Chapter 122 - Anniversary Celebration

The TV show had ended, but everyone’s enthusiasm continued to increase. The tragedy of Empress Duanhui and Emperor Jingyuan had moved many people, resulting in a lot of fanart and fanfiction, and there was an uptick in sales of ‘Xiaotang Under The Moon’, the classic work about their love story.

When Song Xiao came out of the bathroom after his shower, he saw Yu Tang lying in bed and scrolling vigorously on his tablet. His expression was cold and stern, but there was a strange smile in his eyes. Song Xiao couldn’t help being concerned, and drying his wet hair, he drew closer for a look.

The bamboo green interface with the transparent background featuring a traditional jade xiao and haitang flowers was obviously the Xiaotang Moon forum. 

【Song Xiao turned away and silently shed a tear. The emperor had gotten angry at him today; it had to be because the emperor had fallen for that imperial concubine that had just entered the palace. After a while, Yu Jintang suddenly got up behind him. Tearing open Song Xiao’s phoenix robes, he shoved in without warning. To have the cheek to reject zhen – could it be that he had someone outside…】

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After that was just long paragraphs of smut, and even dialogue like ‘Your Majesty, spare me, yingyingying’.

‘Plop’. A drop of water fell from Song Xiao’s head onto the tablet. 

Yu Tang slowly raised his head and met Song Xiao’s eyes.

“…What is this?” Song Xiao’s lips quirked. The emperor actually dared to sneakily read porn about them!

Yu Tang casually turned the tablet off and took the towel to dry Song Xiao’s hair without a change in his expression. “International news. I clicked the wrong thing and was suddenly sent there.”

“…” Song Xiao rolled his eyes. Could this lie be any more fake?

“I’ll pay, you film ‘Xiaotang Under The Moon’ ba.” Yu Tang toweled Song Xiao’s hair dry and dragged him into a hug while he was at it.

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“That book is too fake.” Song Xiao rubbed the water droplets that were still on the tip of his nose on Yu Tang’s pajamas, and lazily pressed his head to his chest and yawned. “Besides, the higher-ups definitely won’t approve the plot.”

“Then film an online show.” Yu Tang shook the fellow in his embrace and didn’t allow him to sleep. “I’ll pay; it’s fine even if it makes a loss.”

Song Xiao pushed him away and went back to sleep on his own pillow. Yu Tang tossed the tablet onto the headboard, turned off the lights, and wriggled closer. He reached out and started to take off Song Xiao’s clothes.

“Don’t be troublesome. I still have to be on site tomorrow.” Song Xiao fished out the hand that was inside his clothes and turned his back to Yu Tang.

His Majesty the emperor naturally wasn’t that easy to dismiss, and soon stuck to Song Xiao again. He tore open Song Xiao’s clothes and flipped him over to press him under his body. “To have the cheek to reject zhen – could it be that you have someone outside?”

Song Xiao glared unhappily at him. “Yes ah, I’m thinking about my former husband Yu Jintang.”

Yu Tang put on an act and snorted. “Did he touch you? Let me check!”

“Hey!”

The next day, Xinghai Entertainment’s chairman couldn’t participate in the activity on site.

Song Xiao slept until almost noon and looked listlessly at the time. He turned and shoved his face into his pillow. Sticking both his hands underneath it as he stretched, he suddenly felt a piece of paper. Taking it out, he saw that it was a postcard painted with jade xiaos and haitang flowers. Rubbing his eyes, Song Xiao flipped the postcard over. On it was written a row of forceful and vigorous characters: “Reward for you.”

Dfibk atf kbgvr kjr j yijmx jcv ubiv yjcx mjgv raemx bc klat vbeyif-rlvfv ajqf.

Gjhfv, Vbcu Wljb rja eq jcv ibbxfv jgbecv. Te Kjcu’r rqba cfza ab tlw tjv yffc fwqas obg j ktlif. Ulmxlcu eq tlr qtbcf, tf mtfmxfv ab rff lo abvjs kjr j rqfmlji vjs, ktfc tf rjk atja Te Kjcu tjv qbrafv bc Qflyb.

Yu Tang V: One year since we got married. I love you, baby. The attached photo was from their wedding shoot in ancient costume last year.

The photo had been taken with the two of them standing below a blooming haitang tree. Song Xiao’s head was tilted up slightly as he rubbed noses with Yu Tang, and there was a faint smile on the latter’s face. The photographer slash prop manager Dugu An had picked up a stone and thrown it at the haitang tree in passing, so that the petals rustled and drifted down. Yu Tang stretched out one hand to pick a flower petal from Song Xiao’s hair, and the camera just happened to capture this instance.

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Online users had been longing for wedding photos for an entire year, and one was finally released today. It truly was too moving.

【So beautiful, I cried!】

【Ahhh, emperor ah, empress ah, I can lick this photo for a year!】

【Begging for more wedding photos, beg beg beg!】

【What to do, I want to see Xiaotang Under The Moon as a TV show even more…】

Song Xiao couldn’t help laughing lightly. He raised a hand and snapped a picture of the postcard, and uploaded it: Giving a postcard on the wedding anniversary, how convincing.

The netizens all gathered for a look, and various ‘hahahas’ promptly appeared. So it turned out that Chairman Yu had said such corny words to avoid giving a present ah, how stingy.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

【Hahaha, even stingier than my husband. I am now at peace.】

【All the emperor’s money has been given to the empress already; he only has enough to buy a postcard.】

【Didn’t any of you notice that this postcard is the freebie that comes with the hard copy of ‘Xiaotang Under The Moon’?】

【Pfft, the postcard wasn’t even bought and was actually a freebie, hahaha!】

【The emperor also reads this book? Discovered a huge secret!】

Song Xiao drove himself to the company, and dropped by the bank on the way to check the balance on the card. The amount was rather impressive. When he reached the company, he called the planning department head to come to his office.

That night, Yu Tang came to pick Song Xiao up after work in high spirits. “Is there anything you want to say to zhen?”

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Getting into the car, Song Xiao looked at him. “What?”

Yu Tang’s gaze was fixed on him for a while before he hmphed. “Nothing.”

Up until it was time for bed, Song Xiao didn’t say anything. Yu Tang sat sulkily on the bed. Today’s wedding anniversary passed without any waves. After a candlelit dinner, don’t even mention a present, he didn’t even get one kiss!

Song Xiao walked over, his lips pursed in a faint smile, and gave Yu Tang a document.

“What?” Yu Tang raised his head and took the printed papers. Written clearly on the cover were the words ‘Planning Draft For Xiaotang Under The Moon Online Drama’.

“In return for Your Majesty’s gift,” Song Xiao said with a serious face.

“Isn’t it zhen’s money that you’re spending; this is just relying on zhen to pamper you.” Yu Tang snorted, but couldn’t hide his smile.

A few days later, Xinghai Entertainment’s official site announced that they were going to film ‘Xiaotang Under The Moon’, and Empress Duanhui would still be played by Qiao Su.

Qiao Su was now an artist under Xinghai Entertainment, which was very convenient. However, it wasn’t easy to find an actor for Emperor Jingyuan.

Emperor Jingyuan in ‘Xiaotang Under The Moon’ was different from the absolute monarch in ‘Golden Age of Jinghong’. Here, the war campaigns were just the backdrop, and the main plot was the romance. Qiao Su looked really beautiful after putting on his makeup, and they needed to find a good-looking person to act opposite him, but it was very hard to invite popular celebrities to act in an online show.

When everyone saw the news, they spread the word and were very excited at first, then began to worry that the new actor would damage Emperor Jingyuan’s character. They all ran over to Mu Chen’s Weibo to wail, kneeling and begging him to continue acting as Emperor Jingyuan.

【In my heart, aside from Chairman Yu, only you can portray Emperor Jingyuan’s imposing manner. Kneeling and begging you to continue acting!】

【There’s a lot of kissing and bedroom scenes in the original work. If you don’t go, another man will eat up your family Xiao Susu wa!】  

【Mu Qiao ah, my wooden bridge, don’t tear down my wooden bridge, wuwu…】   

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Of course, Xinghai Entertainment sent Mu Chen the script, but didn’t hold out much hope. After all, it had already been hard enough to invite a film emperor to act in a TV show. Asking him now to act in an online drama was simply indulging in fantasy.

Mu Chen’s manager accepted the script cordially, but didn’t even give it to Mu Chen for a look. It was only when Mu Chen was scrolling through Weibo and happened to see that Qiao Su had forwarded the official announcement that he learnt about it. Then, when he saw the comments, he couldn’t help furrowing his brow.

“This script, do you have it?” Mu Chen turned his head to ask his manager.

“Ah, they sent one over. Do you want to read it?” His manager was somewhat surprised, and took out the script for Mu Chen to read.

Mu Chen flipped through it, and the more he read, the deeper his frown became. He finished reading the first five sections of the script in an hour, and closing it with a ‘pa’, he called Qiao Su.

“Are you really going to do this? This isn’t the same as ‘Golden Age of Jinghong’ at all. It isn’t a historical show, and could very possibly become troublesome.” Mu Chen gave sincere and earnest advice. Filming such an ambiguous show would definitely lead to rumours of a sex scandal with the other male lead.

“I’m now an artist of Xinghai Entertainment. Boss personally came to discuss it with me; what reason do I have to refuse?” Qiao Su leant against the sofa and slowly drew one finger over the magazine cover beside him, which had Mu Chen’s handsome face printed on it. Qiao Su felt that he might have gone crazy and had become too immersed in his feelings while acting in ‘Golden Age of Jinghong’. After filming, he had found it hard to extricate himself, to the extent that he didn’t dare see Mu Chen for a very long time.

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As for the actor playing Emperor Jingyuan, the official site didn’t divulge any information at all. Even Qiao Su had no idea, until it came to taking the final makeup photos, when he saw Mu Chen walk over in the black monarch robes. His entire body froze.

“Chen… Chen ge…” Qiao Su looked at him, stunned.

“I just happened to have a free slot in my schedule recently, so I came over to play,” Mu Chen said, smiling.

The manager behind him instantly had a twisted expression on his face. Rejecting two high-paying films was called ‘just happened to have a free slot in my schedule’?

When the final makeup shots were released, ‘Mu Qiao’ instantly became a hot topic. The main admin of the topic said this: ‘A film emperor came to film an Internet show. If this isn’t love, I’ll livestream myself eating my phone!”

Even though it was just an Internet show, Xinghai Entertainment was especially diligent, and used up all the money provided by Yu Tang for filming. On the day of the broadcast, the two of them snuggled on the sofa and waited for the episode to air.

The opening song was melodious traditional Chinese music. To save costs, they had Qiao Su sing the main theme, ‘Xiaotang Under The Moon’. 

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… 

Flowers bloom and flowers fall, under the moon before the main hall, the bamboo xiao sounded.

Winter departs and spring comes, the sun rises and the moon falls, who should these feelings be entrusted to?

…

Three episodes were aired back to back, and just happened to be right after Luming Banquet, when the seventh prince blocked the young top scholar’s path and said a few frivolous words which caused the young top scholar to blush.

Yu Tang sighed. If he had been so frank that year, would they have become a harmonious couple long ago? He turned his head to look at Song Xiao, wanting to speak about the past, and discovered that his empress was looking right at him as well.

“What’s up?” Yu Tang reached out to pull Song Xiao into his embrace so that it would be easier to comfort his empress over whatever melancholy words he was going to say.

Song Xiao clutched at Yu Tang’s pajamas and trembled faintly for a long time, before he said hoarsely, “The ratings are off the charts, I’m rich… hehehe…”

Yu Tang: “…”

 

Little Theater

Xiaoxiao: I’m thinking about my former husband

Fish Tang: You actually can’t forget him, what’s so good about him?

Xiaoxiao: He owes me an official salary of 10,000 liang

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Fish Tang: Oh, thank goodness I’m not your former husband

Xiaoxiao: →_→