Chapter 109 - Portrait
Song Xiao’s face turned cold and he didn’t speak.
It was usually fine to use the two of them to create some hype since this had been part of his publicity campaign to begin with, but taking this sort of photo that was clearly too ambiguous was no good. The Yu family matters weren’t settled yet; he wouldn’t allow Yu Tang to fall into such a predicament.
Yu Tang looked at the two costumes and his eyes brightened. When he looked back at Song Xiao, however, he wisely chose to say nothing, and sat next to Song Xiao in silence.
The youngster from the publicity team blushed and the mood was exceptionally awkward. When he turned to look at his co-workers, some were looking at the sky and some were looking at the ground as they pretended that they didn’t know anything. He immediately regretted it so hard that his intestines turned green.
“Cough cough, what are you standing around for?” The director cleared his throat and waved the script in his hand as he roared, “Hurry up and get to work!”
The lighting engineer hastily moved the light away from Mu Chen’s a.s.s and the floor manager picked up the copper basin and went off to fill it with water again.
“This idea is good, but now’s not the right time.” Song Xiao was silent for a while before he spoke to the youngster.
The youngster had been prepared to be scolded, and his head jerked up as he looked at Song Xiao gratefully. “Yes, we made a mistake, thank you, Chief Song.” With that, he ran off like the wind.
The people online were urging them to get together, but most of them were joking. The two of them had always come across as reserved chairmen, so to suddenly act so down-to-earth would be too abrupt. The publicity team had been too immersed in the trend recently, and had gotten carried away.
Yu Tang smacked his lips in regret, and when everyone was too busy to focus on them, took the opportunity to secretly touch the back of Song Xiao’s hand. “I don’t mind.”
Song Xiao glanced at him, then dropped his gaze to the hand that was placed over his. “How can marriage attire be worn so casually?”
Those outfits were ceremonial robes which conformed exactly to Great Yu, and Song Xiao had personally supervised their making. While the materials were as different as night and day, the styles were identical to what the two of them had worn when they got married.
Yu Tang was stunned for a moment, then slowly grasped Song Xiao’s hand tightly.
The filming and publicity for ‘Golden Age of Jinghong’ continued without a hitch, and successfully wrapped up in spring of the following year. The production team held a banquet in celebration and Song Xiao joined them. The truth was that he was the one who had invested the most heart in this show. Other people just a.s.sumed that he had done it for his grandfather, but only Song Xiao himself knew who he had done it for.
They played around that day until late into the night. No one returned to the city, and they all stayed at a nearby hotel.
When Yu Tang hurried over, Song Xiao was standing on the balcony and looking at the nightscape. The movie city was still ablaze with light at night, with countless crews still hard at work filming.
“No line of work is easy.” Yu Tang hugged Song Xiao from behind and placed his chin on his shoulder.
“Why did you come?” Song Xiao tilted his head and rubbed against his cheek.
“It’s the celebration feast tonight; I thought you might drink a lot,” Yu Tang quietly muttered.
Song Xiao couldn’t help laughing and raised his arm to elbow him. This fellow k2013; was he thinking of taking advantage of him while he was drunk? Even if Song Xiao didn’t drink much, it wasn’t like he would stop Yu Tang from touching him. What was this guy thinking?
Yu Tang caught his elbow perfectly, then embraced Song Xiao. “Shh — zhen has something to say to you.”
Song Xiao blinked and turned to look at him. His Majesty the emperor’s expression was hard to see in the dark night, but Song Xiao could sense that he was very serious right now.
Suddenly, there was a ‘bang’ from down below, and dazzling fireworks instantly shot up into the sky to explode in a bright, multi-coloured display in the night. This was immediately followed by row after row of fireworks which shot into the sky to form the shape of a beautiful heart.
The production team had all run out to look at the fireworks, when the lighting engineer suddenly turned on a light and aimed it at an empty spot down below. Mu Chen and Qiao Su, dressed in their costumes, walked into the light.
Surprised, Song Xiao looked at the two lead actors who had clearly been drunk just now. Dressed neatly in the ancient costumes, they recited their lines with clear enunciation, but these lines weren’t from ‘Golden Age of Jinghong’, yet still sounded somewhat familiar…
Mu Chen: “Junzhu, marry zhen ba, zhen promises you a lifetime of exclusive love.”
Qiao Su: “This servant wants to be an important official for all eternity; what use is exclusive love?”
Mu Chen: “Then zhen will promise you an age of prosperity for the entire country!”
Qiao Su: “Alright!”
Song Xiao looked at the two incredibly exuberant actors, who even embraced for real and looked very realistic. This sappy dialogue was from ‘Xiaotang Under The Moon’, right?
Yu Tang pulled the blankly staring Song Xiao over. He pulled out a ring from his chest pocket and directly put it on Song Xiao’s finger. He said in a frigid tone, “Zhen has thought about it, and still thinks that it’s better to just marry you now ba. It just so happens that the company isn’t busy right now, so we can go overseas on vacation.”
Song Xiao was stunned for a long while as he looked at the ring on his hand. It was a men’s platinum-gold ring, with only a few small inlaid diamonds around the edge in an extremely simple style. The emperor was… proposing?
The surrounding crew had also begun to heckle as they yelled loudly, “Get together, get together!” Who knew if they were yelling at the two actors or at the both of them.
Who would propose like this?! All kinds of scenes from his past life flashed through Song Xiao’s mind, and his eyes were a little red. Gritting his teeth, he said, pausing in between words, “Why are you always like this? You never discuss anything with me and always make a decision right away without asking whether I want it or not!” If he hadn’t also liked Yu Jintang in his last life, how miserable would it have been?!
Yu Tang looked at his appearance and immediately became a little fl.u.s.tered. At a loss, he looked at Song Xiao and carefully said, “Then, then you don’t want to marry me?”
Song Xiao raised his eyes and glared at him, and said fiercely, “I do!”
Yu Tang was dumbstruck for a long while, then slowly gave a foolish smile. “Hehe…”
“Pfft —” Song Xiao couldn’t help laughing when he saw his face.
When Song Xiao opened his eyes the next day, he saw the secret guard kneeling by the bed and holding up a set of crimson red ancient attire. It was the style he had worn when he got married, but it clearly wasn’t the drama costume used by the crew, and instead was the genuine thing made of satin.
Yu Tang, who always liked to sleep in, had unexpectedly already gotten up.
The weather was beautiful and the movie city had pleasant scenery. The weeping willows on either side of the river bank were green and the peach blossoms which surrounded the arch bridge were in full, magnificent blossom. Wearing the red clothes, Song Xiao slowly walked towards the river. On the white carved marble bridge, Yu Tang, dressed in a wide-sleeved changpao, was standing in the centre with his hands behind his back as he quietly gazed at Song Xiao.
His long wig was combed and smoothed down, and in that split second, Song Xiao thought that he had returned to the Great Yu of a thousand years ago.
The emperor stood on the jade stairs with 81 steps, his hand grasping one end of the red silk as he waited for Song Xiao to walk over step by step. The young and handsome emperor had always been serious in speech and manner, but when Song Xiao climbed that very first step, the corner of his lips ticked upwards.
A hand with prominent knuckles was stretched out to Song Xiao, but when Yu Tang opened his mouth, he was so nervous that he forgot his words.
Song Xiao gradually walked onto the bridge and placed his hand in Yu Tang’s. “Does Your Majesty still remember what to say?”
Yu Tang thought about it and still couldn’t remember, then casually made up some nonsense. “Today is an auspicious day on which we are taking our wedding photos.”
Song Xiao couldn’t help laughing.
The crew members who should have left had all gone, and only the two lead actors, the makeup artist, the lighting engineer, and the director were left behind.
Mu Chen yawned as he walked over. “Director, wasn’t the performance we put on to amuse Chairman Yu last night a success? Why call us out to work so early in the morning?!”
What they had to do was occupy the site and stop any other crew members from coming over to disturb them.
The director was also helpless. Last night, Chairman Yu had said that he was going to propose, which had nearly scared the director to death. He quickly dismissed the staff who were no longer needed, and only two of his own people, who knew how to keep their mouths shut, were left behind. Today, the two of them wanted to take wedding photos, and he could only say… rich people really knew how to play.
Qiao Su quietly looked at the two people on the other side, then elbowed Mu Chen, who was still yawning. “Chen ge, don’t you think that Chairman Yu and Chief Song’s postures and steps are even better than our acting?”
Little Theater
‘The Marriage Pledge Is Too Hard To Remember’
Xiao An: The pledge is, ‘I will treat you well all my life, take care of you, cherish you, and not allow you to be wronged. Marry me, okay?’
Fish Tang: Got it
Xiaoxiao: Your Majesty, are you proposing?
Fish Tang: You must treat me well, take care of me, and sleep with me. Marry me, okay?
Xiaoxiao: …Can I say not okay?
Fish Tang: No
Xiaoxiao: QAQ
Baobao Notes
Ugh jeez, scenes that would just leave me touched when reading makes me cry when translating. Imma be real, I kinda cried a little when I translated yu tang proposing to song xiao while playing sad violet evergarden music HAHA.