Stop Bothering Me, Emperor

Chapter 34 - Sister-in-law

There were only three people in the elevator: Zhuo Jingjing, Song Xiao, and Li Weiwei.

Zhuo Jingjing pressed the button for the sixth floor, which was where the chairman’s office was, then turned to look at Song Xiao. “Xiaoxiao, which floor are you going to? Are you also here for your dad?”

What “also here”? Li Weiwei curled his lip. This was clearly a demonstration of power! Extending an arm past Zhuo Jingjing, he pressed the button for the top floor, then said airily, “What, Auntie Zhuo is also here to see ‘dad’?”

Zhuo Jingjing clenched her jaw and glared at Li Weiwei. “…David, whatever the case is, I’m your senior!” Given his strong backing, this Li Weiwei did everything in an unbridled manner, and had never respected her, his senior.

“But Miss Zhuo isn’t my elder. Also, please use my full name.” Song Xiao raised an eyebrow and glanced at her sidelong before turning his gaze to the front once again.

Seeing that Song Xiao still had a straight back and a heavenly and noble temperament, even in the elevator, Zhuo Jingjing felt a little short of breath for no reason. To steel her nerves, she raised her voice. “Song Xiao, I truly want for us to get along. You deliberately let Qiu Mingyan into the house to harm me, but you’re still young, so I won’t argue about that. However, you shouldn’t go overboard…”

“Ding—” The beep indicating that the elevator had arrived rang out. When Zhuo Jingjing turned around, she was so frightened she nearly fell to the floor.

Song Zicheng stood outside the elevator doors with a cold face. Behind him was Si Dashu, who looked as if he had eaten shit.

“Zi- Zicheng…” Zhuo Jingjing immediately turned pale. The elevator could only go up or down, and the two people outside had, without a doubt, clearly heard what she said just now.

“Xiaoxiao, go play with Weiwei. Come find me later.” Song Zicheng’s voice was gentle when he spoke, but his face darkened when he turned to look at Zhuo Jingjing. “You, come out.”

As the elevator doors slowly closed, Song Xiao only saw Zhuo Jingjing’s stiff back and the flash of a twisted expression on his father’s face. It seemed that the emperor’s express delivery had arrived, so there was no need for Song Xiao to pay much attention to this matter anymore; he trusted that his father wouldn’t marry this woman.

But even if this was resolved, there would still be other actresses circling. Song Xiao let out an annoyed sigh. He had to get grandpa to find a decent person so that they could pass their days in peace at the very least.

“Zicheng, listen to me. Just now, Xiaoxiao said that he doesn’t recognize me as an elder, and even said…” Zhuo Jingjing paused, as if to help Song Xiao cover up some vile words he might have said, before she stiffly changed the topic. “I was agitated for a moment, and raised my voice a little – ah!”

Before she finished speaking, Song Zicheng slapped her across her face. Her body was still very weak after her recent miscarriage, and Zhuo Jingjing was wearing a pair of high heels. She was instantly knocked to the ground, half of her face turning red.

“How many times have I told you: don’t touch my son.” Song Zicheng looked at her coldly. “Just because I indulge you doesn’t mean that Song Xiao should.”

Zhuo Jingjing covered her face in shock and didn’t get up for a long while.

Leaning against the wall outside, Si Dashu grimaced when he heard the noise. The slap was really loud; just hearing it was painful. But he keenly understood what the boss was feeling. It was as if he had bought a peach, and had been told that it was a fresh peach that had just been plucked. Only after eating for quite a while did he realize that there were a good number of dead worms inside it, and he had even eaten half of one, which tasted really…

“I just had a miscarriage, how can you treat me this way…” Zhuo Jingjing was stupefied for a long while before she started to cry. “Song Xiao is your child, then the one in my belly isn’t? This is my first child ah. It’s so pitiful; even before it’s born, it’s gone. If it wasn’t because Song Xiao let Qiu Mingyan in, it would still be safe in my stomach ah, wu…”

When Song Zicheng heard the words “first child”, he just wanted to kick her, and hated that he couldn’t throw the examination report in her face. But it was really too disgusting; when he took the report out, he felt like it was just mocking him.

“Enough!” Song Zicheng looked at her indifferently. “Whether it’s your first child or not, you yourself know very well – don’t play me for a fool.”

Zhuo Jingjing abruptly stopped sobbing and she raised her head stiffly. “What do you mean?”

Ignoring her, Song Zicheng walked over to sit down behind his table. He had already torn the transfer agreement for the apartment to shreds. Forget the apartment, he didn’t plan to give her even a single cent. Habitual miscarriages – if Qiu Mingyan hadn’t suddenly appeared, who had Zhuo Jingjing planned to shift the blame to: his father, or Song Xiao?

Zhuo Jingjing didn’t know how she left the chairman’s office. Even though Song Zicheng hadn’t said anything, she knew that he had definitely discovered something.

Just as she walked out of the elevator, her manager gave her a call. “Jingjing ah, your movie is going to be released soon. The company has arranged for you to participate in a publicity event tomorrow.”

She had just miscarried, but she was being sent out to work right away. Forget marriage, Song Zicheng hadn’t even mentioned the compensation which he had promised her the day before.

Zhuo Jingjing could only feel a chill throughout her body. After responding to her manager’s arrangements, she dialed Zhang Yanan, her close friend who worked at Dayu Maternity Hospital, with trembling fingers, but no one picked up.

In Dayu Maternity Hospital, the head doctor Zhang Yanan was arguing with the director of the hospital, a dismissal letter in her hand.

“Director, I’m doing a good job, so why are you firing me?” Zhang Yanan was full of confidence. When she thought about it, the only thing she had done recently which violated the rules was falsifying a report for Zhuo Jingjing. But that wasn’t a huge issue, and she would only be fined at most.

“You’re in charge of this patient, is that right?” The director took out a medical file.

Zhang Yanan looked at the name “Zhuo Jingjing” on the medical file and nodded her head. “Director, what I did was wrong. She’s my friend, and I lost my head for a moment. I’ll accept any punishment you give me, but it can’t be bad enough to fire me, can it?”

“What our Dayu Hospital pays particular attention to is privacy. There’s been an information leak with the patient’s file, which is having an extremely nasty effect. Your immediate dismissal is also to protect you,” the director said sincerely.

“What did you say? An information leak?” Zhang Yanan was really stupefied this time. How could the information have leaked? Moreover, why was it Zhuo Jingjing, of all people, whose information was leaked?!

When Zhang Yanan returned to her office in a daze, she saw over a dozen missed calls from Zhuo Jingjing on her phone.

Torn with anxiety, Zhuo Jingjing called her best friend non-stop. She finally got through on her 19th attempt, and she spoke in a panic. “Song Zicheng seems to know that it wasn’t my first pregnancy; what happened?”

“That’s what I want to ask you!” When Zhang Yanan heard Zhuo Jingjing’s interrogative tone, she immediately burst out in fury. “Your medical information, who did you give it to ah? I’m finished now – the hospital said that the information was leaked, and they’ve fired me!”

“Pata!” The phone in Zhuo Jingjing’s hand dropped to the ground and she fainted.

The training classroom was on the top floor, and there were a lot of sections. Song Xiao looked at the young men and women inside; some were in dance practice, some were singing, and some were learning how to perform, but every single one of them was working very hard.

”What do you think? Isn’t it so cool?” Ever since Song Xiao lost his memory, even common knowledge could be used to show off to him. It gave Li Weiwei a crazy sense of accomplishment, so he was always obsessed with bringing the country bumpkin around to experience all types of new things.

Country Bumpkin Xiao nodded. “Being an actor really isn’t easy.” No matter the era, they all had to practice their skills since young and force themselves to smile.

“Pff—” Li Weiwei, who had just taken a sip of his drink, instantly spat it out.

After a look around, Song Xiao wasn’t interested in the practice an actor did. He told Li Weiwei to practice more diligently and strive to become a famous actor sooner, then turned around to go look for Song Zicheng downstairs.

“I want to go to a classmate’s place in the afternoon to do homework,” Song Xiao said with a straight face as he pretended not to see how Song Zicheng cut a sorry figure.

“Which classmate’s place?” Song Zicheng nodded his head. Laoyezi had already returned to his hometown that morning, so the house was now empty. Song Xiao going to a classmate’s house to play was also good, and Song Zicheng asked for the other party’s name as a matter of course.

“My deskmate,” Song Xiao replied honestly. Afraid that his father didn’t remember, he then added, “It’s the one who sent me back last weekend.”

Song Zicheng’s eyes brightened. “Yu Tang?”

“En.” Song Xiao frowned slightly. He knew the era wasn’t the same anymore, but when he heard his father directly say the emperor’s name, he still thought that it was very disrespectful.

“Good, good, good, I’ll have Xiao Si send you there.” As Song Zicheng spoke, he pressed the button for the internal line and instructed Si Dashu to come in.

“No need, my classmate is coming to pick me up in a while.” Song Xiao refused when his father dictated that he take a car over. He turned to leave, but Song Zicheng stopped him and slipped him a platinum gold credit card. “Going to someone’s house for the first time, you should buy some things.”

The Yu family wasn’t an average family, and they would definitely have a lot of established rules. One couldn’t go wrong with bringing some gifts over, which would leave a good impression on the Yu family.

Song Xiao looked at the card in his hand. He knew that this card had a lot of money on it, but he was just going to Yu Tang’s house as a guest, not to propose marriage, so he didn’t need this much silver currency.

But since this was pocket money from his father, he couldn’t refuse it. Song Xiao thus took it, then went downstairs and walked around in a nearby shopping mall.

Li Weiwei said that the most common gift for a mother-in-law was long johns. Song Xiao asked a shopping mall staff member, and when he learned that long johns were worn on the inside, he immediately felt that it was inappropriate. If a woman gave her mother-in-law undergarments, it could still be said to be a deft move, but for him as a man to give the empress dowager undergarments, he would definitely be dragged out and flogged to death.

The suggestions of others weren’t reliable; he could only rely on himself.

He still wasn’t very knowledgeable about modern things, like the luxury brands that seemed considerably pricey, and he couldn’t gauge the quality at all. He then turned and went to the top floor, where he bought a tea set.

In Song Xiao’s eyes, modern carving was superfluous, and didn’t look good at all. Waffling between selections, he ended up choosing a sweet, porcelain tea set. The porcelain, which was so white it was almost transparent, didn’t have any decorations on it.

When Yu Tang went to pick Song Xiao up, he saw him standing in a stupor on the roadside and carrying a big box that blocked the bottom half of his face so that only a pair of eyes and a fluffy head was visible.

“What’s this?” Taking the big box, Yu Tang pulled Song Xiao into the car.

“A greeting gift.” Song Xiao blinked. “It’s my first time going to your place, so I have to bring something with me.”

Looking at the earnest Song Xiao, Yu Tang slowly leaned in and said in a low voice, “Don’t be nervous, it’s not like it’s your first time meeting the empress dowager.”

“En,” Song Xiao replied, but his hands were still resting primly on his knees.

Yu Tang’s home was on precious land replete with feng shui in the suburbs. As they passed through a villa estate and went down a boulevard, the landscape gradually opened up before Song Xiao’s eyes.

A black, iron fence encircled a large expanse of green lawn. The refined and impressive iron gates opened slowly to reveal a house in the near distance that was just like a castle.

Visually calculating the size of the courtyard, Song Xiao nodded in satisfaction. The size was as it should be; it was just that the place was a little empty, and didn’t have pavilions, terraces or towers.

“This is your family’s estate?” Song Xiao asked Yu Tang as the sight of the lawn filled his eyes.

“No.” Yu Tang pulled him out of the car by the hand. “It’s not common to build courtyards nowadays; that empty space is for golf.”

Dugu An followed them out of the car, and conscientiously took out the porcelain set from the boot.

“Gege!” Like a little bird, a little girl wearing a pink princess dress threw herself at Yu Tang’s leg and hugged it. A husky bounced over behind her.

“This is my little sister, Yu Miao.” Yu Tang pulled Song Xiao over.

Song Xiao crouched down so that he was on eye level with the little princess. “Hello, Your Highness.”

Yu Miao was shy at first, half-hiding behind her brother’s leg as she looked curiously at this fair and good-looking big brother politely calling, not related. Seeing him squat down to talk to her, and even call her “Your Highness”, she was instantly cheerful, and she threw away her own family’s brother to pounce on Song Xiao and tug at him. “I remember your voice, you’re saozi!”

Song Xiao’s eyes widened in astonishment. They hadn’t met in their previous life, and it was only in bits and pieces from the Jingyuan Emperor and from that lengthy memorial speech that Song Xiao found out about this little sister. Even if Yu Miao was like them and had her past memories, she shouldn’t remember him!

“I heard it on the phone last time,” Yu Miao explained with a laugh when she saw his surprised face.

Song Xiao sighed in relief, then asked Yu Tang quietly, “Besides Dugu An, is there anyone else in your family who remembers?” If there was someone who was from the same hometown, he should prepare himself beforehand.

Yu Tang shook his head. “So far, I’ve only discovered Dugu An.”

As for that little brother in the cradle, he was still under observation. He couldn’t speak in any case, and thus could be ignored.

The housekeeper walked over. Refined and courteous in a black suit, he indicated for them to go inside, as the madam was waiting in the living room.

Song Xiao looked at the unfamiliar housekeeper, who definitely wasn’t Cao Gonggong.

“Zhen is also looking for him; it’s really strange without him.” Yu Tang knew what Song Xiao was thinking, and so quietly explained the current situation. He had met a lot of people he knew from his past life, but all of them had drunk the Mengpo soup, and didn’t remember their past incarnations.

“Then Zhang Xiaoren ne?” Song Xiao knitted his eyebrows. Even though he had killed the man with his own hands, it was still hard to get rid of the hatred in his heart. Disregarding the lives of the common people, and the country just for the sake of his own sense of righteousness, he cooperated with the enemy, committed treason, and murdered the emperor. This sort of person was truly unworthy to be one.

“Saozigege, are you looking for Zhang Xiaoren?” Yu Miao, who was pulling on Song Xiao’s hand, could hear their conversation. She didn’t understand the front bit, but she knew Zhang Xiaoren, and was immediately excited to help out.

“En?” Song Xiao lowered his head to look at the little princess, then saw the fair little hand point at the black and white husky behind herself.

“Over there!”

“…” Song Xiao looked at the dog whose tongue was lolling out as it hopped around on the grass like a rabbit, and he turned to look at Yu Tang.

Yu Tang said expressionlessly, “I feel that they both look quite alike.” Perhaps it really was Zhang Xiaoren.

Song Xiao quirked his lips. Thinking of that Zhang Xiaoren’s square-shaped face and then looking at this furry dog face, he was left speechless.

Little Theater

Zhang Xiaoren: Where’s the likeness?

Fish Tang: Both have the stupidity which can be seen through at a glance

Zhang Xiaoren: 凸(艹皿艹 )

Didi: Why ignore me… wait until I can speak

Fish Tang: Still can be ignored

Didi: 〒▽〒