Release that Man

Everyone had their memories of youth; it was no different for Ye Shuang. Time at university changed one the most. Many university students were exposed to things that they had not been allowed to touch before, thus progressing from immaturity to maturity, or at least maturity on the surface.

During university years, Ye Shuang had been no different from other girls. Compelled by the atmosphere, she had also found herself a boyfriend. It was not a particularly exciting relationship. Thinking back, she felt that she had merely been following the trend rather than really falling in love.

Since everyone had a boyfriend then she had also found herself one, or else it might have seemed like she was not part of the in crowd. After breaking up, she did not feel much regret. She only thought that relationship was more boring than she had expected and stopped looking for a new boyfriend after her first one. Therefore, Xu Jian was Ye Shuang’s first and only love. In fact, this gave some of her friends the impression that she had not gotten over him.

Ye Shuang could have corrected that impression, but she did not see the point in sharing her history with others. Ye Shuang did not go into details with Yao Zhixing. “In any case, if I need help, I’ll reach out to Brother Yao. I’ll be leaving now. If there’s a chance in the future, we should meet up again.”

Yao Zhixing did not press. He understood that Ye Shuang’s order for him to stop the investigation was not out of politeness but because things had become more complicated than she had initially thought. Or perhaps it was because she had a better idea in mind. Since Ye Shuang had stated her stance, Yao Zhixing would respect it.

He lit a cigarette before nodding. “Then, come find me if you need any help. During the holiday period, everyone might be a little busy, and meeting in person should be quite difficult, so just call me on my phone.”

“It shouldn’t be too big a problem. If it was, I wouldn’t be directly involved in this case.” Ye Shuang smiled, but she did accept Yao Zhixing’s kindness. No matter what, he had done his best for his friend. Even though they had not known each other for long, Yao Zhixing had taken her as a good friend. As long as the request was not too overboard, he would be willing to lend his aid and would not boast about it later. Unlike other people who were more cautious, they might remember asking a favor from you and then they would keep that in mind when you came to them for help later.

After bidding farewell to Yao Zhixing and the rest of the racers, Ye Shuang left the nightclub and headed home. With regards to An Zixuan, who was left in the breakroom, she ignored him. After all, he was a man, not a child. Since his sister did not care about him anymore, why should she?

When she reached home, it was already 2 am. Ye Shuang wanted to head to bed immediately, but when she passed the guest bedroom, she heard the sound of rapid keyboard typing. Without needing to think, she knew that Little Brother Ye was busy playing his games. Pushing the door open, she saw that Little Brother Ye had not returned to his dormitory again. Probably after dinner, he had seen that Ye Shuang was not around to stop him, so he just assumed he would be invited to stay overnight. Even though the exam period was coming, he was still acting like this. Ye Shuang wondered whether she should report the rascal to their parents or not.

“Sis, you’re home‽” Little Brother Ye was not wearing his gaming headphones, so he turned when he heard the door open and turned back to his computer when he saw it was just Ye Shuang.

Ye Shuang walked closer to take a look. He was indeed playing some fighting game. There was a massacre on screen. Characters with shining armor crowded the screen, screen-shaking skills happened left and right. The chat box in the bottom left-hand corner kept on rolling with curses from all parties.

“I still don’t understand the point of killing virtual people,” Ye Shuang grumbled and turned away from the screen. She dragged over a chair and reached out to poke Little Brother Ye’s arm. “Hey, do you still remember Xu Jian?”

As Ye Shuang’s only boyfriend ever, Xu Jian had quite a good relationship with Little Brother Ye. There was one time when Little Brother Ye did not dare to ask for his parents to come to school for the teacher-parent conference, and it was Uncle Xu Jian who had gone as his father.

After Ye Shuang broke up with the man, Little Brother Ye had been saddened for quite some time, thinking there would not be anyone who would buy snacks for him and pretend to be his parent anymore. However, after he found out the reason for their break-up was because the man kept insisting on having a deeper physical interaction even after his sister’s multiple rejections, his attitude changed immediately. He called his gang of friends to ambush the sicko. If not for Ye Shuang intervening at the right time, Xu Jian would have been beaten to a pulp by a gang of high schoolers.

“Xu Jian, who‽” Little Brother Ye blurted out without even turning his head around. Then, as it dawned on him, his expression turned into one of shock. “Sis, you ran into Xu Jian? Are you suddenly planning to continue the relationship with him‽”

Since Ye Shuang had not found herself another boyfriend after Xu Jian, other than her close friends, even Little Brother Ye assumed it was because she was still hung up over him.

Ye Shuang raised her middle finger and scoffed. “Does your sister look like someone that has such bad taste‽”

“Hmm… You have a point.” Little Brother Ye thought about it. Her sister had found herself a boyfriend merely out of curiosity, and her relationship with Xu Jian was definitely not like those described in the novels. “In that case, why did you suddenly bring Xu Jian up‽”

Little Brother Ye was intrigued. He typed something on his keyboard, and a small window popped up. Then Little Brother Ye’s character started to operate on his own. He made use of the skills expertly and even knew how to use the healing items while analyzing the opponent’s data.

“…Tony’s help?” Ye Shuang came to this conclusion. The character now was far more impressive than when Little Brother Ye was controlling him. While he was submerged in the group of ‘mobs’ earlier, now the character was like a general, rallying other players from the same camp around him.

Little Brother Ye grinned happily. “This is not dumb botting program. It can be used for PKing and clearing dungeons. The only downside is it’s not so good for clearing mobs because the program plays the character too expertly. It’s such a waste.”

Ye Shuang gritted her teeth. “I’ve already told you not to let that thief into our home. Do you not understand what Tony can do‽ What if he implanted some Trojan Horse in your computer and all of my information was exposed to the world?” Thankfully her computer did not have much of her personal information because she thought that transporting stuff from her phone to her computer was too troublesome. Even if her computer was hacked through the family server, it should be fine. After all, the information in her computer was mostly about Han Chu’s work.

“Sis, enough about that. What about Xu Jian?” Little Brother Ye quickly changed the subject when he realized things were not going well.

Ye Shuang did not have the energy to go around in circles with him. “Haven’t you been to Xu Jian’s home for dinner before? Can you still remember his address?”

Ye Shuang was a female, so she acted more restrained. Sensing that the parents were at the stage of discussing marriage, she had made sure not to return home with Xu Jian. However, Little Brother Ye’s shamelessness had reached a new level. He had been invited more than once to Xu Jian’s home to join them for a meal. Furthermore, the kid had a sweet tongue, so he did leave a good impression on Xu Jian’s parents.

If not for the difference in gender, Ye Shuang suspected that Xu Jian’s parents might have preferred Ye Feng to her.

Little Brother Ye gasped. “So, you really do want to make up with Xu Jian.”

“…Don’t make me punch you.”

With the physical threat, Little Brother Ye was forced to pull out the address to Xu Jian’s home from his memory. Ye Shuang memorized it and calculated the time. “Tomorrow afternoon, you’ll be having an elective class, right? Skip it and come with me.”

“I don’t want to; the teacher will register our name.”

Ye Shuang tussled Little Brother Ye gently. “If you refuse, I’ll tell Mom and Dad what you’ve been doing here even though your exam period is coming.”

“…”

To prevent Little Brother Ye from escaping the next day, Ye Shuang personally went to the university dormitory to capture him after lunch. Little Brother Ye did try his best to escape, but he did not expect that his friends would turn on him. They sold him out for a dish of braised beef. Therefore, Little Brother Ye was carried away easily and shoved inside the taxi as they headed for Xu Jian’s home.

“Sis, I still think you should give this a second thought.” Little Brother Ye tried to struggle. Ye Shuang did not think too much of it, but he knew the pain of getting involved too much.

If he had known this would happen, he would not have gotten so close to her boyfriend and his family when they were dating. It would not be that awkward to see the lover again, but it would be so awkward to see the parents, especially since he had been to their place so many times before to join them for a meal and visited them on holidays. Little Brother Ye was now trapped in a conflicting situation. My sister’s ex is a sicko, but his family is a group of saints.

“Stop wasting my time. This is for work.” Ye Shuang detained the unruly kid, and with the driver looking on with surprise and shock, she kicked the boy out of the car when they arrived.

Ye Feng was unlucky that day. Just as Ye Shuang finished paying the taxi driver, Little Brother Ye, who thought about running, saw Xu Jian’s parents at the nearby supermarket. Little Brother Ye felt like poking himself blind. He quickly turned around to pretend that he had not seen anything.

“This expression… Tsk tsk.” Ye Shuang touched Little Brother Ye’s face and flashed a meaningful smile. “Your gaze is turning unconsciously to the bottom right, which means that you’re planning to tell me a lie…”

“I’m not!”

“The quick interruption means guilt, and the raise in tone is because of nervousness.” Ye Shuang continued her analysis calmly. She then looked at Little Brother Ye and smiled. “The hint of confusion lasted more than one second, meaning it’s done on purpose and not natural. Plus, your facial muscles are too rigid. Such a good performance, it can only mean one thing. You’ve hit the jackpot and seen Xu Jian’s parents!”

Exposed, Little Brother Ye felt like crying.

What had happened to his sister‽