Chapter 178 8 Years Old Part 3

"You and your brother are funny." Wu Shang Jing commented as he watched Tianwei's retreating back.

"Thanks," Jingwei said awkwardly. Whenever he and Tianwei bickered, his father didn't find it amusing at all. "How's your cheek?"

"Fine, it doesn't bother me," Wu Shang Jing said, shrugging cooly. "I actually can't feel any pain, because I have some problem with my nerves. So it doesn't matter how many times my father hits me."

Jingwei stared back at him, half-horrified. Then he turned to Zi Long, hoping that this boy was joking. But no, Zi Long merely stared back at him evenly, a silent agreement to his words.

"Oh my god," Jingwei said, stepping back in shock. "How can that be? That's so… sad? Or cool, I guess, depending on how you think of it. It's like your superpower."

Maybe this boy's father believed that hitting him would be equivalent to punching the air, seeing that his son felt no pain. But Jingwei still thought that it wasn't right for his father to treat him like a punching bag.

Wu Shang Jing took one look at Sun Jingwei, this boy with the chubby cheeks and puppy eyes who stared at him with blatant sympathy and began laughing. "I can't believe you fell for that! You really believed me?!"

"Wait, you were lying? How could you?" Jingwei replied, blinking in confusion, all his sad feelings gone. He was indignant that he was once again being played for a fool. So much for extending sympathy!

"I didn't expect you to actually believe it," Wu Shang Jing said, laughing so hard that a tear actually formed in his eyes. This boy was fun to mess with - he looked genuinely sad and sorry for him! The other kids he tried this on merely gave him horrified looks, and one girl had burst into tears, calling him a monster.

Well, his father also called him a monster for killing his Mom in childbirth. After the first eight years of hearing this repeated as fact, Shang Jing had all but grown numb to words like these, along with the revolving door of stepmoms that followed after as his father pretended to be a family man.

"Well what was I supposed to think?" Jingwei retorted, pointing to Shang Jing's cheek, where a large handprint was slowly turning purple. That cheek had also swollen spectacularly, giving Shang Jing's face a lopsided look.

"You didn't even cry when your father hit you so hard! Half your face has swelled up as though you ate something allergic! If you can feel pain, then you must be a brave titan! That's cool." Jingwei said. "If it were me, I'd be crying like a baby."

Then Jingwei paused. He probably shouldn't have admitted to this boy that he was a crybaby. That wasn't cool. Now he was definitely going to get bullied, and he couldn't even beat him hard enough to make an impact!

"It's nothing special," Wu Shang Jing said, trying not to sound too smug, even as he preened at Jingwei's words, standing up straighter to seem more capable. Hardly anyone thought he was cool or brave, he was usually called names like 'nerd' or 'cursed'. Now that someone actually thought he was cool, he wanted to seem even better in Jingwei's eyes.

"You know, do you guys have a computer here?" Wu Shang Jing said, his chin tilting up as he boasted pridefully. "I'll show you what I can do on it - that's the really cool thing about me!"

"We do have one," Jingwei replied, "but what are you going to do? Make powerpoints? I can do that too - I can even add sounds and animations. I'm also pretty good at Minesweeper."

Wu Shang Jing shook his head. This new potential friend of his wasn't very bright, but that was fine. He would teach him the joy of computers.

"Just wait and see, I'll show you a brand new world!"

"That brand new world will have to wait awhile, Young Master Wu," Zi Long said dryly. "The older Young Master Sun is still getting ice for your cheek - surely you aren't going to make him look for you?"

Wu Shang Jing's eyes twinkled in mischief at Zi Long's reminder. Zi Long sighed.

"I'm sure he'll find me and his brother easily. We're in his house anyway." Shang Jing replied easily, "And more importantly, didn't I tell you to call me Shang Jing? Why are you still being overly formal with me, Zi Long-ge?"

"It's not proper because we are in public," Zi Long said, with the tone of someone who has repeated this argument many times.

"I'm sure Jingwei isn't going to rat us out." Wu Shang Jing turned to Jingwei, "you aren't a snitch right?"

"No I'm not!" Jingwei declared, huffing irritably. "I don't snitch on my friends. Unless… we are not friends?" Jingwei asked hesitantly. Wu Shang Jing sounded friendly enough when he wanted to show him something on his computer, but who knew what his mind was thinking? Jingwei only met him today.

"We are friends now," Shang Jing declared, with no room for argument. "So now that we are friends, you can call me by name here, Zi Long."

"Why can't he call you by name?" Jingwei asked, tilting his head. "What else is he supposed to call you?"

"I'm his bodyguard, and my status is lower than his, so I must call him by his title." Zi Long said patiently, as though explaining to a stupid child. Sun Jingwei wasn't exactly stupid, but he was pretty naive, as far as things were considered. Zi Long would bet his left arm that boy got picked on all the time in school by his more savvy peers.

"That's kind of stupid," Jingwei said, frowning. He didn't have the words to explain why that felt wrong, but he just knew it wasn't right.

"See! Jingwei thinks so too!" Shang Jing said, "So you must call me by my name now. And Jingwei, bring us to your computer! Your brother will find us later. "

"Okay!" Jingwei said agreeably, cheerfully leading them through hallways before they ended up in front of the room with a large clunky desktop inside.

"What are you going to do now?"

"Change the world!" Wu Shang Jing said, and proceeded to teach Jingwei the basics of coding, while Jingwei watched, dumbfounded in silence.

Zi Long watched his charge try to impress his new friend and snorted behind his hand in amusement. At least things were going well this time around - he didn't have to protect Shang Jing from another kid that wanted to test out the theory that he couldn't feel pain.

Yes. Wu Shang Jing had been telling a half-truth, when he said he couldn't feel pain. Zi Long didn't know much details and the medical jargon behind his condition, but he knew that Young Master Wu had some problem with his nerves growing up.

There were plenty of rumours floating around in that huge estate - that Old Master Wu offended the gods and hence ended with only a strange cursed son and no other heirs, that Wu Shang Jing was initially dead but then a spirit possessed him so he returned to life with no regard for living beings, and all sorts of other nonsense.

One rumour that Zi Long was willing to put more stock into was the one that sounded more factual and less nonsensical. An old servant claimed Wu Shang Jing had a bacterial infection when he was a baby that led to a high fever that went unnoticed or untreated for too long, as the household was in an uproar over the death of the late Lady Wu.

By the time Wu Shang Jing was sent to the hospital for treatment, the damage had been done - antibiotics could only save his life, along with some of the nerves that weren't completely destroyed by the infection and the fever.

Anyone else would have thanked the gods for their mercy, but Old Master Wu was a callous, heartless, and possibly infertile man - the fact that his son was now a 'defect' meant that he was less than human in his eyes, and the fact that his mother died birthing him was even more of a sin. With his mother's death, how was he meant to have more children? He'd rather his son died instead!

Zi Long could only wonder what family he worked for, but he thought of his paycheck, and how Wu Shang Jing had looked at him years ago, with creepy eyes that had no reason looking as sad as they were on a five year old, and his heart twinged in sympathy.

He decided to stay. Someone had to look out for the kid, and it wasn't going to be his father or his stepmoms. However, he could only do so much for the kid's socialisation. It wasn't as though Zi Long was a healthy bastion of model behaviour to begin with, and no child should be left alone without friends.

Zi Long was just a bodyguard, in the middle of his teenage years. He wasn't a suitable babysitter, or a friend for him.

But now…things might be changing for the better. He watched as the boys squabbled good-naturedly over the computer, and felt a strange warm bloom in his chest.

Maybe, finally, Young Master Wu would have a friend in his corner, by his side.