Chapter 46 - No Comment

Shao Boqing hung up the phone and looked up, only to find Gu Nianbin was already in the driver’s seat. He ran over quickly and knocked on the car window. “Get off, I’ll drive.”

Gu Nianbin sat still and asked coldly, “Where is she?”

“I’ll tell you when you get off the car.”

Gu Nianbin tapped the steering wheel with his fingers impatiently and repeated, “Where is she?”

“I’ll tell you when you get off the car.” Shao Boqing didn’t give in. Because if he allowed Gu Nianbin to drive, he really couldn’t be sure that he would be alive to see Du Xiaoxian.

Gu Nianbin gasped for breath. He pushed the door open and got out of the car. Then he walked around the front of the car and got into the passenger’s seat from the other side.

Shao Boqing rarely got Gu Nianbin to obey him, but he didn’t dare to be smug right now. He got in the car at once and drove attentively.

It was around midnight, few people were on the streets, but the riverside was bustling with people. There was no end in sight of the restaurants selling midnight snacks lined up along the riverbank. The red sheds of the restaurants were showing extraordinary enthusiasm in the light. Young men who were soliciting business on the street would rush forward together at the sight of cars, and they would ask, “Sir, are you looking for midnight snacks? Go over there and you’ll find lots of available seats.”

“Sir, our spicy crayfish is very famous. Please come in.”

“Come to ours. Our environment is good and clean. We have all kinds of dishes.”

“Want some barbecue? It’s our specialty…”

Ling Yun had just arrived here and was sitting on a plastic chair, enjoying the river breeze. He was an influential figure in the underworld of G City who had a good relationship with Gu Nianbin and Shao Boqing. Normally Ling Yun wouldn’t do things like looking for someone in person, but this time, it was Gu Nianbin who was asking the favor, and it was a woman he was looking for so anxiously, so Ling Yun became curious and made arrangements personally. Considering the little girl was new to the city, she should be staying in places she was familiar with. Moreover, it was the easiest for girls from other places to find a job in small restaurants. Therefore, he ordered all his people to search shops one by one in neighborhood of the Gu mansion. After several hours of inch-by-inch searching, they had actually found her.

Seeing Shao Boqing and Gu Nianbin coming over, Ling Yun waved his hand. His henchmen rushed over and shooed people away hurriedly, “Get out of the way. Move aside!”

The young men who were soliciting customers knew that these people were not easy to mess with, so they dispersed immediately.

Ling Yun walked up and greeted them, “Young Master Gu, Young Master Shao, it’s been a long time!”

Shao Boqing winked and made signs to him. Ling Yun understood and began to pull Gu Nianbin to walk toward a table. “Come on, it’s been a long time since I had a drink with you, Young Master Gu. Let’s get drunk tonight!”

Gu Nianbin kept a long face and withdrew his hand. His voice became even colder, “Where is she?”

Ling Yun looked at Shao Boqing and found he still kept winking at him. Ling Yun got it immediately and continued to play dumb, “Who? I just called you guys over for a drink!”

Gu Nianbin didn’t even bother to say anything before waving his fist. Fortunately, Shao Boqing was prepared for this and stopped him. Besides, Ling Yun was also skilled in martial arts. He grabbed Gu Nianbin’s arm with a backhand and pretended to shout angrily, “Wow, hey, hey, bro, even I can’t be exempt from your fist. What’s this all about?”

“Alright, stop acting. Where is she?” Shao Boqing was truly speechless at Nianbin’s behavior. He was always a modest gentleman who never sought to address issues through violence. Why was he so violent tonight? Shao Boqing was even more speechless at Ling Yun. How could a smart guy like him screw up at such an important time?

Maybe only then did Ling Yun notice Gu Nianbin’s serious expression. He was stunned for a moment and pointed to the right, “Count to the fifth shop from here, she was washing dishes there in the back.” Seeing Gu Nianbin started heading that way, Ling Yun added immediately, “She got the same name, but I’m not sure if she’s the girl you’re looking for. Don’t fight me if she’s not, you are no match for me!”

Gu Nianbin didn’t have time to bother with him and strode away. Ling Yun looked at Shao Boqing. “What’s going on? Does he hold grudge against that little girl? Why is he so eager to find her?”

“What’s going on with you? You knew he was anxious but still teased him deliberately. He had already fought someone on the way here.” Shao Boqing rolled his eyes at Ling Yun angrily. “I winked at you. You just couldn’t get it!”

“Weren’t you winking at me to tease him?”

“My winking meant that Gu Nianbin was in a bad mood, you have to be careful not to provoke him.”

Ling Yun opened his mouth and became a little angry out of shame. “Then you should just say it directly instead of winking. I thought…”

“Alright, alright. Let’s go have a look. We’re not sure if you had found the right girl.” Shao Boqing pushed Ling Yun to head to the right.

Ling Yun looked at Gu Nianbin’s back and said, “If I found the wrong girl, he wouldn’t really fight with me, would he?”

“Considering his current mood,” Shao Boqing sighed, “I think that’s highly possible.”

Ling Yun scratched his head. “I remember that he was quite a gentleman. How did he become even more violent than me?”

Shao Boqing snorted coldly without answering him.

Ling Yun asked again, “Why did he look for that little girl? Is there really a grudge between them?” It was really hard to find a connection between Gu Nianbin and that girl named Du Xiaoxian, so Ling Yun couldn’t think of anything to connect them other than grudge.

Shao Boqing answered him with another cold snort.

Ling Yun nudged him with his elbow. “Why do you just snort? Tell me something.”

“I don’t know.”

Ling Yun asked curiously, “You two are together every day. How can you not know? Gu Nianbin is a very magnanimous man, but why did he hold a grudge against a little girl? That is not his style!”

Shao Boqing snorted in a deliberately weird and sarcastic tone. Ling Yun nudged him with his elbow again. “Cut it off. I’m going to hit you if you snort again!”

Gu Nianbin walked into the shed he was heading to. People inside were about to greet him when they realized that there was something wrong. This person pulled a gloomy face and was followed by a few young men with tattoos. It seemed that they had come with bad intentions. Wondering if they were here to collect protection money or not, people in the shop dared to do nothing. They watched helplessly when Gu Nianbin went across the large shed to the back.

There wasn’t much room in the back of the shed. The narrow space could only fit a big basin in which the dirty bowls were piled up like mountains. Beside the basin was a thin figure who squatted on the ground and was trying her best to wash the bowls. Flies were flying and buzzing around in the smelly air. Upon seeing this scene, Gu Nianbin suddenly felt a tremendous and piercing pain in his heart. He covered his heart and stood there quietly for a long while before calling her, “Xiaoxian.”

Hearing this, Du Xiaoxian turned her head and was stunned at once. She stood up slowly and gave Gu Nianbin a timid look. “Young Master.”

Gu Nianbin walked over. He tried to hug her, but she moved her small body and dodged. Her voice was small and soft, “I’m dirty.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Gu Nianbin pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly before heaving a long sigh of relief. It was so good to hug her like this. He buried his head in Du Xiaoxian’s neck and took a deep breath. Although the surrounding air was bad and she was sweating, the familiar faint scent of hers still lingered around his nose. He felt comfortable all over and was peaceful in his heart right away.

Ling Yun stood at the door and became dumbfounded at the sight of Gu Nianbin and Du Xiaoxian hugging each other like this. But Shao Boqing remained calm and even smiled faintly.

After a while, Ling Yun finally said with a cough, “Well, Brother Nianbin, you…”

His voice destroyed the peaceful and beautiful atmosphere. Gu Nianbin raised his head and shot an icy glare at Ling Yun. Then he pulled Du Xiaoxian to walk outside without saying a word.

Ling Yun felt that his eyes must have deceived him. Was Young Master Gu really hugging that little girl? The skinny and weak girl who looked poorly nourished was one hundred percent far from being match for Xia Xiaowan. Did Gu Nianbin pine away from love and change his taste of women completely? Even if he did, he shouldn’t have liked such kind of girls. This was too ridiculous, too incongruous, too uncoordinated and too incompatible…

He looked at Shao Boqing for an explanation, but Young Master Shao spread his hands and said, “No comment!”

By the time Ling Yun and Shao Boqing went out of the shed, Gu Nianbin had already gotten into the car with Du Xiaoxian. Shao Boqing looked at the car from afar and said to Ling Yun, “Looks like you have to drive me back.”

But just as he finished speaking, Gu Nianbin drove the car over to him. Shao Boqing muttered, “I guess he still has a conscience.”

The car stopped in front of the restaurant. Shao Boqing was about to get in the car when Du Xiaoxian got off and went straight into the shed. Gu Nianbin got out of the car and followed her in right away.

Shao Boqing and Ling Yun followed them as well and heard Du Xiaoxian say to the restaurant owner, “I quit. Please settle my wage.”

The restaurant owner thought to himself, how could she even ask for a wage after only two day’s work?

Gu Nianbin’s cold voice came from behind the restaurant owner, “Give her what she earned!”

Gu Nianbin’s voice sounded beyond doubt and made the restaurant owner unable help but put his hand in his pocket to search for the money. But the moment he touched the money, he hesitated. There weren’t enough staff in the restaurant, if Du Xiaoxian quitted and left the work behind, who would wash the dishes later?

“Give the money to her!” Seeing the restaurant owner didn’t move, Ling Yun released a low roar. He truly was a gang leader, whose overbearing tone was so intimidating that the restaurant owner trembled for a moment and stuffed the money into Du Xiaoxian’s hand quickly.

Gu Xiaoxian looked at the paper money in her hand, then turned to look at Gu Nianbin with an awkward expression.

Upon seeing this, Ling Yun shouted at the restaurant owner again, “Hurry up! Give her the rest of the money!”

“No, it’s not like that.” Du Xiaoxian was so scared by the shouting that she shrank her body. She looked at Gu Nianbin again. “It’s…it’s too much.”

Gu Nianbin glared at Ling Yun. He walked over to hold Du Xiaoxian in his arms and asked in a gentle voice, “How much should you take?”

“We agreed on thirty yuan each day. I did my job a whole day yesterday, but today… I did my job for half day. So in total it should be forty-five yuan. I need to give him fifty-five yuan back.”

Ling Yun walked out of the shed silently with a dark face. As a gang leader, he actually came to collect money in person for only forty-five yuan! What a humiliating thing… He didn’t want to see Gu Nianbin again for the rest of his life.

Shao Boqing also walked outside silently. He couldn’t understand why would Gu Nianbin come back for forty-five yuan. Did he even care about such petty amount of money? Wouldn’t it be simpler if he gave Du Xiaoxian the money? But he specially came back for that. Shao Boqing thought about it and found it so funny. He leaned on the car door and laughed hard. Ling Yun walked over and nudged him. “What the heck are you laughing at?”

Shao Boqing was only laughing at Gu Nianbin, but now Ling Yun’s words reminded him of the funny scene that Ling Yun was asking for money, so Shao Boqing laughed even harder.

At this time, Gu Nianbin came out with Du Xiaoxian. He walked up to pull Shao Boqing and Ling Yun off the car with both hands, each hand pulling each person. Then he opened the car door and let Du Xiaoxian get into the car. Shao Boqing was about to follow her in but Gu Nianbin blocked his way with his hand, “Go back yourself.”

“I left my car by the roadside. How can I get back?”

“Ask Old Ling to drive you.” Now Gu Nianbin finally took a serious look at Ling Yun and said, “I owe you a favor this time. Ask Boqing to treat you to a drink sometime.”

Shao Boqing shouted, “It’s you who owe him a favor, why should I treat him to a drink? How can you be like this? I gave up my date with a beauty and came to look for her with you, but you treat me like this? You’re really heartless… What happened to bros before girls? Inhuman…”

Before Shao Boqing could finish cursing, Gu Nianbin started the car and drove away. Ling Yun laughed so hard. He pulled Shao Boqing to his car and said, “Alright, I’ll play the role of a good man to the end. I’ll drive you home.”