Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Ah!” Ren Baqian felt a sharp pain on his buttocks. The empress kicked him once again.
“This is for running all over the place!”
“This is for falling into other people’s trap!”
“This is for taking so long to come back! You must have been enjoying yourself so much that you forgot to return home!”
At this moment, Ren Baqian was hanging upside down. Whenever the empress thought of something, she would reprimand him and go around kicking him.
Ren Baqian was full of grievance and complained, “I didn’t want to roam around, fall into other people’s trap, or be held up!”
“You still dare to talk back!” The empress gave him an icy-cold glare and kicked him again.
“I’m in the wrong!”
“You don’t think you are in the wrong?” The empress kicked once more.
“No, no, no! I’m indeed in the wrong!” Ren Baqian was very remorseful. “I’ll definitely take note next time!”
“Next time? You can’t go anywhere else anymore.” The empress gave him another kick.
“Alright, I won’t go anywhere!” Ren Baqian spoke in a soft voice. It seemed like the empress really endured a huge scare this time around. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have such a huge reaction.
The empress unhappily kicked Ren Baqian a few more times before finally sitting down to rest.
After pondering for a while, she stood up and kicked him once more.
“Did you think that I wouldn’t find out about you going to the brothel with Tong Zhenye?”
“I will not go again!”
“Also, what about the membership card that I found in your pocket? Do you think that I’m clueless? I have already investigated!” The empress kicked his leg a few times in a row.
“It’s just a place to relax and drink tea…” Ren Baqian tried his best to remain calm.
“You still dare to explain?” The empress gave him one more kick and asked, “What kind of place is it?”
“I was curious and went to take a look.” At present, Ren Baqian was at her mercy.
“Furthermore… why don’t you brush your teeth before going to bed?” The empress kicked him hard.
Ren Baqian was absolutely clueless.
Your Majesty, is this even considered an issue?
“You even snore when you are asleep!”
“You steal the blanket!”
“And even punched me!”
Ren Baqian was dumbfounded.
He didn’t know whether to cry or laugh and asked, “Your Majesty, why don’t you just tell me that you feel like kicking me?”
Even though she didn’t use much strength, her kicks felt as powerful as Nezha’s[1: Nezha – guardian deity in Chinese folk religion] fire wheel. He felt that his buttocks were swollen!
“That’s right! I just feel like kicking you!” The empress didn’t try to hide it.
“Your Majesty, you are too blunt…”
…
Ren Baqian was finally released after being hung for 12 hours. Both his legs were numb.
He felt like crying, but no tears flowed out. Initially, the empress found reasons to kick him. However, toward the end, she didn’t even bother to find an excuse to do so.
It was as if she was addicted to kicking him…
Karma was a b*tch!
He had just tied someone up and tickled them. Now that he came back, he was the one getting kicked while being tied up.
Fortunately, the empress’s anger finally subsided.
In fact, the empress had already cooled down after the first few kicks. Toward the end, she just felt like kicking him for no reason.
He lay flat on his stomach, stuck his buttocks out, and closed his eyes. When he woke up, the pain had already alleviated.
Fei Yan and Jiao Ping took their leave and went back to the Temple of Heaven. The soldiers, on the other hand, returned to the Yun Nation.
On his way back, Ren Baqian found out about what happened during this period.
For example, what happened to Lin Qiaole and Xin Zhe.
“Don’t try to persuade me. I have already imposed the punishment—how can I make any changes?” Seeing that Ren Baqian had the intention of speaking, the empress straightforwardly shut him up.
“Furthermore, a person will be rewarded for their merits and punished for their wrongdoings. If I don’t punish both of them for their wrongdoings, it will appear as if I can’t differentiate merit from punishment!”
Ren Baqian threw up his hands and ended the discussion. What the empress said made sense, and he had nothing else to add on.
At that time, in his opinion, he felt that both Lin Qiaole and Xin Zhe didn’t make any huge mistakes. It could only be said that the other party’s preparation was beyond their expectations.
Since things had already happened, he could only visit them when he was free.
Thankfully, even if they went to the mines, they wouldn’t be treated unfairly with their identities.
In particular, Lin Qiaole…
As for Li Yuanzhu, he would write a letter and send it to her one day.
For Lin Yue… Forget it.
What Ren Baqian really cared about was another concern, which were the orders given by the empress previously.
The situation in the Yun Nation, which had finally just settled down, was stirred up once again.
On their return journey, Ren Baqian deliberately entered two cities. Although the commoners in these cities were still doing their usual duties, he could infer things just from their gazes as well as their evasion reactions.
Ren Baqian couldn’t do much about this situation either. He could only continue to stabilize the situation in the Yun Nation and use time to change the opinions of the commoners here.
“Your Majesty, do you want to mingle with the people while being incognito?” Ren Baqian proposed in high spirits. “Just the two of us. To meticulously understand what’s happening in the Yun Nation.”
“You are implying that you want me to run all over the place with this big tummy of mine?” The empress glared at him.
“Umm…” Ren Baqian was left speechless.
Well, the empress’s belly wasn’t that big right now. It looked as if she was at the end of her second trimester… However, it was indeed inconvenient to go out.
With the rejection of this suggestion and the empress strictly prohibiting Ren Baqian from roaming about, he could only low-key enter a city when he was nearby to check out the living conditions of the Yun Nation commoners.
As for the invitations he received from a few the Yun Nation warlords, he had no choice but to reject them.
It took them a few days to return to Ping City. After a day of rest, they again set foot on the return journey.
“The condition of this road is pretty good!” the empress praised as she sat in her carriage and opened the curtains, looking at the wide road outside.
The road from Lan City to the Yun Nation was a four-lane cement road that was about 10 meters wide. Walking on the road provided a panoramic view and would make one feel at ease.
Just talking about the road with and excluding other factors, (TLC. Not sure about this part.) no other nations were comparable to them.
One had to know that the roads in Great Xia were only about three meters wide. For the more important roads, they were only four meters wide at most. After all, quarrying and constructing roads consumed a lot of manpower and resources. From mining to rock cutting to transporting, these were all time-consuming and laborious jobs.
This was without mentioning how smooth the new road from Lan City to the Yun Nation was.
One could hardly feel any bumps on this type of concrete road. The wear and tear of the carriages as well as the fatigue of the travelers were all reduced to a minimum.
Just by seeing this road, the people of the Yun Nation were all awestruck.
“This is only the first road. In the future, these roads will be a common sight throughout all of Dayao.” Ren Baqian smiled. “Your Majesty, it’s your turn!”
The empress turned her head and looked at the chessboard before asking, “Where’s my bishop?”
“The both of us made a trade previously!” Ren Baqian pointed at the side.
“When did that happen? Why don’t I remember anything?” The empress looked at him modestly. She was extremely calm.
“It just happened! You got rid of my pawn and then my cannon got rid of your bishop!” Ren Baqian felt that her memory was going from bad to worse. Could it be that pregnancy would affect one’s memory?
“That never happened—you are lying to me!” The empress tapped her fingers lightly on the table, and her bishop piece immediately flew back onto the chessboard.
She stretched out her hand and used her bishop to get rid of Ren Baqian’s rook before looking at the window and exclaiming, “I really hope to see this road filled with cars, just like what I see on Earth!”
Ren Baqian could only stare at the chessboard and gnash his teeth. He then used his knight to get rid of the empress’s cannon before laughing heartily and replying, “Soon enough… Your Majesty will see tractors roaming everywhere… Your Majesty, your cannon is gone!”
The empress turned to look at the chessboard before looking at him again and asking, “How did your knight get rid of my cannon?”
“My knight was over at this spot…”
“No, your knight was originally over there!” The empress placed Ren Baqian’s knight back at its previous position. Soon after, she snorted and remarked, “Recently, you have been playing very shamelessly during our chess games!”
Ren Baqian had nothing to say.
Your Majesty, are you sure you aren’t talking about yourself?
When can we ever play a good game of chess?
A short while later, the empress exclaimed, “Checkmate!”
Ren Baqian pursed his lips. He knew that the game couldn’t go on anymore.
“You lost, so you must fulfill one request of mine!” the empress said.
Ren Baqian sighed and replied, “Tell me about it!”
“Do a striptease for me to see!”
The empress immediately lay down with her right arm supporting her head and looked at Ren Baqian in high spirits.
