The people inside the courtyard knew about what was happening, but the empress restrained herself from going in to find out what Ren Baqian was doing. She talked listlessly with Hong Wu and was clearly absent minded.Seeing her like this, Hong Wu sighed and left after sitting down for a while. On the way out, he saw Ren Baqian fiddling with the candy tree and gave a snort as he a.s.sumed that this rascal was engaging in dishonest practices again. He tried a few times to come up with the words for "evil courtier," but to no avail, although he knew the meaning of it.At this time, the Protectorate of the Northeast was still at war with the Yun Nation. Although Great Xia had already retreated, this matter was obviously not over yet.Domestically, the whole northern region was in a slump.In this situation, this courtier not only didn"t look for solutions, but instead made these childish things to indulge the empress, which made Hong Wu extremely angry.If Ren Baqian wasn"t capable, Hong Wu wouldn"t be so angry and would feel contempt at the most.However, the various things made by Ren Baqian showed his true capability. Yet, upon his recent arrival, the actions that Ren Baqian took really made Hong Wu dissatisfied.
Ren Baqian looked at Hong Wu obliquely while making the cotton candy.
What can you do to me? I didn"t offend or provoke you, so what are you protesting about?He spent quite some time to reinstall the three meter tall tree. On its exterior, there were layers and layers of cotton candy, while its interior had various types of chocolates. Seen from afar, the red and green patterns were rather attractive.He made another two batches of cotton candy and furtively pa.s.sed them to Qing Yuan and Hong Luan, both of whom expressed avarice. This was because the empress was inside, so they felt embarra.s.sed to ask for cotton candy. Lin Qiaole was sitting on the wall with a lollipop in her mouth, her eyes were closed, and her head was drooping bit by bit. A few minutes later, she fell from the wall. She woke up with a shock while falling, curled up her body, did a somersault, and landed on her backside instead of her head.Thump!Lin Qiaole didn"t seem to suffer any pain from the fall, and her wide open eyes showed bewilderment.
Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing here? Less than a minute later, her eyes closed again. She laid down on the side and started snoring.Ren Baqian turned to look at her and shook his head. This fellow was beyond hope!Ren Baqian went into the house and saw that the empress was still sitting in a daze in front of the desk, so he said, "Your Majesty, the present is ready. Do you want me to bring it inside?""Alright!" The empress nodded. Just now, she had already sneaked a peek after Hong Wu left and was touched by Ren Baqian"s gesture. Ren Baqian looked up at the roof, estimated the height, and said, "Your Majesty, your humble servant is thinking of digging a hole in the ground."The empress didn"t even ask why and nodded again, "Okay!"Ren Baqian turned his head to shout for Shi Hu. In an empty s.p.a.ce at the side of the room, he smashed a tile with a blow and then got other people to dig a hole there.After the hole was dug, Ren Baqian instructed them to pull out the tree and plant it in the hole before filling in the soil.
When the tree was brought in, it attracted the attention of the empress, and her eyes kept on following the tree.The sweet smell of the cotton candy was especially enticing and made her yearn for it."What is this?" the empress finally asked."Your Majesty, I solemnly introduce the candy tree from the wine pool and candy forest in heaven mentioned in the ancient books!" Ren Baqian used both hands to point reverently to that candy tree.A wine pool and meat forest was already out of date. In Dayao, meat had low value, was the staple food, and it was easy to build a meat forest at little cost. A candy forest was something befitting the status of the empress.If the emperor who said, "Why don"t they eat meat" existed in Dayao, he certainly would not be recorded in the history books.
[The emperor who said that phrase was Emperor Hui of Jin, when told that his people didn"t have any rice to eat.] Why not eat meat? Isn"t eating meat cheaper? Nothing"s wrong! The empress was very excited and found the candy tree very interesting. It was more appealing to her than any other gift.She nodded vigorously and said, "It suits me very well, but what is a wine pool?""As the name implies, it is a pool filled with wine. A person in the pool just needs to open his or her mouth to drink until they are drunk."
As the empress thought about that scenario her heart skipped a beat.However, exactly how much wine was needed to fill a pool?"I want a wine pool!" the empress said radiantly."I will build one for Your Majesty once we are back at the palace!" Ren Baqian replied immediately. Building a wine pool wasn"t difficult, but it couldn"t be done in one or two days.From a guard, Ren Baqian took a pair of shears that had had its handles lengthened with two sticks. He stood below the tree and observed for a long time before using the shears to cut a string that was tied to a cotton candy stick. This caused the cotton candy to fall down directly.
It wasn"t easy to handle this type of shears as it was easy to miss and cut the air instead.
Ren Baqian dexterously caught the cotton candy and presented it to the empress."Your Majesty, please taste it! It is more interesting to obtain the candy with this tool."Stretching the hand to pluck was less fun than using the shears to cut. Having to overcome a little difficulty made things more interesting.For example, the price of trying to s.n.a.t.c.h a doll with a claw crane was enough to buy the doll, but many people were still willing to try to s.n.a.t.c.h these dolls from a claw crane machine. This led Ren Baqian to think of finding a place to make a claw crane machine when he returned to Earth. He would fill the dolls with candy, give the empress 100 coins, and tinker with the odds of catching a doll.The idea was to let the empress catch one or two dolls with 100 coins.
That should make it more interesting.This was a.s.suming that the empress didn"t smash the claw crane. The empress took a bite of the cotton candy and nodded her head in satisfaction.With this candy fruit tree, she wouldn"t even mind if the rainbow clouds weren"t colored. "Does Your Majesty want to give it a try?" Ren Baqian watched the empress eat the cotton candy one mouthful at a time and handed the shears to her.The empress took the shears and immediately found a problem with it; the sticks weren"t tied properly, and the blades wobbled.However, this was a small problem for her. She raised her hands like lightning, and the candies cascaded down.It was like picking fruit in the forest.As the fruits dropped, the empress was clearly very happy and excited like a little girl. Her hand movements didn"t stop, and without much effort, the floor was filled with fallen candies."A b.u.mper harvest is a joy to behold!" Ren Baqian commented.The empress glanced at him, put the shears back in Ren Baqian"s hand, and was clearly very happy as she walked on tiptoe to the table with her hands behind her back.Staying in Tiesuo Pa.s.s for more than half a month was really boring, and she was having fun now that Ren Baqian was here.The happiness of the empress was contagious, and it made the corner of Ren Baqian"s mouth tilt slightly in a smile.Ren Baqian collected the candies on the floor and put them on the table for the empress. Then, he ordered the guards to continue hanging more candy on the tree.Ren Baqian stood beside the empress and presented her with that little red flower from before. "Your Majesty, the other day, I saw this flower that was as outstanding as the empress and felt that it should be given to you."Those guards that were hanging up the candy gave sidelong glances and then looked at the sky… at the roof.
A few days ago, we saw you plucking a bunch of flowers at the city commander"s residence. The empress carried the half-dried flower in her hand. It was her favorite color, red, but somehow she found it familiar looking. "It seems to be from the city commander"s residence in Liao City?" the empress asked doubtfully. This type of flower wasn"t found in Lan City, but she had the impression that she saw them at the city commander"s residence in Liao City when she had been there for a month."So, this flower was imbued with the breath of the empress. No wonder it is so imperial," Ren Baqian babbled.The empress darted a glance at him. "You are always by my side. Have you picked up my imperial air?""Your humble servant was influenced by the power of Your Majesty!" After Ren Baqian thought for a while, these words seemed to suggest he was like a dog relying on the power of his master.
The phrase "influenced by the authority of Your Majesty" seemed to refer to a fox a.s.suming the power of a tiger."Your humble servant was influenced by your fragrance, and the mosquitoes do not bite me any more." Ren Baqian felt that this was more like it.