Receiving the order, Li obediently said exactly what happened from a neutral standpoint. Ling Qidong wanted to argue, but after a few interruptions, he was asked to leave the room and come back shortly after.
Ling Chuse listened to the story, and as it got worse and worse, his face worsened as well. "And then we arrived in front of your door," Li finished.
Ling Chuse, without saying anything, walked around his office for around a minute before speaking to Li. "My son can be a hassle, yet you need to follow his orders. I know your main job is to protect him, but he is still your boss. If you disobey him once more, you will be fired. Understood?"
"Yes," Li said with an unreadable expression and left the room. This world is fascinating; it reminds me more and more of the hassle in my old world. Blame the guardian and not the malefactor.
Afterward, Ling Qidong came into the office, and judging by the look on his face while coming out, he was scolded heavily. He walked towards his car, while Li stayed closely behind him. This guy needs to be taught a lesson. Ling Qidong thought.
Meanwhile, within a private region of wealthy housing:
"Hey, Xiaolang."
"Yes, young master?"
"There is an individual that I want you to investigate," the young man said while holding his fist.
"Oh?" Xiaolang was surprised. "Who caught the interest of the young master?"
"His name is Li, and he works as a bodyguard for some fancy pants," he explained with some disgust in his voice.
"Do you know the name of this "fancy pants" he works for?"
"No, but you need to find him and probe his strength," he said seriously.
"What for? What happened between you two?"
"He blocked my punch."
"Impossible, he would be known..." Xiaolang started.
"It happened so just do your job and report your findings."
"As you wish, young master Wang, I know just the perfect guy for this job," Xiaolang replied and called a certain number.
Two days later:
Ling Qidong hadn't spoken much since he got scolded in the office; his mood was very bad while Li just followed him around. This bodyguard that gave him so much confidence in the beginning now was the reason that his father had cut his allowance in half and forbade him to meet his friends for an entire month, even saying that it would be better to cut them out completely.
The only good news he got was that Li should be obedient now. He had the free authority to fire him anytime he wouldn't follow an order, and given Li's actions, it seemed like he depended on the job.
Although Li was strong, he also threw away the idea about him being anything more than a normal human with normal abilities. He might be strong, but he even backed down from a 20-year-old man, probably afraid to fight him.
If he had been a real martial artist, he wouldn't have been afraid and thinking more about the situation; he wouldn't have worked for him as well as not trying to quit the second that incident happened.
He wasn't afraid or in awe of Li at all at this moment. He wanted to see him suffer. The best thing was that after suffering at his hand, Li couldn't even freely quit. His father might have said he could, but the contract said something else, so if Li quit, he would face the law, while staying he would be beaten into complete obedience.
And now it was time to put his plan into motion. He arrived at a boxing club where his friends, Ma and Weiyang, waited for him. Both of them looked like beaten dogs, probably due to some financial punishment received by their families.
Their eyes lit up temporarily as they saw Li following Ling Qidong but quickly lost their luster. Ling Qidong had called them here for revenge, but for them, revenge could never feel as good as the money and, more importantly, the status they lost.
All four of them headed inside of the box club, where multiple fighters were hitting punching bags or even fighting in boxing rings. The wall, painted in black without any windows and the eerie cheap lights on the ceiling, created a dark underground atmosphere.
In contrast, though, the owner greeted the three of them with warm smiles, and after changing into sportswear and boxing gloves, they wanted to begin their "training."
"I would like to start you off with the proper punching technique; sadly, there are no punching bags available," the owner and trainer said with a fake smile.
"Oh, there is no problem; we brought a substitute. After all, after getting beat up, we need to make sure to get stronger to take revenge," Weiyang said with a smile.
"Right, we thought of instead a boring punching bag; we should try a more... lively model," Ma added.
"Yes, our bodyguard here will act as the punching bag for today's session. What do you say, Li?" Ling Qidong said mockingly.
Li, keeping his usual calm expression, answered, "Why don't you use this one?" He pointed at another punching bag.
In reality, even though it was quite crowded, there were enough empty punching bags to train; Li was sure this was some sort of revenge, yet instead of shame, fear, or anger, the emotion he could barely contain was a smile. A smile that wouldn't quite look like a smile, but something a lot more dangerous.
"Oh, this one is reserved for later, so it can't be used," the owner quickly jumped in. "Since the young masters already have a punching bag, we can begin the training."
"Right, Li, you know what my father told you. You are to follow every order I give you, and the first one is. Stand right here and act as a punching bag," he said, barely containing his laughter. What a great idea by me; I am a genius after all.