Chapter 191 — More Proactive

Wei Zhao came back to his senses and saw that Tang Yun had already run far off. He sighed softly. Had he really fallen for this girl?

Wei Zhao did not know whether he had grown more mature or merely more impulsive. A year ago, such a thought would never have crossed his mind. Was it this stretch of easy living that had changed him?

It seemed he would have to have a talk with the old man at home...

"Boss, what on earth is the matter with you?" Kang Xiaobo, who had been standing off to the side all along, could hold back no longer now that Tang Yun had run off into the distance. "What are you standing there dazed for? Tang Yun asked you herself whether you wanted to go out with her, and you just froze..."

Kang Xiaobo wore the look of a man despairing over hopeless material — the classic picture of the eunuch fretting harder than the emperor.

"She only wanted to confirm how I feel. Nothing more than that," Wei Zhao said, shaking his head. "Let's go. Stop staring."

"Boss, I really don't know what to say. Such a good chance, and you let it slip right through your fingers..." Kang Xiaobo stamped his feet and beat his chest as though it were his own affair.

"There will be other chances." Wei Zhao patted the back of Kang Xiaobo's head. "Let's go. I need to get back quickly."

In the taxi, Wei Zhao checked the messages on his phone. It was from Gu Mengyao, as expected — just one question: when was he coming home.

So the young miss was not as cold as she appeared on the surface. After the two of them had spent some time together, Wei Zhao had come to understand Gu Mengyao's character: cold outside, warm within. She had a touch of the young lady's temper, but in truth she did not really treat him as a lackey or a servant.

This, too, was the main reason Wei Zhao had accepted the job and stayed on.

Waiting on two young misses — how many people would fight one another for such a plum post? Wei Zhao was well aware of that.

He sent Gu Mengyao a reply saying he would be home shortly. He waited a while, but no answer came. Wei Zhao shook his head with a wry smile. Still every inch the young miss.

After paying the fare, Wei Zhao returned to the villa. Uncle Qing had already had a key to the front door made for him, so there was no need to have Gu Mengyao and the others come open it; Wei Zhao let himself in.

There was no one in the living room — clearly Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu had gone upstairs. General Mighty lay lazily at the foot of the stairs. Seeing that it was Wei Zhao at the door, he lowered his head again and went back to feigning sleep.

Wei Zhao set down his schoolbag and went to the dining room. Uncle Qing had already been by with the food; evidently Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu had eaten.

"Heh." Looking at the dishes on the dining table, Wei Zhao could not help but smile. The two young misses had served themselves from the dishes today, taking a little of each onto their plates; even so, with appetites as small as theirs, they had not finished.

The food in the sealed box, however, had not been touched at all — no doubt it had been left for Wei Zhao.

He did not know which of the young misses had given the order, but his treatment had improved, hadn't it!

Shen Yushu and he got along well enough, but that girl — Wei Zhao shook his head — he would count himself lucky if she did not tip Gu Mengyao's leftovers back into the lunchbox and pass them off as untouched for him to eat...

It must have been Gu Mengyao, then. The young miss was not bad to him after all. Thinking this, Wei Zhao went to scoop himself a bowl of rice and wolfed it down.

After dinner, Wei Zhao washed the lunchbox clean, then set the concert DVD he had bought at noon on the living room coffee table and went back to his room.

Wei Zhao meant to call the old man and talk about matters on this end. Closing his door, he dialed the old man's number... As a rule, Wei Zhao did not contact the old man while on a mission; only when the mission was over would he report that he was safe.

The phone rang many times before his own old man's somewhat sleazy voice came through: "Hello?"

"Old man, it's Xiao Yi." Wei Zhao was silent a moment, then spoke.

"Oh? Xiao Yi, is that you? Well, how's it going — how's the mission coming along?" Old Man Wei was plainly drinking; the crunch of peanuts could be heard in his mouth.

If the mission had not been mentioned, fine, but the moment it was, Wei Zhao was left speechless. "I say, old man, just what kind of mission did you set me up with? Here I am every day trailing after a young miss like a lackey. Do you want me to be some top-grade houseboy?"

"What mission it is, you'll know when enough time has passed." Old Man Wei clearly did not care to waste breath on the subject.

"When enough time has passed? Just how long is that?" This was what Wei Zhao cared about — and it also laid the groundwork for what he meant to say next.

"Heh heh, as long as you like, no time limit. Depends on how fast you finish." Old Man Wei spoke with complete indifference.

"As long as I like? Really?" Wei Zhao hesitated, then voiced his thought. "Old man, I'm starting to want to stay here..."

"Oh? You already want to stay there? That's wonderful." Old Man Wei grew excited at once at his words. "So the mission's going well, then. That's a good start!"

"What do you mean?" Wei Zhao was baffled. What did that have to do with the mission's progress?

"Nothing. If you like it there, then don't come back. In a few years I'll come settle down too... You lay the groundwork over there first, have a few kids, and I'll come over and be a grandfather straightaway..." Old Man Wei seemed very much in favor of Wei Zhao staying in Songshan — even more eager than Wei Zhao himself.

"Huh?" Wei Zhao had thought it would take a great deal of effort to persuade Old Man Wei to let him begin a quiet life... Yet before he had said much at all, the old man was telling him to have children? What was that supposed to mean? Did he intend for Wei Zhao to retire?

"I say, old man, then what about future missions..." Wei Zhao was rather suspicious. Was this really his own stingy old man? The one who, to scrape together a bit of money, assigned him dangerous missions... "Missions? There are no more missions. This is the last one."

"Of course, if you feel like stretching your legs, you can take on a few jobs here and there," Old Man Wei said.

"This..." Wei Zhao was trying to guess whether Old Man Wei had had too much to drink. He had been hesitating over how to broach the matter with the old man — after all, he had never belonged to this kind of life before — but... before he could even open his mouth, the old man was urging him to have children...

Wei Zhao broke out in a bit of a sweat, yet a weight was lifted from his mind just like that... Mm, tomorrow he would go court Tang Yun... and he need not worry or hold back about anything anymore...

If not for the fact that these two young misses of his were untouchable, Wei Zhao would not have gone the long way round when the near at hand would do.

"Anything else? Widow Wang from the head of the village is here. I'll have a chat with her. If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up. Bye-bye." Old Man Wei hung up before Wei Zhao could speak.

Looking at the phone in his hand, Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. Why did all of this feel like a dream? Ever since he had taken on this baffling mission, had his life begun to change?

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