Stop Bothering Me, Emperor Chapter 84 - Kidnapping

Chapter 84 - Kidnapping

There were numerous Yu family members. There were nine people in Yu Tang’s father’s generation alone, and Yu Lang was the youngest.
Yu Chuan, in charge of Dayu Capital, was lao-si. He had the same father as lao-er; that was, he was also Yu Taixing’s son. Lao–er’s name was Yu Tong, and he was usually responsible for the businesses on America’s west coast. The companies in LA all had very close dealings with one another.
The family head’s health hadn’t been very good this year, and he had intended to hand over the businesses in LA to the younger generation to manage. The businesses in LA were widely inter-related, and the Yu family had overtly and secretly fought over them for so long. However, no one had anticipated that they would be snatched away by Yu Tang, this person who had shown up midway and ruined their plans.
“If you’re so free, work more and pay less attention to gossip.” Yu Tong calmly looked through the photographs before slowly returning them.
“This isn’t really gossip. After all, if the future family head likes men, it wouldn’t be very good for the Yu family. I don’t dare warn father directly either, so I hope er-ge can say a few words.” Yu Lang took the photos back and put them in his pocket.
“Young people are free to like whatever they want.” Yu Tong remained unmoved, and was turning to leave when he suddenly paused. “Future family head? These words cannot be said casually.”
Yu Lang shrugged. “It’s not nonsense. Er-ge should know better than I do.”
The siblings in their generation had more or less the same capabilities, and none of them were particularly outstanding. This person refused to concede to that person and so on, so the family head had never planned to step down after all this time. The properties in various regions had been divided up among their generation, with each person controlling one area, and it could be considered a harmonious arrangement after all these years. However, if an established future family head were to appear now, this situation would change greatly.
Yu Tong stared at Yu Lang for a time, and then left.
Dugu An had been at the training camp for over a year and actually hadn’t returned yet. Song Xiao felt somewhat curious. Didn’t the emperor say that he would return in half a year?
“Zhen wants him to learn whatever he can before he leaves.” While Yu Tang was talking with Song Xiao, he skimmed through his emails. Ever since he took over the businesses in LA, he was much busier than before. He frequently returned in the middle of the night, and even then still had matters to deal with.
Song Xiao opened his eyes in a dreamy haze. Seeing Yu Tang sitting against the headboard as he read his emails, he rubbed his eyes and sat up to accompany him.
“Sleep ba, I’m almost done.” Yu Tang raised a hand to rub his empress’s messy bed hair.
“Bai Qing quit school.” Song Xiao shrunk back into the blankets and watched Yu Tang undress. Thinking about what had happened in the last few days, he picked the most important matter to talk about. “She’s stopped contacting me, and didn’t even pay me back the 20USD she owes me.”
Previously, Bai Qing had said that she needed to sort out procedures, and hadn’t wanted to take public transport because of the cold weather, so she borrowed money from Song Xiao to call a cab, then disappeared.
Yu Tang got into bed and pulled the little assistant minister, who was mad because of the money, into his embrace. “Forget it; just treat it like giving a beggar money.”
Song Xiao lifted his head to look at him. “Your Majesty, have things been fine recently?”
“Hmph, I discovered some interesting things.” Yu Tang sneered and felt for Song Xiao’s hand under the blanket, promptly grabbing it to play with. “Second uncle didn’t want me to interfere in the businesses on the west coast, so he tried to trip me up, but I caught the signs.”
“You’ve just taken over the family’s businesses. Isn’t it inappropriate to plunge straight in so rashly?” Song Xiao was somewhat worried. He had once met Yu Tang’s second uncle; he looked even gloomier than that fourth uncle.
“How can zhen be afraid of him?” Yu Tang pressed a kiss to those pursed up lips. “Now that I definitely won’t be able to move him, a good blackmail should naturally be left for use at the right moment.”
Song Xiao frowned and didn’t continue speaking, but in his heart, he felt that something wasn’t right.
“What did you say?” At the docks on the west coast, Yu Tong scowled fiercely and grabbed the secretary by the collar.
“Tong shaoye, it seems he found out…” The secretary could only summon his courage and repeat himself. They were in the shipping business and could smuggle in some private goods. American docks all did this sort of business. It wasn’t a big deal in itself, but some of the goods they smuggled in were illegal.
“This brat went to great pains to uncover my weakness; what does he want to do?” Yu Tong gave his younger brother, lao-si, a call.
“This blackmail isn’t big, but it isn’t small, either.” Fourth uncle, Yu Chuan, was standing in the office building on New York’s Financial Street and looking out at the bright lights of New York’s nightscape. “However, this child isn’t ordinary. That Dayu Capital project last time screwed me over. Until now, I can’t interfere at all in Xiao Qi’s project.”
Within a short year, Yu Qi’s Internet app company had earned 200% profit. Even as early investments already saw returns, the profit margin was still increasing, and the company was practically raking in money.
However, because Yu Chuan had turned down this project at the start, he had no way of getting involved at all. During the mid-year review, Yu Tang had even intentionally stressed this point, ruthlessly mocking Yu Chuan.
“The family head is somewhat unhappy with me because of this matter. He thinks that I used my position for personal gain and am not managing Dayu Capital properly. If you hadn’t intervened, I probably would have had to give up this position in Dayu Capital.” Yu Chuan sighed. “So, you can’t lower your guard.”
“A mere child whose hair hasn’t even grown in wants to fight with me?” Yu Tong sneered. “If he wants to use this information to control me, he has to first prove that he can become the family head.”
In fact, the family head more or less knew of the docks as well, but turned a blind eye to the matter. Yu Tang couldn’t use this information now, and could only wait until he became the family head and reorganised the family before he could do anything.
Yu Chuan nodded and pressed a buzzer on the office table. Not long after, a girl wearing a white skirt was led inside; it was none other than the person who had already quit school and still hadn’t paid back the cab fare, Bai Qing!
“Come, tell me about that child called Song Xiao…” Yu Chuan smiled warmly.
The concept art for ‘Delicacies Fill The Palace Hall’ was already done and filming was going ahead at full speed. Ever since Xiao Zhengqing discovered Song Xiao’s fairly in-depth knowledge of ancient China, he would consult him on every detail. From the appearance of the imperial palace and the emperor’s and minister’s apparel, to their manner of speech and how salutations were performed… Even if Americans wouldn’t understand these small details, the Chinese would definitely be able to spot them.
On this day, the two of them had come to LA once again. Usually, Yu Tang would send his empress to Hollywood, but there was an important meeting at the company today, so he wanted Song Xiao to go to the meeting with him first before they went to Hollywood together.
“No way. Today’s scene is very important, and Uncle Xiao repeatedly told me to get there earlier.” Song Xiao shook his head.
Yu Tang was very dissatisfied with the way Song Xiao went to Xiao Zhengqing every day to work for free. “Zhen employed you and you still want an official’s salary of 10,000 taels per year, but what does he give you?”
“This servant is doing this to learn some skills.” Song Xiao smiled and indicated for Yu Tang to quickly go to work. “Moreover, Your Majesty’s money is also in this project.”
Shooting a film required a lot of money, and not only had Yu Tang used Dayu Capital to give ‘Delicacies Fill The Palace Hall’ capital, he himself had invested a lot of money into the film.
Hearing this, Yu Tang felt satisfied and waved his hand to express that Song Xiao could make his salutations.
Song Xiao pushed him out of the car and closed the door. The bodyguard started the car and immediately drove off.
Watching Song Xiao’s car leave in the distance, His Majesty the emperor felt his heart skip for no reason.
“Shaoye, are you alright?” Seeing that Yu Tang’s complexion didn’t look right, the bodyguard behind him stepped forward to ask the question.
“It’s nothing; let’s go.” Yu Tang shook his head and turned to walk into the building.
“Chief Xiao Tang, everyone’s waiting for you in the meeting room.” The secretary who came to welcome him smiled sweetly and pressed the elevator button for Yu Tang.
Yu Tang hesitated for a moment before he followed her. The elevator doors faced the building’s entrance. As the elevator doors slowly closed, the sight of the heavy traffic outside was gradually cut off.
“Wait a second!” Yu Tang abruptly reached out and stopped the elevator doors from closing. In a flash, he exited the elevator. “I’m feeling a little unwell, and won’t be participating in today’s meeting. You all go ahead without me ba.”
“Ah, Chief Xiao Tang!” The secretary was stunned. Who would set a date for a meeting and get into the elevator but then run off? She hastily stepped forward to chase after him, but couldn’t catch up.
Yu Tang went straight to the basement carpark, started the silver convertible he had parked in the office building, and gave chase. The two bodyguards reacted and leapt into the car at the carpark exit. Two burly men squeezed into the convertible’s passenger seat, piled atop each other.
“Young master, what’s going on?” The curly-haired bodyguard shifted awkwardly on his comrade’s lap.
There was a red light in front. Yu Tang stopped the car, his expression solemn. “Have you ever read ‘Overbearing Chairman Fell In Love With Me’?”
“Huh?” The curly-haired bodyguard’s mouth dropped open, and he elbowed his comrade, whose face was filled with confusion.
“In this sort of book, there’s usually this plot…” The light turned green and Yu Tang changed gears, shooting forward with a whoosh. The plot explanation became lost in the wind.
The filming location for today was in a scenic nature spot on the edge of LA. That was right, scenes also needed to be shot for an animated film. They had to take a highway after leaving the city, and there wasn’t a lot of traffic on the highway at this time.
Sitting in the back of the car, Song Xiao bowed his head to look at his phone as he caught up on news in the domestic and international entertainment circles. It seemed that Li Weiwei had recently become popular after acting as the second male lead in a TV series about the Great Zhuo dynasty.
Shows set in the imperial court during the Great Zhuo Dynasty were now trending in China, and many production companies had jumped onto this boat. The one Li Weiwei had acted in didn’t really have great production quality, but it had the advantage of a novel concept, and the cast was very attractive, so it didn’t take long to become popular.
While Song Xiao was reading enthusiastically, he suddenly received a text message. There was no number, and it looked very strange, with just one sentence: 【This subordinate has graduated, and is returning promptly today】.
“Anyi?” Song Xiao was pleasantly surprised. It was clear at one glance that this was Dugu An’s manner of speech. This fellow could actually use advanced technology now to hide his own number.
Song Xiao replied in passing: 【The two of us are in LA】. Right after he sent it, the car abruptly shook and the bodyguard turned the steering wheel sharply. The car instantly barreled towards the guard rail on the side of the road.
Song Xiao was immediately thrown to the side and his phone also fell under the car seat. Fortunately, the car stopped, but it had crashed into the guard rail. The front passenger side had been hit, and the leg of the bodyguard in the passenger seat was injured.
“Who is it?” The bodyguard in the driver’s seat leapt out of the car to help his comrade, when he suddenly cried out.
Song Xiao shook his head and crawled up. When he lifted his head, the pitch dark muzzle of a gun was aimed at him through the window. Sitting up slowly and raising both hands, Song Xiao calmly looked around. In front of them was a commercial vehicle and a truck.
Around eight people surrounded their car.
The person holding the gun opened the car door and roughly hauled Song Xiao out of the car.
“Everyone, is something the matter?” Song Xiao straightened his clothes and looked at the group with indifferent eyes. Three people were holding guns, and a person with a large knife scar on his face was sitting in the passenger seat of the commercial vehicle, holding a cigar. Everyone’s faces were covered; he was the only one sitting there undisguised, as if he wasn’t afraid of Song Xiao remembering his face.
“Please, come on a trip with us for a few days,” Scarface said mysteriously. His accent wasn’t completely American, and had a strange tone to it.
The bodyguard tried to take out a weapon from the car, but was shot in his lower leg by a thug.
One of the bodyguards had fallen to the ground, and the other was stuck in the car and unable to move at all. Both of them broke out in cold sweats from worry. This was the first time they had encountered such a violent kidnapper. They had driven this car out from the LA company, and there weren’t any weapons in it; they only had the knives they carried.
“You look pretty good.” Scarface jumped out of the car and walked over to Song Xiao to grab his lower jaw for a look. He took out a photo from his pants pocket to compare the faces, and confirmed that he hadn’t kidnapped the wrong person.
“Young master!” The bodyguard with the wounded leg rushed over, wrenched Scarface’s hand away, and threw a fierce punch at him.
Scarface wasn’t a vegetarian either, and caught the bodyguard’s fist. After trading a few blows with him, he kicked the bodyguard’s injured leg.
“Stop it. I’ll go with you.” Song Xiao stopped Scarface. He allowed them to throw him into the commercial vehicle and blindfold him.
These people seemed uneasy, and tied his hands together as well. The rope was coarse and his hands felt uncomfortable tied behind his back. The two bodyguards were dragged into the truck, and Song Xiao faintly heard Scarface’s instruction to dump them in a distant place. “By the time they crawl out to make a police report, it’ll be too late.”
“Bang —” With the loud rumble of an engine, a silver convertible streaked over like lightning. “Crash!”
The expensive convertible spun out of control and collided hard with the commercial vehicle. Fortunately, the commercial vehicle had only just started moving and was still very slow. However, the hood was smashed inwards and the windshield shattered.
“Damn it!” Scarface cursed. Everyone rushed out of the car and surrounded the convertible.
Yu Tang jumped out of the car and took out a baseball bat from the trunk. “Scoundrels, today I’ll give you a taste of zhen’s Yu family’s art of the spear!”
Little Theater
‘Chairman, Please Follow The Script’
Ordinary Chairman: Seeing her leave, I felt an indescribable sense of unease
Secretary: Boss, the meeting is about to start
Ordinary Chairman: Forget it, perhaps I’m thinking too much
Villain: Muahaha, I’ve succeeded
Fish Tang: Seeing him leave, I felt an indescribable sense of unease
Secretary: Boss, the meeting is about to start
Fish Tang: What f*cking meeting, my wife is more important
Villain: That’s not how the script goes, ow, it hurts, hurts, hurts
Baobao Notes
An extra chapter because I’ve reached my Kofi goal! Thanks to Maddy, Anon, and Makaayplays