Chapter 108 - Stills

Yu Tang stopped in his tracks behind Song Xiao and silently listened to him finish speaking.

After listening to Song Xiao, Qiao Su lowered his head pensively for a moment. He roughly understood what the character was feeling, and indicated to the director that they could start.

Filming resumed with a clap of the board, and the person acting as the court eunuch recited the imperial edict once more.

Everything in ‘Golden Age of Jinghong’ was carefully curated. This imperial edict was also something that was left behind in history. Hearing it now a thousand years later, it felt like yesterday. Song Xiao smiled faintly, then felt someone standing behind him. When he turned to look, he saw Yu Tang, whose lips were about to touch the back of one ear.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Song Xiao coughed dryly and stood up. He was going to say something, but when he saw the foolish expression on His Majesty the emperor’s face, he promptly forgot his words. 

“Was it true, what you said?” Yu Tang’s lips were still parted, and he moved closer to quietly ask the question.

“I… what did I say?” Song Xiao’s ears gradually turned red as he stared at the floor, somewhat embarrassed and at a loss.

Looking at how Song Xiao was acting, not only didn’t Yu Tang get angry, he became even happier, and pulled at Song Xiao to take him away.

“Filming isn’t over.” Song Xiao took back his hand and sat back down, pretending that nothing had happened as he picked up the script and continued reading. Yu Tang didn’t get angry either, and pulled over a chair to sit next to him. He propped his chin up with one hand and looked at Song Xiao in elation.

“Alright, this one is a pass!” Satisfied, the director waved his hand, and turned to look at Song Xiao. “Xiao Song ah, why are you holding the script upside down?”

Song Xiao was stumped as he looked at the script he was holding, then said without a change in expression, “I stapled the cover page on wrongly.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Oh.” The director scratched his massive beard, then turned back around and continued working.

“Click”. In the corner, a young makeup artist couldn’t help grabbing her phone to take a photo of the two of them. Yu Tang heard the sound and looked over, and the other party was so shocked that her face turned pale as she hurried over mindlessly. “Sorry, Chairman Yu, I couldn’t help it. You were too handsome just now, so I just wanted a photo for myself.”

Yu Tang stretched out his hand and looked at the makeup artist with dark eyes. His meaning was very clear: Hand over the phone and you’ll be spared from death.

Trembling, the makeup artist flipped to the photo she had just taken and handed over her phone.

Yu Tang took it and had a look, then swiped through a few more photos. Seeing that there weren’t any secret photos of Song Xiao, he was satisfied and returned the phone to her. “This photo can be posted.”

“Ah?” The young makeup artist’s jaw dropped. What did Chairman Yu just say? It can be posted? “You – you’re certain?”

Yu Tang glanced at her, and she immediately shut her mouth and turned to flee. Dugu An silently followed after her.

On that day, a blogger called ‘Labourer of The Makeup World’ posted a photo on Weibo.

Pc atf qtbab, j tjcvrbwf mtjlgwjc kfjglcu j yijmx vgfrr rtlga rja bc j mgevf, qijralm mtjlg jr lo la kjr j atgbcf, jcv rwlifv ojlcais jr tf ibbxfv ja atf qfgrbc cfza ab tlw. Mbiibklcu tlr ujhf, la kjr j qfgrbc klat pera tjio bo tlr ojmf lc atf rtba.

The accompanying caption was very simple: Suddenly encountered Chairman Yu on set, scared me into pissing my pants!

This sentence was the genuine truth. She had been pleasantly surprised at his sudden visit, and was very excited when she saw the interactions between the two, then peed herself when she met the chairman’s gaze. Only the blogger herself could understand this rollercoaster of emotions.

But the online users couldn’t understand the depression in her heart and were only preoccupied with ‘ahhhhhh-ing’ underneath her post.

【His Majesty the emperor went to visit the empress at work!】 

【The other person is definitely the empress! If he’s not, I’ll livestream myself eating poop!】 

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【This loving and indulgent gaze, oooooh, I can’t, falling to the ground while clutching my chest…】 

【The emperor unexpectedly looks this good when he smiles, huh? Why’s there blood on the screen, let me wipe it off!】 

This sort of news had always been the most reliable. The online users became excited and took this photo to Yu Tang’s Weibo to beg for the truth. Some even ran to the TV show’s official blog to yell about it.

The director looked at Weibo during his free time and couldn’t help scratching his head. “The two of them aren’t even part of the entertainment circle; why are they such hot topics?”

“Nowadays, anyone who looks good has fans.” On the side, the assistant director said serenely, “Moreover, there’s now a type of fan called the CP fan.”

CP fan? The director scratched his head. What was that?

The TV show’s official Weibo forwarded the makeup artist’s blog post, then circled Yu Tang and expressed thanks over Chairman Yu’s visit to the set. Following that, they released a second post, revealing today’s lunchbox for the crew. It immediately blinded everyone’s eyes.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

In the exquisite, wooden lunchbox were culinary delicacies of captivating colour and lustre. There were five fragrant, crispy fried prawns arranged in a row, teriyaki chicken drizzled with sauce and arranged in a flower, fresh fruits wrapped in plastic, and rice sprinkled with sesame seed and jujube paste, all of which looked delicious…

This was a lunchbox? This was simply a loving bento!

The official blog said with special pride that this was the lunch provided by Chairman Yu. The wooden box was even clearly engraved with a large ‘Dayu’.

【Ahhh, what a lucky crew, do you need someone to do odd jobs?】 

【Editor, it’s bad enough you’re flaunting all the love, but you also even use gourmet food to get revenge on society! Simply unbearable!】 

On the other side, Song Xiao also paid the price for his words today, and was properly tossed about by Yu Tang.

“Say it once more, mn?” Yu Tang bit Song Xiao’s ear.

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“This servant, back then… en… also liked the emperor…”

In the end, Song Xiao didn’t have any strength left. He was tugged into Yu Tang’s embrace, and fell asleep in a daze.

“Junzhu…” He heard Yu Tang speak softly in his ear. “Thank you…”

Thank you for saying you like me, thank you for taking up Moye for me, thank you for reincarnating and still loving me, thank you…

Song Xiao kept his eyes closed and only tucked himself into Yu Tang’s embrace, and naturally received a warm hug in return.

The next day, Dayu corporation’s planning department head shivered in fear as he sent the modified proposal to the chairman’s office. He lowered his head slightly, and waited for the proposal to be thrown in his face once again.

Yu Tang picked up the proposal, read it, then silently signed his name on it.

When he walked out of the chairman’s office, holding the file, the department head still had a look of disbelief on his face. It was actually still the same proposal, and only a few details had been improved on. There wasn’t anything he could actually change, so he could only summon his courage and bring it in – yet it was approved, just like that?

Was this a dream he hadn’t woken up from yet, or was the sun rising in the west? The head of the planning department suspected that he was on a prank show about observing human behaviour.

Secretary Jin sympathetically handed the department head a cup of coffee. “The chairman is in a good mood today.”

Assistant Dugu had changed the password for the chairman’s Weibo, and as she secretly followed her chairman’s account, Secretary Jin found it easy to grasp the chairman’s daily mood. It was only recently that the people at Dayu realised that Chief Song was their chairman’s former assistant. So, it turned out that he was someone who was chairman material. Coming here to be an assistant was a waste of his talent, and their constant envy of him was for nothing.

After a long period of research, the director finally understood what CP fans were, and the show’s official Weibo also headed down the queerbaiting road of no return.

Every week, the official account would release a photo at a set time.

The photo posted this week was Emperor Jingyuan’s wedding photo. Mu Chen, dressed in red, imperial robes, stood on the jade stairs with 81 steps, and watched as Qiao Su, wearing a beautiful phoenix robe, stepped onto the red carpet.

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The empress wore an exquisite crown and was dressed in a male, wide-sleeved changpao with a phoenix embroidered on it in gold thread. Separated by a long flight of steps, he and the emperor looked at one another over the distance. Their gazes contained too many vicissitudes, and framed history’s most legendary story. The greatest yet most headstrong emperor, with his own strength and perseverance, finally took his beloved as his wife.

This scene was too beautiful, and countless people clicked on the image to save it.

【My Qiao really is too beautiful, ahhhh, if I were the emperor, I wouldn’t be able to control myself either ah!】 

【Who said our Qiao Su has no acting skills? Look at that gaze full of deep emotion and stubbornness, my heart is melting…】 

【It would’ve been nice if Chairman Yu and Chief Song took a photo together.】 

This last comment received over 10,000 likes. Everyone was already used to this. Whenever they saw anything related to the emperor and empress, they would run over to Yu Tang and Song Xiao’s Weibos to howl and make all sorts of requests.

“I have to say, the two of you are really like these historical figures ah!” The director held the original work and flipped to the illustrated page, which had the portraits of the emperor and empress. “Moreover, both your names… Did you specially change them?”

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Song Xiao smiled. “You’re overthinking it.”

“Chief Song, may I ask if you can do something?” The people in the publicity team jostled each other, and finally shoved out a young fellow. The youngster looked very shy, and he slowly walked over to Song Xiao with a red face.

“What is it?” Song Xiao asked him warmly.

“My online friends are hounding me to death…” The youngster scratched his cheek, but didn’t know how to say it. Online users had been screaming for a cosplay picture of Chief Song and Chairman Yu. The publicity team also wanted to use this to hype up the show, and they had pushed the fellow out to ask Chief Song. However, to get their boss to wear the male empress’s outfit…

Yu Tang, who had wandered over to visit the set once again, saw this scene, and immediately walked over unhappily. “What are you talking about?”

“The publicity team hopes that Chief Song and Chairman Yu can portray the emperor and empress in a photo.” The youngster shut his eyes and threw caution to the wind as he yelled, and everyone in the crew heard him.

There was a split second of stillness. The cameraman forgot to change the camera stand, the light was fixed on Mu Chen’s ass, the script in the director’s hand froze, and the copper basin which the floor manager was holding fell to the floor with a bang.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

 

Little Theater

‘Online Users Don’t Only Know Ahhhh’

Online users: Ahhhhhhh

Xiaoxiao: Do you guys have any other lines besides this every day?

Online users: Wooooooooow

Fish Tang: Zhen has a method (Pulls Song Xiao over and gropes him)

Online users: yoooooooo~~