As Ren Baqian was in a dizzy state, his stomach started to churn when the night breeze blew. He vomited once he opened his mouth, and the empress held him as he vomited along the way, as if she was sowing seeds.

The empress looked at Ren Baqian who was in her hand with a gaze full of disgust. Even though that stench was left on the road, but, there was still the remnant stench that a.s.sailed her nose.

"Your Majesty, how about I carry Deputy Prefect Ren," Xin Zhe suggested from behind. The empress was at the front carrying him, and that stench directly penetrated her nose. In addition, she also had to carefully dodge the unknown things that were in her way.

The empress looked at Ren Baqian, swung her arms and tossed him over to Xin Zhe while she jumped off the rooftop and landed on the street. With both of her hands at her back, she walked forward leisurely.

The nights in Lan City were extremely dark. In addition to the light from the pedestrians carrying lanterns and the courtyard, there was only the light from the two moons.

Xin Zhe imitated the empress's position and carried Ren Baqian's back, allowing his body to lean forward.

Ren Baqian's body weight in the either of their hands was similar to them carrying a stalk of rice straw.

"Zixiao…" Ren Baqian mumbled indistinctly.

The empress paused in her tracks and turned around.

Ren Baqian's eyes were tightly shut and there wasn't any intention of him getting sober. He was still murmuring, "Zixiao…Zixiao…"

Xin Zhe got startled. To her surprise, Ren Baqian actually called Her Majesty's name.

And when she looked at Her Majesty, she was not a single bit angry at all.

Instead, her expression was relaxed and calm. It wasn't cold at all.

"Zixiao...pour me wine…"

Empress, "..."

Xin Zhe, "..."

Ren Baqian's audacity made Xin Zhe astonished.

The empress frowned and no longer paid him any mind. She turned around and walked towards the palace.

Upon their return to the palace, Xin Zhe threw Ren Baqian back to Pingle Park. The empress held a wine flask and went to the rooftop of Yangxin Palace Hall, lifted her head and admired the moonlight. She drank a mouthful of wine from time to time as well.

At first, she was prepared to hit Ren Baqian till he was half dead as well as conveniently bash Tong Zhenye till he was handicapped. But, when she saw that he maintained a distance from others and appeared to be well-behaved, her anger immediately subsided. Then, her mood took a turn from bad to pretty good.

If Tong Zhenye didn't spout nonsense, he might not have suffered a beating.

...

…

"What happened just now?" There was a man with only one arm, sitting inside a house. His name was Xing Rong. He had previously been a captain in the Protectorate of the North. Now, he was the person-in-charge of Baihua Courtyard.

"Minister of War, Sir Tong has arranged a banquet dinner in House Yunyan." Beneath him were ten similar looking st.u.r.dy men, that were missing body parts here and there.

Xing Rong remained silent. His career, which revolved around blood and fire, gave others the vibe that he was just like a refined metal—taciturn, firm, and full of vigor.

Even if he was now a disabled person, there weren't many people that belittled him.

"Imperial Deputy Prefect, Ren Baqian was also invited by Sir Tong," that man continued.

Xing Rong pondered for quite a while before he could remember who Imperial Deputy Prefect Ren Baqian was.

Indeed, there wasn't anyone that took Ren Baqian's official position seriously. They usually referred to Ren Baqian as "that chap".

Once he recalled who Ren Baqian was, Xing Rong actually smiled, "What happened after that?"

"Her Majesty came." That man gave a concise and comprehensive answer.

"Sir Tong took a kick to his body, smashed three walls and fell into Duiye Courtyard. As for Deputy Prefect Ren, nothing happened to him and he was brought back. I'm not sure if anything happened after he got back."

Xing Rong burst out laughing upon hearing what the other guy said. He laughed until his tears were on the verge of flowing out. After quite some time, he finally stopped laughing, "How's Ren Baqian as a person?"

"I can't really tell. He seems rather well-behaved."

"If he isn't well-behaved, the empress doesn't even need to lift a finger, and I'll slap him to death for her," Xing Rong casually remarked. The empress had a well-known reputation in Dayao and so did Hong Wu, who enjoyed a high prestige in Protectorate of the North with the Dayao commoners. As Hong Wu's subordinate, one would naturally highly respect the empress as well.

"Get everyone who knows about this issue to keep their mouths shut," Xing Rong replied as he waved his hand.

No matter whether it was him or the people from the Ministry of Works, everyone kept the issue silent. But, this issue still circulated a bit around, in particular, among the big shots of the imperial court.

Tong Zhenye invited Imperial Deputy Prefect to a drinking party with female entertainers at House Yunyan. After which, he was kicked by the empress and flew from House Yunyan to Duiye Courtyard.

This was also considered Lan City's most attention-grabbing attempt of uncovering adultery in a brothel. Even though this issue was only confined to a small number of people.

Many people rejoiced in their misfortunes and were waiting to see how Tong Zhenye looked like tomorrow. For example, Qin Chuan, who was the Minister of War, took pleasure in ridiculing Tong Zhenye that old b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

At the same time, they would also take a look at Imperial Deputy Prefect, to see if he was beaten to death by Her Majesty.

...

Ren Baqian slept all the way till dawn. However, he woke up with a serious hangover and felt his stomach churning once again. Just when he was about to vomit, he found a basin right beside his bed. Immediately, he threw up gastric acid for quite some time. Following which, he reached out for a bowl of sweetened water, but that didn't ease his discomfort. Before he could even feel better, his felt his stomach begin to churn again, causing him to vomit everything he had just consumed.

After being tormented for half a day and vomiting whatever he consumed, he finally fell into a deep slumber.

It was already noon when he woke up again, and there was a palace maid near him who was yawning away. She got startled when she heard that he had woken up and promptly helped him up. Then, she poured him a cup of sweetened water.

This time, Ren Baqian felt better after finis.h.i.+ng this drink. At long last, he managed to survive.

He swore in his heart resolutely, "d.a.m.n it, no matter what, I will not drink so much the next time. It was indeed a hard time. If I were to drink so much the next time, I will change my surname to Qi."

He got out of bed and went out to take a breath of fresh air.

He was completely unaware of anything regarding last night, and still thought that it was Xu Wei and company who sent him back here.

That palace maid hurriedly left and soon enough, she brought a bowl of porridge over. Ren Baqian immediately gulped down the entire bowl.

"Sir, someone is looking for you. That person has been waiting from morning till now." The guard in Pingle Park saw that he was awake and informed him with a strange expression.

Other people didn't know about what happened last night, but, these guards were very clear on exactly what happened.

No one would have expected that the Minister of Works, Sir Tong, would have gotten knocked back by a kick from Her Majesty, and in spite of everything, nothing happened to this Deputy Prefect Ren.

If Tong Zhenye were to know about this, he would most probably bear a grudge. "Your Majesty, you have changed. In the past, you would have put the blame on both parties equally."

Ren Baqian recalled the matter that he got Teng Hulu and Tie Dao to find him yesterday. He then got the imperial bodyguard to go out of the palace to bring them in. At the same time, he sat on the stone bench in the courtyard with one hand on his head, making a pose just like "The Thinker". Ren Baqian held onto that pose until he heard footsteps and turned his head to look. To his surprise, it wasn't Teng Hulu and Tie Dao but the empress, who was wearing a red muslin dress with a white unders.h.i.+rt beneath it.

"Your Majesty!" Ren Baqian promptly got up to greet her.

The empress took a look at him and coldly replied, "I heard that you went to drink with female entertainers? Come, tell me about it, how did it go, I have yet to try it."

"Your Majesty, how would I know what kind of place that was. It was completely the Minister of Works Tong Zhenye's fault for me going. I did also mention it to you before I went yesterday. It was only after I went there that I knew what kind of place it was. I didn't expect that the honest-looking Sir Tong was actually so frivolous," Ren Baqian immediately exclaimed that he was being wronged. Moreover, he didn't even hesitate the slightest bit in ruining his reputation.

"I heard that you were shouting my name," the empress continued to say.

"I must have missed you too much, Your Majesty. One day lasts as long as three autumns when we can't see each other, and this statement is true."

"You still wanted me to pour wine for you."

"Pfffff!"