Release that Man

The congregation of many dangerous characters gave Ye Shuang a bad feeling. She blinked, but since a plainclothes was there, she could not ask for more details. However, after they got home, she would drag the man out for some interrogation.

Miss Su Zheng decided to support all decision made by her ‘Brother Ye’. Without an explicit order, as the three made their way home, the little girl already shared everything she knew.

“Brother Ye, Brother Ye, listen to me. I have no idea what has gotten into the mind of this stupid thief. A few days ago, he shamelessly dragged Brother Yao out for a drink, and he almost got beaten up by Brother Yao again. And then, he changed his target to Anthony, but half an hour later, he got completely drunk and almost lost his virginity at the club.”

Ye Shuang laughed. “Is that so? That does sound interesting. Looks like Brother Han and I left a bit too early… What else happened?”

“Oh, you have no idea!” Su Zheng, who was incited, got more excited and completely ignored the darkness that had crawled onto Cedrick’s face. She held Ye Shuang’s arm and spilled all the beans. “I suspect that this dumb thief has been taking drugs recently. His mental state is not that normal because he didn’t even realize I’ve stolen his phone six times already…”

“Wait, when did that happen?” Cedrick stopped moving and finally interrupted, “I have no recollection of that. Don’t lie.”

“I’m not lying!” Su Zheng was miffed and turned to tattle to Ye Shuang. “Even though Sister Shuang and you told me not to bully this idiot, we have to continuously improve our skills especially in our field! I thought his skill would be better than a petty thief, but… even after I stole his phone, swiped the battery, and then replaced it at night, the guy didn’t even realize it. Then, three days later, he bought a new Apple phone, and he dares to say he’s not stupid‽”

Cedrick exploded. “No wonder my previous phone kept unable to power on! It’s all your fault!”

“Of course, how do you expect the phone to power on without the battery!” Su Zheng roared back at him and then turned around. “Brother Ye, isn’t this his fault for failing at his skills‽”

Then the two continued to argue back and forth.

“What did you say? Do you believe I won’t go and steal all your underwear so that you have nothing to wear‽”

“Shameless woman, can you please not talk about things like that so often‽”

“If you are capable, then try to stop me. You’re afraid, aren’t you‽”

“Humph, don’t think I won’t counter. It’s just that I have no mood to steal someone’s A-cup bra!”

“If you dare, repeat that again!”

“What, you really think you won’t‽”

“Ha ha ha…” Ye Shuang looked at the bickering between the two thieves and finally intervened when it looked like things were about to escalate to a fight. “Alright, can we place this issue to the side for now? Cedrick, I remember your nickname is the Gentleman, right?”

Cedrick, who had been pulled back, had some time to calm down, and when he opened his eyes again, there was shame in them. “I’m sorry, I’ve acted uncouthly.”

He covered his eyes and shook his head with disappointment, and the sad voice continued. “I’ve never acted like this before, but she is just too…”

“You couldn’t reign in your mouth, and you want to push the blame onto me, huh‽” Su Zheng rolled up her sleeves, wanting to continue to fight.

Ye Shuang quickly drew the girl aside to separate her from Cedrick. She calmed her down and then turned to ask, “Cedrick, don’t mind me for imposing… but this really isn’t Su Zheng’s problem. Don’t you realize you’ve been acting real strangely lately? Did something happen?”

Cedrick lowered his hands and raised his eyes to look at Ye Shuang.

Ye Shuang did not avert her eyes and continued. “There has to be a reason for you coming to Feng Yuan City at such a sensitive time. On top of that, based on what Su Zheng said earlier… honestly, I can understand if you tried to befriend Yao Zhixing. Even though there’s the history between you two, such things can be talked out easily between men. There’s a chance that both of you could have put it behind you.

“But you didn’t even realize that Su Zheng stole your phone for three days and removed the battery—this is not something to blame on her anymore.” Ye Shuang focused on the issue. “You know about Su Zheng’s skill, and even if you don’t, when a normal person realizes something could be wrong with their phone, they try to fix it instead of buying a new phone… Obviously, something is on your mind which distracted you.”

Cedrick pulled up his lips like he was trying to force a smile, but he failed. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he was ready, he continued with a shaky smile.

“Even if you didn’t ask, I already planned to tell you about this because I might need your help after this.” After another pause, he gritted his teeth. “…The truth is that I might have found out about my mother’s real identity.”

“…” Ye Shuang.

“Erm…” Su Zheng.

Ye Shuang’s brain scrolled through her CPU-like memory, and three seconds later, she said, “But I remember… you said your mother is dead?”

Did this man not come to find his big sister and possibly a surviving father? How did things change so suddenly that he was looking for his mother? Ye Shuang was befuddled, but after starting the story, Cedrick found it easy to continue. “No, I found out some things from a source, and the woman that I thought was my mother was really not my mother.”

Cedrick sighed. “Someone told me that my mother was actually the retired helper of my real mother, and she got some money from her to take care of us, and then she eventually moved into the family and lived with us… Then, after my parents divorced, my father only wanted his real children, which are the three girls, and I stayed to live with the woman.”

“…Sounds complicated.” Ye Shuang scratched her chin.

Su Zheng frowned. “Hmm…”

“I also think the whole thing is a mess!” Cedrick bit on his lips, and even the roots of his hair felt like they were bowing out of depression. He looked downhearted. “I originally thought that I had no more family in this world, but my dead mother’s diary told me I actually have a father and three elder sisters… So, I made it my life’s plan to look for them, but now, suddenly, someone told me that they actually had nothing to do with me and that the woman whom I thought was my mother was a fake one.

“And my real mother… handed me over to someone else with some cash and didn’t even care to find out about my life for thirty years!”

At the end, Cedrick started yelling like he was trying to vent his emotion.

Ye Shuang did not know what to say. She thought about it and said, “Perhaps she has reasons for not reaching out to you?”

“But I hear she is pretty well-off and successful in life!” Cedrick glared at Ye Shuang but soon apologized. “I’m sorry, I seem to have lost control of my emotions for a moment there.”

Brother Shuang waved casually. “Apology accepted.”

Su Zheng’s eyes were swirling. She pulled on Ye Shuang’s sleeves. “Brother Ye, I feel like this story is so complicated. Is it because of language barrier? Can you help me translate?”

Ye Shuang felt awkward. “It’s not the language barrier…”

It was mainly the issue of intelligence and comprehension. “How about this? We’ll explain everything to you after we have some clues. It’s difficult to summarize the situation in simple terms now.”

After temporarily dealing with Su Zheng, Ye Shuang continued the questioning. “What do you plan to do then? I mean, have you confirmed the current situation? First, is the news believable, and if it is, what do you plan to do? You came to Feng Yuan City because you already have news about your biological mother, right?”

Cedrick was silent for a moment before raising his sad eyes to look at Ye Shuang. “Actually, I contacted Mr. Han just as we landed, and then he told me something incredibly shocking on the phone…

“My biological mother is apparently currently pursuing you.”

“Pfft!” Both Ye Shuang and Su Zheng choked. Even though the latter did not get the story background, she had no problem understanding this simple sentence.

“You mean, Madam Grace is your mother?”

“There’s a shameless woman who’s currently targeting Brother Ye?”

Both gasps happened in unison. Even though they were caused by different things, the shock that they received was similar.

Faced with Cedrick’s silence and furtive accusatory glances, Ye Shuang confirmed the answer. She rubbed her temples to try to process this unbelievable information and also made sure to inspect the team that was keeping a surveillance on her. Very good, they are far enough away to not hear the conversation.

“If Madam Grace is really your mother, then there is going to be trouble.” Ye Shuang gritted her teeth and said harshly, “This lady’s background is complicated. You have to understand that since both Brother Han and I are in Feng Yuan City, it is not for something simple.”

Cedrick sighed. “A biological mother that treated me like I wasn’t born for thirty years, I doubt I have any semblance of importance in her life.

“I’ve been trying to find my so-called father and sisters because I believed they are my family and they have some reason to leave me and my ‘mother’.

“But a mother who knew about my existence and chose to abandon me, I don’t think I will be able to form any relationship with her. Honestly, the reason I wish to find her is because I want to ask her a question.”

“Why she abandoned you?” Ye Shuang asked probingly, and when she saw Cedrick nod, she said hesitantly, “If we’re following the logic of that lady…”

It’s probably because she didn’t want to have a child to destroy her harem life… No, no, no! That truth is too cruel; I can’t tell him that!