Release that Man

Actually, Ye Shuang knew how troublesome this trip would be. It was possible for her to run into that Director Zhou, but it was definite that she would run into the celebrity that came from San Lin City or her client.

The celebrity was in the entertainment business and had no relationship to the family like Ou Qianru. When she discovered that her assigned headhunter was the Brother Shuang everyone was looking for, she could very well sell that information to Director Zhou for a favor.

However, trouble did not equate to danger. Yes, the whole world was looking for Ye Shuang, but she was not a wanted person. Actually, scrap that! It would be better if they did not meet.

After dinner, Ye Shuang found a random excuse to leave, saying that she was also going on a work trip. Her destination? Shanghai, naturally. Ou Qianru did not think much of it. After all, she might not be able to convince Brother Shuang even in person, so she decided to wait until the other party needed something from her first.

Ye Shuang returned home to pack several changes of clothes for both male and female forms and waited patiently for midnight to arrive. When she changed into her male form, she grabbed the ready cap and left the house with her luggage. The taxi was booked already, and when Ye Shuang came down, the car was already waiting at the gate. She hopped into the cab and headed straight for the airport.

San Lin City was a small town, and the possibility of famous celebrity showing up was low. Basically, those famous singers doing a national tour would not have a stop here for no reason. Because of this, even though Ye Shuang’s disguise was rough, as long as she kept her head lowered, people would not be able to recognize her.

Other than the taxi driver and the air security who recognized her as the man from the famous commercial, everything else was fine. Getting famous was equal to losing your privacy, which further confirmed that Ye Shuang had no interest in getting into the entertainment industry.

…

After airplanes became the main means of transportation, travelling from one city to the next became easy. For example, flying from San Lin City to Shanghai was no different from the time taken to travel to the city market during rush hour. When she arrived at the Shanghai hotel she was staying at, it was around 7 am.

After a cursory cleaning up, Ye Shuang went down for breakfast. The hotel provided a free budget for all its tenants. She had just chomped down a piece of bread and bacon when the call from Han Chu came. Ye Shuang answered the phone and reported her location. After a while, Han Chu arrived with his own plate of food.

“You sure arrived fast.” Han Chu did not mind whether it was Brother Shuang or Sister Shuang who came for the negotiation. After all, they were partner and, in essence, interchangeable.

Han Chu placed his plate on the table and peeled open the small box of butter, using a knife to spread it generously on his bread. His tapered fingers moved back and forth leisurely. “This afternoon, you will follow me to the clubhouse to meet Miss Bai. Remember to bring the prepared contract. Before then, make use of the downtime to draft a list of suitable candidates for Miss Bai’s case. I believe you should know her requirement by now, so I’m not going to repeat myself.”

Ye Shuang wanted to sigh. It was obvious that when she was in the male form, Han Chu’s attitude toward her was pointedly colder. She fondly remembered how permissible he had been during her housewarming. Could Brother Wong be right? Han Chu is only gentlemanly around females‽

However, reminded of her predicament, no matter how cold Han Chu was acting, Ye Shuang had to remind him, “Mr. Han, I believe you know the problem I’ve been facing recently. That Miss Bai is from the entertainment industry, and if she accidentally leaks some information or brings someone with her, will that influence our work?”

Han Chu was a clever person. With just that, he understood what Ye Shuang worried about. He raised his head and said softly, “I’m just a headhunter, not a pimp. You have to worry about your part-time job on your own; this is not within my range of concern. With regards to Miss Bai… that’s her concern. How to draw the line between official and private business, how not to offend the client or make use of this chip as leverage, you’ll need to decide on your own. After all, if you do not want to take this case, I’ll just have other agents take over for you.”

Ye Shuang almost choked on her food. As she expected, Han Chu treated her so roughly. If not for the timing, Ye Shuang really would not have wanted to interact with the man in her male form.

Han Chu, however, did not think that what he had said was wrong. They were both male, and he did not think he needed to be careful of hurting another man’s feeling. In this society, asset and ability spoke volumes. Before Brother Shuang had enough caliber to be on the same level as he was, his attitude would change accordingly.

His less strict treatment toward Sister Shuang was something akin to pity the strong had toward the weak. After all, there were natural differences between males and females. On top of that, Sister Shuang’s personality was pleasing to Han Chu, so he was willing to compromise in areas that he believed were not that important.

After a few bites of the bread, Han Chu stopped talking. Therefore, Ye Shuang had to pick up the conversation. The boss had all the right in the world to be quiet, but the underling could not be so blunt as to let the conversation die. Furthermore, Ye Shuang was honestly interested in the clubhouse. “The clubhouse that Mr. Han mentioned, will there be a lot of people? How about its privacy?”

Han Chu glanced at Ye Shuang before lowering his head to munch on his bread and explained, “Some clubhouses only allow their clientele to come with a date, but the one we’re patronizing this afternoon is not that closed to the public. Even non-member can patronize their restaurants and bars, and the price is not that unreasonable. With regards to privacy, do not worry. Many celebrities are members of this club, so the club does not allow the entry of individuals like reporters.”

Ye Shuang sighed slightly in relief. As long as the privacy was well taken care of, she felt that everything would be alright. She could rush through Miss Bai’s case, and after she returned to San Lin City, who would care about the Director Zhou, who was at Shanghai‽

After breakfast, Ye Shuang and Han Chu parted ways. Ye Shuang returned to her room to work on the talent list. Finding the lawyer was easy. This type of professional took up the majority of Han Chu’s talent storage. In fact, Ye Shuang thought that Lawyer Lin was a good candidate. He was professional and could adopt to the changing circumstances; however, it was unclear whether he had time outside of dealing with An Zining’s case.

Furthermore, there was another thing she needed to confirm—the issue of partiality. If the agent kept giving all the cases to her favorites, the others would slowly distance themselves from her before eventually breaking off to work for other people. Therefore, after some consideration, Ye Shuang sent phone messages to all the lawyers who had the qualifications. Then, she received three confirmations in return, including one from Lawyer Lin. After arranging their information, Ye Shuang moved on to the search for a qualified professional manager.

This was slightly troublesome. As mentioned before, San Lin City was not an international city; all the high end business spots had been taken and were full. All those who studied business management or had experience would leave for Shanghai or Beijing to try their luck. Since she could not find anyone suitable in San Lin City, Ye Shuang moved onto the national talent storage. She picked those with resumes that were not so glorious because they would be more willing to reduce themselves to come to a backwards place like San Lin City for a short-term contract. She used the computer to send a group email, and a message soon came into Ye Shuang’s phone.

“Han‽ Did you change your phone number? Why are you suddenly so polite?”

Ye Shuang was speechless and believed that this one was a close friend of Han Chu. Therefore, she explained the situation patiently, explaining she was acting as Han Chu’s agent and not Han Chu himself. She said that she had obtained his contact from the talent storage and was looking for a manager to manage a future start-up company in San Lin City.

Twenty minutes later, the reply came—”I’m sorry, took some time to look up the term on the dictionary, meaning you are looking for a CEO?”

The term might have been a bit inflated, but based on Miss Bai’s requirement, she was looking for someone to help her manage a company, so it could be called a CEO… but on a much smaller scale.

Therefore, Ye Shuang swallowed the small mouthful of blood and replied, “Yes, I need a CEO.”

“Perfect, I’ll take it,” the message replied happily. “You said San Lin City? What kind of local threats does it have? Mind giving a short introduction?”

“…” Ye Shuang could not help but worry. Instead of replying, she turned to pull up the information on the person behind this number. Blonde hair, blue eyes, hippie-style hair with large headphones on his head, a handsome yet cute childlike face, there were even dimples when he smiled… Anthony, Chinese name: Wang Daqiang…

What the‽ Who is this golden retriever? Ye Shuang almost coughed up blood on the laptop screen. With shaking fingers, she called Han Chu. “Mr. Han, I’m sorry, but do you know Wang Daqiang?”

“Who?” Han Chu asked impatiently.

“I’m talking about Anthony, American, the one with the baby face…” Ye Shuang tried to be calm. “I found his details in your talent storage.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone. Then, Ye Shuang heard Han Chu make a call on his other phone, and he asked in a chilling voice, “Tony, why did you mess with my server?”