Beauty and the Bodyguard

Mengyao looked rather indifferent as Pinliang spoke, as if she didn’t even hear him, but she didn’t say anything to deny what Yushu was saying. That was how she was, using her name to mess with Pinliang, who never learned no matter how many times he fell for her tricks.

“That’s great! As long as Yao Yao’s satisfied, I’m happy!” Pinliang said. “By the way, I got us a huge golden bus, but why don’t you and Yao Yao go in my car, Shu? I got my license last month, so I’ll drive my dad’s Bentley!”

“You’re driving after one month? No way we’re going in your car! What if we die!” Yushu harrumphed. “Also, our families all have cars, okay? Yao Yao’s car is a supercar too. It’s not any worse than your Bentley!”

“Ugh.” Pinliang had wanted to show off a little, but couldn’t say anything to Yushu’s comment. He regretted even putting his license on the table to show off in the first place.

It was indeed something worth envying, a student getting a driver’s license. But that only applied to normal people. To young ladies like Mengyao and Yushu, something like that wasn’t new at all.

“Do you have a private plane? A car’s nothing special, but if it’s a plane!” Yushu turned her head back suddenly, blinking.

“Eh? A plane?” Pinliang’s eyes went wide, and he smiled wryly to himself. Did this woman not know how much a private plane cost? His family might be rich but he still couldn’t afford a private plane. One Sonic 757 cost tens of millions of dollars, an insane amount of money!

“It’s fine if you don’t. Yao Yao gets carsick and she can only take the plane. We’re not going. You go have fun with everyone else,” Yushu said to Pinliang, her tone regretful.

“What!” Pinliang almost tripped over himself. Was that all it took for them to call it off? Why’d he waste so much effort getting everything set up then! Have fun with everyone else? What the hell!

Pinliang had planned the entire thing for Mengyao, and that was it! What was the point if Mengyao wasn’t there? A plane… A thought came to Pinliang all of a sudden. “Shu, what do you think about renting a plane?”

He couldn’t afford a plane, but renting one was still possible for him. He’d heard renting a small private plane didn’t cost much. A helicopter was even cheaper than that too.

“Oh, that works! Rent a seaplane, then! I wanna land on the sea!” Yushu almost made Pinliang trip over again.

“A seaplane?” Pinliang was getting dizzy. “Can that even be rented?”

“Maybe. Can’t you go ask?” Yushu didn’t act like a know-it-all, at least. “I heard that there was a private seaplane service at Fun City’s beach.”

“I see. I’ll go ask, then.” Pinliang shook his head, a bitter smile on his face as he regretted not clearing up all of his confusions beforehand so he wouldn’t be dealing with this trouble. He decided it’d be worth it as long as he earned Mengyao’s favor. “Then what would you like to eat, Yao Yao? I’ll make preparations ahead of time!”

“Oh, we want barbecued shark meat! Preferably a fresh, live shark caught directly from the sea!” Yushu said.

“Shark?” Pinliang blinked, his face getting more bitter by the second. “You want me to catch a live shark?”

Who in their right minds would do that? He didn’t want to die! Pinliang was starting to feel that this spring field trip for Mengyao’s favor might not be as easy as it seemed.

“Alright, we’re leaving. Text us when you’re done preparing!” Now that Yushu had given him her instructions, she took her leave with Mengyao, leaving Pinliang standing there smiling bitterly.

Xiaofu had been waiting in the corner for a long time. “What’s wrong, Liang Bro?”

“What do you think? You heard Chen Yushu, right? Renting a plane’s not too bad, it’s fine as long as we rent one…. But catching a shark? Was she even serious when she said that?” Pinliang sighed.

“How’s that a joke, Liang Bro?” Xiaofu waved his hand. “I thought you were fussing over the price of renting a plane!”

“You know what happened with my family. My uncle isn’t a shareholder at this school anymore, but that didn’t affect my dad’s business. He even partnered with a huge boss recently, so we have tons of money. As long as they have a plane rental service it should be fine!” Pinliang said. “But catching a live shark… isn’t that too much?”

“Not necessarily!” Xiaofu smiled evilly. “It’s simple! Liang Bro, we’ll just get a dead shark and put it underwater. I’ll put on a shark uniform and swim around pretending to be the shark, and all you have to do is come down and pretend you’re fighting me! I’ll sink down, ‘dead,’ and you just need to haul the dead shark up onto the shore!”

“You’re right!” Pinliang’s eyes lit up at the genius of Xiaofu’s idea, and he gave him a thumbs up. “What an idea! Amazing! Chu Mengyao likes strong fighter boys, right? I’ll just fight a shark and demonstrate my manliness for her. She’ll be fawning over me by then!”

“Yeah! So this isn’t hard at all. That’s what I’ve been saying! We need to do some research about the plane rental first!” Xiaofu wasn’t too good at anything else, but thinking up petty tricks like this was his specialty.

“That’s easy. I’ll discuss it with my dad when I get home!” Pinliang’s troubles were all solved, and he felt quite relieved as he hummed and walked out of school with Xiaofu.

***

Mengyao, on the other hand, was looking at Yushu rather helplessly. “Shu, can you stop messing with Zhong Pinliang?”

“It’s his fault for being a dummy.” Yushu didn’t care. “Yao Yao, we’re graduating soon! If we don’t mess with this idiot more, we’ll regret it when we go to college.”

“You’re always thinking about messing around! That’s all you know! You’ll get in trouble one day if you keep it up.” Mengyao glared.

“It’s fine, we have Shield Bro’s protection now! I’m even less afraid of Zhong Pinliang, hehe,” Yushu said gleefully.

“What’s up with Lin Yi? Why’s he hanging around with Feng Xiaoxiao again?” Mengyao turned around to see Xiaoxiao walking alongside Lin Yi, giggling as she spoke to him.

“Oh. Are you getting jealous, Yao Yao? I can spy on them and see what they’re talking about!” Yushu rubbed her hands together.

“No!” Mengyao shook her head, indifferent. “Who cares what he does? We’re going home.”

“Why not? I wanna take a look.” Yushu was rather curious.

“Then I’ll go back first. You find a way to get home on your own.” With that, Mengyao opened the car door and got in.

“Wait for me! Fine, I’m not going!” Yushu quickly followed now that Mengyao was pissed off, but surreptitiously kept her eyes on Lin Yi and Xiaoxiao.

“Uncle Fu, start the car!” Mengyao ordered.