Release that Man

When Ye Shuang left, she was alone, but when she returned, it was with a girl and a pocketful of corn.

“You can even draw the attention of a girl when you go searching for food?” Su Zheng was baffled.

“What are you talking about?” Ye Shuang held her forehead. Due to the unexpected physical exhaustion, she felt worse. She tossed the handful of corn over and then led the girl who was wobbly on her feet to the ground. Ye Shuang did not have much strength left. She collapsed to the ground and waved weakly. “This girl said we can temporarily stay at her place. Get packing. I’ll have something to eat in the meantime.”

Then Ye Shuang started to work on the corn. She pulled the husk back to reveal the full kernels. She took a generous bite out of it.

The girl with a ponytail shriveled under Su Zheng’s searching gaze. Along the way, she had been silent. Other than the occasional sniffling, she didn’t communicate much with Ye Shuang. After all, in that awkward situation, what could she really say?

“Hi, how do you feel?”

“Not so good.”

“I would think so. After all, you almost got raped.”

It was just too sad. But with Su Zheng in the group, the presence of someone from the same sex caused the girl to relax somewhat. She finally said in a shaking voice, “I hear you are here to investigate a case… Er, so, so… I…”

Ye Shuang finished munching on the first corn and got started on another. Then she used the downtime to wink at Su Zheng. Su Zheng understood it instantly. She coughed and turned around. She said in a severe tone, “Yes, we’re here to investigate a big case. Your help will be crucial to us, but we do not wish for this to get out…”

The girl started to tear up again for some reason. She lowered her head to wipe on her sleeves. When she raised her head, her tone was firm. “I will not let anyone else know about this!”

Anthony had collected quite a bit of information. For now, there was nothing that appeared out of place. There were not that many people in the village. Other than those who were resting and working, there were not many who were on their phones. Therefore, he closed the laptop and leaned over out of curiosity to ask the girl, “Why do you plan to help us? By the way, do you need a jacket?”

The girl with the ponytail accepted the kindness from Anthony. She pulled the zipper up to her collar to cover up her ruined shirt. She was silent for a while before saying, “Earlier I…”

It was hard for her to face what had almost happened earlier. The girl struggled for some time before turning the conversation away. “Just now, the person whom Brother Ye ran into was our village head’s nephew.”

With disgust on her face, the girl probably cursed them plenty of times internally before continuing. “He likes to shirk his work and get into fights. When he was small, at least the village head could handle him… but I have no idea what’s happened recently. His actions have gotten far more brazen.”

“Wait, can you please explain what you just said?” Su Zheng raised her hand. “Brother Shuang, how did you run into so many people when you just went to steal some corn? What happened earlier?”

Ye Shuang was placed in a tough spot. The victim was right there, so bringing it up felt like tearing up her wound purposely. Turning her eyes to the girl and then tossing a look back to Su Zheng, she seemed to say, Well, you understand.

No, I don’t.

Realizing that Su Zheng was unable to understand it on her own, Ye Shuang thought about it with difficulty.

“This problem…” She lowered to her head to look at the ear of corn in her hands. “How about you wait for me to finish my meal first?”

…

The meal was not one or two ears but a whole stack. Under the confused gaze of the other three, she munched on the corns. The sky that was bright earlier had started to dim. The timing was perfect because the visibility was bad, and not many people would be out. They decided to change their base and follow the girl home.

Why did the girl trust them so implicitly after something so scarring had just happened to her? Ye Shuang thought that was a simple question. After all, the documentation that she had stolen from Father Han’s people was not fake.

While they were travelling, Ye Shuang summarized what had happened to the girl and missed out the awkward details when they first met, explaining it as the man was doing something bad. Then she also skipped over the fact that she had injured the man by saying that she had done something bad in return. What was left was how she asked the girl for help and her subconscious telling her that something was not right.

“That’s why, after hearing about the change in the kid, I feel like he should be the key person we’re looking for,” Ye Shuang concluded. “There are two situations where a person would suddenly turn horrid. One, they’re under some kind of trauma, or two, they have a backer to support them. The person has had a wicked personality for a long time, so it shouldn’t be the first case. That leaves the possibility of the second.”

What kind of background would a bad person have? They would be rich and have power.

Since they heard from the girl that the man had suddenly started to gloat about his richness, it was certain that he had gotten himself involved in some illegal dealings. They discussed it along the way to the girl’s home. The girl went to fix dinner for the guests and used this chance to avoid the sensitive topic that he did not discuss. When the smell of cooking came from the kitchen, Ye Shuang’s story-telling time stopped. Su Zheng stared at the kitchen salivating. Anthony though hugged his laptop with some thought. “Ye, do you think the man who bullied this girl is the partner of the kidnapper?”

“There’s fifty percent chance of that.” Ye Shuang shrugged. “The baddies need to find a partner, and they won’t be someone with morals. Furthermore, even if he’s not, at least we now have a place to hide, don’t we?”

“Hmm…” Anthony scratched his chin and turned to the kitchen door to think. Suddenly, he leaned in to whisper, “Was the girl almost raped earlier?”

Su Zheng choked on her water as she pulled her eyes back from the kitchen. After she calmed down, she cursed angrily. “That b*stard!’

Ye Shuang knew that Anthony would have made the connection. After all, the girl’s shirt was ruined, and the girl appeared so fragile when they met. “What do you mean to say?”

Anthony carried his chair and moved closer. “Do you think the man will return?”