Release that Man

It was almost time for the transformation, so Ye Shuang had to get home as soon as possible. Accompanying An Zining to the ball was part of her job, plus An Zining had confirmed that the ball would finish before midnight. However, staying late after work… that was simply looking for trouble.

Ye Shuang was irked to the point of having a headache. She had told Yuan Ruan repeatedly that she wasn’t free that night, but the girl refused to let her go. Ye Shuang was considering yanking her sleeve back from Yuan Ruan’s iron grip when the group of socialites whom she was familiar with suddenly appeared.

“Ruan Ruan, why aren’t you going, we’re all waiting… Hey, it’s Xiao Shuang!”

“It’s true! Ruan Ruan, well done. With Xiao Shuang on our side, those people will definitely lose!”

“Of course, our Xiao Shuang is the Queen of Mah-jongg, Lady Luck incarnate!”

“Stop wasting time, just shove her inside the car and let’s get moving!”

Before Ye Shuang realized what was happening, she was half-shoved into a car by the group of the girls, her power of speech completely overwhelmed. Then, everyone jumped into their own ride, and with a wave of a finger, the troop headed off with a spirit as high as an army out for war.

An Zining’s car, which had left the hotel earlier, was stuck in a traffic jam, and both of its passengers saw the tragedy that befell Ye Shuang.

With his hands gripping the steering wheel, Brother Wong asked, “Boss, shall we call the cops?”

“Hmm…” An Zining’s finger fell on her lips as she thought. “I don’t think so… After all, they’re all women…”

Of course, An Zining knew the bunch of girls as well, but she was surprised Ye Shuang was so close to them.

“Let’s go, leave her be!” After some thought, An Zining decided to abandon Ye Shuang. As an understanding boss, she wasn’t going to intervene into her worker’s social circle.

Brother Wong wiped the sweat on his forehead silently. “Yes!”

…

With no knight riding on a white horse to come to her rescue, Ye Shuang could only surrender to the fate of being kidnapped. Actually, that wasn’t completely true; if Ye Shuang wanted, with her physical prowess, this group of weak and gentle girls wouldn’t be able to stop her, but she did not think that it was wise to use such violent and deadly measures against a group of girls.

Ye Shuang scratched her head and looked out the window. She was caught in a conundrum, trying to figure out a way to escape her current dilemma.

The car that she was riding in belonged to Ruan Yuan. The young man whom Ruan Yuan had her arms over earlier was handling the steering wheel. He would glance at Ye Shuang through the rear-view mirror occasionally, perhaps curious about her identity.

Ruan Yuan was sitting shotgun, and she had not stopped talking ever since they got into the car. From what she said, it sounded like Mr. Fang’s group would still be coming for this KTV night out. The group of girls had no confidence in beating the guys who had more experience visiting such places; therefore, they needed Ye Shuang to be their mainstay, preserving their face was their lowest demand. Of course, if she could stomp the capital group… that would be perfect!

Ye Shuang felt the earlier headache returning.

For KTV, everyone knew, singing was merely a side show, a talent showcase of sorts. Unless the person was really a good singer, no one really cared. No matter how luxurious the place was, the prepared microphones would only be two, so the real heart of the matter was the group activity, the game of dice.

Girls were naturally weaker at this than boys, as they did not come across such gambling activities normally, and it was a bit too hopeful to think that they would suddenly be so lucky. Ye Shuang’s four consecutive wins at Mah-jongg had left a deep impression in everyone’s mind. Combined with everything that happened after that, Ruan Yuan was exceptionally excited when she saw Ye Shuang and decided to drag her along without hesitation.

“Big Sister, are you sure the girl you brought can be trusted?” Utilizing the opening as Ruan Yuan took a breather after the long introduction, the young man who was driving finally chimed in. “Brother Fang and his friends merely want to meet up with everyone before they return to the capital; they have no malicious intention. But you all treat this so seriously, to the point of bringing along a friend to fight on your behalf.”

The young man meant this out of kindness. To be honest, he had also realized that Mr. Fang was interested in his sister, but alas, the girl herself did not realize that. On top of that, Mr. Fang had a personality that was keen on face-saving, so he had a penchant to gloat before his crush. One liked to show off, and the other thought this was because he was looking down on her. In the end, their relationship evolved to this curious state where there would be endless conflict whenever they saw each other.

What Brother Yuan really meant was his sister didn’t have to force the girl in the backseat who obviously didn’t want to come into this mess.

Mr. Fang said that it is merely a meet-up at the KTV, and since he is both a man and comes from the capital, you cannot fault him for being good at dice, right? Now, you’re purposely bringing a person to up the competition; it’s more likely to create trouble out of thin air…

Ruan Yuan was annoyed when she heard what her brother had to say. “Of course, Xiao Shuang can be trusted! Also, are you that close to the man to call him Brother Fang? If there’s someone that cannot be trusted, it’s that man! Also, Sister Chen, Sister Wong, and Sister Lee have all confirmed that this is a revenge plot from Mr. Fang since he has lost the horse-race! Such ungentlemanly behavior!”

Brother Yuan was at the verge of tears due to his biological sister’s dullness of mind. If Brother Fang can’t be trusted, then neither can that group of girls! Obviously, they’re just there to watch you and Brother Fang at each other’s throats!

Regardless, ten minutes later, the Yuan siblings and the unwilling Ye Shuang reached the KTV. After entering the private room that was booked, other than the group of socialites who had arrived before them, there was also the capital’s small group of three, which had Mr. Fang as its center.

The local group aside, one glance at the size of the capital’s group and Ye Shuang instantly agreed with Brother Yuan’s analysis. This was truly only a meet-up, or else they wouldn’t have shrunk to a small group of three. Alas, the intention of Mr. Fang’s action still failed to reach its mark.

Brother Yuan’s expression was collapsing, and even the lips of Mr. Fang, who was surrounded by a host of beauties, were twitching. Ye Shuang was the last to enter the room, and her eyes met Mr. Fang’s, who was looking up at the door.

“You are…” Mr. Fang felt Ye Shuang looked rather familiar. His brows furrowed in contemplation. After some time, it hit him, and his expression turned rather unsavory. “The horse trainer that defeated Oscar?”

The horse-race was not the first time that Mr. Fang had lost at such a match, but it was indeed the first time he had lost in such a curious manner. To be honest, initially, Mr. Fang couldn’t even remember Ye Shuang’s name—after all, the one racing was the provincial champion. However, to know exactly how he had lost, for the sake of his face, Mr. Fang had Oscar and the provincial champion race a few more times after that. One could predict the results easily. Without Ye Shuang’s support, the purebred Rosie won easily every time.

The provincial champion was an honest young man. After a few questions from Mr. Fang, he admitted justly that he wasn’t really that good of a racer, and he also had no idea what happened during the fateful race. However, he did mention that it was Ye Shuang who was responsible for picking and training the horse he rode that day.

With that in mind, combined with the fact that he accidentally overheard Ye Shuang was about to join Han Chu’s talent group, Mr. Fang instantly understood who the real “killer” that caused him to lose the race was.

Ye Shuang did not know the aftermath of the horse-race, so she was rather surprised that Mr. Fang could still recognize her. “Actually, the racer had everything to do with that race; I merely pushed him in the right direction.”

“…” Even though Mr. Fang had no idea what exactly happened on that day, he was certain that little push was the real reason he had lost!

Mr. Fang gritted his teeth. However, he quickly caught himself when he saw the defensive posture Ruan Yuan, who was standing beside Ye Shuang, assumed. He suppressed his anger and turned his head to the side with a harrumph.

Mr. Fang’s friends shared a look among themselves before smiling and moving further away from Mr. Fang. They started chatting with the group of socialites, and it did not take long for a temporary truce to form. They were going to sit at the sidelines and enjoy how Sister Ruan Yuan ripped Mr. Fang a new one.

The “cheat” Ye Shuang was dragged by Ruan Yuan to sit across from Mr. Fang. As she sat down, she glanced toward the group that was most happily chatting among themselves about the upcoming event. She happened to be caught glancing by one of the capital guys who was looking up.

The guy was startled. When Ye Shuang pulled her gaze back like she didn’t notice anything, the guy asked the people beside him, “She didn’t overhear us, did she‽”

The gaze Ye Shuang gave him was meaningful, like she was telling him she knew what they were up to.

One of the local socialites laughed and said, “Don’t worry, our voice is so soft, and there’s music playing, how could Shuang Shuang possibly hear us?”

Someone yanked on her sleeve mid-sentence, and another girl leaned over to say, “We don’t know for sure. Isn’t Xiao Shuang some kind of martial arts expert‽ Do you remember how impressive she was when we were playing Mah-jongg? Perhaps she really can hear us!”

The capital guy was tickled by what he heard. He was about to mock them regarding their gullibility when he felt someone staring at him. He turned toward the source and realized Ye Shuang was looking at him with a flitting smile before turning back again.

The words of mocking never had the chance to leave his lips. The guy was stunned, and when he recovered, he shivered in cold sweat—Could the world be more fantastical than he thought?

Before he could make any real observation, the main event everyone had been waiting for finally arrived. Mr. Fang could not help but be reminded of the horse-race and his loss when he saw Ye Shuang. His mood was already bad, and the presence of the doltish Ruan Yuan only added to his fire.

Therefore, in less than several minutes, the two entered their familiar competitive mode. Ye Shuang was only distracted for a few seconds, but when she recovered, she realized there was already a dice cup stuck in her hand.