Chapter 8 — How Are You Fooling My Daddy?

"Buy insurance?" Uncle Qing broke into a sweat again. The man Mr. Gu had brought — surely he was not the type to meet with an accident so easily? Still, he said, "Rest assured, miss, it's all taken care of..."

By then Wei Zhao had already reached the car. He opened the door, slid into the seat, and looked at Gu Mengyao. "So? Pretty decent, wouldn't you say?"

"I suppose that barely passes you." Gu Mengyao gave a snort.

Wei Zhao smiled and settled back into the passenger seat. He said nothing more; experience and the Internet had taught him that women were, in most cases, creatures who said one thing while meaning another, so there was little point in arguing with Gu Mengyao.

Seeing Wei Zhao offer only a smile and then fall silent, Gu Mengyao's temper flared. She had expected him to be moved to tears of gratitude. After all, the job market was so fiercely competitive these days that even college graduates went off to muck out latrines. A migrant worker who had just arrived in the city and landed such a wonderful job ought to be overjoyed, oughtn't he?

"Hey, aren't you going to thank me?" Unable to hold it in any longer, Gu Mengyao demanded, a little crossly.

"Thank you? For what?" Wei Zhao was bewildered. Didn't I just kick that boy who was pestering you so hard he ate dirt? he thought. If anything, you should be thanking me. What would I have to thank you for?

"I—" Gu Mengyao was fit to burst. How thick-skulled could this man be? She had hinted so plainly; did he truly not understand? Didn't he know how to curry favor with an employer?

"Tee-hee, what Yaoyao means is that she's accepted you. Shouldn't you show a little gratitude?" Shen Yushu cut in with a sly smile, explaining for Gu Mengyao.

"Xiaoshu, what nonsense are you talking about? What do you mean, I've accepted him?" Gu Mengyao was startled by Shen Yushu's words. Talk about ambiguity! It sounded as though she'd accepted a confession of love!

"Nothing, nothing. I just said you've accepted him as your shield." Shen Yushu giggled.

"Oh. Thank you." Wei Zhao was quick to respond, at least. In all truth, queer as the job was, he was on the whole quite content—at the very least, the salary was handsome.

"You're... welcome." Gu Mengyao ground out the three words, seething with resentment at Wei Zhao's slow wits. This oaf was supposed to be her shield? However she looked at him, he just seemed plain daft.

"I'm off now, Yaoyao. See you tomorrow—and you too, Brother Shield." The car had stopped in front of a villa. Shen Yushu waved at Gu Mengyao, winked at Wei Zhao in the passenger seat, and only then hopped out.

"Brother Shield"? Wei Zhao smiled wryly. Now that was an original title—one that could go toe-to-toe with Brother Sharp, the Internet sensation.

Shen Yushu's home stood close to Gu Mengyao's; the two villas faced each other across the street. A turn of the car's nose, and they were at Gu Mengyao's door.

It was under Shen Yushu's prodding that Gu Mengyao had reluctantly taken in the migrant worker. But when she saw the migrant worker carrying his luggage and walking into the villa alongside her, she blew her top on the spot. "You—what are you following me in for?"

Wei Zhao blinked and turned to Uncle Qing, utterly puzzled. "Do I not live here, then?"

"You sure think highly of yourself! No man has ever set foot inside my little villa!" Hands on her hips, Gu Mengyao glared at Wei Zhao ferociously.

Uncle Qing wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. No man has ever set foot in here? Then what do I count as... He supposed he could stand being made a eunuch, but if Mr. Gu ever heard his daughter talk like that, heaven only knew what he'd make of it.

At the sight of Uncle Qing dabbing his brow, Gu Mengyao immediately realized her words could be taken the wrong way, so she hurriedly amended: "I meant no man outside my family has ever set foot here."

"Miss, Mr. Gu said you may get along with Mr. Wei as if he were your own brother... so, from today onward, Mr. Wei will be staying in the villa." Uncle Qing spoke with care. He knew this little princess's temper all too well.

"What?" Gu Mengyao's eyes flew wide. She pointed at Wei Zhao in disbelief. "Him? My brother? What kind of joke is that, Uncle Qing? Take him away—he can stay wherever he likes!"

"I'm afraid that's not for me to decide, miss. It was Mr. Gu's instruction, you see..." Uncle Qing said with a troubled look. After all, he was but a chauffeur—admittedly the man Gu Pengzhan trusted most—yet caught between the master and his daughter, he was in a tight spot indeed.

"Fine. I'll talk to Daddy myself." Gu Mengyao pulled the latest Nokia E7 out of her pocket and dialed. It had been a freebie from a phone-credit promotion a while back; she and Shen Yushu had each snapped one up.

Wei Zhao eyed the phone in Gu Mengyao's hand with no small envy. Perhaps he ought to buy one for himself as well—otherwise making a phone call was far too inconvenient.

"Daddy, it's Yaoyao," Gu Mengyao said in a voice so coquettish and honeyed that Wei Zhao's heart went soft and tingling. So this was how lovely a girl could sound when she was acting spoiled?

"Ah, it's Yaoyao. What is it?" Gu Pengzhan was in the middle of a company meeting, but seeing his daughter's call, he answered it all the same.

"Well, Dad, this so-called shield you found for me—did you just hire him off some farmers market? Gu Mengyao was rather cross; never in all her life had her father been so perfunctory with her.

"You mean Xiao Yi? Heh—your daddy went to no small trouble, traveling ten thousand li, to invite him specially from West Star Mountain. Not only is he learned, but his martial skill is outstanding, and what is rarer still, his character is even better." Gu Pengzhan said with a hearty chuckle.

"What?" Gu Mengyao simply could not understand what sort of magic potion this man had fed her father, to make him rattle off three 'good's in a row.

Hearing his daughter's words, Gu Pengzhan assumed she was only acting spoiled, so he said, "Heh, well then? Are you fairly satisfied with Xiao Yi?"

"Satisfied? How could I be? For one thing, his looks alone don't pass the test. If he's to be my shield, at least he should be pleasing to the eye!" Gu Mengyao snorted. "And besides, Daddy, how could you make him live with me? I'm a girl—isn't that unsafe?"

"Yes, and it was precisely your safety your daddy had in mind. I was not at ease with you, a girl, living by yourself in that villa, so I had Xiao Yi keep you company. Do not worry—Xiao Yi will be able to protect you." Gu Pengzhan deliberately pretended not to catch the real meaning behind his daughter's words.

"I... he..." Gu Mengyao, at a loss for words, was rendered speechless by her father's speech.

But before she could say another word, Gu Pengzhan went on, "All right, Yaoyao, Daddy is holding a meeting with the company's middle-level management. Let's leave it here for now."

With that, and before Gu Mengyao could respond, he hung up the phone. Gnashing her teeth in fury, Gu Mengyao glared wide-eyed at Wei Zhao. "Tell me—just how did you pull the wool over my father's eyes?"

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