“What’s an agent? Are you a momo by her side?”
Cheng Xingfei had originally been moved by compassion. When she decided to take Hua Zhao back to her home, she never thought that this ancestor who transmigrated over… ah, no, the princess who transmigrated over, could be so troublesome.
She had made a mess out of the entire living room, but Hua Zhao didn’t have an ounce of guilt.
She even counterattacked.
“Cheng Xingfei!” Hua Zhao raised her willow eyebrows and struck first. “You were intentionally scaring bengong, weren’t you? Who allowed you to misuse magic and shrink those people and stuff them into the wall?”
Cheng Xingfei looked at the awards she’d taken home with great difficulty over these past years, which had now completely become fragments. She almost wanted to die.
But her temper was too even. Even if she got angry, she couldn’t say anything harsh.
She pinned her hopes on reasoning with her. “First, it isn’t magic, I don’t have the ability to shrink people and stuff them into the wall. That’s called a television, which is a household appliance. Second, why did you touch everything without permission? You wanted to take a bath and eat, I provided those things for you. Right now I only wanted you to sit quietly on the sofa for a bit, but you ruined my house like this and then turn and accuse me?”
Hua Zhou turned red and glanced at the ground… It seemed… probably… a bit messy?
Hua Zhao knew she’d made a mistake, but it didn’t mean she would admit it.
She was used to being proud. After all, she was a princess who was second to only one and above ten thousand. Her Imperial Father had not yet named a Crown Prince, and there were rumors in the palace that the Emperor spoiled her and wanted to name her as a Crown Princess!
You could tell just by listening to her refer to herself — the other princess could only call themselves “ben gongzhu,”1 but she was “bengong”!
Was the mistake of a Crown Princess considered a mistake?
The three words “I am sorry” had never once appeared in Hua Zhao’s dictionary.
It was impossible for Hua Zhao to admit she’d made a mistake!
Hua Zhao relied on volume rather than logic. “Your world has too many strange things. Bengong condescends herself to understand them, so what is wrong with that? If you dislike a messy room, then can you not just call someone over to clean it?”
Right, Hua Zhao’s way of thinking was so simple and crude.
She wasn’t a fool, she was a discerning person. Just at a glance, Cheng Xingfei’s overall manner made it clear she wasn’t an ordinary person. A momo2 in her 30s followed at her side (her name was actually Sister Pee,3 which was quite strange), the 4-wheeled vehicle she used was comfortable and luxurious, and her house was also so high up… Cheng Xingfei was rich, and rich people definitely had many servants. Could they not randomly find someone to clean it up?
Cheng Xingfei laughed angrily. “Clean up? Yes, you’re not wrong, I can definitely find someone to clean it up. But if I do, I won’t be able to hide your existence — or do you want other people to know that you’ve transmigrated over a thousand years from the past?”
The more people, the more mouths. If it leaked that that there was another girl in a famous female star’s home that looked exactly like her, the consequences would be catastrophic.
As expected, Hua Zhao fell for her bluff. After all, she was from the past, and in the past, if there were any strange people, then, then they’d be buried alive!
Hua Zhao hurriedly asked, “No one to clean up? Then what should we do?”
She’d clearly lost her previous arrogant and domineering spirit.
Cheng Xingfei: “Of course, you clean up.”
Hua Zhao: “?????” Shocked, she stammered, “Cheng Xingfei, you you you you do you know who I am?”
Cheng Xingfei smiled tenderly, but her words were thousands of miles away from tender. “Of course I know who you are. And if I wanted to, I could also let the people who chased you last night know who you are.”
Hua Zhao: “…”
Hua Zhao couldn’t help but tremble as she thought of that group of fierce men who’d surrounded her last night in the museum. Especially the man in the lead, the one with a scar running down from his forehead. His eyes were cold, as if she was looking at a corpse!
… No, to be precise, wasn’t she a “corpse” that had arrived from a thousand years ago?
Hua Zhao looked down at the mess on the floor, silent for a long time. She didn’t want to apologize, but couldn’t think of another solution.
Cheng Xingfei didn’t push her. At any rate, she was patient.
When she took Hua Zhao home, it was because she saw her wandering around all alone and simply thought it was too pitiful. But if a pitiful person always looks pitiful and refuses to admit their mistakes when they make them, that isn’t pitiful, it’s hateful.
On the pretext of answering her phone, she went back to her bedroom to calm down and get away from the distress of seeing the trophy fragments on the ground.
As she moved, Hua Zhao stared pitifully at her back. As she closed the door, Hua Zhao looked pitifully away.
After all, in this unfamiliar place, the only person Hua Zhao could rely on was her.
She knew that Cheng Xingfei was angry.
But Hua Zhao thought that she herself was wronged.
She was a Princess. If it was before, when she got shocked, a group of maids would already be at her side to humor her. Didn’t she just drop a few glazed glass4 awards? If her Imperial Father knew, he would definitely reward her with a few more to casually drop; drop until she was happy.
Her Imperial Father…
… but her Imperial Father was already gone.
Not only was the Imperial Father who loved her gone, her Hua Dynasty was also gone.
… Her country was dead.
She didn’t know why she had transmigrated across a thousand years into this era. If she had another chance to choose, she didn’t want to see those small people trapped in the wall, or sit in that 4-wheeled vehicle. She would rather die right under Huyan Lu’s iron heel!
… At least, if she died like that, she would still be a princess.
A princess with a country, a people, and those to hurt for and hold her.
When she thought of this, Hua Zhao lowered her head. A wave of heat gradually surged forward in her eyes.
Seeing her lower her head and grow still, Sister P, who had long since been an invisible person, couldn’t help but sigh.
Just now, while Cheng Xingfei was educating Hua Zhao, Sister P kept quiet and watched. Because she also thought that this transmigrated Princess was too arrogant. Looking at her arrogant appearance, she seemed to owe Cheng Xingfei for taking her in.
Sister P was Cheng Xingfei’s agent, so she would naturally take her side.
She didn’t want Cheng Xingfei to meet this little devil, not to mention taking this little devil home!
But when the “little devil” lowered her head and was silent, Sister P’s heart couldn’t help but soften slightly.
After all, she was a 20-year-old girl and a princess. She ought to be wilful.
She absolved Hua Zhao in the bottom of her heart: in this day and age, don’t all the Rich-White-Pretties whose families have money and power lift their noses to the sky? If you compare Hua Zhao and them, didn’t she have even more money and power?
Everyone under the sky was originally surnamed Hua!5
How could you use a modern person’s thinking to judge an ancient person who had a high position?
As she thought of it, Sister P sighed, stepped around the mess on the floor, went to her side, and showed her goodwill.
“Hua… cough, that is, Princess. Don’t be too angry, Xingfei is only trying to help you adapt to the modern world quickly.”
Hua Zhao finally realized that there was another person in the room. She’d been too overwhelmed with sadness and hadn’t noticed that during her and Cheng Xingfei’s fight, Sister P was watching from the dining room.
She hurriedly pressed back her tears and looked up at Sister P.
She knew that Sister P was Cheng Xingfei’s confidant momo. Cheng Xingfei didn’t do anything without Sister P; wherever she went, there was her shadow.
People have to bow their heads while under others’ roofs. Hua Zhao raised her spirits to greet Sister P: “Pee momo, you…”
She didn’t finish, as Sister P interrupted her with a strange face.
Sister P: “…Wait, what did you call me?”
Hua Zhao blinked. “Pee momo.”
Sister P: “…”
Sister P immediately raised her voice: “Momo????? I’m only 35 years old and you call me momo??????”
As she said momo, Sister P immediately thought for the iconic mother’s image in “The moment you try to see if I’ll find out, you’re already finished.”6
She was a businesswoman in her prime, the No. 1 big-name agent in the industry, holding hundred of millions in investments in film and TV resources and countless fashion resources, she didn’t even know how many little fresh meats were coming wave after wave every day wanting a relationship with her…
Hua Zhao actually called her P! mo! mo!!!
Sister P exploded into a firework. If she knew that Hua Zhao was saying “Pee” instead of “P,” then she probably would have exploded even more brilliantly.
Hua Zhao was confused: “Isn’t 35 years old enough to be a momo?”
In her era, 35 years old could even be a grandmother.
Sister P almost fainted from anger. “I’m her agent, not a momo!!”
Hua Zhao naturally didn’t understand. “What’s an agent?”
Sister P lifted her chin proudly. “The person who’s responsible for her career planning, managing all of the resources around her, assisting her with private communications, and helping her overcome all the difficulties in life!”
Hua Zhao blinked: “From what it sounds like—”
Sister P: “Now do you know how powerful my identity is?”
Hua Zhao: “—Isn’t that a momo?”
Sister P : “……”
Sister P : “………”
Sister P : “…………”
Why did she change her mind and become soft-hearted!
Although Hua Zhao and Cheng Xingfei had the exact same face, Hua Zhao had a strange magic power that made people want to strangle her.
Sister P really couldn’t stay around Hua Zhao any longer.
She was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to keep herself from tying Hua Zhao up and throwing her back to the museum!
……
In the end, Hua Zhao could only aggrievedly clean up the living room by herself.
It was called “cleaning up,” but her abilities were in truth limited.
She flipped the sofa back up, straightened the coffee table, closed back the curtains… She’d lived for 20 years, but this was her first time doing this kind of common thing.
As for the floor of broken trophies… she had no solution.
She was such a noble person, they wouldn’t make her lie on the floor and pick up all of those broken pieces?
She didn’t know the significance of the strange “glazed glass awards” that she’d broken.
Cheng Xingfei, who began as a child star, grew up right underneath the eyes of the audience. For child stars, there is a convenience that came from their “early debut,” but at the same time, they also must be cautious. They cannot make a single mistake, otherwise the national reputation they’d accumulated would completely collapse.
Whose youth wasn’t carefree? …At the very least, Cheng Xingfei’s youth wasn’t carefree.
While her peers were learning in the classroom, she was filming. While her peers were laughing and playing with their classmates, she was filming. While her peers were skipping class, falling in love, and fighting with their families, she was still filming.
She never had a childhood and never had an adolescence. For an artist, these things are unnecessary.
Especially as a child star, how to transform and when to transform are especially important.
For example, that shattered transparent glass trophy was called “The Young Female Artist to Watch Award.” Cheng Xingfei devoted her own onscreen first love to this work. As a result, the male artist playing across from her back then was deliberately NG6 and kept on sabotaging the shoot.
For example, that smashed golden trophy was called “Newcomer with the Greatest Potential Award.” Cheng Xingfei had jumped into the freezing cold water of -8°C again and again for 22 times, freezing herself into a fever.
For example, that deformed silver trophy was the highest award she had ever received up until now. Although it wasn’t one of the big three,7 it was still a “Best Supporting Actress”! She’d had an accident while doing stunts and fractured her toe, but it was a big production of a major director and she was afraid of being replaced, so she secretly endured it for the whole shoot!
What Hua Zhao broke were more than ordinary trophies. They were her 10 years of passing through grievances and achieving glory.
But how could Hua Zhao know that?
Just as Hua Zhao was sighing and picking up the pieces, in the bedroom, Cheng Xingfei and Sister P were discussing what to do next.
Although Sister P had only been with Hua Zhao for a few short hours, she didn’t have a good impression of her. And, to leave such a ticking time-bomb in Cheng Xingfei’s house was too dangerous. Sister P was now completely occupied with the awards for Cheng Xingfei’s “Princess Hua Zhao,” so there was no room to make a single mistake. If you asked her, her Xingfei was the best! She deserved to hold up a Best Actress trophy!
Sister P suggested that they find a place to house Hua Zhao as soon as possible, as well as some people to watch her so she wouldn’t create a mess.
“No.” Cheng Xingfei immediately rejected this proposal. “Sister, I know that you want the best for me, but we shouldn’t restrict Hua Zhao’s freedom. You’ve seen her personality. If you get more people to watch her, that’ll only provoke her rebelliousness. She could even fight against the guards from the museum, which is enough to show her power, those guards are all army veterans!”
And… they looked so alike, when Cheng Xingfei looked at Princess Hua Zhao and thought of all she’d gone through, how could she bear to imprison her!
Sister P frowned. “Then what should we do?”
Cheng Xingfei considered it for a while, then slowly replied, “We can teach her.”
“Teach her?”
“She’s a little chaotic, which is related to her character and her background. We only have to slowly teach her and let her study, read the papers, and listen to the news, to gradually learn the rules of modern society. If she learns common sense, would we still be scared that she’ll get into trouble?”
……
In the living room on the other side of the door, Hua Zhao sneezed loudly.
She rubbed her nose and thought, the room was really too cold, she didn’t know what this thing called “central AC” did.
But in summer, the cold was better than the heat.
When she was living in the imperial palace, summers were so hot she could die. Although Imperial Father would reward her with a lot of ice cubes from the ice cellar, they were inadequate. It wouldn’t cool down the room by much and would even make the floor wet.
In comparison, a thousand years later was much better!
In the summer, you could feel cold wind, take a cool bath, and also eat cold watermelon — the best thing was, there weren’t any annoying teachers!
Who in the imperial palace didn’t know that Her Highness Hua Zhao didn’t fear anything under the skies except studying!
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1 As you may tell from the context, ben gongzhu is a lower form of self-address than bengong, meaning “this princess”
2 It’s a term that can be used to call old ladies, but Hua Zhao means it in reference to a palace wet nurse
3 Hua Zhao actually mistakes it for pi, which is the Chinese word for “butt,” but fortunately there’s also an English word with pretty much the same connotation.
4 A specific type of glass (art) that was created in the ancient past
5 Hua is used to refer to the Chinese people as a whole, but it (华) is a different Hua than Hua Zhao’s name (花)
6 So, this is the title of a series of videos on Douyin (Chinese TikTok), originally came from a another big TikToker with the meaning of “Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not [on the Internet].” So he said, while dressed in ancient female makeup. The videos star a man who goes through a convoluted process to trick his mom (sneaking out, stealing food, etc), after which his mom goes through an equally convoluted process to catch him. At the end, the man shouts, “Mom, let me explain!” to which she appears in an ancient costume and says this phrase, then (maybe) kills him
6 You might already be familiar with this, but stands for “Not Good,” which can refer to takes you screw up on.
7 China’s three main film awards are the China Golden Rooster Awards, the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards, and the Hong Kong Film Awards
lilypad translations 