Beauty and the Bodyguard

Having understood the situation, Pengzhan and Li Fu left. Lin Yi, on the other hand, was about to head to his room when Mengyao and Yushu came down the stairs.

“What were you guys talking about, Shield Bro?” Yushu asked, curious as ever. The both of them had tried to eavesdrop on the conversation earlier, to no avail.

“Not much, just some stuff about the company.” Lin Yi said. “Uncle Chu’s business competitor.”

“Oh……” Mengyao wasn’t interested in that stuff- she was still too young, after all, and hadn’t been involved with the plots littering the business world. What she was interested in, however, was the real reason Lin Yi was sent to protect her- it was only natural for her to be uninterested after learning that the incident earlier had nothing to do with that.

“Tell us honestly, Shield Bro- Uncle Chu sent you here to ask for Mengyao’s hand, right?” Yushu blurted, not quite believing that Lin Yi was discussing company matters with Pengzhan at all.

“Wha-?!!” Lin Yi stared at Yushu after hearing the words, clearly taken aback.

“Oh… It’s nothing……” Yushu had planned to test Lin Yi, but realized that her guess wasn’t very accurate from the face he was making. That, or Lin Yi was as kept in the dark as Mengyao was, at the very least.

Lin Yi scratched his nose with a bitter smile on his face- this Yushu was being way too ridiculous this time around. Pengzhan had to have a special kind of problem in his brain to hire suitors for her daughter. Was his daughter so ugly or disease-ridden that he had to resort to hiring people like that?

This Chen Yushu, on the other hand, had quite the imagination… Lin Yi wondered what sort of stuff was stuffed inside that brain of hers.

“Shu, what in the world are you blurting??” Mengyao asked, her face steaming up and blushing. “Maybe you should ask if daddy hired him to ask for your hand!!”

“Why would Uncle Chu do that?” Yushu blinked. “He doesn’t have that much free time on his hands, does he……”

Mengyao only rolled her eyes, evidently frustrated at Yushu. “I’ll tear your lips off if you continue that nonsense!”

“Kay…… But you can still speak with your lips torn off, you know? You gotta stitch them up or something. Your approach’s pretty wrong, Yao Yao.” Yushu retorted.

“……” Mengyao only turned and went up the stairs- this best friend was too strong for her to mess with…

“Wait for me, Yao Yao!!” Yushu said, following after Mengyao.

Lin Yi shook his head as he watched the two girls walk up- he still hadn’t been to the second floor, and couldn’t help but wonder what was up there. He suddenly remembered that Yushu’s car keys were still with him. “Shu.”

“Hm? Did you call, Shield Bro?” Yushu asked, turning her puzzled head back to look at Lin Yi before opening her mouth in surprise. “Did Uncle Chu really hire you to ask for my hand?!!”

“……” Lin Yi almost tripped at the statement. “Just wanna give you your car keys…”

“Oh, car keys……” Yushu said, embarrassed and panicking. “Ha, I was just joking……”

“I know.” Lin Yi nodded with certainty. After all, the girl was known for her pranks and lies.

“Hehe, good……” Yushu sighed in relief, suddenly realizing that her face was heating up. It was a good thing she had that weirdo image- it’d be pretty awkward and embarrassing if her genuine thoughts were discovered……

“Oh, that’s right- can I borrow your car for a couple of days? It’ll be pretty hard to follow you guys the next time you go out otherwise.” Lin Yi asked.

“Sure. I won’t be driving it anyway.” Yushu said with a wave of her hand. “I’ll leave the villa keys to you too- you need a laptop right? Just go get it yourself when you have time! Well, I’m gonna go sleep now… Bye…”

Yushu was pretty sure that her face was blushing a bright red, like a lobster with a fever…… It reminded her of that advertisement she had seen a long time ago: ‘What’s up bro? You getting cooked?’.

In actuality, the dim lighting concealed the red on Yushu’s face, and Lin Yi wasn’t paying attention to that in the first place. “Kay, I’ll go get it tomorrow.”

Tang Yin and Liu Xinwen, on the other hand, walked out the school gates under many fingers and gazes…

This Lin Yi!! Tang Yin cursed.

“I’ll be going back first, Tang Yin?” Xinwen and Tang Yin lived close together, but never walked home together because of the barbeque stand Tang Yin was needed at.

“Yeah. Be careful and maybe pay Su a visit when you’re free. Her emotions aren’t very stable these days- she didn’t even say anything to me the last time I visited.” Tang Yin said.

“Yeah, I’ll do that.” Xinwen nodded.

Tang Yin then made her way to the food street- her mom was in the middle of preparing the barbeque. Pouting, Tang Yin placed the recipe in front of her mom. “Here, the recipe.”

“Oh? You got it!” Mrs. Tang said happily as she picked the recipe up. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure if Lin Yi would actually give her the recipe- he might’ve just said all that for the sake of conversation, after all.

She wasn’t expecting Tang Yin to actually get her hands on the recipe because of that- it meant that her business would get better starting from now, and Mrs. Tang couldn’t be happier about that. “Did you remember to thank him?”

“Yeah, I did.” Tang Yin pouted. Thank him? Thank him for the love note everyone thinks he gave me?

“You… Did you actually thank him?” Mrs. Tang was Tang Yin’s mother, and she naturally knew best- she shook her head helplessly as she looked at that expression on Tang Yin’s face. The girl probably didn’t even think of thanking Lin Yi at all.

Her daughter was a good girl, with only one problem- a slightly prideful and cold personality. It was a fitting one for a girl born in a rich family, but not in theirs… Mrs. Tang sighed to herself- Tang Yin would grow to realize the cruelties of life by the time she reached her age.

After all, she had been as prideful as her daughter was once- it was the harshness of life that blunted her edges.

“I said I did already!!” Tang Yin said as she fidgeted unnaturally. “Here, lemme help you mom……”

“It’s okay, we’re packing up earlier today. I need to try this recipe when I get home- don’t wanna risk the spices store closing if we work too late.” With that, Mrs. Tang started packing the stand up.

Helpless, Tang Yin gave her mother a hand. Why was it that she believed in Lin Yi so much? What if these spices were some random scribbles Lin Yi had written down on a whim? They’d be wasting a lot of materials and ingredients if that were the case.

Yet she hadn’t any other choice but go along with her mother- she seemed so trusting of that Lin Yi, after all.