Chapter 5 - Feels Like A Marriage Plan?
Lin Yi responded with a smile as he shook hands with the chairman. Common social greetings weren’t beyond the scope of someone like Lin Yi, despite his background. “Mister Chu! Nice to meet you!”
It was the first time Lin Yi met a client so passionate... The man was a chairman of one of the top 500 companies worldwide, after all. The guy was almost treating him like an equal, and Lin Yi found it odd.
“Mister Lin! I know, I know… It is a bit much to call you all the way out here for something like this…” Chu Pengzhan spoke after a moment’s hesitation.
Now the client was getting absurdly kind! Shameless as Lin Yi may be, even he couldn’t stand such kindness coming from his employer. “No, no! Old Lin told me that this mission’s enough for me to live the rest of my life with no trouble! I only earn a coupled hundred every month for the straw sandals I make, so really, I’m thankful!”
Lin Yi was surprised at how his client was crossing the kindness boundaries. He’s paying him for his services, so there really wasn’t any need for him to treat Lin Yi with this much respect. Some of his clients even grumbled when paying Lin Yi, after all!
“Straw sandals?” Taken aback by the comment, Chu Pengzhan took a closer look at Lin Yi to make sure he didn’t mistake him for someone else. What the hell was he talking about? Was Old Lin telling him to make straw sandals every day for a couple hundred rmb? He didn’t know what to say. He’d heard from his own father about Lin Yi’s feats- that hostage rescue mission in Africa, for example. The rewards should be up to a hundred million US dollars, so what’s this bit about making sandals for money?
“That’s right. One pair sells for four kuai, and if i make about three or five pairs a day, that’s a couple hundred kuai a month!” Lin Yi was nodding, but even he felt something off, as well. From how things stood, it didn’t seem like Old Lin was poor at all.
Chu Pengzhan decided not to meddle with the affairs of another home, and simply shook his head. “Your pay from now on is thirty thousand per month, your school fees and daily spendings accounted for. Naturally, the money you spend on my daughter will be paid for by Li Fu.”
“Thirty thousand? Didn’t the old man say a couple thousand?” No way, this one’s a high paying job? He wouldn’t have had to look at Old Lin’s miserable face giving forty-nine thousand away if he knew about the pay! “Wait, Mister Chu, I don’t understand. School fees? The money spent on your daughter…?”
Lin Yi was at loss. What was the chairman talking about? What about the mission?
“Oh? Didn’t Mister Lin tell you? That’s fine, that’s fine- Why don’t you come with me upstairs? I’ll fill you in on the details.” Chu Pengzhan gestured with a smile, walking shoulder to shoulder with Lin Yi as they headed for the elevator.
Chu Pengzhan was Lin Yi’s employer now, and the pay wasn’t low, either. Lin Yi found the chairman’s words to be a little absurd, but he’s had his share of things far odder from his past missions.
And so, Lin Yi slowed his pace so that he’d be walking behind the chairman instead of beside him. Chu Pengzhan’s legs, however, insisted that they be walking side by side.
It was weird. The guy was being a little too familiar with Lin Yi, as if they were more than just employer and employee. Lin Yi decided to not say anything. It was their first meeting, and some things weren’t appropriate to be brought up. Things would clear up eventually.
The chairman’s office was two hundred square meters large, and situated at the top of the skyscraper. One of the walls was a huge window that illuminated the room with sunlight.
Li Fu backed out of the room right after escorting the two into the office. He asked for the secretary outside to have tea prepared.
“Mister Lin, what would you like to drink?” The secretary Xiaoyu had already heard from Li Fu what Lin Yi’s name was.
“I’ll have water.” Lin Yi drank mostly water back home, and he wasn’t any different outside.
Xiaoyu didn’t expect that answer, but smiled all the same. “Sure, it’ll be a moment.” She didn’t need to ask the chairman, since he drank the same thing every day.
“Mister Lin, from tomorrow onward, Li Fu will assign you to class five of Songshan’s First School’s twelfth grade. You’ll become a high school student, and you’ll be in the same class as my daughter Chu Mengyao. You’ll go to school with her, go home with her. You’ll be in charge of taking care of her and her needs, and also tutor her… Well, put simply, you’ll be her companion. I’m too busy with my business these years, and I haven’t been fulfilling my role as a father too well. On that note, I’d like to find her someone to get along with, to make her days a little livelier… That’s the real reason I’ve asked for you. You’re around the same age as her, and you’re both young people. I’m sure there’s plenty of stuff the two of you could talk about.” Chu Pengzhan said with a smile.
Lin Yi was a little overwhelmed. Someone to get along with? Take care of her needs? Stuff the two of them could talk about? Wait, this was the mission that would have him set for his whole life? This was starting to feel like marriage! This wasn’t a girl with some sort of problem that prevented her from getting married, was she? Lin Yi didn’t want to be part of any marriage plans!
“Mister Lin, are you okay?” Chu Pengzhan seemed to understand with one look at his stunned face. “I thought that you’ve been told all this before accepting the assignment, but… It seems that this isn’t the case?”
“Mister Chu, please, call me Lin Yi. Mister Lin is a bit… much.” Lin Yi replied with a bitter smile. “Frankly, I didn’t know what I was asked here to do. The old man only told me how important the mission was, and that upon completing it I’d be set for life…”
“Set for life?” Chu Pengzhan blinked at the thought before laughing loudly. “Hahaha! I see, I see. Your old man wasn’t lying. You do this job well, and your rewards will let you live your life with no trouble at all!”
“Uh…” Lin Yi still didn’t understand what he was supposed to be doing. “But… What exactly is my mission..?”
“Didn’t I just go over that? You’ll go to school with my daughter, and of course, you’ll be in charge of protecting her from bullies, too.” The chairman explained.
“Going to school with her, and… being her nanny?” It was the only word that came to mind.
“Well… I suppose you could take it that way. Yes, you’ll be something like a nanny.” Chu Pengzhan agreed with a nod. Without waiting for Lin Yi to say anything else, he handed him a file. “This file details information on Songshan’s First School. Familiarize yourself with it.”
Lin Yi nodded helplessly as he took the file. This was what’s meant to be some super mission? Fuck, that shitty old man…
It was the same back in North America… Old Lin said he had to rescue someone… And that someone turned out to be a whole group of someones!
Lin Yi shrugged. It was a high pay, after all, and there was only a low level of danger involved. A bodyguard-like follower for some rich girl… Whatever. Lin Yi decided to think of it as a break.
Songshan’s First School was called the first school, but it was made into a private one a long time ago, and the name was never changed even after the school was bought. Pengzhan Industries held a third of the shares.
It was no surprise then that Lin Yi could just enroll without any primary school records. He hadn’t been to school, but the internet made it clear how difficult it was for villagers to attend schools in the city.
“I understand. I’ll do as expected.” Lin Yi nodded as he flipped through the file.
“Of course. Mengyao’s temper isn’t the best, but she’s a good girl.” Chu Pengzhan smiled bitterly as he said that. “I’m sure someone as talented as you will get along with her very well.”
Get along with her very well? No thanks. It’s not like he was looking for a girlfriend, after all, so what’s the point of getting along with this rich girl very well? “I’ll try.”
Chu Pengzhan recognized the courtesy in Lin Yi’s final reply. He ended the conversation with a smile, and called out to Li Fu outside his office. “Li Fu, school’s almost over! Fetch Mengyao home, won’t you? Mister Lin also needs to take a look at what the school’s like.”
“Mister Chu, please, call me Lin Yi, or Little Yi. Mister Lin is a little much.” Lin Yi said.
“Alright, I’ll call you Yi. You should stop calling me Mister Chu, as well, ‘Uncle Chu’ is fine.” Chu Pengzhan nodded, not intending to dwell on the matter any longer.
Lin Yi nodded in response before following Li Fu down the elevator and into the parking area.