The Beautiful Boss's Personal Bodyguard
Chapter 312

Chapter 312: 312

Ye Tian curled his lips and thought to himself, just say that you’re aching for the money, using safety as an excuse. Shameless old man. Annoyed, he turned around, picked up the glass of water, and drank it in one gulp, thinking if he could save a little, he would.

"Recently feeling a bit hot, my urine is all yellow."

Old Hu replied, "Mm, drink more water, it’ll cool you down."

He completely ignored the fact that Mo Yan was standing there with a red face.

...

The next morning, Ye Tian gave his family a call to let them know he was okay. When he found out that Shen Jingwei was about to return to the team, Ye Tian offered a few comforting words and then let it be; the rest of them were old hands at navigating worldly society, the type who could make a hole in the sky with just a fruit knife. Naturally, there was no need to worry about them. As for the few big characters... he was trapped himself, so he would talk about that later.

Once he hung up the phone and returned to the hotel, Mo Yan was already waiting in the lobby, coming over to help Ye Tian move.

"It’s just this little bit of stuff, I can handle it myself."

"An extra pair of hands makes the work lighter."

Seeing that Ye Tian didn’t say anything, Mo Yan followed him into the room and didn’t realize that Ye Tian was serious until they left the room—all his belongings added up to just a small bundle, consisting only of a few clothes he had brought himself. Mo Yan then remembered that this guy had indeed come with just the clothes he was wearing.

The room was booked with Mo Yan’s ID card, and they encountered some trouble when checking out, the hotel owner flatly refused to refund the one hundred yuan deposit, saying that they had not stayed the full seven days and were therefore not eligible for a refund. As a standoff ensued, Ye Tian punched a dent in the tempered glass at the front desk, the owner’s mouth agape wide enough to fit two eggs. Only then did Ye Tian stride out of the hotel contentedly. The owner cried - the one hundred yuan was kept, but replacing the glass counter would cost over ten times that amount.

The new place was in an old alley, with an older street that wasn’t even paved with bricks, fortunately, the snow had not started to melt, or it would have been a muddy mess. A few people came out to empty their chamber pots and looked at Ye Tian and Mo Yan with suspicion, muttering under their breath. Following the snowy path, they arrived at a relatively large doorway and stopped. The wooden door featured some large cracks, and the doorframe was flanked by torn red paper from years of pasted Spring Festival couplets. The extending walls were made of blue bricks, which had lost their edges due to weathering over time. This courtyard had seen some years.

Mo Yan handed him a bunch of keys—the keys to his living quarters.

"Make do with it for now."

Ye Tian wasn’t fussy and had no particular demands, Old Man Mo was right, after all, it’s inconvenient to stay in a hotel, and at least here he’d be staying with Old Man Mo, relying on his security force, the safety aspect would definitely be much better.

Mo Yan started knocking on the door, but after several attempts, no one came to open it.

The gate had an old-fashioned latch that had to be opened from the inside. It was early in the morning, just after seven, probably the people inside hadn’t woken up yet. Ye Tian didn’t mind, but seeing Mo Yan’s pale face from the cold, he took the initiative to knock on the door.

With a man’s force, certainly much stronger, after a few thunderous knocks, there was finally a reaction inside the yard.

"Who’s there! Making noise so early in the morning not allowing people to sleep!"

"Who are you looking for? Whoever is looking should open the door!"

These aren’t all one family?

Seeing the question on Ye Tian’s face, Mo Yan sheepishly explained, "There are five households living here, and you’re the fifth."

Ye Tian was totally overwhelmed; the place was becoming a madhouse.

With a squeak, the door opened, and a middle-aged lady appeared. She wore glasses, her hair was permed and curly, and she had draped over her shoulders a military green cloak, carrying a blue chamber pot in her hand.

"It’s you!"

Ye Tian and the lady were both startled at the sight of each other, followed by a cold standoff. With a turn, the lady poured the contents of the chamber pot into a pit next to the doorway, under a tap wrapped in insulating material. Seeing her twist the tap several times without water flowing, it was clear that it had frozen over.

"Damn it, it’s frozen again. When will this crappy weather end? If it clears up, then there’s the issue of wading through water, the house leaks, and the damn place never gets fixed... I can’t live like this..." The lady grumbled all the way back into the yard and then shouted, "Gouzi, boil some water, the pipes are frozen!"

This was the same person who had tried to swindle Ye Tian a couple of days ago. The IC card he had was actually filched from her. The Gouzi she was shouting for must be one of the other few people around.

"Alright, that’s enough. You go on back."

Just stepping in and already it’s surrounded by crap and pee; the inside must be worse, not something that a young lady like Mo Yan could endure.

"It’s fine, I’ll come in with you. It’s still not cleaned up inside..."

"No need, it’s no big deal. You head back, I’ll call you if I need anything."

Without further ado, Ye Tian entered the yard and shut the gate behind him, dislodging wood shavings as the latch wobbled. The whole door was somewhat decayed.

Mo Yan didn’t persist in following him. He had shut the door; what was the point in sticking around? As she turned to leave, she spotted the pool for washing the chamber pot beside the door, covered with waste that had also frozen over on the snow—white and yellow mixed together, completely disgusting. Mo Yan’s stomach turned, and she covered her mouth, nearly retching.

This was a small quadrangle dwelling with complete rooms on the east, south, west, and north, sitting facing south with a front house composed of a main room, a hall, and a west chamber, occupied by the owner of the courtyard. Ye Tian’s room was in the eastern wing, while the eastern, southern, and northern wings were inhabited by three different families. One of them was the curly-haired old lady who had tried to con Ye Tian, and another household was more irksome to Ye Tian: Chuanzi of the infamous bench incident. What a bloody circus this place was. Ye Tian wasn’t afraid of a fight, but he hated trouble.

"Young man, where are you from?"

The courtyard owner came into the eastern wing where Ye Tian was sorting out his room. There really wasn’t much to sort out: a kang bed-stove, a table, and a chair were all he had. There was no heating either, and the room was both damp and cold.

The courtyard owner was an old man, wearing a fur cap and leg warmers wrapped around his knees, dressed in a thick cotton-padded trousers and jacket, his hands tucked into his sleeves, looking every bit the rural stereotype.

"Old bro, want a cigarette?"

Ye Tian stopped what he was doing, fished out a cigarette from his pocket, and handed it over. The owner’s surname was Liu, and people nearby called him Old Liu. He had been sent down to the countryside to be re-educated through labor during the cultural upheaval ten years ago, spending years driving an ox cart, earning him the nickname Old Liu.

Old Liu took the cigarette, glanced at it—it was a Diamond brand, cheap but he didn’t mind—and lit it with the lighter Ye Tian offered.

"You’re not from Beiping, are you?"

"Um. I’m from Tianhe." He took a newspaper, placed it under his rear, and sat down on the kang.

"Visiting relatives?"

"Can’t say that. I know them, but they don’t know me. So here I am, just finding a place to stay for now. What about you, old bro? Surely you do more than just renting out rooms?"

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