Release that Man

Regarding Xu Jian’s first girlfriend, as the young man’s uncle, Xu He had actually heard about it before. However, this kind of young love was considered a rite of passage by most of the family members. Very few of them really thought that the young couple could walk the distance. Therefore, they would not treat the couple seriously. They did not take the effort to memorize the situation of the girl seriously… because to be frank, they did not expect the relationship to last long.

And reality proved that they were correct; the young love did not end up bearing fruits. The immaturity due to youth, the misconception they had on responsibility, the different background that was formed due to their different experience, and many other things all caused the young couple to break up. The so-called first love was for them to brush up on their experience.

Uncle Xu He had completely forgotten about his nephew’s past relationship. However, he had some memory of another name that Xu Jian brought up.

“At the time… during my university years, wasn’t there always a young boy who came to visit very often? You helped attend his parent-teacher meeting by pretending to be his father a few times?” Xu Jian tried his best to remind his uncle.

It finally hit Xu He. “Are you talking about Ye Feng? But how is he related to your girlfriend?”

Xu Jian was speechless for another moment. “That is his big sister!”

The uncle and nephew each had something that they wanted to know from the other. As they traded information, they had been trying to test the other. Xu He did not take long to find the related memory in his mind, and Xu Jian also swiftly managed to find out what had happened over the past week from his uncle’s lips.

As it turned out, Ye Shuang did not give it a rest like he had expected. Even if she could not find him, she did not rest and went to the Xu family to create some problems. During this past year, even though Ye Shuang’s name had grown quite a bit at San Lin City, and even Xu He had heard about her a few times, if one was really pulling hairs about her stance, no one knew that she was already targeting the Xi Hwa Organization. After all, she was only the agent and not the executive person. In the many cases that were against the Xi Hwa Organization, the person who stepped forth to fight the Xi Hwa Organization was not her but someone else.

Therefore, when this woman who looked like she had some tricks up her sleeves, once had a relationship with his nephew, and did not have an actual opposing record with himself appeared in Xu He’s sight, the perfect opportunity presented itself. Due to Yao Zhixing and a few other heavy weights, Xu He was unable to break into the upper circle of San Lin City even though he had been trying for so long. If Ye Shuang was on his side, if Ye Shuang was willing to help him, then it would be perfect.

Therefore, just as Xu Jian was debating whether or not to ignore the problem that had been tossed his way by his uncle, Xu He opened his lips to say in a probing manner, “Xiao Jian, I think that girl is not bad, and your parents seem to have a positive impression of her. She has a good job and looks pretty. Why don’t you give it another try?”

Xu Jian almost coughed out blood. “Uncle, you know about my reputation at San Lin City…”

After clearing his throat, Xu He said seriously, “No one said that there has to be something between you and An Zixuan. At most, people will say he’s interested in you.”

Back when Xu He was using Xu Jian to get the opening at An Corps, he never did give his nephew any clear instructions. The two’s tricks were a bit under the table, but they had never discussed what to do.

Xu He had only arranged Xu Jian to get to know An Zixuan and taught his nephew how to get the attention of this big character. Only after An Zixuan fell for the hook did Xu Jian come to know of the man’s sexual orientation, and he was hesitant for a moment. In the end, due to the allure of the bright future, he chose to act dumb. Xu He also pretended like he did not know anything; he did not approach Xu Jian to tell him what to do or even once ask Xu Jian about An Zixuan’s attitude. There was a silent agreement among them like Xu Jian purely got An Zixuan’s admiration and not like there was a relationship between the two of them.

After Xu Jian got deeper into the company, Xu He started communicating with Xu Jian, asking him about the financial information of An Corps. Xu Jian was not worried about his reputation at An Corps and the stance that he had, and he agreed to help his uncle without much consideration. Therefore, Xu Jian and Xu He had already been cooperating, but technically speaking, the two had not stated clearly what their intention were to each other.

What happened next was the involvement of Ye Shuang and Anthony. After Xu Jian was played a fool, he turned over a new leaf. After he left San Lin City and thought back to the incident that happened, he had a feeling that Xu He was not someone moral. However, Xu Jian was surprised that was only the tip of the iceberg, and a bigger truth had been revealed when he returned to San Lin City again.

The conflict within Xu Jian’s heart was not small. On one hand, he did not want to see his biological uncle being targeted like that, but on the other hand, it would be difficult for Xu Jian to put everything on the table and remind his uncle that he had been exposed.

He did not want to choose, so he had elected to escape from San Lin City. However, while it looked like Ye Shuang had chosen to not pressure him, in reality, she purposely went to show herself around Xu He.

Xu He definitely would not give up a prime chess piece like Ye Shuang, and to take advantage of this piece, he had to go through Xu Jian.

Either help Ye Shuang or help Xu He… The uncle was not as easily ignored as Ye Shuang.

How would Xu Jian choose?

At noon the next day, Ye Shuang found out the answer.

Xu Jian put on his armor and reentered the fray. He visited Ye Shuang’s apartment, but unfortunately, it was the day for Brother Shuang to shine. He did not find the person that he was looking for. Ye Shuang saw Xu Jian and opened the door with a warm smile. “Come in, I know about your plan.”

When Xu Jian saw Brother Shuang, he prepared to leave and come back later. However, he hesitated once he heard what Brother Shuang had to say. In the end, he lifted his legs to walk into the room. “Xiao Shuang has told you about it?”

“Yeah, and I know if you are forced to make a choice, you will not choose your uncle.” Ye Shuang helped Xu Jian pour a glass of water and added with a smile, “You have your parents to care about, so you definitely will not walk the same path your uncle did. That is a path with no return. Furthermore, cheating on other people’s feelings is one thing, but if it really touches the law, not many are that courageous.”

Xu Jian nodded silently. He took a sip of the glass and sighed helplessly. “Since you already know about my uncle, why don’t you find a chance to directly get close to him? Why must you go through me?”

“Getting close to your uncle is easy, but gaining his trust and gaining access to some confidential information will not be easy.” Ye Shuang shook her head. “Even though sometimes blood relatives are not that reliable, under normal circumstances, blood relationships are natural connections, and people will not be as alert around their kin.”

Xu Jian did not say anything. He looked around the room and asked, “Where’s Xiao Shuang?”

“She’s out on a case. She’ll come back tomorrow. Are you looking for her?” Ye Shuang was curious. Why did the man need to talk to Sister Shuang and not Brother Shuang? She only needed to ask him to pretend for a few times. As a man, Xu Jian had nothing to lose. Furthermore, the effect of the influence would be limited to the Xu family. They did not really need to meet in person to discuss something so small, right?

Xu Jian sighed. “I just want to ask, how did she manage to convince my parents within a short one week?”

Back when they were still studying, if Ye Shuang had done something like this, perhaps they would already have had a group of children, and previous events would not have happened.

Then again, if Ye Shuang really did marry early, she would not have had the chance to break the jade idol at the Ye family, and in that case, the main character of the story might have turned out to be the crazy Little Brother Ye…

Ye Shuang smiled. “She did not need to visit them daily. She only needed to find an opportunity to release certain information, and other people would connect the dots on their own.”

That was something that was very easy for Ye Shuang. It was, after all, just acting. Seeing the hesitation on Xu Jian’s face, Ye Shuang sighed and added a little more information. “I’ll reveal some more. Money laundering is not as you imagine, just turning the dirty money white. Where did the money come from? Taking bribes is one, and an illegal activity is another. I don’t think I need to explain in detail what those kinds of illegal activities are, right? Prostitution, gambling, and drugs… so this type of organization normally has many careers that cannot be revealed to the public. In fact, the money from these activities has to be approved by the organization before the money can be released. Currently, your uncle is not that deep in the organization, so there is still time for him to escape. If he really gets blood on his hands, then in the future, you’ll be meeting him at his grave.”

Most international crime syndicates had their own means of money laundering. This was also why most underground people had legal estates. This was for them to use as an insurance or for them to change their identity. But most importantly, it was for them to cover their identity.

Ye Shuang had learned this through Anthony. Ye Shuang’s male identity was not that close to Xu Jian, so he was more alert to certain words that the man said. If this was Sister Shuang, something might be left unsaid since she had to be cautious of his feelings.

Xu Jian was stunned as she expected. “What do you mean?”

Ye Shuang thought about it and explained seriously, “Like the payment for a hit, drug money, or human trafficking… The profit from these activities cannot be banked into an account directly. They need a middleman to launder that money and then use a legal channel to siphon it into an offshore account. The channels used are numerous—for example, gift money, bonds or investment…”

Xu He’s responsibility was to explore legal channels. Even if his method was not that open, in most, it could only be called business crime. It was the kind that had no absolute evidence. In fact, most on the outside would call this business competition. However, if Xu He did manage to build up the entire money laundering channels in San Lin City to help the organization launder their money, then the things that he would be asked to handle would be completely different.

Xu Jian was led until he was confused. Without thinking about it, he asked, “If it’s that serious, why don’t you call the cops directly?”

“Because there’s no need.” Before Ye Shuang answered, Han Chu’s voice came from the front door. Ye Shuang had already heard the sound of the password being keyed in and the door open earlier, so she was not shocked. However, Xu Jian was given the shock of his life. He jumped up from his seat and almost gave himself whiplash in the process.

Han Chu nodded at Ye Shuang. He closed the door and sat down before the two of them. His hands crossed, and he added lightly, “Mr. Xu has a view of this world that is too simple, but the place that we live in is actually made up of different societies. The people in the dark will not simply cross into the normal world because it’ll cause chaos, and this might lead to a negative reaction from the people in the light. The world of the light will not suddenly decide to fight a war with the underground either because that will lead to anarchy. Normal people live their lives on the edge of these two worlds, and the balance between the two is how the world maintains its precarious balance.”

It was not that they did not want to, but they could not. Cleansing them would only lead to a temporary stability, but in reality, everyone had their negative emotions, and a new negative society would be nurtured after a short time.

Could they be observed closely? In that case, even the life of a normal individual would be greatly restricted. Furthermore, no matter the ideals or stance, if one of the parties gained autonomy from restricting others, the absolute power would continue to corrupt. On top of that, cleansing would require a giant sacrifice. For example, the chaos from the cleansing might cause the society to go unstable. Perhaps before the underground world was cleansed, there would have already been too many losses.

“Indeed, we could have gone to the police directly, but this organization is not only within the border of our country, so there will be one of two results if we do that. One, since they did not do anything openly illegal, the official will pretend not to see it. Two, the officials decide to strike after finding incriminating evidence on them, but they will not be able to take them all down at once.” Han Chu pressed his lips and turned to Ye Shuang. “I remember that I once told you, the law doesn’t represent justice?”

Ye Shuang nodded. “Yes, you did mention something like that. The law only represents fairness.”

“Every single law in this world has its loopholes; not everyone with a sentence over their head deserves to die, and not everyone who are acquitted is not guilty. The meaning of fairness is that there is a same standard to judge you and me, but even this standard itself might not be perfect.” Han Chu stared at Xu Jian and said, “So, as long as the people in the underground are willing to follow this rule at least on the surface, no one will get the distance to destroy them. Those who are destroyed were mainly terrorist units or those whose criminal careers have gotten so big that they have tipped the scale of peace.”

Xu Jian was silent in thought and Ye Shuang sighed to add, “What Mr. Han means is that there is no superman hero to uphold justice in this world—we only have the police, who maintain peace. Therefore, we will not make an enemy of that organization. One, there is no need, and two, we do not want the trouble. However, even though we’re not enemies, it doesn’t mean that we approve of them. For the sake of our career, this organization has to be evicted from the nation, or at least chased out of San Lin City…”

Han Chu coughed and looked at Ye Shuang with a dark face.

Ye Shuang thought about it and edited her words. “Fine, it’s best if we can remove them from the borders.”

It was indeed not that moral to just chase them out of San Lin City. Her life would be easier, but Han Chu had business all over the nation, and he would run into them again in another city.

For example, the issue with the trader. It was just a normal case, but they ran into the Si Hai Organization, which was almost dragged down into the mess. If the Si Hai Organization had really been attacked, then who would have been responsible for the failure of the case? Who would have been responsible if the money was unable to clear?

Of course, that was just an example, but that example could be taken and replaced at many different places. Whether it was Han Chu or Ye Shuang, neither one of them wished for their working environment to be filled with landmines and could accidentally interact with a company that was just an empty shell.

Due to the society, the number of international crime syndicates in China was not that large, or perhaps there were some that were not that same. These were all within the acceptable range. If they ran into them, they would be taken down, but if not, they could be ignored. However, a money-laundering organization that was on a global scale was a different story. According to the art of war, before the movement of the army, the food and rations needed to move first. If any large power was coming to the country, what was the first thing they needed to do? Find channels for their money!

Not only for money to come in but channels to launder the money as well. Therefore, this was a signal.

Perhaps, the person merely wanted to open an overseas spot to move the money around, or worse, the organization might already have spotted the potential of China and wanted to move there. However, no matter what the situation was, Han Chu’s career was significantly affected—the few cases that Ye Shuang came across were not the full story. He had also received similar reports from his other agents.

…

After that long period of persuasion, Xu Jian, who had been forced back to San Lin City by Ye Shuang, left the place with teetering steps. Even at that moment, he had a hard time believing that he had been dragged into something so huge. After the handsome Brother Shuang sent the man away, she turned back and saw Han Chu was still at her place. She could not help but giggle wickedly.

Don’t just look at me and smile like that. His eyes twitched twice, and he turned to look at Ye Shuang with suppressed impatience. “Just say what you want to say.”

Ye Shuang thought about it and sat down across from Han Chu. “Brother Han, are you not going to explain your family situation?”

Before Han Chu could open his mouth to provide the reply, Ye Shuang lifted her fingers to count. “First, you said this is a business problem, but this problem can be solved if you add the extra step of analyzing the background of the client. There is no need to personally jump into this mess.

“Secondly, Brother Han, you know too many things. Even if today is an information era, it doesn’t mean that all the information within the circle can be found online. Of course, this could be you helping your friend like Brother Yao, taking their revenge after they were targeted, but I don’t think you’re a person that will act so recklessly. Brother Han, what do you think?’

Han Chu thought about it and suddenly asked with a friendly smile, “Do you really want to know?”

Ye Shuang felt chills running up her spine. “Er… suddenly, I don’t want to know.”

She was still curious, but it was just something that she had just joked about. Knowing too much might not be a good thing. Since the man did not explain everything from the beginning, then he had his reasons for doing so.

That was the rational thinking, but Ye Shuang was still determined. “How about you tell me how you plan to chase the organization out of the country?”

“An organization like this’ main purpose is profit, so you can view it in the structure of a company.” Han Chu’s finger tapped the table, and he calmly explained, “How will a company go bankrupt? By freezing their assets, blocking their channels, and making them realize that there is no space for them in this market. There are so many countries in the world, so losing one is not that big of a loss. However, if they want to open a new territory, it will exhaust plenty of human resources and assets, and that was without considering the layers of difficulty they might need to go through. As long as we can make them realize that, they will retreat on their own.”

“Money and asset… I wonder if the Si Hai Organization knows anything.” Ye Shuang was not one to wait. She jumped up from the sofa to grab her phone that was attached to Brother Shuang’s identity. She found the number and called Zuo Feiyang.

“Brother Ye‽ This is such a coincidence!” When she heard Zuo Feiyang’s cheer on the phone, Ye Shuang was incredibly confused.

“I’m calling to ask about the result of the interaction with Xi Hwa… Hmm? But it sounds like there is a big event happening over there?”

“Yes, big event, of course, it is a big event.” Zuo Feiyang could not help but chuckle like he was reminded of something interesting. “I was just planning to call you or Xiao Shuang. My big brother is getting married again, and I wonder if the two of you have the time to come attend the wedding.”

What‽

Ye Shuang coughed out blood silently in her heart for half a minute and resisted the urge to scream. After that half a minute, she continued in a calm voice. “Oh‽ Then congratulations, I wonder which socialite is so lucky?”

“It’s a university lecturer. She comes from a normal family, but she has a good personality.” Zuo Feiyang sounded disappointed. “Brother Ye, how come you don’t sound surprised?”

He had thought that Ye Shuang would be knocked off his seat. When his own brother had dropped this sudden bomb at the dinner table, the rice in his mouth had almost flown out. Even Elder Zuo and Madam Zuo at the table had been stunned by this news.

“I am very surprised!” Ye Shuang said seriously. “Really, you just are unable to hear it!”

It’s really hard to communicate happily with people like this. Zuo Feiyang finally remembered the official business that Ye Shuang had called about. “By the way, why did you find me? I heard you mention the Xi Hwa Organization.”

In the ‘cooperation’ between the Si Hai Organization and the Xi Hwa Organization, the actual sum of asset that was put on hold was not really counted. The amount that was put on hold was not really the entire assets either, and these number needed to be passed before they could be treated as income.

Therefore, Ye Shuang asked Zuo Feiyang. Zuo Feiyang used his phone to find the lawyer and accountant. He finally got the result after a long time. “There is about four million USD, but part of them are dead accounts that cannot be profited anymore. However, the Xi Hwa Organization looks like it’s planning to retreat already. They were stopped by my big brother, and if they continue wasting their time in Chaohai, they might just go bankrupt here.”

After a few more conversations, Ye Shuang hung up and updated Han Chu, who was already typing on his laptop. “They said four million USD have been lost already, and Xi Hwa is planning to fully retreat from Chaohai. How come we don’t have someone as good as Zuo Yuanhang in San Lin City?”

Thinking about this, Ye Shuang sighed. Zuo Yuanhang was the leader of a city already, the type that could hold the fort with his power alone. If there was a Zuo Yuanhang in every city, then what would be the purpose for Ye Shuang and Han Chu’s existence?

Han Chu nodded. “I’ve already made some calculations. They probably have two hundred million to throw around our country. Be prepared for the next week. Go to Shanghai first.”