Release that Man

“If we’re talking about Zuo Yuanhang, how he chose his wife to remarry is also quite weird. Other people meet up first, interact to see if there is a mutual affection, and then go on dates to get to know each other, and even the fastest to get married take at least a month. But Madam Mo, can you guess how it is for Zuo Yuanhang?”

One week later, Sister Shuang hugged Boss Mo’s great grandson and sat across from Madam Mo, sharing the gossip that she had heard.

“I’ve heard about Zuo Yuanhang. There are celebrities under my eldest son’s company that have helped them shoot some commercials before. The way he found his new wife is different from others—what do you mean?” Madam Mo asked with interest. Ye Shuang knew gossip was the best ice-breaker.

Ye Shuang perked up her lips to kiss the child’s chubby face before sharing the gossip with Madam Mo excitedly. “I also heard this from Zuo Feiyang. His older brother asked his people to collect all the names of the suitable candidates from a matchmaker. Zuo Yuanhang would filter through the candidates, and the remaining names would be handed back to the matchmaker. The girls that were selected would be requested to go for a physical check-up, those that did not go through with this request would be kicked off. Of the group that went for the check-up, Zuo Yuanhang would meet them in alphabetical order.

“Zuo Yuanhang saw the first girl, and they only met once. In the half-hour meeting, he asked the girl questions like it was some kind of job interview. Then, he brought up the conditions for marriage and the requirement to sign a prenup. The girl had no issues. After that, Zuo Yuanhang did not show up again. The rest was done by the lawyer. The lawyer was tasked to confirm the authenticity of the girl’s claim, and then the lawyer collected the girl’s personal information, resume, and family background before sending it all to a professional psychologist to be assessed. After the doctor cleared it, they officially got married!”

In total, this process took one week. It could be called the most efficient flash marriage.

Madam Mo was beyond shocked when she heard what Ye Shuang had to say. “How come this child is so… It wouldn’t have hurt him to get the adults to look around for him. If he really does not have time, even asking his parents to help him look for one would be better than doing it like this.”

“Actually, I agree with Zuo Yuanhang’s decision. It’s better that he is so insouciant with his second marriage.” Ye Shuang sighed. “Zuo Yuanhang already has one son and one daughter. They are at the age where they already know stuff. The stepmother is to take care of them, but to raise them as her own is a bit hard.

“If it was Elder Zuo and Madam Zuo who made the decision, of course, they would find the best for their son. However, those girls with good a background or close to Zuo family would come from good families themselves, and it would be such a waste to allow them to enter Zuo family and continue their life as a decoration. The Zuo elders would be too embarrassed to do that to others, and on Zuo Yuanhang’s part, he would be too lazy to spend time to get close to the second wife.”

In other words, for Zuo Yuanhang’s second marriage, he still chose a business partner, so he only looked for ’employee’ that passed his standard. If he looked for a candidate through his parents, it would have been such a waste. There was no need for the second wife to be so good and educated. In fact, if he married the girl and just placed her home, it might cause friction between the two families. Furthermore, this was to find a girl to mother his two children.

Madam Mo still thought that it was not right. “But Zuo Yuanhang is quite capable. It is such a waste to do things this way. His marriage is at the end of this month? How about I go around and see if there’s some good girl that I know in Chaohai…”

Cough! Cough! Cough! Someone next to them kept coughing.

Since she was interrupted, Madam Mo turned around to glare at the source. “You blasted child! It’s one thing that you came to eavesdrop on the conversation between us women, but why are you interrupting us?”

“Mom, please don’t worry about Zuo Yuanhang, who is so far away from us.” Boss Mo folded the newspaper and stopped pretending like he was reading it. His face was filled with helplessness as he massaged the bridge of his nose. He was already so old, but he was being lectured like a teen. “Zuo Yuanhang is in Chaohai, and that is so far away from Shanghai. Plus, what kind of girl will you be able to introduce? From your old friend’s family?

“Based on Zuo Yuanhang’s personality, you’ll only make your friends turn on you, saying you pushed their child into the role of a living widow. You want to introduce the people under my company? You also know about the celebrities working for me—their main focus is to increase their popularity. If there’s nothing, they will create something. I guarantee you they will not take more than a few days to make Zuo Yuanhang angry.”

“Zuo Yuanhang would never consider celebrities or powerful women from business or government as his potential candidate.” Ye Shuang nodded in agreement. She added with a smile, “Madam Mo, I don’t think you should get involved. If you’re really that intent on playing matchmaker, why don’t you focus on something closer to home. I hear Boss Mo’s wife has passed away for a few years already, right? Even when someone is older, they need some company in their life. Furthermore, Boss Mo is still quite healthy, and if he gets married again, perhaps you might get another grandchild.”

A look of panic appeared on Boss Mo’s face.

“Oh my, you’re right!” Madam Mo clapped her hands. “I’d forgotten all about that. Since he comes home often and there are quite a number of people at home, the issue has completely flown over my head.”

Boss Mo glared at Ye Shuang angrily. Why would you do something like that‽ Have you no morals‽

He had spent his life trying to distract the attention of his parents using his grandson. He had survived detection for so many years, but today, he had been exposed in a heartbeat!

“Mom…” Boss Mo stood up and forced a smile. “I still have something about work to discuss with Miss Ye, so I’m afraid we won’t be able to accompany you anymore.”

Madam Mo sighed and lamented, “Once you’re old, no one likes to talk to you anymore.

“Go ahead. Just ignore an old woman like me. After all, all of you have some business to attend to, unlike me, who has nothing to do but eat and sleep all day.”

Madam Mo sighed loudly again. She reached out to grab her great grandson from Ye Shuang and tussled the boy’s hair kindly. “Thankfully, I still have my dear great grandson.”

“Great grandma, I want Sister Ye Shuang to hug me.” The boy raised his head and complained in his juvenile voice. Madam Mo almost choked.

“Daddy said you have to watch over your own wife!” the boy said seriously. “And uncle said if you have find your target, you have to make your move quickly so that other people won’t have the chance to steal her away from you!”

Then the pair of large black eyes stared angrily at Boss Mo.

Madam Mo glared at the adults in the room. Just what kind of lessons did you two children teach my great grandson‽

Boss Mo was equally surprised by the boy’s words. Who is going to steal from a little boy like you?

Ye Shuang shouldered the questioning gaze from Boss Mo and coughed once. She squatted down to explain patiently to the boy, “Xiao Mo Mo, actually, your big sister like boys that are older than me. So, you’re too young for me.”

Having been rejected, the little boy became saddened immediately, and tears started to swirl in his eyes. He complained, “But you’ve kissed me!”

Daddy said that only family and close people can kiss him on the lips. Other people can only kiss on the cheeks.

” Cough! But you’re still younger than I am,” Ye Shuang argued. “See, I am now twenty-five, but you’re just four…”

With this age difference, I could be your mother already.

The boy tilted his head to the side and pulled up his fingers to seriously make some calculations. “Big sister, you have to wait for me for twenty-one years. In twenty-one years, I’ll be as old as you.”

After he said that, he even nodded seriously to signal his seriousness.

Ye Shuang patted the boy’s head in consolation and turned around to tell Boss Mo, “Your grandson sure is good at math!”

“…” Boss Mo.

…

She followed Boss Mo up to the second-floor study. Once the door closed, the two went directly to business mode.

“Boss Mo, you should be quite familiar with the situation in Shanghai. Have you heard recently about any foreign investors coming to the city?” Ye Shuang asked with a small smile.

“There have always been foreign investors coming to Shanghai.” Boss Mo entered the study and sat at the large office table. He waved at Ye Shuang, pointing at the coach, telling her to take a seat. He lit a cigarette and continued. “For a place like Shanghai, the development both domestic and foreign can be considered the top one or two in China. Haven’t you heard of this saying—the people in Beijing see the rest of the country as a grass root community, while the people in Shanghai see the rest of the county as backward villages. In a place like this, no one dares to say that they’re number one because there could be someone more powerful groups just around the corner. Even though the person might not look that way on the surface, who can guarantee that he is not related to some powerful forces from another country?”

For those who wanted to make a living in Shanghai, one first had to learn the concept of ‘conceding defeat’. This concept was true if placed at any section of the world, but it was particularly true in Shanghai because the changes at this place were far more unreadable compared to other places.

For example, in Chaohai, there was Zuo Yuanhang; in San Lin City, there was Yao Zhixing; in Jing Hu City, there was Lu Shaoyue. Other cities had their trademark leader—one person’s name would be recognized as the leader. However, such a thing would not happen in Shanghai. At most, one’s name might appear more often than others, but that was only because said person had spent time and effort advertising themself. In reality though, it did not mean that they had Shanghai in their palm. To make everyone bow under them was something impossible in Shanghai.

Boss Mo thought about it and said, “Before this, Miss Ye, you said that you came to Shanghai to inspect a few companies. If we keep talking in circles, we will get to nowhere. Why don’t you directly tell me the names of these companies, and I’ll see if I can get the relevant information for you?”

Ye Shuang nodded with a smile and then opened her lips to give three names. Boss Mo was silent for some time before exhaling the smoke. “One of them comes from France. The boss can be considered a powerful family in France. They have more than one thousand acres of land, and the person that came over here is the youngest daughter. She came here to study, so her father invested in a company here to earn some spare change for his daughter. The other is another person’s agent. I have no idea who the background boss is—you can look into it if you’re interested, or if I have time, I can help you ask around…

“You’ve left out the last one.” Ye Shuang pointed out the thing that she cared about the most. The family’s youngest daughter could be ignored. This kind of family business was most averse to outside management. Furthermore, the family sounded quite powerful if they were able to expand their business into China. The people from the illegal organization would not mix with people like that. If they really infiltrated the company, it meant that the person had been accepted by the company. If that was the situation, they could live off the bonus from the company, so they did not need to rely on the organization anymore.

The agent was quite suspicious, but since he was an agent, Han Chu could deal with this. Who introduced this agent? What was his previous experience? What kind of cases had he handled before? What was the agent’s background? Where did he come from?

From the information that she got, Ye Shuang was actually more interested in the last name that Boss Mo did not mention.

Boss Mo took a deep drag of the cigarette. He looked at Ye Shuang for a long time before saying, “I don’t know why you would suddenly be interested in Mr. Xia, but he is currently working with us. If possible, I really hope your investigation will not affect our company.”

“Cooperation?” Ye Shuang gave it a serious thought. Investing in a movie was indeed a perfect avenue to launder money. For example, he could say that he had invested how much, but no one would really go to calculate the investment. A large part could be a fake report. There were many accounts inside a movie shooting that could be altered like job salary, the film contract, the props, the rental, and so on. There were many places where the number could be fixed.

After that, there were the ticket sales, the DVD copyright, and other attached products. There were many places where the accounts could be fixed. Of course, the actual process was much more complex than it sounded.

Otherwise, why would there be so many people who were willing to keep a celebrity lover or invest in a movie to promote a specific person‽

Of course, it was because some people had too much money to spend and were willing to spend several million to get their own woman on the screen. When they brought her out later, it would add to their face. However, other than these idiots, more people used this avenue to launder money, and the accompaniment of celebrities was a desirable bonus. If the project went well, perhaps they might get a powerful figure in the entertainment business who would end up in their favor, and in future collaboration, they could do some more work in the contract.

“If I hear this correctly, what Boss Mo means is that the person has invested in your movies.” Ye Shuang was rather surprised. “Tian Mo Media is so big, why would you share the cake with outside investor?”

Boss Mo sighed. “Since we’ve already reached this point, I’ll tell you everything. You already know about my altercation with Miao Yi, so I won’t go into detail about that. They have blocked our access to scriptwriters, and even though that problem has temporarily been solved, it doesn’t change the fact that they have more assets than we do. If they commit to other dark tactics, I might not be able to handle it alone. Therefore, no matter where the person came from, getting to know people and forming relationships is the most important.

“Mr. Xia Cheng is a higher-up from an old media company from Xiang Jiang. He came to China this time to find some investment channels and expansion opportunities. I have the market, and he has the background and money. We take what we need from each other, so what’s wrong with a cooperation?” Boss Mo sighed helplessly. It was clear that he did not want to share the cake with others, but the situation did not allow that anymore. If he insisted on not sharing the profit, in the end, other people would only gang up on him.

Ye Shuang was silent for a while. “Forgive me for my directness, but I hear that the entertainment world in Xiang Jiang is not that clean.”

Rumors of higher up raping celebrities and influence of the mafia… such news kept coming from Xiang Jiang’s entertainment world. Due to the influence of previous politics, and since they were now considered a special state, most of the time, the rules of the official body would not be able to reach them.

Boss Mo nodded. “It is not so clean, but which field is one hundred percent clean? I also wish to take the high road, but you have to have the ability to be a good person. Therefore, most of the time, you can only hold onto your principles and choose to close on eyes on issues that don’t challenge your bottom line.”

“Then, which film Xia Cheng has invested in?” Ye Shuang still wanted to get more information, and she added meaningfully, “I don’t disagree with Boss Mo’s cooperation with others, but certain things cannot be rushed. If you’re dragged into some muddy water, even if you hold onto your principles, you might not be able to pull yourself out even if you want to.”

Boss Mo frowned deeply as he looked at Ye Shuang. He pulled on his lips as if in a smile. “Girl… Tsk! You also know about the film that he invested in. It’s the film that Luo Mingxin will be involved in, the Oligarchy of Nobility that has already started shooting. What, are you interested in making a cameo‽”

What the f*ck, why is it this movie?

Oligarchy of Nobility was Xiao Zhu Hou’s first adaptation. This was not only admired by Luo Mingxin himself, even Boss Mo wanted to use it to test the waters of the market, to see whether adapted films had potential in the market. One could say that for the rest of the year, Oligarchy of Nobility was Tian Mo Media’s focus film. All resources and assets were channeled into it. Other drama and domestic films could not rival it. If Xia Cheng invested in some other film, Ye Shuang would not have been so alarmed, but if he reached out toward Oligarchy of Nobility, his target was not going to be small. At the very least, this showed the close working relationship between him and Tian Mo Media, and he would not be removed so easily.

Ye Shuang bit on her nails. “Boss Mo, I’m not going to hide my thoughts from you. I still have some reservations and suspicion about that Mr. Xia. I’m sure you also want to know more about your partner. Since we have the same purpose, why don’t you arrange a chance for me to meet the man?”

“You want to meet him?” Boss Mo thought about it and agreed easily. “There will be a small party tomorrow, and Xia Cheng is the host. Luo Mingxin also has been invited. If you can convince him to bring you as his date, then I have no problem…”

“Then, that’s done!” Ye Shuang did not see the joking smile on Boss Mo’s face. She did not think the target was that difficult, so she stood up and thanked the man. “Then I shall go prepare for the dress tomorrow and other stuff. Thank you, Boss Mo, for telling me these things.”

After that, she blasted out of the room and did not see the words that were hanging on Boss Mo’s lips.

Seeing Ye Shuang escape from the room like a whirlwind, Boss Mo’s half-opened lips slowly closed. Then, he thought about it and grumbled with a frown, “Young people these days sure are impatient. You didn’t hear me finish, so I didn’t have the chance to tell you that Luo Mingxin has already asked the golden globe’s best actress from a few years ago to be his guest.”

Ye Shuang naturally did not know about these things that would hinder her progress. To attend a party, one would need a date. Of course, this was not something that was done recklessly. Many thoughts went into this. With Luo Mingxin’s status at the business, if he brought along a star that was not equal to his caliber, he would be taken advantage of by his date, and his date’s fame would have no help at all to his reputation.

If this was before, and Luo Mingxin had still had a rocky relationship with Boss Mo, the latter definitely would have assigned a star like this to be his date. The ultimate aim had been to get Luo Mingxin to promote his own people before his contract ended. However, now that they had gotten over that… at least they had no issues on the surface. Of course, Boss Mo would not do something as dirty as this to ruin his own future.

Therefore, considering Luo Mingxin’s fame, when the man received the invitation, they had already decided to invite a new actress that was up and rising. One could imagine how interesting the newspapers would be the next day. Even though it would not be enough to cause a scandal, with the focus on the couple, the couple’s exposure would have a small increase. This was a win-win situation.

When Ye Shuang called, she said directly that she wanted to attend the party held by Xia Cheng, and she needed Luo Mingxin to bring her as a date. The easy acceptance by Luo Mingxin that she imagined did not happen. Instead, Luo Mingxin hesitated for a while before asking in pain, “Which fat sheep do you have your eyes on this time?’

Even then, Ye Shuang’s result was still fresh on Luo Mingxin’s mind. The girl’s ability to conquer Lu Shaoyue had completely shocked Luo Mingxin, and since then, he did not dare to view this girl as a common person. Now that he heard that she was interested in Xia Cheng’s party, his mind went subconsciously to the idea that she was going to repeat what she had done in Jing Hu City.

However, once the words left his lips, Luo Mingxin quickly jumped away from the topic and explained the difficulty that he was facing. “It’s not that I don’t want to help you, but I have already found a date, so…”

“Find another chance. After all, there are so many parties—you have more than enough invitations to run a scandal by anyone, but I just want to meet that Xia Cheng.” Ye Shuang brushed him off.

Luo Mingxin coughed. “There are indeed many other parties, but the thing is like this. I’ve already invited the girl, and the girl has agreed to my invitation and moved her schedule to attend this party with me. The party is tomorrow, and you want me to stand her up‽ Even though she is just a new actress, she won a golden globe, and she has been quite famous for the past few years. It’s not right for me to step on people’s toes like that, right?”

“With sincere apology and penance, I’m sure she will forgive you!” Ye Shuang said firmly.

Why would I do something like that because of you‽ Luo Mingxin sighed deeply. “How about this, I’ll find another chance for you to meet Xia Cheng?”

“That is too attention grabbing. This is when the man is the host. I can make use of this opportunity to look at his place. If Xia Cheng is the guest, then the way he presents himself will be totally different.” Ye Shuang tutted. “Just one word, are you going to bring me or not? If you won’t, I will go find someone else. I’m sure Boss Mo has the guest line, and I’ll go around to see whether other people are available or not.”

Luo Mingxin suddenly felt very tired. He rubbed his temple. “Xiao Shuang, what do you plan to do?”

“Maintain the peace of the society and the order of the universe!” Ye Shuang claimed proudly.

“…” Luo Mingxin.

“Quick, what is your answer?”

“You can save the energy from disturbing Boss Mo. This time, the man only invited about ten people. The guest list is very short, and other than me, there are only two more male guests. One of them is married, so his date is his wife, and the other comes from Miao Yi, so he will be bringing his own people.” Luo Mingxin hesitated before coming clean.

Ye Shuang was silent. “Looks like you’re my only choice. So, how about I put it this way? Do you want to change your date peacefully, or do you want me to kidnap your date and lock her away safely for the next twenty-four hours?”

Please don’t! Just leave that poor actress be!