Chapter 10: Take Care of Me

The mechanical sound of the door brought Lyca out of her stupor. She turned towards the entrance and stared at the three men walking in their direction. The two younger men instantly caught her attention. 'What eye-candies,' she mused. Leading the two was an older man, maybe around her father's age. The man stood in front of her grandfather. His stern gaze was straight as he greeted, "Director, sir."

"At ease," Old Man Huang nodded. He then turned towards the two younger men. "These two are the best of the best that we have. IQ and martial arts, intelligence and combat. Everyone, I want you to meet, Shen Qui." He pointed at the one on the left then toward the one on the right. "And this is Li Xian." Old Man Hou placed his hands behind his back as he walked around the two.

"Lyca, what do you think?" Old Man Hou asked.

"Hmm?"

"Are they… good looking enough?"

"Oh!" Lyca nodded. She hadn't expected the old man to actually give in to her demands. Lyca had only said that to irritate her aunt Hou Ying. Who would have thought that the old man would take it seriously? "Good," she answered after a few seconds of awkward silence. She looked at the two men and nodded in approval.

To be honest, the old man could work in a brothel. It seemed that the old man's taste was extremely good, ah.

"Then you chose. Both are qualified to train you."

"Grandfather," Huang Xiaoxuan chimed in. "Don't you think we deserve to know everything about them? Their records, their IQ and martial arts skills? Will you really allow Lyca to choose just based on physical appearance?" Huang Xiaoxuan fought the urge to roll her eyes at her cousin's shallow behavior. No wonder, her father was extremely confident that she would win this bet.

Eying the two men, Hou Xiaoxuan's lips curled into an evil smirk. Last night, her father already told her to choose, Li Xian. He might not be as good looking as this Shen Qui but he was actually the top of his class and was very good in martial arts.

"Good catch." Old Man Huang nodded. "Lyca are you interested in knowing everything about them?"

"No," Lyca said before she stood and held her hand in front of Li Xian. "Hand." The other complied without asking questions. Lyca said nothing as she let go of the man's hand and turned her attention to Shen Qui. Without saying anything, she held her hand in front of him. Her intentions were clear, she wanted to shake his hand. Just like Li Xian, Shen Qui also complied. Seeing Lyca fall into deep thought, Huang Xiaoxuan immediately frowned.

Could it be that her lazy cousin was able to figure out Li Xian's abilities just by holding his hand? She opened her mouth, wanting to say something. In the end, Huang Xiaoxuan kept her thoughts to herself. She would not want her grandfather to think that she knew about this man's talents. After a couple of seconds, Lyca still didn't let go of Shen Qui's hand. This immediately made the latter a little uncomfortable as he wondered why this young miss was starting to stroke his hand.

'Was this some kind of trick?' Shen Qui's mind turned alert.

"Granddaughter, is something wrong?" Old man Huang asked. Just like the others, he had been confused as to why Lyca would want to hold their hands.

"Him," Lyca spoke. "I want him." She turned towards the old man but didn't let go of Shen Qui's hand.

Seeing this, Huang Xiaoxuan and even her father immediately celebrated inside their heads. Shen Qui was only the second in his class, and Li Xian always beat him when it came to martial prowess.

"Have you decided?" Of course, Old Man Huang also knew that Shen Qui was not as good as Li Xian. His eyes turned towards Lyca's hand which was still holding Shen Qui's as he wondered. Could it be that Lyca chose the more good looking Shen Qui because of his appearance and not his talents? Almost immediately the old man turned suspicious. How could he miss the interesting glint in Lyca's eyes? Old Man Huang had watched her enough to know that Lyca was not a stupid person. In fact, she was the smartest of them all. Lyca nodded and smiled.

"Shen Qui?" the old man wanted to confirm. While he was still unsure of this matter, he decided to trust his granddaughter. "You want him to train you?"

"Hmmm."

"Alright, Shen Qui will accompany you in your classes which will start next week. He will act as your classmate and bodyguard. He will stay around you. This is for your safety. In case someone… would want to sabotage this challenge." The old man continued. "Li Xian will stay with Xiaoxuan."

Seeing both Lyca and Huang Xiaoxuan nod, the old man gave a small nod of approval and added, "After you start with your education, the challenge will be in effect. You are not allowed to go home or contact me. You can, however, ask your father to help you. But, you are not allowed to hurt each other. Am I clear?"

"Yes grandfather." Huang Xiaoxuan stood next to her new training partner. That's right, Huang Xiaoxuan did not actually view Li Xian as someone above her, like a trainer. He was just a training partner.

"Good, everyone leave except Lyca… Ummm. Ehem…" the old man eyed his eccentric granddaughter awkwardly, his eyes focused on her hands. "You can… let him go now."

"Oh!" As if an electric pulse hit her, Lyca immediately let Shen Qui's hands go and gave a meaningful smile to the tall man next to her. "Take care of me," she said, surprising everyone in the room. However, most of them were already used to her way of saying incomplete sentences because of her laziness. They immediately understood that what Lyca really meant was 'Brother Qui, please take care of this junior.'

Of course Shen Qui stilled. He had no way of understanding what that sentence meant. However, he had no choice but to give the weird woman a small nod.