Beauty and the Bodyguard

“Bus is here,” notified Lin Yi to Xiaoxiao before walking away, leaving her behind.

Without much of a choice, Xiaoxiao followed, frustrated. She ignored everything and just sat beside Lin Yi when they got on the bus. It was supposed to be Xiaobo’s seat, but he didn’t say anything when he saw Xiaoxiao there, choosing another spot to sit instead.

“Liang Bro, how do you think Feng Xiaoxiao’s going to get at Lin Yi? It looks like she’s fallen in love with him or something, doesn’t it!” Xiaofu had been paying attention to Lin Yi’s movements these days and noticed how Xiaoxiao was acting.

“Who knows?” Pinliang was rather troubled himself. “Maybe something huge? Leave her be. It’s good that she’s willing to fight Lin Yi. Now Lin Yi won’t have time for us! Right now I need to get Chu Mengyao together with me before the college entrance exams. That’s the priority!”

“You’re right, we’ll leave them be.” Xiaofu nodded. “So, Liang Bro, the shark plan’s all set up and ready to go!”

“Nice, well done!” Pinliang clapped Xiaofu on the shoulder. “Surely Chu Mengyao will have a different impression of me after this.”

***

In the Solid Cloud Bar was Cihua, who’d asked two big shots of Songshan out – Zou Tiandi and Zhong Fabai.

Cihua was a criminal and was known as the best underworld boss in Songshan, but he didn’t have any thugs walking the streets. All his men were elites.

What Cihua did was business, big business deals. He didn’t need petty thugs collecting protection money. This was because he operated on the highest criminal level, carrying out smuggling and drug deals, as well as the recent organ trafficking partnership with An Jianwen.

These were all large-scale business deals, much more profitable than just collecting protection money. It was because of this that Songshan had two big shots other than Cihua. Tiandi and Fabai were titans themselves.

They were both in the entertainment industry, one of them managing a hotel with many men under his command. One, in particular, was Tiandi’s son, Zou Ruoguang, the best gangster in the Northern District.

Cihua didn’t care much for what Tiandi and Fabai messed with, and neither Tiandi nor Fabai could reach Cihua’s level and influence the things he did. They never conflicted with each other as a result.

But Cihua needed these two to partner up with him this time around.

Cihua first talked to Tiandi. As far as he could see, Tiandi was considerably more powerful than Fabai, with a son as gang boss in the Northern District.

“Brother Tiandi, I’m really sorry to ask you out this early!” Cihua had something to ask of Tiandi. It was only natural that he’d take a warm attitude when talking to him, quickly greeting him when one of his men told him of his arrival. “Hm? This young man?”

“Haha, Cihua Bro, this is my youngest son, Zou Ruoming! I’ve brought him along to broaden his horizons.” Tiandi was really starting to get disappointed in his eldest son Ruoguang. The boy was a complete pussy. Even his little brother had more balls than him! So he decided that his heir would, at the end, be his younger son. He decided to change his strategy and stop forcing Ruoming to focus on his studies, thinking that he’d start developing him into a big shot himself.

“Oh? Second Master Zou, I see! Haha, you look like quite the man.” Cihua nodded with a smile.

“Thanks, Uncle Cihua!” Ruoming was very much excited today. His father was finally willing to train him now, bringing him to high-tier underworld figure in just his first outing!

Ruoming had heard of Li Cihua long ago. He was _the_ underworld boss of Songshan, after all!

“Cihua Bro, what did you call me out for? Is there some sort of business for a brother?”1 Tiandi was on rather good terms with Cihua. They’d never interfered with each other before.

“Brother Tiandi, let’s not beat around the bush. I do have a business partnership to propose today,” Cihua said, getting straight to the point since they were both gangsters.

“Oh? What is it?” Tiandi had been quite troubled these couple of days. Lin Yi didn’t trouble them anymore, but it still worried him. Getting offered a business deal felt rather healthy for his state of mind.

“I’m sure you have an idea who I am,” Cihua said with a smile. “The person backing me has sent an underling over to start a real estate company here, but he doesn’t have the manpower. Would you be interested, Brother Tiandi?”

“Manpower? You mean,” Tiandi paused, thinking that his future would be as bright as it got if he managed to acquaint himself with Cihua’s backer, but what did he have to offer that caught his eye? Tiandi was still a self-aware man. He hadn’t even touched real estate before. He just managed entertainment businesses.

“Demolition.” Cihua smiled. “You know there are some strings we have to pull for a successful demolition and relocation, and I don’t have any subordinates well-versed in this field. Brother Tiandi, you came to mind as a good partner for the job!”

“Relocation, is it? No problem!” Tiandi sighed in relief. Relocation was easy. All he had to do was get Ruoguang to go scare and threaten the inhabitants with some men backing him.

“So shall I take that as a yes, Brother Tiandi?” Cihua was feeling rather confident about this whole thing, since it was right up Tiandi’s alley. It wasn’t a difficult task to begin with either.

“Yes. There shouldn’t be any problems.” Tiandi nodded. “Which area does the young master want to develop, may I ask?”

“The slums district!” Cihua said. “It’s a large area, very fit for development.”

“Oh, the slums. That’s a nice choice. No problem—” Tiandi was about to seal the deal when Ruoming stopped him.

“Dad, we can’t do this!” Ruoming said, worried that his father would say yes without thinking it through.

“Ruoming, what are you doing?” Tiandi paused, upset. “What’s the matter with you? Aren’t you a brave boy most of the time? Now that it’s illegal you’re backing out?”

“Dad, listen to me! It’s not because it’s illegal, it’s because of Tang Yin, she lives in the slums,” Ruoming explained, panicking. He had been chasing Tang Yin, so it was only natural that he had done some detailed research on her family background, and that he’d know where she lived with her family.

“What?!” Tiandi paused as well. Wasn’t Tang Yin Lin Yi’s girlfriend? So she lived in the slums?

Tiandi started sweating, very relieved that his son reminded him of this. The consequences if he’d have done anything to her would have been dire….

* * *

1. He talks to Cihua rather respectfully.