Beauty and the Bodyguard

_ ~~Warning- Unedited!~~_

Lin Yi had planned on dragging the man straight to Chu Pengzhan’s office for questioning, but decided otherwise upon further thought- Anyone on the top floor was a big shot, somewhere along the lines of a main stockholder or a general manager. There was no guarantee that the man would admit to anything, after all, and Lin Yi was concerned that he wasn’t the only one involved in the scheme- there could be a whole group of them.

The man had accomplices, judging from the phone call earlier- the other people involved would likely still be safe even if Lin Yi did bring him to the chairman. Furthermore, those around the vice-chairman rank weren’t people Chu Pengzhan could handle with just a couple of words; even his power didn’t extend that far. A large-scale company like Pengzhan Industries would naturally have different factions forming within, and there was no reason for Chu Pengzhan to just do whatever he wanted to people working for the other stockholders, even if Pengzhan himself was the largest stockholder in the group. There was even the possibility that the man from the bathroom was a stockholder himself- there was no guarantee with this sort of thing.

Lin Yi’s decision to stay silent stemmed from this understanding: he didn’t want to alert the hostile party of his discovery. His acting back at the washroom was for this very purpose, as well.

Lin Yi noticed the door slightly ajar upon reaching Pengzhan’s office. Li Fu seemed to be reporting something to the chairman, who kept nodding with a pleased smile on his face. He raised his head pleasantly towards Lin Yi as he stepped in. “Yi, there you are! Come in, come in!”

“Uncle Chu.” Lin Yi greeted, closing the door shut as he stepped in. He intended to bring the man from the washroom to Chu Pengzhan’s attention.

“Yi, I heard that you were involved in a conflict with some thugs yesterday?” Pengzhan asked openly as Lin Yi seated himself on the sofa.

Lin Yi was touched- the chairman’s tone wasn’t one of lecturing or scolding, but rather a tone one would expect from a concerned family member. Lin Yi was just an employee hired to accompany his daughter, after all- it was very rare for employers to exhibit such kind care nowadays.

It did, however, puzzle him. The chairman would probably be talking about firing him under normal circumstances, in fear of involving his daughter in the whole incident.

“Yeah, it was this guy called Zhong Pinliang, he’s the one who sent the thugs after me.” Lin Yi admitted, not intending to hide anything. “Though, Heibao Bro must have taken all the blame when questioned, so Zhong Pinliang’s still safe from all that.”

“Ah, Zhong Pinliang? Things aren’t well between the two of you, I take it?” Pengzhan didn’t expect Lin Yi to find himself an enemy like that only a couple days into school. The guy Zhong Pinliang had sent after Lin Yi was quite insane as well, even going as far as to pull out a gun. It wasn’t too different from a suicide attack.

“Ah.. haha..” Lin Yi laughed bitterly. “Well, it’s actually my fault…”

“Mister Chu, allow me to explain.” Li Fu understood Lin Yi’s intention to cover up for Mengyao, and decided to give a straightforward answer instead. His position as the chairman’s most trusted man, naturally, meant that he held no secrets from Chu Pengzhan.

“Oh? You’re aware of their conflict?” Pengzhan asked, turning to Li Fu. He didn’t expect Li Fu to know anything about the bad blood between Zhong Pinliang and Lin Yi.

“This is what happened, Mister Chu…” Li Fu nodded with a bitter smile. “The Miss wasn’t too happy with Mister Lin as her shield the first day they met. She gave Lin Yi a task so that she could test him, telling Mister Lin to handle her admirer problem: Zhong Pinliang, who wouldn’t stop following her around…”

“I see, I see. Say no more, I think I’ve a good grasp on the situation!” Pengzhan smiled bitterly as well, shaking his head in empathy. His daughter turned out to be the source of the problem once again. “Yi, Yao Yao’s oftentimes playful, but you should make sure not to let her have her way too much from now on- just this little incident turned out to be quite deadly. I can’t have imagined the consequences if it weren’t for your skills- Keep in mind, Yi: Yao Yao needs someone to give her a bit of discipline, as well.”

“Haha, don’t worry about that Uncle Chu- I’m fine, really.” Lin Yi really failed to see Heibao Bro as any threat at all; the guy was a pawn, the type of soldier you would send to the front lines to soak up enemy cannon fire. In other words, useless.

“This Zhong Pinliang’s only trouble, it seems. A student like that would tarnish the school’s reputation, perhaps I should talk to Principal Ding Binggong about this.” Pengzhan was quite displeased at the kid.

“Mister Chu, Zhong Pinliang is a nephew of Mister Jin on the board of directors…” Li Fu reminded. He was always familiarized with details like this.

“Oh?” Pengzhan frowned in response, not expecting one of the stockholders to have the kid’s back. He had the largest shares as chairman, but the other stockholders had sizeable shares as well- There were limits to Chu Pengzhan’s power when other stockholders were involved.

Pengzhan Industries was one of the shareholders for Songshan’s First School, meaning that Director Jin, naturally, was one of the stockholders for the school as well. It would be a difficult dilemma for the principal should Pengzhan take this matter to him, and so the chairman decided to leave Zhong Pinliang alone for now. It wasn’t long before graduation, anyway.

“It’s fine, Uncle Chu- Zhong Pinliang won’t be up to anything anymore, not after this incident.” Lin Yi said, clearly not thinking much of Zhong Pinliang.

“Hm.. Yi, I must apologize for this. I may be steering the wheels of an entire company, but there are many other things out of my reach.” Pengzhan sighed.

“That’s actually something I wanted to talk about.” Pengzhan had mentioned the company, and Lin Yi saw it as a nice transition for the topic on his mind. “Uncle Chu, do you have any updates on the bank robbery the other day?”

“I’m afraid not- we’re only aware that the incident wasn’t a conventional one, and that’s it.” Pengzhan explained candidly. “But their intentions have been confirmed- the robbery was a cover for their kidnapping of Yao Yao. It was especially so when you take into account the coincidences and timing, and the fact that it had happened exactly during my absence.”

Lin Yi praised the man silently: being able to figure this out from only a few traces of clues was impressive in its own right. The chairman’s suspicions weren’t too far off.

“I had thought that they were planning a ransom at first, but it didn’t seem right. I remember how they acted that day, when we were signing the contract- it left an impression on my mind, and I can’t help but connect the two events.” Pengzhan explained, not intending to hide anything from the man protecting his daughter. Voicing his suspicions to him would put him on alert.

*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes

*[12.47 to 13.07]: don't ask me about the tree sap