Chapter 118 - Gege Can Call Me Chenchen From Now On
"Why are your delusions getting worse? You were fine last night, how come you are confused again after taking a bath?" Yuan Ge couldn't understand Qiuchen's behaviour at all.
Qiuchen called out to the door, "Vivi Vivi!" In response, the little robot came to the bedroom and said, "Your humble wife is here, what is your Majesty's command?"
Qiuchen called out again, "Yuan Ge Yuan Ge!" The little robot paused for three seconds, changed out of its female voice and responded in its male voice identical to Yuan Ge's, "Your humble son is here, what is your Majesty's command?"
Yuan Ge's face instantly turned gloomy. He jumped up from the bed at once and protested, "How did you find out about how to activate the male voice?"
"Last night, after I finished cleaning Professor Fu's room, Brother Puppet also happened to have finished recharging his batteries. I then asked him for advice on the changes in world affairs over the past 150 years. He was so knowledgeable that he knew a lot about the Qing Dynasty. I was curious, so I asked him how the Qing Dynasty had actually fallen."
"And then what? You were so disturbed that you didn't sleep all night?" Yuan Ge secretly admired Rong Qiuchen's ability to learn, as well as his inquisitiveness and his spirit of exploration.
"Childe Yuan, I remember you saying that there is no longer an emperor, but the emperors after the Qing Dynasty clearly came from the Yuan family!"
"Yuan? … Yuan Shikai[1]!?" It was only then that Yuan Ge finally realised what he meant.
"Exactly. I learned from Brother Puppet that the Qing dynasty ended at the hands of Yuan Shikai, so he must have passed the throne several times, and now it has passed down to Childe Yuan's father, otherwise how can I explain that when Brother Puppet answers a question in Professor Fu's voice, he would say "your humble wife", but when he answers in your voice, he would say "your humble son"? Who else could your father be, if not the Emperor? Now I understand why Prince Yuan can set up a stage and sing at will in Ronglu's house, why you could drive a divine carriage, live by the Forbidden City, and have such a wonderful country house outside the city along the Dragon Vein. It's all because you are the Crown Prince!"
When Yuan Ge saw Rong Qiuchen looking ready to kowtow again, he hurriedly stopped him. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, feeling that the whole thing was ridiculous, "What kind of nonsense is this reasoning! What the hell! The Xiangcheng Yuan clan has nothing to do with my family! You are talking absolute nonsense, though I have no proof!"
Yuan Ge looked defeated and pressed his fingers to his forehead.
"Your logic is sound and you are quite good at explaining yourself. I'll give you that - you're a good scriptwriter, able to connect completely unrelated things. But it's still all wrong I'm not a prince, don't delude yourself!"
However, Qiuchen was sceptical, "But words like 'your humble wife' and 'your humble son' are the language used by the royal family. How can they be used indiscriminately? …"
"Oh, it's OK to mess around with these sort of language usage nowadays! Even though we are in an egalitarian society, there are still many people who love feudal rituals and often fantasise about going back to the Ming Dynasty to be a lord or to the Qing Dynasty to be an emperor. My dad is a typical example of such people. He couldn't get my mother to play along with his fantasies, and he didn't like the way I behaved, so he used this robot he invented to shamelessly satisfy his fantasy of becoming an emperor. What with 'your humble wife' or 'your humble son' bullshit, it's a classical case of 'spiritual victory'[2]. You'd be crazy to believe it! If you want, tomorrow you can also call yourself by the word 'Zhen'[3] and make yourself some kind of first-class imperial relative to make up for your regret as a lowly actor in the Qing Dynasty."
"I would not dare!"
Yuan Ge pulled him up from the floor and said, "Anyway, if you want to 'recharge' or do something, just say so, no need to be so polite all the time. From now on, you can also drop the title and stop calling me Childe Yuan or Prince Yuan. I'm just an ordinary person, not a prince or a childe, you can just call me by my name 'Yuan Ge' from now on."
To Yuan Ge's surprise, before Qiuchen could respond, the little robot answered, "Your humble son is here, what is your Majesty's command?"
Yuan Ge was so pissed off, "What have you done! It's all your fault for activating his male voice mode! Now it answers when you call it 'Yuan Ge'. You'd better switch it back to Vivi quick!"
Qiuchen looked a little fearful, "I… I… I don't feel it's appropriate to call Brother Puppet by your mother's name. I don't know what to do. Childe Yuan, please give Brother Puppet a different name."
Yuan Ge looked pained, "Do you think my mum and I would put up with such mischief from my dad if I could easily change the operating system? I've been pissed off for years about this 'your humble son' thing, but unfortunately I have to have my dad's personal verification before any system modifications can take effect."
The smile on Qiuchen's face actually appeared a little sly, "In that case, please don't blame me for addressing Brother Puppet as 'Yuan Ge', which is better than just calling it by Professor Fu's given name."
Yuan Ge rolled his eyes in dissatisfaction, "You call it Yuan Ge, then what are you going to call me from now on? Are you just going to keep calling me Childe Yuan?"
Rong Qiuchen's eyes were shining brightly as he replied sincerely, "From now on, I will address you as 'Gege', which is a combination of the 'Ge' of Yuan Ge and the 'Ge' of being a brother. I hope you will be willing to call me Qiuchen."
Yuan Ge scratched his head, feeling undecided, "Qiuchen always makes me feel like it's a character in my film, and it's awkward to call you by this name. Anyway, I'll try to control the number of nicknames I give you in the future. Maybe something a little livelier? Like Little Qiu, Little Chen, Qiuqiu, Chenchen, how about that?"
"Chenchen?" Qiuchen was delighted with this suggestion, "I like the modern way of addressing each other with superimposed characters. In the past, perhaps only Qingqing fit in this form. All right, Gege can call me Chenchen from now on."
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[1] Yuan Shikai was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of the Empire of China (1915–1916). He first tried to save the dynasty with a number of modernization projects including bureaucratic, fiscal, judicial, educational, and other reforms, despite playing a key part in the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform. He established the first modern army and a more efficient provincial government in North China in the last years of the Qing dynasty before forcing the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor, the last monarch of the Qing dynasty, in 1912. Through negotiation, he became the first President of the Republic of China in 1912. This army and bureaucratic control were the foundation of his autocratic rule. He was frustrated in a short-lived attempt to restore hereditary monarchy in China, with himself as the Hongxian Emperor. His death shortly after his abdication led to the fragmentation of the Chinese political system and the end of the Beiyang government as China's central authority.
[2] Spiritual victories, also called "spirit of Ah Q', is a euphemism for self-talk and self-deception even when faced with extreme defeat or humiliation, typified by the character Ah Q written by Lu Xun.
[3] "Zhen" is the word used by the emperor to refer to himself.