A Superior Performance

Jiang Qiao was in despair. Was he afraid of Alice? No, what he feared was the soft, delicate keeper standing beside Alice.

Seeing Fu Zhilan startled by the noise and about to look his way, he took off running without a second thought.

Unfortunately, he was still too late.

"Brother Qiao!"

Fu Zhilan's excited voice rang out behind Jiang Qiao. Jiang Qiao let out a long sigh and raked a hand through his hair, blaming nothing but his rotten luck.

Fu Zhilan set the huge basin of raw meat on the ground and sprinted toward Jiang Qiao.

He had gone through great trouble, calling in favors to get himself placed with the Shi family. Yet on only his second day, he had been unlucky enough to get assigned as a keeper's assistant.

When he arrived yesterday, he had seen peacocks and emus in the garden and assumed a keeper's job meant feeding those big birds.

Only after happily accepting the assignment and receiving a huge basin of raw meat from the feed room did he realize things were not so simple.

Sure enough, when he followed the keeper to this corner of the backyard, he saw a powerfully built lioness swishing her tail as she nursed two cubs.

But ten minutes earlier, the keeper had been summoned by the butler. Before leaving, he had only told Fu Zhilan to feed the meat to the lioness.

Fu Zhilan and Alice had stared at each other for a full ten minutes. Alice did not move, and neither did he dare move.

Just as his legs began to shake and he was on the verge of tears, desperate to run away, he heard someone call Jiang Qiao's name.

Fu Zhilan turned around and, sure enough, saw Jiang Qiao.

At that moment, Jiang Qiao was like a savior to him. Calling Jiang Qiao's name, he ran as fast as he could.

Jiang Qiao ran for his life, and Fu Zhilan chased after him for his life.

Shen Guiyi was left standing alone on the lawn, lost and helpless, unable to understand what she had done wrong.

When Shi Junyi returned from the company and specifically made time to visit Alice after her delivery, this was the scene he found.

He vaguely felt that the person chasing Jiang Qiao looked familiar, but the man's running posture was far too disheveled for Shi Junyi to make out his original bearing.

"Who's that?" he asked Chen Sheng.

"Probably a new servant," Chen Sheng analyzed.

Shi Junyi glanced at him. "This month's bonus is canceled."

Chen Sheng was horrified. "Why, Young Master?!"

"Don't say such obvious nonsense again," Shi Junyi said.

Chen Sheng choked. No wonder people always said that disaster came from the mouth.

As Jiang Qiao and Fu Zhilan ran, they spotted Shi Junyi at almost the exact same time.

Things were different now. Jiang Qiao could no longer take off his coat and hide Shi Junyi the way he had last time.

In the original story, Fu Zhilan had passed messages out through Jiang Qiao in secret. He had then taken the opportunity at a banquet to meet Shi Junyi for the first time as a bullied waiter.

But now, the plot had already veered off the Indian Ocean coast.

Just as Jiang Qiao's mind raced and he decided to seek Shi Junyi's help as a weak, pitiful male bodyguard being bullied by Fu Zhilan—

Fu Zhilan had already "accidentally" twisted his ankle and was about to fall straight into Shi Junyi's arms.

Clearly, his tea-serving skills were on another level.

Not to be outdone, Jiang Qiao immediately abandoned his previous plan. He stepped back two paces, grabbed Fu Zhilan by the back of the neck, and forcibly lifted him up.

Shi Junyi had also gotten a clear look at Fu Zhilan's face in those brief moments. It was Jiang Qiao's little lover.

His expression was blank, but his tone was mocking. "What are you performing? Chickens catching hawks?"

Jiang Qiao looked at Fu Zhilan in his hand, unable for a moment to tell which one Shi Junyi meant was the chicken.

He let go, allowing Fu Zhilan to slide to the ground, then stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Shi Junyi's waist. Lowering his head, he nuzzled Shi Junyi's neck. "This has nothing to do with me, Brother."

Chen Sheng was stunned.

Fu Zhilan was even more stunned. He had only known that Jiang Qiao liked him.

But he had never expected Jiang Qiao to like him so much that, just to stop Shi Junyi from touching him, Jiang Qiao would actually resort to this method to draw Shi Junyi's attention.

"Is that so?" Shi Junyi's tone was full of doubt.

Even if Jiang Qiao had not brought the man in, the man had definitely come for Jiang Qiao.

Jiang Qiao nodded. "I swear."

Shi Junyi did not directly embarrass Jiang Qiao in front of outsiders. He merely pushed him away gently, then gave Fu Zhilan a careful once-over.

He said to Fu Zhilan, "Starting today, report to the south side of the second floor."

The south side of the second floor was precisely Shi Junyi's residence.

He wanted to see just what sort of tricks Jiang Qiao could pull with this little duckling right under his nose.

"Thank you, Young Master!" Fu Zhilan knelt sideways on the ground, his gaze brimming with affection as he spoke in a soft, coquettish voice.

Jiang Qiao had no reason to stop him.

His face darkened. He could not understand it. Was the original plot's force really this powerful? Could Fu Zhilan actually succeed even like this?

The one closest to the water got the moon first. Even now, Jiang Qiao did not qualify to stand night watch; if he wanted to see Shi Junyi, he still had to sneak in through the window in the dead of night.

Fu Zhilan, on the other hand, had been openly assigned to work by Shi Junyi's side.

With the tricks that little slut Fu Zhilan had, all he needed was to wander around in front of Shi Junyi whenever he had nothing to do.

Today, he would twist his ankle. Tomorrow, he would cut his hand. The day after that, he would personally make pastries. The day after that, he would bathe in the wrong room, take the wrong clothes, enter the wrong room, and climb straight into Shi Junyi's bed.

The sheer disgust would kill him.

Seeing Jiang Qiao's ugly expression, Shi Junyi assumed Jiang Qiao was unhappy because his good thing had been ruined.

With a cold sneer, he did not even look at the lion before turning and striding away.

Fu Zhilan tugged at Jiang Qiao's sleeve from the ground. "Brother Qiao, didn't you say there'd been no progress on your end? How are you already so close with Young Master Shi, yet you never told me? Were you trying to give me a surprise?"

Jiang Qiao gave a derisive snort. A surprise, my ass.

With a dark expression, he warned Fu Zhilan, "You'd better not set your sights on Shi Junyi."

Fu Zhilan froze. "Why? Brother Qiao, you know I've liked him for a long time..."

He stopped halfway through, fell silent for several seconds, then covered his mouth in feigned disbelief. "Brother Qiao, don't tell me... don't tell me you're jealous?"

Jiang Qiao said nothing.

Fu Zhilan lowered his head awkwardly. "I only see you as an older brother. The two of us can never..."

Looking at Fu Zhilan's guilty expression, Jiang Qiao immediately began making other calculations.

Right now, the enemy was in the open, while he was in the shadows.

He could continue misleading Fu Zhilan, making him feel guilty while lowering his guard.

Then he could take the chance to probe the enemy, figure out Fu Zhilan's methods, and strike first.

So he waved a hand and cut Fu Zhilan off. "Enough. Don't say any more. I understand."

Then he turned and walked toward the training grounds with his head lowered. He deliberately hunched his back, doing his best to play the pitiful man rejected by the one he loved, leaving Fu Zhilan with a weathered, lonely silhouette.

Shen Guiyi, ignored by everyone, crouched beside Alice and stroked the lioness's head as she silently watched the entire dramatic show.