Release that Man

From what happened to Little Brother An, it could be discerned that their opponent would not hesitate to go for underhanded tactics. Finding someone to pretend to be gay and then using that to expose Little Brother An… In comparison, borrowing An Zixuan’s name to embezzle public funds was probably the most moral thing that the enemy had done.

A normal business combat did not worry Ye Shuang, but she did worry about Anthony’s personal safety in San Lin City. Since the enemy was not above using dirty tactics, Ye Shuang’s worry was not unfounded.

Other than managing the talents, the agent had many other follow-up jobs, like making sure that the talent got treated fairly at work and if there were no personal threats to their safety. Mr. Fang initially planned to hide the financial crisis that An Corps was facing, but after being exposed by Anthony, all his face had been lose. Therefore, Ye Shuang had to pay this case extra attention.

Yao Zhixing thought about it and understood what Ye Shuang was worried about. He was silent for a while before shrugging. “I have no clue who the other party is, but I can ask around. The man should come from a deep background, but it should not be hard to find who is behind him. Just need to see who would benefit the most from this.”

“Then, I shall trouble Brother Yao.” Ye Shuang smiled. “This might be extra work because, normally, the talents themselves have to be careful about this, but if the opponent could do something to injure them, I should be prepared.”

Yao Zhixing agreed to get his underlings to ask around and pay special attention to the An family members’ movement, and then the incident was tossed to the back of Ye Shuang’s mind. After all, she was just an agent. It was not wrong to be prepared, but if she intervened too much, she might as well take the job herself. Of course, Han Chu would never allow that.

After everyone had their fun racing around the track, they decided to move the party to the bar. It was to keep the adrenaline pumping high.

“You coming?” Yao Zhixing was pushed by his underlings to ask her to join them. Before Ye Shuang could reject him, he said, “After tonight, the next meet-up will probably be in three or four months. Christmas is coming, and everyone will be home preparing for the holidays, readying for… socialization.”

So, it’s like that… Ye Shuang nodded. After all, these were second generations, so parties and balls were common during holidays. Even if the family would normally allow them to run free, during the holidays, they would be summoned home. Other than that, if the family was in business, there were many other things to worry about. After Christmas came New Year, and then after that would be the Lunar New Year. In any case, many things were stuck together.

Of course, asking a small group of friends out was still possible, but having everyone present would be impossible due to the conflicting schedules. Ye Shuang thought about it before nodding. “Okay, let’s go.”

She just asked for a favor from the man—turning around to reject his invitation would have sounded a bit too rude.

…

There were not that many nightclubs in San Lin City. Most of them closed at 3 or 4 am, but there were still a few larger ones that remained open until 8 am. Ye Shuang followed behind the group. The waiter shivered and quickly pulled the door back like he was welcoming a gang boss.

Ye Shuang turned to Yao Zhixing with shock. “Do you come here often, Brother Yao?”

Yao Zhixing looked at Ye Shuang speechlessly. “Don’t you realized that he was actually afraid of you?”

“Huh‽”

After they went to the second floor, Yao Zhixing reminded Ye Shuang, “Last time you came here to find your little brother and that foreigner, didn’t you create a scene…”

Ye Shuang then remembered. No wonder she felt that the place looked so familiar, but since this was only her second visit, it was understandable that she could not even remember the name of the place. “That was already several months ago. He shouldn’t be afraid of me now, right?”

“Sister Shuang, you have no idea. Of course, it is impossible for them to remember all the customers, but they have a good memory of those who rise above the rest so that they know who to avoid in the future.” The second in command, Brother Fei, sidled over, and a mist casted over his face as he reminisced about Ye Shuang’s proud history. “You were so handsome at the time. The boss here even came to speak to Brother Yao, worried that you were here to create trouble. However, the misunderstanding was cleared up. The boss probably gave all his workers a special notice, which explains why the waiter reacted like that earlier.”

“…Is my reputation that bad?” Ye Shuang scratched her chin. Then again, what kind of good reputation could she earn by going around creating fights? People might even think she was an actual gang boss.

Brother Fei chuckled happily. “Sister Shuang, you have nothing to worry about. The boss here knows that you’re our Madam Boss, so of course he wouldn’t say that you have a bad reputation!”

I think I’d rather have a bad reputation.

Yao Zhixing had tried to explain himself several times, but it had fallen on deaf ears. So now he just let it slide. Since the bunch of underlings would not listen to him, he just pretended not to hear anything. Like usual, they went into a large private room on the second floor. The group of people had never been into hiring ladies to accompany them while they drank, and no one even dared bring it up that day since Ye Shuang was there.

One of the walls inside the room was made from glass, and it extended to a balcony. If they wanted some privacy, they could close the glass door and heavy curtains, but if they preferred to share in the joyous atmosphere, they could leave the door open. It was a considerate design to cater to the changing needs of the VIPs.

After ordering the beer, popcorn, and snacks, since everyone knew everyone, the party quickly started. Some of them asked Ye Shuang to join in a game of dice, but after a round, no one wanted to invite her again.

Don’t be dumb! Who wants to pay with someone who wins every time? People are not stupid enough to gift money to her.

Ye Shuang did not mind. She picked up a bottle of beer and wandered out to the balcony to enjoy the music show downstairs. The dancers on stage were hot, and the singer tried his best to push the atmosphere to its highest. It was still okay on the second floor, but it was a mess of writhing bodies on the dance floor.

What is so fun about this?

Ye Shuang did not quite understand it. When she was in university, she did accept the invitation from her classmates to sneak out of school to come to this kind of place at night. It had been exciting then but not so much now.

Perhaps it was the changing DNA. If Ye Shuang had no interest, then no matter how intense the activity, it would not cause any change in her. When many things lost its excitement, life would become boring because everything was within her control.

It was why Ye Shuang had become so interested in the art of the con when she was in Jing Hu City. She needed to find something to do that interested her. Yao Zhixing finished several rounds of dice with his brothers before joining Ye Shuang. He was also holding a bottle of alcohol. However, it was not beer but red wine. His other hand was holding two glasses.

He closed the door and handed one of the glasses to her. He asked with a raised brow, “How about something more intense?”

“…No matter how intense it is, I won’t get drunk.” Ye Shuang was being honest, the metabolism of her body was several times the rate of a normal human being. As long as it was not actual acid, no matter how high the alcohol content, her body would process it easily.

Yao Zhixing smiled. “Such a big talker!”

Then he filled up both glasses. They clinked their glasses before drinking. “Are you bored here?”

“No, it’s not that. Mainly, it’s because there’s nothing I can do.” Ye Shuang continued to be honest. “I could play dice, but unless I hold back, the result is going to be the same every time. Drinking? It does nothing for me. The performance… To be honest, if you give me several muscled handsome men, then I might be interested, but what is so interesting about a group of girls? I have what they have.”

And I have what they don’t have… well, in a few days, I will.

Yao Zhixing agreed that she had a point, but then again, nightclubs mainly catered to male customers, and even though there were female customers, they were there for their men. “You’ll need to go to a host club if you want to see abs, but the security there is not so good.”

Ye Shuang almost choked on the wine. She coughed and gasped with disbelief. “There are such places in San Lin City?”

“Why wouldn’t there be?” Yao Zhixing chuckled. “If there’s a need, then there will be someone who answers it. But it depends on whether you have that courage or not.”

Ye Shuang rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the performance. Her eyes swept the dance pool, and just as she was about to turn back to the room out of boredom, a familiar figure in the corner caught her attention.

She turned back to look, and with her perfect vision, she confirmed that she had not seen wrongly. Ye Shuang frowned and pulled on Yao Zhixing. She turned her chin that way and said, “Brother Yao, look! Isn’t that Sister An?”

“Sister An?” Yao Zhixing turned in the direction that Ye Shuang was pointing. It was hard to see anyone in the semi-lit nightclub, but eventually he did catch a familiar face. “An Zining!”

“Yes, based on her expression, she is angry about something,” Ye Shuang grumbled.

How can you possibly tell that from so far away?

Ye Shuang thought about it and quickly turned around. Yao Zhixing pulled on her arm and asked, “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Something’s not right,” Ye Shuang explained. “Sister An is pregnant, so she wouldn’t be here for the drinks. I’ll go see what’s happening.”