Chapter 245: The Next Tragedy [2 in 1]
Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
Before Sister Yu arrived at the shopping mall, Su Zheng shared what she knew about Shanghai’s entertainment business with Ye Shuang. Even though their team could not be considered all knowing, with the many cases that they had solved over the years, the gossip that they had collected was indeed quite numerous.
For example, this Sister Yu—even though the people outside the entertainment circle did not know much about her as she had not enjoyed a real period of popularity, within the circle, Sister Yu was considered one of the more notable characters. Han Chu was in the headhunting business, and Sister Yu was also in the same business. However, Han Chu introduced talent while Sister Yu introduced beauty.
Sister Yu owned a small private clubhouse. Back when she still had some popularity, she had managed to get into the pocket of a rich man who gave her the money to open it. The place was small, and the location was not that good, but with Sister Yu’s social ability and sweet lips, as well as the support of her old flames, the clubhouse was slowly brought to life.
The people in the entertainment business wanted to find people to sponsor projects, and people outside the business were willing to spend some money to make the stars happy. Both parties gave their consent, Sister Yu helped connect the line in the middle, and she earned from the red packets that she got. Sometimes, she would introduce more than celebrities—she could tie the connection between clients as well. For example, if Boss A wanted to get to know someone in the real estate business, Sister Yu would introduce him to Boss B. After they finished their business, they would give Sister Yu some benefits.
To put it frankly, Sister Yu was a broker or colloquially known as a pimp. Because of this, even though she did not reach the height of popularity as a celebrity, she had carved out a unique s.p.a.ce for herself in the entertainment business.
“Ol’ K said when that boss from Xiang Jiang came over to Shanghai to find a business partner, it was this Sister Yu who introduced Miao Yi Media to him. Originally, Miao Yi and Tian Mo each had their territory. Miao Yi’s main battlefield was Beijing, and Shanghai is Tian Mo’s territory, but this woman is quite a shrew. Many years ago, she had some altercation with Tian Mo, and she purposely dragged Miao Yi into the fray.”
Su Zheng licked on the lollipop excitedly as she shared the gossip with Ye Shuang. “Sister Shuang, do you know why she hates Tian Mo so much? Many years ago, she finally found a chance where people were willing to make her the main character for a movie, but once it was released, it was heavily criticized. From her acting to the script, there was nothing that was safe… Tsk tsk.
“The reviewer was none other than Mo family’s patriarch. Isn’t Elder Mo an experienced artist? At the time, it was Elder Mo who heavily criticized Sister Yu’s acting. Sister Yu has surprisingly thin skin when it comes to acting, and she said a few harsh words in return to Elder Mo. Naturally, one could imagine how her future as a movie star would be like…”
Ye Shuang quite enjoyed listening to the girl. She could open a book to find knowledge, but she really needed to rely on others to know more about gossip. If Su Zheng had not brought it up, she really would not have known that the cooperation between Xiang Jiang and Miao Yi had this Sister Yu between them.
You can offend righteous people, but be careful of offending narrow-minded vile vermin.
Righteous people would look down on you from their high ground and would not stoop to your level, but the narrow-minded would strike back at you whenever you were down. They would not give up any chance to make you feel bad both mentally and physically.
Probably more than Ye Shuang, maybe even Boss Mo himself did not know that this was the reason he had found himself in this business conundrum. Because if he had known, Sister Yu would not have enjoyed such a life of ease in Shanghai. Boss Mo could have taken the risk of uncovering the business’ hidden rules and dragging her through the mud. Sister Yu could have easily become internet famous for her deeds.
“No wonder they say Shanghai is a deep-water place—there are so many things happening under the calm surface.” Ye Shuang could not resist the urge to sigh. She scratched her chin and said, “Is there any other insider information? How about we swap information?”
Su Zheng did have that in mind. Even though Ye Shuang was a new mid-tier agent, the fact that she had managed to climb to such a high level, even though she was still very new at this, meant that she would have valuable information on her hands. Of course, the main point was not really information sharing but the gossiping nature of girls. There were not many girls in teams, and in the fixed team members of all the agents, so far, there was only one female member—Su Zheng.
With such explosive news, if Su Zheng did not have the chance to share it with others, she would have felt uncomfortable. However, the rest of the team was male, and they would not be interested in gossip, and she could not share it with girls outside of the team. Finally, she found Ye Shuang. Su Zheng felt like a parched man finding an oasis at the desert. All the good stuff that she had swallowed finally had the chance to show up—all that explosive news waiting to be shared.
Therefore, the pair of girls each held a gla.s.s of milk tea and various snacks as they started a rowdy discussion at the mall. They talked for half an hour, and Ye Shuang was impressed by the amount of information that Agent Zhang’s team had gathered over the years. She memorized so much private gossip that was not revealed to the public. Just as they were having fun, Ol’ K called Su Zheng and said, “Sister Yu’s credit card has just been used on the third floor. Are you girls following her?”
Su Zheng turned subconsciously to look at the escalator. “No, we’ve been waiting beside the escalator. When did she get past us up to the third floor?”
Ol’ K grumbled with a sigh, “Are you stupid! The woman came in her car. There is an elevator in the underground parking lot. Who told you she would go to the first floor?”
With Sister Yu’s current ident.i.ty, her focus was high cla.s.s luxury product shows. The first floor where shops like restaurants and grocery stores were situated was definitely not going to be her target. Su Zheng was silent for a while before turning the blame on the man. “Then you should have told us earlier. You didn’t tell what the type of shop she likes to visit. How should we know where to have the stake out?”
Ye Shuang already heard the content of the phone conversation. She saw that the young couple had strayed from the topic due to their little argument, so she smiled and interrupted, “Ol’ K called to update us on Sister Yu? Where should we go to find the target?”
Su Zheng then realized that they were there for business. With a pointed tone, she asked Ol’ K for the name of the shop and then ended the call. She grabbed Ye Shuang by her arm and tilted her chin up. “Sister Shuang, let us go. We’ll show that Ol’ K that we girls can throw down too.”
…
They completed a lap around the mall’s third floor, and Sister Yu’s shadow soon appeared in the pair’s eyes. In case the target was carrying too much stuff on her, both Ye Shuang and Su Zheng carried four to five kilograms of stuff with them each. However, when they saw Sister Yu, the two almost cursed at the same time.
F*ck, the target is carrying a purse!
“This is bad.” Su Zheng carried Ye Shuang as they pretended to be window-shopping while wandering close to their target. “She’s carrying a purse. She will probably ask the shop to mail her purchase directly to her home. The purse is carried in her palm, so it won’t be so easily stolen compared to a handbag that’s slung over her shoulders. Furthermore, the capacity is not so big. Other than credit cards and cash, at most, she will be carrying a phone.”
“You have a point; we should retreat for the day.” Ye Shuang pulled out a bag of chocolate from her bag. “But we can try to follow her for a while.”
Su Zheng nodded as she pulled out a bag of beef jerky. “Alright then, we can tail her for a while… Sister Shuang, look, that shoe store is having a huge sale!”
As long as the target did not wander off too far, honestly, whether they followed her closely or not would not make that big a difference. Even though the target was not a professional, they could not treat her like an idiot. If she noticed two familiar faces had been following her at the mall, she would be alerted and suspicious.
Therefore, while the two girls paid attention to Sister Yu’s location, they were busy clearing the sale for themselves. Even though their focus was taken away to follow the target, it did not affect the good mood that they were feeling as they shopped till they dropped.
Sister Yu eventually finished her shopping and left the third floor. She seemed to move to the top floor. Ye Shuang waited for a few minutes before pulling Su Zheng along. When they pa.s.sed the center of the mall, they confirmed that Sister Yu was moving to the top floor, where the boutiques and cafes were. They tailed Sister Yu until she entered a very expensive café. The two did not rush to enter the shop but stood outside to discuss the situation.
“This is a good opportunity. She really did ask the shops to mail the purchase right to her address.” Ye Shuang patted Su Zheng’s shoulders carefully. “Xiao Su, now comes the time when the organization will give you a test.”
“Huh?” Su Zheng was utterly confused. “Sister Shuang, what are you talking about?”
“I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking. It is still rather difficult to get the connection going with a ‘chance encounter’, and the preparation required will be too much,” Ye Shuang said with a smile. “Furthermore, we have planned so much, and today, she arrived with a handheld purse. This means that even G.o.d is telling us to change our plan… So, I’ve decided to go right for the jugular.”
Will you please get to the point and say what’s on your mind? Su Zheng looked at Ye Shuang, blinking. Ye Shuang glanced back into café. After she confirmed Sister Yu’s location through the gla.s.s window, she coughed lightly and then whispered, “Do you know how to strip someone?”
Su Zheng sucked in a cold breath. Even though her expression was one of shock, her voice was quivering slightly with excitement. “Who am I stripping?”
“I know one of the basic skills is to cut open a handbag, so I believe you should carry a razor with you, right?” Without waiting for Su Zheng to answer, Ye Shuang continued. “In a bit, you will enter the store and then introduce a wide gash on Sister Yu’s clothes… Remember to have the cut some place awkward, but it should not be observable from first glance. I shall go to the toilet and walk around the place before coming back, and then… he he he.”
Su Zheng thought about it, and her hands went to her lips, her face red. “Sister Shuang, this is so… dirty.”
“Thank you, thank you.” After they shared more compliments, Ye Shuang soon left and walked to somewhere further away to start her observation.
Su Zheng turned and walked into the café. Soon, the waiter came to greet her at the door. Su Zheng shared a few words with the waiter and pointed at a seat near the window. There were not that many customers, so the waiter did not deny the customer’s valid request. Thus, he brought Su Zheng to the table that she had pointed out earlier. On the way, they pa.s.sed Sister Yu, who was sitting facing away from the door.
With a normal person’s eye sight, one could not have told what Su Zheng did. Even for Ye Shuang, who had supernatural sight, could not see it over the distance. Therefore, even though Ye Shuang looked on with interest, in the end, she only saw Su Zheng use incredible speed to swipe once behind Sister Yu’s back. It looked like the girl waved her hand in a bigger arc than usual when she walked. Then, the rest of her action was blocked by the back of Sister Yu’s chair.
Like nothing had happened, Su Zheng soon reached her designated seat. She ordered a random piece of cake and coffee. After the waiter left with her order, she pulled out her phone and started to type. Ye Shuang soon received the girl’s message. She read it and thought about it. She went down to the third floor to find a female clothing store. Then she bought a large bag of clothes before wandering back to the entrance of the café.
“I have a date.” Ye Shuang denied the waiter’s kindness to lead the way, and Su Zheng, who was seated by the window, stood up to wave at Ye Shuang. Ye Shuang waved her arm to reply. Then, she turned to tell the waiter that she would have what Su Zheng was having. As she expected, the waiter stopped following her.
When she pa.s.sed Sister Yu, Ye Shuang gasped audibly and stopped moving. When Sister Yu turned to see what was happening, Ye Shuang revealed an awkward expression on her face. “Your skirt…”
Sister Yu looked down with confusion and almost fainted. She had gone out in a dress that day. Since she had a good body, of course, she needed to flaunt it. So, Sister Yu had always preferred to dress s.e.xily. That day, Su Zheng used the razor to cut along the trail of the hem, so it looked like the dress had opened on its own. The dress was tight, so after Sister Yu sat at her table for some time, the opening only got bigger and bigger…
People normally would not have looked down below the table when they were at the café. Furthermore, Sister Yu had already made her order, so the waiter would not have wandered around her table. Naturally, no one had discovered this little accident. However, it was different from Ye Shuang. She was there to make friends with Sister Yu, so she was ‘kind’ and informed Sister Yu.
When Sister Yu noticed the awkward situation, she gasped and quickly used her short jacket to cover her legs. Even though the situation was temporarily rescued, how was she going to leave this place in a dress that was popping at the seam?
Ye Shuang held in her laughter and pretended to be worried. She looked at Sister Yu with hesitation before smiling and continued to walk away. Sister Yu had not met this kind of embarra.s.sing situation before, and in the urgency of the moment, she called after Ye Shuang. “Wait a minute!”
“Hmm?” Ye Shuang turned back readily and asked, “How can I help you?”
Sister Yu choked. What else could it be? She needed to find a solution to her problem. She forced a smile, grabbed her purse, and opened it to pull out a name card. “Miss, you look quite beautiful. I am a star agent working for Miao Yi Media, would you mind giving me a few minutes of your time?”
If this was a normal little girl, even though they might not believe it, they would be willing to spend a few minutes just to hear some compliments. However, Ye Shuang was not there to be used—she needed the woman to value her and see some importance in her.
Therefore, she waved at Su Zheng and signaled that she would be coming over in a minute. After Su Zheng turned back to her phone, Ye Shuang walked to sit down across from Sister Yu. She was graceful and powerful in her presence. She exuded the power that she used to confuse Lu Shaoyue back in Jing Hu City. Without glancing at the name card, she replied, “Miss, if you have something to say, please do tell. If it is within my power, I am of course willing to provide some aid.”
Sister Yu was silently angry that Ye Shuang did not give her face. She did not accept her name card, which meant that she looked down on her self-introduction. Whether this was done on purpose or not, this was a face-threatening act.
Without a twitch on her face, she took back her name card. Sister Yu pulled on her hair and said, “Miss, you have quite a good jacket; I like it a lot. I wonder if I can buy it from you.”
Then her eyes fell on the large shopping bag that Ye Shuang had placed on the chair next to her.
The logo on the bag was of a luxury female clothing brand. Sister Yu was in the circle, so she was naturally following the fas.h.i.+on stuff. Of the new line that the brand had launched this year, there was a long coat. It was the one bought by Ye Shuang. Sister Yu could recognize it from the collar that peeked out from the bag alone. The best solution to her problem then was to change her clothes, but Sister Yu could not leave the place on her own because that would expose her behind to the whole room. However, since someone had already found out, it would be best that only this one person found out.
Ye Shuang looked at the bag next to her, and then after some humming, she pretended to be surprised. “You want this? Of course. It’s just a small favor, I’ll be glad to help.”
Sister Yu sighed in relief; she was afraid that Ye Shuang might not give her face. Therefore, after the problem was solved, the smile returned to her face. She took out her phone and said, “I will not try to cheat the coat from you. How much was it? I’ll transfer twice the amount of money into your account.”
Ye Shuang purposely put her phone on her table and pretended to look through her bag to find her credit card and rattle off her bank number. Sister Yu finished the transaction, and the phone on the table received the notification. Ye Shuang opened it to take a look and exited the message and nodded with a smile. “Miss sure is a woman of her word. Then, this coat is yours.”
Sister Yu’s attention though was not on the coat. Her eyes bulged as she stared at Ye Shuang’s phone, and she felt like she needed help to breathe. Ye Shuang pretended to ask, “Miss?”
Sister Yu quickly recovered and raised her head. She looked at Ye Shuang in disbelief. With some hesitation, she turned to look back at the phone display, which had not gone off. The screen saver was a picture that Ye Shuang had purposely set. The background was a cruise that people in the circle would not mistake. Ye Shuang and Lu Shaoyue leaned against the rail leisurely and next to them was Zuo Yuanhang, who held a gla.s.s of c.o.c.ktail, looking like he was in a conversation with Ye Shuang.
This was a candid snapshot taken by Zuo Feiyang. He had wanted to take it home initially for his parents to look at the Queen of Dice whom he admired. However, he had done a bad job at hiding it, and just as he finished snapping the photo, he had been caught by Ye Shuang. Therefore, the photo was confiscated and deleted. Ye Shuang had left a copy on her phone and planned to use it to maximum effect to trick others when the situation called for it… and the situation did call for it.
In the photo, one could see that Zuo Yuanhang was definitely talking to Ye Shuang, and Lu Shaoyue was just standing to the side. Be it the way they acted or the information that could be read from the picture, no one would misunderstand and think that Ye Shuang was just an attached vase in the whole situation.
Sister Yu did know some people in the business. Even though she had not been invited to the Si Hai Organization’s cruise, she did hear some rumors about it from the guests that visited her clubhouse. Furthermore, when Lu Shaoyue signed Luo Mingxin as a spokesperson, they did come to Shanghai to do promotion. Plus, Lu Shaoyue’s family jewelry business has branches all over the nation. Therefore, after combining all the clues, Ye Shuang’s ident.i.ty that allowed her to be on the same level as the two men was something worth pondering.
Shocked by the information that was revealed inside the photo, Sister Yu immediately pulled back her condescending att.i.tude and switched into a friendly smile. Avoiding the issue of the screen saver, she added in a friendly tone, “I’m sorry, I was a bit too nervous before, and perhaps my att.i.tude might have rubbed you the wrong way.”
Ye Shuang knew when to rein it in and said in return, “It’s fine. It’s understandable for a woman to act like that in such a situation. If it was me, I wouldn’t have been able to calm down either… Thankfully, the environment here is not bad, and there aren’t that many people around, which saves a lot of problems.”
Both parties had the intention to get to know each other. Sister Yu wanted to rope in a mysterious client that seemed to fall from the sky, and Ye Shuang was there for Sister Yu to begin with. After some back and forth, they started to converse from this ‘chance encounter’.
Not long after that, even Su Zheng was asked to join the table. The three were like old friends, and the atmosphere at the table was very nice.
…
“We finally got her.”
After exchanging contact information, they departed. Su Zheng held Ye Shuang’s arm. Once they had left the mall, she sighed in relief. “I thought we were going to waste a whole day today. Thankfully, Sister Ye reacts quickly.”
“Well, things change too often, and we have to be able to adapt to change or else we’ll soon be removed by time because we’ll be trapped inside a singular problem.” Ye Shuang was quite interested in the tactic that Su Zheng had used earlier. “How did you manage to slice her dress earlier? I saw it happened in just a few seconds. Weren’t you afraid that you might injure her?”
“This is where experience comes into play!” Su Zheng raised her chin proudly. “The main thing is still the sense of familiarity. After you practice it a few times, you’ll get the idea. You cannot use too much strength when you try to cut threads. When you feel the situation is right, just slash through it. There is still some s.p.a.ce between the hem and the body, and normal people would fail to gauge this s.p.a.ce. However, it is something observable to someone like me.”
“Sense of familiarity?” Ye Shuang touched her chin. “In other words, it is just a matter of skill? There are no other tricks?”
If it was just skill, then it would be easy for Ye Shuang. She was more afraid of non-skill stuff. If there were some hidden tricks like magic, then she would have to take lesson from experienced people.
“Sister Shuang, are you interested?” Su Zheng asked with a giggle. “You won’t be able to master this without at least a year of practice, and after you master it, you’ll have to practice it often. For example, it is quite easy for me now, but if I stop working for a week or ten days, suddenly getting back to work will be slightly more difficult.”
Ye Shuang nodded. “Practice makes perfect.”
This was true for all kinds of skills. Your skill was something that desired mastery, so if you did not practice it often, picking it back up would be easier than others, but it definitely would not be as good before.
Although Su Zheng acted like a normal girl, she was not to be underestimated. Her hobby was watching movies, visiting theme parks, and going shopping, but when it came to her profession, she was the best of the best.
Of course, her expertise came with its own reward. Su Zheng had worked in the team for about three to four years already. Every year, she would have around four to five completed cases. One case earned tens of thousands, and that was much higher compared to company workers. If not for that, she would not have splurged so much on clothes at the mall.
“If Sister Shuang wants to learn, I’ll teach you some tricks later!” Su Zheng said casually. “A profession like ours is mostly tricks taught by the teacher, but the students have to practice them on their own… so the technique is not that rare, but the rare thing is whether you can master the technique.”
Ye Shuang smiled. “Okay, then remember to teach me.”
One joked about the teaching, but the other was not joking about learning. And thus, a new tragedy was beginning…