Chapter 15: Fifteen: Shaken, he felt a little dizzy.

As if Mother Cheng was just surprised to see them, she said, “Aiya, isn’t that your Auntie Qiao and YaGe-meimei? What a coincidence, let’s go say hi.”

“Ma, wait a minute.” Cheng YuTang stretched out his hand and blocked her for a moment. Then, the expression on his face became serious. “This ‘coincidence’ was actually deliberately arranged by you, right?”

Mother Cheng’s eyes flashed a bit, and, a moment later, she looked up at her son, who was a head taller than herself, and straight-to-the-point, she admitted, “Yes, so what? You think your Mama isn’t acting for only your own good? You don’t appreciate it and also want to blame your Mama? The appearance and temperament of YaGe are both one in a hundred. Chess, painting, calligraphy, she’s proficient in everything. Her heart has always been set on you. If you aren’t satisfied about something, just say it.”

“It’s not a question of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. It’s that I don’t feel anything towards her at all.” Cheng YuTang heaved a sigh, “Ma, I told you ten years ago…….”

Mother Cheng lowered her voice and interrupted Cheng YuTang, “Yes, you said ten years ago: you don’t like women, you only like men. Your father and I scolded and beat you, but we couldn’t defeat you, you just do whatever you want.” With a bit of anxiety in her tone, she said, “But it’s been ten years. You haven’t brought someone home, either a man or a woman. You’re not interested in anyone. Will you still not allow your Mama to do it for you? Every time I think about you working alone out there, with no one by your side taking care of you, your Mama’s heart is very uncomfortable.”

Cheng YuTang’s heart suddenly filled with guilt, so he held Mother Cheng’s hand and said warmly, “Ma, I’m sorry to have worried you.” After a moment, he gnashed his teeth and said, “I promise you, next time I come home, I’ll be sure to bring back someone for you to see, okay?”

Originally, this plan was just for the sake of his mother, so he would just find someone to take home temporarily, just to appease the old lady for a while. But as he spoke, Cheng YuTang’s mind couldn’t help but see a flash of a certain person’s sparkling eyes and little white teeth. Shaken, he felt a little dizzy

I still don’t know when the kid’s going to report in……..

Mother Cheng was suspicious, “Really? You aren’t just coaxing me again?”

Cheng YuTang forcibly ejected that face from his mind and with a certain expression, said, “Really, I’m more genuine than pearls.”

“Alright, your Mama will just wait. The next time you come back is the New Year, that’s only four months from now!”

“So, don’t force me now, just give me another four months.”

“Alright, alright. So, now what to do? I made the arrangement to meet up with the Qiao family’s mother and daughter, is there still time to turn them down…… Aiya, they both seem to be looking at us!”

Cheng YuTang laughed and patted Mother Cheng’s hand in a soothing manner. He linked arms with her again and said unhurriedly, “It’s okay, let’s go have a seat with them.”

Half an hour later, Cheng YuTang settled the bill, sending the Qiao family’s mother and daughter off in a graceful manner, with an apologetic tone, “Auntie Yi, excuse me, I should accompany you and YaGe for longer, but, unfortunately, a week ago, an important overseas supplier scheduled a conference call for this afternoon. It’s about to start.”

Mother Cheng, who had just heard her son get a reminder call from his assistant, couldn’t help but complain with a frown, “Why are you so busy? Not even free to go home for the holiday.”

Qiao YaGe tilted her head and smiled, revealing two sweet little dimples and quipped, “Yes, it’s National Day today, and YuTang-Gege, even when you’re a dignified president, it’s hard for you to come home and you even have to work overtime, like you’re a regular employee?”

“How could foreigners care about our National Day?” Cheng YuTang also smiled helplessly. “Besides, the president is also a part of the company. Without hard work, there will be no progress.”

Mother Qiao replied, “Never mind, work is important. YuTang, you go work. Just pay attention to your body and don’t work too hard.”

Cheng YuTang courteously replied, “Thank you, Auntie Qiao, I’ll pay attention.”

After watching the Qiao family’s mother and daughter enter a department store, Cheng YuTang went to the parking lot to drive off, carrying Mother Cheng away from the pedestrian street..

Twenty minutes later, Mother Cheng realized something was wrong and had to ask, “TangTang, isn’t it straight to go home, what are you doing turning here?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Cheng YuTang turned the steering wheel in a cool manner and replied, “The conference call won’t start for two hours. There’s still a little time to take you to buy a bag – wasn’t that the deal in the morning?”

Mother Cheng suddenly smiled, “You still remembered that?”

“Of course, your son promised you something and he will do it.”

“It doesn’t matter whether you buy a bag or not. As long as you can bring someone back for the New Year, your Mama will be satisfied.”

“Yes, my lady mother.” Cheng YuTang sighed and smiled.

……

On the second day of the National Day holidays, early in the morning, when Ji XiaoYu was fast asleep, someone suddenly knocked on the door.

“Xiao Yu, it’s almost seven o’clock, it’s time to get up.”

It was Liang ShaoGang.

Ji XiaoYu rubbed his eyes and got out of bed to open the door. He yawned and asked, “Liang Ge, what are you doing so early? Aren’t you still on vacation?”

Liang ShaoGang patiently explained, “Didn’t I tell you yesterday? Security guards are different from ordinary staff. In addition to the on-duty guards, every morning at 7:00 am, we go to the neighborhood basketball court for half an hour to maintain physical fitness. This half an hour counts as extra overtime with HongSheng. During this long holiday period, we can relax when it’s appropriate. Yesterday was off as the first day of the National Day. Today, it’s time for outdoor exercise.”

With a burst of energy, Ji XiaoYu said, “I’m sorry, I forgot, I’ll be right there!”

He was so excited to move into the dorm yesterday that Liang ShaoGang’s words basically went in one ear and out the other. But, he had had a good night’s sleep and had woken up feeling energetic. What’s more, since he would earn overtime by doing this work, well, why not do it?

Liang ShaoGang just nodded, “Then I’ll go down first. Remember to wear a uniform and don’t be late.”

“Got it!”

After Liang ShaoGang left, Ji XiaoYu went back to the bed, picked up the little white egg and kissed it, saying, “My child, Daddy’s going out to work, you have to be good at home.”

He was about to hide the little white egg in the quilt as usual, but, remembering that the evil rat spirit had come to steal the egg the night before yesterday, that felt wrong. Therefore, he had to change the place, but after circling the room, he wasn’t able to find a good spot.

The room was very small, less than ten square meters, with only the one bed, a small closet, and a set of simple chairs and a table. Glancing around, it didn’t feel safe to put the egg anywhere. What if a bad guy came in when he wasn’t at home? It wasn’t good to keep it on his body either, where it was easy to be seen by others and might fall out if he was careless.

Maybe buying a safe to lock it up? But he didn’t have any money right now, and what if the unscrupulous person took the safe away to pry the lock open?

Ji XiaoYu was a little worried. His gaze inadvertently swept over the clock on the wall, uh oh, it’s five minutes to seven!

It was too late for him to think about it. He shoved the little white egg under the pillow, scrambled into a security uniform, closed the doors and windows, and ran into the bathroom and washed in a hurry. Then, he rushed out of the dorm as quickly as possible.

– Unfortunately, he couldn’t change into his original form in front of humans. Otherwise, he would be flapping his wings and flying straight down from the balcony on the fourth floor, saving a lot of time.

Even hurrying, he was still a minute late when he arrived at the neighborhood basketball court. Dozens of security guards dressed in uniforms had already lined up. Captain Yang YiPeng was standing in front and lecturing.

When Ji XiaoYu ran up to the edge of the court, dozens of pairs of eyes swept over to him. Most of them were seeing him for the first time, so there was a range of gazes from puzzled, to surprised, and even to gloating. Yang YiPeng also stopped talking and looked at him with his eyebrows raised.

“Hello everyone, my name is Ji XiaoYu. I just arrived yesterday. Please take care of me in the future.” Ji XiaoYu scratched his messy head hair, smiling and making his self-introduction. Then he apologized to Yang YiPeng, sucking up, “I’m sorry, Captain, I was late. It definitely won’t happen in the future.”

Yang YiPeng’s eyelids twitched and he slowly turned to a group of security guards, “What is the response for when you’re late to training?”

The security guard at the end of the first row of the squad stepped forward and answered loudly, “A ten-lap punishment run around the perimeter of the neighborhood!”

Yang YiPeng gestured politely in the air, “Please, please, I’m sure that won’t be difficult our new handsome guy.”

Ji XiaoYu: “……..”

No way, then I’ll just run it.

Just don’t deduct money, anything else is fine to say.

The area of ??HongLe Garden wasn’t small. It was nearly one kilometer around. So in ten laps, it was about 8 kilometers. An ordinary person who hadn’t been trained would collapse halfway through running.

However, Ji XiaoYu wasn’t an ordinary person!

As an over-energetic pheasant spirit, he used to run wild on the hills of Xiao Qing Shan every day, the distance adding up to more than a marathon. So, ten kilometers was totally a piece of cake.

The only problem was that he couldn’t run too fast beyond a normal person’s capability. Just running to that point was fine.

Despite this, all the security guards, including Yang YiPeng, showed expressions of disbelief when Ji XiaoYu returned to the court after running the 10 laps in a leisurely and quite quick manner.

Someone whispered out of the corner of their mouth, “Who are you kidding? This kid doesn’t have a drop of sweat on his face, his face isn’t flushed. The hell he ran ten laps. Maybe he came back after walking one lap.”

A few security guards around them wore a “it’s definitely like this” expression of agreement.

Ji XiaoYu’s ears twitched and, hearing to this clearly, he couldn’t help but say, “This Ge, why don’t I run 10 more laps and you follow behind, to see if I actually run 10 laps?”

The man’s face changed and he quickly said, “Why would I run with you, I wasn’t late!”

The other guys also quickly turned their faces away, for fear of being pulled along to run by Ji XiaoYu.

Yang YiPeng looked at his watch and said, “Exercise time will be here soon. I’ll view it as you being a first time offender for today, but if you are late again next time…….”

Ji XiaoYu loudly replied, “Then punish me with a 20 lap run. Also asking the captain to please personally supervise me!”

Captain Yang: “…….”

—

just wanted to say there are some spoiler reviews on NU – be careful reading them. without context, people can make things sound different than how they actually happen in the novel ??