Beauty and the Bodyguard

Lin Yi scoffed at the rottweiler trying to intimidate him. He’d killed off multiple wolves with one slap back in a mountain mission; dogs didn’t trouble him one bit. What could the Great General Wei Wu possibly do to him?

“See that? This here’s Great General Wei Wu. He’s quite powerful, don’t say I didn’t warn you. You’d better stay off the second floor if you don’t wanna cross him!” Mengyao warned.

“I understand.” Lin Yi nodded.

Mengyao was convinced that Lin Yi had his guard up against the dog, and she was pleased. With that, she ran upstairs with Yushu, leaving the general at the bottom of the stairs.

Lin Yi took his luggage with him and started making his way to the guest room. He glared at the dog before leaving, and it backed off instantly. The rottweiler understood immediately as a shiver ran down its spine: Lin Yi was no ordinary man. This human was more than it could handle.

But Lin Yi didn’t have the heart to be playing games with a dog. Without delay, he went into the room Mengyao pointed him to.

The furnishing was simple, with one bed, table, and closet. They were, however, more than enough for Lin Yi, who brought with him nothing but old clothes. What surprised him most was the fact that he had a private bathroom all to himself! It was like staying at a hotel!

His body was fully covered in dust from his travels, so Lin Yi set his things up before grabbing a towel into the bathroom.

He looked at the time. There was more than an hour left before dinner was delivered, and Lin Yi decided to have a shower taken before that.

Up until this point, Lin Yi found himself very satisfied with his working environment. Thirty thousand rmb a month, a hotel-like room and life… It was too good a job to be true, much better than making stupid sandals for the old man.

“Shu, I’m starting to regret this. That Lin Yi just doesn’t look like someone who can protect me!” Mengyao put on her casual clothes as she complained to Yushu.

“I think he’s fine.” Yushu had her legs on the wall vertically as she lay on the bed. She had read somewhere that she’d lose weight doing so, and that it’d help her body’s growth.

“What's fine about him??. I was even thinking of getting a handsome looking shield that could act as my boyfriend! Great, now I have some farmer dude following me around! How am I supposed to take him outside when he looks like that, I'll get laughed at!” Mengyao gritted her teeth. “Why don’t you take him as your boyfriend, since he’s so fine and all?”

“Well… I’m not the one with people chasing after me, you know. I don’t need a shield. I might consider it if i was in your position, actually.” Yushu said nonchalantly.

“Of course you don’t. You have a military officer for a brother! If I had a brother who could split trees with a kick I wouldn’t be going through all this trouble getting a shield in the first place!” Mengyao knew that Yushu was trying to piss her off on purpose, but that’s how it was- she had a brother while she didn’t.

“Yao Yao, why don’t I ask my brother to get you someone from his team? He could be your brother figure!” Yushu blinked. “Maybe even a lover figure! Zhong Pinliang would never go anywhere near you if that works out.”

“Shu!!!” Yushu was getting absurd, and Mengyao glared at her. “What kind of shitty ideas are these? Ahh…! What in the world is this dude my father sent me?! Shield my ass! And now you’re filling my head with all these shitty ideas, too! Lover figue? What in the world is that supposed to be!”

“Okay, okay, geez. I’ll shut up, okay?” Yushu didn’t want to push Mengyao over the edge- the girl was starting to get genuinely angry. Yushu was the one who suggested getting a shield in the first place, too, so she wasn’t completely faultless.

Lin Yi was looking through his luggage when Li Fu arrived with dinner. There wasn’t anything that resembled proper clothing! The old man was way too stingy, couldn’t he at least buy him a couple of new T-shirts or something?

Mengyao would probably think he was wearing dirty clothes again if he went out with these. He wouldn’t even be allowed to sit on the sofa! With no choice left, Lin Yi decided to put on the uniform Li Fu gave him.

Yushu and Mengyao were shocked at Lin Yi’s sudden change of appearance. He was like a hobo before, with his dirty singlet and pant rags. One shower and one gentlemanly outfit had Lin Yi’s farmer side completely wiped off!

Mengyao, however, was not about to call Lin Yi good looking, not after what her first impression of him was. The most she could do was stop finding him disgusting to look at.

Li Fu had delivered them some boiled fish and fish strips, fried cabbage, vegetable fried yams, and mushroom soup...

It had been a long while since Lin Yi had an actual meal with full fledged combination dishes. He wasted no time in preparing for dinner as he seated himself at the table.

He was about to start eating when Mengyao stopped him. “What are you doing? Me and Shu haven’t even started! You’re not supposed to eat before we do!”

With that, Mengyao went into the kitchen. She had this habit of using only silver utensils, something she picked up from her childhood, when she lived with her grandfather. There was always a personal set of utensils housed in the disinfection compartment, prepared especially for her.

Lin Yi could only smile bitterly at how unreasonable Mengyao was acting. He put his chopsticks down. Looks like he’ll only be watching the girls eat for now. Seeing that the bowl of rice was his, he helped himself to a couple of mouthfuls. “Is there anything to drink?” He may have been going too fast, for he started choking.

Yushu was amused at how hungry Lin Yi looked. She pointed to the refrigerator. “There’s drinks in there, help yourself.”

“Oh.” Lin Yi was met with a huge fridge as he turned his head back. He chose a bottle of orange juice from the selection, gulping it down to ease the discomfort in his throat.

Mengyao had already returned with her silverware, and was conversing with Yushu about how appealing the dishes were.

“Ah! There’s my favourite boiled fish!”

“These fish strips are way too sweet, darn cook! Doesn’t he know how fat sugar is? I’ll get dad to fire him some day.”

“This fried cabbage, though! Shu, here!”

Mengyao was as busy talking as she was eating. The dishes were prepared by grand hotel chefs under the Pengzhan corporation, and Li Fu would always arrive on time with them.

Chu Pengzhan had a busy schedule, and Mengyao’s mother left her when she was very young. She didn’t know a lot about what happened, and her father didn’t want to talk about it.

Mengyao’s daily life, as a result, relied on Li Fu’s care.