Release that Man

Getting a certificate for Go was a complicated and time-consuming thing. Like karate, there was a ranking to it. The most basic rank could be obtained at any district level Go association, but higher rank had to be obtained through participating in a national-level competition that was held annually.

The elder whom Ye Shuang had befriended in Jing Hu City was from the National Go Association. They had been playing online for quite some time, and the senior would sigh every time, lamenting why Ye Shuang was not a professional player.

The competition for professional players had an age limit, and it was heavily monitored, not something that could be tricked by changing the age on one’s ID card. After the senior lost three consecutive rounds, he could not help but ask Ye Shuang about that. The reason was definitely not what he expected, and Ye Shuang used just one sentence to make his heart ache until this day.

“There’s a professional test for Go‽”

Until now, whenever the senior lost to Ye Shuang online, his heart would ache again. He was feeling sad that such a talent would go to waste. Of course, the senior would not have known Ye Shuang was lying. Her Go ability came from a logic and calculating power that literally was not of this world. Before the DNA optimization, Ye Shuang’s level was undoubtedly just normal… How else could one explain such a great talent not surfacing‽ Did he expect her to say that she did not want the fame‽

Therefore, feigning ignorance was definitely the most appropriate response. Thankfully, the rules were dead, and the people were alive. The senior suffered the heartache for a month before recommending Ye Shuang to San Lin City’s district Go association. He did not say anything because he wanted the people there to experience the heartache themselves, and then they would know what to do.

Ye Shuang did not mind it. After all, she had nothing better to do. It would not hurt to get a new certificate, and she could use it to open classes on the weekend when she was free. Therefore, she went to the association that day to try her luck at the test. Mr. Fang was stunned by this surprising answer. “You’re a professional Go player?”

Han Chu’s agents normally had a day job since they would need a growing social circle and needed a job with constant pay. A professional Go player did not fit that criteria, the circle was small since most players only interacted with their own circle so the possibility of interacting with people from other line of work was small and thus not conducive for the work of an agent.

“Of course not. Why would I still need to come apply for a certificate?” Ye Shuang brought Mr. Fang into the Go association and followed the address she had been given to find the person. “But it’s just a good interest to have. Certain individual prefer this kind of cultured hobby, especially those of a more advanced age. Found it, are you coming in with me or going back on your own‽”

Mr. Fang contemplated the option before answering. “I’ll wait for you outside in the car.”

He waited four hours, from 10:30 am to 3 pm. Mr. Fang even had time to go for lunch and used his phone to start a meeting to deal work at the company before seeing Ye Shuang hugging a tall stack of documents as she exited the front door of the Go association. Beside her was a rather old middle-aged man talking happily with her.

Mr. Fang got out from the car to greet her. Ye Shuang was surprised that Mr. Fang had not left, but she quickly recovered and made the introduction. “This is my friend.”

“Friend or boyfriend?” The man saw Ye Shuang as his junior, so he made a harmless joke. Ye Shuang laughed along but ignored the impression that was forming in the man’s mind. After all, she knew how they looked. A spirited young man and a beautiful young woman, they did look like quite a pair. In any case, in the eyes of most adults, once a pair of young adults started talking on their own, they were probably a couple.

Then again, this was not entirely the man’s fault this time. After all, Mr. Fang did wait patiently for hours for Ye Shuang. Why would he do that if he was not at least somewhat interested in Ye Shuang‽ Therefore, it was perfectly normal for the middle-aged man to think that way.

Ever since Mr. Fang reached the appropriate social age, whenever he showed up at any party without female company, he would be paired with a ‘suitable partner’ by friendly adults. Apparently, these were people whom he said that he would marry when he was young and visited these people’s homes. Of course, the ‘wives’ that were pushed toward him were pushed toward other people as well, so Mr. Fang had gotten used to these kinds of words.

Ye Shuang was immune to this kind of thing thanks to Little Brother Ye. The young man’s mouth was even worse than the middle-aged man.

One had been through this before, and the other was an artful dodger. The two easily dealt with the middle-aged man. Mr. Fang, as a gentleman, helped Ye Shuang carry the documents to the backseat. He took the shotgun seat and suddenly asked, “Was that the chairperson for the association?”

“Probably.” Ye Shuang naturally took the driver’s seat, accepted the key, and started the ignition. She exited the parking spot smoothly and soon joined the main road. “The senior introduced someone to play with me. I did play for several rounds with many different people. Now that I think about it, I think I played everyone there. There was a Q&A session, and I answered everything. Finally, I said that I needed to go home to eat, and that man walked me out.”

Mr. Fang thought about one of the documents that he happened to glance at earlier. “They’re allowing you to join the association?”

“Yes, there’s no specific time. When I’m free, I can come to the association to teach classes, and I’ll be paid.”

Mr. Fang was speechless. He had never seen a person who could mix into anywhere with such ease. “So, are you considered a professional player now?”

“Are you kidding‽” Ye Shuang gave him a condescending side-eye before turning back to the road. “Even with a personal recommendation, the application for that is uniformly set at the end of the year. For now, I have only been given an amateur ranking, and I suppose that since my information is now in the system, I’m a qualified player. I’ll need to wait until next year before I can apply for a professional rank. That is, after I play in a professional competition… Now that I think about it, this does sound rather troublesome.”

Mr. Fang felt like coughing up blood. Other people probably waited until their hair was white before they could get an amateur rank, but this person complained about how complicated things were despite taking so many shortcuts.

However, before Mr. Fang could say anything, there was a call on Ye Shuang’s phone. It was from an old man. From the tone, he sounded powerful and strong. Mr. Fang could imagine a healthy and cheerful senior on the other end of the phone. Ye Shuang chatted with the senior, and the conversation seemed to revolve around Go. He believed that once Ye Shuang stepped out of the association, the people had already made the call to do the report.

The senior was proud, like he was the one who had taught Ye Shuang. Ye Shuang did not mind playing along, and she managed to make the senior’s day. The senior advised her to finish her forms and hand them to the people at the association as soon as possible, as well as to attend the competition should she receive any notice.

Mr. Fang sighed and decided to keep his thoughts to himself. Since there was someone looking after her, he would not intervene. After confirming that Mr. Fang had no schedule for the rest of the day, Ye Shuang decided to take him home with her. On the way back, she sent Anthony a message telling him to come to her place after work, telling him about the case with Mr. Fang.

When they reached home, it was around 4:30 pm. It was almost time for dinner. Therefore, Anthony appeared, greeted Mr. Fang briefly, and very naturally sitting at the dining table.

No one is serving you food, please sit on the sofa!

Anthony widened his eyes to plead at Ye Shuang. Mr. Fang felt rather awkward, but since Anthony did not seem like he was going to move away from the dining table, he relented and made the move himself. Mr. Fang thus took a seat at the table.

Ye Shuang sighed silently before turning to order Little Brother Ye, “You! Go buy some ingredients!”

“Huh‽ Why me?” Little Brother Ye, who was holding the remote controller, groused with indignation. “There is still food at home, right‽”

This put Mr. Fang in a tough spot. He tried to intervene, but Ye Shuang insisted. In the end, Mr. Fang saw Little Brother Ye being tossed out of the house by his sister.

“Okay, now let’s talk about business.” Anthony held his chin as he looked at Mr. Fang with a smiling face. “Xiao Shuang said that you want to hire me‽ What is the price you’re going to pay, Mr. Fang?”

Mr. Fang turned to look at Ye Shuang. She placed two cups of water between them, sat down, and opened her laptop. “Don’t look at me. You’ve employed Brother Han’s service before, so you should know the industry standard. The searching fee is about twenty-five percent of the annual income, the commission will be thirty percent, and how much you’re paying Tony is none of my business. You’ll need to discuss this among yourselves. I’m here only to ensure that we do not go lower than the lowest number.”

Tony waved his hands. “Yay, so this means we’re discussing this on our own, right? Xiao Shuang won’t get herself involved.”

Mr. Fang was speechless, but he could only turn his head back. Anthony probably did some homework after he received the message, and the questions he asked showcased very clearly that he would only accept if the price was right.

Mr. Fang was silent for a while. “Then what kind of number does Mr. Anthony wish to see?”

He was going to toss the question back to Anthony.

Anthony opened the small laptop before him and flashed a cute smile at Mr. Fang. Then he lowered his head to type something on the laptop before turning it to face Mr. Fang. “What do you think‽”

Mr. Fang sucked in a cold breath. When he saw the screen, he quickly reached out to slam it close.

“Hey! You’ll break it!” Anthony grumbled with dissatisfaction.

Ye Shuang briefly looked up at them. With that one glance, she managed to memorize everything on the screen, but she did not think that she would share that information with Mr. Fang.

Mr. Fang’s face was dark, and he warned severely, “Mr. Anthony, stealing classified business information is illegal!”