Chapter 624 — The Shocked Chen Yuxuan

Wei Zhao had never spoken of his origins to the young lady or to Shen Yushu, and neither of them had ever given it much thought. Now that he had said it aloud, they realized for the first time that Wei Zhao actually carried such a bleak history. He was an orphan?

Good heavens! How had he gotten through all these years? He seemed to care about nothing at all—could it be that beneath that manner there was a sorrow no one had ever noticed?

A woman's natural maternal instinct made the young lady feel sympathetic toward Wei Zhao as well. Yes, compared with him, what she had was truly nothing worth mentioning! At least she had seen her mother, and she had a father who loved her. But Wei Zhao? He did not even know who his parents were—was that not all the more pitiable?

"I'm sorry..." The young lady was the sort who could admit a mistake and mend her ways; hearing Wei Zhao's words, she apologized at once. "I shouldn't have said that about you. I truly didn't know—you're even more pitiable than I am..."

"Heh... I'm used to it. It's nothing." Wei Zhao shook his head. "Next time, don't let yourself be fooled again. When something like this happens, tell your father first—I'm sure he understands your mother better than you do."

"Mm..." Gu Mengyao nodded, and for once she was remarkably quiet, offering no retort to Wei Zhao's words.

They talked the whole way. Though the mood was somewhat bleak, the young lady's spirits had more or less recovered; she still could not bring herself to be cheerful, but at least she no longer wept.

Wei Zhao parked the car in the lot of the Starlight Grand Hotel. They were nearly half an hour past the appointed time—the two girls had dawdled at home a while, and then a car accident on the road had held them up in traffic for a spell, which was why they were late.

Yet not one of the three wore the least look of embarrassment. All of them got out of the car with perfect justification and headed toward the hotel.

Wei Zhao was nothing more than a hanger-on, so whether they were late or not had nothing to do with him. He followed leisurely behind the two of them into the hotel.

Chen Yuxuan had arrived at the private room long ago and was chatting with An Liwen and Su Taizao. His expression was as usual, but inwardly he was in a foul mood—partly because Qiu Lingshan had turned him down, and chiefly because of that "Brother Shield" who had appeared out of nowhere!

His little sister had actually said she did not need him anymore? She had Brother Shield now?

Chen Yuxuan was about to explode with rage. He had only this one sister, and now she was being taken from him too? Brother Shield, Sister Shield—what nonsense. In a moment he would see for himself just what sort of deity this Brother Shield was!

Was he not Gu Mengyao's hanger-on and bodyguard? Then he would try this man out and see whether he was even qualified to be a bodyguard! If he was not, then to hell with him—let him go play Brother Shield somewhere else, because he was certainly not welcome here!

As they were speaking, a knock came at the door of the private room. An Liwen made to rise and open it in welcome for Gu Mengyao, but Chen Yuxuan was a step ahead of him, rising to his feet first—no doubt he wanted to see just what sort of deity this so-called Brother Shield was!

"Please come in!" Chen Yuxuan said as he opened the door of the private room, and Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu walked in.

"Brother Yutian!" Gu Mengyao was still very courteous to Shen Yushu's brother; the moment she entered the room she greeted him, and only then did she say to An Liwen and Su Taizao, "Brother Jianwen, Brother Taizao!"

"Brother!" Shen Yushu followed Gu Mengyao into the private room right on her heels, but Chen Yuxuan's face had turned rather grim.

"Where's that so-called Brother Shield? Did he come along?" Chen Yuxuan was not by nature an impulsive man, but at this moment he could not keep from stepping forward. His sister had been taken from him—how could he not be anxious? And Shen Yushu had made it plain that now that she had Brother Shield, she no longer needed her own flesh-and-blood brother!

How could that leave Chen Yuxuan anything but torn and furious?

"Oh, you're looking for Brother Shield?" Shen Yushu seemed not to notice the bristling, saber-rattling expression on Chen Yuxuan's face. "He's in back!"

Chen Yuxuan nodded and strode boldly to the doorway of the private room. When Wei Zhao stepped through the door, he stretched out his hand. "So you're this Brother Shield? Let me introduce myself—I'm Xiaoshu's brother, Chen Yuxuan!"

Chen Yuxuan meant to make this Brother Shield lose face. He himself had already reached the early Yellow rank in strength, and ordinary men were no match for him; he wanted to show his sister that her brother would always be the strongest!

"Heh..." Wei Zhao looked at Chen Yuxuan, and a rather odd expression crossed his face, but he extended his hand all the same.

"Ga?" Chen Yuxuan's eyes suddenly went wide, fixed dead upon Wei Zhao! He could scarcely believe his own eyes, and he pointed at Wei Zhao, his voice trembling with excitement. "You... you... teacher..."

"Allow me to introduce myself—I'm the very Shield Brother you mentioned," Wei Zhao said, cutting Chen Yuxuan off with a smile. "I'm Yaoyao's and Xiaoshu's errand boy."

"Huh?" Chen Yuxuan was thrown into even deeper confusion. Errand boy to Gu Mengyao and his sister? What on earth was going on here? How had he become an errand boy? Just how much face did Gu Mengyao and his sister have, to get someone like him to run errands for them?

But one look at Wei Zhao's gesture and Chen Yuxuan understood: Wei Zhao did not want his identity spoken aloud, and this self-introduction was his way of telling Chen Yuxuan that for now he was simply Gu Mengyao's and Shen Yushu's errand boy.

Chen Yuxuan found it rather unbelievable, but since Wei Zhao did not wish to reveal himself, he would not breathe a word of it either. He merely seized Wei Zhao's hand in his excitement. "How do you do, how do you do! My name is Chen Yuxuan, Shen Yushu's elder brother. Heh heh, ha ha..."

An Liwen and Su Taizao, however, both frowned. What was the matter with Chen Yuxuan? Before Wei Zhao arrived, had he not declared that he would teach a lesson to this fellow who had stolen his sister's heart? Why had his attitude turned around so completely?

Shen Yushu had not been afraid of her brother bullying Wei Zhao; on the contrary, she had wanted her brother to come off the worse for once and snap out of his pining after that fox Qiu Lingshan. Yet who would have thought her brother would take this sort of attitude—as though he and Wei Zhao were bosom friends meeting far too late?

"Since you're Shen Yushu's elder brother, I'll just call you Brother Yutian," Wei Zhao said. He was younger than Chen Yuxuan anyway, so addressing him as Brother Yutian cost him nothing.

Chen Yuxuan, however, was rather overwhelmed by the honor. He was about to decline when he caught Wei Zhao's sharp glance and hastily nodded. "Very well, then I'll presume on our seniority and call you brother!"

Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu stared wide-eyed as well. Was Chen Yuxuan really so easygoing a man? And even if Wei Zhao was their errand boy and bodyguard, and Chen Yuxuan was grateful to him for protecting them every day, was there any need for such warmth?

The two exchanged a glance, and in each other's eyes they saw a flicker of puzzlement.

Chen Yuxuan too realized he had been too excited. He shook his head inwardly. He was still too young, still far from steady!