The Empress’s Gigolo

The passersby outside glanced at a dozen men gathered in an alley, but quickly moved away with their heads bowed when they saw the ferocious stares sent their way.

“What happened?” asked a bearded man in a deep voice. He wore a sleeveless vest, pleated skirt, and was painted with tattoos of flowers all over his body.

This pleated skirt was a type of clothing worn by both sexes of the Hao Nation’s remnant citizens.

“We don’t know. We have also just arrived.” The rest of them shook their heads. They rushed here when they heard the loud sound.

“Who’s the dead person?” The shattered corpse in the alley no longer resembled a human; it was more like a rag. Some of the limbs were blown away to places unknown.

“It’s Double-headed Snake. I saw him coming in just now.” A 16 year old teenager who was nearby said, “He went to work on the street earlier and was probably successful, but I don’t know how he became like this.”

The teenager looked frightened.

Although he wasn’t old, he had seen a lot of life and death. The previous month, a thief about his age stole from the father of a Nine Blades Sect member. He saw with his own eyes as the culprit was tethered to a horse and dragged to death outside the city. In principle, he should have been accustomed to seeing such things and should not have shown this expression.

The cause of this expression was due to the fact that he could see the alley clearly and didn’t see anybody else entering.

Just now, he furtively followed Double-headed Snake to find out what good loot he had stolen, but he heard a loud sound when he arrived at the entrance to the alley. It sounded like thunder, then he saw this corpse and smelled a strange odor in the air.

He didn’t see anybody else from the beginning to the end.

He told the crowd about what he had seen and everyone was puzzled. Since no one else was around, how did Double-headed Snake die?

“Look at the wall.” A man suddenly pointed at the surrounding wall that was pockmarked with many small holes.

Because of the explosion from the grenade, the wall was a bit damaged, but the marks from where the fragments entered the wall were not as easy to see.

The crowd quickly dug out some fragments from the wall.

Nevertheless, they still couldn’t figure out what had happened since the grenade was something beyond their knowledge.

“Check whether there are any suspicious people in the city,” the burly man finally said.

He had to understand what had happened first.

…

Ren Baqian was eating noodles at this time. After staying in Dayao for so long, he was finally able to eat noodles.

Upon entering the small restaurant at the roadside, he saw two people eating noodles inside.

Ren Baqian pointed in the direction of the two people and said, “Give me the same thing that they are eating.”

The noodles weren’t tasty. They were sour, spicy, and tasted a bit strange, but he was satisfied to be able to find noodles in this place.

On the way back, Lin Qiaole suddenly moved her hand like lightning to catch ahold of the hand of a young man in his twenties. Her eyes were fiery. She could tolerate someone stealing Ren Baqian’s wallet, but not his candies. She had been eyeing them for so long and hadn’t taken action, so how dare he try to steal them?

“Ouch, ouch, my hand is breaking…” The youth behind Ren Baqian, who was grabbed by Lin Qiaole around his wrist, writhed in pain. His eyes rolled around as he tried to extricate himself.

“He stole from you.” Lin Qiaole frowned. Although she had caught him, she didn’t know what to do next.

She spent most of her time in Qingxin Palace Hall, and the only two times she went out were to accompany Ren Baqian. As such, she didn’t know how to handle such a situation.

Ren Baqian grabbed the youth by his clothes and dragged him to an alley by the side.

“Tell me how I should deal with you? Do you want me to break your hand or your leg?” Ren Baqian pressed him against the wall and calmly asked. He wasn’t out to create trouble this time, only to investigate, but this didn’t mean he could tolerate everything.

Thieves had stolen his money and still wanted to steal his candies. Did they specialize in shearing off wool from one sheep? Did they see him as someone easy to bully? In any case, he was a Man Wheel expert.

“Are you from a foreign country? Let me tell you this, I am from the Death Toad Sect, so you better let me go, and I will definitely not harass you. If not, we have 800 members, and no matter how highly skilled the two of you are, you will not be able to get out of Longshou City.” The young thief stared at them maliciously.

He needed to be sharp in this profession. Otherwise, he would not be able to save his own life if he were to provoke the wrong people.

He had been observing the two of them ever since they left the restaurant and was able to tell that they were not locals with one look. Since foreigners weren’t familiar with this place, most would try to avoid trouble. That was why he tried to frighten them with these words.

“800 members? How scary!” Ren Baqian grinned sarcastically, grabbed his hand, and remarked, “This pair of hands is beautiful and has not done much labor. There isn’t even a single callus on them. A rare sight for a man!”

Seeing Ren Baqian’s expression, the young man sensed trouble.

Crack! The young man’s index finger was bent backward until it touched the the back of his hand.

The young man gave a miserable howl.

“This looks more pleasing to the eye.” Ren Baqian looked down at the howling young man who was stooping down and holding his finger.

“Next time, open your eyes wide….” Ren Baqian said as he ambled out of the alley.

“That’s it?” Lin Qiaole whispered to Ren Baqian as she followed beside him.

“What should we do otherwise?” Ren Baqian retorted. After all, they were not here to create trouble.

“Punishing without teaching is tantamount to abuse. This was written in the ancient records,” Lin Qiaole said dubiously.

Ren Baqian turned to look at her as if he were looking at an alien.

“What? Is it wrong to say that?” Lin Qiaole asked tentatively.

“What you said is correct,” Ren Baqian agreed. “Let’s go back.”

After returning to the location near the alley with Lin Qiaole, they happened to see that man walking out. He shivered from head to toe when he saw the two of them.

Ren Baqian caught him by the chest and pulled him into the alley again.

“Sir, you are magnanimous, so don’t lower yourself to my level.” The young man was so frightened that it was as if he had lost his soul when he saw their stance. He begged for mercy and didn’t forget to wave his broken finger in front of Ren Baqian.

“Do you know what you did wrong?” Ren Baqian asked.

“I know that I was blind to offend the both of you. This villain will not dare to do so anymore,” the young thief appealed.

“If you make a mistake, you must be punished and accept the beating stoically. It’s hard for an earthen jar to escape damage if it is constantly used to draw water. Sooner or later, you will need to pay for your actions. At your age, why don’t you do something better than stealing? If you get caught, you will be killed if you meet someone vicious. Not everybody is as accommodating as me…”

The young man looked miserable. Was the guy in front of him a lunatic? He had already left, then came back again to give him a lecture. Furthermore, this guy broke one of his fingers. Did he misunderstand the word “accommodating?”

Saying a lot didn’t mean someone was accommodating…

How about letting me go to the clinic to check my finger? This finger of mine is still needed in my line of work…

“Do you agree with what I said?” Ren Baqian asked after rambling for a long time.

“I agree! I will turn over a new leaf once I go back.” The young man looked remorseful.

“Come, let me take a look at your finger. This one is broken. How did it become this shape? It’s asymmetrical…” Ren Baqian grabbed the hand of the terrified young man.

Crack! The sound of a bone breaking was heard, and the thief’s middle finger was bent backward.

“To punish without teaching is as good as abuse. I am teaching, not punishing. I leave you with your life,” Ren Baqian said with satisfaction as he let the young man go.

“Teach but not punish. The evil people will be punished…” Lin Qiaole added.

The young man turned green with fear upon hearing this.

Were these two going to kill him? Why was this young lady so ruthless?

“Forget it. Teaching him a lesson is enough, and there is no need for further punishment. He’s just trying to make a living. He wouldn’t do this if he had alternatives… It isn’t easy for him either…” Ren Baqian said kindly.

“Oh.” Lin Qiaole nodded.

After the two had left, the young man looked at his broken fingers and cursed.

F*ck! I ran into lunatics.

I wonder if these two fingers can be reset…

…

With his fingers wrapped in cloth, the young man dragged himself home. Today was really not his day, and he wondered when he could get even with them.

“Street Crossing Rat, why are you in this state?” Another young man came over moments after the young thief reached his dilapidated house.

“I don’t want to talk about it…” Mentioning the incident made him bawl. Although it was common for a thief to get a beating after being caught, he felt aggrieved by this incident today. Were those two mentally deranged?

“Did you meet any strange people in the city?” the other guy asked when he saw that the thief was unwilling to speak. “Half Mountain Flower gave instructions to report suspicious, strange, or unfamiliar people.”

Half Mountain Flower was the chief of this area, and there were more than 20 people under his control.

Street Crossing Rat’s eyes brightened after hearing this. Weren’t the two that he met today considered unfamiliar people? They were also crazy.

He could take his revenge now!

Street Crossing Rat was a Man Wheel expert, while their chief was an Earth Wheel expert.

Although those two people had trained in martial arts, they were so young. How high could their cultivation be? He didn’t believe they could defeat the chief.

In his heart, the Earth Wheel level chief was the most powerful person ever. When the chief went to the brothel, he would get two young ladies to serve him, one in front and one pushing from behind…

Furthermore, the thief wondered what the chief would do to that little lady who looked so vivacious, but was so ruthless…