The Empress's Gigolo

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

At court two days later, everyone’s faces were full of emotions.

They exchanged glances with one another.

“Have you heard?”

“I have!”

“Is it real?”

“It shouldn’t be fake.”

“Who would dare to spout nonsense about this matter? Besides, Sir Qin was the one who said it.”

Everyone’s attention subsequently turned to Qin Chuan.

“What are you looking at?” Qin Chuan’s face immediately turned black when everyone looked at him.

He cursed to himself, How did this news get out so quickly?

Her Majesty must never know that he was the one who had spread this news.

Tong Zhenye of the Ministry of Works asked, “Do you have a complaint, you ignorant old man?”

Tu Wan of the Ministry of Revenue sneered, “Sir Qin!”

The Minister of Justice looked over, gave the side-eye, and asked, “What do you want to say?”

With his nostrils pointing toward Qin Chuan, the Minister of Rites raised his head.

Officials of the other departments glanced over at Qin Chuan for a brief moment before raising their heads and looking at the sky.

Even though Qin Chuan was the Minister of War and was also strong, everyone present here was an honorable expert as well. If they were to fight, other than the empress, Hong Wu, and Xi Wanya, they wouldn’t be afraid of anyone else.

Qin Chuan silently cursed, F*ck!

What he said had already provoked a hornet’s nest. If he were to say more, he would probably get surrounded and kicked. He then turned his head around and faced away from the crowd.

A wise man knew better than to fight when the odds were against him, and he still knew what this meant.

“Hehe!” He heard a grim laugh. Without even looking, Qin Chuan knew that it was Tong Zhenye, the ignorant old man, so he endured it.

When the empress arrived, everyone occasionally gave her a strange look.

“What? What happened?” the empress asked coldly. She somehow sensed that the atmosphere in the court was a little strange today.

“Nothing! There’s peace and prosperity. Everything is well,” Shi Qing answered.

“Nobody has anything to report?” the empress asked again.

“No!”

“Then why’s everyone looking at me?”

Everyone lowered their heads and started looking for ants on the ground.

“Lift your heads!” the empress ordered crisply. “What exactly happened? Or is it something that I shouldn’t know about?”

“There’s really nothing, Your Majesty,” everyone replied successively.

What else could it be? These days, rumors had been actively spreading, and everyone had been gossiping.

Yet, could they share the content of this gossip with the empress? How were they going to tell her?

“Since there’s nothing, you may all take your leave,” the empress said.

“Your Majesty!” She Kouhai said.

When the Junior Elder, who had been honest and sincere for the past year, opened his mouth and spoke, everyone looked over at him. Qin Chuan’s heart was in his throat.

“Speak, Junior Elder.” Seeing that She Kouhai was willing to talk, the empress became less tense.

“Since Principal Ren and Your Majesty aren’t officially married yet, I feel that it’s a little inappropriate for him to be living in the palace at the moment. It would be better to bestow an official residence for him to temporarily stay in,” She Kouhai said.

“Inappropriate in what manner?” the empress countered.

“It doesn’t conform with the rites!” She Kouhai lowered his head.

“What rites? We aboriginals have never had such rites. Could it be that you are putting up this request based on Great Xia’s rites?” the empress asked coldly.

“I wouldn’t dare.” She Kouhai broke into a cold sweat when he heard this.

Indeed, there weren’t any such rites that forbade living together before marriage. However, Her Majesty was the reigning empress, so she was always very easily talked about among the people. Upon seeing the empress’s attitude, everyone swallowed down their words.

“How are you allowed to question my personal life? If there’s nothing else, you may take your leave,” the empress replied impatiently.

After everyone left, the empress returned to her quarters and said to Xin Zhe, “Go check it out. Find out if they are hiding anything from me. They were acting odd during court today.”

“Yes.” Xin Zhe immediately accepted the order and left.

When Xin Zhe returned four hours later, the empress’s face turned black immediately after hearing what Xin Zhe reported. No wonder everybody had acted so bizarrely today. No wonder She Kouhai had said such things.

That wretched Qin Chuan!

At that moment, after a few flashes, she appeared in the air above the Ministry of War. Her thunderous voice, cold yet full of fury, resounded throughout half of Lan City as she roared, “Qin Chuan, you ignorant old man! Come out now!”

When Qin Chuan came out, the empress smacked him without demur. As ripples appeared in the air, it looked like the appearance of an enormous and transparent palm print.

Seeing that things weren’t going well, Qin Chuan was ready to break into a run.

“Your Majesty, what wrong have I committed?”

“How dare you run away!” With her palm, the empress responded in a rage and hammered Qin Chuan through the ground like a nail. She then grabbed him by his hair, dragged him out, and whipped a kick across his body, sending him smashing through about seven buildings and collapsing them.

“Someone, tie him up!” raged the empress.

A high ranking official in the Ministry of War quickly asked, “Your Majesty, what has Sir Qin done?”

“Spread baseless rumors!” The empress looked extremely angry.

After everyone heard this, they all gave Qin Chuan a look of condolence. He had it coming this time.

Tong Zhenye hurried over from the nearby Ministry of Works and asked softly, “How do you wish to punish Sir Qin, Your Majesty?”

“Hang him up from the gates of the palace!” the empress replied ruthlessly.

If the punishment was too heavy, Tong Zhenye might just have restrained her a little. However, after hearing this punishment, he immediately rejoiced in Qin Chuan’s misfortune and personally tied him up.

As he tied Qin Chuan up, he said, “Sir Qin, that mouth of yours! You deserve it! What strong nerve you have to actually make such absurd comments about Her Majesty’s personal matters without filtering your words! Go hang there from the gates for a few days or weeks and reflect upon yourself.”

Badly battered, Qin Chuan shot an angry look at Tong Zhenye.

The empress still looked very angry. Just now, she had said that Qin Chuan had spread baseless rumors. From Tong Zhenye’s mouth, it suddenly became that Qin Chuan had commented about the empress’s personal matters. She flew into a rage out of humiliation because those who didn’t know what had actually happened would think that what Qin Chuan had said was real.

With a kick, she sent Qin Chuan flying into a wall before ruthlessly saying, “Someone, hang Qin Chuan up from the palace gates. No one is to let him down without my permission.”

After she was done speaking, she vanished with a stomp of her foot and returned back to the palace with her anger still unquenched.

Anyone who had rumors fabricated about them when they were innocent would definitely not feel good. Moreover, this blabbermouth Qin Chuan had spread the rumors everywhere.

A short time later, after Ren Baqian had ended class, he returned back to the palace and saw Qin Chuan hanging from the palace gates. Tong Zhenye had even brought along a few people from the Ministry of Works to stand around and watch him.

Ren Baqian immediately laughed and asked, “What has Sir Qin done this time to provoke Her Majesty?”

Tong Zhenye gave him a weird look and answered, “Sir Qin ended up in this state because of something related to you, Sir Ren.”

Ren Baqian was instantly baffled.

“What does this have to do with me?”

Tong Zhenye let out a rather dubious laugh and explained, “Sir Qin spread news about you and Her Majesty everywhere, which enraged her. After all, it’s a private matter between you and Her Majesty, so don’t you think it concerns you?”

Ren Baqian felt even more baffled. News about him and the empress had already been spreading for a year—what else could there be?

Then, Tong Zhenye promptly made a hand gesture and exclaimed, “Having a child soon!”

After hearing this, Ren Baqian let out a mischievous laugh before coming to his senses and feeling that something wasn’t right. How did Qin Chuan know about this? What rumors had he been spreading to others?

After he thought it through, Ren Baqian immediately spat and said, “Serves him right.”

Tong Zhenye strongly agreed with that.

Without even casting a glance at Qin Chuan, Ren Baqian entered the palace. When he got back, he acted as if he was unaware of everything that had happened when he saw the empress. This was to avoid her anger being taken out on him.

Seeing Ren Baqian act as if nothing had happened, the empress got even angrier, but she didn’t actually show this on her face.

After the two of them finished their lunch, the empress said, “Take an hour to rest. Then, we shall double your training today!”

“Your Majesty?” Ren Baqian was dumbfounded.

It was Sir Qin who offended you, so why am I implicated as well?