Stop Bothering Me, Emperor Chapter 35 - As A Guest

Chapter 35 - As A Guest

The living room was very spacious, with a sunken circular area in the center that had a European-style, wine-red velvet sofa. A lady in an elegant black dress sat in the middle, a cup of black tea in her hands. Seeing them come in, she smiled amiably.
“Greetings…” When Song Xiao saw the empress dowager, he bent his body and was about to salute her before he twisted into a bow, and he called out in a sonorous and loud voice, “Hello, auntie!”
Mother Yu looked him over carefully. The boy in front of her had fair and clear skin and limpid eyes. It was obvious that he was a well-behaved child, and the smile on her face couldn’t help but become slightly more sincere. “It’s Song Xiao, right? Come and sit down.”
Song Xiao saw the empress dowager beckon at him, and he thus obediently walked over. He secretly gave the emperor a look before he sat down next to the empress dowager with upright posture.
Yu Tang followed suit and walked over to sit down next to Song Xiao without any trace of politeness as he leaned back on the couch in a relaxed manner.
“Wah?” There was a soft and milky sound from the side. Only then did Song Xiao notice that there was a small cradle next to the empress dowager’s hand.
On a tall and delicate metal frame hung a small basket. Inside the basket was a small, soft quilt, and a soft and tender baby lay in it. The baby stared at him with large, dark eyes. Its small mouth was half-open, and a clear drop of saliva slowly dribbled out.
“Did Linlin see big brother?” Mother Yu smiled and wiped away her little son’s saliva. She then raised her head to see Dugu An carry a large box over. “What’s that?”
“Song Xiao’s gift to you.” Yu Tang signaled for Dugu An to put the box on the table.
“This child! If you’re coming, just come; you didn’t have to bring a present with you!” Mother Yu gave Song Xiao a displeased look. Instead of raising a hand to open the present, she personally picked it up and handed it to the maid standing on the side; she indicated for the maid to keep it in the smaller hall, where Mother Yu would look at it in a moment.
Even though the Yu family had developed overseas, they carried on the traditions of Chinese etiquette, and wouldn’t open a gift in front of a guest. This kind of etiquette comforted Song Xiao greatly, as modern people always felt a little too bold and unrestrained to him. Some extremely discourteous behavior had become commonplace, and it was somewhat difficult for him to take.
Keeping the gift, the maid then poured a cup of black tea for Song Xiao as well. The little princess ran over to take a look at her little brother, then ran back to her big brother’s side and pulled on his sleeve. “Gege, let’s go play the big, evil dragon.”
Yu Tang looked at Song Xiao, whose back was ramrod straight and whose hands were stiff at his side, and he lowered his head to say something in his little sister’s ear.
Yu Miao nodded, then turned to run out and find Zhang Xiaoren.
The empress dowager in their last life was in fact also a kindly person, but whenever Song Xiao saw her, he would always feel ineffably guilty. In their last life, Yu Tang had often provoked the empress dowager’s anger because of him. Their mother and son relationship became more estranged with each passing day. It was only until the fourth year of Jingyuan, when Song Xiao met the empress dowager face to face, that shefelt somewhat relieved, even though Song Xiao didn’t know the reason for it.
Song Xiao didn’t want to see Yu Tang and his mother walk the same disastrous path in this life.
“I’ve often heard Tangtang mention you. I heard that not only are the two of you deskmates, you’re also staying in the same dormitory.” The empress dowager stirred the tea in her cup with a spoon, then turned unhurriedly to look at Song Xiao. “Sleeping together, Tangtang doesn’t bully you, does he?”
There were countless people who wanted to get close to the Yu family. When Yu Tang first started school, there was a fair share of people with ulterior motives who had arranged for their children to be by Yu Tang’s side, but not a single one had succeeded. Unexpectedly, however, Yu Tang had accepted this child, and what was even stranger was that the two of them became roommates. Even though Mother Yu was very happy that her son had a friend, there were some things that she couldn’t help but feel suspicious about.
Song Xiao was very nervous, so when he heard the empress dowager say ‘sleeping together’, he immediately denied it. “N- no, we sleep on separate beds!”
Song Xiao himself and Mother Yu were both taken aback at his words. Inside his cradle, little friend Yu Lin couldn’t help drooling again. Song Xiao realized that what he had said was nonsense, and he silently turned his face away, wrinkling his nose at the emperor!
Looking at Song Xiao, who looked as if he had a toothache, Yu Tang couldn’t help smothering a laugh. He secretly reached over and stroked Song Xiao’s lower back, and immediately received a glare from the latter.
Mother Yu began to laugh heartily. “Hahaha, this child, how cute.”
Consequently, Song Xiao saw the empress dowager’s faint probing of him instantly disappear, and she was once again inexplicably friendly toward him. But he was only Yu Tang’s classmate right now, so the empress dowager wasn’t very hostile towards him in the first place. It was just that he still didn’t know how on earth he had earned the empress dowager’s favor.
It just so happened to be time for tea, and the housekeeper brought over some refreshments. Since there was a guest at the house, he had specially prepared fried chicken and soda, which were things that children liked.
“Mom, we’ll eat in the garden. Miaomiao is still waiting for me.” Yu Tang pulled Song Xiao to stand up with him, helping the latter to escape the tense atmosphere.
“Go, go.” Mother Yu waved her hand and let them go. “Don’t play for too long; remember to do your homework.”
There were beautiful tables and chairs on the lawn, as well as a very nostalgic swing. The swing had a tall frame, and a smooth wooden board was connected to it with hemp rope. The little princess was sitting on the swing, while the expressionless Dugu An was mechanically pushing the swing for her.
“Gege! Let’s play the big evil dragon!” When Yu Miao saw her brother coming over, she immediately jumped off the swing and tugged at Yu Tang, wanting to play.
Song Xiao picked up a piece of fried chicken with a fork and ate slowly as he curiously watched this pair of siblings.
Yu Tang accepted a plastic longsword which a maid handed to him, and he drew the sword easily with a confident flick of his wrist. With a cold expression, he said, “Wicked dragon, if you take one more step towards the princess, I’ll cut off your head and hang it on top of the castle!”
The blade was pointed in the direction of a droopy-eyed husky with a ‘nothing left to live for’ expression on its face.
“Cough cough…” Song Xiao immediately choked as he stared blankly at the emperor, who proceeded to accompany the princess in half an hour of roleplay.
“Alright, gege has to go do homework now. Let Dugu An play with you.” Yu Tang looked at Song Xiao, who had finished the entire plate of fried chicken, then casually threw the sword behind him and grabbed the other person.
“Gege, are you taking the prince away from my land?” Wearing a crown, the little princess waved the scepter in her hand.
Yu Tang raised an eyebrow, then picked up Song Xiao. “That’s right, Your Highness. I’ve found my beloved and am prepared to leave this land. In the future, your safety shall be handed over to the dark knight!” After he finished speaking, Yu Tang walked towards the house with big strides, a startled Song Xiao in his arms.
Yu Miao blinked, then couldn’t help covering her mouth as she laughed and turned to look at Dugu An. “An gege, let’s play!”
The devoted Dugu An responded with a sound, drew the sword with a ‘sha’, then wordlessly pointed it at Zhang Xiaoren.
“Recite your lines!” Yu Miao urged. This was her favorite fairytale, and she remembered every line very distinctly.
Dugu An looked expressionlessly at the dog that was wagging its tail incessantly. “Wicked dragon…”
Using the ostensible excuse of doing homework, Yu Tang brought Song Xiao to his room.
To say that it was a room wasn’t entirely accurate. This was a suite, which had a bedroom, a study, a bathroom, a games room, and even a dining room!
The entire suite was an open floor plan. The bedroom was separated from everything else by a water-blue decoration that was like no other. From afar, it looked like a waterfall pouring down from the rooftop and onto the blue floor, merging into beautiful ocean-blue glass tiles that spread to the huge jacuzzi a split level below.
“This…” Song Xiao couldn’t help his stunned expression. This room was no worse than the Zichen hall where the emperor had lived, and ultimately didn’t make Song Xiao feel that it was ‘simple and crude’.
Yu Tang gave Song Xiao a tour. They looked at the beautiful balcony, the elegant study, the luxurious games room… The key point was that they looked at Yu Tang’s big bed.
However, what Song Xiao was most interested in was still the study room. At home, all the books he could read were in the bookroom on the third floor. This was Yu Tang’s personal study, so all the books here were his own books.
‘The Legend of The Jingyuan Emperor’, ‘The Historical Biography of The Duanhui Empress’, ‘History of Dayu’ – these materials regarding their former history occupied an entire bookcase. Song Xiao’s fingertips lingered on these thick spines, and an indescribable sense of bitterness welled up in his heart.
He arrived here a month ago and met the emperor. He wasn’t as flustered after finding a familiar person, but it wasn’t the same for Yu Tang. Waking up alone five years ago and becoming a high school student after being an emperor, his country and subjects had all become illusions, and he could only find their shadows in these words.
Sighing softly, Song Xiao turned to look at the next bookcase. The books on it didn’t seem to be the same as the ones on the first bookcase, and were brightly colored.
One of them was a book that Song Xiao was very familiar with: ‘Xiaotang Under The Moon’. However, it seemed to be thicker than the one he had read.
“That’s…” Song Xiao walked over, wanting to read it, but Yu Tang held him back.
“Let’s go, we can go to the games room.” Yu Tang pulled Song Xiao out of the study and dragged him to the games room to teach him to play video games.
As a typical super-Mary, Song Xiao was especially enchanted as he played.
“Hey, hey, don’t move, I want to eat that mushroom!” Song Xiao anxiously elbowed Yu Tang, then controlled his own little red man to go over and snatch the mushroom.
“Ah! Emperor, there’s a monster!” Because the little red man had just been bumped, it shrank back into its original, powerless form.
Yu Tang’s green little giant, which had eaten a mushroom, immediately threw out some fireballs and beat the monsters back to let Song Xiao eat the mushroom in peace.
The two of them played right up until nightfall, when Song Zicheng gave Song Xiao a call. Only then did they realize that the sky had already darkened. There was a dinner party that night, so Song Zicheng told Song Xiao to send Si Dashu the address for him to pick Song Xiao up.
“Your Majesty, what’s the address of this place?” Song Xiao hung up and turned to ask Yu Tang the question, and directly bumped into His Majesty; the emperor had been glued to his back and eavesdropping.
The emperor sat up straight and said expressionlessly, “I don’t know, I’ll go ask the empress dowager.” Saying thus, he hauled Song Xiao downstairs.
Mother Yu was currently discussing with the housekeeper the matter of guests arriving tomorrow. When she saw Yu Tang come over, she said to him first, “Why aren’t you playing anymore?”
“Mom, let Song Xiao stay here today,” Yu Tang said with a straight face.