Beauty and the Bodyguard

“What happened up there?” They were stuck in a long line of traffic, and Mengyao was trying to see what was going on.

“Shield Guy, can you go out there and see what’s happening?” Yushu ordered casually.

“Um… Don’t you think it’s faster if you do it? You’d need to leave the car for me to get out.” Lin Yi replied, smiling bitterly.

Yushu only then remembered that Lin Yi didn’t have a door to get out from- She’d have to do it herself. There were many others watching the scene, but they let Yushu pass, as a pretty girl walking by and all. It wasn’t long before Yushu came running back again. “Yao Yao, there’s a car crash up ahead- we’re probably not going anywhere for the next hour or so.”

“Really? I guess we’ll go for a walk or something then, lemme just find somewhere to park.” Mengyao said helplessly.

“There’s a public parking space there…” Yushu said as she pointed out a metered parking area some distance away.

“Ugh… Come on Shu, you think I’d be able to squeeze in there?” Mengyao said after one look at where Yushu was pointing. There was a spot between a Toyota Coaster and a SUV, both big cars. No one would park there normally- it was simply too narrow.

Mengyao’s Audi S5 was small, but parking in a spot like that was more than difficult.

But they were in a business district, on a weekend, even- there was no way they’d find an unoccupied parking spot under these circumstances.

“Then what do we do?” Yushu didn’t drive, but a closer look told her that it was indeed quite narrow to park in.

“Maybe we can park on the side of the road?” Mengyao started the car up with that, parking on the side.

Lin Yi only looked at the big ‘one way lane, no parking’ sign before turning to look at Mengyao.

“They’re just gonna put stickers on us anyway, Uncle Fu will take care of it.” Mengyao said with a shrug as Lin Yi looked at her.

Lin Yi sighed internally. Rich misses were indeed different, it seemed- money wasn’t an issue at all.

“Let me.” Lin Yi said as he took the keys from Mengyao, seating himself in the driver’s seat.

“Hey, what’re you doing? I thought you didn’t have a licence!” Mengyao didn’t expect LIn Yi to just snatch the keys away from her like that.

“The sign says that they’ll tow your car if we park here……” Lin Yi said while pointing at a row of words at the bottom of the sign. “We probably won’t be able to get back if you park here.”

Lin Yi didn’t wait for Mengyao to say anything as he stepped on the gas, speeding to the left and into the public parking spot. He waited until he neared the space before spinning the car, pulling the handbrake and aiming a hundred and eighty degrees into the spot, easing the Audi inside the narrow fit smoothly and cleanly.

Lin Yi watched a video of someone taking another guy’s parking spot this way, and found it quite interesting- he got himself an old rusty car to test the move out twice.

“Ah-!” Mengyao was regretting letting Lin Yi drive her car as it spun around, but realized that he had parked it nicely in the parking space.

“Drifting! Yao Yao, did you see? Shield Guy was drifting!!” Yushu exclaimed excitedly.

“Didn’t he say he’s licenceless? Liar!!” Mengyao was a bit envious of Lin Yi’s drifting, but was instantly displeased as she remembered his face when he said he didn’t have a licence. The guy was a big fat liar, making her be his driver when he could drive so well himself! _Eh?_ Mengyao suddenly remembered that Lin Yi didn’t actually say he didn’t drive… He only said that he didn’t have a licence…

Lin Yi put five kuai into the hand of a guy working the parking lot, who looked at Lin Yi stunned. Lin Yi then locked the car up before making his way to Mengyao and Yushu.

“There.” Lin Yi said as he returned the car keys to Mengyao.

“Hey, you didn’t scratch my car did you?” Mengyao mumbled.

“Haha…” Lin Yi only smiled.

“Shield Guy, you know how to drift? When’re you gonna teach me that?” Yushu asked, very interested in how Lin Yi parked the Audi.

“Maybe when you have a car.” Lin Yi said, not really intending to teach something like that to the girl- it wasn’t something one could learn from just watching, the movement required exact calculations and agility. Lin Yi only learned it from a video because of his foundations of high reaction speeds and flexible agility; one slight mistake and the car would be done for.

“Oh, I have a car, it’s in the garage at my place. Teach me when we get back, okay?” Yushu said excitedly.

“Eh?” Lin Yi didn’t expect Yushu to have a car prepared- he wasn’t sure what to say. “Sure, I’ll teach you sometime.”

Mengyao didn’t take well to how Yushu was practically begging Lin Yi like that- the guy was just a shield her dad had hired, did Yushu have to ask like that for him to teach her stuff?

“Hey, you have to- my dad’s giving you a salary.” Mengyao added.

“Okay, I’ll go ask Mister Chu if I’m allowed to teach you girls drifting then.” Lin Yi nodded with a smile.

“You-!” Mengyao was starting to get frustrated- this guy seemed to be treating Yushu a lot nicer than he treated her! Mengyao couldn’t help but feel a bit salty: _she_ was his Miss!

“Come on, Yao Yao! Let’s go! Shopping time!” Yushu wasn’t in the mood to watch Lin Yi and Mengyao fight- they should be out shopping on a fine day like this! They didn’t get chances to go out so often, too.

There wasn’t a lot of time for twelfth graders to waste, and this applied to even the smarter students like Chu Mengyao and Chen Yushu- smart students weren’t rare, after all. They couldn’t let their guards down.

Mengyao was thinking the same- she didn’t want to be feeling down when they finally got the chance to go out. She held Yushu’s hand, ignoring Lin Yi as she walked on ahead with Yushu.

Lin Yi only chuckled faintly as he followed behind the two girls, glancing at the car crash some distance away as they passed by. His eyes widened as he looked- with a frown, Lin Yi quickly made his way to where the crowd was gathered.

Lin Yi wasn’t a busybody that liked to butt into other people’s business, but he couldn’t just leave this particular business alone- there was a face he knew well over there!

She was the girl Lin Yi met back at the train station, Wang Xinyan- the girl was helplessly tapping at her phone as she stood beside a red sportscar, looking very troubled as a middle-aged couple surrounded her. They were saying something and pointing at her nonstop……

Xinyan was in a bit of trouble, it seemed.

*[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