The Empress’s Gigolo

Ren Baqian stayed in the village for a day and a half. Besides spending a day subduing the crow general, he had also achieved other tasks such as teaching the villagers how to make ice and how to cure over fire.

The reason he did this was because of the difficulty in preserving food and not because of the sweltering heat. It was difficult to preserve rations in the village, and the entire village would starve if they didn’t catch enough food while hunting.

This wasn’t a lone example and wasn’t the situation of just one or two villages—this was a problem that many villages around the Sixty Thousand Mountains faced.

However, as Shang Ping Village was located pretty close the Forest Pillar Barriers and Ya City, their situation wasn’t that bad.

It was said that the villages situated deep within the mountains were coping relatively well. The villages there were big and their prey were stronger. The meat of stronger prey was able to keep them full for longer and could be preserved for longer periods of time as well.

Only weaker villages that were situated further away from Ya City were having a hard time.

Ren Baqian simply taught them how to make ice, where to find saltpeter, and how to build an icehouse. This way, they would be able to preserve what they caught no matter how much they caught. Plus, they could take out this stored food and eat it when they didn’t catch enough game.

The villagers of Shang Ping Village were astonished when they managed to make ice with the method that he taught them.

They had only heard from passersby that there was a thing called ice that could be found in the tall mountains deep within the Sixty Thousand Mountains, but they had only thought of it as an interesting story.

They didn’t expect that they could actually produce something that emitted cold air.

They then felt exhilarated.

With this, they would be able to preserve their meats!

Their attitude toward Ren Baqian had completely changed.

They treated him with more kindness.

These aboriginal commoners were very simple-minded people.

The strongest would be respected.

They respected people who made their lives easier.

Besides, Ren Baqian wasn’t exactly considered weak anymore. Even though he was still a far cry from the empress, his strength was pretty comparable to the ordinary aboriginal. After teaching them how to make ice, he was immediately treated kindly by many.

Compared to the amount of time he spent in Lan City, imparting the method of simple ice making was already sufficient to make the entire village treat him with such warmth.

Even the ladies in the village started to throw flirtatious glances at him!

Although this was just a village, the aboriginal ladies were strong, healthy and had skin as silky smooth as satin. Their looks were above average, and Ren Baqian really enjoyed this attention.

Unfortunately, he was only able to enjoy this for a brief moment before the group continued on their journey again.

Their party passed by more than ten villages after they resumed their journey. Besides staying a while longer in Shang Ping Village, they only stayed for at most a night in the other villages. Sometimes, they would only stop by for a short while, visit the nearby graveyard, and also do and say the same things they did while they were in Shang Ping Village.

The outcomes turned out to be very similar.

In every village, the empress would look at those stone piles in the graveyards and speak the same words. She would stick a branch into the water as if she was sticking it into the dirt, and it wouldn’t move a single bit after she took her hands off of it.

These were the acknowledgements and responses of the departed forebears of the empress.

There weren’t any heart-rending promises made, only branches sticking upright in the water.

In the meantime, the crow general had finally recovered from its injuries. It was very well-behaved and didn’t even attempt to escape at all.

It only had a strange look on its face whenever it looked at Ren Baqian, a complex expression of hatred and mixed feelings. It seemed to dislike him a lot.

This made him feel rather puzzled about why it felt that way.

It was the empress who attacked it, while it was he who saved it. However, it remained well-behaved whenever it saw the empress, but it always gave him a look that was full of dislike.

Could these ferocious beasts really only recognize power? Did this crow general have a masochistic tendency and enjoy getting beaten up by the empress?

This got Ren Baqian thinking about whether the bird was a male or a female, and he started casting strange looks at it as well.

Henceforth, the crow general grew to dislike him even more.

However, under the orders of the empress, it had no choice but to carry Ren Baqian and become his mount.

Ren Baqian’s Suzuki Alto had been exchanged for a Maserati, a Cardinal Heaven mount. This allowed him to experience an adrenaline rush wherever he went.

Even though this crow general was no match for the empress, it could be considered a tyrant in the middle and outer portions of the Sixty Thousand Mountains.

As such, the party advanced forward continuously for 20 days and covered a distance of a few thousand kilometers before finally making it past the outskirts of the mountains.

Ren Baqian traveled behind the empress and occasionally looked up to see her back as she rode on Qi Shui. She had been rather quiet over the past two days.

Even though she had always been a person of few words, it felt a little different this time around.

It was especially noticeable whenever he tried to tease her.

The empress seemed to be acting rather strange these days. It was as if there was something on her mind.

It was said that a traveler who had been away from home would experience complex feelings when returning. This was a saying from the Chinese poet Song Zhiwen, who had managed to escape and return home after being sent away to serve a penal sentence in south China. He felt complicated and disturbed after being away from home for so long and was worried if he had brought any mishaps to his family.

This saying had been passed on for generations since. It described the complex feelings that one might experience after being away from home for a long period of time and the fear of not knowing whether his home was still there or whether his loved ones were still alive.

However, such situations weren’t applicable to the empress.

Not to mention returning home in glory, it was very unlikely for her to experience such complex feelings.

Since this morning, she hadn’t even spoken a word.

Ren Baqian spurred on his mount and tried to move forward to ride alongside the empress. However, no matter how hard he tried, the crow general that he was riding on didn’t dare to move forward and walk neck and neck with Qi Shui the kirin.

It wasn’t the kirin that was putting any pressure on the crow general.

It was because the crow general was slightly taller at about three meters off the ground, which was half a meter taller than the kirin. The empress would subsequently have to raise her head to speak to Ren Baqian.

Ren Baqian then gave it a kick!

This kick sent it flying more than 70 meters away and almost caused it to sustain a heavy injury.

The crow general almost broke into tears. Was it its fault for being born tall?

Seeing how it was such a scaredy-cat, Ren Baqian leaped off its back and landed on Qi Shui.

He sat behind the empress and placed his arms around her waist. He could almost immediately feel the tenderness of her waist beneath that light muslin.

“Too warm!” The empress shoved his hands away.

“A calm heart keeps you cool. You’ll naturally feel warm if you aren’t feeling calm!” Unyielding, Ren Baqian placed his arms back around her waist.

He was already prepared to get knocked off the mount by her elbow at anytime.

However, it was indeed rather warm. Sitting behind the empress, he could feel the heat radiating from her body.

Huddling together on such a hot day, it would be a surprise if they weren’t feeling warm.

On the contrary, the kirin beneath them was emitting a slight chill, which made them feel more relaxed.

“Is there something on your mind, Your Majesty?” Ren Baqian straightforwardly asked after seeing that she didn’t react to his action.

“Mount Yulong is just ahead, and the Ya Family village is just above it!” the empress said.

Ya Peng was the first emperor, and the Ya Family villagers are the forefathers of the royal family.

“It has been a long time since you returned, and you should be feeling happy instead. Seeing as you are feeling a little moody, is it somewhat related to the Ya Family village?” Ren Baqian tweaked his thoughts. The empress’s moodiness definitely had something to do with the people of the village and not the village itself.

“There’s someone who should be in the village now, and I don’t know how I should face him,” she replied faintly.

Ren Baqian’s heart skipped a beat when he heard this. Could it be that the empress had some sort of a childhood sweetheart?

By rights, this shouldn’t be possible… She hadn’t been here in the last decade!

Fortunately, he was already the victor who had managed to win the heart of the most beautiful and precious flower in all of Dayao.

Otherwise, he would probably be overwhelmed with jealousy.

“What sort of person could actually make Your Majesty feel so ill at ease?” Ren Baqian relaxed his tone and laughed.

“My elder brother!”

“Pffft!”