The Great Trump Card

-Tongcheng City, Sihai Corporate-

Assistant Chairman Li Qianqian brought Lin Huai into the chairman’s office.

“Mr. Lin,” she said, smiling professionally, “please have a seat. The chairman will be with you shortly.”

Lin Huai couldn't help stare a bit. Li Qianqian looked surprisingly good in a business suit and gold rimmed classes. She had an angelic face, but her suit showed off the curves of a devilishly sexy body.

“If the chairman isn’t here yet, why don't you keep me company?”

Li Qianqian gave a slight smile, eyes

“Pretty gutsy, flirting with the chairman's assistant,” she said playfully. “Are all of Dragon Sheild's bodyguards this bold?”

Li Qianqian gulped. Her soft voice was enough to charm almost any man.

“I'm not brave. My mouth just listens to my heart instead of my brain.”

Li Qianqian chuckled.

“How old are you now, Mr. Lin?”

“Nineteen years old.”

“Oh, you’re much younger than me. You should be obedient, little boy.” Li Qianqian looked like she was in her late twenties.

Lin Huai smiled slyly.

“Trust me, I'm hardly little. Take me somewhere private, beautiful young miss, and I can show you how big I am.”

Li Qianqian blushed.

“You’re getting lewder every time you speak. But I’m curious, Sihai Group is regarded as one of the top three commercial companies in Tongcheng. We should be Dragon Sheild's top priority, and our chairman paid for an expert. So why did he get a nineteen-year-old boy like you?”

Lin Huai looked between his legs with a wicked smile.

“I told you, I’m not little at all…” he said. “If it weren’t for business being a bit slow right now, I’m afraid your chairman wouldn't be qualified to hire me, even if he does play an important role in Tongcheng’s business community.”

Li Qianqian frowned.

“You’re too arrogant.”

“I’m just being honest. Why isn't the chairman here yet? I don't have the patience to wait much longer.”

The office door opened and Li Qianqian snapped back into her professional denouement. The man who walked in was powerfully build, muscles so firm he looked almost made of metal. At a glance, Lin Huai suspected he was a master of one of the more aggressive martial arts. Behind him was Lin Huai's employer, Wei Sihai. He had been shown the man's picture when he took the job.

Wei Sihai looked to be somewhere in his forties. He was going grey at the temples and had a tired looking face, but there was something swift and fierce in his eyes. He went straight to his office chair and sat down, clasping his hands. He examined his new employee with surprise.

“Mr. Lin Huai?”

“Yes!” Lin Huai crossed his legs. In front of his employer, Lin Huai became more serious, something deep and dangerous in his eyes.

“You're so young.” Wei Sihai’s expression calmed. “But this is better. We no longer have to worry about disguising your age.”

“Pay sixty percent of my fee upfront and the remaining forty percent after the mission is completed,” Lin Huai said casually.

Wei Sihai clapped his hands and the large man beside him pulled a small leather suitcase from under the table. He opened it up to show the money inside.

“This is six hundred thousand yuan. The remaining four hundred thousand will be paid after the mission is completed.”

“No problem.” Lin Huai stepped forward to collect the money.

Wei Sihai nodded.

“I've proved I have the money. I’d like to see your strength.”

The muscular man, Li Tie, stepped forward, pulling back his fist to punch Lin Huai in the head. Li Qianqian froze in horror. The man was strong enough to crack somebody's skull. Aiming for the head was practically attempted murder.

His fist stopped just before Lin Huai's face. Li Tie's fist was wrapped in Lin Huai's palm.

Li Tie gave a frustrated growl as he tried to pull back and found his fist held firmly in place.

“Well, it would be rude not to return the favor,” Lin Huai said fiercely.

His punch sent Li Tie flying into the far wall. The entire building quivered, the wall he'd hit cracking.

Considering his age, Lin Huai knew he needed to show some real strength to gain Wei Sihai's trust, so he punched with around forty percent of his strength. If he's gone much higher, he'd have left Li Tie in the hospital for the next few months.

Wei Sihai and Li Qianqian both stared, speechless. Lin Huai looked back at them with a slight smile.

“Did you get enough proof of my strength, Chairman Wei?”

Wei Sihai looked horrified. Eventually, he let out a long breath.

“Yes. You've proved yourself,” he said respectfully.

The muscular man patted his face with his hands, each hand as big as a lily pads, trying to wake himself up. He staggered up and moved back to his place behind Wei Sihai, looking at Lin Huai.

“Li Tie will acknowledge Mr. Lin.” There was a slight hint of terror in Li Tie’s voice.

Lin Huai smiled,

“Tie? Like iron? Yes, your body is as tough as an iron, and you're as strong as an ox. But you haven’t reached true mastery.”

If this were said by someone else, Li Tie wouldn't take them seriously. From Lin Huai, however, the thirty year old listened as obediently as a school child.

“Mr. Lin Huai, your strength has broadened my horizon,” Wei Sihai said, voice full of admiration. “The future, as always, seems to be in the youth. The bodyguard Dragon Shield sent me is truly extraordinary. I was disrespectful to doubt you.”

“Now that my strength has been evaluated,” Lin Huai replied lazily, “let’s get straight to the mission. Your bodyguard’s strength is decent. Why don’t you just have him protect your daughter?”

“I plan for you to pose as a transfer student,” Wei Sihai explained. “You’ll protect her while she's on campus and my bodyguard will protect her when she's off campus. My bodyguard would stand out too much in a classroom. Besides that, my daughter refuses to have a bodyguard while she's on campus. therefore you have to conceal your identity.”

Lin Huai looked at Wei Sihai in astonishment.

“How many people have you pissed that makes you this concerned about your daughter’s safety?”

Wei Sihai scratched his head, looking miserable. When he finally smoke, his voice was heavy with remorse.

“If she'd chosen any other school, she'd be fine. But she just happened to choose Yulan College. Even if she couldn’t get into Peking University or Tsinghua University, she could have gotten into any other first-class university in the country. But she just happened to choose Yulan College…”

It was evident that Wei Sihai was deeply distressed by his daughter’s choice. Lin Huai couldn’t help trying to learn more.

“Why can’t she go to Yulan College?”

“Yulan College is a private vocational college,” Li Qianqian explained. “The original intention of the founder was to give a high quality education for students who might be forced out of normal programs due to poor academic performance or personal probelms. The college has low requirements for test scores and grades, yet provides teaching staff who are nearly as professionally competent as the ones in first-class universities. Other than that, students only have to pay a small tuition fee each year as the founder makes a lot from subsidies.”

There was a hint of respect in Lin Huai’s eyes.

“The founder is very admirable,” he said solemnly.

“It's a nice dream, but impractical in reality.” Li Qianqian said with a sigh. “The founder hopes to allow students with poor family conditions and bad grades to attend good university. However, the students have long lost faith in learning and have no discipline. There are fights every day and there was even a homicide last year. No matter how you look at it, Yulan College is not the paradise the founder hoped.”

Lin Huai was sorry to hear that. These students had been given a chance at a first class education. The founder must have been so disappointed. Still, he was confused.

“Students are generally excited to attend Harvard or Peking University. Why does your daughter insist on Yulan College?”

Wei Sihai sat silently for a few seconds.

“The founder of this college was her late mother,” he said, “and it bears the weight of her mother’s ideals. No matter how I try to stop her, she insists on going!”

Lin Huai could see a shadow of himself in this young lady…

“My daughter has attended school for about a month,” Wei Sihai said solemnly. “I’ve sent someone onto campus to secretly protect her, but they attracted her suspicion. I’ll hand it over to you from now on. The one million yuan is your payment for two months as her guard. At the end of the quarter, I’ll persuade her to transfer. Once you're my daughter’s classmate, I hope you can also help persuade her to leave this dangerous school.”

Wei Sihai took a photo out of the drawer. Lin Huai glanced at the photo. Lin Huai had seen a lot of beautiful women, but the crystal-clear eyes and unrivaled beauty of this beautiful girl made his heart tremble. Her skin was as delicate as a freshly bloomed waterlily, gaze clear and intelligent. He involuntarily gave a soft gasp.

“I've never seen such somebody so beautiful.”

Wei Sihai’s looked on in pride.

“This is my daughter, Wei Qimian, the princess of the Wei Family.”

Lin Huai took a deep breath, centering himself.

“First, to protect your daughter, the seat next to her needs to be vacant when I arrive. Have your daughter’s desk-mate transferred to another school or switched to a different seat tonight. Second, I'll my paperwork appropriately in order and flawlessly forged. I’ll be a poor student from the countryside who transferred to Yulan College from Tongcheng Music College when I couldn’t afford the tuition fees.”

Li Qianqian looked surprised by Lin Huai's level headed organization, but Wei Sihai just smiled in satisfaction.

After both parties had talked over some details, Wei Sihai instructed Li Qianqian to send Lin Huai to the five-star hotel that he would be staying tonight so that he could get some rest. As soon as Lin Huai left, Wei Sihai's expression became troubled.

“Chairman, what are you worried about?” Li Tie said cautiously.

“This Lin Huai has an unusual energy in him. There's a frightening amount of righteousness underneath his relaxed appearance… I’m afraid that he’ll mess up my plans once he gets into the school.” Wei Sihai sounded somewhat distraught, “But he’s the best candidate to protect my daughter.”

“I don’t think he’ll affect anything. It’s just a two-month mission…” Li Tie responded.

“You’re right.” Wei Sihai nodded, relaxing, but he still reached into the drawer and pulled out a pistol. “If he performs the mission normally, we’ll do our best to cooperate with him. However, if he starts to get in the way of my plans or he notices anything, use this to kill him.”

Even before he took it, Li Tie could feel the chill that drifted from the pistol's muzzle.