Beauty and the Bodyguard

Pinliang was thinking of avoiding Mengyao himself and talk to Yushu about tonight’s Firetree Silverflower plans- there were some things he didn’t really want to mention in front of Mengyao.

He was worried that Mengyao might reject him right away without any concern for his reputation- that’d make Pinliang look pretty pathetic, and it’d have an irreversible effect, too.

So Pinliang decided to go talk to Yushu about it first. As long as Yushu was willing to help persuade Mengyao into watching his Firetree Silverflower performance, then he was sure Mengyao would show up. Naturally, the performance would move her, and that might even make her fall for him…

“Shu is right, Yao Yao! You go take a break first, don’t overwork yourself!” Pinliang said, following Yushu’s lead.

Mengyao couldn’t be happier that Pinliang wasn’t bothering her- now that he’d asked her to leave she’d never reject it.

Yushu blinked at Pinliang after Mengyao had walked away. “You need my help, right, Liangy? What is it!”

“Ugh… How did you know?” Pinliang paused, thinking that this Yushu was pretty smart.

“Every time you come looking for me it’s to ask me to help you.” Yushu handed her shovel to Pinliang, a smile on her face. “Here, help me dig the holes and tell me what it is. We’ll talk about it after I know what you need.”

“Alright!” Pinliang quickly took the shovel, looking at Yushu very gratefully. Every time he went to her for help she’d always cause trouble, but she sure was being understanding today!

Mengyao would probably faint from shock if she were here- Yushu hadn’t even promised Pinliang anything! She was just being a little nicer, and that was enough to get Pinliang to labor for her for nothing, for free! Only Pinliang was dumb enough to fall for something like that.

“I’m thirsty- tell your follower to get some cold drinks.” Yushu seated herself on a soil pack, hugging her legs as she talked to Pinliang.

“Sure thing!” Pinliang quickly turned to call out to Xiaofu, who was some distance away. “Xiaofu! Go buy some drinks, cold ones! Hurry!”

Pinliang waited until Xiaofu had left for the drinks before speaking to Yushu. “Shu… I actually do have something I need you to help with…”

“Oh. Tell me- I’ll see if I can do it.” Yushu nodded half-heartedly, a little displeased that Pinliang had stopped digging. “I’ll dig the holes if you don’t want to- tell me what it is after I finish digging.”

“I’ll dig the holes… I wouldn’t let you dig them, obviously…” Pinliang gulped as he quickly resumed the digging. “I’ll tell you what it is as I dig, okay? So here’s the thing. There’s this tree called an Eskimo tree, and I heard it’s symbolic for love. According to legend, if you confess to a girl under this tree you’ll be able to win her heart…”

“You’re not trying to tell me you have an Eskimo tree, right?” Yushu wondered how stupid could someone get- did Pinliang reallly believe in such an unfounded legend?

“Yeah, I have an Eskimo tree that’s being shipped over by plane. I asked Xiaofu to go write some confession notes already for me to hang on the tree.” Pinliang said.

“Is that so?” Yushu said faintly as she busied herself with her phone.

“Yeah, but that’s not the main event tonight! It’s a little something I call Firetree Silverflower- I’ll be lighting up the sky with fireworks on the tree, writing Yao Yao’s name with those fireworks in the sky! It’ll be a huge confession.” Pinliang didn't know if Yushu was even listening, but as frustrating as it was he didn’t dare lose his temper.

“Oh, fireworks? Sounds fun. I’ll go take a look, so don’t worry- Yao Yao will be coming with me too.” Naturally, Yushu wouldn’t want to miss a large-scale fireworks show like that.

“That’s great!” Pinliang exclaimed happily as he increased his digging speed. It wasn’t a while until a huge hole was made. “Shu, is this okay?”

“Yeah. Dig one more beside it.” Yushu nodded, satisfied.

“Again?” Pinliang made a bitter face in response- it was hard enough just digging one… now he had to dig another?

“This one’s mine, and the next hole’s Yao Yao, but if you don’t want to it’s alright, I’ll just tell Yao Yao that you want her to dig it herself.” Yushu stood up to call out to Mengyao.

“N-No! Don’t…” Pinliang wanted to tear up- all that work and he wasn’t even doing it for Mengyao? If Yushu said that to Mengyao right now then his previous efforts would be wasted, and Yushu might even cause some trouble to ruin his surprise tonight! He gritted his teeth, deciding it was not something he could risk. “I’ll keep digging… Can’t let you and Yao Yao do this kind of work, right? Leave it to the boys!”

“You keep digging then- Yao Yao did say that she likes stronger boys.” Yushu sat down again.

“I’m strong! Look, I’m not even tired yet, that was just thirty percent of my strength! I can go even faster!” Pinliang quickly said in response.

A while later and Xiaofu returned with some drinks. “I’m back, Liang Bro! Are these enough?”

“Yeah, that’s enough!” Pinliang gestured for Xiaofu to leave and handed two of them to Yushu. “Can you get one to Yao Yao?”

“Sure. I’m going then, you keep at the digging! Call me when you’re done.” Yushu took the drinks and started walking to where Mengyao was after giving Pinliang some instructions.

Pinliang let his sweat drip down as he gave the digging his all- he wanted to portray just how strong it was, gritting through the exhausting work as he kept a smile on his face…

“Yao Yao, here!” Yushu handed Mengyao a drink.

“I’m fine- you drink it.” Mengyao shook her head. She was an attentive person when it came to Pinliang- she didn’t want to give him any opportunities, especially when it came to taking stuff from him.

“I’ll drink it myself then!” Yushu didn’t care- she’d gotten used to conning Pinliang a long time ago.

“Did you tell him I wanted him to dig the holes?” Mengyao frowned at how passionate Pinliang was digging the hole.

“Nope! I just said that Yao Yao likes strong boys. He’s trying to impress you with his strength, hehe.” Yushu smiled.

“Since when did I like strong boys..?” Mengyao blinked, not expecting Yushu coming up with an excuse like that to get Pinliang to work.

“Shield Bro’s strong, isn’t he? Don’t you like him?” Yushu asked.

“Why are we talking about him again? Do you think I’ll ever like someone so blind! I’d never bother with him.” Mengyao uttered with one look at where Lin Yi was, annoyed.