Indeed, she really resembles her!”

“There is actually someone who looks so much like her!”

“No, I don’t think so. She doesn’t impose pressure on others like Her Majesty.”

“How could anyone compare to Her Majesty? Still, this person really looks like her.”

After hearing all these scattered comments, Ren Baqian quickly gathered his thoughts to focus on the current situation.

Someone who looked like the empress was looking for him?

He immediately knew who it was.

How did she find him here?

“All of you withdraw!” Ren Baqian ordered in a deep voice.

“Oh, alright.” At the door, the winged cavalry warriors stared blankly at each other before turning to him and asking, “Where do we go?”

“Outside!”

The winged cavalry warriors turned their heads back to look as they walked away. After they left, Ren Baqian walked to the door and saw a lady in her twenties. She was wearing a white shirt, a long yellow skirt, and a round summer hat as she stood there and looked a little apprehensive.

Apparently, those people had given her quite a bit of pressure earlier.

Besides, she had mustered up all her courage just to come here.

She looked a little bigger than the empress, but they looked very similar. With the passage of time and their difference in status and temperament, her resemblance to the empress became slightly less close than before.

However, she was still a very attractive woman.

“Qi… Jiayu?” Ren Baqian pondered over the lady’s name. “Are you looking for me?”

A killing intent gradually arose in his mind.

He carefully perceived this emotion that was triggered by a trace of the empress’s spirit that had been planted in his body.

Its impact on him was much lower now.

Qi Jiayu looked at him, and he had definitely changed a lot since eight years ago. The biggest change was his imposing manner. There was a sense of superiority that made people more wary when they were in front of him.

Thinking about her experiences over the years and her purpose for coming, Qi Jiayu’s heart was filled with hatred.

She suppressed this feeling, took a deep breath, and asked, “Can I come in?”

“Sure.” Ren Baqian turned around and walked into the house. She took off her shoes and followed behind him.

“Sit!”

The two sat on the sofa.

He pondered over her reason for visiting and said, “I’m surprised. I didn’t expect you to look for me. What is it for?”

“Very unexpected?” Qi Jiayu chuckled in a way that seemed ironic. She took off her hat, placed it aside and sorted out her hair before looking intently at Ren Baqian.

With an unspeakable resentment on her face, she asked, “What would it take for you to let me off?”

“Let you off? Are you leading a bad life now? I haven’t seen you in eight years, but instead of catching up, you suddenly say something like this… I don’t know where to start.” He smiled.

“Don’t you know how well I’m living? Do I have to tell you myself?” Qi Jiayu originally wanted to have a proper talk with him even if it meant having to beg or pay a price. However, after seeing his face, the resentment in her heart rushed up uncontrollably.

“Your delicate face doesn’t look good with such an expression.” Ren Baqian shook his head.

He then said faintly, “You got a good opportunity even before you graduated from university. Everything went smoothly after you joined the company. You have risen to a high level management position before the age of 30, you have earned quite a reputation in the industry, and your looks are preeminent. You are Miss Perfect in every aspect. You don’t know how many people envy you!”

“And then? You are the driving force behind how many of these? You then limit all those who contact and woo me? I’m left to sit in this position and watch as people get into relationships, while I grow old alone? What is this for? Just because I look like that person?

What am I? A person living in Truman’s world? A toy exclusive to you? An alternative to someone else? Or your possession? Just because I look like her?” Qi Jiayu’s voice exploded with grievance and fury from deep within, and her face was full of anger and unwillingness.

“You aren’t like her!” Ren Baqian suppressed his killing intent and looked at her closely. “She would never make such an expression.”

“Are you admitting it?” she asked angrily.

“I have never denied it, but it’s undeniable that you are currently leading a pretty good life, isn’t it? If you stuck to the norm, you would probably take 20 to 30 years before you could climb to your current position. You might even experience some harassment, setbacks, and unfair treatment along the way… You haven’t experienced any of these, and life has been pretty smooth sailing for you.”

“But I want the life of a normal woman that belongs to me! I don’t want to be your ridiculous possession! Are you treating me like a toy because you can’t have her?

It’s undeniable that you are very powerful. I have come in contact with so many people over the years. There were many wealthy kids who tried to date me, but not many of them dared to appear before me twice. Even if they did, they weren’t interested in me anymore. I wanted to get myself drunk at a bar and throw myself out there, but I always end up safely in a hotel every time.

I don’t know exactly who you are or how influential you are—I just know that you are powerful.

But, even so, why won’t you let me go? If you want me, why don’t you ever show up in front of me?”

“No, you think too much.” Ren Baqian shook his head. “That person is my wife. You aren’t a substitute for her, and you can never replace her. No one in the world can replace her.”

All of this had been arranged by Shen Feng, but it was indeed Ren Baqian who incited it. He didn’t know what he was thinking at that time, not even now.

However, the one thing that he was clear about was that he didn’t want to let Qi Jiayu go.

This was because of her identity. From Ren Baqian’s perspective, she was the empress of this world.

He didn’t want to touch her and even felt like killing her whenever he saw her. At the same time, he didn’t want to see her marrying someone else. It was a very strange emotion.

Of course, Qi Jiayu was right about one thing: his ridiculous possessiveness.

However, he didn’t want to correct it.

“Why won’t you let me go then?” she asked, feeling unreconciled.

“You probably owed me a lot of money in your previous life!” Ren Baqian said faintly.

“What exactly do you want?” Qi Jiayu asked coldly. She seemed to have cooled down a little after venting.

He hesitated slightly. After all, he also felt that it wasn’t nice to bully a woman like this. It had nothing to do with his conscience. When he was cultivating the five visualizations, there was no telling how many times he had died. His mental strength was much stronger than ordinary people’s.

Ren Baqian simply felt that it wasn’t very nice to bully the empress of this world like this.

Indeed, no matter what, he still regarded Qi Jiayu as the empress of this world even though they were two different people.

Seeing that he kept silent, resentment and despair flashed across her face.

“If you don’t want to let me go… then kill me! Or…” At that moment, she pulled down her outerwear, revealing her bra and her fair skin. “Or have me!”

“I hate you, but I don’t want to continue like this and be alone until I die! Even if you treat me like a toy or something else, I want to lead a normal life and be a normal woman!” Qi Jiayu’s voice was full of unwillingness, decisiveness, and many other emotions. She wanted to control herself, but tears fell unexpectedly.

Ren Baqian looked at her and heaved a faint sigh.

“Put your clothes on and go back.”

Qi Jiayu’s heart immediately sank.

“I’ll go look for you!”

Hearing these words, she suddenly felt the urge to ignore everything and cry wantonly. She felt aggrieved and perplexed…

Ren Baqian frowned. He said these words on impulse when he saw her cry, but his heart was still wavering.