Release that Man

There was not really a rule that governed Ye Shuang’s working habit. As she said earlier, she was not in a position to be choosy about her clients. If Chen He offered a case second after her contract with An Zining ended, as long as the content was not too ridiculous, Ye Shuang would accept it. The history and moral judgement of her clients had nothing to do with her.

In other words, Ye Shuang would not be loyal to only one client. However, that did not mean that Ye Shuang did not have her own moral code to abide by.

Things like selling the information of her former clients was something one should not do. Furthermore, this was illegal by law. Han Chu had stressed this to her when he signed the contract with her, and Ye Shuang personally agreed with the law.

Since Chen He had laid it out on the table, Ye Shuang finally understood what the man meant. After swallowing the strawberry, she pretended to think about it before saying, “A job like that requires too much of energy that I simply do not have, so I suggest Mr. Chen goes search for someone else.”

That was a rejection.

Professionals like Chen He were good at maintaining their facial expressions. Even though he was rejected, there was no awkwardness on his face. He merely smiled. “Perhaps Miss Ye has come to that conclusion a bit too quickly, because I…”

“Thank you, Mr. Chen, but I’ve really thought this through. Someone else would be a better candidate.” Ye Shuang sighed. She did not expect Chen He to be so insistent, but the key problem was that Chen He had been seen talking to her for than three minutes already. If this was allowed to continue, misunderstandings could easily arise. If other people saw them, it probably would have been fine, but if An Zining saw them, it would greatly influence the client’s trust in her.

“Currently, I’m just Sister An’s personal assistant, so I cannot help you do much. But if you don’t want me to help you do something, there’s no reason for you to spend so much money for me to just stand there.” Noticing the shift in Chen He’s expression, Ye Shuang realized that she probably should not have been so direct. “I’m sorry for my lack of tact, but the main reason I’m rejecting you is because Sister An is more generous than you are, so I don’t see the need for me to switch client.”

“She’s more generous than I am‽” This comparison knocked the purpose of the conversation out Chen He’s mind. Compelled by the desire to be better than An Zining at everything, Chen He started to lose control over his emotions and volume. “How is that woman more generous than I am‽ The car that I drive, the house that I’m living in, the salary I’m paying…”

“Sister An gifted me an apartment, and the transfer was done the day itself. By the way, you still owe me furnishings—don’t think I’ve forgotten about that,” Ye Shuang said calmly. “Actually, I do fear that you have the intention of wiggling out of it, but I still haven’t come up with a debt collecting method that won’t hurt your dignity.”

“…” Chen He was silent for about half a minute before tilting his head back to finish the glass of wine in one gulp. He then slammed the glass on the table, picked out a blank cheque from his breast pocket, and wrote something on it. “Is 200,000 RMB enough‽”

A normal person probably would have stopped right there, but Ye Shuang considered it seriously before saying, “I feel like we had better wait for Brother Fang to come up with a budget first. I am not sure about the price of refurnishing for an entire apartment.”

Chen He felt the need for another glass of alcohol. “If that’s not enough, tell Fang Mo to send me the rest of the bill!”

Naturally, he knew who this Brother Fang on Ye Shuang’s lips was; it could only be Fang Mo, who had been present when he and Eva were exposed.

“Then, I shall thank Mr. Chen first.”

Ye Shuang did not feel a bit awkward. She accepted the cheque with both hands and extended a polite thanks to Chen He as if she could not feel the atmosphere that was freezing around them. Chen He, who not only failed to get what he wanted but also lost a huge amount of money, left with an injured heart. Ye Shuang shoved several new pieces of cake down her throat before she reported back to the drawing room. She had not forgotten that she was still on duty.

In the drawing room, other than Sister An and Brother Wong, there were a few additional guests who filled up the spots on the sofa or next to the bookshelves. They too were probably tired of the ball and decided to come in for a rest. An Zining had moved to the bench on the balcony and had her eyes closed. When Ye Shuang came back to report, she noticed that Brother Wong’s gaze on her was a bit weird, but she didn’t think too much of it. After greeting An Zining, she sat down beside Brother Wong.

As her butt made contact with the cushion, An Zining’s eyes peeled open, and she asked, “Why did the bastard come looking for you?”

‘The bastard’ had always been An Zining’s choice word for Chen He, so after hearing that question, Ye Shuang understood why Brother Wong had been looking at her so weirdly before. She showed the cheque she had gotten from Chen He to An Zining and explained honestly, “Mr. Chen approached me to ask whether I would like to hop to his employment, but I rejected him saying he doesn’t have good credit since he still owe me. Probably insulted, Mr. Chen gave me a cheque of 200,000 RMB to pay his debt off, and the topic about job-hopping ended just like that.”

An Zining was startled; she was not expecting this answer. Earlier, she had seen what was happening outside through the drawing room’s open door. However, due to the distance, she could not hear their conversation. An Zining did see the fury on Chen He’s face when he left, but when he bent over the table to sign the cheque, the man had been blocked by the cake tower, so she did not know that the man had handed Ye Shuang a cheque.

From the man’s facial expression during and after the conversation, An Zining knew Ye Shuang did not sell her out, but that did not mean that she did not mind their overly close interaction. Now, hearing the answer, she found the truth unexpectedly enjoyable.

Brother Wong’s expression finally returned to normal. He had been afraid that this newbie was going to break their job’s first rule as well.

The annoyance that had gathered around An Zining’s chest earlier had completely disappeared. With a curl of her lips, she nodded, signaling for Ye Shuang to keep the cheque. “If that bastard wishes to act generous then so be it. After all, if not, he’ll just spend it somewhere completely pointless. When you’re home, have Fang Mo come up with the highest budget on the market, have your place decorated in the style of a palace!”

In a way, An Zining did know her ex-husband. She knew that, as slimy as he was, he would abide by his own promise to refurnish Ye Shuang’s place to save face.

“I understand.” Ye Shuang nodded but didn’t plan to follow that order. She was going to be as neutral as possible in the quarrel between husband and wife. Taking what she was owed was fine, but asking for more was signing her own death warrant. After all, she did not plan to be employed by An Zining for life, what if she needed to cooperate with Chen He in the future?

The group sat in the drawing room for another few more minutes before An Zining felt energized enough to return to the ball to socialize. She greeted the people that she had not seen earlier and bade farewell to the host at around 9.30 pm.

Ye Shuang did not stay at the villa alongside the members of the workshop, so she left for home right after the ball. Considering how long the working hours had been that day, An Zining was generous enough to let her have the following morning off. Ye Shuang could come to work after lunch, and with the extra time, she could contact Fang Mo about the furnishing.

Ye Shuang was appreciative of the concern and left to hail a cab.

An Zining sat in the passenger seat, looking at Ye Shuang’s back through the windshield, and turned to ask Brother Wong, who was driving, “What do you think of Ye Shuang?”

“I think Ye Shuang was telling the truth; I don’t think she has any private dealings with Mr. Chen,” Brother Wong answered. “Mr. Chen’s expression aside, even if Ye Shuang intends to take from both sides, Mr. Han won’t allow her to ruin his reputation.”

Even though Ye Shuang was not part of their workshop, since they were working under the same head-hunter, Brother Wong did have some implicit faith in Ye Shuang.

An Zining smiled before leaning back in her chair. “I wasn’t talking about that. Today, many interesting things have happened. She said that she saw someone sneezing by the wine tower, so she brought me a glass of fruit juice. That explanation I accepted, but to continue with grape juice until the end of the ball… Ye Shuang couldn’t have forgotten I asked for a glass of wine at the start of the party, but she pretended that it had slipped her mind, even though the wine tower had been changed three times already. Also, whenever I had a big motion, she would surreptitiously reach out to hold, and finally today’s shoes…”

Lowering her head to look at the heels that were practically flats, An Zining’s lips curled upwards. “The girl is clever enough to be able to guess which designer I frequent, but she didn’t know that the designer is familiar with my demands. Normally, for the sake of increasing my height, the designer pairs me with heels that are more than 8 centimeters…”

An astute assistant was a good thing, but being overly observant was sometimes a problem. An Zining didn’t like others to read or speculate about her thoughts, and she hated others intruding on her privacy. If not for the fact she had noticed Ye Shuang was paying her a little bit too much attention during the ball, she would not have realized what was wrong.

Therefore, An Zining was both satisfied and unsatisfied, satisfied because Ye Shuang was clever enough to keep certain things to herself while unsatisfied because Ye Shuang was too good at keeping certain things to herself. The human heart is that complicated. An Zining at times did feel she was a little too hard to please…

Brother Wong was silent. Since he was clueless about the matters within a woman’s heart, he decided to approach this the most direct way. “What does Miss An mean by that‽”

An Zining’s fingers curled up among the hair that had fallen before her chest. “I remember Ye Shuang suggesting I go for a check-up this morning, yes?”

“I believe so.”

“Okay then, help me arrange one.” An Zining let her hands fall on her lower stomach with some hesitance and a frown. However, she flinched as if burned and quickly placed her hands beside her on the seat. “Have the intern from your workshop make the arrangement, have the appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning.”

“…” Brother Wong felt like he had stumbled upon some deep secret. “Of course.”

“Start the engine!”

Just as An Zining’s car silently exited the parking lot, the unlucky Ye Shuang was accosted by a familiar face at the entrance.

“Xiao Shuang!” Yuan Ruan had one of her arms around an unfamiliar man while her other was clamped onto Ye Shuang’s sleeves hungrily, unwilling to let her go. “I saw you earlier, but I didn’t approach you since you were at work. We’re going to the KTV in a bit, come join us!”

Jesus Christ, please let me go! The Cinderella is changing into the prince in two and a half hours! This is for your own benefit—I don’t want to scare the lot of you!