Chapter 280 — We're Friends!

Ever since she got home, Gu Mengyao had been restless. After all, that was her best friend since childhood—her true best friend! How could she not worry? And then there was Wei Zhao; she had no idea whether that thing was dangerous. He was rather annoying most of the time, but Gu Mengyao still did not want anything to happen to him.

As for why, Gu Mengyao could not quite say. Perhaps because Wei Zhao was her employee, and she did not want anything to happen to him.

Her worry did not last long, however, for Wei Zhao and Shen Yushu soon returned safe and sound, driven home by Liu Wangli. Qiu Lingshan had gone back to the police station and handed the task of escorting Wei Zhao and Shen Yushu over to Liu Wangli, keeping herself well out of Wei Zhao's way!

If you cannot beat them, avoid them! Have a distinguished captain drive Wei Zhao home with a shark? Qiu Lingshan wanted no part of that.

Liu Wangli did not mind. He borrowed a van from the captain's team, loaded the shark, and drove Wei Zhao and Shen Yushu back to the villa district. To be honest, Liu Wangli rather admired Wei Zhao—winning over the she-dragon of the police force, Qiu Lingshan, was no small feat for an ordinary man!

"Xiaoshu, you're all right? Thank heavens!" Seeing Shen Yushu return safely, Gu Mengyao was visibly excited. She spread her arms and pulled Shen Yushu into a hug.

"Yaoyao, I'm fine, I had a pretty good time!" Shen Yushu did not share Gu Mengyao's feelings—Gu Mengyao had been scared half to death, whereas Shen Yushu had eaten her fill of shark meat, played in the sand for a while, and passed a thoroughly pleasant Saturday.

Wei Zhao, shark hoisted on his shoulder, watched the two girls hugging and shook his head. Was all this really necessary? If coming back from a dip in the sea warranted such excitement, then back in the day he and Yang Huaijun and the others would have been hugging each other every single day...

After hugging Shen Yushu, Gu Mengyao finally looked over at Wei Zhao. She had been worried about him too, though she showed nothing of it on her face. She was just about to offer a few casual words of comfort when her eyes suddenly fell on the shark slung over his shoulder, and she gave a startled "Huh?": "Wei Zhao, what is that you're carrying?"

"Oh, right, Yaoyao, this is the shark Brother Arrow shot dead. He grilled shark meat for me—it was delicious! So I had him bring the rest back to grill for you!" Shen Yushu hurried to explain.

Hearing this, Gu Mengyao was deeply moved. They had grown up together after all, sisters in heart; even in such straits, Shen Yushu had not forgotten her when there was good food to be had. She reached out and hugged Shen Yushu again: "Xiaoshu, thank you..."

"Hey, I'm the one carrying the shark..." Wei Zhao stood to one side with a wry smile.

"Mm... thank you too... Wei Zhao." Gu Mengyao nodded to him, a little embarrassed. But with Wei Zhao, she naturally could not hug him. Suddenly something struck her, and she gave a start: "Shark? Xiaoshu, you're saying what Wei Zhao is carrying is a shark?"

"Yep!" Shen Yushu nodded. "A big shark. It was delicious."

"What? A shark?" Gu Mengyao's eyes went wide. "Wei Zhao, you killed a shark?"

"Heh..." Wei Zhao smiled. "If I hadn't killed it, it would have eaten Xiaoshu and me."

Gu Mengyao truly did not know what to say. This man before her was full of wonders—and that was his reason for killing a shark? So many people had been eaten by sharks; why had they not gone and killed one themselves?

Wei Zhao made it sound easy, but Gu Mengyao could imagine how perilous the situation must have been. In fact, she guessed wrong this time—taking down that shark really had been easy for Wei Zhao.

"Thank you for protecting Xiaoshu." Since Wei Zhao put it that way, Gu Mengyao said no more. She nodded to him.

"She's my friend. No need to thank me," Wei Zhao said, shaking his head.

At his words, Gu Mengyao suddenly felt a strange emptiness in her heart. Wei Zhao had protected her, she supposed, because she was his employer—and it was on that same account that she had wanted to thank him for protecting Shen Yushu, since Wei Zhao's job was to protect her alone, not Shen Yushu.

But one simple sentence from Wei Zhao made it clear: he had protected Shen Yushu not because of any connection to her, but because he and Shen Yushu were friends!

He and Shen Yushu were friends—and with her... At that thought, Gu Mengyao felt a pang of loss. "Then what am I?"

"Heh, if you weren't, I wouldn't have saved An Liwen today. I can't stand the sight of that thing." Wei Zhao smiled. He had not expected Gu Mengyao's thoughts to run so fine.

Only then did Gu Mengyao recall that when she had begged Wei Zhao for help today, he had indeed been reluctant—but when she called it a personal request, he had acted... Yes, a personal request, which naturally meant a friendship...

Without realizing it, Gu Mengyao had suddenly begun to care about this man whom she had once so thoroughly despised.

In the villa, Gu Mengyao sat on the sofa chatting with Shen Yushu, holding her hand. She had meant to comfort Shen Yushu—in Gu Mengyao's view, Shen Yushu must have been frightened half to death after falling into the sea. But Gu Mengyao had miscalculated!

Shen Yushu was not frightened at all. Instead, she chattered on and on, telling Gu Mengyao how she had built castles out of sand on the beach, how she had started a fire by rubbing sticks together, how she had roasted shark meat...

It was no different from a holiday in the wild, and it made Gu Mengyao positively envious. She even found herself wondering why it had not been she who fell into the sea. Had she known Wei Zhao was so capable, what would she have been afraid of? She would have jumped in with him—and eaten and drunk well besides.

"Oh, but Yaoyao, I have to tell you some bad news!" Shen Yushu suddenly thought of the matter with Qiu Lingshan.

"Bad news? What bad news?" Gu Mengyao was still lost in the lovely picture Shen Yushu had painted—the sunlit beach, playing idly with the sand, the fragrance of roasting shark meat drifting from the fire nearby. What a delightful life of camping out in the wild!

"Qiu Lingshan is not Brand-Name Bro's woman. Brand-Name Bro and her—there is nothing between them!" Shen Yushu sounded a little disappointed. "I had wanted to make her a bedchamber maid and trample on her properly. But in the end, she is not even..."

"Not Wei Zhao's woman? Well, if she is not, then she is not... But what does that have to do with a bedchamber maid?" What Gu Mengyao was thinking was that it was all the better. How could this be bad news? What annoyed her most was him fooling around with women out there!

"Oh, Yaoyao, think about it. Uncle Chu wants to take Brand-Name Bro as his son-in-law, does he not?" Shen Yushu explained to Gu Mengyao. "Then you would be Brand-Name Bro's first wife, and I—well, since we agreed on it long ago—I would be Brand-Name Bro's second wife. As for that Qiu Lingshan, if she wants to be with Brand-Name Bro, she can only be a bedchamber maid, a rank beneath even my place as second wife. Would she not then be someone I could trample on at will?"