Stop Bothering Me, Emperor Chapter 40 - Strategy

Chapter 40 - Strategy

Song Xiao coughed, pulled his chin away, and tried to sit up, but was pulled down by Yu Tang. He had been kneeling initially, but with this pull, he fell onto Yu Tang’s body.
“I didn’t go so far as to set up the overall situation to deal with her, but I did have a hand in the spill.” Yu Tang seemed addicted to touching. Curling a finger under that fair chin, his thumb slowly rubbed over those light-colored lips.
Seeing the light-colored lips turn red, Yu Tang slowly drew closer.
Song Xiao watched that handsome face come closer and blinked. “That, surveillance…”
“It’s not like zhen is a fool…” Yu Tang rubbed Song Xiao’s lips as he spoke, and couldn’t help pressing on them. He knew that Song Xiao liked him, more than what he had previously assumed, so he had been very happy these days, and couldn’t help but want to get closer.
It was a sweet and light kiss, and they separated after a touch. Song Xiao could feel the emperor’s joy, and his eyes curved as he followed after the other boy.
The two of them happily embraced as they took an afternoon nap, tossing the thing with Song Zheng to the back of their minds. On the other side, Si Dashu was still in a difficult position.
Because Song Zheng insisted on looking at the surveillance footage, Si Dashu could only continue to negotiate with the school authorities.
Everything happened very quickly at the time, and Song Zheng had received a fright, so her memory of that period wasn’t very clear. Now, she believed that it was Song Xiao who had pushed her, and was more and more certain of it. She imagined the entire scenario in her mind, and the more she thought about it, the more she believed that it was the truth.
“Why won’t the school let us see the surveillance footage? It’s because it was someone from the high school who pushed me, right?” Song Zheng hopped out of the infirmary with her scalded leg and grabbed Si Dashu to ask the question.
“The dormitory’s surveillance footage cannot just be viewed whenever you want as it involves the students’ privacy. We still need to submit an application to the headmaster. Just wait a while longer.” Si Dashu sighed and gave Song Zheng a lunch box. They were initially supposed to eat on the way to the hospital, but because of this fuss, that was also delayed. Fortunately, Sheng Meng High was conscious of their responsibility, and had sent a lunch box over.
“I’m not eating! If they don’t show me the surveillance footage, I’ll go on a hunger strike!” Song Zheng started to show off the bad temper of a young miss.
While Si Dashu nursed his headache, the head of the guidance department came over to inform them that they could view the surveillance footage. The security division’s surveillance room was on the second floor of the office building. Since they had to climb the stairs, it was inconvenient for Song Zheng, given her leg, so she left it to Si Dashu to go and take a look.
“Uncle Xiao Si, whatever you see, you have to tell my dad the truth,” Song Zheng emphasized once more as she clutched Si Dashu’s sleeve.
Si Dashu furrowed his brow. “Xiao Zheng, what are you trying to say?”
But Song Zheng didn’t say more, and instead turned to pull at the supervising teacher. “Teacher, you go and take a look as well ba.”
The supervising teacher agreed. She also shared a large part of the blame for this accident. If she couldn’t clearly grasp what happened, she would definitely face disciplinary action when she returned.
On the way to the security division, Si Dashu chatted politely with the supervising teacher. “What happened back then? Why is Xiao Zheng so insistent on watching the surveillance footage?”
“Ai, I didn’t see it very clearly at the time, but after it happened, Song Zheng insisted that a high school boy had pushed her.” When the supervising teacher said this, she was a little unhappy.
“That boy, is he called Song Xiao?” Si Dashu thought of something and frowned as he asked the question.
“Yes, how did you know?” The supervising teacher looked at Si Dashu, puzzled.
Si Dashu “haha”ed and didn’t reply, but his heart sank. He knew about Song Zheng scalding Song Xiao’s hand a few days ago. This pair of siblings already long held grudges against each other. Since Song Zheng was so certain, it was very possible that Song Xiao had pushed her. No wonder Song Zheng had repeatedly stressed that he had to report the truth to his boss.
As they chatted, the two of them arrived at the security division. The head of the guidance department and the deputy headmaster were there, as well as a few students who had been at the scene.
Dormitory surveillance wasn’t shown to anyone so easily, but because Song Zheng had continued to insist that Song Xiao had pushed her, the school allowed it in order to determine the truth. Before they watched it, the deputy headmaster said gravely, “No photos or videos are allowed during the viewing; I hope everyone will mindfully comply with this.”
Only after everyone agreed was the footage played.
On the screen, Song Zheng picked up the thermal flask herself to collect the water. The student nearest to her was the vice president of the student union, but he was standing in front of her. And Song Xiao and Song Zheng were even separated by a middle school boy who also wanted to try and draw water. When the tap was turned on, Song Zheng’s arm suddenly shook when she was collecting the water, and she herself dropped the thermos to the ground.
The security division’s chief paused the screen here, and pointed at Song Zheng on the screen. “Here, you can see that no one touched her. This student dropped the thermos herself.”
The surveillance camera footage was pretty grainy, and they weren’t able to make out the expressions of the people at the scene. However, they could see that no one made any extra movements, so it wasn’t a trick to cause intentional injury at all.
The rest of the scene played out. Everyone backed away, and only Song Xiao stepped forward to carry out the injured Song Zheng. Because it was somewhat taxing, he even staggered, but fortunately, a tall male student took over.
Si Dashu could only feel his face burn; he felt ashamed for suspecting Song Xiao just now. How did such an upright and kindhearted child end up with Si Dashu’s boss for a dad, who was so muddle-headed, as well as such a vicious and unscrupulous illegitimate sister?!
After they finished watching the recording, the deputy headmaster said with a dark expression, “Mr. Si, you clearly saw it – it definitely wasn’t our student who pushed her. We can’t shoulder such a heavy charge.”
“The child was frightened, she probably remembered it wrong.” Si Dashu’s face turned red, and he thanked the school leader.
“How was it? Did you see it?” When Si Dashu returned to the infirmary, Song Zheng promptly grabbed him and interrogated him.
“You were overthinking it. The footage showed that no one pushed you.” Si Dashu had already reported the situation to Song Zicheng, and he no longer hesitated as he directly carried Song Zheng to the car.
“Impossible!” Song Zheng screamed. “I knew it, you’re definitely helping Song Xiao hide it. Isn’t it just because he’s the heir to Xinghai Entertainment?”
Si Dashu frowned. Originally, he had felt some sympathy for Song Zheng. After all, it wasn’t her fault that she was an illegitimate child. Now, however, it looked like there was also something to dislike about a pitiful person.
After settling Song Zheng and returning to the company, Si Dashu reported the matter from beginning to end to Song Zicheng. “…Xiaoxiao sent her to the infirmary, but Song Zheng wasn’t grateful. Instead, she blamed Xiaoxiao and said that he was the one who pushed her. I went to look at the surveillance footage with the supervising teacher, and utterly no one touched Song Zheng.”
In the past, when Si Dashu spoke, he would use “Xiaoxiao” and “Xiao Zheng”. Now, he had switched to “Song Zheng” right away, instantly drawing a line between close and distant.
Song Zicheng actually didn’t notice. He just sighed. He was becoming more and more disappointed with this daughter of his. He had Si Dashu tell Qiu Mingyan to go to the hospital and take care of Song Zheng. Song Zicheng then tossed the matter aside as he picked up a file on the table and continued to read it.
‘Pink Winter’ would be screening very soon. Contrary to what one might have expected, Zhuo Jingjing was very well-behaved, and didn’t skip a single promotion event. Surveys showed a continual increase in audience expectations for the movie.
Huo Gang was the director of the human resources department at Xinghai Entertainment. He was mainly responsible for the signing and retainment of the company’s celebrities. That day, he just happened to have an appointment with Zhuo Jingjing to discuss some contract issues.
Zhuo Jingjing looked very haggard, and when she took off the large sunglasses she was wearing, dark eyebags were revealed.
“Jingjing ah, what happened to you?” As a middle manager in the company, Huo Gang did still know a bit about the matter involving Zhuo Jingjing.
When Zhuo Jingjing rubbed her eyes, she smeared her eye makeup, and tears trickled down her face. “Gang ge, I heard that after this movie is released, the company is going to freeze me.”
“Freeze you?” Huo Gang frowned. “Where did you hear that?”
“Everyone’s saying it.” Zhuo Jingjing picked up the tissue that was on the table and blew her nose. “Gang ge, I still have three years left of my contract with Xinghai Entertainment. If the company freezes me, I’ll be destroyed.”
“You’re thinking too much, there’s no such thing.” Huo Gang waved his hand. “You’re very popular right now; why would you be frozen for no reason?” His mouth said the words, but his heart thought differently. Zhuo Jingjing had offended the boss; after this movie was released, it was really hard to say what her future prospects would be like.
Zhuo Jingjing thanked Huo Gang. Going to the garage and getting into her own car, she wiped her face and made a phone call. “The conditions you guaranteed me last time, you have to keep your word.”
“Of course I’ll keep my word.” On the other end of the phone, Dari Media’s director of human resources smiled as he said, “If you come to Dari Media now, we’ll sign the business contract first.”
In Sheng Meng High’s canteen, a large screen hung on the wall so that students could watch TV as they ate. That afternoon, it just happened to be broadcasting entertainment news.
“Today, at promotions for the release of her new film, the popular huadanZhuo Jingjing suddenly made explosive allegations and claims that Xinghai Entertainment wants to freeze her activities. Our report on that, coming up.”
Song Xiao had just picked up a drumstick, and he put it back down on his plate as he lifted his head to look at the TV. It was showing a news conference with a pink background. The female lead, Zhuo Jingjing, sat in the middle and was choking with sobs.
“After this job, I probably won’t be able to see everyone again… wu, the company said that they want to freeze me…” Zhuo Jingjing cried very heartbreakingly. The reporters below the stage, who had originally been asking perfunctory questions, immediately surged forward with “Fuck me, I ran into some big news” all over their faces. They held up all sorts of microphones and rushed up, and the paper media reporters who hadn’t brought microphones took out their recording pens and brought it over to record sound.
“Fuck, they actually want to freeze my goddess. I can’t take it!”
In the canteen, the boys who were eating began to shout loudly.
“It’s definitely because she refused to sleep with the boss; that’s why they’re freezing her. Recently, wasn’t that whoever the same?” Another male student piped up after that.
“Cheh, I don’t think that’s it. Didn’t Zhuo Jingjing recently say that she’s pregnant? I already stopped being her fan; can it be that her value fell because of her pregnancy, so the company’s dissatisfied?” a plump male student said as he ate a drumstick.
“Eat.” Yu Tang switched to a hot drumstick for Song Xiao, throwing away the cold one on his plate.
Song Xiao withdrew his gaze and took a bite of the drumstick. “She used this trick the last time, too.”
Yu Tang took a sip of his coke, then sneered. “I’m guessing that your father really was planning to freeze her activities; it was just that she picked up hints of it beforehand.”
Yu Tang understood more than Song Xiao when it came to Xinghai Entertainment. It was originally established by Song Zicheng along with a partner. Song Zicheng himself had a good grasp of the film and television aspect, while his partner had good skills in managing artists, which was why the company was able to flourish for many years.
It was around the year before last when this close pair suddenly dissolved their partnership. That partner went to the United States alone, which led to the deterioration of Xinghai Entertainment’s situation with each new year.
The mid-term exams were around the corner, so Song Xiao stopped paying close attention to the entertainment news and instead focused on reviewing the lessons from the first half of the semester. During the self-study period, he earnestly did the questions and silently memorised books. The humanities subjects weren’t a problem at all. As for those hard-to-pronounce topics that were hard to understand, like ‘Use dialectics to analyze metaphysics’, he just memorised every question in the exercise book.
Song Xiao was writing steadily on one end, while Yu Tang was reading a small pink book sandwiched between the pages of his textbook.
‘Overbearing Chairman Fell In Love With Me’ was a best-selling romance which depicted the love-hate relationship between the female lead and the overbearing chairman male lead. The female and male leads had an encounter and the male lead fell in love at first sight with the female lead, but since he had never known how to love someone since he was young, he didn’t understand his feelings for the female lead and only knew how to seize what he wanted by force.
The female lead always ran away. Initially, the two of them were forced together because the female lead’s family had fallen into debt, so she had no choice but to borrow money from the male lead. The male lead lent her a huge sum of money, and signed a lovers’ contract. The male lead used the contract to act arrogant and bossy towards the female lead, and did whatever he pleased. In the end, when the contract expired, the female lead left the male lead, but discovered that she was pregnant…
Yu Tang rubbed his chin. This romance strategy didn’t seem to fit Song Xiao. First of all, Song Zicheng didn’t really gamble – how would he wind up with several million in foreign debt? Unless, Yu Tang proactively took down Xinghai Entertainment. Besides that, Song Xiao couldn’t get pregnant.
Song Xiao finished a set of test papers. When he turned to the side, he saw the emperor reading his book seriously, so he curiously shifted closer for a glimpse.
‘Xuanyuan Aotian, you may have obtained my body, but you can’t obtain my heart!’ A stubborn expression on her face, Liu Yaner looked at the man with a commanding presence before her.
Song Xiao: “…”
Little Theater
‘Overbearing Emperor Fell In Love With Me Behind The Scenes’
Fish Tang: (Throwing a cheque) Come sign the contract ba
Xiaoxiao: (Reciting lines) Xuanyuan Fish Tang, you’ve obtained my body, and can also obtain my heart
Fish Tang: (Carrying Xiaoxiao away) Ok ok ok, let’s go to the bridal chamber
The two male leads departed, leaving behind the bleak autumn wind and yellow leaves drifting in the sky
Director: …
Baobao Notes
Disappeared for a few days… sorry about that