Chapter 10 — A Lousy Idea

"See that? This is General Mighty. I'm telling you, he's ferocious. If you dare go upstairs, I'll have him bite you to death," Gu Mengyao threatened.

"Understood." Wei Zhao nodded.

Seeing how careful and timid Wei Zhao looked, Gu Mengyao took it for fear of General Mighty and grew even more pleased with herself. She dragged Shen Yushu upstairs, leaving General Mighty to stand guard at the head of the stairs.

Wei Zhao picked the luggage up off the floor and shot General Mighty a glare. The dog shuddered from head to tail and shrank back a step. It seemed to sense that the man before it was no ordinary sort, but a dangerous character.

Wei Zhao had no time to play games with a dog. After that one glare he paid it no further attention, but carried his luggage to the room Gu Mengyao had mentioned, and went in.

The room was plainly furnished: a bed, a desk, and a small wardrobe. That was plenty for Wei Zhao, whose luggage was nothing but a few ragged clothes and not a thing besides. What surprised him most was that the room came with its own bathroom. It was practically a hotel.

Wei Zhao set his things in order, then took a towel and went into the bathroom. The long journey had left him covered in dust.

He checked his watch. It was not yet six. Taking advantage of the time before Uncle Qing came with dinner, Wei Zhao decided to wash up.

So far Wei Zhao was quite content with the job and his working conditions. Hotel treatment every day, and thirty thousand yuan besides. Where else was a man to find a job like that? It beat staying home weaving straw sandals for the old man, and then some.

......

"Xiaoshu, I'm starting to regret this. This Wei Zhao doesn't look like a man who could serve as my shield at all, does he?" Gu Mengyao had changed into a set of house clothes and was complaining to Shen Yushu.

"I think he's fine." Shen Yushu lay on the bed with her legs straight up against the wall. She had read somewhere that this slimmed the legs and promoted growth.

"Fine? How is he fine? I was going to find someone handsome to pass off as my boyfriend, and now look what I've got: a country bumpkin. Take him out in public and people would laugh themselves to death." Gu Mengyao ground her teeth in fury. "If you think he's so fine, then you be his girlfriend."

"I don't have any troubles, so I don't need a shield. Otherwise I might actually think about it," Shen Yushu said, wagging her head this way and that.

"You've got a brother who's an army officer. Who'd dare cross you? If I had a brother who could kick a big tree in half, I wouldn't need to go looking for a shield either." Gu Mengyao knew Shen Yushu was only needling her on purpose, but whose fault was it that the girl had a brother and she didn't?

"Yaoyao, how about I ask my brother to find you a sworn brother in the army?" Shen Yushu blinked. "Or a sweetheart brother, if you'd rather... then Zhong Yongliang would have to step aside, wouldn't he?"

"Xiaoshu!" Hearing Shen Yushu talk more and more wildly, Gu Mengyao's eyes went wide with anger. "What kind of lousy ideas are you cooking up? First you told me to have my father find me a shield, and look what came of it... Look at the man he brought me. Can that one be a shield? And now you hand me another crazy scheme, a sweetheart brother, no less. It sounds awful."

"All right, all right, I'll say no more." Seeing that Gu Mengyao was truly angry, Shen Yushu quickly shut her mouth and dared not go on. It was true enough: the idea of finding a shield had been hers, and now that the man they'd found was not to her liking, she bore some of the blame...

When Uncle Qing came with dinner, Wei Zhao had just finished his shower. He riffled through his luggage and found not one decent piece of clothing. Wei Zhao could not help grumbling that the old man was a thoroughgoing miser. Couldn't he have bought him a single new outfit?

He reckoned that if he went out dressed like this, Gu Mengyao would take the clothes for dirty laundry all the same and not even let him sit on the sofa. There was no help for it. Wei Zhao casually opened the bag Uncle Qing had given him, took out the City No. 1 Middle School uniform, and put it on.

Wei Zhao's new appearance made both Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu stare. Before, he had been unkempt, in a ragged undershirt and baggy shorts; now, after a shower, he looked neat and refined, and with the school uniform to go with it, he was a man transformed from the migrant worker of earlier.

But their first impression of Wei Zhao had been far too poor, so Gu Mengyao would never admit that he was anything striking. She would allow only that he was a little better than before, a little easier on the eyes.

Uncle Qing brought four dishes and a soup: shredded pork in fish-fragrant sauce, Sichuan boiled fish, stir-fried baby bok choy, and braised spinach with wood ear mushrooms. The soup was a shiitake mushroom broth.

Meat and vegetables together, complete in color, aroma, and flavor. Wei Zhao had not tasted such delicious food in a long while. Seeing that Uncle Qing had prepared a box of rice for him as well, he took it gladly and sat down at the table.

Wei Zhao had just reached for his chopsticks when Gu Mengyao took offense: "What do you think you're doing? Xiaoshu and I haven't eaten yet, and you start first? From now on, Xiaoshu and I eat first, and you eat whatever we leave."

So saying, she turned and went off to the kitchen. She had a habit when she ate — she liked to use silver tableware, something she had picked up as a child living with her grandfather. Which was why, in the sterilizing cabinet in the kitchen, there was a set of silver cutlery reserved for Gu Mengyao alone.

Faced with such tyranny from Gu Mengyao, Wei Zhao could only smile bitterly. He withdrew his chopsticks and stared at the feast spread across the table, left with nothing to do but drool. Luckily, the plain rice was his own. Wei Zhao shoveled a few mouthfuls into his mouth at top speed, and perhaps because he ate too fast, he choked, then mumbled indistinctly, "Is there anything to drink?"

Shen Yushu found it rather funny, watching a man who looked as though he had not eaten in eight lifetimes. She pointed at the cooler cabinet off to one side. "Drink what you like. Help yourself."

"Oh." Wei Zhao turned his head and saw a great big cooler cabinet packed with every kind of beverage. He pulled out a bottle of orange juice at random, unscrewed the cap, and took a long swallow before he felt much better.

Gu Mengyao came back with the cutlery and, together with Shen Yushu, began to pick the dishes apart and pass judgment on every one.

"Ooh, boiled fish! My absolute favorite."

"This fish-fragrant shredded pork is a bit sweet. Damned chef — doesn't he know you put on weight easily if you eat too much sugar? One of these days I'll have Daddy fire him."

"Mm, this baby bok choy is really good. Xiaoshu, you try it too."

Gu Mengyao chattered on as she ate. Every one of these dishes had been prepared by the head chefs of the hotels under Gu Pengzhan's Gu Group, and every evening Uncle Qing delivered them right on time.

Gu Pengzhan had a great many social engagements, whereas Gu Mengyao's mother had run away from home when she was still very small. As for the reason, Gu Mengyao herself did not know, because every time she raised the matter with her father, he refused to tell her.

And so Gu Mengyao's life was, for the most part, looked after by Uncle Qing.

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