300 Kindred Spirits

Due to Brother Shuang's disappearance, Xia Cheng's plan failed. The woman of the night who felt that she had been swindled was equally angry. Even though her business was not affected that much since it was morning, she had to stand there for a whole afternoon. No matter who it was, they would not be happy. For that, Xia Cheng had to compensate the woman for the injury to her mental state… so on and so forth. In any case, the total amount was not small, and it incidentally cleared Xia Cheng of all the money that he carried with him.

"You see that? That is the typical representation of someone with a low IQ." Edward used the disappointed Xia Cheng to offer Ye Shuang a lesson. His fat finger pointed at the man who was just outside the studio. "No plan, no back-up, and no emergency method… There was no complete planning and clarified stages. The man doesn't even have the intelligence to make changes according to the situation. Therefore, once one of the sections was disturbed, the whole plan collapsed…"

Ye Shuang nodded in agreement, but she also asked in curiosity, "At the very least, Xia Cheng is your friend. Since you have such harsh criticism, aren't you afraid he'll be blacklisted?"

"Hah, then I shall thank God for that," Edward scoffed and shrugged. "Things will be much easier if there is one less idiot dragging me down."

"By the way…" Ye Shuang looked at Edward. "Hasn't Xia Cheng been trying to make himself known? Since he could go and find a hooker, why didn't he just ask you to introduce him to James? Does he think James won't be much use, or does he not dare?"

"Of course, he doesn't dare to. What gives him the right to ask me to do him this favor?" Edward chuckled and turned lazily to Ye Shuang. "Of course, I don't suggest you ask any further. Even though I don't have detailed information about you, my instincts tell me, for us to continue being friends, there is a need for each of us to keep a little secret. What do you think?"

"I agree."

…

After the day was over, James invited almost the whole crew to go for dinner. Some were old workers knew Edward, and others had only heard of his name. As the main character, of course, Rong Su was invited as well, but Su Zheng and Ye Shuang did not plan to follow this time.

Since Xia Cheng was not going, they did not need to follow to observe him. Plus, Su Zheng still had not gotten over the humiliation of having her phone stolen. She wanted to have another go at dusk to see whether she could fish out the thief who dared to target her.

"Thief…" After Edward heard Ye Shuang's explanation, he was quite speechless. "France has the most thieves. Are you sure you want to waste your energy on this?"

"Mainly, it is the issue of face." Ye Shuang was also helpless. She really did not understand the honor of a thief. If this was Ye Shuang, she would not have wasted her time on a stolen phone. After all, there was nothing incriminating on her phone…

Edward yawned. "Then suit yourself, eighty percent likely that it'll be a waste of time… Oh, do you want to go out for tea again tomorrow?"

Ye Shuang thought about it. "Don't you think you're a bit too free?"

As a high-ranking officer in the organization, it was one thing that he was not hardworking, but he still had time to wander about and ask a girl that he had just met out for tea… Was it really okay for him to be so open and casual?

"Free‽ There are too many idiots in this world, and a repetitive lifestyle is too boring. It's rare for me to find something that attracts my interest. I'm already doing something meaningful." Edward shrugged. "After all, I believe you have nothing else to do anyway."

"You have a point, then how about tomorrow around noon?"

After saying goodbye to Edward and leaving the studio, Su Zheng finally could not resist the urge to gossip. "Is that Edward from the opposite camp?"

"Yes," Ye Shuang said with certainty.

"Is he Xia Cheng's ally?" Su Zheng widened her eyes.

"Yes."

Su Zheng could not believe it. "He asked you out for tea tomorrow?"

"What is it that you want to ask?" Ye Shuang looked at Su Zheng with confusion.

Su Zheng looked back with shock. "I mean, that Edward looks like he's a clever person. Won't he have ulterior motive for asking you out? Also, Sister Shuang, why did you agree? Do you also want to bait him out?"

Actually, it was not that complicated. She just thought it was fun conversing with the fatty…

Of course, she would not say that. Therefore, Ye Shuang thought about it to come up with an explanation that she believed was more trustworthy. "It's like this… So far, my interaction with him will not directly influence our investigation. Therefore, meeting him or not, there's no difference. The only bad ending that I can think of is if I am kidnapped while meeting him… Do you think there is a chance of that happening?"

"I understand now!" It dawned on Su Zheng. "Sister Shuang, you plan to kidnap him once you realize something is wrong!"

The plan sounded so real that Ye Shuang had no counter. Ye Shuang coughed and then nodded seriously. "You're right, that's the plan!"

…

One day, two day, three days…

Just like that, Ye Shuang continued to spend time with Edward, who was both an enemy and a friend. Due to the foundation that Brother Shuang had laid, until the commercial was over, Xia Cheng did not have time to get close to Rong Su. Of course, that was nothing much—the thing that attracted her attention was that as the day passed, the time that Xia Cheng was not around their gaze had gradually increased. About this, Edward still maintained his less than concerned attitude.

"I happen to know a thing or two about this," Xu Jian told Ye Shuang on the phone during one of the nights. "If a certain member proves to be lacking or has caused too much losses, the organization will send some other people to inherit his work. The Xia Cheng that you mentioned is probably losing favor with the organization. He has failed his earlier mission and has not been able to rescue himself, so it is natural for him to be replaced."

"Oh, then does this mean that Xia Cheng has been demoted or targeted to be killed?" Ye Shuang asked.

Xu Jian was shocked, and he coughed. "Of course, it's a demotion. Xiao Shuang, why are you so… scary lately?"

Ye Shuang sighed. "I'm sorry. I've been hanging out with people who lack morals, and I was probably influenced by then."

Ye Shuang was not joking. Spending too much time with someone like Edward would cause her to be influenced. Although, to be serious, such character had been around Ye Shuang for a long time already, like Anthony, who everyone was familiar with.

Only the young would see the world in black and white while adults saw it in shades of gray depending on the environment and benefits. Those with power would not be influenced by society's rules because society had a hard time influencing these people. Therefore, it depended on themselves whether they want to follow these rules or not.

Because of that, unless they had firm morality, no one could normally guarantee that they would not do anything regretful when they were excited or when they were struck by inspiration.

Practice makes perfect. Once they followed someone to do something bad, in the future, they might do that bad thing on their own. For example, Ye Shuang who learned how to lie from Luo Mingxin; for example, Ye Shuang who learned how to steal from Su Zheng; for example, Ye Shuang who learned how to set up traps from Edward…

"Hey! That young couple really did break up." Edward came over to find Ye Shuang excitedly that morning. "Yesterday, when I went to buy some donuts, the female boss did not give me the extra biscuits. How about we go and design a script for her son today? Hmm, let his girlfriend slap him in the face?"

After the conversation on the phone the previous night, Ye Shuang, who was repenting that morning, raised her head with sadness. "I think I've been playing a bit too much recently."

"Stop giving me that nonsense. I can see that you were having a good time with me." Edward had a hard time pushing his paunch through the space between the chair and the counter. Then very familiarly, he took out a carton of milk from Karen's kitchen. "I've already said, we are the same type of people, aren't we?"

"And what type would that be?" Ye Shuang asked after a while. She thought that this issue was really serious. Probably, because this man was too friendly around her, his lack of morality had been brushing off on her.

Edward poured himself a glass of milk and said, "Just saying, I'm not purposely trying to investigate you."

Ye Shuang sighed. "From that I can already understand what you want to say. Did you 'accidentally' find some information about me?"

"Of course, I have no interest in these things, so I don't need to purposely ask around for it." Edward swirled the carton out of boredom. "Xia Cheng is an idiot, but he is even more unlucky to have run into you and your partner… Now, don't try to deny your influence in this. If everyone in the case is related to you, then no matter how official your reason is, I will not believe this is all a coincidence."

Ye Shuang was too lazy to deny it. She asked with confusion, "Then why did you play so happily with me for the past few days?"

Was he really entrapping her like Su Zheng said?

"That's why I said, it is so hard to find a kindred spirit who can play with you…" Edward shrugged. "To make things better, you do not have a firm morality like James."

Is that a compliment? It has to be a compliment! Ye Shuang thought about it. "…Edward, are you trying to recruit me, or are you trying to join me?"

"Hmm…" Edward also thought about it. "Are you open for a cooperation?"