Chapter 12 (Hired Bodyguard)
Chapter 12 (Hired Bodyguard)
The jeep slowly parked in front of Zhao Tie Zhu’s villa, and the two of them got out. Zhao Tie Zhu opened the door to find Su Yan Ni and Cao Zi Yi sitting on the sofa in the main hall. Were they just waiting for him? He couldn’t help but feel touched at heart.
“Tie Zhu, you’re back.” Su Yan Ni stood up, surprised. Cao Zi Yi just looked at him with a gentle smile, not saying anything.
“Of course. If I didn’t come back, wouldn’t you be lonely?” Zhao Tie Zhu chuckled.
“Who’s lonely? You’re the lonely one. Your whole family is lonely.” Su Yan Ni shouted with her nose wrinkled. However, her eyes flashed a faint trace of tears. Zhao Tie Zhu hit Li Zi Qi because of her. Now that he was safely back, she could put her worries away.
“Who’s this?” asked Su Yan Ni, seeing Ray, who stood behind Zhao Tie Zhu.
“Ray, my bro.” Zhao Tie Zhu introduced him. Ray stepped forward with a smile on his face, “Sister-in-law, how are you?” Then he said to Cao Zi Yi, who was still sitting, “Second sister-in-law, how are you?”
“Jeez, watch your mouth.” Zhao Tie Zhu smacked Ray in the back of the head, feeling a little awkward. Although, the two women were okay, he wasn’t someone who would just randomly pick up a girl.
Hearing Ray say sister-in-law and second sister-in-law, both Su Yan Ni and Cao Zi Yi both blushed. Cao Zi Yi didn’t say anything; she just looked at Zhao Tie Zhu angrily and then went upstairs. Su Yan Ni, who was tougher, yelled out, “Don’t talk nonsense. There’s nothing between Zhao Tie Zhu and me.” Zhao Tie Zhu also stated, “Indeed, indeed. There’s nothing between us. Bro, don’t misunderstand.”
Ray smiled lasciviously and then said, “You’re all living together. If you’re not his wife, then what?”
“I’m just a tenant here, I also paid the rent!” said Su Yan Ni.
“Okay, just stop it. Tonight, I’ll probably come home late. You should go to bed early.” said Zhao Tie Zhu. Then he tugged on Ray and walked out the door. (TL Note: Saying something like “you should go to bed early” is a polite way in Chinese to say goodbye.)
When they got in the car, Ray laughed, “This chick is really not bad.”
“Yeah, and she’s a little police beauty too.”
“Tsk tsk, big bro, your taste is really high. Are you giving into the temptation of the uniform? This young brother of yours can’t compete with you.”
“Just drive.”
In a burst of laughter, the car proceeded to move toward FJ’s military compound.
Half an hour later, the car arrived at the entrance of the FJ City’s military compound. Liu Tian Ci, who had already received Ray’s phone call, was waiting for them at the entrance. Seeing them coming, he instructed the guards to open the gate, and the car slowly entered the military compound.
Catching the car keys thrown by Ray, Liu Tian Ci said, “Ray, please come with me. The commander is waiting for you in his study.”
“Brother Tie Zhu, come with me,” said Ray, following Liu Tian Ci into a small two-story building. As he followed behind them, Zhao Tie Zhu squinted slightly. In just this short distance, he had discovered more than five sentries. The defense of this military compound was really tight.
(TL Note: Since Ray is going to refer to both of his paternal and maternal grandfather, I’m going to differentiate it by using ‘grandfather’ for his paternal grandfather and ‘grandpa’ for his maternal grandfather here and also in future chapters. The same thing goes for ‘grandmother’ and ‘grandma’.)
Inside the building, a white-haired old woman was lying in a rattan chair, listening to the opera. Seeing Ray enter, she called, “Ah, my dear grandson, you remember to visit your grandma.” Ray walked over quickly. Half squatting in front of her, he said, “I thought about you every day, but my missions required me to go abroad. So, there’s no way I could come to visit you regularly. This time, I’ll stay for a while, and accompany you.”
“Good, good. Is this your friend?” The old woman pointed to Zhao Tie Zhu. Zhao Tie Zhu hurriedly said, “Grandma, how are you? I’m Ray’s friend.”
Ray introduced him, “Grandma, this is my bro. His name is Tie Zhu.”
“Oh, Tie Zhu, is it? Well, if you don’t mind, just call me grandma, like Ray.” The old woman pulled his hand and said, “Our Ray, he likes to go everywhere…”
Ray was a bit helpless seeing Zhao Tie Zhu listening to his Grandma’s nagging. Signaling Zhao Tie Zhu with his eye, he went upstairs by himself to see his grandpa.
A moment later, Ray stuck his head out from the study upstairs. Seeing Zhao Tie Zhu was still being nagged by his grandma, he shouted, “Brother Tie Zhu, my grandpa asks you to come upstairs.”
Receiving his Amnesty, Zhao Tie Zhu hurriedly excused himself to the old woman and went upstairs.
“My grandma really likes to nag,” Ray said to Zhao Tie Zhu in a low voice.
“It’s okay, my grandmother was also like that,” said Zhao Tie Zhu, smiling. Then he followed Ray into the study.
Just when he entered the study, Zhao Tie Zhu saw an old man in a uniform standing in front of a row of bookshelves looking for something. Seeing Zhao Tie Zhu had come upstairs, he stopped, then pointed to a wooden chair next to him, and said, “Please sit down.” Zhao Tie Zhu obediently sat down. Suddenly, he felt a strong Qi energy locking onto him. Tracing the Qi aura to its source, he saw a hunched old man standing in a corner of the room, looking at him.
“That’s my grandpa’s old guard,” Ray whispered to Zhao Tie Zhu.
“Tie Zhu, I’ve heard about you from Ray. Are you interested in joining the army to serve the homeland?” This was Ray’s grandpa, Chen Wei Guo, FJ City’s military commander. He spoke with a heavy voice that carried imposing pressure.
“Elder, I’m an undisciplined person. I’m afraid I can’t endure the discipline.” Zhao Tie Zhu smiled, unaffected by the imposing pressure.
“Being young, why don’t you a have a little bit of awareness. Currently, the country is facing many internal and external problems and is in dire need of young people like you. Don’t you want to contribute to your country?” asked Chen Wei Guo, his voice growing louder.
“What the country needs more are the pillars such as you, elder. I’m afraid I just want to live a worry free and untroubled life.”
“Ha ha ha, you two brothers have the same character.” Chen Wei Guo suddenly laughed and then pointed his finger to Ray, saying, “this grandson of mine, if it weren’t for the pressure given by Ray’s other grandfather, he might have already gone to who knows where.” Ray scratched his head in embarra.s.sment and said, “Grandpa, I would never do that… My dream is to serve the country. I’m devoted to the party…”
“Boy, you’re still playing innocent with your grandpa? Don’t think I don’t know the things you’ve done as a mercenary!”
“Grandpa, I didn’t do anything. You shouldn’t slander people.” Ray showed an aggrieved look.
“Humph, do I need to talk to your grandfather about you impregnating someone else’s wife out there?”
Ray’s face fell instantly, and he said, “Grandpa, please don’t tell my grandfather, otherwise he’ll break my legs.”
“I can keep it from your grandfather, but you need to join my troops obediently. I’ll let you be trained properly.”
Hearing Chen Wei Guo’s words, a wave of chills somehow swept through Ray’s whole body.
Chen Wei Guo ignored Ray and said to Zhao Tie Zhu, “Actually, I prefer to call you Phantom.”
Zhao Tie Zhu’s Qi aura suddenly rose to the extreme. But, it was only for an instant and then disappeared again. Only Angel knew that he was the Phantom, and even Ray didn’t know about it. However, unexpectedly, Chen Wei Guo knew about his ident.i.ty.
Ray’s face was covered in shock. He shouted, “Grandpa, aren’t you mistaken? How can brother Tie Zhu be the Phantom?”
“Humph, why don’t you ask your brother Tie Zhu by yourself whether or not it’s true?” Chen Wei Guo snorted coldly.
“Brother Tie Zhu, are you really the Phantom?” Ray asked in disbelief.
Zhao Tie Zhu nodded his head, saying nothing.
“F***!” Ray suddenly said in anger, “Brother Tie Zhu, you’re really mean. Why have you never told me? Don’t you take me as your brother?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell, but this ident.i.ty of mine isn’t something good to reveal.” Zhao Tie Zhu looked at Ray and felt a warmth in his heart. Hearing Ray’s words, he understood that Ray stood on his side. What worried him was if Chen Wei Guo suddenly put him in a difficult situation. Since this is a military compound, Zhao Tie Zhu knew if Chen Wei Guo really wanted to catch him, it would be very difficult for him to escape.
“Phantom,” Chen Wei Guo suddenly said, “since you don’t want to join the army, then let’s make a deal.”
“I’m listening, elder.”
“Recently, our country’s research in technology has made a major breakthrough. However, the news was somehow leaked to j.a.pan. And, according the news from our spies there, j.a.pan has sent several spies to sneak into our country to steal this technology. If they can’t steal it, they will get rid of our researcher at all cost. The National Security Bureau Special Ops has already sent people to protect those researchers. However, they still lack manpower. So, I need your help.”
“Well, elder, you know, I don’t like to deal with the government,” said Zhao Tie Zhu helplessly.
“I will not ask you to directly protect those researchers. The daughter of Director Li, the Head of the R&D Department, is admitted in the FJ University this year. I want you to also enroll in FJ University to protect Director Li’s daughter.”
“Hmm,” Zhao Tie Zhu puzzled said, “why do we need to protect Director Li’s daughter?”
“Director Li’s daughter is also a member of the R&D Department! We hid her information deeply and aren’t sure whether j.a.pan found out about it or not. So, just in case, I plan to let you protect her.”
“This Director Li’s daughter is that amazing? At such a young age, she’s already a member of the R&D Department?”
“That, you don’t need to know. But, I can promise you that if you protect Director Li’s daughter well, then I will give you a National Security Bureau Special Ops’s ident.i.ty, which allows you to save a lot of troubles.” Chen Wei Guo said persuasively.
After thinking for a while, Zhao Tie Zhu replied, “I’ll say this first. Even if you give me this ident.i.ty, I won’t work for the Special Ops.”
“Of course, I’m just giving you the ident.i.ty. If it wasn’t because you only kill the people who should be killed and also that you’ve never killed our fellow countrymen, I would already have you captured long ago.” Chen Wei Guo while giving him a benefit was also threatening him vaguely.
“Okay then, one last question,” Zhao Tie Zhu said seriously, “this daughter of Director Li, is she beautiful?”
“……”
“…”
Everyone was silent.
“Ha ha ha,” Zhao Tie Zhu laughed. “I’m just joking. When do I start the job?”
“Wait until the start of the semester in FJ University, then I will arrange an ident.i.ty for you, so you can enter FJ University as a student,” said Chen Wei Guo.
Zhao Tie Zhu was blanked. He never imagined that what he’d said when trying to fool Chen Ling Shan, would become a reality. He was actually also going to attend the FJ University.
“Tomorrow, you should pick Director Li’s daughter up at the airport when she arrives in FJ city. You have a place where she could stay, right? Just let her stay at your place so you can protect her 24 hours a day.” Chen Wei Guo then gave a phone number to Zhao Tie Zhu and said, “This is Director Li’s daughter’s phone number. Contact her when you’re at the airport.”
Why is there no photograph of her?” asked Zhao Tie Zhu.
“State secrets.” Chen Wei Guo answered, “For her own safety, she can’t have a photograph outside.”
After talking about other miscellaneous things, Ray drove Zhao Tie Zhu back to the villa.
Chen Wei Guo lay on the chair, slightly squinting his eyes, and after a while, he said, “Old Lin, what do you think of this person?”
That hunched person only said one word, “Profound.”