"Why do I remember hearing about Deputy Ren's brutal killings." The empress's cold voice sounded. Ren Baqian's entire body stiffened at once.

What does the empress mean?

She knew that I killed Lian Baocheng?

Otherwise, why would she say such things?

Ren Baqian's mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts. At this moment, he wasn't sure how he should reply the empress.

The empress's next sentence made him feel as though he had been granted with amnesty.

"Forget it, I shall not hold you liable for whatever happened this time. Go and tidy yourself up. It's so shameful to be in such a mess," the empress continued saying.

"Thank you Your Majesty," Ren Baqian said promptly and retreated. He did not even dare to bring up any other matters.

After he left, Ren Baqian was practically certain that the empress already knew what happened. Otherwise, she wouldn't have said that last sentence. As such, he could be considered free of worries, and this would also prevent others from digging things up again in the future.

Naturally, he was unaware that the empress already knew clearly about his conduct and deeds.

After he left, the empress recalled Ren Baqian's mournful appearance when he came to complain tearfully just now and also his intimidated appearance after hearing her words. All these made her feel that it was amusing. She smiled. "Very crafty indeed, he always needs a good knocking to wake him up."

Qing Yuan and Hong Luan glanced at each other, and both of them wore a smile on their faces. Any other person who came to see Her Majesty would definitely tidy themselves up. n.o.body would be like Deputy Ren, who went to meet her in a sorry state and wept miserably. However, whenever Her Majesty saw Ren Baqian, her mood wouldn't be foul. Contrary to what one might expect, it was actually a good thing.

Soon after, the empress ordered Xin Zhe, "If anyone asks about that Lian Baocheng, just explain that he overestimated his own capabilities and provoked the wild beasts, causing even his corpse to be swallowed by them."

He was just a Great Xia aristocrat. They even killed the Yun Nation envoys as they pleased, why would they even care about a Great Xia aristocrat?

Even when Wu Fang told the empress about the tool Ren Baqian used during the Great Hunt, she was only a little interested. With her abilities, it was natural for her to not really care about such things.

Furthermore, only based on Wu Fang's description, it was enough for her know that these types of items were difficult to manufacture in bulk. In that case, they would be better off using weapons such as knives and swords.

But, this Storyteller Ren had many tricks up his sleeves.

Everyone's mounts were all by the stream and were looked after by someone. Ren Baqian's mountain-gazing bird on the other hand, was forced all the way outside and was a distance away. The main reason was due to the number of ferocious beasts over at the stream, causing the mountain-gazing bird to s.h.i.+ver whenever it was near them.

Ren Baqian went to one side of the stream and briefly cleansed himself. Only then did he retrieve his sleeping bag which contained his official robe.

After changing into his official robe, Ren Baqian, at long last, looked much fresher than before.

He lay on the lawn after changing, and in a short while, he was summoned to roast some meat for the empress. He conveniently roasted a piece of meat for himself as well.

By this time, the people on top of the mountain had all came down gradually while the top three winners of the Great Hunt had also been selected simultaneously.

The winner was someone called Tao Meng, who bought back prey that had a horn on its head and was an organism similar to the leopard. It was called shouchang. According to people, it specialized in guarding some rare and unusual-looking flowers. In addition, it was as speedy as lightning and also powerful. For example, the sharp-toothed tiger and similar beasts were its food.

Many people inquired if Tao Meng had found any good items. This was because if anyone hunted the shouchang, he or she would definitely place whatever the shouchang was guarding into their own pocket.

The first runner-up was Xi Wanya; he brought back a golden-haired monkey, and its body size was about two-thirds the size of a human. It was still alive and was trapped tightly by him. From the other people's tone, this monkey was very difficult to deal with. Furthermore, it was humanistic. If nurtured well, it would be a good a.s.sistant in the future.

The second runner-up was Hong Wu's granddaughter, Hong Xian.

Ren Baqian looked at the crowd as he roasted the meat. After the ranking had been confirmed, it was handed to the empress. Once it was acknowledged by her, everyone began to prepare for lunch and packed their things at the same time.

After lunch, everyone began to make their return journey. From time to time, some people mentioned that they were missing someone: Lian Family's Lian Baocheng was gone. Previously, there were also a few people who thought that he was concerned about the empress's reward and, therefore, brought along a guard who was at the Earth Wheel level up the mountain to hunt. After all, he was always arrogant, and it wouldn't be strange if he acted this way.

Just that at this time, he still hadn't appeared, and everyone felt that there was something wrong.

"He overestimated his capabilities and challenged the ferocious beasts. As such, he had been swallowed by them, together with his guard," Xin Zhe announced.

Even if anyone felt that there was an issue with what Xin Zhe said, n.o.body dared to say anything more. After all, they had no relations.h.i.+p ties with Lian Baocheng, and Dayao had already given their explanation. Who cared if anything happened to him behind their backs as it would be the Lian Family's problem. It was not known whether the territorial and domineering Lian Family would swallow this loss without being able to voice out at all.

Even if they didn't want to swallow this loss, there wasn't any other better methods. Could it be that they wanted Qi Zixiao to give them a proper explanation?

Upon hearing what Xin Zhe's words, Ren Baqian reconfirmed that the empress already knew what had happened in the woods.

Otherwise, Xin Zhe would not have said it this way.

It was evident that the empress had suppressed this issue. After all, Xin Zhe appeared personally to explain. In future, if there was going to be any problem, it would be directed to the empress.

Such a conclusion allowed him to heave a sigh of relief. In the future, n.o.body would dare to dig this out to say anymore. Or else, it would be the equivalent to slapping the empress on her face.

Otherwise, if the Lian Family found out the truth, even though Ren Baqian was in Dayao and Lian Family did not dare to brazenly do anything, he would be in deep trouble if they hired a few killers.

Ren Baqian was rather grateful in this point of time. There were only a few leaders who were willing to take the blame for their subordinates. Sure enough, he did not hug the wrong thigh at all.

In the afternoon, everyone returned to Lan City, and there weren't many people to welcome them. But, when the empress's carriage entered the city, there were still many aboriginal commoners cheering at the side.

Everyone arrived at the plaza in front of the palace. The empress's carriage went straight into the palace before everyone dispersed in small groups.

Ren Baqian wasn't concerned about the rest and returned straight to the beast park.

Upon seeing Tiantian and Gungun, he picked them up and used his face to rub against their body. It was indeed great to be back.

In a moment, Ren Baqian whose face was filled with claw marks, brought the items back into his room. He hasn't even warmed the seat yet when he was summoned to enter the palace.

"I remember that you said you were going to prepare two sets of menus?" The empress asked.

"Yes," Ren Baqian lowered his head and replied. Even though he was very grateful towards the empress in the afternoon, at the moment, he still had a guilty conscience.

"In that case, choose the unordinary menu. These people are too daring and they are climbing over our heads," the empress stated coldly.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Ren Baqian retreated after he responded to her order. He went outdoors and let out a long breath.

Why did the empress find them an eyesore?

Ren Baqian mulled over this issue for half the day. Could it be because Lian Baocheng tried to kill him? After much deliberation, it was actually extremely likely. Hearing the empress say that she did not blame him, she ought to know the situation at that time.

Lian Baocheng did not only have guts, but he was practically challenging the empress by trying to kill a Dayao official right in front of her eyes. Now, even though he was already dead, the empress directly took her anger out on the rest of the people.

Ren Baqian felt that in all likelihood this had the greatest possibility.

Or, something might have happened on the day he returned to Earth to buy handguns. He was unsure.

However, at the banquet, there the big shots of Dayao would also be present, and the empress did not order him to prepare two types of banquet dishes. As such, the dishes served to the big shots would also be similar to those of the people from the other nations. He must by all means prevent them from knowing that he was the one who designed the menu. Otherwise, he knew that it would be hard to guarantee that his life wouldn't be made difficult.

As Ren Baqian pondered, he arrived at the door to the imperial kitchen. He might as well stop thinking as, in any case, the empress had the last say.

Upon seeing Ren Baqian, everyone in the imperial kitchen shouted one after another, "Brother Ren."

"The menu has been fixed, and it is the second set—the interesting one. It will be used tomorrow. Have all the ingredients been prepared?" Ren Baqian questioned.

After hearing what Ren Baqian said, everyone revealed a look of antic.i.p.ation to the good show coming up.

"It can be delivered here anytime," Caretaker Gou said in a deep voice, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

After tomorrow, he was afraid that he would become notorious among the cooks from the different nations.