Ye Shuang had always been under the assumption that her area of management was not San Lin City. Even though she was indeed a San Lin City local and was the city's agent, it was also undeniable that it was like that mostly because she was born in San Lin City. In contrast, Ye Shuang's appearance in Jing Hu City was much more successful than San Lin City. Therefore, if she really wanted to collect some high-end cases, the chance of that happening was higher in Jing Hu City than San Lin City.
However, what Ye Shuang did not know was that even though she did not have a shining resume, she was slowly gathering a name for herself with a curious method.
Yao Zhixing's admiration, the closeness from Anthony that recently made a name for himself, as well as the popularity gained from Mr. Fang… And the thing that made Ye Shuang most famous was her position as the friend of all the rich wives. Yes, the professional mistress catcher, she was the guardian of marriage, the agent of justice who used the dirty secrets of others to maintain the operation of her business—Ye Shuang!
"…What kind of horrible fame is this‽"
When she arrived, Ye Shuang felt the gauntlet of eyes on her. The confused Ye Shuang heard the whispers of the crowd and the explanation by Yao Zhixing. Then, she understood why she was so popular, and she could not help but sigh. "There aren't any big cases available in San Lin City. The fact that I accept these small cases will still get me this type of popularity‽"
"Xiao Han should have told you already that accepting these cases might lead to the formation of a wrong impression." Yao Zhixing laughed. "However, it should be fine. Everyone knows it was you who assigned Anthony to help the An family, but the circulation was still limited. After you do a few more big cases, it'll help change that opinion."
"There weren't many cases before, so I didn't have a choice." Ye Shuang sighed. "But so be it. Next time, I'll just direct these chores to the workshop. By the way, when do you plan to set off the fireworks‽"
"They're moving the stuff." Yao Zhixing also greeted Anthony and Little Brother before leading them into the building. "Did you bring your swimsuit? If you want to swim, just use the spring. If not, you can stay by the spring and wait for them to prepare the fireworks."
"The two of them brought theirs. I didn't bring mine." Ye Shuang pointed at the two. Anthony had been staring at the spring for a long time already. When he heard that, he removed his headphones and hung them around Ye Shuang's neck before handing her his phones as well. With his pair of blue eyes blinking, he pleaded, "Xiao Shuang, look after these things, okay?"
Yao Zhixing was confused. "These are‽"
He could understand asking a friend to look after the phone, but what was the meaning of the headphones‽ Non-important stuff could be put inside the locker. Furthermore, this was a high-end establishment; none of the customers would take his headphones.
Ye Shuang was also speechless. "Why did you bring your headphones?"
The screwball sneaked so many banned items with him. Anthony widened his eyes and blinked innocently. "It just fell into my bag when I came out."
"…"
Since Yao Zhixing was next to her and they were in public, Ye Shuang did not say more than that. What else could she do‽ Tell Yao Zhixing that a criminal came to his place with an eavesdropping device and the private calls of his customers might be hacked‽
Of course, she would not say that. Ye Shuang gritted her teeth and wagged her finger at Anthony, non-verbally saying, This is not over!
Anthony smiled and ignored her as he grabbed Little Brother Ye and ran away.
Recently, Anthony had also become quite famous at San Lin City. A cute foreign face was already eye-grabbing enough, and that, combined with the cleansing he had done at the An family, only pushed his fame even higher. San Lin City's people already knew about Anthony, so they would give him face at social events, much less these private events. Thus, they were exceedingly polite to him.
After the two disappeared into the changing room, Yao Zhixing led Ye Shuang deeper into the building. They found a spot where they would not get splashed by water and sat down on the lounge chair. They ordered two cups of hot cocoa, and Yao Zhixing raised his head to point in a direction. "They'll start the fireworks right there. The place next door is a water theme park, so there's no worry of stray fireworks."
"You people do know how to play, but this place is rather cold at this time of the year." Ye Shuang took a sip of the cocoa and sighed as fog formed before her lips.
Yao Zhixing smiled. "You won't be so cold if you go for a swim. The spring here is about forty degrees. By the way, why has this Anthony stuck so close to you recently?"
Yao Zhixing wanted to invite his friend to come play, but the call had gifted him an extra golden retriever. Based on local custom, spending time at a friend of the opposite gender's house meant meeting the parents. Foreigners might not care about it that much, but this would cause a misunderstanding to others.
"He sticks even closer to Han Chu. This is probably the difference between him knowing you or not." Ye Shuang shrugged. This period of interaction have given her an insight into Anthony's personality. "The man is very guarded around people, but if he sees you as a friend, then he will act very naturally around you. Hmm… It's more like a 'what's yours is mine' type of thing. So, he probably thinks celebrating new year at my place is common because my parents are his parents."
That sounded quite confusing, and Ye Shuang was not sure Yao Zhixing understood it. In any case, she shrugged with some impatience. "He probably sees me as another Han Chu."
"Are you sure?" Yao Zhixing did not quite believe it.
"At least, that's the case for now." Ye Shuang shrugged but did not seal the deal because she could not confirm what might happen in the future. Perhaps one day Anthony might reach his mating period, or maybe she would suddenly like to have a large-sized canine in her life…
"By the way, Brother Yao did invite a lot of people tonight." Reluctant to continue this conversation about Anthony, Ye Shuang changed the topic as she glanced at the group of boys and girls who were partying nearby. "I thought you'd only invite the group of racers."
"It's a large party." Yao Zhixing shrugged as he cushioned his arm behind his head. He took out a cigarette and lit it. "It's quite boring for everyone to get cooped up at home for new year, so I gave them this chance to come out to celebrate. As long as we return before morning, parents won't mind so much. It's new year after all."
However, just as Yao Zhixing finished, the kids from the racers came over to poke through his lies. These people had no idea what the two had just discussed—they just knew that Brother Yao had led Sister Shuang away to chat among themselves. Therefore, they came over naturally to join the conversation and betrayed Yao Zhixing in a few sentences.
"Sister Shuang, not coming to join us‽ It'll be fun. All the guests invited to this party are nice people."
"Yes, at the end of the day, they would give Brother Yao face."
"You're right, how dare they try to come after Sister Shuang! One finger could flick them away."
Yao Zhixing was silent with the cigarette dangling on his lips.
Ye Shuang chuckled. Since Yao Zhixing was silent, she tried to find out more from the guys. "Who is the one that mainly created this trouble?"
Actually, she had no idea what had happened, but this was the perfect thing to say to make them continue this topic. There had to be someone who called for a move to be made; some people stood in front while others at the back. Ye Shuang did not ask what happened, but she asked about the boss' identity—that way, other details would naturally surface.
The kids fell for her words easily. They thought that Yao Zhixing had already revealed everything, so they exposed everything to her. At the end of the day, there were still issues created by Ye Shuang's daily work. Ye Shuang had ruined the chances for many mistresses. Those young ones might not do anything to her, but the experienced ones were more troublesome.
These women gave birth to a son from their affair. Even though it was nothing to be proud of, some of them stopped working their tricks after a certain age since they now had a son to depend on. Some of these children born of wedlock were young, but a few of them were as old as the progeny of the wife. In fact, some of them were silently arranged into the family company as managers. Therefore, after exposing them, the damage was not smaller than Mars hitting Earth.
The wives were naturally angry, but at their age, they would not call for a divorce. They could only come to terms with their husband that the bastard sons were not going to get any inheritance or company shares.
The mistresses were even angrier. They thought they could finally get their benefits, but after the identity of their sons was exposed, they were carefully observed. This was easier to stomach for the ladies, but the sons who got kicked from a vibrant life to a life hiding in the shadows were not that patient.
They were not powerful enough to go against people of power, but they were powerful enough to go after Ye Shuang. Therefore, some of them started to arrange an avenging party, and when Yao Zhixing heard about that, a young people's party on New Year's Eve was born.
"…That's nothing to brag about." Since he had been exposed, Yao Zhixing did not beat around the bush. After kicking the few blabbermouths away, he came clean. "They only knew those few underhanded tricks, but it might get annoying after a while. You need to show yourself more often at these functions. When they see your connections, they will be afraid to do anything."
Ye Shuang thought about it and asked, "Will my family be affected?"
"Don't worry." Yao Zhixing shrugged it off. "The few who tried to do something have been taught a lesson. They wouldn't dare do anything after this."
"…"