Chapter 7 — A Single Kick Sent Him Flying

Afraid of worrying Gu Mengyao, Gu Pengzhan had kept certain things from her and had told Uncle Qing to keep silent as well. Inviting Wei Zhao was, on the surface, a way to look after Gu Mengyao's studies and daily life, but in truth there was a far deeper meaning involved—one tied to a pact made by the older generation of the family...

Obviously, if a study companion had suddenly materialized out of nowhere, Gu Mengyao would never have agreed. As it happened, she was exhausted by the effort of fending off her many pursuers, so she went to Gu Pengzhan and asked him to hire a shield for her, someone who could drive away all those flies. And so Gu Pengzhan, half coaxing and half deceiving, palmed Wei Zhao off on her as that shield.

But... Uncle Qing rather regretted not having taken Wei Zhao to a clothing store for a proper makeover. Judging from the photo Uncle Qing had seen, Wei Zhao was a handsome, spirited young man—it was just that his getup was a bit too peculiar to fit in with the surroundings...

"Him?" Gu Mengyao could not see anything special about the man before her. Surely her father hadn't just grabbed some freshly arrived migrant worker off the street-corner labor market?

The girl beside Gu Mengyao, though, covered her mouth and giggled. The way Wei Zhao was dressed, he was hardly someone who could serve as Gu Mengyao's shield.

"Xiaoshu, what are you laughing at?" Gu Mengyao was already furious at her father's perfunctory handling of the matter. To see her best friend snickering too only made her anger spike, and she shot her a hard glare.

Chastised by Gu Mengyao's rebuke, Shen Yushu quickly stuck out her tongue and closed her mouth, though her eyes kept staring at Wei Zhao with unconcealed curiosity.

"Uncle Qing, tell him to get out of the car. I want someone else." Gu Mengyao frowned, unwilling to argue any further over the matter.

"Miss, Mr. Gu said that Mr. Wei Zhao is certainly up to the task, and the contract has already been signed..." What Uncle Qing meant was: even if you don't agree, there's nothing to be done. Gu Pengzhan has already decided for you, and this can't be changed.

"Ah?" Gu Mengyao blinked her big, pretty eyes, almost on the verge of tears. She really didn't know what her father was thinking. If this was how it was going to be, she might as well have not bothered with a shield at all. If this man stayed by her side, everyone would laugh themselves silly at her!

Originally, if the shield had been at all decent-looking, Gu Mengyao might have gone so far as to announce that he was her boyfriend, since that was, after all, the best way to drive away those flies. But now, clearly, that was out of the question.

Even if she told people that this bumpkin was her boyfriend, who would believe her? Zhong Yongliang would probably laugh his head off.

Listening to the three of them talk, Wei Zhao felt a major headache coming on. A shield? Surely this girl wasn't actually looking for a boyfriend? No wonder Gu Pengzhan had spoken so strangely earlier—could he really be scouting for a son-in-law?

"Fine, then. That guy over there has been pestering me nonstop. Go deal with him for me. Handle it well, and I'll consider you qualified." Gu Mengyao's eyes rolled slyly as a scheme came to her. If this fellow couldn't manage it, she could use his incompetence as an excuse to have her father fire him.

"Him?" Wei Zhao nodded, got out of the car, and walked swiftly toward Zhong Yongliang.

"This Gu Mengyao—every time I ask her out, she turns me down. Any other woman would have rushed into my arms ages ago," Zhong Yongliang grumbled discontentedly to his hangers-on.

"Young Master Zhong, but Gu Mengyao isn't just any woman. She's the young mistress of the Gu Corporation. A little difficulty is only natural," said one of Zhong Yongliang's followers, a man named Gao Xiaofu.

"I know that. Do I need you to tell me?" Zhong Yongliang waved a hand. "That's why you need perseverance..." Before he could finish, he saw a young man in a yellowed white sleeveless undershirt and dirt-yellow trousers striding rapidly toward him, and he froze.

Wei Zhao walked straight up to Zhong Yongliang and, without a word, raised his foot and kicked him square in the rear, sending him sprawling face-first into the dirt. Then Wei Zhao turned around and walked straight back to the car without so much as a backward glance.

Zhong Yongliang had been about to hold forth at length on his pursuit of Gu Mengyao, and was just warming to his subject, when he felt a sudden kick to his backside and pitched forward, crashing to the ground.

"Who? Tired of living? Who dares kick me?" Zhong Yongliang struggled for a good while before managing to get back on his feet, his face filthy with dust, and he cursed at the top of his voice.

"It was that migrant worker just now..." Gao Xiaofu said hastily.

"Then what are you all standing there gaping for? Chase him!" Zhong Yongliang roared furiously. "Catch him and beat him bloody!"

"Young Master Zhong, he's already gone..." When Zhong Yongliang was kicked down, his men had all been focused on whether he was all right, and in the blink of an eye, that migrant worker had vanished.

"Damn it!" Zhong Yongliang cursed. "I know what he looks like. Tomorrow I'll have posters made and sent to every construction site in the city to find him. A common migrant worker dares to kick me? I'll make sure he can't survive in Songshan City. You just wait—"

"Yaoyao, who knew this Wei Zhao had such nerve? He actually dared to kick Zhong Yongliang?" In the car, Shen Yushu stared with wide eyes, watching in disbelief at what had just happened.

"I think he is crazy." Gu Mengyao had not expected Wei Zhao to pull such a stunt either, though she had to admit it was rather ingenious. But she had already decided not to use him, and no matter what he did, she would count him as unqualified.

"Yaoyao, why don't you just keep him?" Shen Yushu suggested.

"Xiaoshu, whose side are you on?" Gu Mengyao glared at her and said strangely, "Don't tell me you are in heat and have fallen for this migrant worker?"

"Pah!" Shen Yushu hurriedly shook her head, "Yaoyao, you are the one who has fallen for him!"

"If you have not fallen for him, why keep him? To embarrass us?" Gu Mengyao said, quite baffled.

"No, think about it. Zhong Yongliang lords it over our school and no one dares to provoke him. Now at last comes a fearless greenhorn who is not afraid of him, so there will be plenty of fun to watch," Shen Yushu said slyly, "If those two start fighting, Zhong Yongliang will have no time to pester you, right?"

"Fight? Do you think Zhong Yongliang is so easy to mess with?" Gu Mengyao hit the nail on the head as she laid out the stakes, "He is just a lowly migrant worker. Would Zhong Yongliang not beat him to death?"

"Yaoyao, how can you be so dense? You still have to respect the master when you beat his dog. With you backing him up, what is there to fear from Zhong Yongliang?" Shen Yushu curled her lip in disdain, "Besides, is there not still me?"

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