Release that Man

“Miss Eva, please wait for a moment. Manager Chen is currently busy. When he’s free, I’ll come to contact you.” Chen He’s personal assistant greeted the fashionable beauty politely and nodded at Ye Shuang as acknowledgement before leaving, closing the door behind him.

The beauty who had just walked in was a familiar face. Even though their first meeting had not been all that glamourous, Ye Shuang managed to recognize this beauty at first glance as the female main character of An Zining’s earlier adultery expose event. In other words, the former owner of Ye Shuang’s current apartment.

Naturally, the beauty saw Ye Shuang in the guestroom as well, but she was unable to recognize her. One of the reasons was Ye Shuang had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing an outfit that was more formal than during their previous encounter. However, the most crucial reason was the beauty suffered from heavy near-sightedness. Earlier, when she was yanked out of bed, everything had happened so fast that she did not have chance to put her contact lenses in.

Noticing the strange woman in the guestroom, the beauty frowned before giving the other party a once-over, particularly focusing on Ye Shuang’s face and body. She huffed icily and sat down not far away from Ye Shuang, not hiding her hostility one bit. “You a newcomer?”

My God! Ye Shuang was stunned. How did she know it’s my second day of work‽

The beauty scoffed with derision as she squinted her painted eyes to study her recently buffed and colored nails, commenting as if to herself, “Regardless of whether you’re from the business world or the entertainment world, heed your big sister’s advice. Recently, Mr. Chen has become wrapped up in a host of troubles, and he probably won’t have time to listen to your listen troubles. So, you’d better go seek help from someone else while you still have chance.”

“Thank you, but I’m not here because I need help from Mr. Chen,” Ye Shuang answered politely even though she was a bit vexed that the woman thought she was there to sell herself to gain favors from Chen He. She thought it was laughable that a mistress would offer this kind of advice that sounded like she was the actual wife, but since the woman technically meant it out of kindness, Ye Shuang decided not to take offense.

The woman was baffled before the derision on her face turned deeper. “Don’t tell me, you’re here because you think it’s true love‽ Regardless of whether you’re faking it or you’re just in too deep, true love is outdated in this day and age, so you’d better snap out of it!”

If Ye Shuang did not catch the hidden meaning earlier, she definitely caught it now. The misunderstanding definitely was deep. Ye Shuang caught awkwardly and said, “I came here… with a friend who’s here for business. He’s inside the boardroom for a negotiation, so I’m waiting for him here.”

“Very good!” The woman’s lips twitched and tried her best to look calm. Jesus! Why would I mistake her for a new sister‽

The beauty knew from their brief conversation that Ye Shuang was no threat to her position, so she stopped wasting time to feel Ye Shuang out. She grabbed a random magazine off the coffee table and walked over to the coffee machine to pour herself a cup before returning to the sofa and flipping through the magazine to pass the time.

Half an hour later, Ye Shuang’s lawyer friend had not returned, but Chen He’s personal assistant did. Similarly, he nodded at Ye Shuang before informing the woman, “Miss Eva, Mr. Chen’s work is finally over, but he is needed somewhere else. Therefore, he told me to get a driver for you down at the parking lot. Later, Mr. Chen will personally contact…”

“He’s busy again‽ He’s always busy! He really thinks I didn’t know he stood me up last time because he was too busy shuttling that slut away. This time, he’s ignoring me again because he’s going to the ball with the madwoman…”

The beauty grumbled with dissatisfaction to herself as she was led out of the room by the assistant. Once she left, silence returned to the guestroom.

The woman was grumbling with a voice that was barely audible to the assistant, who was standing beside her, but with her impeccable hearing, Ye Shuang heard her perfectly. She scratched her chin in contemplation before standing up to pour herself a third cup of coffee.

When she was sipping her fifth cup of coffee, the lawyer finally returned. If he had not returned then, Ye Shuang swore she would have fallen asleep on the couch.

“Brother Lin!”

As the door swung open, Ye Shuang subconsciously turned toward it. She saw her lawyer colleague standing at the door with a serious countenance and showing no intention of entering the room. When he saw Ye Shuang, he nodded and said with a push of his glasses, “It’s time for us to leave.”

Beside the lawyer was another lawyer. Ye Shuang sensed it was another lawyer because the man had a similar presence to Lawyer Lin. They were both serious professionals.

When Ye Shuang walked over, the man who she assumed was Chen He’s lawyer was telling Lawyer Lin politely, “We’ll need to discuss further the issue regarding the clauses. I hope Mr. Lin will return to discuss this with Miss An. The extra-marital affair and child born out of wedlock was merely a rumor meant to slander Mr. Chen’s name, and it’s my personal belief that rumors stop with the wise. Furthermore, if we really bring this to court, everyone involved will lose face, and it’ll exhaust plenty of money and time.”

“I will relay the result of our discussion to Miss An, thank you. We’ll walk out on our own; there’s no need to see us out.” Lawyer Lin nodded slightly. He didn’t concur or deny; he was all official, which gave the opposing lawyer no opening to further his agenda.

“I’ve heard from others that Mr. Lin is a genius in fighting criminal cases, but a civil case is drastically different from a criminal case. It involves plenty of relationship concerns like husband-and-wife…” The lawyer smiled officiously before adding, “Or perhaps Mr. Lin should ask Miss An’s family for their opinion on this matter.”

“I’m sorry, I’m only responsible to my client, Miss An, and not her family.”

In the short journey from the sofa to the door, the opposing lawyer did not let down his assault. However, Lawyer Lin maintained a type of serenity that easily neutralized all of the incoming attacks.

Even as they part, the battle is still so intense. No wonder Sister An wanted Brother Wong to follow along. Perhaps they were close to fighting it out in the boardroom earlier‽ Ye Shuang was appropriately impressed. She smiled when she reached Lawyer Lin’s side. “Brother Lin, shall we?”

Lawyer Lin nodded at Ye Shuang and then at the opposing lawyer. “Thank you.”

Ye Shuang only opened her mouth after they left Chen He’s company. After all, they had been in the enemy camp earlier—even if she could sense the low spirits from Lawyer Lin, she did not think it was wise to expose their weakness while they were still on enemy ground.

After some thought, Ye Shuang decided to go about this in a round-about way. “Brother Lin, did you fail to get an agreement‽”

The real question on her mind was,  Brother Lin, did you get slaughtered at the enemy’s main camp?

Lawyer Lin’s footsteps halted slightly when he heard the question. His expression turned severe, and after he pushed his glasses, he answered, “It’s fine. I mentally prepared myself before we arrived. Miss An’s demand is for the other party to lose everything. Naturally, that won’t happen with just one or two negotiations.”

It might never happen, after all, their client’s demand was too brutal, and Chen He was not a dummy. If they could not come up with any conclusive proof to pin the affair on Chen He soon, the most likely outcome was both husband and wife had to each take a step back after the intervention from both families.

The reason for him feeling down was not the lack of a result from the first battle, but mainly it was because he was unable to gel with his opponent. Lawyer Lin might be a professional, but he was still human, and he had his own preferences. The opposing lawyer happened to be the type of character that he hated the most.

Since Ye Shuang had started the conversation, she decided to pursue it. “The key evidence is still the pregnant mistress that Brother Lin and Sister An were talking about before. Since we were unable to find an opening through the hospital, is there another lead we can pursue?”

Lawyer Lin looked at Ye Shuang before shaking his head. “Normally they keep a lid on such private information. The only person who would have some information is the assistant who accompanied the mistress to the hospital. However, there’s no reason for him to bite the hand that feeds him. What Miss An can offer, Mr. Chen can offer as well. Furthermore, this involves his career; he’s already gained Mr. Chen’s loyalty, so there’s no reason for him to betray that for Miss An, whom he wouldn’t be able to gain any benefits from.”

Ye Shuang added, “I mean perhaps Chen He’s other mistresses might know something…”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with his other mistresses. I don’t think they know anything. Even if they do, it’s the same as the assistant. Why would they betray Mr. Chen for Miss An‽”

Lawyer Lin’s gaze lingered longer on Ye Shuang a little longer this time, thinking to himself perhaps this girl had read much too many romance web novels—women in real life did not hate each other for no reason. When they betrayed each other, it was for the purpose of a certain benefit or gain.

The single most important issue was identity—these women willingly became Chen He’s mistress for the sake of money. Chen He could keep them as mistresses, and An Zining could not. Of course, An Zining could try to buy them out, but Chen He could as well. With this simple comparison, any wise woman would know how to choose.

What about women who were not that wise? If they weren’t wise to begin, how did they manage to make a man lavish them with cash?

Ye Shuang ended the conversation with a shrug. At the end of the day, she was merely giving a suggestion; she was going to leave such matters to the professionals. She had never intended to intervene in another person’s professional field. Her aim had been to distract Lawyer Lin from the disappointment earlier. Now that the atmosphere felt much more comfortable, she had no reason to carry on with the conversation.

After returning with Lawyer Lin, Ye Shuang still could not call it a day because there was a ball to attend. Ye Shuang, acting in her role as the personal assistant, naturally had to attend it. Then again, even if she was not on the payroll, she would be wrought with worry knowing a possibly pregnant woman was attending a ball not on her watch, teetering on overly high heels.

Mr. and Mrs. Chen attended the ball together for the purpose of maintaining appearances. After a few words at the door, they could not wait to part from the other. Naturally, Ye Shuang followed An Zining. Glancing at Chen He, who flitted among the roomful of beauties like a happy butterfly, An Zining tutted with disgust. She turned her head to order Ye Shuang, “Go help me get a glass of wine.”

But pregnant woman shouldn’t drink… Ye Shuang nodded obediently and returned half a minute later with a glass of grape juice.

An Zining took the glass of dark purplish juice without taking a good look at it. Her eyes scanned the party, and she scoffed, “Ye Shuang, look at that bastard…Cough! What is this? What did you get me?”

“…Non-alcoholic wine,” Ye Shuang answered cautiously.