Release that Man

Ye Shuang finally understood Han Chu’s previous complaint. No matter how Anthony was, his ability to garner the favor of the elders was incredible. She had not been there to witness it for herself when she was out for work, but today, she finally got a real taste.

Father Ye was a serious person and preferred young people with actual talent; Mother Ye naturally liked those who looked pretty and had a sweet mouth. Anthony matched their taste perfectly; he would bounce to Father Ye to talk about economics and business, and then he would run to Mother Ye to act cute and be nice.

It was Ye Shuang who slaved away in the kitchen, but when she turned to looked, no one in the family cared about her contribution; they were busy having fun with Anthony.

It was unbearable!

“Tony! Come help chop the garlic!” Ye Shuang hissed through her teeth to order the large golden retriever.

“Okay!” Anthony entered the kitchen with a smiling face. His large body occupied almost half of the kitchen. Mother Ye was about to complain about how rude it was to order the guest around when Father Ye coughed to change the subject. As a father of a daughter, no matter how much he liked the young man, he would not put him above his own daughter. If the young couple did not have that intention, then he would not have minded, but if there was that possibility, how could the son-in-law not help around at home‽

Ye Shuang ordered Anthony to chop the ingredients. As she placed the lobster into the steamer, she perked her ears up to listen to the movement in the living room. Then she asked, “By the way, I haven’t asked you about yesterday. It’s about those people who inserted Xu Jian into An Empire, right? You’ve shown your pair of jokers, so do you plan to just scare them away, or is that just a sign of what’s to come?”

“I don’t know.” Anthony smiled, and as he chopped the garlic, he asked, “What do you think‽”

“Han Chu said you’ll most likely make a bigger mess of this.” Ye Shuang looked at Anthony silently for half a minute and told him the result of her discussion with Han Chu on the phone. “Our case is only fix the An family and not ruin the underground money-laundering organization. If you’re going to create some trouble, stop coming over that often. My parents are old already; they can’t stomach the stress.”

“It’ll be fine.” Anthony shrugged and whistled. “I just want to see how good they are. I have no intention of helping the US deal with their criminal gang.”

“Oh—” Ye Shuang dragged her inflection out. “They’re from America?”

“…” Anthony recovered and puffed out his cheeks to complain. “Honey, you trapped me.”

Ye Shuang raised her thumb and signaled for the man to continue. Anthony shrugged and continued with a straight face. “Actually, it’s fine if you find out. In the real underground world, this kind of large money-laundering organization doesn’t have just one local base; they have their own banks and many registered companies all over the world. Then they use the economy or the books between the companies to launder the money until it’s clean.

“Since the books record the fluctuation during normal running of the company, increase and decrease in assets is something very common. Other than that, foreign transactions go through many hoops, so tracing the origin of the money would be very difficult. This way, they can use the transaction to move the money away, to become a clean and legal ‘source of income’. San Lin City didn’t have this kind of base before because of its size, but recently, things have changed. Therefore, more and more companies have fallen under their influence.”

After Anthony finished chopping the garlic, he was tasked with chopping the mushrooms. Ye Shuang wanted to hear the rest of the story, and she did not want to see the man keep brushing up on his affection level with her parents. Thus, she gave him plenty of task to do in the kitchen, and Anthony continued speaking while he worked.

“Sending a corporate spy to infiltrate established local companies is the most common method used by money laundering organizations when they enter a new market.

“Hmm… It’s like a hacker using a Trojan virus to take over a normal person’s computer to cover their own IP and sacrifice the other person’s system to launch an attack.”

Ye Shuang thought about it. “So, you mean, the An family is the computer system that was targeted‽ Now that you mention it, Xu Jian found his way into the board of directions and thus gain the power to control some stuff. I thought he was only in it for the money, but now it sounds like he’s involved in some illegal dealings!”

Xu Jian was the Trojan, and the An family was the computer system. When the organization needed it, they could control An Empire through Xu Jian.

“I believe your little lover doesn’t know all this.” Anthony attacked the member from his own gender with a smile. “Based on his intelligence, he won’t have seen so far into the future. At least if he knew it’s a money-laundering business, he would have hidden himself as best as he could. Of course, I don’t expect everyone to have my IQ.”

“Xu Jian did all this because his uncle ordered him to,” Ye Shuang said. “Based on what you said, the organization is the final boss, but under them, there are plenty of lackeys. Uncle Xu is probably from the lowest level of those in the know, and then Xu Jian is even lower than him. He put on such a big show at An Empire because he thought that was the final target.”

The Xi Hwa Organization that recently appeared at San Lin City was registered under Uncle Xu’s name. Yao Zhixing’s family had already seen their problem, so they had stayed away from it. When Ye Shuang asked Yao Zhixing about it, he had even warned her about the danger of this company. These members of the upper society had their own channels of communication. If Yao Zhixing already knew about this, then it should have been the same for the other people. Other than the An family, who was unlucky to have the useless son, the other large corporations in San Lin City should be fine.

Ye Shuang pushed a onion to Anthony. “Dice that… In any case, I don’t care about others, just don’t make this a bigger deal than it is. Have I told you about the Xi Hwa Organization? That Xu Jian’s uncle’s company. I believe the money-laundering organization is using that as its local base here in San Lin City. Be careful when you deal with them.”

Tears ran out of Anthony’s eyes, and he sniffled. “You didn’t tell me… This onion is so potent.”

Serves you right! Ye Shuang was glad. She, of course, would not tell the bad guy to soak the knife in cold water before cutting the onion. The sides were ready and so was the lobster. Ye Shuang kicked Anthony out of the kitchen. She melted the butter and stir-fried it with the sides. Then she added white wine to stew. She drenched the lobster with the dressing and added slices of cheese on top before sending it into the oven. Twenty minutes later, dinner was served.

Little Brother Ye was at school preparing for an exam, but it was New Year. Of course, he would not miss it after he knew they were having a marvelous dinner. Therefore, the lobster was only out of the oven for several minutes before the front door was pushed open, and a head of spiky hair rushed in. “Did you wait for me? I purposely came back for dinner! Don’t finish all the good stuff and just leave me with the leftovers!”

As the man of the house, Father Ye naturally scolded him. “We have a guest. Please conduct yourself accordingly!”

Little Brother Ye was scolded pretty much every day, so he did not mind that at all. The smile on his face only grew bigger when he saw Anthony. “Tony! It’s so wonderful that you’re here. Tomorrow, I have an English exam… Huh‽ Why does the color of your cap look so familiar?”

“Have your sister teach you. Tomorrow, Tony still needs to work.” This time, even Mother Ye could not help but chime in. Little Brother Ye felt like crying, could he not even have some face at his own home‽ Did they know how important the exam was?

“Go wash your hands, it’s time for dinner.” Ye Shuang came out of kitchen with a sigh, holding a plate of beef.

At the end of the day, this was Little Brother Ye’s own fault. Who told him to bring Anthony home to gloat whenever he had the time, so proud of having a foreign friend? With his power, Little Brother Ye was no match for Anthony.

Little Brother Ye tossed the question about the cap out of his mind and rushed into the kitchen to wash his hands. Anthony chatted with Father Ye at the dinner table, talking about the difference in educational system between the east and west. According to Han Chu, Anthony was a good student. He was an Ivy League student who had won many scholarships. He had already worked plenty of jobs before.

Mother Ye felt like sleeping when she heard their conversation, so she turned on the television to keep herself awake. She surfed through the channels when a familiar face appeared on screen. Accompanying the happy music of theme, Brother Shuang’s impossibly handsome face froze on the screen for three whole seconds.

Mother Ye was choked by her glass of water. She just wanted to scream for the rest of her family to come watch when she realized something was wrong. She quickly swallowed the word of praise that came to mouth. “Husband! Xiao Feng! Come take a look at the television!”

Ye family was willing to show her face. Father Ye stopped the conversation and turned to look. Even Little Brother Ye poked his head out from the kitchen.

Anthony could not understand their sudden excitement. He turned to look with confusion and grabbed the cap on his head. “Hey, isn’t that Ye‽”

Mother Ye was excited. She turned back with stars in her eyes, “Tony also knows our… I mean Xiao Shuang’s friend?”

Anthony was confused. “Of course, he’s Xiao Shuang’s partner. Erm, does he also come here often‽”