The Beautiful CEO’s Close Bodyguard

When they heard that the Emperor himself would be coming to send off the troops, all the young people who were about to enlist were thrilled out of their minds.

Who was that? That was the Emperor of this very realm! The ruler of the land, the rightful master of the Dragon Throne in the Golden Throne Hall—ordinary people never got to see him!

Yet they actually had the fortune to glimpse him from afar; they’d be content for this lifetime, wouldn’t they?

Everyone was thinking along those lines, everyone except Feng Luo, who only curled her lip and shook her head when she heard the news.

"If the Emperor really comes in person, won’t that just throw the whole scene into chaos?" Feng Luo sat in a chair, lazily gnawing on an apple.

"Alright, it’s fine to say that in here, but don’t go saying it outside."

Luo Qi lectured her, "If someone with an agenda overhears that and reports you for the crime of great disrespect, what then!"

Feng Luo pouted and ignored him, continuing to chew on her apple.

The apple was so crisp and so sweet; she had no idea if she’d ever get to eat such fragrant, sweet apples again once she was in the army camp.

To be honest, whenever Feng Luo thought about how she would lose her freedom once she entered the army, the momentum that had been driving her forward weakened by a good thirty percent.

Luo Qi noticed this, and Luo Jiu noticed it too.

Luo Jiu walked over to Feng Luo with his hands clasped behind his back, smiling as he looked at her. In a teasing tone he asked, "Girl, are you regretting it?"

Feng Luo jutted out her lips. "Regretting what?"

"Regretting joining the army, of course. Enlisting isn’t child’s play, and being a military doctor is even less so."

Luo Jiu sat down beside her, his lips curving into a smile. "I know you’ve been lazy and carefree since you were small, no one’s ever really restrained you or disciplined you. All of a sudden you’re going to the army camp, with all those rules and regulations—you’re going to find it very hard to get used to."

Feng Luo curled up there and said nothing. She looked at Luo Jiu with a wronged expression. "What’s the point of you saying all this now!"

She’d already been selected and was leaving tomorrow. Now she wanted to back out? It was too late!

Luo Jiu looked at Feng Luo helplessly. He’d always known that Feng Luo just wanted to go stir things up and vent her temper; sending her to the army camp for real—that was making things hard on him.

"Forget it, what’s the use of saying all this now? It’s not like you can change your mind!" Feng Luo muttered under her breath, "If I really did change my mind, you’d say I was committing the crime of defying an imperial decree, and then you’d nag on and on about a whole pile of things. Isn’t that annoying enough already."

"You! You girl, you really don’t know what’s good for you." Luo Jiu was the closest to her, so he heard every word of her muttering. "Did you even listen to what we told you before? And now, if you actually don’t go, if that isn’t defying a decree what is it? This is a great matter of serving the country and the people; how could we let you treat it like a joke!"

"Alright, alright, I get it. Look at you, going on and on again. My father hasn’t even said anything yet, and you’re jumping in to lecture me first."

Feng Luo stood up from the chair, looking at Luo Jiu with a face full of frustration. "I’m only staying here for this one day; tomorrow I’ll be gone. Once I leave, I won’t be back for at least three years. You don’t say anything nice, all you know how to do is pick on me!"

She glared at Luo Jiu in stifled anger and snorted. "Go on, keep picking on me. It’s the last day anyway. If you want to do it after this, you’ll have to come all the way to the army camp to do it."

With that, she strode off. She was setting out with the troops tomorrow, and she still had plenty to do today: pack her things, and say goodbye to her little friends.

She was only fifteen years old. The kids her age had all gone to the academy, and because she was clever by nature, she went for a single day, understood everything the old master taught in one hearing, and never went back the next day.

Even though she’d only attended one day of school, she got along very well with those youngsters; they often got together to cause trouble whenever there was nothing else to do. Now that she was leaving, how could she not go say goodbye?

With that thought in mind, Feng Luo stepped out through the main gate.

Only Luo Jiu and Luo Qi were left in the hall; Luo Qi had been sitting there in silence the whole time.

When Luo Jiu saw that Feng Luo had gone and he had no one left to nag, he turned his gaze on Luo Qi. "Big Brother, what are you thinking about? Feng Luo is leaving tomorrow, and you didn’t even say a word just now."

"Say what? Didn’t you already say everything that needed saying?" Luo Qi lifted his eyes and glared at him. "Feng Luo is going to join the army, that’s true, but it’s not like she’s never coming back. Yet you keep nagging on and on. I’m sick of hearing it, let alone her. She was already a bit regretful to begin with; if you kept talking, what if she really decided not to go?"

Luo Jiu shut his mouth. That possibility hadn’t occurred to him. If Feng Luo really didn’t go, wouldn’t she truly be committing the crime of defying an imperial decree?

No, no, no!

Luo Jiu hurriedly stood up. "I’ll go find Feng Luo right now and talk to her a bit more."

"Enough!" Luo Qi frowned. "What’s gotten into you today? You’re so full you’ve got nothing better to do? Isn’t this all annoying enough already?"

Luo Jiu, having been scolded, immediately slumped back down into his chair and said nothing more.

He was in a very depressed mood and muttered under his breath, "I just can’t bear to see Feng Luo leave, that’s all."

"And what good does being reluctant do? Will that keep Feng Luo here?" Luo Qi sighed. "Letting her go to the army camp to toughen up isn’t a bad thing. It’ll help change her temper so she doesn’t suffer for it when she’s grown."

There was a faint helplessness in Luo Qi’s words.

As if Luo Jiu didn’t understand this too. He knew very well that everything he was saying now was just to comfort himself.

The matter was already set in stone; he and Luo Qi were powerless to turn the tide or change anything. All they could do was use this kind of talk to exonerate themselves, to find a bit of solace.

Last night, Chu Ge and the Old Gang Leader drank to their hearts’ content and didn’t disperse until late into the night. Although he could easily regulate himself with the True Qi in his body, he was now far from home, in a foreign time and space where people were not adept at Cultivation Techniques. From the moment he adjusted his emotions and accepted this reality, he had already decided to live as an ordinary person for a while, to experience the joys and sorrows of common folk—including drunken dreams and the risk of life and death.

Though there had been no dreams in that drunken sleep, he really had gotten drunk. When Chu Ge woke up, the sun was already high in the sky, and what made him feel even worse was that his head felt like it was about to split open.

He sat on the bed, rubbing his head, and let out a wry laugh. "So this is what it feels like to wake up after getting drunk."

Ye Liang had left in the night. Today, not a single person in the Beggar Gang had seen her, which they thought was rather strange. A little beggar who had once received Ye Liang’s kindness came to Chu Ge’s separate courtyard and, seeing Chu Ge standing in the yard basking in the sun, asked curiously, "Mr. Chu, how come we haven’t seen Lady Ye?"

Chu Ge smiled slightly. "She left on some business. Did you need something from her?"

The little beggar shook his head, scratching his head in embarrassment and grinning. "It’s nothing, really. I just thought it was strange not seeing her around, so I came to ask."

Chu Ge was a bit surprised. He hadn’t expected that after only a few days in the Beggar Gang, Ye Liang had already gained her own little fans.

"She’s gone." Most likely, she wouldn’t be coming back. And even if she did, by then they would no longer be friends, but enemies.

Chu Ge hadn’t forgotten the look in Ye Liang’s eyes when she left. That look clearly said she would return!