The Empress’s Gigolo

After an hour of reading out the Typhoid and Diseases to Chen Zisheng, Ren Baqian left Chen Medicinal Shop. He wandered around on the street, found a two-story restaurant and wanted to try out how the dishes in the restaurants in this world tasted.

Since his arrival eons ago, he had been mainly consuming his meals at the beast park. Basically, he did not have many opportunities to eat outside of the beast park.

Ren Baqian saw from the outside of the restaurant that there were not many people inside. He went in and everyone became quiet. There were a few bald headed burly men at each table and they all looked over at him.

There were also a few females with charisma.

They were all ordinary aboriginals.

If it were any average person who encountered such a scenario, their legs would probably give way.

If an ordinary person entered a restaurant and saw bald, burly men that weighed roughly 150 kilograms glaring at him fiercely, he would turn around and leave the restaurant.

These days, Ren Baqian had met many of them in Dayao and had already found it to be a common occurrence. He was no longer concerned about such stuff anymore.

The other people clearly saw the official robe he was wearing and turned their head around and pretended that nothing happened. They continued to eat their meat in big mouthfuls, laughed loudly, and joked around. It was extraordinarily bustling with noise and excitement.

Ren Baqian found a table at the corner and sat down. The lights facing him were dim. A burly man appeared in front of him, “Sir, what do you want to eat?”

Ren Baqian looked at the other party with his head tilted.

The tone and expression of this burly man doesn’t seem like he is asking me what do I want to eat.

As a matter of fact, it seems like he is asking me how do I want to die.

He sighed.

As far as these people were concerned, Ren Baqian was also helpless. Would it kill them to just smile?

“What is your restaurant’s specialty?”

“Sir, everything here is our specialty. Never did anyone who has eaten here said that our food isn’t tasty”, the burly man said right away.

Once again, Ren Baqian sighed. From how he inferred, what the burly man actually meant was: Whoever ate our food dared not claim that it was not delicious.

“Just bring me two of your specialties and also, a pot of wine,” Ren Baqian requested.

“Alright!” At long last, the burly man’s tone and expression had some liveliness. He turned around and shouted, “Two specialties and a pot of wine.”

Following which, while Ren Baqian was waiting for the dishes to be served, he listened to the conversations that were ongoing in the surroundings, but it was not as if he wanted to hear them. The voices of the Dayao people were so loud that they drilled their way into his head; it was inevitable.

The conversations included things like, increases in price of grains and provisions, which gangs got into a fight, how many people got hurt in which gang fight, and in addition, which household’s woman gave her husband a beating and got him seriously injured, etc. Their characters were similar to that of the commoners of China.

The people of Dayao were at most slightly more crude, more bad tempered, looked fiercer, stronger, better in combat, and they also liked to pick fights with others over the slightest issues. The thought of all this got Ren Baqian feeling that they were quite different from the commoners of China. But inherently, they were actually quite similar.

Of course, it included scolding merchants from other countries on how expensive salt and cloth were. Even when Dayao people sold animal hides and furs to them, these merchants only paid them a meagre amount.

After listening to these household chatters, Ren Baqian suddenly felt that the world had become more lively. Life should originally be like that, filled with household chatters and fussing over minor issues.

It should not be like the palace which Ren Baqian enters and leaves every day, isolated, cold and solemn.

After a while, the dishes were served. There was a dish of steamed mutton with a plate of sauce, which he had no idea what they used to season it. It was a little spicy, but it muffled the rank odor of the mutton quite a bit, and it was rather tasty.

The other dish was a piece of stewed fish which was prepared in a simple way. There was only salt and another ingredient similar to ginger in the dish. But what stood out in the dish was the freshness, tenderness, and tastiness of the fish.

On the other hand, the alcohol was very strong. It was turbid but had a diluted taste.

As Ren Baqian sat there listening to the bustle of the surrounding, he finished most of his meal and all of the alcohol. He actually felt slightly tipsy.

“Shopkeeper, bill please,” Ren Baqian shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Sir, eighty coins.” That burly men appeared in front of Ren Baqian.

Ren Baqian dug out fragmented pieces of silver and threw them on the table, “Keep the change.”

“Thank you Sir.” The burly man grinned and the look on his face seemed even more sinister. But under the influence of the alcohol, Ren Baqian felt that he seemed more pleasing to the eye.

Ren Baqian stood up and left the restaurant. He walked towards the palace as if he was taking a stroll. Before he even reached the palace, he heard a loud noise coming from the front, followed by a crack of laughter.

“What happened again?” Ren Baqian felt curious and hastened his steps.

As he got nearer to the plaza, he could finally see the situation ahead clearly.

The surrounding was dusky, but the plaza in front of the palace was brightly lit. There were over twenty soldiers holding fire torches as they stood in a circle. They were surrounding three people: two men and one woman. Up against the three people was a tall and strong man holding a sword with a long handle. A piece of leather draped over that man’s chest and shoulders.

And that laughter actually came from the tall and strong man holding the sword.

As for the two men and one woman that he was up against, both men were using long swords whereas the woman was using just a pair of short blades.

It was obvious that the trio paid no attention to the surrounding soldiers as they were fully focused on the strong man ahead.

“Hand over Long Wanli’s corpse. He has already been killed by you people, why won’t you allow us to take his corpse back with us? We just want to bring his corpse back!” The woman shouted in anger.

“Come, come, come, let me have a taste of everyone’s skills. If all of you are able to handle ten of my moves, I will let everyone leave. If it is possible to kill me, I will allow all of you to bring his corpse back and guarantee that no one will seek revenge on my behalf. However, if all of you can’t even handle ten moves from me, be prepared to be buried here as well.” That strong man who was holding the broadsword howled with laughter.

“Will you honor your word? Who are you?” One of the man took a glance at the surrounding soldiers and shouted loudly.

“I am Shan Wanshui, the Imperial Guard Commander of the palace’s left door. All of you better remember my name,” that strong man shouted. “As for the three of you, report your names to me if you survive.”

That trio looked at one another. The twenty over soldiers which surrounded them were already difficult to deal with. Besides, there was still the Imperial Guard Commander in front of them.

There was only one way out for the three of them. Either they killed the Imperial Guard Commander or they survive the ten moves from him. Otherwise, they would be dead tonight.

From afar, Ren Baqian could see what was going on clearly and he sighed.

What was the point of travelling from miles away just to gift one’s head?

Wasn’t it better to live?

Must they insist on courting death?

“In that case, let us have a taste to see whether this Imperial Guard Commander is really so capable.” One of the man roared. He soared high up into the sky and threw himself over at Shan Wanshui. A sudden light ray glinted in the sky and it looked as if flowers had just blossomed.

“Fanciful but impractical.” Shan Wanshui laughed heartily. He did not have any fanciful moves but only used the tip of the broadsword and lifted with ease. A brilliant sword gleam could be seen across the sky. Whatever sword shadow or flowers, had been completely destroyed by him.

Upon seeing this, that man was alarmed. He promptly placed his sword horizontally across his chest.

“Shiiiiiing.”

As soon as the noise was heard, the sword snapped.

“Zi Tao!” The other pair of man and woman shouted in fury and pounced on Shi Wanshan.

There was a blood rain in the sky. That man had been vertically split into half and along with the two portions of his corpse reaching the ground, fresh blood and internal organs splattered all over as well.

Witnessing from afar, Ren Baqian felt a burst of disgust. It was really too revolting. However, the challengers were indeed too weak. With this type of standard, they still dared to travel to Dayao to fight for Long Wanli’s corpse. Once again, this allowed Ren Baqian to confirm his opinion. Indeed, they were travelling from miles away just to gift their own heads. Fortunately, only three came, if two more challengers came, Shan Wanshui would probably be able to do an all kill for five people.

Confronting the two people who pounced on him, Shan Wanshui used his broadsword and swept across. His actions were incomparably swift and nimble. The sword gleam was reflected from the flame and it was as speedy as lightning, disappearing in a flash.

That two people knew that they could not receive his attack and dodged one after another.

“Third move!” Shan Wanshui yelled. He held his broadsword, advanced towards the man who was nearest to him and struck. He split opened the flagstone on the ground, and it shattered.

“Fourth move!” He raised the handle of his broadsword towards the woman who thrusted the pair of blades in her hands. Upon receiving the attack from Shan Wanshui, the woman felt her arms vibrating and the web between her thumb and forefinger was in excruciating pain. The pair of blades was immediately flung away.

“Fifth move!” A streak of sword gleam could be seen passing through that woman’s waist.