Release that Man

Mother Ye didn’t disappoint her younger self, who had been the central power in the Luo family. Even though they still hadn’t come up with the perfect solution to deal with Grandmother Luo and Uncle Luo, at least Ye Shuang did receive a secret call from Mother Ye before she reached home to help Ye Shuang come up with some guidelines for dealing with the people from her maiden family.

According to Mother Ye, it was simple, at the end of the day, Ye Shuang was part of the family, so they wouldn’t trouble her too much no matter what. It was unlikely that they’d bring up too many unsavory things about the female Ye Shuang before the male Ye Shuang.

Before their arrival, the Ye family had done all the necessary preparations like informing Uncle Luo that their Ye Shuang would be away from home due to work over these few days. The guests might take offense to this, but they would forgive Ye Shuang after she changed back to her female self and sincerely apologize.

It would be even easier for the male Ye Shuang. As long as he carried himself politely during the meal and tried his best to improve the affection level with the Luo relatives, everything would be fine… It should be easy considering hislooks and how well Ye Shuang already knew her own grandmother and uncle.

At the end of the day, they were only curious; they weren’t there to conduct an investigation, so they wouldn’t push too far. This visit was not as big of a deal as the Ye family was making it out to be. They only saw it that way because of their taut nerves…

In any case, Mother Ye’s guideline was this: “Be as obedient as you can, the Luo family will only feel embarrassed that the female Ye Shuang isn’t there to accompany you to meet the family, so you have that advantage over them. If there is any trouble, just push it onto the female Ye Shuang; that identity has sufficient positive reputation points to suffer some losses, at least compared to the male Ye Shuang who has a neutral reputation. After all, once the reputation points dip into the negatives, it will be difficult to revert it back to the positive…”

With the consoling phone call from Mother Ye, Ye Shuang didn’t feel as tense as before. She took a deep breath as she prepared to enter this raid called ‘Home Sweet Home’. After rapping her knuckles on her family’s front door, it was soon opened by Grandmother Luo, who welcomed her with unbridled passion. In comparison, Uncle Luo was rather reserved.

Ye Shuang was shocked as she was led indoors and was told to sit on the sofa. After chatting for a while with Grandmother Luo and Uncle Luo, she gave an excuse of needing water to escape into the kitchen because she was weirded out by how overly kind and welcoming Grandmother Luo was toward her.

“Mom, something’s not right.” Ye Shuang lowered her voice while she exchanged information with Mother Ye, who covered their conversation with the sound of the juice blender, “I have the feeling all my previous experience wouldn’t be useful today. When has Grandmother ever been so openly cordial to me? And Uncle has been acting way too officious…”

“…This is my fault.” Mother Ye sighed with despondency. “I assumed they would treat you as family, so I guess I miscalculated… This is the diplomacy your grandmother and uncle assume when they deal with an outsider. Perhaps this is because they haven’t heard much about you before. Regardless, they’re going to try to get as much information out of you as they can in the short amount of time that they’re in San Lin City.”

Ye Shuang was so scared that the cutting knife almost slipped from her fingers. “Wait, Mom, you have never told me you came from a spy family‽”

“What nonsense.” Father Ye, who had also wandered into the kitchen, chimed in as he glared at Ye Shuang, “This is a trial for any new groom entering the family; you have to understand that so many years ago, when it was my turn…Cough!  Never mind, now is not the time to reminisce. In any case, your mother was only half right, you’re now a half-outsider, so it’s only natural that they will want to know more about you. Be prepared to get asked questions like your family background and your opinion regarding marriage and the likes…”

If not for the lack of time, Father Ye would give Ye Shuang an intensive lesson on how he had passed this test all those years ago.

“Family background…” Ye Shuang looked at her parents with difficulty. If she said she was an orphan, it sounded like she was cursing Father Ye and Mother Ye, but she didn’t think she had the ability to come up with a perfect backstory in such a short amount of time.

“You’re an orphan, and that’s that!” Father Ye declared with a shrug. “That will lead to the fewest follow-up questions… I’ve even thought about your occupation; just tell them you’re studying to get your postgraduate degree. After all, with your current understanding of technical knowledge, it wouldn’t be hard to get one later.”

Father Ye was quite a sly fox himself. If Ye Shuang was a researcher, then it wouldn’t be weird for him to disappear once in a while to deal with his research business. Furthermore, this meant that Grandmother Luo wouldn’t urge them into marriage since Ye Shuang didn’t have a stable occupation yet. After all, a masters or doctorate student wasn’t guaranteed a career nowadays after they left school. If anything, many of such educated individuals were festering in their parents’ basement.

However, this did prove Ye Shuang’s intellectuality, so it would be uncouth to force him to separate from their Ye Shuang… While a researcher didn’t have a career guarantee, at the very least, it was better than many other people who had even less of a guarantee…

While Ye Shuang was being given a private lesson by Father Ye in the kitchen, back in the living room, Grandmother Luo and Uncle Luo were in the middle of their own private assessment.

“That kid is too handsome,” Grandmother Luo observed with worry. In her memory, her granddaughter, at most, could only be considered delicate, so she couldn’t help but worry about their future. “Even if he stays loyal to Shuang Shuang, it is no guarantee that those wild butterflies and bees won’t circle around him. Our poor Shuang Shuang…”

The spy, Uncle Luo, nodded and whispered back, “Mom, you’re right, but let’s not underestimate Big Sister. If the boy possesses such weak character, she would have intervened already. Let’s not judge him with our prejudice, after all, it is not his fault that he was born with such good looks…”