As much as she did not want to, she was too proud and stubborn to not go back like she said she would. So after making Aunt Li and the maids take one car to head back home first to prepare her room she follows after alone in the family car. Zhou Hua Fan's face openly reveals her reluctance to leave as she looks back longingly at her grandfather's villa that to her was like a haven she discovered much too late. If I had discovered this welcoming place before, would I have turned out less twisted and malicious? No. Hua Fan mocks herself darkly. No, most likely not, a wicked person will always be wicked. "Young Miss, the mistress has called again." In the front, the driver glances at Hua Fan for any hint of her wanting to answer the call this time or not.
He felt it would be bad for him to decline the call again but Hua Fan gave him a cold and careless answer, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "If you dare to pick up that call without my approval, consider yourself expelled from the Zhou family." The driver held his breath and hastily declines the call without another mention of Xiang Yun Yi. He would be stupid to not listen to her after seeing the old master personally see the young miss off. Although he was hired by Zhou Feng Ming, he knew the real power behind the Zhou family was still this old master who was hard to see and meet.
He would rather insult the Zhou pair than the old master and his granddaughter. He had no idea that the young miss was actually so close to Zhou Jian Kong, but now that he knew he made a mental note to serve the young miss even more carefully in the future. She dismisses this insignificant person from her thoughts and carries on staring outside where the street lamps lit up the sidewalks like pillars of light. Her thin fingers reach up to tap the glass subconsciously as she became lost in her own mind. Abruptly pulling her from her thoughts a sharp pain as if being stabbed from the inside out made the girl give a tiny gasp and jerk back in to her seat further. Sweat coats her brows as Hua Fan bites her lip to hold in a groan till the stabbing pain subsides. Making sure the driver saw and heard nothing, Hua Fan rubs the spot above her chest tentively.
Her expression turns grim. Are you trying to say something to me? Yet, there was no response from the creature. She sneers at her lap destaining it's presence, I'm aware of the rules. She pinches the skin above her aching chest and tries to not wince as the new pain collides with the previous one bringing her back to reality.
There were things that needed to be done by her and by her alone. "Don't fret, I don't want a life of peace. Your warning is unnecessary." Saying this outloud, her tone held bitterness towards the creature. It was a whispered promise that no one but she and the creature could hear. She snorts when it does not awknowledge her words once more but she knew it heard her for the pressure above her heart stops the moment she sopoke outloud.
At the doorsteps of her"home" Hua Fan was met with a not surprising sight, a long line of bodyguards stood at the gates and one of them spoke into their earpiece as soon as the car lights were in sight. Her lip curls up with derision seeing this comical sight, the driver hesitates to exit the car even as the men start to walk forward not allowing her inside the gates. He looks at Hua Fan through the rearview mirror, "Young miss?"
"Ha!" Her sharp laugh causes the man to jump in his seat as she gestures for him to lower the window for her. He quickly does what she asks and watches with wary eyes as the girl smirks at the bodyguard standing outside the window arrogantly. Her eyes were full of ridicule and her pretty lips also hooked into an amused grin. The driver shivers when seeing the cold glint in the girl's eyes that does not fit her age. The young miss is a member of the Zhou family after all. He should not doubt her orders again or maybe one day that pair of cold eyes would land on himself.
The bodyguard stood firm and unbothered by her disrespectful attitude and spoke down to her in an authoritative manner. "Miss Zhou, your father would like a word with you." You could see the twinkle in her eyes as she drawls out in a false tone of obedience. "Really? Why didn't he call me and tell me that himself instead of stopping me at the gates like a criminal who is trying to enter the villa without permission?" The guard didn't take her obviously sarcastic words too seriously, thinking her juvenile and spoilt, and only answers her in the same presumptuous tone as before. He even gave her a brisk glance of indifference as if she was not worthy of his time before responding.
"Mr.Zhou said that the young miss skipped school and left home without permission, so he ordered for the car to be given to the young master instead. The young miss is to return to your room and reflect." Her eyes flash but her sly grin stays still on her face, it even turns gentle and understanding. "Oh." She omits softly. The driver who was sitting not too far from the girl could feel the chilly air in the car and trembles when he saw her widening grin. But the man who was talking down to her did not see this change in atmosphere as he even made to open the door without her say so. The driver, not wanting to see the miss he had chosen to side with disrespected, quickly opens the door.
He made his way to the side door the girl sat by quietly smiling up at the bodyguard with her rose-like grin and shuts the door by force stopping the bodyguard from opening it. He steps in between the man and the girl whose creepy smile promptly became amused seeing his actions. The driver wipes the sweat from his brows but he stood steady in face of the now frowning bodyguards who took another step closer to their car menacingly. "The young miss is not someone anyone can easily approach, I will have to ask you to stop harassing my miss. Disrespectful people without manners and bad intentions are even more so not allowed near her."
Hua Fan was not surprised the driver stood up for her and muffles her giggle seeing the bodyguards were ready to get physical with the driver who so bravely stood in front of their way. Having been insulted they all sneer at the "foolish" man who took the "wrong side". Is this person sick in the head? What made him assume sticking to this powerless girl was worth more than risking insulting their true employer? Is he stupid? It was clear from today and the day before that this spoiled brat was no longer in favor.
They did not need to listen to her ridiculous and rotten orders any longer. They don't bother hiding their sneers, "You are defying the master's orders by preventing us from escorting miss Zhou back! You really want to lose your job that badly?!" The driver laments his luck as the girl behind him seemed to have no intention of speaking up, he thought of the old master's careful treatment of the girl again and steels his mind. Hiding the trembling in his legs he took a deep breath and looks up bravely in their faces.
"Even if that is so, I cannot allow the miss to be treated like some criminal at the gates of her own home! I am not such a coward that I will allow some unruly men to bully a innocent young girl!" The bodyguards turn red in the face seeing their intimidation tactic was of no use and the supposedly simple driver was no longer that simple but a thorn in their sights. "You-!!" That's right! The driver seemed to have an epipany as soon as he said this outloud. The young miss is still barely out of childhood! Her actions today had made him forget she's still young and helpless, if he let them treat her roughly she would not be able to endure!
Having a daughter of his own he felt his anger boil up and he became even more stable in his stance, his trembling legs no longer shake as he stood in front of her and he gave the bodyguards furious looks of rebuttal. "If you have the guts to bully a child you will have to come through me first! You perverted men who won't even let a child off! I dare you to take one more step and see if I really won't call the police on you all!!" The faces of those men grew bright red as they were labeled perverts and kidnappers but they didn't dare to take another step as the driver had already take out his phone and held his thumb over the call button in a threatening manner.
Hua Fan gave an appreciative glance at her family driver and chuckles while tapping the car door signaling she wanted to get out of the car. This person, although I never took notice of him before Zhou Feng Ming changed the family driver in her past life to become more partial to Gou Heng, never treated her badly. He was even brave enough to gave her a few words of comfort when she was young and heartbroken from her sudden change in status within her home. Hearing her tap the driver hesitates but still obediently turns around to open the door for her, when she was halfway out he whispers worriedly down at her.
"Young miss, perhaps it is better for you to not come out yet. Allow me to call the old master for you and report this matter and let you wait inside the car until it is safe for you to come out." Hua Fan spares him a glance and brushes her hair from her face with a tiny smile sent his way but that was all the acknowledgment she gave. So in the end he could only stand by her side nervously as if afraid they would suddenly charge Hua Fan and drag her back to the house by force. To the bodyguards who were feeling a bit better inside while mocking her cowardly actions deep down, she gave them all a cold smile.
She knew their thoughts, and she would make sure they would all eat their words and choke on them. Did they think she was unaware of the real power she had still? Did they think she would be merciful and handle them on her own stubbornly? No, Hua Fan was no longer a prideful brat who refused to call for help. So with her hand held out towards the driver, the pretty girl stood up straight and starts to clear her throat much to their confusion. The man guesses what she had in mind and hurriedly hands her the phone relieved she was finally making her move.
He was afraid of what would happen if she waited any longer. But to others, it was still a bewildering scene. Shouldn't this spoiled princess have scolded them already? Shouldn't she have screamed at them while demanding that they bring her mother to her? She should have threatened their jobs and life by now but..she did not. Instead, her face was stoic, even calm looking as she raises the phone in her hands to her ear. When the line is picked up on the other side Hua Fan once more shocks her audience by crying crocodile tears delicately.
It wasn't the loud and ear-piercing type of crying that was overexaggerated but the soft and timid type of crying that invoked one's sympathy for the fairer sex. The guards were dumbfounded and did not know what to do, never having seen such delicate crying before from this miss they considered wild and unruly. Just as the leader was about to speak Hua Fan calls out to the person on the otherwise weakly, "Ye Ye..."