The Empress’s Gigolo

During the afternoon, Ren Baqian was learning words from Lin Qiaole in Qingxin Palace Hall. Suddenly, he heard footsteps closing in. There seemed to be a few people coming their way.

He stood up and looked at the entrance of the palace hall. The empress, her two palace maids, and the guard that was named Xin Zhe were approaching the palace hall.

“Greetings, Your Majesty,” Ren Baqian quickly greeted the empress.

Hearing Ren Baqian’s voice, Lin Qiaole stood up from her chair and bounced towards the empress and greeted her, “Your Majesty.”

“Hm.” Upon seeing Lin Qiaole, the empress’s facial expression became much more gentle.

Ren Baqian was speechless. Lin Qiaole actually had so many hidden talents. No wonder she could become an imperial librarian at such a young age. And, no wonder she turned the milk candies over to the empress the moment she got them.

Even though Ren Baqian did not know what was the relationship between the empress and Lin Qiaole, he could tell that they were rather familiar with each other from their facial expressions.

Along with her entourage, the empress walked past Ren Baqian. He could smell a whiff of delicate fragrance. Then, he timidly followed behind them.

After entering the palace hall, the empress saw the brush and paper on the table. She asked, “Are you learning how to write?”

“Subject is not proficient in Dayao’s written language. Currently I’m still learning how to read the words,” Ren Baqian explained behind her.

The empress nodded her head and replied, “As the storyteller of Qingxin Palace Hall, you ought to know how to read.”

If her imperial officials were like him, it would save her a lot of trouble.

“How’s your progress?” The empress picked up the paper which Ren Baqian wrote his ugly words on. Ren Baqian’s words made her reminisce over her past. The words she wrote when she was three years old should be something like these, if not slightly better.

“I should be able to recognize most of the words within two months’ time,” Ren Baqian replied. He only said he could recognize the words and not write them. He had written every word several times, but he did this just to reinforce his memory. He would forget how to write them after a while.

He could only slowly learn how to write in the future.

The empress nodded her head and did not say anything else. Along with her entourage, she continued to walk forward and went to the second floor. Ren Baqian carefully walked behind them.

After coming here so many times, this was the first time he went to the second floor.

The thing that surprised him the most was that there was an old woman wearing an official robe keeping watch over the second floor. After coming here so many times, he had never seen her come down to the first floor before. He also had not heard any sounds from the second floor, making him think that no one was there.

“Greetings, Your Majesty. May I know what book are you looking for?” The old woman stood up to bow and smiled at the empress.

“Supervisor Lin, how have you been?” the empress asked.

“I am fine, my chronic illness has never recurred for quite some time. Cough cough…” Supervisor Lin coughed after finishing her sentence.

Ren Baqian looked at her with disdain.

You’re acting… you’re acting… I have come here so many times, and I have yet to hear anything from this floor… Now you are suddenly coughing because the empress is here?

Your surname is Lin too? Don’t tell me—Lin Qiaole was her daughter or granddaughter? One was librarian, the other was supervisor. Was she preparing to pass on her position to Lin Qiaole?

Ren Baqian cast a glance at Lin Qiaole.

Upon hearing Supervisor Lin’s words, the empress said with a gentle tone, “Supervisor Lin, you have to take care of your body. Xin Zhe, later go to the medicinal warehouse and send three taels of red snake eggs and five Baixin grasses here.”

“Yes.”

“Get me the Record of the Mysterious Cave, recently, I suddenly want to read it,” the empress continued.

“I will go and get it for you now,” Supervisor Lin bowed and said. Following which, she walked deeper into the second floor with her crooked body.

“I want to see if there is any interesting books,” the empress spoke again.

Supervisor Lin stopped in her track and gestured her to do as she pleased.

When Ren Baqian saw the empress continued to walk forward again, he did not know whether or not should he follow her.

However, when he saw everyone had left, he quickly followed them.

Anyway, he was very curious about how different the book collections on the second floor were from the first floor’s.

Logically speaking, the book collections on the second floor should be more precious than the first floor.

The second floor also contained rooms that were of a similar size as the first floor’s. However, one would not be able to see anything in the rooms from their entrances. There was a soft paper covering the gridded doors of the rooms, preventing one from looking into them.

“Your Majesty, it’s in here.” Supervisor Lin stopped in her tracks at the third room from the back. The empress entered the room and Supervisor Lin followed behind her. Then, Xin Zhe stood guard at the door.

Ren Baqian could not see anything in the room at all.

At the same time, he became even more curious.

This room is so heavily guarded, what exactly was inside?

Record of the Mysterious Cave? Was it some kind of secret martial arts manual? Ren Baqian felt that possibility of it being a secret martial arts manual was very high. The name of this book did not sound as boring as Three Hundred Tang Poems. Furthermore, the empress’s martial arts were so popular. It made perfect sense that she would read a secret martial arts manual when she was free.

Ren Baqian stood obediently at the entrance of the room. Occasionally, he would raise his head and look around. He was wondering when would the empress come out of the room.

When he saw Lin Qiaole, who was standing not far away, he grinned and almost laughed out loud.

All he could see was Lin Qiaole swaying on her feet. Her eyes were already closed.

If an ordinary person saw her swaying range, he or she would never guess that she had actually fallen asleep.

Her ability to sleep while standing was absolutely peerless.

He had to admit that the temptation of White Rabbit Creamy Candy on Lin Qiaole was indeed huge. It could actually make her take out time from her hardcore sleeping schedule and teach him how to read. Ordinary people would definitely be unable to understand how much she desired to sleep. After all, she was someone that could fall asleep while waiting for her superiors.

Perhaps her best option was to lie on the bed and sleep until the end of time.

“Thump.”

Ren Baqian raised his head to see what had happened. Indeed, Lin Qiaole’s head had knocked into the wooden wall beside her.

He lowered his head and sniggered.

He wasn’t the only that was laughing at Lin Qiaole. Qing Yuan and Hong Yuan pursed their lips and laughed softly as well.

It seemed that the both of them knew about the situation with Lin Qiaole.

“What happened?” The empress’s voice rang across the air from inside the room.

“Nothing, I accidentally bumped into the wall.”

Lin Qiaole rubbed her head as she replied in a haste. After feeling annoyed for quite some time, she finally stopped rubbing her head and put down her hand. Not long after, she once again began to sway on her feet.

After thinking about it, Ren Baqian felt that Lin Qiaole might be suffering from a disease. He had seen it on the news back on Earth before. There was a girl who was suffering from a weird disease. Every day, she had to sleep 18 to 20 hours, so much so that she could not sustain a normal job.

Lin Qiaole might be suffering from the same disease as her.

However, it was obvious that her condition wasn’t as severe as that girl. She would only act like this when she had nothing to do. The usual sounds were still able to wake her up. If she had a task on hand, she could still keep awake.

After some time, the door to the room finally opened. The empress walked out of the room with Supervisor Lin behind her.

When the two people exited the room, her eyes swiftly widened, looking as though she was staring at someone. Following which, her eyes began to relax as she let out a yawn.

Ren Baqian took a sweeping glance at the empress. He saw her holding two books in her hands as she walked out of the room. Her ice-cold gaze scanned Ren Baqian, making him stand up straight immediately.

After sending the empress out of Qingxin Palace, Ren Baqian and Lin Qiaole returned inside. Supervisor Lin did not follow them as she merely sent the empress to the head of the staircase.

“Are you really that tired?” Ren Baqian asked Lin Qiaole curiously. If a normal person had already slept for eight hours, he would not be able to sleep any more even if he wanted to. Ren Baqian really could not understand how Lin Qiaole did it.

“I’m okay…” Lin Qiaole lay on the table and replied listlessly.

Looking at her appearance, Ren Baqian found her to be rather amusing. He casually tossed a piece of Dove Chocolate on the table and said, “Try it, it’s my treat to you.”

Just as the chocolate left Ren Baqian’s hand, Lin Qiaole’s shadowless hand immediately caught it.

She took off the wrapper and carefully bit it. Following which, she gobbled up the chocolate with a crackle like a hungry hamster. She then looked at Ren Baqian with glittering eyes.

Ren Baqian gave her a “friendly” smile. In his mind, he was figuring out whether or not she would eat a piece of chocolate-flavored shit if he really made one for her.

One should bide one’s time and wait for the right opportunity to seek vengeance!

But, he had to make sure he wouldn’t get beaten to death by her first.