CH 88

“Emperor Father, do you miss Empress Mother?”

Song Yuan had many friends, but only three could be called her besties.

This friendship had been going on since kindergarten. Aside from Xie Ya, there was also Zhang Man and Tang Shi. After graduating, Zhang Man settled down in Hong Kong. Her return this time was also to worship her ancestors. As for Tang Shi, she went to study abroad in Australia and came back once a year.

The four of them discussed it and finally designated Song Yuan as the driver. Tang Shi’s home was the closest to her, so she first left to pick up Tang Shi.

Tang Shi has had short hair since middle school, and she had a very straightforward personality. Other people would say that if they didn’t know her gender, they would have thought she was a good-looking guy.

Song Yuan stopped at the entrance of Tang Shi’s apartment complex, and Tang Shi came out not long after. Song Yuan’s eyes landed precisely on her.

Tang Shi crossed the distance in two strides1. She hugged Song Yuan and spun in a circle, the two girls laughing joyfully on this winter day.

“Oh my god, why does it feel like you’ve become even cooler than last year!” Song Yuan was still exclaiming after getting in the car. “I almost couldn’t recognize you.”

Tang Shi originally had a more gender neutral look, but now, with a black down jacket and short hair, she looked very handsome.

Of course, Tang Shi liked to wear men’s clothing, just as some men liked to wear women’s clothing. Tang Shi had a boyfriend she’d been seeing for several years and was ready to get engaged.

Tang Shi sat in the passenger seat, grinning. “Just your imagination, you just haven’t seen me in too long. Anyways, I’m not just being nice when I say this: are you or are you not dating someone? I feel like you’re giving off a womanly air.”

Song Yuan had a deadpan look. “Just say I’m old, I’ll take it better.”

She was indeed old. The age on her ID card was 23, but in fact…

But it wasn’t a big problem! After going through this period of beauty treatments, she felt that her skin didn’t look too bad. There was no psychological burden in pretending to be young.

“I’m really not saying you’re old. I just feel like you’re different from before. Anyways, you’ve matured.”

After all, they’d been friends for many years; she could still tell something about Song Yuan had changed.

Song Yuan could only silently lament how sharp Tang Shi’s vision was, able to see through the essence with just one look. That’s right, how could she not look mature? She’d stayed in the ancient era for several years and also had a kid…

The two talked and talked, then prepared to leave. Just before Song Yuan started the car, she slid her phone in her coat pocket and touched something. She took it out to see, somewhat surprised. It turned out to be a black card.

After some thought, she knew that it was Rong Heng’s card. When did he sneak it in?

This clearly wasn’t the time to think about the issue. Song Yuan saw that Tang Shi had her head down while replying to messages on her phone, not paying attention to her, and she quickly placed the card back.

If Tang Shi saw it, the next bestie meetup would definitely become an interrogation, and they’d find a way to pry the answers out of her mouth.

After the four of them came together, they prepared to set off for the neighboring city. They were all in the same province, and they weren’t far apart. If they took the expressway, and the location was within 100 kilometers, they could get there quickly by car.

What Xie Ya booked was a hot spring villa. The rooms were adequate, and the environment was also excellent.

The four of them hadn’t gotten together in a long time. As they played team games and sang songs, drank, and chatted in the villa, the time passed quickly. Song Yuan put aside nearly all her worries, not thinking of anything. It was as though she’d returned to her days as a student, feeling unexpectedly relaxed.

Unlike Song Yuan’s day of indulgence2, both father and son had a very dull day in the book café. When it was finally afternoon, Rong Heng breathed a sigh of relief. In the palace, there were people to take care of and arrange Rong Ting’s daily life. He almost never stayed with his son all day like today, taking care of the child while also having to worry about many things, such as eating, sleeping, and reading.

Dinner was resolved in the restaurant of the hotel where Rong Heng was staying. Neither father nor son was accustomed to Western food, but fortunately, the hotel restaurant was buffet-style, and the dishes were very rich. Rong Ting very much liked this style, as he could eat much of the foods that he liked. And after eating, while Emperor Father wasn’t paying attention, he could eat a slice of ice cream cake–just perfect.

Without Song Yuan, the pair continued the ancient era’s rule of ‘eat without speaking, sleep in silence.’

When they exited the restaurant and prepared to head upstairs to their room, Rong Heng lifted his arm to glance at his watch and pretended to casually mention, “Your Empress Mother should have arrived at her destination.”

“En,” Rong Ting responded without much thought. “Empress Mother said that driving there is very quick. They likely arrived at noon.”

It was evening now.

“Really? I wonder if your Empress Mother has had dinner.”

“It is almost six o’clock. If she had not, she must be getting ready to eat.”

After returning to the room, Rong Heng shut the door and hinted, “Do you want to video call her?”

Rong Ting shrugged off his backpack and took out the tablet inside. Hearing these words, he gave his Emperor Father a glance and shook his head. “No need, Empress Mother will return tomorrow night.”

He wasn’t such a clingy child, wanting to call her after not even a day of separation; he also had his own things to do. Not to mention, Empress Mother was out playing with her friends. He didn’t want to call and disturb her. He hoped that Empress Mother could have fun and be happy.

Rong Heng didn’t expect him to give this answer. He fell silent for a moment, but didn’t say anything else. He silently returned to his desk to read.

Rong Ting could see his Emperor Father’s abnormality.

He hesitated for a while, then poked his head out from behind the tablet, looking in the direction of the desk. He drummed up his courage and asked, “Emperor Father, do you miss Empress Mother?”

Rong Heng raised his eyes towards him, his expression calm and the corners of his lips pulled up. “If I said I did, would you give her a video call?”

Rong Ting thought for a moment but still honestly shook his head. “No, I think one should complete one’s own affairs. I do not miss Empress Mother yet, so I can bear it. If Emperor Father misses Empress Mother, you can call her yourself. You also have a phone.”

“En, I know.”

Rong Ting no longer paid any mind. He wasn’t too clear on the matters between Emperor Father and Empress Mother, so it was very difficult to intervene. After saying this, he returned to the sofa, turned on the tablet, and focused on watching his favorite documentary, Animal Planet.

Rong Heng stared at the phone on the desk. The screen was bright, then black; black, then bright. After sitting in this way for nearly half an hour, he grabbed the phone and stood up. Before going out, he said to Rong Ting, “I’m going out for a bit. Stay in the room and don’t go out. If there’s anything you need, you can call Sun Qiming.”

“Oh.” Rong Ting looked up, then impatiently returned to watching the documentary.

So absentminded. Was Emperor Father going to call Empress Mother?

After transmigrating here, he found that Emperor Father was not like he imagined. It turned out that Emperor Father would also lie and be indecisive.

After Rong Heng left the room, he unlocked his phone as he headed in the direction of the elevator. He habitually opened WeChat Moments, wanting to see if she had posted any updates. His long, distinctly jointed hands swiped across the screen. Just before he reached the elevators, he stopped in his footsteps.

Song Yuan had just posted on her Moments ten minutes ago, attaching nine photos–

【Another super happy day!】

Among the nine photos, one of them was particularly jarring. She was leaning her head against the back of a young man while the man was washing fruit. The both of them turned their head to smile at the camera in an intimate posture.

Rong Heng’s expression was frosty, his jaws tightly clenched and his eyes dark. His entire body gave off an extremely oppressive air.

He was unable to figure it out. Now he had come to her world. Here, there was no imperial power, no Meng Qingrong, and no harem or concubines that had so bothered her. So why was she still so cold to him? It was as though he could no longer move her. He didn’t dare to believe that had already fallen for someone else, but she was so cautious in the affairs between men and women. If she didn’t like this young man, how could she lean against that young man’s back so intimately?

If she really liked someone else, what should he do? What could he do?

Back in the palace, although he was extremely jealous of her concern for Meng Qingrong, he also knew better than anyone else that she only had sibling affection for Meng Qingrong, and lacked any romantic sentiments. He had always been completely confident in her feelings and knew that she liked him. But after coming here, he started to grow uncertain.

Rong Heng closed his eyes. When he turned around and opened his eyes again, they were covered in a layer of frost.

He arrived at the door of a certain room, raised his fist, and knocked. Soon, the door opened.

When Sun Qiming saw that the person standing in front of the door was the boss, he was a bit surprised. Before he could ask if there was anything he needed, he heard Rong Ting say in a low voice, “Go investigate where she is right now.”

Who? ‘She’3?

Sun Qiming noticed that his boss’s expression wasn’t very amiable and was even a bit murderous. He gave a start and immediately realized that the person the boss was talking about must be Miss Song.

“Yes, right away.”

Rong Heng swept him a glance and walked straight into the room.

Sun Qiming worked extremely quickly. In 20-30 minutes, he finally located Song Yuan in a resort area in the neighboring city.

Rong Heng sat in a chair, eyes closed as he contemplated. Hearing Sun Qiming’s report, he ordered in a low voice, “Take me there.”

Sun Qiming thought he’d heard wrong. After all, it was past seven in the evening. “Now?”

“Yes, right now.” Rong Heng lifted his gaze to look at him. He had already restored his previous steady calm.

[1] 三步并作两步: three steps combined into two; just showing how excited Tang Shi is to meet her bestie

[2] 乐不思蜀: to indulge in pleasure and forget home and duty

[3] The raws had “Him? Her?” because both pronouns sound the same, but this doesn’t translate well in English. I went with something different to show that Sun Qiming doesn’t initially know who “SHE” is.

Cheese: i really DON’T think it’s the right move to be chasing after your (ex?)wife after seeing a pretty unsuggestive photo, but what do i know about how an ancient emperor thinks? still, i suppose proper communication would ruin like 80% of all romance stories out there lmao