Chapter Forty: I’ve Got Your Back

With the money from her latest venture in hand, Chao Xu was in excellent spirits. The fortune she’d previously wrung from the nine great clans was sizable, but it was strangely earned and not easy to use. If more fools—no, good people—were willing to pay extra for a haircut, she certainly wouldn’t mind.

Trailing beside her, Ci Mo remained silent, his fist clenched tightly. Glancing down, Chao Xu noticed strands of dark hair in his grasp—likely hers. Her brow arched in curiosity, her expression shifting to one of odd amusement.

“What are you doing with that?” she asked. Was he planning to sell it to someone who buys hair? Aside from that, Chao Xu couldn’t imagine what use anyone would have for such a thing. To her, the heavy, cumbersome stuff that grew from her head was nothing but rubbish—hardly a keepsake.

Ci Mo met her gaze with docile eyes. “It… looks nice.”

He wanted to place it in a box, lock it away, and hide it in a secret corner where only he could admire it. As he spoke, he subtly tucked the hair and his shadowy thoughts out of sight, keeping them both carefully concealed.

Then, looking at Chao Xu with a hint of unease, he said, “Is it… all right if I keep it?”

Faced with eyes so pure, it was difficult for anyone to suspect him of ill intent. Chao Xu believed him, thinking he simply found her hair beautiful and wanted to keep some.

“If you want it, just tell me earlier next time and I’ll set some aside for you,” she replied, running a hand through her now awkwardly short hair. She glanced at Ci Mo and clicked her tongue, suddenly feeling a twinge of guilt.

Her little companion looked so adorably clueless. If she went to school and left him behind, would someone bully him again?

“Do you want to come to school with me?” she blurted out, almost against her own will. “Stick with me—I’m the boss, you’re my right-hand man, and I’ll protect you for life!”

She draped her arm casually over Ci Mo’s shoulder, her voice brimming with bold enthusiasm.

Ci Mo blinked, gazing at the girl so close beside him. For a moment, her clear, azure eyes took on an enigmatic, chaotic glint. He kept his emotions in check and, with anxious hope, asked, “Can I really stay with you?”

“Why not? If I say you’re my right-hand man, I’ll do my duty as your boss. No one but me will ever dare lay a finger on you!”

“Really?”

A sudden smile bloomed on Ci Mo’s face, and he embraced Chao Xu, his brows arching in delight. Though still young and slight, with the tentative demeanor of a small animal, he was often mistaken for weak. Only now, as he wrapped his arms around her, did Chao Xu realize that her little “rabbit” could easily encircle her completely.

Her head poked out from the embrace, hair sticking up in disarray, and she felt her dignity as the boss was being challenged.

After a long silence, she finally spoke. “Let me go. Squat down.”

Ci Mo didn’t understand but, not wanting to upset her, complied obediently, stepping back and crouching like a forlorn puppy, disappointment etched across his face.