Chapter 8 — How Did You Fool My Daddy?

"Buy insurance?" Qing Bo broke into a sweat again, thinking to himself that someone Mr. Gu had brought in was hardly likely to meet with an accident so easily. Still, he said, "Don't worry, it's all taken care of..."

By this time, Wei Zhao had already walked over to the car, opened the door, and settled into the back seat. He looked at Gu Mengyao and said, "Well? Do I pass?"

"I suppose you barely pass." Gu Mengyao gave a snort.

Wei Zhao smiled and returned to the passenger seat without another word. Experience and the internet had taught him that women were, in most cases, creatures who said one thing while meaning another, so there was no point arguing with Gu Mengyao.

Seeing that Wei Zhao merely smiled and said nothing more, Gu Mengyao grew annoyed. She had expected him to be overflowing with gratitude. After all, with competition as fierce as it was in today's society, even college graduates were shoveling shit for a living. A migrant worker who had just come to the city ought to be overjoyed to have landed such a good job, shouldn't he?

"Hey, aren't you going to thank me?" Gu Mengyao finally couldn't hold it in any longer and asked with some irritation.

"Thank you? For what?" Wei Zhao was baffled. He thought to himself, I just kicked that guy who was pestering you right in the face, so shouldn't you be the one thanking me? What do I have to thank you for?

"I..." Gu Mengyao was livid. How dense could this man be? She had practically spelled it out for him, and he still didn't get it? Didn't he know how to curry favor with his employer?

"Hehe, what Yaoyao means is, she's accepted you, so shouldn't you show a little gratitude?" Shen Yushu gave a sly smile and explained on Gu Mengyao's behalf.

"Xiao Shu, what nonsense are you talking? What do you mean I've accepted him?" Gu Mengyao was startled by Shen Yushu's words. The phrasing had way too much ambiguity to it—it sounded almost like she had accepted a confession of love!

"Nothing much, I just said you've accepted him as your shield, that's all." Shen Yushu said with a giggle.

"Oh, thanks." Wei Zhao was quite straightforward about it. In fact, had the job not been a little odd, he would have been fairly satisfied overall—at least the pay was good.

"You're welcome..." Gu Mengyao spat out the three words through gritted teeth, feeling nothing but resentment toward Wei Zhao's slowness of wit. This man as her shield? He just looked plain silly to her.

"Yaoyao, I'm off now, see you tomorrow! And you too, Shield Brother." The car had pulled up in front of a villa. Shen Yushu waved at Gu Mengyao, then winked at Wei Zhao in the front seat before getting out.

Shield Brother? Wei Zhao gave a wry smile. That was certainly a unique title—rivaling that famous internet sensation, Brother Sharp.

Shen Yushu's home was very close to Gu Mengyao's. The two villas faced each other across the street, and after a simple turn, the car arrived at Gu Mengyao's villa.

Urged on by Shen Yushu, Gu Mengyao had grudgingly accepted the migrant worker before her. But when she saw him carrying his luggage and walking into the villa alongside her, she immediately blew her top: "You... what are you following me for?"

Wei Zhao was taken aback, and turned to Qing Bo with a puzzled look. "Don't I live here?"

"You sure are full of yourself. No man has ever set foot in my little villa!" Gu Mengyao planted her hands on her hips and shouted at Wei Zhao fiercely.

Qing Bo wiped the cold sweat from his brow. No man has ever set foot here? Then what am I, chopped liver... Qing Bo thought to himself that while being reduced to an eunuch was one thing, he dreaded to imagine what Mr. Gu would think if he ever heard his daughter say that.

Seeing Qing Bo wipe his brow, Gu Mengyao immediately realized her words could be misconstrued, and hastily corrected herself: "I meant, no man outside my family has ever set foot here."

"Miss, Mr. Gu said you should treat Mr. Lin as if he were your own brother and get along harmoniously... So, from today on, Mr. Lin will be staying in the villa." Qing Bo said carefully. He knew full well the temper of this little missy.

"What?" Gu Mengyao's eyes went wide, and she pointed at Wei Zhao in disbelief: "Him? My brother? What kind of joke is that, Qing Bo? Take him away, let him stay wherever he likes!"

"I'm afraid I don't have the authority to decide that, miss. It was Mr. Gu's instruction, you see..." Qing Bo said with some embarrassment. After all, he was just a driver—even though he was Gu Pengzhan's most trusted man, being caught between him and his daughter was truly a difficult position.

"Fine, I'll settle this with Daddy myself." Gu Mengyao pulled out the latest Nokia E7 from her pocket and dialed. It was a promotional gift from a recent cell phone plan—she and Shen Yushu had each gotten one.

Wei Zhao eyed the phone in Gu Mengyao's hand with some envy. Maybe he should buy himself a phone too? It was terribly inconvenient not having one for calls.

"Daddy, it's Yaoyao~" Gu Mengyao said in a voice so sweet and coaxing that Wei Zhao felt a tingle run through him. So this was how lovely a girl's voice could sound when she was being coquettish?

"Ah, Yaoyao, what is it?" Gu Pengzhan was in the middle of a company meeting, but upon seeing his daughter's call, he picked up anyway.

"It's like this, Daddy. This 'shield' you found for me—did you just hire him off some street corner?" Gu Mengyao was a little angry. In all her life, her father had never been so perfunctory with her.

"You mean Xiao Yi? Haha, your daddy went through great trouble to invite him all the way from Xixing Mountain. He's not only well-educated and skilled in martial arts, but what's even rarer, he has excellent character." Gu Pengzhan said with a chuckle.

"What the heck?" Gu Mengyao simply couldn't understand what sort of spell this man before her had cast on her father. He had said "good" three times in a row!

Gu Pengzhan heard his daughter's remark and mistook it for her being coy, so he said: "Haha, well? Are you satisfied with Xiao Yi?"

"Satisfied? How could I possibly be? For starters, his looks don't pass muster. If he's going to be my shield, at least he should be pleasing to the eye, right?" Gu Mengyao snorted. "Also, Daddy, how could you let him live with me? I'm a girl alone—how unsafe is that?"

"That's exactly why your daddy did it, because I was thinking about your safety. You living in that villa by yourself makes me uneasy, which is why I wanted Xiao Yi to keep you company. Don't worry, Xiao Yi can protect you." Gu Pengzhan deliberately pretended not to understand his daughter's meaning.

"I... he..." Gu Mengyao was so flustered by her father's words that she didn't know what to say.

But before she could get another word out, Gu Pengzhan continued: "Alright, Yaoyao, Daddy is in the middle of a mid-level management meeting right now, let's talk later."

With that, he hung up before Gu Mengyao could respond. Gu Mengyao was so angry she gnashed her teeth, her eyes wide as she stared fixedly at Wei Zhao: "Tell me, how exactly did you fool my daddy?"

(End of Chapter 8)