Translator: YHHH Editor: Book_Hoarder
After whipping up a meal and guiding those cooks how to prepare a few more dishes, only then did Ren Baqian leave the imperial kitchen.
He recalled that the empress asked him to finish with his story. Since he didn't have anything to do at the moment, he had better go and meet the empress.
These days, he was also somewhat more familiar with the interior of the palace. At the very least, he was familiarized with the route from Pingle Park to Yangxin Palace Hall where the empress resided. Also, he was more or less familiar with the route from Qingxin Palace Hall to the imperial kitchen.
Inside the palace, the empress was twirling her hair with her fingertips. After a short while, she released her hand and her hair returned to its original state. Hearing that Ren Baqian wanted to seek an audience with her, she was stunned for a while as according to the date, he was supposed to return to Earth.
"Summon him in," the empress sat up straight and instructed.
A moment later, Ren Baqian entered the palace and paid his respects, "Greetings, Your Majesty."
"Why haven't you gone back?" The empress looked at him and asked.
Ren Baqian was dumbfounded after he heard what she said. "What does Your Majesty mean?"
"You will disappear for one day after every three days. That's what you told me before. You are not able to control it as well as do not know the reason for this. Why didn't you return to the other world today? Could it be that you have been lying to me?" The empress's brows were already raised as she spoke till here. A look of anger was slowly forming on her face.
All along, I have never gotten involved in it as I trusted him.
But, from the beginning up to now, he didn't speak the truth.
As such, whatever he said in the past, how many are truths and how many are lies?
The feeling of being deceived flooded the empress's mind and anger began to rose from her heart.
At the same time, she was also disappointed and frustrated.
And after hearing what the empress said, there was a drastic change in Ren Baqian's facial expression.
If those guards can't remember the date, it is pardonable.
But, how can the empress remember the wrong date?
Whatever the case is, she can't be similar to those guards who can only extend their five fingers?
"You lied to me!" The empress's reply was extremely cold.
"I genuinely don't know why this is happening. But, I have never once deceived Your Majesty." Ren Baqian was in a mess and he promptly replied loudly.
At this moment, it was as if his heart had caught fire.
How could this be? How could this be? How did this problem arise?
I want to go back. I must go back. If I don't go back, how will my parents react?
At present, Ren Baqian's head was filled with such thoughts.
Meanwhile, the light rays in the surroundings fluctuated slightly. It was as if the light ray was near him, similar to how a light ray would refract when shone into the water. It appeared that changes also occurred to air around Ren Baqian.
The empress, who was originally raging with fury, sensed that something was wrong over at Ren Baqian's side. Instantly, she appeared right in front of Ren Baqian and grabbed onto his wrist, wanting to pull him out.
In the next second, Yangxin Palace Hall's Qing Yuan and Hong Luan cried out in alarm.
When Xin Zhe, who was outside rushed into the Palace Hall, she discovered that the empress and Storyteller Ren had already disappeared without a trace.
"What happened?"
"Her Majesty has disappeared!" Hong Luan was astonished.
After Hong Luan spoke, Xin Zhe instantly appeared right in front of her held her back by force tenaciously. She then asked Hong Luan with her eyes wide opened, "Where's Her Majesty? Why did Her Majesty disappear?"
"I'm not sure as well. Just now, Her Majesty grabbed onto Storyteller Ren and then both of them disappeared afterwards…" Hong Luan's voice trembled with fear.
If the news of the empress's disappearance was spread outward, a perilous situation could be anticipated.
"Tell me what happened specifically," Xin Zhe ordered Hong Luan. After which, turned around and gave an order, "Search, don't let even an inch slip by. Search. At the same time, inform the Department of Inspection to search both inside and outside of the city. But, don't mention about what happened to Her Majesty, just say that Storyteller Ren has disappeared."
"In addition to this, not a single word must be revealed. If anything is revealed, I will personally remove that person's head."
...
…
Ren Baqian looked at the surrounding environment and then looked at the empress who was dressed in red, from top to bottom. He was dumbfounded and his mind was totally blank.
The empress's hands were very soft, and there weren't any calluses at all. If there was a contest to select the most beautiful pair of hands in this world, this pair of hands would definitely be one of them.
However, at this moment, Ren Baqian couldn't feel anything at all.
He was completely dumbstruck.
At this moment, the surrounding environment was his apartment on Earth.
The empress had actually followed him over to Earth.
Apart from a series of cursing in his heart, he didn't have any other thoughts. His brain had already stopped operating earlier on.
"Is this your world?" On the contrary, the empress was more clear-headed than him. After she turned her head and glanced at the surroundings, she frowned. It was extremely dirty as it was filled with dust everywhere.
Furthermore, the air was also terrible. A pungent smell immediately filled her nose.
"Your Majesty...Your Majesty…"Ren Baqian gaped and he was about to cry, "Your Majesty, why did you follow me here…"
After hearing what Ren Baqian said, the empress subconsciously loosened her hand that was grabbing onto his.
"Do you not want me to come so badly?" The empress's reply was cold.
"No, I'm just surprised. Even though I intended to bring Her Majesty to the world I live in, but, I wasn't certain if it was possible. As such, I'm genuinely surprised." Ren Baqian replied at once.
"This is the place you reside in? Why isn't there anyone to clean up?" The empress asked with a disgusted look on her face.
"Please wait outside for me while I clean this place, Your Majesty." Ren Baqian felt that he needed some time to sort out his frame of mind. At present, he was really frightened. The empress who could tear apart Gundams with her bare hands as well as destroy the entire city, actually followed him back to Earth. This caused his mind to be in a great mess.
[Gundam - Japanese science fiction Giant robots with mobile suits bearing the name Gundam.]
Ren Baqian turned around and opened the door, "Your Majesty, please follow after me."
The apartment that Ren Baqian rented was a penthouse with two levels on the 7th and 8th floors of the building. Besides a bedroom, there was also a small living room and a huge balcony.
The empress looked curiously at the surroundings. To her, everything was full of novelty as she had never heard of all these things before.
"What is this?" The empress advanced forward a few steps and extended her hand to touch the glass door at the balcony.
"Her Majesty, that is glass. Through glass, you are able to see what's going on outside. With regards to your line of sight, it will not be affected and all, yet it can also prevent dust from collecting. Also, it can separate the temperature from indoors and outdoors."
"I want this." The empress concluded at once.
"Your Majesty, when I return to Dayao, I will complete the iron ore mine task before I start to manufacture glass," Ren Baqian promptly responded.
"What is outside?" The empress looked outside of the glass door and asked.
"Her Majesty, that is snow." Ren Baqian looked outside. The empress was definitely not asking about the balcony. There was a thick layer of snow on the balcony and snowflakes were falling gently from the sky.
"I want to go out and take a look. Open this."
Ren Baqian quickly opened the door upon hearing the empress's words. An extremely cold gust of air blew inwards directly.
At this time, Dayao was awfully hot. Ren Baqian wore his Storyteller of Qingxin Palace Hall's official robe outside every day and felt a slight chill when the cold air blew onto his body gently. But, it wasn't too cold.
The empress seemed to not sense the coldness outside. When she set foot onto the balcony, she stepped into a pile of snow and used both of her hands to grab a handful of snow.
"It's my first time seeing snow. I originally thought that I would see it at the borders, never did I expect that I would see it over here," the empress said. Soon after, she sprinkled the snow on the ground, extended one of her fingers and briefly touched the snowflakes that were gently falling down.