Chapter 52 - Cold War
The jaws of the crowd of people in the corridor immediately dropped in shock. The president walked over so coolly, and after all that, he was just here to bring someone with him to the toilet?
Song Xiao had no choice but to put down the book in his hands and go out to attend to the emperor as they went to the toilet.
Yu Tang and Song Xiao’s cla.s.srooms faced each other across a corridor. If they stood by the window, they could see each other. His Majesty the emperor came to a ‘friendly agreement’ with the student who sat by the window in Special Cla.s.s One and traded seats with him before he was just barely satisfied. However, every time he went to the toilet, he would drag Song Xiao along.
“You have a good relationship with the president ne.” Song Xiao’s female deskmate smiled at him after he returned from accompanying Yu Tang to the toilet.
“En.” Song Xiao nodded and didn’t say much.
“You two used to live in the same dorm?” His deskmate thought for a moment; it seemed that she had heard that Pudding gongzi used to be in the same dorm as the president.
“…Hm.” Song Xiao made a vague sound, and took out the book for their next cla.s.s.
The dormitories had been rea.s.signed after the cla.s.ses were streamed, but Song Xiao still lived with his family’s emperor. The entire time, the teachers and the school never brought up the matter of the two of them switching dorms. And so, the two of them still ate and slept together every day.
The moment cla.s.s ended, the surrounding girls gathered around him. The girl in front of him gave him some snacks while the girl behind him kept leaning over her table to listen to him speak. Song Xiao had the etiquette of a gentleman, so he wouldn’t come in contact with these girls, but he was obliged to answer any questions they had. He spoke in a calm and composed manner, and became more and more popular with the girls.
In contrast, the boys in cla.s.s didn’t like Song Xiao since he was a second generation, could actually study well, was handsome, and was popular with the girls. Originally, they had wanted to alienate and bully him, but seeing how close the president was with him, that idea was quickly extinguished as soon as it popped up.
“If we offend him someday, we won’t even know how we died.” The boys in cla.s.s gathered together and whispered privately to each other. In the eyes of a high-schooler, to be the brother of the student union president was the same as being the brother of the school tyrant; it was an existence that had to be respected at a distance.
What was more, their president daren had gathered a lot of power in one year; he had even sorted out the four hotties, to the point that they were now docile and obedient. Furthermore, the school tyrants who were all brawn but no brain had become Yu Tang’s thugs. He could be said to have encompa.s.sed the sky with one hand.
Song Xiao didn’t know that was how the boys in his cla.s.s thought of him, but he could sense that they intentionally distanced themselves from him.
During the long cla.s.s break in the afternoon, the boys from the science stream would usually rush to the sports field to play football or basketball. Meanwhile, the boys from the humanities stream kicked jianzi together.
There were only eighteen boys in a cla.s.s of over forty people in Humanities Cla.s.s One. One of them held a jianzi with large feathers, deliberately flashing it in front of everyone, and the rest of the boys followed him out. Song Xiao lifted his head to look at them and couldn’t help pursing his lips as he laughed lightly.
“Let’s go play ball.” Right on time, a certain someone came to knock on the window. Behind him were three little brothers. One was hugging a basketball, one was carrying water, and another took the initiative to run out and grab them s.p.a.ce.
“Wah, our humanities cla.s.s finally has someone who can play ball! feels deeply gratified ah!” The cla.s.s monitor, Li Wenwen, looked at Song Xiao’s departing figure and pretended to wipe her tears.
“From what can see, that group of people kicking jianzi outside should be dragged out and flogged to death,” said Li Wenwen’s deskmate, the cla.s.s secretary, as she played with her nails.
The girls looked at the group playing vigorously in the sun on the sports field, then at the group kicking jianzi behind the cla.s.sroom, and silently covered their eyes.
After the evening self-study period, the stars sparkled in the dark blue evening sky. When the bell rang, everyone poured out. Carrying his school bag, Song Xiao went out. He promptly saw that tall and thin figure, which didn’t fit with the surroundings, standing in the corridor.
Yu Tang had grown taller again and already could no longer wear his school uniform from last year, so he had changed to a new one. He just stood there empty-handed, and the surrounding girls snuck looks at him, but didn’t dare step forward to strike up a conversation. The boys directly took a detour around him, and when a student from the student union pa.s.sed by, they would stand at attention and say, “h.e.l.lo, president!”
Yu Tang would nod his head slightly, and only then would the student union member leave, perfectly content.
Song Xiao blinked. Without him knowing it, the ‘abandoned village’ Shengmeng High was now already completely in his emperor’s grasp, where he could make it rain or shine with a wave of his hand.
Yu Tang’s deep gaze pa.s.sed over Song Xiao, and he saw a few girls secretly stuff pink letters into the desk that Song Xiao had just vacated.
“Let’s go.” Song Xiao walked to Yu Tang’s side.
“En.” Yu Tang took the school bag from Song Xiao and casually put it over his shoulder as he took the lead and headed downstairs.
“I’ll carry it myself.” Song Xiao quickly caught up. How could he let the emperor carry his school bag?
Behind them, Dugu An pa.s.sed by the window of the humanities cla.s.s like a ghost. When Song Xiao remembered him and turned around, he saw that Dugu An was still following behind them. It was just that in his hand, which was hidden behind his back, was a pink letter.
Upon returning to the dorm, Song Xiao went to take a shower, and Yu Tang lay in bed and read the letter.
This was a love letter written by a girl called Song Xin. The words written were very elegant, and could be considered good writing by a regular high-schooler.
“When someone asked me why I wanted to write this letter, I slowly lifted my head and looked at the sunset on the horizon, like a blooming royal poinciana in its final moments. Life is like the gorgeousness of a summer flower. If I don’t write this letter today, my sixteen years of youth will be like a young miss in her boudoir in ancient times. When I grow old, I will be left with nothing but a heart filled with resentment, having withered before ever blooming…”
When Song Xiao was done with his shower and dried his hair, he picked up a reference book and got into bed. Leaning over for a look, he saw the pink letter, and slowly pursed his lips. He knew that love letters were written on pink paper. Modern people were more open, and love letters could be brazenly stuffed into the hands of the other party. In the past, 4G had received them by the dozens, and when they carelessly threw them away, they were caught by the student union, who gave them demerits.
“Received a love letter?” Song Xiao pretended to glance at it carelessly. Seeing that it was words that went around in circles and didn’t get to the point, he couldn’t understand what it was saying.
“En.” Yu Tang looked up at him. “Do you have something you want to say?”
Looking at the placid eyes of the emperor, Song Xiao was a little angry. “This servant has nothing good to say.”
It was one thing to read a love letter written by a girl with relish, but to even ask for his opinion – did the emperor intend to take a concubine?
The year they got married, the court officials had pressured them to select a concubine. Maybe because they were newlyweds and His Majesty the emperor wanted to coax him, the emperor didn’t even take a look before he got up and left, giving empress the direct right to select the tiles.
Following the principle of giving priority to influential officials, Song Xiao selected a few women with noteworthy family backgrounds. However, the daughters of the important ministers in the court weren’t outstanding in appearance. The other women selected also had to be tested in the four arts. It was the empress who came up with the questions, and he thought he would give the good answers to the emperor for a look.
Women in the Great Yu Dynasty studied as well, but not very much. When they were tested, it was usually on verses of the lady’s chamber. However, Song Xiao didn’t know this. With a wave of his brush, he produced ‘Discussion of The Country’, and had them discuss how the behavior of women in the harem could influence court politics.
The results could easily be imagined…
When the emperor saw the bare few daughters of important officials that remained, their looks couldn’t even compare with a palace maid’s, and he immediately shooed them out impatiently.
After this selection round for concubines, not a single talented person could be found. The emperor and empress looked at each other in dismay, mutually complained a little, then left the matter unsettled. In Emperor Jingyuan’s entire life, he only had one empress. Therefore, Song Xiao wasn’t used to Yu Tang paying attention to other women.
“Hmph!” Yu Tang snorted coldly and pulled Song Xiao over. He waved the letter that was in his hand and said, “Zhen isn’t by your side for no more than a few days, and you’ve already seduced other women?”
Song Xiao blinked. Ah?
“Look closely. You both have the same surname, marriage is impossible.” Yu Tang pointed at Song Xin’s name, which was written at the top. In ancient times, people paid particular attention to the fact that those with the same surname couldn’t get married. This student’s name was also Song, so it was doomed to be hopeless.
Only then did Song Xiao realize that this love letter was written to him. Wait, why was a love letter for him in the emperor’s hand?
“How’d this – wu…”
Before he could finish the question, the emperor turned over and pressed him down. Yu Tang caught Song Xiao’s struggling hands and pressed them to the pillow. Bending down, he bit the fair neck. “Don’t forget that you signed a contract with zhen.”
Song Xiao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “The contract doesn’t permit you to read letters from other people for me.”
“Hmph, zhen can read all the letters given to this subject.” Yu Tang looked at him arrogantly. All land under heaven was the emperor’s; naturally, he could read letters written between his subjects, to prevent these people from plotting a rebellion.
“Pft…” Song Xiao looked at the serious emperor and couldn’t help laughing.
His Majesty the emperor was very unhappy at that, and grabbed hold of Song Xiao for a bout of torment. He played until the two of them had red ears, before he forced himself to stop. He gathered the disobedient empress into his embrace and smacked his b.u.t.t.
“Wu…” To suddenly be smacked on the bottom by the emperor, Song Xiao stiffened as the top of his head started to emit smoke.
Seeing that he was well-behaved, Yu Tang was then satisfied. He warned him again that he couldn’t get close to other girls, then closed his eyes and fell asleep.
In a daze, Song Xiao went to sleep as well. Before he fell asleep, it felt like he had forgotten something. Opening his eyes the next day, he saw the reference book that had been thrown next to the bed, and remembered that he hadn’t done his work. Jerking upright, he looked at the shining white workbook, then looked at Yu Tang, who was sound asleep…
Because the wake-up call had been adjusted, they could now sleep until the sun rose. The early morning sunlight illuminated Yu Tang’s refined face, his long eyelashes casting shadows over it. His thin lips were suffused with a healthy pink from sleeping with an open mouth, and his slender arms were still wrapped around Song Xiao. It was clear that he was very comfortable lying there, which couldn’t help but make Song Xiao want to lie back down.
He shook his head, and got up with his reference book in hand. Beauty endangered the country, beauty endangered the country ah!
High school always went by quickly. In the blink of an eye, the second year had pa.s.sed by. In the final exams, Song Xiao got first place in his form’s humanities branch and received a 5000 yuan award. And ever since he was reprimanded by his wife, Yu Tang also knew he had to work hard. Without needing to take politics and history, which went against his methods of governing the country, His Majesty the emperor took first place in his form’s science branch, and also received a 5000 yuan award.
Together, the money totaled 10000, and they decided to go on a trip like other couples. They called it a trip, but it was actually just staying at Yu Tang’s family’s seaside villa for a month.
This villa was located on a pristine beach with few people. Through the full-length gla.s.s walls, they could see the vast sea from the house. A beautiful wooden bridge wound its way from the front door right up to the sea.
“There’s an entrance examination for an American university in August; come take the exam with me.” As soon as they arrived at the villa, Yu Tang handed Song Xiao a set of reference books; they were all practice questions for the American entrance exam. The questions for this exam were especially easy. For example, a maths question would ask for the length of the third side of a triangle when the angles and lengths of the other two sides were known. The only difficulty was that all of it was in English.
But language wasn’t an issue at all for Song Xiao, who had a photographic memory.
“I…” Song Xiao bit his lip. “I’m not going.”
“What?” Yu Tang pa.s.sed his luggage to a servant and turned his head to look at him.
“I want to, to study locally.” Song Xiao lowered his head and stuttered.
Yu Tang’s face instantly turned cold. He looked silently at Song Xiao’s drooping head. They had agreed to go abroad together previously, and he never expected Song Xiao to back out at the last second. This caught His Majesty the emperor off guard. After over ten minutes at an impa.s.se, Yu Tang clenched his fists and went upstairs wordlessly.
The two of them sunk into an inexplicable cold war. Song Xiao wanted to explain to Yu Tang, but he didn’t know what to say.
“It’s the young master’s birthday tomorrow; why don’t you take the opportunity to make up with him?” When a female servant in the villa saw the two friends fall out, she quietly gave Song Xiao some advice.
“It’s tomorrow?” Song Xiao was surprised. If he wasn’t remembering it wrongly, this would be Yu Tang’s eighteenth birthday.
Little Theater
Xiaoxiao: Your Majesty, tomorrow is your birthday.
Fish Tang: And?
Xiaoxiao: What present do you want?
Fish Tang: An adult present.
Xiaoxiao: What adult… oh…
－－－－－ I’m little Huangye who turns out the lights －－－－－