Release that Man

After the two that jumped into the water earlier exited the changing room, Yao Zhixing led the two of them out. Zhou Yue, who was shocked beyond belief, had already left the scene. He had probably ben ushered away by his friend to the guest room to rest or something. At the end of the day, he was a guest. Even someone with the worst personality would have friends, and people who were saints would have people saying horrible things behind their backs. Of the guests, some had a business relationship with Zhou Yue’s family, so naturally, some would come to the man’s rescue.

When they were at the parking lot, they did not rush to get into the car and leave for home. Yao Zhixing led them to find that Lin A12345. Ye Shuang walked around the vehicle and opened the car to look inside at its components. She switched on the ignition before coming to a conclusion.

“It’s nothing serious. The tires have been slashed, but the air hasn’t leaked by that much yet. The brake has been tweaked too… but your people are all experienced drivers—if there’s a problem, just release the foot on the gas pedal and slowly change the gear based on speed. When the speed is below 30 mph, just yank the hand brake, and the car can be stopped. It’s nothing dangerous; it just sounds scary.” Ye Shuang sighed in relief after she inspected everything, and she had the mood to make joke when she got out of the car. “Looks like the person who did it wasn’t a professional, so it’s nothing serious.”

Yao Zhixing frowned. “…You’re thinking in the way of a normal driver; my racers will want to drift at every corner, and the fact that the tires are slashed is problematic enough. If they don’t realize the issue with the brake, during the drift, the whole car might even be flung from the road itself. There wouldn’t be any time to ease up on the gas pedal and change gear.”

Ye Shuang choked and said with worry, “You guys play so much even though when it’s not a race.”

Yao Zhixing lit a cigarette and leaned against the car. He looked at Ye Shuang and asked, “What do you think?”

Thinking about it, these people rarely did follow the speed limit when they drove, other than when they were in the city during the day. If it were at night or in the countryside, then the amount of speeding and drifting was unlimited.

Little Brother Ye was confused. He scratched his head and asked, “Sis, this car has been messed with?”

Ye Shuang patted Little Brother Ye’s doggie head. “Hmm, go back to the car with Tony first. I still need to discuss something with Brother Yao…”

Then, she tossed the car key to Anthony and told the man to bring Little Brother Ye away before continuing. “How about you check the brakes and tires for fingerprints or pull out the surveillance footage? Put the man behind bars for the maximum period. If that is not possible, find some ways to teach him a lesson. Perhaps Zhou Yue then will understand the consequence he might face if he continues his acts of stupidity.”

Yao Zhixing thought about it, tossed the half-smoked cigarette on the ground, and stepped on it. “You can stay out of that one; I know what to do about it.”

Then, he sighed and turned to glance at Ye Shuang. “The purpose of calling you out tonight is for you to show yourself, but in the end, the party made you even more enemies. By the way, remember to help me look into the cold chain business.”

Ye Shuang had access to Han Chu’s talent storage. After the period of familiarizing herself with the work, Ye Shuang knew almost everything that needed to be known. Even though the talent scout storage would not have talents that owned their own business, from former accepted cases, it should not be too hard to find a client that was in the transportation business.

Cold chain management would have warehouses or drop spots in major cities. If he just asked around, Yao Zhixing would be able to find out a few on his own. The biggest issue of changing partner was not finding a partner but the size of San Lin City. Some might have set up a drop spot here, but the resources available were not good. Some might have the resources, but their channel would be directed to bigger cities like Shanghai first. If not for the fact that Father Zhou originated from San Lin City, when his business reached a certain size, he would not have opened a supply chain here. To be honest, a normal grade seafood chain was already enough to satisfy the requirement in San Lin City.

“What do you think about Noah?” A suitable candidate came to Ye Shuang’s mind immediately. “I remember Noah Organization has a hand in cold chain management, and their size is quite big in Beijing. San Lin City is handled by Fang Mo. Even though his company mainly deals in real estate, but it shouldn’t be too difficult for him to request the addition of a cold chain drop point in San Lin City. Actually, small cities have the market, but the market at other places is simply bigger, so there has been no reason to open a channel to San Lin City. However, with the request from an insider, it should still be doable.”

High-end resources were naturally the part that Yao Zhixing needed; the rest of the space could be used to cooperate with supermarkets that needed medium to low grade seafood… In any case, it wouldn’t be a losing business. However, fighting for the cooperation with the other supermarkets would not be easy. After all, they already had a cooperative partner. If they suddenly changed partners, how were they going to explain themselves to their former partner‽

Therefore, other than Yao Zhixing, if Fang Mo really wanted to do this, he needed to contact a lot more people. Yao Zhixing was someone with a speedy personality. When he heard that, he nodded. “Then I shall go pay Fang Mo a visit next Wednesday. After all, I won’t let him lose money. If the drop point is really fixed, I’ll try to pull as many people with me as I can.”

Fang Mo obviously would have a period of business incoming. He already had to deal with his sister’s marriage, and now he needed to expand his business. Ye Shuang mourned the man silently for three seconds before waving goodbye. “Then I shall make my leave first. I’m sure the two of you can talk it out among yourselves.”

What she meant was that she would stay out of the matter. This business would be considered exchanging information between friends and not a headhunting case. If Ye Shuang intervened to discuss the details, then it would be considered a business deal. In that case, when everything was set up and Ye Shuang explained it was just a favor for a friend, would Yao Zhixing accept it‽ Therefore, she stated that beforehand, and Yao Zhixing himself would have to deal with the details and negotiation on his own.

It had nothing to do with Ye Shuang anymore.

The fireworks, the punching, the inspection of the car, and finally driving from the countryside back to their own home… After the night of event, when Ye Shuang’s group reached home, it was almost 6 am.

The day was short for winter, and even though it was 6 am, the sky was still dark. However, if they went back to bed, they wouldn’t have much time to sleep. In that case, they decided to brew cups of coffee to wait for breakfast time to come.

The few hours flew by playing on the computer or reading some novels. When Father and Mother Ye woke up, there was another wave of congratulations and New Year greetings. Then Anthony shamelessly followed the Ye family as they visited the houses of relatives and friends. Then, he joined Ye Shuang as she played with the little kids.

The young people played on their own, and the others ignored them. The elder generation liked to sit down to chat during holidays. Even though, normally, they would have chatted for a while if they ran into each other, the atmosphere was just better during holidays when they had nothing else more important in their schedule to rush to. After the red packets had been given out, the kids were sent away to play on their own. People from the same age bundled off for a walk outside, and it was then that some of the aunties leaned over to ask Mother Ye, “Is that foreigner your Shuang Shuang’s new boyfriend?”

This was a common topic among the elderly. Even though the question was nothing new, the way it was phrased rubbed Mother Ye the wrong way. She frowned, thinking to herself, What new boyfriend‽

Using this description around a young lady did not feel like the correct thing to do. Her lips opened, and she just wanted to say something when Father Ye, who sat beside her, used his elbow to silently push her. Then this university lecturer took a sip of the warm tea and slowly explained the situation. “We are not intervening in the relationship of the youngsters that much these days. Xiao Shuang is already not that young, so who knows what might happen in the future? But for this year, it’s mainly because Tony is too lonely at our country alone, and since he’s a good friend with Xiao Feng so on a day like this, he asked to tag along so that he has something to do. After all, we’re not lacking chopsticks, so we just allowed it.”

Listen carefully, the good relationship is with the son and the daughter!

When Brother Shuang showed himself to the world, to hide this new persona that suddenly appeared in Ye Shuang and since they had not come up with a joint explanation beforehand so when the situation appeared, the Ye family had hastily said that this Brother Shuang was Sister Shuang’s lover. However, when they calmed down and thought about it, they realized that they should not have used that explanation.

What was the thing that Ye Shuang desperately need‽ A boyfriend to settle down her gender. But after the news travelled around the neighborhood, the identity of herself as the boyfriend had completely sealed that path. No matter how professional or how beautiful their daughter might get in the future, if she had a relationship with another man under the impression that she already had a boyfriend, just how bad would her name become‽ What would the people around the neighborhood say about her‽

In any case, the Ye family was too shamed to think about it. If the future son-in-law really did show up, if he just asked around the neighborhood, he would hear many rumors, and the result could be predicted.

Because of this, the Ye family had been trying their best to come up with a patch to deal with the earlier bug. No matter what they had said before, now they had to do their best to fix Ye Shuang’s name. The reason Father and Mother Ye were so willing to have their daughter move out of the house was because it would be hard to hide the constant body swapping from the familiar neighbors.

While what Father Ye said was beautiful, if one listened closer, it was a whole load of nothingness. Basically, he said that he was not going to say anything until the real son-in-law had been decided.

Anthony‽ The man is not bad, and he is good friend with our Xiao Feng. You want to ask what is his relationship with our Xiao Shuang‽ Ha ha, we do not know the connections between the young people.

After Father Ye spoke, the uncles and aunties that were present mocked him internally for being an old fox.

Mother Ye also reacted fast. Since she was used to work together with her husband, she immediately concurred and added, “That’s right, honestly, Tony is quite a good man and always give additional tuition to our Xiao Feng for English. But I can’t say anything about the situation with Shuang Shuang. In any case, Tony has a personality that is friendly with everyone.”

This was the added push to clarify the relationship between Anthony with Ye Shuang.

Whether or not Anthony will pursue our daughter in the future, who knows? In any case, our thoughts about it are very pure, and we haven’t thought about it from that perspective… Hmm‽ Don’t tell me you already have? Then that’s not our problem!

Therefore, after Father Ye, even Mother Ye was silently mocked by the crowd. Of course, after staying beside the wolf for so long, even a rabbit would gain an extra tail. How come we never notice Madam Ye’s ability to speak out of two mouths before this‽

At the same time, on the other end, Ye Shuang was reconnecting with her friends from the past. As the people from the same age group, living in the same neighborhood, they knew each other but were not close.

Ye Shuang had always been a member of the crowd. She had not been that pretty, her occupation had not been that impressive, and she had not earned much. In any case, she had maintained the average standard for a young woman in their neighborhood. But suddenly, one day, her friends realized that Ye Shuang had dragged herself away from the rest of them.

The first thing that happened was the girl’s appearance became more exquisite, and her body became shapelier. Second was the improvement to the girl’s presence. Initially, everyone was almost the same, but now, the girl could talk from food to economy, and she did all this with a humility and presence that could only be mastered with plenty of social experience.

Last were her assets. According to rumors, Ye Shuang had bought a new place and moved out from home. According to rumors, Ye Shuang drove a car that cost tens of thousands. According to rumors, someone saw Ye Shuang having high tea with friends at certain high-end restaurants.

The friends were shocked; how come they did not notice such a character within their midst before this‽

Anthony helped Ye Shuang share half of the attention. A part of the people was quite interested in this cute golden retriever, and the golden retriever was very friendly and had a good mastery of Chinese, so they could chat quite easily.

However, the other half was not that easy to deal with. A gathering between friends was none other than to form relationships, compare achievements, and share resources.

You’ve made a name for yourself‽ Congratulations, then when are you going to do favors for your old friends‽

Giving favors was the easiest way to create trouble. If she promised, then she would definitely find things to do when she could be free. If she did not accept, then it would seem she was so heartless. Ye Shuang used one simple sentence to resolve this complicated issue. “Sure, how about I bring all of you with me when I visit the teachers from the Go association tomorrow?”

Go association? Teachers‽

The old friends were stunned. Wait, didn’t they say she was working at some high-end job‽

Ye Shuang revealed the answer to the question that was on their mind. “Actually, I’m trying to take the examination for to become a certified Go player, and the result of the examination will be announced in a few days. If I can join the competition, the reward money will be not bad if I win. After that, there are opportunities for sponsorship and teaching classes. If you’re interested, I can introduce a few quality Go-learning classes…”

F*ck! She’s going the intellectual route‽

Therefore, the few old friends who tried to finagle a favor earlier all retreated. They had no use for this kind of favor. After all, how many young people knew how to play Go these days‽

And they also had a new understanding of the sudden windfall that happened to Ye Shuang. As Go players, the income would come from many other channels. What was the meaning of these other channels‽ The examples included prizes, sponsorships, and classes. There was not a standard to gauge these things; they were mostly based on your ability and your capability to manage your self-image.

None of them were familiar with this profession, so none of them knew for sure how Ye Shuang managed to buy a new home and new car with just playing Go. In any case, they were certain Ye Shuang had worked hard for all she had acquired that year.

When Father Ye and Mother Ye called for them to return, Ye Shuang waved goodbye to her gang of old friends and led Anthony as well as Little Brother Ye to return home.

“What were you all discussing earlier?” Mother Ye asked as they walked home. “It looks quite exciting.”

“It’s nothing. I just blinded them with a new profession.” With regards to character setting, Ye Shuang had to communicate it with her family first. After all, it was these two elders who would need to answer the questions around the neighborhood. “My headhunting job is not that easy to be explained and revealed. If there are too many people who come to ask for favors, it’ll be too troublesome. Therefore, I told them I’m a professional Go player.”

Is it really okay to say that you have lied so openly‽

Father Ye looked at Anthony before turning to look at Ye Shuang. He eventually realized there was no need to keep this topic a secret; therefore, he coughed and added, “Since they’re both part time jobs, so it should be fine. However, it is indeed understandable if you explain to others you work at the Go association. They are paying you after all…”

He was trying to find an excuse for his daughter. Even if it was a real lie, there had to be some justification to stress that Ye Shuang was not doing this on purpose; there was a reason behind it. Anthony played happily on his phone. He did not mind that Ye Shuang had just lied; he also did not seem to understand the meaning that was hidden in Father Ye’s words.

Father Ye was still closely observing Anthony’s expression when Ye Shuang sighed in a tone of helplessness. “Dad, you don’t need to worry about how Tony thinks. He is a greater mastermind than I am, so he will not be surprised by a little white lie like this. I merely exaggerated the truth—that is much more innocent than what he’d normally do.”

That finally garnered a response from Anthony. He raised his face with indignation, and he pouted his cheeks as he looked at Ye Shuang. Mother Ye felt sorry for the golden retriever instantly, and she glared at Ye Shuang, “What are you talking about‽”

She pushed the back of her daughter’s head lightly before pulling her away from the group. “By the way, I have something that I need to discuss with you. Come with me.”

What did she want‽ But since it needed to be discussed in private, then it had to be something that cannot be shared with other people.

As Ye Shuang got dragged away, she turned to look at Anthony. The man naturally put the big headphones on with a smile and flashed his row of pearly whites at Ye Shuang, showing no intention to hide the fact that he was going to do something bad. Ye Shuang smiled back at the man and very expertly reached into Mother Ye’s pocket to grab her phone and toss it to Little Brother Ye. “Take this back home and put it on charge for Mother.”

“Why are you doing that? I just charged it this morning. Never mind, that’s not important!” Mother Ye grumbled before continuing to walk away. Ye Shuang ignored Mother Ye’s grumbling and turned back to look. As she expected, Anthony lowered his head with disappointment and pulled the big headphones off his head.

The damn kid, he really thought I didn’t know about the type of phone bug that can be activated as long as it is within a certain distance‽

The men looked on as the two cooks at home ditched them and walked away. They looked at each other before shrugging and returning home to wait for the female members of the family to return.

On the other hand, when Mother Ye exited the stairwell, she could not help herself and asked, “Do you have the intention of developing a romantic relationship with Anthony‽”

Ye Shuang could not help but shiver. “Mom, why would you ever think that‽”

“But I saw you have been looking at him constantly!” Mother Ye pointed out her observation before starting the list Anthony’s good points. “Even though he is a foreigner, Tony is an orphan, so he wouldn’t need to go back to America to visit his parents. So, the chance of him staying here permanently to keep you company is quite high, and I don’t think there is much problem with that.

“If we are just discussing his qualification, actually, Tony has a good job with high income. He graduated from a good school and is quite handsome. The best part is he has the best personality of all the people I have ever met, so it is not illogical for you to have interest in him.”

Thinking back to how Anthony managed to bully the group of ruffians until they vomited blood inside the alley and then connecting it to Mother Ye’s evaluation of the man having the best personality, Ye Shuang could not help but shake her head. “We are just friends, and we have no intention of moving beyond that in the near future.”

The disappointment on Mother Ye’s face was apparent. “So there’s no chance…”

Ye Shuang shook her head with determination to confirm.

Thankfully, Mother Ye was not that easily defeated. After that brief period of disappointment, she quickly recovered. Putting away the Anthony that her daughter had openly rejected, she arranged the thoughts in her mind before she opened her lips to say, “It’s like this… You see, it’s already New Year, do you have any romantic targets in your life?”

Ye Shuang gave her mother face to think about it for half a minute before shaking her head with sincerity. “Absolutely not!”

They are all my good buddies!

Mother Ye sighed. “There’s no sign of a boyfriend after so long‽ Then what are you going to do about your physical situation?”

Indeed, what was she going to do about her physical situation‽

Not only was the Ye family hoping for Ye Shuang to find a person whom she could hand the rest of her life to as soon as possible, actually Ye Shuang herself was concerned about this. However, being concerned and taking actions were two completely different things. For one, she had just gained a new job, and she was still familiarizing herself with the job scope. For two, Ye Shuang did not have the self-awareness that was instilled in one’s subconscious. Since she did not see herself in that manner, naturally, she would not be attracting people who might be interested in her.

This self-awareness was actually a way of thinking. For example, inside a working office, a male worker might help a female worker buy her lunch. The girl had been reading romance novels, and she would imagine herself in the plot of the novel, thinking, Ah, could he be interested in me‽ If he has no interest in me, he wouldn’t have bought food for me! Yes, that has to be it.

Therefore, the girl would show some response, and after the man was exposed to the girl’s interest, if both parties were interested, then a relationship might begin. However, if the same thing happened to Ye Shuang, her first reaction would definitely be to take out her wallet and ask, “How much is it? Your treat‽ Wonderful, bro, you’re the best. I’ll treat you back next time…”

Therefore, with this rationale stuck in her mind, even if the man had interest, as long as he did not voice it out loud, Ye Shuang would never know that the man had interest in her. After knocking into the wall again and again, even the toughest of man would be chased away from her. In the end, they would end up as buddies instead of romantic partners.

After her appearance and presence received an upgrade, Ye Shuang had run into guys who gave her the seat on public transport, guys who helped her with her luggage on the plane, guys who allowed her to cut in line… There were so many opportunities, but this woman always thought they were being kind to her. She did not notice their real intention, not even once.

Therefore, it was understandable how low the chance of Ye Shuang finding herself a boyfriend was, no matter how urgent Ye Shuang herself was feeling.

Without explanation, Mother Ye saw the expression on her daughter’s face, and she understood everything instantly. She could not help but sigh. “Never mind but I have a few candidates to introduce to you. I hear they all come from good families. When are you free to come meet them‽”