Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Ren Baqian left the house yawning the next morning.
When he was ready to sleep, the empress unexpectedly started tossing and turning in her bed, making him unable to sleep.
If it wasn’t for his level of strength, he probably would have woken up with dark circles around his eyes.
He stepped out of the house yawning. Qing Yuan and Hong Luan saw him as they entered the house with a basin, and they secretly cast suspicious glances over at him.
One would know without asking that both of them were overthinking things.
Ren Baqian took a few steps into the village and heard a series of shouts coming from the distance. He followed their voices and saw a few hundred young and robust villagers practicing martial arts on an open field. He felt that their movements looked pretty familiar—it was the [Boxing of Death].
Qi Ziting held his crutches and shouted, “Did you guys not have breakfast? All of you look so weak and flabby. If you guys were my subordinates back then, I would have beheaded you long ago!”
He shouted as he picked up stones from the ground with his crutches and hit their heads with them.
“If you continue being so dispirited, I will kill you so you won’t look so irksome!”
Ren Baqian listened and felt that Qi Ziting was making oblique accusations.
Even the weakest few had done it better than himself.
He decided to let it pass and refused to stoop to Qi Ziting’s level. He watched them from afar and strolled back to have breakfast.
Breakfast was a meat and wild herb soup that had a very dense fragrance. Merely smelling it would increase one’s appetite.
However, when they ate the wild herb, it tasted fresh with a hint of bitterness. It resembled a type of wild herb known as the Japanese angelica, which was eaten at the start of May in northeastern China!
“Next time, we can try using some egg sauce or coat it with a batter and fry it. It should taste pretty good,” Ren Baqian said indistinctly while gulping down the soup.
“Do it if you want. The imperial kitchen doesn’t know how to,” the empress replied as she held her bowl.
She ate in a more refined fashion, but at a much faster speed than him. Her wood-carved bowl was filled to the brim. She lifted her head and gulped down all of it in one go. However, her movements seemed rather pleasing to the eye.
Ren Baqian figured out the reason for this.
A good-looking person would look good doing anything!
Regardless of location, one’s appearance determined everything!
For example, just take Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong.
Zhuge Liang was 2.4 meters tall and extremely good-looking. He wore a silk headdress, a crane overcoat, and had the presence of a deity.
Pang Tong had thick eyebrows, big nostrils, a dark complexion, and a short beard. He looked weird.
Both Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong were on par regarding their academic achievements, but they received completely different treatment.
Rays of sunlight shone through the windows, filling the room with vitality.
The stone house was tall, but it wasn’t very spacious since Ren Baqian and the empress could simply turn around and touch the bed already. However, they felt that the size of the house was just right for them. It was at least cozier than the cold and empty palace.
After breakfast, a man stood outside the house and waited for them. He was a brilliant man in his thirties. He felt slightly apprehensive after seeing the empress and stuttered, “Your Majesty, Commander Qi asked me to take both of you to the mountains. He said that it has been a long time since you last went and that you might lose your way easily.”
“Commander? My brother still holds a position in the village?” the empress asked in an amicable way.
It had been pretty hostile when they met the day before, but the tension had pretty much been eased after having dinner together.
“Commander Qi is the leader of the hunting team!” the man replied straightforwardly.
“He simply can’t stay idle.” The empress laughed while the man stared blankly after seeing her reaction.
“Let’s go.”
The Qi Family village’s graveyard wasn’t located behind the village. Instead, it was on top of Mount Yulong where the head of the dragon was.
Ren Baqian didn’t understand geomancy and didn’t know whether things would have been different if the graveyard wasn’t located at the head of Mount Kunlong. However, this place had birthed generations of emperors, and it seemed like it had pretty good feng shui after all.
Along the journey, Ren Baqian had gathered plenty of white flowers and began to weave a garland.
“What are you doing?” The empress didn’t understand what he was doing as he weaved the flower garland.
“This is the first time I’m visiting my mother-in-law. I definitely have to prepare some gifts for her, but I have no idea what she likes. I don’t think she dislikes flowers, right?” Ren Baqian lifted his head and smiled as he continued weaving.
He got careless for a moment and the needle pricked him in the finger, but it didn’t bother him much as his skin was coarse and his flesh was tough now.
The empress looked at him gently and said, “You are truly thoughtful.”
“I’m a courteous person!” Ren Baqian laughed mischievously.
After ascending Mount Yulong, they followed a small path that led to the dragon’s head. There was a vast open space in front of them and the entire view was clear.
The view was unbounded.
As he glanced across the field, there were countless tombs. The proof of a person’s existence resided beneath each tomb.
Some of them looked like they had been visited often because their surroundings were clear of weeds.
Those that weren’t taken care of had been covered in weeds, and one would have no idea where the tomb was until they stepped on it.
The empress’s mother’s tomb was located at a corner. Even though she was the empress, her tomb was only slightly larger than those of ordinary people. Its stone pile was made up of higher quality and hand-picked white stones.
The area around her tomb was very clean and it looked as if it had been frequently maintained.
“You guys may step down.” When the empress waved her hand at the people behind her, they withdrew a distance away. She then said to Ren Baqian, “Come with me.”
“It appears that my mother-in-law liked the color white,” Ren Baqian said as he looked at the pile of white stones on her tomb.
“I have never seen it before, but the others said that my mother liked it.” The empress nodded.
“If that’s the case, I have picked the right color of flowers.” Holding a garland of white flowers, Ren Baqian smiled.
The empress ignored him, stood in front of the tomb, and said softly, “I have come to visit you again. I’m all grown up now!”
After saying that, the empress paused for a moment before pulling Ren Baqian beside her. “This is him. In a few months’ time, I will be marrying him. He’s not from Dayao, Great Xia, the Yun Nation, or the Chen Nation. I don’t think this will matter to you in any case.”
“Greetings, mother-in-law!” Ren Baqian addressed with respect and placed the flower garland on the stone pile.
“He’s lazy, a little crafty, afraid of bearing hardships, afraid of involvement, and has a glib tongue… He has plenty of shortcomings. However, I still fancy him quite a bit. I don’t feel lonely with him around.”
Ren Baqian couldn’t help but look over at the empress.
Is this really what you think of me?
“I’m not sure if you feel lonely here… This is a graveyard. With the company of so many people here, it should be pretty lively!” she said as she glanced over at the other tombs.
“That elder brother of mine… Forget it, I shall not talk about him… You see him every day.
After being the monarch for a few years, it was truly very boring. I would either stay cooped up in the palace, be mired in handling matters, or simply be lost in thought… However, this was inevitable. Father had left, and I have no idea where he went. I suppose he must have set off to search for his father.
With so many aboriginal commoners, there must be a leader and someone to bear this responsibility.
If I have a kid after my marriage, I do feel like exploring the outside world after he’s grown up. I have previously heard that the world is a very interesting and vast place, and I want to see it for myself someday.
Do you think I should explore the world, mother?
It was an ordinary person who said this. He could put everything down and do that, but as the monarch, I can’t do that!”
The empress had many things to say. After speaking to her mother’s tomb for some time, she sat on the ground and asked, “Do you drink alcohol? I heard that you enjoyed drinking alcohol, so I brought some along.”
Ren Baqian immediately took the hint and went to grab a few bottles of wine from the winged cavalry. He opened one bottle and placed it in front of the tomb before handing another bottle to the empress.
“This wine is scorching like a hot, fiery blade. You’ll get drunk if you drink too much. It’s fine for me, but you should drink it more slowly.”
