Release that Man

“He he…” Ye Shuang’s eyebrow twitched. Nothing illegal‽

Perhaps Han Chu was cursing the golden retriever because there was about half a minute of silence before he continued speaking in a relatively calm voice. “At least he has not been caught doing anything illegal, so you don’t have to worry too much.”

How did your statement change so fast‽ Ye Shuang could not do anything else but continue to laugh.

Even though Han Chu had asked for Ye Shuang’s favor to find a place to buy, this did not mean that the man had stopped looking himself. After all, Han Chu’s connections were wider and more vibrant than Ye Shuang’s, so he could get more information than Ye Shuang.

This was the difference between those with few connections and those with great connection. Ye Shuang could only search for information through official channels like real estate websites or companies, but if the owners themselves did not release their information on these channels, Ye Shuang could not reach them.

Han Chu was different. For example, he could reach out directly to the construction company and contact the owner directly, asking whether someone in the building was willing to sell or not.

Many people had regrets after buying a home but would leave the place empty instead of selling it either because of the complicated process of selling or the price of selling was not so good. Basically, rooms that were empty for a long time meant that their owners might have interest in selling. After gaining these people’s contact details, Han Chu called to ask and eventually he did find a seller.

“If you have a talent moving in from outside the city, the first thing to consider is the place for them to stay,” Han Chu explained to Ye Shuang patiently. “Even though it is their responsibility to take care of that themselves, there might be emergency cases or accidents, and you won’t be able to take them to the hotel every time. After purchase, the place will be my private property, but if it’s too urgent, I don’t mind you placing the talents in it for a few days. Tony is a special case. After he moves in, he will not be moving out. In any case, since I won’t be there often, just let him stay there and pay me the rent.”

Ye Shuang understood Han Chu had indirectly helped her solve a problem, so she knew what to say, “Thank you, Brother Han. Then, are you done with the real estate purchase procedure? Do you need my help?”

“It’s fine, Fang Mo can handle it.” Han Chu ordered, “It is coincidental that your neighbor is moving, so I bought the place next to you. The fastest Tony can move in is tomorrow. After all, there’s no need to buy a new set of furniture.”

So, this is the reason why I have not seen my neighbor‽ Ye Shuang tried to envision her future life, and after gauging the good relationship between her little brother and Tony that was bridged over the love of computer games, them being partners in crime was a sure thing. Before she could share this unlucky prediction with Han Chu, a familiar voice entered their supposedly private conversation. “Really? Does this mean I can come to Xiao Shuang’s place to have meals often in the future‽”

Ye Shuang turned her head in shock and saw Anthony in the living room was waving at her happily. The large headphones were back on his head, and obviously, the young man was not listening to pop music as she thought. She also noticed the small microphone that extended out from the phone.

After ten seconds of silence, Han Chu warned, “Tony, I remember telling you not to intercept my phone conversations.”

“Oh, I thought you guys were talking about me, so I believe I have the right to know what you guys are saying behind my back.” Anthony had both his hands on top of the table, his cheeks puffed up from the pieces of braised ribs. He smiled as he chewed.

“Xiao Shuang‽” Ye Shuang repeated with confusion. She glanced at her traitor brother, who was facing away from her, chewing on the ribs, and her lips twitched. “…I have an idea where the name came from.”

It was almost certain that the shameless rascal had been bought over by a few words and had taken Anthony as his new best bro. Then, he probably said something like, “My sister is your sister; my braised rib is your braised rib.” Then he would have asked Anthony to refer to them as Xiao Feng and Xiao Shuang. After all, this would not be the first time the rascal had done something like this!

Since things were settled and done, Han Chu ended the call with a not so wonderful mood, and Anthony removed the headphones from his ears. He waved his paw at Ye Shuang with a smile like nothing weird had happened. “Xiao Shuang, would you like some ribs? We left some for you.”

Ye Shuang walked over to sit down. “I thought you were listening to pop music through your headphones.”

“Pop music‽ Of course not, I don’t like that.” Anthony picked up the headphones and very easily slid it over Ye Shuang’s head. “Want to take a listen?”

Ye Shuang wanted to say no, but the sound from the headphones had already drifted into her ears. She had no idea what Anthony had done, but the voices on the phone sounded like they belonged to Miss Bai and Director Zhou. They were on the phone. Ye Shuang remembered Miss Bai’s voice because she had just talked to her a few days ago, and she recognized the other voice as Director Zhou because he named himself during the conversation.

“…That’s what happened. I’m sorry, Director Zhou, but he has returned to San Lin City. If you still wish to see him, I can ask him out again when I return to my home town.”

Ye Shuang pointed at the microphone, asking if she could make any noise.

Anthony pressed a button on the side of the headphone, and the microphone reeled back in. Then his smile deepened. “Of course you can speak. I’ve closed the input mode, so they cannot hear you.”

Ye Shuang removed the headphones and sighed, looking at Anthony. “Tony, eavesdropping is illegal.”

And Han Chu dares say this person has not done anything illegal?

“Illegal‽ Of course not!” With Little Brother Ye looking on with admiration in his eyes, Anthony reached his two fingers into the bowl of braised ribs to take one out, popped it in his mouth, and sucked on his fingers before smiling harmlessly. “The law is essentially a set of made-up rules. The weak follow the rules, and the strong decide the rules. The government has been eavesdropping on the people, but they simply do not announce it, so why can they do it but not the citizens? Because the government is powerful… and I am powerful.”

Ye Shuang laughed. She took the headphones, but instead of returning them, she walked around the living room with them. She stopped beside the sofa and reached her hand into the corner to search before returning with a bug with an antenna on it. She placed the bug and the headphones on the table beside Anthony and announced calmly, “I am also not that weak. Don’t install some random crap in my home.”

When she put on the headphones earlier, she had accidentally noticed the sound of distortion. It seemed like, in the future, she would have to walk around the house with her phone whenever she was free or else her privacy would be exposed without knowing it.

Anthony’s expression froze like a fox who had its tail caught. However, he soon turned that into a boisterous laugh. He slipped the bug back into his pocket and wrapped the headphones around his neck. With a cute smile, he surrendered to Ye Shuang. “I understand, Xiao Shuang. I respect power, so I will not do that again.”

Little Brother Ye had completely fallen for Anthony. This kind of computer expert who was at the same time a gaming expert was his idol incarnate, but thankfully, he still knew the gravity of the situation. To protect Ye Shuang’s transformation secret, he immediately took Ye Shuang’s side. Of course, his tone was not hectoring. Instead, it sounded like he was trying to talk some sense into his best pal. “Tony, listen to me, don’t try it with my sister. She is a scary person. Hmm, if you want to eavesdrop on people, I’ll help you. How about my university‽ You can even help me steal the test questions.”

Anthony laughed heartily. He turned to tell Ye Shuang happily, “Your brother sure is cute.”

One of these days, I’ll kill this rascal! After sending Anthony to the hotel, Ye Shuang felt seriously exhausted. Such an unusual character was going to live next door to her in the future… one could imagine how ‘interesting’ her life would be.

Ye Shuang started to suspect whether handing Miss Bai’s company to him was a mistake or not. No wonder Han Chu’s expression was so complicated when he saw Miss Bai pick up Anthony’s file.

After warning Little Brother Ye to not reveal her secret under any circumstances, Little Brother Ye went out happily after shrugging on his backpack. He had promised Tony to find the best food available in San Lin City that night. What about the guild war‽ What was that? Compared to Anthony, that thing was lame.

At around 8 pm, after dinner, Yao Zhixing arrived for a visit with an antique phone from the seventies. As he walked through the door, he shoved the thing in Ye Shuang’s hands and looked around. “Is Xiao Ye here‽”

Ye Shuang had gotten used to people referring to her male form as Xiao Ye and female form as Xiao Shuang, so she nodded and said, “No, he’s not here. Are you looking for him?”

“Not really, just asking.” Yao Zhixing scratched his short hair, rather obvious with his disappointment. “There’s a race tonight, and I was thinking about bringing him with me. By the way, this is the signal detector that Xiao Han asked me to bring you; it’s used to detect wireless signals. I didn’t go to the garage today, so I yanked this out from my car… but why would Xiao Han want me to give you this?”

Ye Shuang understood Han Chu’s intention immediately. After accepting a gift, she explained weakly, “There’s a new case that involves one of Han Chu’s friends. He’s a computer expert, and eavesdropping and planting bugs is like drinking water for the man. Brother Han probably wants me to have this to help me prevent the man from installing micro-cameras or hidden recorders at my place.”