Translator: TYZ Editor: Book_Hoarder
Sitting in the palace hall, the empress was bored stiff. She had been fiddling with the walkie-talkie for a long time, but she had yet to press the call button.
She was exceptionally bored today.
However, she did not fuss over the fact that Rem Baqian was out drinking. After all, drinking was a culture of Dayao. Even though she seldom went outside of the palace, she still heard a lot of interesting stories that happened in the outside world. Qing Yuan and Hong Luan would often tell her stories and gossip that they heard to amuse her.
Furthermore, she liked to drink as well.
“I wonder how House Yunyan looks like… I must visit that place one day…” The empress was in a daze. Other than the imperial palace, she had never been to any restaurant in Lan City. She reckoned that drinking in a restaurant would be more interesting than drinking in the palace hall by herself.
However, the empress still felt that she had heard of “House Yunyan” somewhere before.
“Qing Yuan, have you heard of House Yunyan?” the empress asked casually. Qing Yuan loved to listen to gossip and then spill it all to everyone in the palace.
“House Yunyan…” Qing Yuan was puzzled why the empress asked about it. However, she still racked her brain to remember what she knew. After a long while, she jolted up and said, “Ahh, I remember what it is. There was a time where Minister of Works, Sir Tong, and Minister of War, Sir Qin, had a huge fight in House Yunyan. Everyone called it ‘The Ultimate Battle of Yunyan’. At that time, the news of this battle was spread far and wide.”
“I did remember you told me about this before.” The empress nodded her head, looking as though she had remembered something.
“Why is it called the ‘The Ultimate Battle of Yunyan’?” the empress asked curiously again.
“I heard that House Yunyan is a brothel and many officials frequent it,” Qing Yuan replied.
“Why is it called brothel?” the empress questioned.
“Maybe it’s because it’s green in color?” Qing Yuan guessed. Previously, she also wondered why it was called brothel, but no one explained it to her.
[Brothel in Chinese is called “青楼”. The word “青” means “green” while the word “楼” means “buildings”. The direct translation of “青楼” is “green building”.]
“Your Majesty, why did you think about all these things?” Qing Yuan felt that the empress behaved oddly tonight. In the past, the empress wouldn’t be interested in these things when she told her about them.
“Sigh!” the empress sighed deeply and remained silent for quite some time.
She became even more bored.
“Summon Xin Zhe,” the empress instructed.
After a while, Xin Zhe entered the palace hall. “Greetings, Your Majesty!”
The empress stood up and walked towards the outside of the palace hall. “Follow me out of the imperial palace. There’s no need to inform anyone else, I’m just going out for a stroll.”
“Yes.” Xin Zhe immediately followed behind the empress. She seldom saw the empress in such high spirits, therefore she did not raise any objections against her going out of the palace. In any case, no one was able to hurt her. For the past few years, the number of times the empress went outside of the palace could be counted on one hand. This was the first time she wanted to go outside of the palace for a stroll at night.
Qing Yuan pursed her lips in a pout. She couldn’t believe the empress did not want to bring her along.
It had been very long since she last went out of the palace.
In a flash, the empress appeared on the roof of Yangxin Palace. Within seconds, she appeared outside of the palace. Since she was just going out for a stroll, there was no need for her to walk through the main entrance.
Furthermore, she walked faster than all types of mounts.
“Your Majesty, where are we going?” Xin Zhe landed behind the empress and asked.
“House Yunyuan, do you know the way there?” the empress asked casually. She wanted to see how it felt to drink in a restaurant. Since so many court officials frequented House Yuayun, it must be a very nice place.
Furthermore, she could go there and hear to what they talked about.
Upon hearing the empress’s words, a look of fear appeared on Xin Zhe’s face. “Your Majesty, we can’t go there!”
Qing Yuan and Hong Luan might not know what House Yunyan was. Unlike the palace maids, Xin Zhe had so many male subordinates, how would she not know about House Yunyan?
Even if no one dared to mention it in front of her, she would still hear about it occasionally.
Upon seeing such a huge reaction from Xin Zhe, she turned around and asked her, “Why? Is there anything that I don’t know about it?”
“Your Majesty, House Yunyan is a place where men seek pleasure. Given Your Majesty’s status, the outcome will be disastrous if you go there! Furthermore, that place will bring shame to your name as well!”
“Seek pleasure? Isn’t it a restaurant?” The empress finally felt something wasn’t quite right with the place…
“Your Majesty!” Xin Zhe did not know whether she should cry or laugh. Which bastard told Her Majesty about such a place?
“That is a place where girls will drink and seek pleasure with their customers. That place is not suitable for you to go to. Why don’t we visit some other places? If Your Majesty wants to visit a restaurant, I know of a few that are not bad,” Xin Zhe tried to persuade the empress.
After hearing these words, the empress turned silent. Following which, she began to chuckle softly.
Immediately, Xin Zhe could sense the temperature of their surroundings dropped drastically. She could feel a tinge of chilliness creeping into her body.
“Hehe, then the more we should go and take a look,” the empress sneered.
“Your Majesty!” Xin Zhe was terrified. If someone found out that Her Majesty went to that kind of place, the outcome would be unthinkable.
“Lead the way!” the empress roared coldly.
…
“Sir Ren’s sweet potatoes will greatly improve the lives of the people living in the mountains in a few years’ time. On behalf of everyone, thank you, Sir Ren. Sir Ren, why not you consider coming to the Department of Agriculture and Livestock?” Ge Yihong hit Ren Baqian’s bowl of wine with his own bowl and downed it.
“I’m not considering it, I’m not going there,” Ren Baqian rejected Ge Yihong’s offer. Following which, he finished his drink in one gulp. His eyes were already blurred.
Before drinking with Ge Yihong, he had already drunk with a lot of people. Even though this wine wasn’t strong, it couldn’t be drunk so much in one go.
He had already pushed away the sweet-looking girl that Tong Zhenye arranged for him just now. If that old bast*rd had the intention to frame him, wouldn’t he die a horrible death?
“Sir Tong, enjoy yourself. I’m not interested in girls, I am here just to drink,” Ren Baqian grinned and replied, revealing his set of white teeth.
“Pff!” Tong Zhen spat out the wine in his mouth. After taking a glance at Ren Baqian, he burst out laughing and said, “That’s good.”
When the lovely, pitiful-looking girl, who was called Ling Guan, poured wine for Ren Baqian, Ren Baqian purposely pulled his seat away from her and maintained a distance of half a meter away from her. She looked like one of those girls that Tong Zhenyue would hug in each of his arms.
Ling Guan did not mind Ren Baqian’s action at all. She pursed her lips and smiled. Then, she “intimately” filled up Ren Baqian’s cup. Every time she poured wine for him, she would purposely stand up and do it. Ren Baqian felt that this girl was in collusion with Tong Zhenye and his counterparts.
“Speak! Sir Tong has given you what benefits to get me drunk!” After drinking a few jars of wine, Ren Baqian was looking at her dizzily with his eyes slanted.
“Sir, you must be joking. These drinks were offered to you by other people and you chose to drink them yourself. I’m merely helping you to refill your cup. Don’t you like a pair of jade-white, delicate hands helping you refill your cup?” Ling Guan chuckled and said.
Listening to Ling Guan’s words, the image of a person suddenly emerged in Ren Baqian’s mind.
If that person could do this…
When Ren Baqian thought of the empress pouring wine for him while speaking to him with such a gentle voice, his mind jolted. That would definitely be the last cup of wine he would drink.
However, even though the empress was cold, she did it in an extremely attractive manner. Every now and then, she would behave like a demure and classy lady. This kind of contrast was very attractive to Ren Baqian. He had seen her behaved like this for several times before.
When Ren Baqian thought of the empress, a wistful longing for her suddenly arose in his heart
In the past, he had always walked on eggshells when he faced the empress. However, after spending so much time with her, she had now become an extremely important and dear person to him.
He was merely fooling around when he got all excited the moment he heard that House Yanyun was a brothel. Now that he was here, all he could think about was the empress.
After drinking another two bowls of wine, Tong Zhenye looked at him dazedly and asked, “Deputy Prefect Ren, why don’t you come and work for me in the Ministry of Works? We still need an assistant minister.”
Tong Zhenye’s method of convincing Ren Baqian was exactly the same as Ge Yihong’s. Feng Lie looked at him with hidden bitterness.
“No…. I’m not going!” Ren Baqian turned down his offer immediately.
“Given your knowledge, you will definitely make it big if you come to Ministry of Works. Everyone in the imperial court will change their impression of you. Why bother doing those miscellaneous things in the palace? It’s such a waste of your talent.” With a drunk look on his face, Tong Zhenye was still trying his best to tempt Ren Baqian.
Actually, he had a motive for inviting Ren Baqian to drink with him. Celebrating the success in making the cement was just an excuse. Given Ren Baqian’s capability, he wanted to bring him into the Ministry of Works.
Pulling Ren Baqian into the Ministry of Works was Tong Zhenye’s real intention. Even though Ren Baqian already held the position of Imperial Deputy Prefect, the empress would still allow him to go the Ministry of Works if he asked for it.
He felt that Ren Baqian was very knowledgeable and that he could be of a great help to the Ministry of Works.
Of course, he had other ideas too. For example, he wanted to find out how many things Ren Baqian knew. However, after drinking so much, he had long forgotten about this task. Even so, he still remembered to convince Ren Baqian to work in the Ministry of Works.
“I don’t… want to go anywhere,” Ren Baqian said dizzily.
He couldn’t hear what Tong Zhenye said as his head was spinning. Following which, his head slammed onto the table.
Tong Zhenye continued to talk, completely oblivious to Ren Baqian’s condition. Then, he heard Feng Hou saying, “Deputy Prefect Ren, how can you give up just like this? At least you finish your drink, not bad!”
Tong Zhenye looked at Ren Baqian and hiccupped. “Huh? I haven’t finished talking yet.”
“If Deputy Prefect Ren goes back like this, Her Majesty might punish us,” Tong Yan, who was slightly more sober than the others, said. Then, he continued, “In any case, you said that you will take responsibility for everything.”
“What’s there to be scared of?” Tong Zhenye said nonchalantly. At most, he would say that he was helping Her Majesty test Ren Baqian’s character. Therefore, why would he be scared of Her Majesty punishing him?
“Oh? Really?” A cold voice suddenly came through the window. Two figures appeared in the room out of nowhere.
The empress took a sweeping glance at the situation in the room. Everyone had a girl beside them while Tong Zhenye had a girl in each of his arms. On the contrary, Ren Baqian maintained a safe distance from everyone with his head planted on the table. She was rather satisfied with the situation in the room.
“Your…” Before Tong Zhenye could finish his sentence, he broke through three walls and flew out of the building.
The thunderous sound gave everyone in the brothel a shock.
The empress picked up Ren Baqian by his collar and disappeared into thin air.
Before Xin Zhe left, she glared angrily at everyone. This bunch of bast*rds actually brought that guy here? Were they courting death?
Tong Yan took a look at the enormous hole on the wall. Then, he shifted his gaze back to the frightened girls. With a calm look on his face, he downed a cup of wine and said, “Sir Tong will take responsibility.”
Just now, when the empress appeared in the room, everyone was shocked. Now that the empress had left, when they looked at the wall and heard Tong Yan’s words, they burst out into laughter. None of them could sit still. Ge Yihong laughed to the extent that he smashed the stone table in front of him into smithereens.
Tong Zhenye lay in a room face up with dust covering his entire body. He did not care about the naked guy and girl that were beside him. Filled with grievance, he yelled, “Your Majesty… Hear me out!”
