Chapter 5 — How Is This Like Finding a Spouse?

Gu Pengzhan's enthusiasm left Wei Zhao both flattered and ill at ease. It was the first time he had ever met such a warm employer. True, he had been hired by this man to carry out some mission, but why did the chairman of a Fortune 500 listed company have to treat him like this? It was enough to make anyone wonder—it felt more like a meeting between equals than anything else.

"Mr. Lin! I know, perhaps asking you to lower yourself to do these things puts you out..." Gu Pengzhan hesitated, then said.

Hearing Gu Pengzhan's words grow more and more extravagant, even Wei Zhao, a man with a face as thick as leather, felt a bit embarrassed. He hurriedly said, "It's no lowering... At home I weave straw sandals and earn only a few hundred yuan a month. The old man says this task is enough to keep me fed for a lifetime..."

Wei Zhao thought to himself: this employer is very decent. He invites me to work for him and still speaks so politely—not like some people who, once they hand over your pay, start criticizing and complaining.

"What? Weaving straw sandals?" Gu Pengzhan was taken aback and looked carefully at Wei Zhao. He hadn't mistaken the man, had he? But what on earth was he talking about? Did Old Master Lin really set him to weaving straw sandals every day to earn a few hundred yuan? Gu Pengzhan was speechless. From his own old man, he had faintly heard of some of Wei Zhao's deeds; that hostage rescue in Africa alone must have netted no less than a hundred million U.S. dollars in reward money. And this man said he wove straw sandals for a living?

"That's right. A pair of straw sandals sells for four yuan. Weave three or five pairs a day, and that's a few hundred a month." Wei Zhao nodded. He himself vaguely felt that something was off; the old man didn't exactly seem like someone short of cash.

Gu Pengzhan could hardly meddle in the man's private affairs. Hearing Wei Zhao's words, he could only shake his head helplessly and say, "From now on, your salary will be thirty thousand yuan a month. That money will cover your school fees and daily expenses. Of course, anything you spend on my daughter can be reimbursed separately by asking Li Fu."

"Thirty thousand? Didn't the old man say a few thousand?" Wei Zhao was stunned. You've got to be kidding—such a high salary? If he had known, there would have been no need to bring any money with him, and no need to watch that pained, money-grubbing look on the old man's face. He remembered the scene when he had begged that forty-nine thousand yuan out of the old man. "Wait, Mr. Gu, what did you just say? School? Tuition and fees? And money spent on your daughter? What does that mean? I'm a little confused..."

Wei Zhao was deeply puzzled. What exactly did Gu Pengzhan mean? Hadn't he been brought here to carry out a mission?

"Oh? What, Old Master Lin didn't tell you before? Come this way, and we'll discuss the details upstairs." Gu Pengzhan smiled slightly and made an inviting gesture, walking shoulder to shoulder with Wei Zhao toward the elevator.

After all, Gu Pengzhan was now his employer, and the salary he had been offered was not low. Though the man's words were somewhat baffling, Wei Zhao had come across plenty of strange and unusual missions over the years.

So, as he walked along with Gu Pengzhan, Wei Zhao deliberately slowed his steps to keep himself behind the other man; but Gu Pengzhan was clearly trying to keep pace with him.

Wei Zhao naturally noticed this and felt a little surprised. Why did Gu Pengzhan seem so warmly disposed toward him? The oddness of it made him want to ask, but he held his tongue. After all, it was their first meeting, and they were not familiar with each other; some things were better left unsaid. In time, it would naturally all come out.

Gu Pengzhan's office occupied the top floor of Pengzhan Tower. It was two hundred square meters in size, and one entire wall was made of floor-to-ceiling windows that filled the room with exceptionally bright light.

After showing Gu Pengzhan and Wei Zhao into the office, Uncle Qing withdrew and instructed Xiao Yu, the secretary in the outer office, to go in and serve tea.

"Mr. Lin, what would you like to drink?" Xiao Yu had already learned Wei Zhao's surname from Uncle Qing.

"Plain water, please." At home, plain water was what Wei Zhao drank most; it was the same when he went out.

Xiao Yu paused for a moment, but still answered with a smile, "Certainly. Just a moment." As for what the chairman would be drinking, she didn't need to ask—it was the same every day.

"Mr. Lin, starting tomorrow, Uncle Qing will arrange for you to enter Class Five of the senior year at Songshan No. 1 High School, to become a high school student in the same class as my daughter Gu Mengyao. You will go to school and come home with her every day, take care of her daily needs, and supervise her studies after school... To put it plainly, really, you will simply be her companion... These years I have been so busy with business that I neglected my daughter, and my heart is filled with guilt. I wanted to find someone who could get along with her, give her a little more care... That is the true reason I asked you here... You are nearly the same age as she is—both young people—so you should have many common topics, right?" Gu Pengzhan said, smiling slightly.

Wei Zhao was somewhat dumbfounded. Find someone who could get along with her? Give her care? Common topics? It couldn't be. Was this the so-called task that could feed him for a lifetime? The more he listened, the more it sounded like looking for a partner. Could it be that the girl had some physical affliction and couldn't get a husband, so they'd brought him in to fill the vacancy?

"Mr. Lin, what's the matter?" Seeing Wei Zhao's stunned expression, Gu Pengzhan seemed to guess what was on his mind. "I had assumed Old Master Lin had already told you what you were coming here to do, but from the look of it, it seems he did not?"

"Mr. Gu, you'd better just call me Wei Zhao; 'Mr. Lin' sounds a bit awkward." Wei Zhao said with a wry smile. "To be honest, I really didn't know what I was coming here for. The old man only said it was an important mission, and that if I did it well, it would keep me fed for a lifetime..."

"Keep you fed for a lifetime?" Gu Pengzhan was taken aback at Wei Zhao's words, then burst out laughing. "Hahaha, that's right. Old Master Lin hasn't deceived you. If you do a good job, the reward you get will indeed keep you fed for a lifetime!"

"Well..." Wei Zhao still didn't understand what Gu Pengzhan actually wanted him to do. "But my mission—what exactly is it?"

"Didn't I already say so? You accompany my daughter to and from school, and study together with her. Of course, you'll also be responsible for protecting her and making sure no one bullies her." Gu Pengzhan explained.

"Study companion? Babysitter?" Those were the only words Wei Zhao could summon to mind.

"Er... You could look at it that way. In fact, that's exactly what it is." Gu Pengzhan nodded and, without waiting for Wei Zhao to say anything more, handed him a dossier. "This is the information on Songshan No.1 Secondary School. You can familiarize yourself with it first."

Wei Zhao nodded, somewhat helplessly, and took the folder. So this was the old man's so-called top-level mission? Damn it, had he been tricked again?

Just like last time in South America, when the old man had told him they were going to save a person... but it hadn't been a person at all--it had been a whole crowd.

Still, no matter how you looked at it, the pay was generous and the danger level was fairly low. It did have a bit of the flavor of being a flunky to some rich man's daughter, but that didn't matter--he could just treat it as a rest.