Chapter 7 - Faceplant
“The chairman’s said so himself, Miss… Lin Yi here is a very capable person, skilled in many areas. He’s smart, and strong. Shielding you will be the least of what he can do…” Li Fu explained.
There were certain things Chu Pengzhan decided to keep hidden for Mengyao’s sake, and Li Fu was ordered to do the same. On the surface, Lin Yi was summoned as a companion for her studies and everyday life… Yet there lay a deeper meaning that involved a promise from before the chairman’s time.
Evidently, someone like Mengyao wouldn’t just agree to a study companion out of nowhere. A strike of coincidence, however, provided the opportunity. Mengyao happened to ask her father for a shield, so that she could fend off the flies swirling around her everyday at school. Taking this chance, Chu Pengzhan recommended Lin Yi to his daughter.
Li Fu was starting to regret not stopping for clothes, however. The picture portrayed Lin Yi as a young man with fresh looks, but his choice of attire simply wasn’t an appropriate one for a place like this…
“Him?” Chu Mengyao failed to see anything special in the person before her. Father didn’t just choose some random farmer who transferred to his company, did he?
The girl sitting beside Mengyao muffled her laughter.
“What the-! Shu!” Mengyao was pissed off enough because of what her father decided to shove at her, and now her best friend was laughing at the whole thing! Mengyao glared at her, unable to hold in her frustration.
Chen Yushu stuck her tongue out in response before turning her curious eyes to Lin Yi.
“Uncle Fu, tell him to get off the car. I want somebody else.” Mengyao frowned, unwilling to waste any more time on the problem.
“Miss… Mister Chu has great amount of faith for Mister Lin Yi’s capabilities… Plus, the contract’s signed already…” Li Fu tried to get the point across to Mengyao: It was simply too late for anything else to be done. The chairman’s made up his mind.
“Huh?” Mengyao blinked, her pretty eyes wide open and on the verge of tearing up. What was her father thinking, sending someone like this? She wouldn’t even want him as a shield in the first place, and now they’re telling her he’s supposed to some sort of companion? She’ll be the laughing stock of the entire school!
Mengyao had originally planned on passing the shield off as her boyfriend, if the looks were good enough. It was one of the surefire methods for blocking off people like Zhong Pinliang, after all.
But it wouldn’t work if the shield looked like Lin Yi!
In the first place, no one would believe that she’d choose someone like this as her boyfriend! Zhong Pinliang would probably burst out laughing if she told him that!
Lin Yi, on the other hand, was overwhelmed with confusion. Shield?! From what he could gather, a shield might very well mean a mate in this context! The chairman was acting odd, as well. He wasn’t really planning on marrying off his daughter, was he..?
“Fine. You, go take care of that guy from earlier, the one who wouldn’t stop following me. Do it well and I’ll give you a pass.” Mengyao decided to see if she could get rid of her new shield. If he couldn’t handle the first job she assigned him, she could just tell her father that Lin Yi wasn’t up to task, and get him fired.
“That guy?” Lin Yi nodded before getting off the car, making his way to Zhong Pinliang with quick steps.
“That Chu Mengyao, always putting me off. Any other girl would have leapt into my arms long ago!” Zhong Pinliang was in the middle of grumbling to a couple of his lackeys.
“Liang Bro, this Chu Mengyao isn’t just some ordinary girl, she’s the daughter of Pengzhan Industries’ chairman! She’s supposed to be difficult!” One of the lackeys, Gao Xiaofu, said.
“I know, okay? You think I need you telling me something like that?” Zhong Pinliang put his hands on his hips. “I need to persevere…” Zhong Pinliang paused when he noticed a young man with muddy brown pants and a yellowing white singlet walking at him, startled at how fast he was moving.
Lin Yi didn’t waste any time carrying out the assignment, firing a kick at the guy’s ass the instant he reached Zhong Pinliang. After sending the guy faceplanting onto the ground, Lin Yi turned to walk back to the car.
Zhong Pinliang was about to give a speech regarding his plans to go on Mengyao, when suddenly his face smacked against the ground.
“Who was that!!! How dare him, does he think he can get away with this?!” Zhong Pinliang yelled after managing to stand back up, his raging face smeared with gray dirt.
“It was that farmer…” Gao Xiaofu quickly answered.
“What the hell are you guys still standing here for, then? After him!” Zhong Pinliang was burning with malice as he continued the yelling. “Get him, and beat him up! Beat him up bad!”
“Liang Bro… He’s gone already…” The lackeys had all their focus on the face-planted Zhong Pinliang when Lin Yi kicked him, and the farmer had long since vanished when they turned their heads back.
“Fuck!” Zhong Pinliang cursed. “I saw his face. I’ll remember that face well, and tomorrow I’ll put it on the newspapers for all his fellow farmer friends to see! I’ll hunt him down, that fucking farmer!”
“Yao Yao, I didn’t think so at first, but this Lin Yi’s quite something! He’s not even scared of Zhong Pinliang!” Chen Yushu’s eyes were wide open, having just witnessed the scene.
“Out of his mind, more like.” Lin Yi did manage to impress her, but Mengyao’s mind was already set on getting him fired. She’d never give him a pass no matter what he did.
“Yao Yao, why don’t you just take him in?” Yushu suggested.
“Shu, whose side are you on?” Mengyao glared at her, her tone curious. “You’re… not at that stage, are you..? Have you taken a liking to this little farmer boy?”
“F off!” Chen Yushu shook her head instantly. “You’re the one who likes him, I bet!”
“You’re not in love with him, so why are you trying to get him to stay...? So that I can embarrass myself as much as I want, I suppose!” Mengyao was baffled at what Yushu was saying. Was she out of her mind, as well?
“Jeez, think about it. Zhong Pinliang’s always doing whatever he wants at school, and no one even tries to stop him! Out of nowhere comes a little guy ballsy enough to kick him… Things’ll get pretty interesting, can’t you see!” Chen Yushu said mischievously. “Zhong Pinliang wouldn’t be able to follow you around with that guy here, now would he?”
“What? Who do you think Zhong Pinliang is?” Mengyao was blunt and went straight to the point. “The guy’s a farmer! He’ll get destroyed!”
“Yao Yao, how dumb can you get? It’s not about that! You think Zhong Pinliang’s gonna touch the guy when he has your name backing him up?” Yushu pouted. “I’ll be backing him up too, you know!”