Release that Man

To avoid Albert, Ye Shuang had spent almost one entire month outside of San Lin City. This period when she was not around had indeed been a bit too long, so all of her friends in San Lin City were more than a bit confused. Some of them even suspected that she had moved to another city.

There was no need to say what had happened to An Zixuan. Without his God, he could not even muster the willpower to have his meal. On the other hand, while Yao Zhixing did not notice that much due to his lack of focus—in reality, even when Ye Shuang was in San Lin City, they did not meet up that often—it did not take away from his friends that would dig holes for him. One of them was Fang Mo.

Ever since Fang Fei started to courageously pursue her real love and thus broke up her engagement with An Zixuan, Fang Mo could not have been more worried about this little sister of his. He had to help his sister find a good man to ‘marry’ before their family in Beijing did something crazy. At the very least, he had to find a good meat shield first. Therefore, Fang Mo had no choice but to use Yao Zhixing as the temporary solution.

He truly had done everything for this crazy bet. He did not inform anyone involved of the details before he made the decision. He ran away from the main family after dropping Yao family’s name. Then, before people could realize what was happening, he quickly went to find Yao Zhixing and then very nervously admitted his sin; he was betting on Yao Zhixing’s loyalty and morality.

However, Fang Mo did not expect that… or perhaps he really did not have any better idea… Yao Zhixing did not mind that much when it was those smaller things, but it did not mean that he was willing to sacrifice himself when it came to issues that involved his family’s reputation.

Therefore, Yao Zhixing naturally denied the news of the engagement. However, he tried his best to give the man face and did not reveal that this was all Fang Mo’s own doing. Regardless, everyone pretty much could tell what had really happened.

No one was that dumb. The groom of the so-called engagement had come out to deny the news personally, and combined with Fang Fei’s recent reputation, what was there not to understand?

Of course, this thing itself was not that important. Even though Fang Mo was still worried, since he had borrowed Yao Zhixing’s name, he managed to drag some time from Beijing’s old family. Furthermore, it was said that he had found a new chip to fight with his main family, to fight for the beautiful future of his little sister.

However, the main point was that Yao Zhixing’s family was shaken by this ‘misunderstanding’.

Something was not right! Even though their son’s engagement was just a rumor, it was also true that Yao Zhixing had not brought home a girlfriend since he was young. Yao Zhixing’s family was suddenly hit in the head by this realization. They were reminded of the fact that Yao Zhixing had been single for so many years.

What should they do‽ Before this, they had tried to set Yao Zhixing up with someone, but he always ignored them, and whenever there was a party, instead of mingling with the female guests, he would join the group of dudes. Thus, the Yao family started to worry.

Could Yao Zhixing be gay‽ Due to the existence of a bad example and considering how their son had never treated a woman as a woman before, the Yao family could not help themselves from succumbing to the terror and panic.

There were two reasons Fang Mo reached out to Yao Zhixing was help—one was due to his sense of loyalty to his friend, and the second was due to his matching age. There was something that was worth bringing up here—Fang Fei was already twenty-five and Yao Zhixing was running toward thirty. Of course, there were examples of late marriages in life, but with a personality like Yao Zhixing’s, the Yao family could not help but worry. They were worried that Yao Zhixing was going to be like this even when he was reaching forty. If that was the case, when were they going to get a suitable daughter-in-law?

Therefore, when Yao Zhixing once again invited his lackeys over to his place for dinner, Mother and Father Yao could not resist anymore. They sat down with the group of youngsters and started to ask them about Yao Zhixing’s personal relationships, hoping that they could come across some useful information.

It was from this trial that Ye Shuang’s name made its first appearance at the Yao family.

When Yao Zhixing came back from the toilet and noticed the shifting wind in his family, the atmosphere in the living room changed from a low temperature with barren wasteland to spring breeze and blooming cherry blossoms—Yao Zhixing felt chills running up his spine.

After finishing the incredibly awkward dinner, before Yao Zhixing had the chance to go out for a race with his lackeys, with Sister Yao starting the action and Mother and Father Yao clearing the scene, the family of three managed to lock Yao Zhixing at home and demanded that he bring his girlfriend home for them to see.

What the f*ck? When did I have a girlfriend?

Then, after Yao Zhixing finally got the whole process from his family and was about to find that group of minions to teach them a lesson, he found that his parents had already sent them off, and he had no way to argue himself out of this. The eyes of the public were always snow white. A lie, if repeated often enough, would be accepted as truth—that was the first time Yao Zhixing understood the true meaning of that idiom.

“So, you wish for me to come to your place for dinner and then explain everything personally to your parents?”

Hugging the phone, Ye Shuang was feeling speechless. A few days ago, she had been spending all of her time on the cruise, so there had been no signal for her to make a call. Yao Zhixing did not want to talk about something so private through text, so it was not until then that Ye Shuang realized that someone had created such a huge problem for her in San Lin City.

Yao Zhixing was feeling conflicted as well. “My family will not believe anything I say, so you must appear to make them believe it.”

How come Yao Zhixing’s words were of such low value to his family?

Actually, it was not really a problem of credibility. Human beings had the tendency to believe their own bias. This was not the first time that the Yao family had worried about Yao Zhixing’s future, but previously, this worry had been like a constant fixture in their life, similar to how Mother Yao would be worried whether Yao Zhixing had enough layers when he left home during the winter season. After she repeated it for so many times, both of them had kind of gotten immune to it.

However, the investigation this time was such a surprise. Due to what had happened with Fang Mo, Mother and Father Yao had a few more grumbling than usual, and due to this additional contrast, they could not have been more shocked and surprised when they found out there was still a female creature close to their son.

Why did they pay such close attention to Ye Shuang? It was because she was able to stand next to Yao Zhixing and not be pushed away. The Yao family was already rich enough—of course, if their business grew bigger, it would be always better, but maintaining their current size was not that bad either.

There was a difference between one hundred and one thousand; however, if you add a million to both of them, then the difference was not really a difference.

In any case, it meant that they had more than enough money to spend, and the numbers were just nothing more than numbers.

Also, if they could just take one step back and look at the situation—this Ye Shuang might not be worse than a daughter-in-law from a powerful family. There were two things that a daughter from a famous family would bring to her in-law—one was finesse. Since Ye Shuang was able to get the approval of all the second generation in Yao Zhixing’s racing group, this went to show her power of finesse. The second was connections. To be honest, Yao Zhixing did not need any connection in San Lin City; any socialite next to him would become nothing more than an attachment.

Of course, the other examination had to be done when they met the girl in person. However, just based on the fact that this was the first female that their son had been able to accept in the last thirty years, in reality, even if they managed to find some fault with Ye Shuang, Mother and Father Ye were already prepared to grit their teeth and accept everything… as long as she was not a murderer or arsonist.

“Do you really want me to go with you?” Ye Shuang was speechless. “Brother Yao, have you considered this? Recently, the rumors have already been flying all over the place. If I really pay your family a visit, even if I manage to explain the situation to your parents, it’ll be impossible to explain to the public. After some time and everyone has silently accepted this as the truth, maybe your parents might have the idea that it was not so bad to treat the rumors as the truth?”

“We’ll decide what to do when that happens!” Yao Zhixing was the type that lived his life day by day. To make him worry about stuff that had not happened was something that was no different from scouring his heart. “Just come to my place as a guest. Are you afraid that my family will kidnap you to go for a registration? Oh, by the way, the modification to your car has been done, and the key has been handed over to Han Chu, did he tell you that?”

“Not yet, what modification has been done?” Ye Shuang could not help but be worried. “I need the car for everyday use, not for racing. Please don’t make it too obvious. If I get flagged down by the police on the road, I’m going to ask those bunch of kids to fix it by giving me their license.”

“It’s fine. They made sure that everything is hidden to the plain eye other than the exhaust pipe, which is a bit eye-catching. Cough!  If the traffic police gives you any trouble, you just drop the name of X X X…”

The two then got distracted from their original topic. After ten minutes, when Ye Shuang hung up, got out of a warm shower, crawled into bed, and had closed her eyes for five minutes, she suddenly realized what had happened, and she jumped up in bed. What the f*ck! I forgot to talk to him about the meeting his parents deal!

Calling back did not seem like the good idea—the timing was not that correct, and she was afraid that she might disturb the man’s sleep. Therefore, Ye Shuang thought about it and decided to send some messages. She was supposed to return the next day according to her schedule, but she delayed it another three days. She also sent the same message to Han Chu, probably to find someone to back up her story. When she received the reply from both Yao Zhixing and Han Chu, Ye Shuang leaned back in bed and finally went to sleep.

…

The next day, Brother Shuang appeared, and he had a meeting with Zuo Yuanhang that afternoon. Albert’s investigation results, analysis, and proof were handed directly to Zuo Yuanhang, but that did not mean the end of the case. They needed to wait for Zuo Yuanhang to discern the authenticity and value of the report, and then after making sure everything was in place, he would pay the rest of the money.

Therefore, it had fallen on Ye Shuang’s shoulder to finish up the case. Then she would need to ask Zuo Yuanhang to fill in their working record and customer satisfaction survey. This survey was basically whether Zuo Yuanhang was happy with Albert’s work or not. This was related to the headhunter’s mission completion rate and satisfaction rate, and it would also indirectly affect Han Chu and Ye Shuang’s business reputation.

If Zuo Yuanhang had any other request, Ye Shuang could also provide the necessary service of a different talent directly. To explain it via the terminology of an online game, this was to see whether she could trigger a quest chain.

“Please take a seat.” When she arrived at Zuo Yuanhang’s office, the man was busy correcting his business documents. A few days ago, the suspect of his wife’s extra-marital affair had been exposed, and yesterday, that affair had been confirmed. However, this drastic change did not seem to have affected Zuo Yuanhang’s tight schedule and everyday life.

Those who were used to making plans knew about the importance of leaving a space for accidents to happen, or else when it really happened, an accident could completely ruin a tight schedule, causing a domino effect that could lead to serious repercussions.

Obviously, Zuo Yuanhang had left some wiggle room for his family. He had probably come up with the solution for any problems that might arise—although the best scenario was his wife helping him arranging all the familial business without dragging him down, if there was a sudden change in their plans, it was not something that was totally unacceptable.

Ye Shuang sat down across from Zuo Yuanhang. She looked at the clock and realized that she had only been given fifteen minutes. She went silent for a moment to arrange her thoughts, and when she saw Zuo Yuanhang put the document down and close the cap of his pen, she asked, “Does Mr. Zuo have any problems with our investigation results?”

“No.” Zuo Yuanhang raised his brow and nodded calmly. “I am very satisfied with the service that you have provided this time, both the situation of my ex-wife and the possibility of Elder Lee might retire and migrate to Australia. You have helped me save plenty of trouble and prevent the future possibility of danger.”

“Ex-wife?” Ye Shuang was stunned and shocked. “Have already finalized the divorce with your wife?”

“Yes, the documents were signed at 8 am this morning.” Ye Shuang looked at the unaffected Zuo Yuanhang, and she was quite speechless. She honestly had not met someone as methodical as this. Other people’s divorce proceedings would normally drag on for several days or even months. Even if one was not going to discuss the issue of separation and money, shouldn’t they at least give their other half some time to explain their situation or some time to pack their bags? The divorce had been at 8 am that morning. Had the man gone to the office as soon as it opened? This way, it would not have affected the man’s schedule for the rest of the day.

After a short cough, Ye Shuang was feeling conflicted. “Do you not want to clarify the authenticity of our investigation? Or put it this way, don’t you want to consider other possible alternative proposals? The divorce might have a negative impact on your son and daughter. Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider this?”

“There is no need.” Zuo Yuanhang shook his head. He glanced at the time on the table, rarely impatiently cracked his knuckles, and tapped on the surface of the table. “Before the marriage, we arranged a prenuptial agreement, and on the day of marriage, she also signed a divorce agreement. All the preparations for the divorce have been prepared from the very beginning. I was sure to describe to her in detail the responsibility and roles that each of us would have to do in this marriage, but she has violated her part of the contract, so from that moment onward, this cooperation has been deemed a failure, and any other reason beyond that is just an excuse.”

After another pause, Zuo Yuanhang gave his closing conclusion. “I will not cooperate with a person who has a ruined reputation a second time.”

Ye Shuang had no words.

After another cough, Ye Shuang turned back to her earlier question. “Then I take it you have confirmed the validity of the report, right?”

“Do you hope that your report from your own investigation is mistaken?” Zuo Yuanhang frowned and tossed him a confused look. He thought about it and said, “I asked her yesterday, and she has admitted to the affair.”

Wait, what‽ How did you ask that?

Ye Shuang was stunned out of her mind. This was the first time she saw someone lie down into the coffin without any struggle.

“If we wanted to start an investigation, the payment and the time exhausted for this investigation will need to have been borne by her. To put it simply, if she was really innocent, then she would have been fine, but if she was exposed to be lying, she would have been in serious debt. A normal person should know how to choose, right?” Zuo Yuanhang said very plainly.

Once again, Ye Shuang’s speech faculties failed her.

But, if viewed from another perspective, Ye Shuang could not say that she did not understand Mrs. Zuo’s perspective. Zuo Yuanhang was the type to separate personal from the official. His personality was one of absolute rationality, and personal emotion was such a small part of his life. Therefore, it was impossible to talk to this man about mercy and emotions, but there was one very good thing about him. Zuo Yuanhang was not one to hold onto grudges… unless of course, one asked for it. Normally, Zuo Yuanhang was not one to push someone to the edge of their life. The account would be cleared once and for all, everyone had their chance to voice their grievances, and after that was over, no one would bring up the old news anymore.

It was because of this that Mrs. Zuo had the courage to come clean. She was very familiar with the personality of her partner-cum-husband. When they got married and she was served all these papers, she had probably already known what was up. She believed that even if she admitted to her affair, Zuo Yuanhang was not a man who would come after her. At the very least, she would have to leave the family without any money to her name.

Ye Shuang thought about it, and there really was nothing she could say. Therefore, she changed the subject and asked, “Then, Mrs. Zuo’s… I mean, what about your ex-wife’s lover?”

“He was fired this morning.” Zuo Yuanhang started to arrange the documents that he would need to review next. The meeting time was almost over, and he did not want to continue this conversation anymore. “Whether there is a need to lay charges, that is dependent on my lawyer. However, after the divorce with my ex-wife, the things that he has done have definitely been exposed, so even if he stays, there is no way that we will be able to lure out the culprit.

“I am in the middle of arranging the people who have been bought out, and if there is a chance for cooperation in the future, I will contact you all again. By the way, the rest of the payment will be sent to the account this afternoon. You can go and check with the bank teller at twelve noon or just pay attention to your phone messages.”

When Zuo Yuanhang said twelve noon, it would definitely be twelve noon. It might be earlier, but it would not be late even by one second.

After leaving Zuo Yuanhang’s office, this case was considered to be over and successful. When she left the office of the Si Hai Organization, with her exceptional eye sight, Ye Shuang noticed a couple chatting at the corner of the café on the second floor at the building across the street. The female was Mrs. Zuo, and the male was naturally Mrs. Zuo’s lover.

The man probably did not expect that Zuo Yuanhang would deal with everything so quickly and perfectly. For a normal person, even when they discovered that their company had been infiltrated, they would not have cleaned up everything so quickly. If given enough time, they would have been able to hide some more hidden threats before they were asked to leave. Unfortunately, Zuo Yuanhang was not a normal person; the man’s logical thinking was so out of this world that others would not be able to understand it.

Because of this, the man’s face was anxious and dark. The trap that he had been preparing for so long had been ruined with one shot from the enemy. All his preparation had gone up in smoke, so how could he not be angry?

Especially after he found out Mrs. Zuo left the family without anything…

Even her right to visit the kids had been stripped, meaning the man had no chance to even make use of that opening, so he was made even angrier. Now, Mrs. Zuo was a ruined chess piece for the man; she had become completely useless.

Ye Shuang put her hands in her pocket as she stood across from the street. She lifted her head and leaned against the wall, watching the man gesture wildly while Mrs. Zuo, who sat across from the man, had her head lowered and did not say anything.

There was a box next to the man, and it was filled with personal affect that he received when he had been chased out of the company.

There was also a suitcase next to Mrs. Zuo. From the looks of things, she was not there to say goodbye to the man. Perhaps she was there to say that she could finally leave the place with him.

Alas…