Chapter 6

In the end he decided to not give the year-end exams and put unnecessary attention on himself. The simplest solution would be to call in sick and later get a fake passing certificate, only to get promoted to next grade. Chen Dulan suggested this to the butler, and apologized for calling again and again.

"That's alright. You don't need to study, just look after Young Master." He had said and hung up on him. That night he also received an allowance, which would be enough for his rent, and a little bit would remain for food. He still needed the job for any other expenditures, or emergencies. He was wrong to panic the other day. MinYao has never left him hopeless.

When he was first taken in, he had slept on a hospital bed. Sure, he didn't have a room, or a promised meal, but he was sure that someone would notice him and tell him what to do next. Maybe the Young Master had never faced any uncertainty, so he turned such a brute, pampered and spoiled teenager. Even a few months older than him, Yao Fang had no sense of maturity at all.

"Hey, we meet again." Someone had called him from behind. Young Master's girlfriend was smiling at him, probably expecting a response. "You're Yao Fang's friend from yesterday. So you're just a classmate." She took note of his uniform.

"I've got nothing to do with you." Chen Dulan didn't know why he felt hostile.

"Come on, now, don't be so shy around me. I'm only a little older than you. I am Feng HuaLi, in case we see more of each other." She smiled again.

"I'm not shy, I really don't want to talk to you. I'm not friends with him, if you didn't notice, he was threatening me. I don't think that would look like friendship." What was her problem? What did she want from him anyways? "Are you a bodyguard or something his family sent?"

Where did she get that hint from? This woman wasn't so simple.

"Don't speak to me. I don't see you as a danger to him, and I don't plan to interrupt anything you both have going on." He thought for a second. "And you have very bad taste in men. No amount of money would convince me to tolerate him." And yet he was here with the Young Master, and not in C City. He didn't even get any money.

"You think it's shameful? To date someone for money?"

"No. You are a woman, you have that option so you can take it. Most people don't get to choose, so there's nothing to be ashamed of." She seemed to be surprised. "I have to get to school, or I'll be late. You don't have to get on my good side for his mother to like you, she hasn't even met me yet." He overtook her and walked on.

That seemed to be a good explanation, if she was smart enough to come to that conclusion. It would seem natural for Yao Fang's 'known-to-be-protective' mother had hired someone to follow him around, and Yao Fang trying to fight him off. But he hadn't been associated with Madam Yao yet.

MinYao's known beauty, mother to the two Young Masters, he may have even been a little excited to meet her. Unlike the complicated men in her family, she gave off the impression of a simple wife and a loving mother.

He still has a scar on his thigh, from the time he had met Boss Yao. He remembers exactly what had occurred that day, the last time he had seen his father.

Chen Dulan had woken up on a hospital bed.

"You had lost too much blood, so the Boss put you in here." A rough looking woman said to him, whom he had thought to be a nurse. It was his first time seeing a hospital, of course any woman he saw, he assumed it was a nurse. "You're so tiny, how old are you? You can't be older than six? I don't know."

Chen Dulan had been malnourished, but he wasn't six. This woman had no perception of age, and what sort of nurse wasn't asking him if he was comfortable?

"I am ten." He must've made a funny face because the nurse had started laughing.

"You're funny, I like you." She couldn't stop her laugh as he kept making a tiny frown. "Welcome to MinYao, kid. You're stuck with us now."