The Taming of the Ruffian Hero

Just when Chen Yuanxi returned to the Chen family’s courtyard in the county, he asked Zhang Dong to clean the stones in the back garden.

“But that is our business,” a relative of the Chen family said while smiling on one side.

“Busybody,” Chen Yuanxi said lightly.

“Sometimes, the young master will go to play in the back garden. What if he strikes his head? As his bodyguard, I should not only block knives for him but also take preventive measures.” With this, Zhang Dong returned to get the hoe.

“To show your sincerity, you’d better clean the stones by your hands,” Chen Yuanxi said with a smile.

The few distant relatives of the Chen family who were also the bodyguards said nothing against Chen Yuanxi, but they felt anxious in their hearts. All of them knew who Zhang Dong was. They heard something about him. It was already a waste of Zhang Dong’s talent when he was directly being put on the most basic but life-risking job as a bodyguard of Chen Yuanxi. However, it had never occurred to them that the young master who was pretty kind to them would humiliate him like that.

“Okay.” Zhang Dong nodded expressionlessly.

When Chen Yuanxi entered the door, he respectfully greeted Deng Yifei and Chen Tianjiao. Not long after Chen Yuanxi took his seat, Chen Tianjiao asked him to mainly deal with the heavy foreign business abroad for a few more months. After a moment of meditation, Chen Yuanxi took out his laptop and pulled out a series of data and emails. He looked at them for a very long time and concluded that he did not have to return abroad. However, Chen Yuanxi still agreed without asking the reason, as always.

“Don’t you want to ask me why?” Smilingly, Chen Tianjiao asked.

“My sister is the one in charge of the domestic business, and I am here only to assist her. She certainly should know a better way,” Chen Yuanxi said with a smile. Sitting there, he read the business news for a while. Then, Chen Yuanxi went out again.

Inside the house, Chen Tianjiao’s face already turned severe.

“I always feel that Wanxin’s marriage is not very appropriate,” Chen Tianjiao said, frowning.

“Chen, I also understood this. But Wanxin is totally fascinated by Zhao Yuan. Over the years, we have chosen so many good-looking men of great abilities and remarkable temperaments. However, she did not even bother to look straight at them. What else can we do? You said that you do not require her husband to be someone from the family of equal status. In this case, I think Zheng Kai can be the right person who makes my heartache. You know, he is Wanxin’s classmate at the university, and now, he is the head of the security team at her place. As long as he is standing beside Wanxin, nobody dares to harm Wanxin. He has stayed there for so many years, and even I can see that he must have given his heart to Wanxin long ago…” Deng Yifei sighed with emotion.

“Zheng Kai, I have given him several chances. He was one of the top students of Green Fields Military Academy and the first in the cross-country race of Jifu University. He could have a promising career, even if he were only going to open a security company. But because of his affection to our daughter, he lost his chances of a lifetime. What a pity,” Chen Tianjiao said. He remembered that he told someone to transfer Zheng Kai to the Municipal Anti-riot Squad. But to guard at Wanxin’s side, Zheng Kai resigned and worked as a guard of the Mcdonald near Wanxin’s company. Then, Chen Tianjiao wanted to transfer him to the manager’s office to be the driver and bodyguard first, but Wanxin refused. Being the head of the security team, Zheng Kai was engaged in preventing fire and thefts as well as catching the people who made trouble. He had never got credit for the terrific work he did, nor had Zheng Kai ever talked about the difficulties he encountered. In Chen Tianjiao’s company, his reputation was almost no less than any founding member, but he only collected the most common salary.

“But you don’t allow Mo Qian…” Deng Yifei whispered.

“Our only daughter has not yet become a very bad person. We’d better try to keep those people around her from our business. After everything in the world passes its zenith, it will be on the wane. The higher the position we stand, the more exposure we will get. After we dealt with Lin Ziwei, both of us should keep a low profile for the rest of our lives,” Chen Tianjiao said thoughtfully.

“You are right. However, do you think that Zhao Yuan really loves our daughter? Besides, he is the son of… Zhao Mingjiang. Though Wanxin said that Zhao Yuan did not know the matter about Zhao Mingjiang, I cannot rest assured. This is retribution. Why does Wanxin only want to spend her life with this man?” Deng Yifei clutched the string of Buddha beads, his hands sweating slightly.

“The thing happened a long time ago. No one can investigate the matter! In the past few years, I let Mo Qian keep track of Zhao Yuan. Zhao Yuan has been very busy doing business and running the company. Thus, he hardly ever came back, nor did he associate with his previous relatives. We do not need to worry about that at least… Also, that year, Zhang Dong said that he had nothing to do with Zhao Mingjiang’s death. I suppose that Zhao Yuan no longer had doubts about the Mo’s family… As for the future… We will not let him come into contact with the Mo’s family. Just let him be with Wanxin and operate their company well.” Chen Tianjiao slightly closed his eyes. In order to keep his daughter from associating with Zhao Yuan, Chen Tianjiao nearly drove her out of the family. However, he was not willing to do that. He brought up this daughter since her childhood so that his affection for her was much more than his love for Chen Yuanxi, who only returned home at the age of 19. How was he really willing to do that? After agonizing over the matter about Zhao Yuan for five or six years, he and his wife Deng Yifei were already over fifty. They no longer had the desire or ability to stop their daughter now, so they just let Wanxin do as she liked.

“But Yuanxi…” Deng Yifei asked hesitantly. Upon seeing that her husband’s face turned livid suddenly, she murmured to herself with a smile, “You said before that Lin Ziwei only wanted Yuanxi to be an ordinary child. So in the absence of concrete evidence, it was unlikely for him to tell much of the things between us to Yuanxi. But… Sister… Xiya… she might…” As she said this, tears welled up in her eyes. Over the years, she could not undo this knot in her mind.

“You’d better not mention things of the past. I have sent someone to look for Xiya only to put Yuanxi at ease. To be honest, Xiya beat Yuanxi like that and abandoned him because of his conflict with Lin Ziwei. So how could she say something to him? Instead, the missing person Hong Xuan, not knowing whether he is dead or alive really worries me. Whom you should worry about is the outsiders, not the child of our family,” Chen Tianjiao softened his tone and said slowly.

“Chen, I ask you to transfer him to the United States again. It is not because I feel reluctant to give him the domestic business, but because things happened between Zhao Yuan and him were like jokes. Although things quieted down long ago, all the people will instantly remember as long as these things were brought up. These things have passed six years, but think about it: Yuanxi was a child in the prime of life, but he did not touch any wine or woman during his six years abroad… Besides, you knew that Wanxin had brought Zhao Yuan to meet us in our home. Zhao Yuan said a lot of words, but I thought that only one sentence was the most sincere one: how about Wenxi now? You tell me. Did he bring up the question as Yuanxi’s classmate, brother-in-law, or…” Once again, Deng Yifei knitted her extended brows tight. The videos between Chen Yuanxi and Zhang Dong, the photos between Chen Yuanxi and Zhao Yuan as well as the relationship that she learned between Zhao Yuan and Chen Yuanxi when they were at Jifu University, all of these made her have to be very cautious.

“I listened to your words and have told Yuanxi to return to the United States. When Wanxin settles down, just let the whole family of us sit down and have a meal together. Also, we should pay attention to Yuanxi’s marriage. In two or three years, he should at least have someone that can be married to,” Chen Tianjiao said calmly.

“Our children have their own lives to live. When Wanxin gives birth to a child, it will change many things. After all, we are old now. In the latter half of my life, I hope that I can set my mind at rest.” Deng Yifei smiled gently, and then turned the Buddha beads in her hand in silence.

When the couple called Chen Yuanxi to discuss the matters after he went abroad, they were told that he had gone out.