Release that Man

Nausea, lethargy, change of appetite, and heart palpitations.

Ye Shuang was at least fifty percent certain that those were the early signs of a pregnancy, but the other fifty percent was sure that it was some kind of disease. After all, she was only a young woman; she could not be one hundred percent accurate about things that she had not experienced before.

Although Ye Shuang was leaning more heavily toward the former speculation mainly because An Zining had once been a married woman. A married woman being pregnant could not be more common. Granted the husband was a bit of a mess, but that did not mean they did not carry out their duties as husband and wife.

A pregnancy would change many things. For starters, the divorce would have to be reconsidered.

Alas, Ye Shuang’s hint completely flew over An Zining’s head; she was still under the impression that her recent discomfort was either due to her lack of rest or being annoyed by Chen He. In any case, she was feeling too good about herself, what kind of sickness could she have caught when she was still so young?

Although this did not mean that she would not consider the physical check-up, she definitely would not go now when Chen He’s lawyer just called for a divorce negotiation. It would have been fine if she delayed it for a few days, perhaps she would have felt better then. Who knows, right?

After listening to An Zining’s opinion, Ye Shuang had no choice but to shut up. After all, she did not dare to insist on something that she did not have full confidence in. Furthermore, she had no medical background, and her job was to be An Zining’s personal assistant. To want to order the boss around… how could she do such a thing?

Then again, if she kept this to herself, her boss might go ahead and eat something she shouldn’t eat while pregnant, like haw and crab.

To tell or not to tell, that was the question.

Conscious about An Zining’s changing appetite, Ye Shuang decided to tell half. She carried the cup of plum sweet tea and wandered into the kitchen where she found Miss Chef in the middle of a hard battle with a ball of dough at the counter. She patted her on her shoulder and said, “Hi, Gorgeous!”

Miss Chef jumped from shock. After she turned and saw it was Ye Shuang, her legs almost gave. Miss Chef was still suffering from the aftereffects of the previous day’s high-speed racing. Now, whenever she saw Ye Shuang, she would be brought back inside the metal cage of death, and her heart would start to race.

After she grabbed the counter for support, Miss Chef stammered, “What… what’s wrong‽”

Is there be another sudden emergency‽ But wait, we’re at the client’s house, and Brother Wong, the security, is just outside the door. If there was an emergency, she wouldn’t have wandered into the kitchen. So perhaps she’s just looking for something to eat…

While Miss Chef was thinking to herself, Ye Shuang leaned into to whisper, “It’s like this… you also know I haven’t done this before, so I have a question, if I found out our client has some personal problem, should I actively report it?”

“…That depends on what kind of problem it is, but if it involves the client’s privacy then it’s expected of us to keep silent.” Miss Chef’s round face frowned. “To be honest, to work in this industry, personal ability is actually less important than the ability to keep a secret. Many things, even if you’ve seen it, you’ll have to wipe it from your memory, just in case…”

Ye Shuang interrupted her to ask, “What if it’s I feel Sister An is pregnant?”

“Preg…” Miss Chef’s eyes bulged with surprise. “For real‽”

Then of course you have to report it! Miss Chef wiped her hands cleaned. She understood the gravity of the situation, so she directly pulled Ye Shuang out of the kitchen. “If you’re sure, then you have to tell it now! It’ll be too late after an accident occurs.”

“That’s the thing—I’m still not certain.”

A simple sentence from Ye Shuang froze Miss Chef. Miss Chef turned around to ensure Ye Shuang wasn’t kidding with her. Ye Shuang shrugged helplessly.

“Sister An has the early signs of pregnancy like heart palpitations and nausea when she’s around certain food items. But I’m not a medical expert. Perhaps that’s just because she has some intestinal problem. I have suggested for Sister An to go for a physical check-up, but it was instantly rejected so…”

Miss Chef understood the concern instantly. Of course, they couldn’t change anything based on a hunch. If the hunch was correct, then everything would be fine, but if it wasn’t, then this could be considered toying with the client. After all, telling a woman who was in the middle of a divorce settlement, “Congratulations, you might be pregnant with your soon to be ex-husband’s child!” when they were not one hundred percent confident sounded like a very bad idea.

“That’s why I came to ask you whether you have such experience or not.” Ye Shuang turned to Miss Chef with a face full of innocence, adding, “If you also think something’s wrong, then we should both tell Sister An together!”

Miss Chef almost coughed out blood. She had not been pregnant before either, so why would she have such experience‽

I suppose we should wait for further confirmation!

Miss Chef could not come up with a better solution. At most, she could pay more attention to the menu, and they would decide what to do after a few more days of observation.

After deciding the solution, Ye Shuang felt much better. She tossed the empty cup away and turned to leave, leaving behind a distraught Miss Chef who was busy filtering through the menus. Yes, her sole reason of going into the kitchen was to ‘share’ her trouble. After all, sharing is caring.

Due to the call from Chen He’s assistant and lawyer that afternoon, the lawyer had been stuck inside the villa next door preparing the information needed to win the negotiation for An Zining. This meant that the rest of them had nothing else to do. Other than fetching the drinks, Ye Shuang found herself with some free time, so she satisfied herself by listening to the gossips.

“I knew Chen He was a bastard before I married him, but giving face to both of the families, I decided to live my married life with only one eye open,” An Zining muttered as she narrowed her eyes. “If he wants a mistress, then so be it. After all, the man’s IQ has always been dictated by his lower body, but to have the audacity to make the woman pregnant without me knowing… If it only involved sharing the inheritance of the Chen family, then I wouldn’t have cared, but the Chen family is tied to my family. Why should I give that outside woman her satisfaction simply because she carried a baby with her‽”

The mistress was coming for part of the gold with a child‽

When Ye Shuang heard this, she understood instantly why An Zining would suddenly decide to divorce Chen He. Keeping a mistress was totally different from having a child with the mistress. Putting it plainly, An Zining had been willing to tolerate Chen He’s indecency not because of love but because of the pressure from both families. With so many interests on the line, she could not act rashly.

But now, whether it was a bastard child or an adopted child, the child had the right to contest the inheritance according to the law. Once Chen He’s mistress gave birth to a child and Chen He accepted him or her as part of the family, the child would be a huge inconvenience for the two families.

An Zining’s maiden family finally supporting her decision for a divorce was ultimately because of this. Chen He’s mistress’ pregnancy was exposed, and after negotiation, the man who could not keep his pants on turned out to be a big softie; he was willing to cut all ties from the mistress, but he wanted to keep his own flesh and blood.

If An Zining relented to this demand, then something was definitely wrong with her head. Hence, the negotiation ended with both parties yelling at each other. After hearing Chen He’s stance, An Zining’s maiden family decided to hit while the iron was hot. Before the situation became too complicated, they were going to first extricate themselves from this hot mess.

“Then, Sister An, what if you’re also pregnant yourself?” Ye Shuang couldn’t help but chime in. Even though it was a hunch, it was still possible, right?

An Zining answered without hesitation, “I’m going to take it out!”

“…”

“We’re starting the negotiations this afternoon. If we had evidence of the mistress’ pregnancy, then we would have concrete proof that the fault lies with Mr. Chen.” The hired lawyer didn’t notice the curious expression on Ye Shuang’s face. Flipping through the files, he pulled the topic back to the divorce discussion. “But now the woman has been squirreled off to god knows where, and there is no information on her inside the files I was given. With just the picture of Mr. Chen’s assistant sending the woman to the hospital is not enough. Most importantly, we need to locate said woman.”

“That bastard is afraid that I might harm his little vixen, so he had her hidden away the moment the affair was exposed. If only I’d stopped him then…” The mere thought of it made An Zining gripped her fists with anger.

The celebrity vixen who had been caught a few days ago turned out to be only one of Chen He’s many mistresses. Then again, the man was already disloyal to his own wife, so of course he wouldn’t be loyal to his mistresses. The man had truly been busy. Only two women were known to be his mistresses so far, but there were definitely still plenty that had not yet been exposed. If not for An Zining’s discovery, she probably wouldn’t have found out until after the baby was born.

“Then, is there any other evidence to prove Mr. Chen’s infidelity?” The lawyer put down one file to pick up another. “Pictures of Mr. Chen having dinner with unknown women are not enough, even if they were seen having physical contact. They have been be caught walking into the hotel together… but this is all circumstantial evidence. It might have been enough in a normal case, but the lawyer hired by Mr. Chen will definitely find some ways to invalidate all this, so we need to have something more concrete in our arsenal.”

An Zining gave the man a side-eye. “The reason I hired you is to help me solve problems, but now you’re throwing the problems back to me‽”

“…” The lawyer pushed his glasses up his nose. “I’m a lawyer, not a private investigator; my forte is not collecting evidence. If there’s no physical evidence, perhaps you can provide character witnesses?”

During the discussion, An Zining’s phone suddenly rang.

With a glance from her boss, Ye Shuang knew it was her turn to ‘shine’. She picked up the phone and saw the caller ID. It was simple, with just one word, Trash.

Could this Trash be Chen He‽