After Crossing Over to the Republic of China, I've Become a Heartthrob Chapter 5

Letter of Divorce for Song Liao

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The Song family's position in the business world is second to none.

Song Liao's position in the Song family is incomparably valuable.

Seeing that he seemed to have become angry, the atmosphere in the room suddenly dropped to the freezing point. Song Liao walked up to Shi Yao, his tone not without threat: "Stay by my side, you are not allowed to go anywhere."

Shi Yao smelled danger, so naturally he kept his mouth shut.

So much so that for the rest of the banquet, he really sat beside Song Liao and did not say a word. Even without speaking, listening to the conversation at the meal, Shi Yao summarised the following information:

Firstly, Master Song is the big boss behind the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce.

Secondly, Master Song is particularly biassed towards Song Liao and is unusually indifferent to Song Yuan. Was this the difference between the first born and the second born?

Finally, Song Yuan looks quite similar to Song Liao, but his temperament is completely different. Song Liao is the type of person who stands there with his aura in full force, but Song Yuan is graceful and elegant, adding a bit of gentlemanly style. It was quite pleasing to the eye.

Since Song Yuan was sitting opposite him and Song Liao did not allow him to speak, he had nothing better to do than stare at Song Yuan, who noticed his gaze and raised his eyes to meet his gaze.

Shi Yao felt a little embarrassed and was about to look away, but Song Yuan looked at him with a smile on his face, and his eyes were filled with a cold pool of spring air. He was infected by this smile and put on a silly grin of his own.

With a bang, Song Liao slammed his cup of tea on the table, interrupting the friendly exchange between him and Song Yuan: "Refill the tea."

Shi Yao said, "Don't you have hands of your own?"

Probably because he had never been confronted like that before, Song Liao's face suddenly turned unkind: "Shi Yao, you'd better not challenge my bottom line."

"Sorry!" A good man doesn't fight when the odds are stacked against him, Shi Yao was quick to concede and immediately picked the teapot up: “Refill the tea, refill the tea, I'll do whatever you say."

As he poured the tea, from the reflection of the white porcelain cup, Shi Yao saw that Song Yuan was holding back a laugh.

The day's celebrations lasted from noon to night.

After the lunch, the evening banquet would be attended by more guests from the business and political circles.

At the beginning of the evening, there was a lot of mingling. As Song Liao was busy entertaining the guests, Shi Yao was wandering around the courtyard by himself and overheard people discussing the Chamber of Commerce.

"What do you think of the establishment of the Chamber of Commerce and having Song Yuan as its president?"

"Can't you see through this? Song Yuan is a concubine and has always been out of favour. Song Liao has just returned from abroad, and this Chamber of Commerce was deliberately set up for him by Master Song. Although Song Yuan is the president in name, in reality..."

"Everything is a dowry for Song Liao!"

"Alright, don't say too much, be careful with your words."

When Shi Yao heard this, he felt a little upset for Song Yuan.

At the moment, he was thinking about Song Yuan, and when he wasn't paying attention, he bumped into a drunkard.

That man slanted his eyes to look at Shi Yao and picked up his chin maliciously, "You're quite good-looking, hey, why don't you follow me, Xiao Ye?"

Shi Yao punched him straight in the face, "Get out of the way, thanks."

Chen Yuhui, who had never been so aggrieved, covered his wound and blocked Shi Yao's way: "How dare you hit me, Xiao Ye? Do you know who I am?"

"And do you know who I am?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Song Liao's father."

"How dare you tease me!" Chen Yuhui jumped up like a thunderstorm, pulling out the folding fan at his waist and was about to strike at Shi Yao.

At the critical moment, Song Yuan stepped in front of Shi Yao and caught his fan, "Master Chen, why are you so angry?"

Chen Yuhui pointed at Shi Yao and said, "This bastard has offended me, I want to teach him a lesson."

Song Yuan smiled elegantly, "If he has offended you, it is naturally his fault, and I apologise to Master Chen on his behalf. For the sake of the Song family, can you be more forgiving?"

Chen Yuhui said, "Not unless he stays with me tonight."

Shi Yao: ?

Song Yuan's tone was suddenly cold: "Master Chen shouldn't joke about this."

"Yo, Song Yuan, do you really think you're somebody?" Chen Yuhui said sarcastically, "You are just a mutt of the Song family, Song Liao's mutt, so what? If he doesn't accompany me, you'll accompany me?"

Before he finished his sentence, he heard a 'thud'.

Shi Yao kicked Chen Yuhui into the pond.

As Chen Yuhui was screaming and floundering in the water, Shi Yao looked at Song Yuan smugly, "No need for thanks."

Song Yuan laughed lightly in surprise and said helplessly, "Mr. Yao, your behaviour is indeed beyond my expectation."

"People like him deserve it, I'll beat them up whenever I see them in the future." Shi Yao said, "Don't call me Mr. Yao, it sounds weird."

"Then I'll call you Yao'er?"

"No!" Shi Yao refused, "It's too nauseating! You can just call me Shi Yao."

Song Yuan couldn't stop laughing again, "Okay."

As he watched Chen Yuhui being fished out of the pond wet, Shi Yao maintained his stance of watching the fun, and Song Yuan said, "Aren't you afraid of getting into trouble?"

"What's there to be afraid of, the mistakes you make are your own responsibility."

When Song Liao arrived at the scene to deal with the matter, he looked at Shi Yao with a gaze that seemed to spit fire.

Shi Yao pretended not to see it.

Song Yuan asked, "Aren't you afraid of making him angry?"

Shi Yao said: "He gets angry eight hundred times a day, besides, this matter is not my fault. That Chen guy started the trouble himself, didn't he?"

Song Yuan looked at him seriously, "You seem to be different from before."

Avoiding his gaze, Shi Yao stammered and explained, "People change all the time."

Song Yuan was about to say something else to him when he saw Song Liao coming this way and saying to Shi Yao, "Come! Here!"

Shi Yao let out an oh.

Song Liao indifferently glanced at Song Yuan: "And you."

Inside the hall, Master Song sat upright, not angry but still imposing: "What happened tonight, were you the ones who caused the trouble?"

Song Yuan said, "Youlan knows his mistake, he will go and receive his punishment."

Yuanyouzhixi Liyoulan, Youlan is Song Yuan's courtesy name. (Angel: Yuanyouzhixi Liyoulan, 沅有芷兮澧有兰, is a line from Nine Songs Mrs. Xiang, a poem written by Qu Yuan, a poet of the Chu State during the Warring States Period. In modern Mandarin, it is 沅水芷草绿啊澧水兰花香, and the meaning is 'The purple gromwell of the Yuan River is green and the orchids of the river are fragrant'.)

Shi Yao said, "I beat him up, he had nothing to do with it!"

Master Song looked at Shi Yao: "Yao'er is a guest of our Song family, so naturally, this old man will not blame you. Besides, this matter is mainly due to Youlan's incompetence."

No way? Shi Yao was dumbfounded, how could this old man turn his elbow outward?

He almost suspected that Song Yuan might not be his own son, right?

But Song Yuan had already gotten used to it: "I will follow Father's teachings."

At night, when he went to bed, Shi Yao asked Song Liao, "What punishment will Song Yuan receive?"

Song Liao was not impressed and said, "Flogging, wiping, confinement or grounding."

"No way! That serious? No, that's so unfair!" Shi Yao jumped up from the bed, intending to go out.

Song Liao stopped him and said, "What do you want to do?"

"I'm going to stop the lynching!"

"Shi Yao," Song Liao said, "the Song family has its own rules, haven't you caused enough trouble?"

"But in this case, Song Yuan didn't do anything wrong, it was my impulse."

"The Song family doesn't ask for reasons, they only look at the results."

"You can help him, right?" Shi Yao asked, "As long as you say something, will you be able to help him get out of his sentence?"

"Why should I help him?"

"I'll beg you?"

"You have your eye on him?"

"No no, how is that possible, it's just because he helped me, and he..."

"Shi Yao!" Song Liao gritted his teeth, "If you say one more word for him, I'll make sure his sentence is doubled."

"Why are you being completely unreasonable?"

"In the Song family, I am the judge of reason."

In a fit of anger, Shi Yao took the pen and paper from the table, wrote a few lines in a flutter and slapped them on Song Liao's face.

Holding back his anger, Song Liao took the paper off, and the three big, crooked words [Letter of Divorce] immediately caught his eyes.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: March 2, 2023