After talking with Gu Nianbin that night, Du Xiaoxian became less afraid of him and stopped running away when seeing him. She regarded the young master as a kind person because he smiled at her and gave her a bottle of water. She shouldn"t escape from such a kind person anymore. Nevertheless, she was still shy and stood far away. If he drew nearer, she would summon up all her courage to greet him.
Gu Nianbin always held gentle smiles when seeing her. He couldn"t keep a straight face to such a poor girl. To his driver Xiaoding, it was inconceivable that their young master, who rarely smiled, smiled at the new maid.
Du Xiaoxian kept the young master"s kindness in mind, but could not think of a way to repay him. In the end she chose to get up early in the morning and clean his car.
Everyday Xiaoding waited for his master by the car ten minutes in advance. This morning he was shocked by the polished car with dust-free tires. He looked down and found that even the fenders were cleaned thoroughly. What was all this about? Who did this? He walked around the car several times and checked carefully. However, he found nothing abnormal except a shining vehicle.
Therefore, he didn"t think too much about it. But the next few days he found the car was cleaned by someone every morning and felt increasingly uneasy. This day he couldn"t help but tell Gu Nianbin about it.
Gu Nianbin was also surprised. He walked around the car and found that it was clean everywhere. The foot pedal, fender, exhaust pipe and even the bare bottom of the car were dust free. He looked at the thin figure working in the distance. He couldn"t think of anyone else except her.
So he went over and asked, "Did you clean the car?"
Du Xiaoxian nodded. Her cheeks turned red slightly, like wearing a coat of light rouge.
"Why did you clean my car?"
"You treated me well, and I want to do something in return." Her voice was still timid.
Gu Nianbin was confused, "Did I treat you well?"
"You talked with me gently and gave me water."
Because of a bottle of water, she got up before dawn every morning to clean his car. The repayment was excessive. If he didn"t know her simple nature, he would be suspicious of her motive. A little maid like her shouldn"t do such things to flatter their master.
"Don"t clean the car anymore," Gu Nianbin told her, "It"s not your job. Leave it to Xiaoding"
"I just...", muttered Du Xiaoxian, "…want to do something for you."
"Really?" Gu Nianbin smiled.
Du Xiaoxian nodded and looked up at him hopefully. She was facing the rising sun and the morning light dyed her hair on her forehead golden. She narrowed her clear eyes slightly, as cute as a kitten.
"Well," Gu Nianbin thought for a moment and said, "from now on, you are responsible for preparing bottled water in my room. You need to check the cabinet stock every day. Can you do that?"
"Yes!" Du Xiaoxian was excited, and her voice was louder and clearer than usual. "But..." She frowned, "I"m not allowed to go into the young master"s room."
"I grant you. My room is not locked. I"ll notify butler Xiao later." said Gu Nianbin, "If you have time, clean the room. Usually butler Xiao does the cleaning himself, but he"s aged. It would lighten his burden if you could help him."
"Yes, sir." Du Xiaoxian felt even more excited. The young master was willing to let her clean his room, which was the best praise for her. She was determined to not let him down.
Watching the young master"s car getting out of the big iron gate, Du Xiaoxian squatted down and began to pick up the fallen leaves in the roadside bushes. As time pa.s.sed by and sunlight became glaring, she began to sweat a little. When she was wiping the sweat off, a black car came in through the gate.
She stood up, squinted, and hurriedly ran inside.
"Master, lady, the young master"s cousin is here." Du Xiaoxian shouted out as she got into the hall.
Everyone in the hall was astonished. Butler Xiao and Ling helped the master get up and went upstairs right away. Fang Yaru walked to the door in a hurry and saw Gu Niannan getting out of the car. "Niannan, you are so early. Are you planning to have breakfast with me?"
"Auntie, I"m coming to talk to my uncle." said Gu Niannan with a smile.
"Your uncle is in poor health. You could talk to me." Fang Yaru stood still at the door.
"You don"t want me to get in, do you?" Gu Niannan looked at her.
Fang Yaru turned back to check the hall and then walked inside, "Nonsense. Come on in."
Gu Niannan walked in and sat on the sofa, with his legs crossed, "I know my uncle always wants to get back the ancestral property. I"ve got some information about it."
"Then tell me about it. I"ll tell him later."
"Well…" Gu Niannan said with a fake smile, "you know, information is money nowadays. It costs almost all my money to acquire useful information. Now it has settled into shape, but I"m short of money for further details. That"s why I"m here."
"Did you get the information or not?"
"I"ve found the key person," he said helplessly, "but he won"t tell me anything unless I pay him enough money. So..."
Fang Yaru sneered, "Niannan, if I remember correctly, you took money from me less than ten days ago. Have you already spent all that money?"
Gu Niannan explained away, "I spent it all on the investigation. Auntie, could you please…"
Gu Niannan had come to ask for money with various excuses. Fang Yaru had already got used to it and wouldn"t even be irritated. She replied directly, "Niannan, I don"t have the money you want. Your uncle hasn"t got up yet. If you want to see him, come again next time."
Being treated like this, Gu Niannan became angry from embarra.s.sment, "Auntie, I pried into information in order to fulfill my uncle"s wish and put all my money in it with no complaint. Now I ask only for a little more money. Why do you treat me like this? I"ll go and reason things out with my uncle." Saying this, Gu Niannan stood up and was about to go upstairs.
Fang Yaru stood up abruptly and shouted, "How dare you!"
Standing in the side room, Du Xiaoxian heard the conversation clearly. When she heard the shout of her ladyship, she rushed out to stop Gu Niannan.
Gu Niannan didn"t take this tiny little girl seriously at all. He grabbed and pushed her away, then walked to the stairs.
Du Xiaoxian rushed up to the stairs, stretched out her arms to block him and stuttered, "No, you can"t go upstairs."
Gu Niannan became impatient. How dare such a little maid stop him? He pulled her away and threw her back brutally. Du Xiaoxian flew down and hit the wall badly. Fang Yaru screamed out of fear, "Oh my G.o.d! Help! Anybody…"
Du Xiaoxian hit the wall by head and pa.s.sed out. Blood burst out and ran down through her face. Fang Yaru was scared to death. She asked a servant to press the wound with a towel to stop the bleeding and then sent for their family doctor. The mansion was in a total mess. When Fang Yaru finally thought of Gu Niannan, he had already slipped away.
Butler Xiao knew that he must report the accident to the young master and called the young master"s office. Gu Nianbin was in a meeting and his secretary Zhou Ting answered the phone. He told her about the whole thing and asked her to tell Gu Nianbin.
Zhou Ting hung up the phone and hesitated. The accident had already been taken care of, and only a little maid got hurt. She thought it over and decided not to interrupt the president"s meeting for such a thing.
It was an hour later when Gu Nianbin came out of the conference room. Zhou Ting went into his office with a stack of doc.u.ments for signatures. She told him about the accident by the way.
When hearing a little maid was injured, Gu Nianbin stopped signing and asked, "Who got hurt?"
"A new maid named Du Xiaoxian." Zhou Ting has been his secretary for three years. She noticed his unusual tone, but before she could explain, Gu Nianbin threw his pen on the table, "It happened an hour ago, and you are telling me about it now?" There was no expression on his face, but his tone was stern.
Zhou Ting apologized immediately, "I"m sorry, president. I was thoughtless... "
Before she finished her words, Gu Nianbin stormed out of the door.
Zhou Ting was stunned for a moment and then chased out, only to find the president"s figure disappear in the elevator. She knew he was going home. However, she wondered why he was so anxious as his parents were safely at home and the doctor was on his way too. What was the use for him to go back? Did he worry that his father may get provoked? She would never guess that Gu Nianbin would rush home just for a little maid.
When Gu Nianbin walked into the hall, only butler Xiao came out for him, "Sir you are back."
"How about my parents? Are they all right?" Gu Nianbin looked upstairs and asked.
"They are fine. The master is resting and the lady is with him."
"What about Du Xiaoxian? Did she hurt badly?"
"Her head hit on the wall and broke and bled a lot. Dr. Liang had already processed her wound. It was not serious. But Dr. Liang said she"d better go to the hospital for an examination. Her ladyship had asked the driver to take her to the hospital."
"Only the driver and her?" Gu Nianbin frowned.
"Ling went with them." said butler Xiao, "Don"t worry. It"s gonna be fine. Her ladyship said she will let her take a few days off and make up for her."
Gu Nianbin nodded and went upstairs to see his father. He opened the door and heard Fang Yaru saying, "Fortunately Du Xiaoxian stopped him today, otherwise how could you bear such a big fuss? Don"t be so softhearted with him anymore. Our son should teach him a hard lesson or he would go too far…"
"Dad, Mom was right," Gu Nianbin closed the door, "This time I do have to teach him a lesson."
"You don"t have to come back." Fang Yaru said, "I asked Xiao to tell you that your father was all right."
"I was worried, so I come back to have a look." Gu Nianbin sat down, "I heard that the new maid was hurt?"
"Yes, I was just talking to your father about it. Luckily we have her today." Fang Yaru said, "Such a sincere and brave child. Seeing Gu Niannan going upstairs, she came up and tried to stop him, but Gu Niannan threw her against the wall. Dr. Liang said it was not serious, but I cannot be a.s.sured without a thorough examination. I asked Ling to accompany her to the hospital."
"Xiao told me." Gu Nianbin stood up, "I have to go back to work now. I came from a meeting just now."
"Go for it. Everything is all right at home. You need not worry." Fang Yaru said, "I"ll call you if anything happens."
When he turned around to leave, his father said to him, "Gu Nianbin, what Gu Niannan did was unacceptable today, but..."
"Don"t worry, Dad. I know what to do." Gu Nianbin smiled at his father and opened the door.