The Empress's Gigolo
The Empress's Gigolo - Chapter 831: The Cause of the Palace’s Collapse

Chapter 831: The Cause of the Palace鈥檚 Collapse

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Sun Qingwen and Jiang Biebu were carried out of the residence like chickens and thrown on the ground. They were both shivering.

Jiang Biebu shouted repeatedly, 鈥淪ir, this is a misunderstanding. I鈥檓 Jiang Biebu, the son of Jiang City鈥檚 warlord. I have come here to visit and I鈥檓 not with them!鈥?/p>

鈥淛iang Biebu? Let me think. Yeah, that鈥檚 right! There鈥檚 your name on it too!鈥?Hong Bao burst into laughter. 鈥淵ou have saved me some effort!鈥?/p>

He then took out a piece of paper, but didn鈥檛 understand a word of it.

鈥淵ou read it!鈥?He threw the paper to the person behind him.

鈥淵ou do it!鈥?The person behind him threw it to another person without even looking at it.

鈥淒on鈥檛 you know that I can鈥檛 read?鈥?That man shouted fiercely. 鈥淲hat about Little Fifteen?鈥?/p>

鈥淟ittle Fifteen鈥檚 wife is giving birth today, and Sir gave him two weeks off!鈥?someone answered

鈥淵ou read it yourself!鈥?They handed the paper to Jiang Biebu and Sun Qingwen.

When they glanced at the paper, their faces immediately went pale. Their sweat immediately soaked their clothes.

鈥淩ead it!鈥?The burly man beside them got impatient and kicked one of them.

鈥淭he two men, Sun Qingwen and Jiang Biebu鈥︹€?/p>

鈥淟ouder, understand?鈥?/p>

鈥溾€?are the envoys of Hu and Yongjiang City. However, during Her Majesty鈥檚 wedding banquet, they privately teased and made improper comments about Her Majesty and the officials. Many of their words were disrespectful鈥︹€?/p>

鈥淒amn it! You actually made improper comments about Her Majesty?鈥?As Hong Bao listened, his eyeballs almost popped out. He kicked Jiang Biebu, who was drenched in cold sweat, in the chest, causing him to throw up blood in the air. His entire chest caved in.

鈥淧ah! You are pretty gutsy! Check if he鈥檚 dead. If he is, just say that he resisted! If not, just grant him an easy death!鈥?Hong Bao shouted.

鈥淪ir, I鈥檓 afraid you鈥檒l get punished for this!鈥?/p>

鈥淲hat鈥檚 there to be afraid of! These people dared to privately make improper comments about Her Majesty. I鈥檒l take some men to their damned cities and start a massacre!鈥?Hong Bao shouted with glaring eyes.

At the side, Sun Qingwen shivered as a pool of yellow liquid flowed out.

Originally, he was still a little hopeful. At that time, Jiang Biebu was the one who did most of the talking, whereas he had merely added a few sentences. He expected to receive some light punishment and would then think about how to remedy it on the way back. He didn鈥檛 expect these aboriginals to go directly for the kill!

He felt so regretful now! If he had known earlier, he wouldn鈥檛 have spouted such nonsense! At that time, they were speaking very softly, so it was impossible for others to hear their conversation. How did this spread out?

He wasn鈥檛 the only one regretting it. Fortunately, some of the warlords鈥?sons who were eavesdropping outside the wall had been cautious about what they said. However, there were also some who were scared sh*tless as they had also said disrespectful words during their stay in Lan City.

At that moment, a man separated the crowd, walked into the courtyard, and said, 鈥淪ir, this isn鈥檛 appropriate!鈥?/p>

As the people outside the courtyard wondered who was ballsy enough to do this, they saw his figure and were shocked.

鈥淟in Mengsheng?鈥?/p>

鈥淲hy is he meddling in this mess?鈥?/p>

鈥淟et鈥檚 see!鈥?/p>

Hong Bao was furious when he heard Lin Mengsheng鈥檚 words. When he turned his head and saw that it was someone from the Yun Nation, he immediately sneered. A murderous aura permeated the whole area.

鈥淪ir, my name is Lin Mengsheng. I鈥檓 currently working at Black Bamboo Academy. Like you, I鈥檓 serving as an official!鈥?He looked very calm and didn鈥檛 seem to fear Hong Bao鈥檚 murderous spirit.

鈥淲hat did you say, kid?鈥?Hong Bao almost flew into a rage and started killing, but after hearing that this man was working at Black Bamboo Academy, he remembered that he had heard about such a thing. However, he didn鈥檛 restrain his murderous spirit at all and still looked extremely frightening.

鈥淪ir, did Her Majesty order you to arrest or to kill? No matter what these two people have said or done, even if they are found guilty and convicted, Her Majesty will be the one making the judgement. There are regulations in the household and laws in the nation. It鈥檚 all the same, regardless of whether you are in Dayao or the Yun Nation. It鈥檚 not appropriate for you to do as you wish without permission!鈥?/p>

He then lowered his voice and said, 鈥淪ir, since the Yun Nation has just surrendered, the people are feeling anxious. These two men have special identities as they are envoys of the warlords. Even though their statuses aren鈥檛 high, their significance is different. You represent the imperial court and Her Majesty. If you wound and kill according to your own wishes, the people of the Yun Nation will definitely feel threatened and it will end up in chaos! Even though these two people are nothing, if you simply kill them at will, the impact will be great! I鈥檓 afraid that both Zhao Prince Consort and Her Majesty won鈥檛 want to see this happen.

From the way that Zhao Prince Consort handles things, regardless of whether he was dealing with Tianjing Basin or the Yun Nation, he has always been powerful, yet gentle, in his approach to merge these two nations into Dayao鈥檚 territory. Even though you will feel delight when killing them, it will be harmful to the overall situation! I don鈥檛 know whether you think that your delight or Zhao Prince Consort鈥檚 plan is more important?鈥?/p>

Hong Bao stared at Lin Mengsheng with his eyes wide open. It was as if he was looking at something strange.

He kept silent for some time before saying, 鈥淔*ck you! What are you talking about?鈥?/p>

鈥淵ou look very forthright, but I鈥檓 sure you understand what I鈥檓 talking about!鈥?Lin Mengsheng replied faintly.

鈥淓ven though I don鈥檛 quite understand you, you sounded impressive!鈥?Hong Bao suddenly burst out in laughter.

As he laughed, he patted Lin Mengsheng鈥檚 shoulder a few times with his hand that was the size of a palm leaf, causing Lin Mengsheng鈥檚 face to twitch a little.

If Lin Mengsheng didn鈥檛 apply medication to it afterward, he probably wouldn鈥檛 be able to lift his arm for more than a week.

When Hong Bao finished laughing, he turned around and asked, 鈥淚s he dead yet?鈥?/p>

鈥淗e鈥檚 still breathing!鈥?/p>

鈥淭ake him to the clinic, keep him alive, and throw him into prison! Arrest the rest of these people!鈥?/p>

He then lowered his head, looked at Lin Mengsheng with a sinister smile, and said, 鈥淜id, what you said made a bit of sense! However, you suddenly don鈥檛 look very pleasing to me, and I feel like killing you!鈥?/p>

Hong Bao continued laughing and took everyone away.

When he and the people from the Department of Inspection left, everyone outside immediately rushed into the courtyard and surrounded Lin Mengsheng.

Prior to this incident, nobody thought that he would ever stand up for those two people, let alone convince that aboriginal official! Everyone admired his actions, especially when he stood strong against that frightening man.

Many people suddenly realized something. Since Lin Mengsheng, who was also a native of the Yun Nation, now held a position in Lan City and was willing to stand up for his own people, he became more valuable as an acquaintance than the others.

Even if he wouldn鈥檛 be able to get promoted to a high rank, being acquainted with him would only bring them benefits and no harm.

鈥?/p>

Ren Baqian and the empress sat across from each other. In front of them was a chessboard.

He held a chess piece and thought about his next move for a long time before putting down a white piece!

The empress ate a piece of fruit before quickly playing a red piece. It was red instead of black because she liked this color!

鈥淔ive in a row, I win!鈥?/p>

Ren Baqian looked at those five red pieces that were connected together on the board, threw his white pieces aside, and declared, 鈥淚鈥檓 not playing anymore!鈥?/p>

The empress twitched her nose and smiled. She was in a very pleasant mood.

His flustered and exasperated look made her even happier than seeing him concede defeat.

Soon after, Xin Zhe came over and reported, 鈥淵our Majesty, we have arrested those people.鈥?/p>

At the same time, she handed over a piece of paper and said, 鈥淭he Rearguard Commandery sent this.鈥?/p>

The empress took a glance at it and threw it to Ren Baqian.

He read it carefully and said, 鈥淭his Lin Mengsheng is pretty interesting!鈥?/p>

鈥淭hat Hong Bao has got too much nerve. I ordered him to arrest those people, but he actually tried to kill them!鈥?She was concerned about a different issue.

鈥淚t鈥檚 also because of the great respect he has for you that he can鈥檛 tolerate others making such improper comments!鈥?Ren Baqian laughed.

鈥淓ven so, he can鈥檛 go unpunished for this!鈥?the empress replied.

鈥淲hat do you intend to do, Your Majesty?鈥?He was slightly curious.

She pondered for a moment and replied, 鈥淔orfeit his salary for half a year!鈥?/p>

Ren Baqian nodded. That was a relatively balanced punishment.

鈥淎nd then reward him with 1,000 taels of silver! I do appreciate his thoughts at least!鈥?the empress added.

鈥淭his Hong Bao only earns an annual salary of 800 taels of silver. He actually still benefits from this punishment! Your Majesty, do you intend to punish or reward him?鈥?Ren Baqian burst out in laughter.

She blinked her eyes a few times and asked, 鈥淗aven鈥檛 you been telling me to make a clear distinction between punishments and rewards?鈥?/p>

Ren Baqian was stunned. Actually, he didn鈥檛 pay any attention to what she said, but was in fact attracted by her charm when she blinked. He leaned over and gently kissed her eyelids.

Qing Yuan and Hong Luan were already used to this, so it didn鈥檛 bother them at all.

They had seen him do even more shameless things.

It was actually Xin Zhe whose eyes were very expressive behind her pair of glasses.

鈥淵our Majesty, we have cleared out the ruins of your quarters and discovered the cause of its collapse.鈥?/p>

鈥淥h? Let鈥檚 go take a look!鈥?/p>

Ren Baqian and the empress rushed to the site and saw that they had already cleared up the debris from seven meters deep beneath the ground of the empress鈥檚 quarters. There was a 50 centimeter hole along the wall of soil, and it seemed like there were more than ten of these holes beneath the entire quarters.

They were surprised at first, but then, they suddenly discovered something.

These holes鈥?There was only one thing in the entire palace that liked to dig holes鈥?The roaring emperor!

They didn鈥檛 know when that fellow actually dug so many tunnels below the quarters! Of course, these tunnels were all at least five meters below the ground. If nothing unexpected happened, the palace probably wouldn鈥檛 collapse in the next few decades!

It was a bit implausible to say that these tunnels were the cause of the collapse. However, the empress insisted that this was the cause, regardless of whether it was implausible or not!

鈥淵our Majesty, the quarters collapsed because of these tunnels. However, I realized something just now. There鈥檚 a layer of rock below with signs of sculptures carved out by men. There might be a hidden chamber below!鈥?/p>

鈥淓xcavate!鈥?She immediately gave the order.

A hidden chamber actually existed below the quarters. This made both Ren Baqian and the empress very curious as to what lay beneath.

Ren Baqian then added, 鈥淐apture the roaring emperor!鈥?/p>

It was time to let that fellow understand the consequences of digging holes!