Chapter 47 - Contract
After the seventh day of Chinese New Year, the adults went to work like normal. Yu Tang and Song Xiao, who were currently still children, still had the long winter vacation to play. Song Xiao had already finished the winter vacation homework for both of them, and had nothing to do at home. Therefore, he played online games with Yu Tang every day.
Song Xiao could now use the computer proficiently. At the very least, it was fine for him to play online games with Yu Tang.
“It’s the Lantern Festival tomorrow. World Park is having a festival, do you want to see it? Yu Tang spoke to him through the gaming channel.
“Want!” Without hesitation, Song Xiao agreed. In the cold and simple ancient life, the colored lantern festivals and river lantern festivals were the most lively and interesting affairs. Every year, he wouldn’t miss it.
The first year he had entered the palace, he was unable to adapt to staying in the palace, so His Majesty the emperor snuck out of the palace with him to watch the lantern festival.
The colored lanterns that continued down the Changning street and the emperor who secretly held his hand under the cover of the changpao. Until now, it was all still fresh in his memory.
On the evening of the Lantern Festival, Song Zicheng still hadn’t returned, as he had a dinner party outside. Recently, the company’s funds were strained, and he still needed to produce a big project in the new year. Song Zicheng was thinking of a way to raise a loan, and he was always leaving early and returning late for the past few days.
Yu Tang came over to pick Song Xiao up, and had little princess Yu Miao holding his hand.
“Miaomiao also wants to watch,” Yu Tang explained to Song Xiao, rather helplessly.
“Good evening, Your Highness.” Song Xiao took Yu Miao’s other hand.
“Good evening, saozi gege.” Yu Miao laughed, exposing her mouth with a missing incisor. “With me here, will I affect your date?”
Song Xiao was startled by this child’s words, and his ears flushed. “What date? We’re going to see the lanterns.”
Yu Miao covered her mouth and laughed, giving her brother a meaningful glance. Yu Tang pretended he didn’t see it, pulling along the two of them and leaving.
By the riverbank of the World Park, they were still two kilometers away when they couldn’t continue to drive. Everyone then got off the car and went on by foot, while the driver went to look for a parking spot by himself.
Just as they entered the park, they could hear earth-shaking gongs and drums. A troupe was performing the lion dance at the entrance of the park, but not many stopped there as everyone was hurrying to go in and see the lanterns. The secret guard narrowed his eyes and looked at the people performing the lion dance. After ensuring that they didn’t have any weapons and weren’t assassins, he then blindly followed after the emperor to go watch the lanterns.
Assassins would usually disguise themselves as lion dancers, sideshow performers, or vendor stalls in display. Because these sorts of people could conceal weapons in the perimeter and attract a group of people to come over and watch, they could silently wait to assassinate their target.
World Park was a park themed after the various countries in the world. Each country had a small building: a short and compact pyramid, a triumphal arch built with granite, a cement Statue of Liberty. Now, they were all decorated with all sorts of lanterns.
The Statue of Liberty was holding a string of large, red lanterns, and the front paw of the sphinx had a multi-colored sphere. It all looked rather comical.
“Gege, I can’t see!” Little Yu Miao was too short and there were too many people around, so she could only see all kinds of butts, but not the lanterns. She anxiously hopped up and down.
Yu Tang turned to look at his little sister, then looked back at the surrounding people. Many young fathers would carry their child up and place them on their shoulders. This way, the child wouldn’t be squeezed and wasn’t likely to be lost. As a result, he reached out and picked up his sister, letting Yu Miao straddle his neck.
Song Xiao looked at Yu Tang in astonishment. His Majesty the emperor actually allowed someone else to sit on him, it truly was inconceivable.
Yu Tang reached for Song Xiao and met his shocked gaze. He smiled and said, “When in Rome, do as Romans do.”
Besides, he wasn’t the emperor anymore, taking care of his family and Song Xiao was more important.
During the lantern festival of his last life, he only took Song Xiao’s hand for a while then let go because of etiquette. In a flash, Song Xiao had parted from him by the stream of people. There weren’t many weirdos like Zhang Xiaoren who wanted to kill the emperor, but there were many in the imperial court who wanted Song Xiao’s life. At that time, Yu Tang panicked and immediately ordered the imperial bodyguards to impose martial law on the whole street.
But when he turned around, he saw Song Xiao standing under the brightest lantern on the roadside, smiling faintly at him.
Searching for him in the crowd intensely, he suddenly turned around, and there he was, standing under the waning light of the lantern.
Back then, Song Xiao couldn’t find the emperor either. In order to let himself be seen, he stood at the most conspicuous spot. Yu Tang hurriedly went over and pulled him away.
“Standing at such a conspicuous place, do you intend to be a target for assassins?”
“In this life, I’m holding your hand; I won’t lose you again.” Yu Tang gripped Song Xiao’s hand tightly and spoke softly.
The modern society may have lost him the status of the emperor, it also gave him the greatest benefit. At the very least, he could walk in the streets while holding Song Xiao’s hand, could place his little sister on his shoulders, could have no need to worry that his love would destroy his ancestors’ country…
“Gege, there’s guessing lantern riddles over there!” Yu Miao sat up high and could see very far. She pointed at a sheet of red lanterns faraway and spoke excitedly, tugging her brother’s ear and indicating for him to go there.
Guessing lantern riddles had prizes, if they successfully guessed ten riddles, they’ll be awarded a small rabbit lantern.
“Gege, I want that lantern.” Yu Miao was put down by her brother, then she ran around the prize stand and ran back, pointing at the small rabbit lantern and looking anxiously at her brother.
“Okay.” Yu Tang nodded, then poked at his empress’s back dimples with a finger. “You go.”
Song Xiao shot a glance at Yu Tang. Right when he was immersed in memories and feeling moved, this guy began to order him around in the blink of an eye. But who made him the Song top scorer? Guessing riddles and poems were his true expertise.
【 Pool reveals its bottom (One word) 】
“Sweat.” Song Xiao immediately took down the cardboard plate under the lantern and passed it to Yu Tang.
【Top of 凤, bottom of 虎 (One word) 】
“几.”
Song Xiao was very quick in answering, especially when it came to guessing words and poems. The people around him watched curiously, and looked over at him in succession.
Just as he was focused on answering, a cry of alarm abruptly emerged from behind him. Song Xiao turned and saw Dugu An pressing a man with a wretched appearance onto the ground as Yu Miao cried at the side.
The two of them promptly threw aside the lantern riddles and went over.
“What happened?” Yu Tang frowned. Just now, he was engrossed in guessing the lantern riddles and didn’t notice that his sister had gone beyond three steps away from him.
“He’s a child trafficker.” Yu Miao pointed at the man and said loudly.
Just now, she was watching saozi guess the lantern riddles when someone suddenly covered her mouth and dragged her backwards. Luckily, Dugu An had discovered them, and with a single motion, he pressed the man onto the ground.
“I- I’m not!” the man said as he struggled.
“My child is also gone!” At this time, a woman who had cried till her eyes was red and swollen ran over. “Is it you guys?”
When the people around them heard this, they all checked if their child was still around, and gesticulated at the child trafficker.
“I just saw that this little girl was alone, and wanted to send her to the police,” the man protested.
“Liar! You clearly covered up my mouth, and your hand was extremely smelly!” Yu Miao retched in disgust as she pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her mouth.
“What’re you doing?!” A middle-aged woman walked over and was even carrying a sleeping infant in her bosom. “My man has a mental disorder. You all shouldn’t be like him.”
When everyone heard that he had a mental illness, they couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Now, many people who abducted children claimed to have a mental disorder. If they went to confirm it, some really did have one. This way, they could avoid all blame.
Yu Tang looked at the husband and wife, his gaze filled with killing intent. If his secret guard hadn’t noticed it in time, where were they planning to take Yu Miao? Sell her to infertile families as a daughter, or sell her to a remote mountain area to be a child bride?
Signalling to his secret guard, Yu Tang picked up his sister and covered her eyes.
Dugu An promptly understood. He picked up the man, gave him a few punches and threw him onto the ground.
“Ah—” The man started to scream like a dying pig. His wife immediately stopped quibbling and went up to tear Dugu An away, but the infant in her bosom didn’t react at all, still sleeping soundly.
When the people around them saw this, they realized that something was fishy. What child could sleep this heavily? One after another, they went over to capture this couple. Some people even added some punches and kicks among the confusion. Initially, his secret guard skilfully gave him internal injuries that couldn’t be seen, but now, great, it was ruined by the zealous crowd.
At this time, the police had hurried over and took away the child traffickers and the sleeping infant. The woman who lost her child also followed them to the local police station, hoping that she could find some clues from the two of them.
Outside the park, upon receiving the news that the child traffickers failed their mission, a black SUV slowly drove away.
To encounter a thing like this during the carnival of the Lantern Festival was truly disgusting. Song Xiao felt that this wasn’t a good omen.
Sure enough, just after the first lunar month, something happened to Xinghai Entertainment.
The spring was warm and flowers were blossoming, and it was a good time to travel to the natural scenic spot, Aimaya, near the southwest borders. Many photography groups and artists had taken their equipment and set off on a journey, but when they arrived at the Aimaya mountains, they were informed that the ecology was severely damaged, and the mountains were temporarily sealed off.
“Ecology was damaged? It was in good condition, how could it be damaged?” The national broadcasting station’s photographer who had come to record an ecological documentary was immediately dissatisfied.
“Ai, there’s nothing we can do either. See for yourself.” Seeing that these people were from the national broadcasting station, the staff member who was holding a bellyful of anger let them in.
When the few cameramen and journalists saw the sight of the scenic area, they were immediately stupefied. Large areas of paint were clinging onto the meadow and stones. Precious insects and wild fungus had died, and the clear Aima lake also had bits of dye floating about.
“Before this, the lake even had plastic, paper, and canvas. We had to use a lot of manpower to fish all of them out,” the staff member sighed.
The precious Aimaya was the original ecological area. Because the scenery was elegant, it was frequently rented by various production teams to film a movie. Practically all production teams cherished this place very much, not even daring to damage a single blade of grass. Whereas the production crew for ‘Profound Theory,’ which had spent a large amount of money last year to occupy it for two months, went so far as to splash paint there for the quality of the film, thus ruining the precious original ecology until nearly nothing was left.
The cameramen from the national broadcasting station were full of rage when they left. They immediately photographed the devastation here, and on that very night, the journalists wrote a manuscript and sent it to the station. This matter was soon exposed.
【 Splashing Paint In A Natural Reserve, Xinghai Entertainment Might Possibly Face A Large Sum Of Penalty Fees 】
Once again, Xinghai Entertainment was the headlines on the front page.
When Song Zicheng found out, he shattered the tea set in his office and immediately called Liang Xinmu. However, Liang Xinmu was overseas, and the call couldn’t go through.
Liang Xinmu was the film’s director and the main person in charge, so the entire crew had to listen to him. Therefore, he was the main culprit of this destruction of the ecology. But on the contract, it was stated that this film was Xinghai Entertainment’s investment. If something happened, they also needed to assume responsibility.
The internet was filled with curses.
“My Aimaya! I even planned to go there this year!”
“What famous director, he’s just a famous liar! Not even having the slightest sense of responsibility to society, this sort of person should be sentenced to prison!”
“I think he shouldn’t be called Liang Xinmu anymore, call him Mu Liangxinba!”
The title of Mu Liangxin quickly became popular in the media. Originally, everyone still had some respect towards this old-timer director, but when this matter occurred, it truly was hard to continue respecting him.
Xinghai Entertainment’s legal team thought up every possible way to push the main responsibility onto Liang Xinmu’s shoulders, but they feared that the profit they made over this movie, over a hundred million, had to be used to compensate for the fine, and it’s possible that it won’t be enough.
Currently, Xinghai Entertainment could barely make ends meet. With great difficulty, they managed to discuss a loan and were going to use it to fill in any holes. The start-up funds for new projects were spent on a bad investment once again. Song Zicheng’s hair turned white with worry.
In the dead of the night, Song Zicheng sat in front of the phone and lit up three cigarettes consecutively, only then did he pick up the receiver and made an overseas call.
The other side was silent for a long time, then a man’s voice came through. “…Zicheng?”
Song Zicheng didn’t say a word and hung up the phone with a click.
Song Xiao looked at his father’s haggard appearance and frowned slightly. The troupe had a big problem and looked about ready to collapse. But he was still in high school, with no knowledge of business management and no connections. He didn’t know how to help his father.
Returning to school, Yu Tang was reading an English book. The English book with a refined binding and layout would have made him look especially intellectual, if it wasn’t held upside down.
Song Xiao pressed down the emperor’s book. Just as expected, there was a small, pink book stuck between the pages. It was the ‘Overbearing Chairman Fell In Love With Me’ again.
Being caught light-reading by his wife, Yu Tang was embarrassed and coughed. “What’re you doing?”
Song Xiao’s lips curled and crawled to the side of the bed to lean against him. “Xinghai Entertainment is about to collapse. You understand business management, tell me, what should I do now?”
Yu Tang knew about Song Zicheng’s recent activities of going everywhere to look for investment. Seeing his empress nervous expression of soon becoming broke, he couldn’t help chuckling lightly.
Suddenly, a lightbulb lit up over his head. His family becomes bankrupt and his father is in debt; wasn’t this the opportunity mentioned in the book?
Yu Tang narrowed his eyes imperceptibly, then reached out to pull Song Xiao into his embrace. “Right now, your father doesn’t lack anything but money. As long as he has money, he can save Xinghai Entertainment.”
Song Xiao blinked.
His Majesty the emperor extended a finger and tilted Song Xiao’s chin, using a tone brimming with assertiveness to say, “I’ll give you money, sign a contract with me. Be my contractual lover for three years.”
Song Xiao quirked the corner of his lips. “Your Majesty… Don’t make trouble…”
Little Theater
CEO Fish Tang: Be my contractual lover ba, until I throw you away
Disheartened Youngster Xiao: Aight
CEO Fish Tang: Giving in so easily? Where’s the eyes brimming with tears and defiance?
Disheartened Youngster Xiao: We’re an old married couple, what’s the point in being quarrelsome?
CEO Fish Tang: …
Baobao Notes
God, I’ve made a HUGE translating blunder in chapter 44.
Edited it when I found out, but to clarify, the author’s name is Huangye Wanhe黄野万鹤, whereas the username in the Xiaotang Moon forum is Huangye Wan’e 黄野万鹅. It almost looks exactly the same, which fooled me;;; but the very last character is a BIT different. I’m gonna go kill this nonexistent user now byebye.