Beauty and the Bodyguard

Chentian was a very malignant man.

His attempt of attacking Lin Yi without Jingyi noticing proved quite clearly the kind of person he was.

“Mind if I sit here?” Chentian asked, not really asking for permission since he’d pulled a chair over to sit at the table.

It was a table for two, but it didn’t hurt to have three chairs there.

Chentian’s presence at the table only changed the atmosphere for the worse.

Jingyi and Lin didn’t know each other in the first place, and they didn’t plan on speaking more than they had to- it’d only increase the risk of exposure.

Chentian’s failed attempt of messing with Lin Yi dissatisfied him, as well. He’d be squeezing him in the open already if it weren’t for Jingyi sitting right there.

“Haha, so how are you making your fortunes, brother?” Chentian said, starting a topic as he saw how the two weren’t saying anything- He wanted to find out what this Lin Yi guy was about.

He’d been quite troubled today too, flying all the way to Songshan only to have her throw a ‘I have a boyfriend already’ excuse at him.

He had assumed that it was just something to throw him off with, and naturally he didn’t buy it. He’d kept on pursuing Jingyi when she’d told him, out of impatience, that she had a boyfriend waiting in the bar for her already, albeit not realizing that the guy would just shamelessly follow her like that.

The pressure of the situation brought Jingyi to find someone to act as her boyfriend last minute, someone like Lin Yi.

Chentian had only just come back, and he wasn’t very informed about Jingyi’s life in Songshan. He wasn’t able to ascertain the validity of this so-called boyfriend as of yet, not until he got a better idea of who Lin Yi was.

“No need for fortunes.” Lin Yi was disliking the guy already. He didn’t want to meddle with Jingyi’s affairs, but that first move with the handshake didn’t give Lin Yi any reason to treat him nicely.

No need for fortunes? Chentian blinked, not quite understanding what Lin Yi meant by that. Could it be that he came from a wealthy family, and that he needn’t be working at all?

He didn’t look that well-off, wearing discount stall clothes and all. Was this little dude bluffing?

“Let me introduce myself- I’m Chentian. Me and Jingyi grew up together.” Chentian said with a nod, offering his hand for a handshake once more.

“We don’t need to shake hands anymore, do we? You almost destroyed my hand with that squeeze earlier.” Lin Yi said, clearly not intending to take the hand at all. “Alright, you can leave now that your introduction’s done, right? You know you’re blocking the stage already just by sitting here?”

Jingyi frowned at Lin Yi’s words before shooting an angry glare at Chentian. The Wu house prided themselves in the strength behind their hands, forged through their practice in the Shaolin Iron Sand Palm.

(i usually romanize and adjust terms like that a lot, but since this one’s pretty well-known I refrained from doing so)

Jingyi knew about the Wu’s, naturally aware of how powerful Wu Chentian’s grip was. Lin Yi’s words could only mean that he’d done something when he’d shaken hands with Lin Yi.

Shit! What a malignant man you are! Chentian’s face changed to a more awkward one instantly, cursing at Lin Yi internally for how malignant he was. The guy was acting all fine and alright the whole time he was squeezing his hand, too! Lin Yi would’ve lost some image points in front of Jingyi if he’d cried out in pain from the handshake, and that’d be beneficial to Chentian even if the cries informed Jingyi of what he was doing. How was a weak man supposed to protect his woman, after all, crying and yelling from just a bit of pain?

But Lin Yi took all of that with a straight, natural face! Bringing that up now was but a form of retort, a form of revenge! Yet there wasn’t anything Chentian could do about it, and the second handshake was something he’d suggested as well. Lin Yi had taken the attack silently the first time around, and there wasn’t anything wrong with fending off a second wave with a rejection. That little mocking remark at the end was perfectly understandable, too!

With that, Lin Yi had managed to expose what he had done using the second handshake as a lever, in a non-hostile and seemingly-unintentional way, no less.

“Ah… My bad, Mister Lin, I do have a bit of a stronger grip… I’m used to it- didn’t remember to adjust my strength when shaking hands with a normal person……” Chentian was getting a point across loud and clear- he was telling Lin Yi that he was but a regular person, completely unfit to be with Jingyi.

“Oh, so that’s what it was!” Lin Yi nodded. “Looks like I’ve misunderstood you, Mister Wu. I’ve decided- let us shake hands again, as an apology on my part!”

With that, Lin Yi held his hand out.

“Hm?” Chentian was a little taken aback at Lin Yi’s offer- what kind of card was this, even? He couldn’t lose face now that things have progressed like this, however, and so he grabbed Lin Yi’s hand.

“Agh-!” An indescribable pain came shooting into Chentian’s hand- one look at that smile on Lin Yi’s face and he understood that the guy had taken his revenge!

He’d even let out a surprised cry, out of the total unpreparedness he’d been in when Lin Yi attacked him!

It’d been many years since he’d last felt pain like this in his hand, to the point where Wu Chentian would even cry out! Of course, Chentian attributed that pain completely to being caught off guard- after all, there was no way a regular human, regardless how much strength he put in the grip, would be able to cause him pain like so.

The anger started getting to Chentian’s head- the inheritor of the iron hands of House Wu, beaten by this nobody! It was an absolute disgrace!

He was about to make a comeback when Lin Yi let go of his hand, a curious and confused look on his face as he looked at Chentian. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you? I didn’t even do anything..?”

Jingyi, on the other hand, looked at Chentian with disdain. What the hell man… So you’re crying out to tell me Lin Yi hurt your hand, because of how he let me know what you did to him earlier?

Jingyi, naturally, didn’t believe the act. The iron hands of House Wu, hurt by some regular person’s grip? Jingyi only saw Chentian as a very hypocritical person, at that point. She’d thought of him as a polite, well-mannered man before, and even treated him like a brother- the guy had started to annoy her more and more ever since he’d started chasing her.

Fuck! Chentian really wanted to send a slap across Lin Yi’s face- the guy was ruining everything!

“Wu Chentian, do you not see how ridiculous you’re being? Is this meant to be some kind of circus act?” JIngyi frowned as he looked at the man. “Uncle Wu would be very disappointed if he ever found out about your deeds today.”

Chentian’s face reddened and paled at Jingyi’s words. He turned to glare hatefully at LIn Yi. Alright, kid, you’ve got guts. I’ll remember this. Jingyi was clearly displeased with him at the moment, and Chentian decided to leave Lin Yi alone for now. “I apologize for my interruption. I’ll treat you two to dinner one day- I still have something to do, if you’ll excuse me……”