Chapter 8 — How Are You Fooling My Daddy?
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 2
"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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