The Empress’s Gigolo

Qing Lian left Black Bamboo Academy and didn’t know where to go at that moment.

She wanted to find Ning Caichen, but was entirely clueless about his whereabouts. She had no other choice but to stroll around Lan City.

Seconds later, she arrived outside the imperial family’s glass store. Looking at that clean and glittering glass store, which looked as if it had been decorated with a layer of crystals, she suddenly felt curious and walked in with long strides.

The store had been open for three months, so the fervor from the crowd at the start had already died down quite a bit. However, there were still people who would come in to look at the delicate glassware, though there were also fewer people in the store at any one time and the amount of things they bought had also decreased.

Regardless, the store was still able to generate thousands of silver taels for Ren Baqian every month.

At present, he had already prepared to open a glass store in Tianjing Basin. Even though the commoners there were impoverished, there were more rich people compared to Lan City. Once they conquered the Yun Nation, he would also open another store there, which would definitely make him a plateful.

Instead of looking at the glassware, Qing Lian’s attention was focused on the store attendant when she entered the store. He had a large forehead, deep eye sockets, and clearly didn’t look like an aboriginal.

I’m not sure if these people have seen Ning Caichen, Qing Lian thought to herself before shifting her attention to the glassware displayed on the shelves.

“Beautiful!” Qing Lian looked at the glassware displayed on the shelves and immediately became enamored with them. She saw a tea set that she was rather fond of and inquired about the price. It only cost 800 taels of silver, and she felt that it was very cheap.

A tea set made out of glass… This was something that she hadn’t seen before.

Even though she didn’t know what glass was exactly, all that mattered was that it looked good.

She then inquired about a few glass cups and learned that they only cost 150 taels of silver each, which made her feel like buying a truckload to bring back. The only problem was that she merely had 200 taels of gold on her at the moment. Even though she also had some silver notes, there weren’t any places in Dayao where she could exchange them for silver taels.

It seemed like she had to get Su Qing to send some money over.

If Zhang Junzheng was present, he would tell her that the glass cups only cost ten taels of silver each and that the glass tea set only cost 50 taels for the aboriginals.

When it came to foreigners, the price immediately skyrocketed 15 times.

However, Qing Lian already sincerely felt that these glasswares were a cheap buy.

If these things existed in Great Xia, they would cost at least a few times more. There were also no places that sold these products yet.

After spending quite some time in the glass store, Qing Lian left full of satisfaction. At the very least, she found a good deal during this trip to Dayao.

Not long after walking on the streets, she found an even better deal—spices.

After eating two pieces of roasted lamb meat, Qing Lian’s eyes glowed as she reached out for her bag. She made up her mind that she would send a message later to get Su Qing to send money over.

She wanted all of these, the glasswares and the spices.

After that, Qing Lian found a restaurant, sat there, and waited until the glass and spice stores closed. She subsequently tailed the store attendants all the way to Jing Street, where she found out that this was where the Jing Tribe lived.

“If Ning Caichen is in Lan City, he will very likely be here.”

Qing Lian strolled around Jing Street and found a small wine shop right across from the entrance of the street.

Since this is the entrance, I shall go in and ask around, Qing Lian thought to herself before going straight into that wine shop. Standing outside the wine shop, she could hear the clamor coming from inside.

The doors and windows of the wine shop were open, allowing her to see the interior of the small wine shop from outside. There were many people inside and almost all the seats were taken.

The people inside were mostly aboriginals with very few Jing Tribe people present. A young lady was busy working inside and occasionally poked fun at her customers, giving rise to bursts of laughter.

“I haven’t seen such a pleasant person like you before. If I were a few years younger, I might just take you home.” A burly man with a big beard laughed his head off.

“For that, you must first ask Sir Ren. I’m his woman now!” the lady replied gently with an extremely charming voice that made people’s hearts palpitate.

Qing Lian entered the wine shop to take a clearer look at that burly man and immediately got a shock. She fell back a couple of steps and was dumbstruck as she looked at him.

The corpse that she saw in the afternoon was actually alive! His entire body was emitting the aura of a supreme expert.

Her eyes subconsciously drifted to the lower part of his body and saw that he actually had two legs! Where did the other two legs go?

The corpse in the academy suddenly opening his eyes, those four legs, and this man at present… Strange! This was indeed very strange!

Qing Lian’s appearance at the door as well as her falling back with an astonished look had attracted the attention of quite a few people in the wine shop. Many of them looked at her face before looking at the sword on her back.

Since when was this person from Great Xia in Lan City? She looked pretty good though.

They then turned their heads back and continued drinking. Not long after, people started leaving the wine shop.

All of them came here for the wine shop’s lady boss. Now that Tong Zhenye was here, they were no match for him, especially not the younger generation of the officials. One by one, they finished their drinks and left without even daring to heave a sigh.

Once there were fewer people, Qing Lian went in and sat down at an empty table.

“Lady, do you come from afar?” Ning Caichen’s [1.Ning Caichen: In Chinese characters, this is a female name, even though it’s pronounced the same as the male sword master Ning Caichen] eyes wandered as he sat across from her.

“You are really beautiful, sister!” Qing Lian first exclaimed in admiration. She couldn’t help but admit that the lady in front of her was the most feminine and seductive woman she had ever seen. Even if she just simply sat there and didn’t speak, her gaze alone would be alluring enough.

When she spoke, her voice was even more seductive.

If Qing Lian was a man, she would definitely take this lady home.

It was unfortunate that she was a lady…

This wretched vixen! I hate the charm of these vixens! Always seducing men—aren’t you ashamed?

There were no reasons needed for a woman to detest another woman.

“I came from Great Xia and just arrived today,” Qing Lian answered after her exclamation.

“It’s rare to see people from Great Xia!” Ning Caichen laughed.

“You haven’t seen people from Great Xia before, sister?”

“Not for the past six months. What would you like to drink, lady?”

“A pot of your best wine!”

Ning Caichen served up a pot of fruit wine. It tasted sweet and sour and was a little astringent. To Qing Lian, this was an inferior pot of wine.

However, this was already considered good wine in Dayao.

Ning Caichen sat down across from Qing Lian. He felt very warm and cordial meeting someone from Great Xia. On the other side, Qing Lian was also looking forward for this to happen because she was originally here to scout for information.

“Where are you from, sister?’ Qing Lian asked.

“Great Xia as well!” Ning Caichen smiled with pursed lips.

“A person from the same nation even when away from home! What are you doing here, sister? This place isn’t fit for a long stay.” Qing Lian smiled. It was clearly difficult for such a lovely lady to be here alone in a place where boors and aboriginals were everywhere.

Furthermore, she wasn’t trained in martial arts.

Qing Lian could at least detect from her qi and blood that she was an ordinary person or at most, slightly stronger.

In fact, there wouldn’t be much difference even if she was someone who left her sword. It was just that sword masters were already rare to begin with. Plus, many of them resided in desolate areas away from the cities or deep in the mountains. Little did Qing Lian expect this lovely lady, who ran a wine shop here and poked fun at the aboriginals, to be a sword master at the same time.

“I can’t return home, and I have no place to go. Like a piece of drifting duckweed, I can only lead a wandering existence out here.” As Ning Caichen smiled, her expression didn’t show much disappointment.

“I heard someone call for you just now, sister. Is your family name Ning? Do you know Principal Ren Baqian of the Black Bamboo Academy?” Qing Lian questioned, pretending as if she was indifferent. In her heart, she was dying to hear Ning Caichen’s response.

Could it be that Qi Zixiao’s gigolo actually has a mistress outside?

Does Qi Zixiao know about this? This is Lan City—how could he possibly hide this from Qi Zixiao?

If Qi Zixiao knew, how could she tolerate this?

Qing Lian was a little curious about the situation. If presented the chance, she definitely wouldn’t mind opposing Ren Baqian and taking revenge.

“My family name is Ning. As for Sir Ren, we can be considered old friends.”

Qing Lian noted this in her mind and thought to herself that she would slowly find out more about this later. She reached into her sack, took out a portrait, and asked, “Sister, have you seen this person before?”

Ning Caichen looked at the portrait, stared blankly for a moment, and began to smile.

“Yes, I have. Why are you looking for him? Did he offend you in any way? Is that why you came all the way from Great Xia in search of him?”

Qing Lian was exultant when she heard that. She thought to herself that she was indeed clever and quick-witted to have already gotten news on her first day here.

“He owes me a debt. Do you know where he is now?”

After Qing Lian finished her sentence, Ning Caichen’s emotions stirred. He shook his head and said, “Then he must have owed you a lot of money. I haven’t seen this man since the middle of last year, and I don’t know where he is now. Maybe he has already left Lan City?”

Qing Lian felt a little disappointed. It seemed like she had to stay in Lan City longer because she didn’t know where she could find that guy.

She then asked about another matter, but even at the end, Ning Caichen didn’t reveal that he was the Ning Caichen that Qing Lian was looking for.

Qing Lian didn’t know his identity, but he could sense that she was a sword master. After all, she carried her sword with her. Given his familiarity with spirit swords, he was able to sense this easily.

To Ning Caichen, Qing Lian’s spirit sword felt a notch stronger than his own, but only a fool would expose that in this situation. He had to think of ways to find out why Qing Lian was looking for him.

“What’s your name, sister?” Qing Lian asked eventually.

“Ning Caichen!”

“Great name—it’s similar to the name of the person that I’m looking for.” Qing Lian was astonished, but she still couldn’t figure out how this lovely lady in front of her was associated with the scholar that she was looking for.

“Sister, do you know if there are any places around here where I can stay?” Qing Lian asked again.

“If you don’t mind, I actually have a vacant room here,” Ning Caichen responded.

Qing Lian was delighted when she heard that. This would be convenient since she would be able to find another opportunity to inquire about how Ning Caichen was related to that Ren Baqian.