Chapter 51: Call Me Brother

“What’s going on…?” Ace was baffled. “Why is she suddenly asking you to travel around in a larger group?”

Chen Yuheng’s forehead creased as he silently watched the woman’s figure slowly disappear from his sight.

The secretary peered at the two men before she played the middleman and said, “Regardless… It’s always better to bring some people along with you. Director Pei means well…”

Ace chuckled as he slung his arm around his buddy’s shoulders. “Need me to send you a few of my men? They’re hired from the best security company; the crème de la crème! They are as good as you…”

Chen Yuheng pushed the latter’s arm away in disdain. “Cheryl is already making the arrangements for me.”

Although I only told her to get me two people…

“Why don’t I activate a Mars for you then?” A brilliant idea suddenly hit Ace. “If so, you’ll have to change a car, though. The one you have now isn’t big enough for it.”

“We’ll see.” The thought of having a group of people around him irked the former.

Since they were now down by a player, they naturally could not continue playing mixed doubles. And so, Chen Yuheng, in a justifiable manner, called his robot to return.

He had a mind to teach and warn this child of the dangers of this world. How can she get so close to strangers…

The moment she returned, the excited robot tugged on his arm and asked, “Did you see it? Did you see it? I hit that ball accurately, didn’t I?!”

Alas, the warnings got stuck in his throat as he stared at her smiling face, unable to swallow the words down nor spit them out. After a while, he stiffly gritted out, “Yes, it was an accurate serve.”

The smile on her face grew. “Boge praised me for that as well. He even asked me if I’m a professional sports robot.”

“Boge?” His brows wrinkled. “Who?”

She pointed toward the other court. “That person who played with me just now.”

Right then, that young chap from afar waved at her, which she reciprocated with a smile.

How long was it?

They’re on such familiar terms already…? She’s even calling him ‘brother’ now?

He had mixed feelings about this.

Thinking about it now… It seems that she has been addressing me by my full name…

He narrowed his eyes slightly, his big hand lightly patting a certain robot’s little head.

“Ruan Ruan.”

“Yes?”

“You have to be careful about the form of address used for someone you’ve just met, understand?” advised the man earnestly.

The robot nodded, then asked, “Boge and his friends are going to eat barbecue after they’re done playing, and they’ll be hitting the cinema in the evening. What are we doing later?”

He pinched her ear. Did she even hear me?

Beside them, Lily chuckled behind her hand. “Ruan Ruan, Director Chen is telling you not to call him ‘Boge’.”

She got confused. “But his name is Zheng Boge1…”

Ace cracked up. “This name has its advantages to it!”

“…”

The former pushed his friend aside, leaned in close to Gu Anbao, and asked, “Do you know my name?”

She shot him a strange look at that. How can I not know… Every day, people are calling his name.

“Mr… Ace.”

He laughed radiantly with delight. “From now on, you can call me ‘Brother… A—”

Smack!

The robot’s owner delivered a slap to his back so hard that even his last word ‘Ace’ got slapped away!

Despite stumbling forward a bit from the impact, the relentless man shouted at the top of his voice, “Come on, try calling this! ‘Brother Ace’! ‘Brother Yuheng’! ‘Sister Lily’!”

With reddened cheeks, she glanced up at her owner, pursed her lips, and softly muttered, “… I can’t do that…” It’s really embarrassing…

It tickled him pink. “Hahaha… What an honest lass…”

Chen Yuheng grabbed her hand, turned around, and left.

The former hastily chased after them. “Hey, can’t I joke around? How can you get angry just like that…”

He paid him no attention, though, and simply waved him off. “I’m not playing anymore. I’m tired.”

From behind, Ace grabbed hold of Gu Anbao’s arm and shouted, “Ruan Ruan hasn’t had her fun yet! Isn’t that right, Ruan Ruan? Would you like to play tennis with us?”

It was obvious that he dared not to disturb the devil king and hence, changed his target.

Chen Yuheng halted his footsteps.

Gu Anbao was caught in between them.

Her owner silently regarded her with a raised brow.

Ace, on the other hand, extended a warm invitation to her. “Let’s play for a little while longer. It’s best to get familiar with the sport as soon as possible since you’ve just picked up the skills. Come on, let’s play another round!”

The robot naturally wanted to continue playing… After all, it was much more interesting than sitting aimlessly at home.

Her hesitancy and dilemma were unknowingly revealed on her face. When Ace noticed this, he regarded his friend with a look of provocation.

Chen Yuheng calmly glanced at him before turning to her and asked, “Ruan Ruan, do you want to go to the movies?”

Instantly, her troubled look turned into one of delight, and she looked at him with sparkling eyes. “Yes.”

“Chen Yuheng, you can’t play cheat!” Ace refused to take that lying down!

The robot was surprised to hear that. Play cheat…? Don’t tell me… he’s only saying that to get me to leave this place?

Then, she heard Chen Yuheng calmly saying, “The recently released movies have pretty good ratings. Do you and Lily want to come along?”

The surprise was written all over his buddy’s face. “Do you really intend to take Ruan Ruan to the cinema?”

He merely smiled and led his robot away.

The former stood still in shock, muttering to himself, “Didn’t he used to hate going to the cinema?”

As Gu Anbao got led off the court by him, she was still quite confused. And so, when she got into the car, she could not resist probing, “Are we really heading to the cinema?”

“Yes.” He leaned over to help her put on the seat belt. “Weren’t you envious of others eating barbecue and watching movies?” Barbecue was certainly a no-go for her… However, he could still fulfill her wish of watching movies.

She was ecstatic to know that they were truly heading to the cinema! Her furry ears quivered along with her excitement!

“Awesome!” she cheered.

Seeing that smile on her face lightened his mood as well. He reached out to pat her on the head, before starting the car.

And so, the car sped away, leaving behind only a trail of dust.

Pei Lijun was quietly sitting in her car as she watched the earlier scene unfold.

The man’s car had already driven off, but she tilted her head slightly, deep in thought…

After ruminating for some time, she pulled out her phone to make a call.

“Check something for me…”

…

It was crowded at the cinema.

There were numerous large posters hung up in the hall and right in the middle of it was an LCD screen playing a trailer of the movie that was currently on show.

As the man’s eyes swept over the various lovers in this place, his brow could not help twitching a little.

This was one of the reasons he disliked going to the movies. As a single man of many years, he felt oddly out of place amidst the public display of affection each time he visited a cinema.

It… was a very uncomfortable feeling…

Later on, he gradually got used to watching movies from home, and so, he rarely came to such places.

The cinema was packed with people since it was a Saturday and several highly-rated overseas films had been released recently.

He held onto Gu Anbao’s hand as they slowly looked at the list of now-showing movies. “Which one do you want to see?”

With a solemn look, she pointed to a particular one among the sea of posters.

He was slightly surprised by her choice. “Are you sure?” Just a glance and one could tell that the low-budget, crudely-made horror film, could not be compared with the overseas blockbusters.

However, she gave a firm nod of her head.

Footnotes:

Ch $51 Footnote $1
Ge, in Chinese, refers to ‘brother’.