Translator: TYZ Editor: Book_Hoarder
That night, Ren Baqian tossed and turned on the bed. A figure kept on running around in his head. Eventually, that figure ran to his heart and settled down.
At the same time, the empress was lying on the soft bed downstairs while trying to sleep. Similarly, she couldn’t fall asleep either. Every now and then, she would give off a sigh.
These two days, she felt more and more confused, more and more unsettled.
After a while, she got up from her bed, pulled open the curtain and looked at the tall buildings, specks of colorful lights, and the pure-white snow under the moonlight outside.
On the first level and the second level of the same house, two people were deep in thought.
The next morning, when the empress woke up, she was still not getting used to life over here. No one drew water for her, and no one changed her clothes for her. Furthermore, she wasn’t in that usual cold and quiet palace hall.
Just as she was thinking of these things, Ren Baqian knocked on her door and said, “Qi Zixiao, it’s time to wake up.”
By the time the empress opened the door and exited her room, Ren Baqian was already making breakfast in the kitchen. He made porridge, fried eggs, egg cakes, and some salad. He prepared the ingredients last night.
“Give me a moment.” Ren Baqian turned around and gave the empress a smile. He adjusted the timer for the induction cooker, walked to the living room, turned on the television, and switched to morning news channel.
“You can watch the television first,” Ren Baqian offered.
The empress nodded her head. Then, she sat on the sofa and watched the morning news. Occasionally, she turned around to glance at the busy Ren Baqian and then shifted her gaze back to the television.
From the empress’s perspective, the house was very small. Even if she put six of such houses together, it would still be smaller than Yangxin Palace Hall, let alone the entire imperial palace.
However, this morning gave her a unique feeling of warmth.
After making breakfast, Ren Baqian turned around and gazed at the empress, who was sitting on the sofa. Sunlight shone through the window into the living room and onto the empress’s body. She seemed to be in a very good mood.
While they were having their breakfast, they did not talk to each other at all. A comfortable and warm atmosphere surrounded them.
This was an extremely unique experience for both of them.
After they finished their breakfast, Ren Baqian kept the bowls and chopsticks. When he came out of the kitchen, he realized the empress was watching a talent show.
“What are they doing?” the empress asked with puzzlement.
Even though she did not understand what was written on the screen, she could still understand what was said.
“It’s a talent show where people display their talents.”
“How is it useful to a country?”
“In our world, we do things that are not necessarily useful to the country. Food, clothes, and shopping, and lodgings are considered material culture. Other than material culture, there is also spiritual culture. After people fulfill their material needs, they will feel spiritual emptiness. They will want more things to enrich their spiritual lives. Singing, dancing, performing, reading, and learning new knowledge can fulfill their spiritual needs. These things are able to bring people happiness,” Ren Baqian explained.
“Even though aboriginals are physically powerful, they need to work hard to survive. This is the only thing that everyone thinks about,” the empress replied.
“This the difference between the two worlds. Once the citizens’ material needs are satisfied, they will seek spiritual needs,” Ren Baqian continued, sitting not far away from the empress.
“What do you want to see today?”
“There are many things that I want to see. I want to see various aspects of this society,” the empress faced him and said.
“I will bring you outside to look around. We will go wherever you’re interested in,” Ren Baqian chuckled and said.
“Alright.”
Yesterday when they came out, it was already quite late. Even though everywhere was brightly lit, the morning scenery still looked different from the night scenery. Many people wearing thick clothes were either waiting for taxis or walking briskly on either side of the road. Everyone was pressed for time.
“The pace of life here is very fast. Everyone is busily working to sustain their families or pursue their desires. Only when one turns old and retires can he or she then sunbathe, idle, and enjoy his or her later years.”
The empress looked at the pedestrians. Then, she shifted her gaze to the tall buildings that surrounded them. Everywhere was filled with the air of modernity.
“This is a handbag shop. A handbag is the thing that people carry on their arms…” Ren Baqian introduced the shops on both sides of the road.
“This is a flower shop that specially sells flowers…”
“This is a bookshop that specially sells books…”
“Stop, I want to go down and take a look,” the empress suddenly said. Upon hearing these words, Ren Baqian made a turn and tried to find a parking spot.
Since the snow just stopped, the weather was very cold. The empress was merely wearing a coat with a red dress underneath, revealing a little bit of her calves. This kind of outfit made people feel that she preferred looking good rather than keeping warm.
However, when one saw her face, he could not help but admit that she was qualified to do so.
Ren Baqian and the empress entered the bookshop. It was a three-story-high building. The first story was the payment section, the second story contained various book collections, and the third story contained audio and visual materials.
After they entered the bookshop, the empress kept on glancing at the plasma television. The plasma television introduced various book collections.
Upon arriving on the second story, when the empress saw the vast sea of books, her eyes lit up with fascination.
The number of books here was a few times larger than those in Qingxin Palace Hall.
Walking through the book collections, she could smell the fragrance of books.
When the empress saw everyone choosing books and buying them at reasonably cheap prices, she could not help but feel amazed.
In this aspect, Dayao paled in comparison to Earth. In Dayao, books were still very expensive to many people. Even though there were many scholars, their number was still very small when compared to the enormous Dayao population.
After leaving the bookshop, Ren Baqian brought the empress to tour around the city so that she could learn a thing or two about this world.
When it was afternoon, Ren Baqian asked the empress, “Do you want to eat hotpot today? This weather is very good for eating hotpot.”
“Alright.”
Two of them entered a hotpot restaurant and ordered some meat, vegetables and seafood. After Ren Baqian helped the empress prepare a plate of dipping sauce, two of them then sat down.
Sitting around a steaming hotpot in this kind of weather was considered a pure enjoyment.
Ren Baqian poured the food into the hotpot. After the meat slices were cooked, Ren Baqian taught the empress how to eat hotpot. Very soon, he was shocked by the empress’s appetite.
From what he remembered, whether they were in Dayao in the past or on Earth yesterday, the empress did not really eat much.
Right now, there was already a pile of plates beside the two of them. The empress ate at least ten plates of meat.
“Usually, I will have medicinal food to replenish my blood and qi. If I just eat normal food, I will need to eat a lot. All aboriginals are like this,” the empress raised her head and told Ren Baqian.
Ren Baqian nodded his head. He was already shocked by the appetite of those people in the beast park. Given the empress’s strength, it was reasonable that her appetite was more terrifying than those people’s.
When Ren Baqian saw a sauce stain on the corner of the empress’s mouth, he picked up a piece of tissue and helped her wipe it off.
The empress’s body trembled, but she did not dodge Ren Baqian’s hand. Her eyelashes were slightly shivering.
When everyone in the restaurant saw what the two of them were doing, they couldn’t help but feel envy.
Ren Baqian’s action and the empress’s alluring look filled the air in the restaurant with love, so much so, that every customer felt full even before they started eating.
“I want this,” the empress told Ren Baqian after she finished eating.
“Alright,” Ren Baqian replied and smiled.
