Chapter 277: Shanghai’s Unique Pair [2 in 1]
Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
Yan Si and Yan Zhu, this pair of siblings was a very unique pair in Shanghai. The uniqueness was naturally not referring to their personality.
‘One type of rice feeds a hundred types of people.’
Society was filled with people with different types of personalities. This was a young lady with some pompousness and a young man who could not see before his eyes. Everyone had met such people in their life before, and even if they were not happy, it was just an emotional problem—no one was really shocked by it.
The reason they were called a unique pair was due to their birth and family background. The son was raised by the mistress, and the daughter was raised by the mistress as well. It was not uncommon for rich people to have more than one wife. The law might not allow it, but it did not mean that the societal rules might ban it. As long as the mistresses did not go for official registration, then everything would be fine. However, this was a situation where both of the official wives were unable to produce an heir and allowed the two mistresses to fight for the inheritance using their children. This type of situation naturally attracted people’s attention.
Even though it was not stated openly, the upper society in Shanghai mostly saw the Yan family as some kind of joke, and they paid close attention to every action of the family members because they would not want to miss out on anything interesting. Of the many happenings, the fight for inheritance between the heirs was the most hyped shows for everyone. In fact, this was so exciting that someone was close to opening a betting pool to see who would be the last one laughing.
Qian Qianxiang followed Ye Shuang’s words and turned to glance at the siblings. He noticed that the pair of siblings was in a conversation quite a distance away. He did not think that it was anything interesting, so he quickly turned his head away. Ye Shuang, however, was able to hear their conversation, so with a smile, she started to openly listen into their gossip.
“You have eyes on that kind of person?” Yan Si’s voice was not really loud, but even through the twenty plus meters distance, Ye Shuang could hear him very clearly. Her hearing was so good that she could even hear the condescension that laced his voice. “For the sake of the inheritance, you have really given it your all. Just look at how useless that man is. Think back to how he has acted earlier…”
Ye Shuang was curious. She followed the condescending glance that Yan Si issued, and she saw the other Yan family members gathered another fifty meters away. She had seen Father Yan and the wife before. The two ladies that she had not met should be the two mistresses. Other than that, there was also this man with a round body and large ears. This was obviously the man who Yan Si was directing his condescension at.
Yan Zhu seemed to choke on his words, and the reply that came from her throat had a trace of forced toughness like she was trying not to show her weakness before her brother. “At least he has a very good personality, even… even though his looks are a bit average…”
“Ha ha, average?” Yan Si interrupted her with a mocking laugh.
“…Alright, fine! I admit that he is a bit ugly!” Yan Zhu hissed through her gritted teeth.
At this point, hearing that, Ye Shuang could not help but chuckle to herself. Qian Qianxiang was confused, and he asked, “What are you laughing at?”
He looked at the interaction of the two people far away from them was like watching a silent film. Due to the distance between them, he was unable to hear them. The only thing that he could focus on was their expression and action. However, as antagonistic as the relations.h.i.+p between the Yan family siblings was, they would only argue on the lips and would not use their body. Furthermore, they would not do anything overly rude and agitated at a public location. Therefore, this caused Qian Qianxiang to unable to really understand the core of their argument.
“It’s nothing.” Ye Shuang was unable to share this type of information, so she gave a random answer to brush the man off. “I just remembered something interesting that happened earlier.”
Qian Qianxiang choked on his anger. Even when he was brus.h.i.+ng him off, this man had no respect for his profession. That was just impatience…
…
They spent a whole day at the golf course. When it was almost 5 pm, Qian Qianxiang returned to the hotel to change his clothes with a stomach of fire. Why would he be unhappy after a whole day of relaxation? If you were the boss and you paid money to bring your employee to go out and play with you, and all the members of opposite s.e.x only gave their screams and fiery gazes to your employee like you were not even there, anyone in that situation would have the same reaction as Qian Qianxiang.
Due to the issue of the gender, even though there was a VIP room, Qian Qianxiang and Ye Shuang shared the same changing room. Ye Shuang walked to the lobby and then stopped moving. She smiled and then gestured with her head to point toward the counter that was not far away. “I wish to buy some drinks and unwind a bit at the bar. Mr. Qian, why don’t go and change first?”
Qian Qianxiang huffed audibly and said, “We’re both males. I really don’t understand why you have so many curious quirks.”
After spending two days with Ye Shuang, it was natural for him to notice some of the little quirks that Brother Shuang had. For example, this man did not like to show his body in front of other people. Initially, Qian Qianxiang wanted to go for a dip at the hot spring, but once he said that, it was denied by Brother Shuang with a saintly smile on his face. This man was able to finish three sets of food one second earlier, but the next second, his brows creased deeply. Like a wronged royalty, he started to claim that he was not feeling well… It was obvious that if Qian Qianxiang wanted to go to the hot spring, then he was not going to follow.
As someone who was hired, was it really okay for him to have so many requests?
Before Qian Qianxiang changed his clothes, he had a habit of first taking a bath, so the time that he took would be long. Ye Shuang thus decided to rest at the lobby to look at the scenery. Even though the scenery at the golf course could not be described as amazing, it was rare that there could be such a large piece of nature so close to the city.
After sitting there for a while, the crowd gathering at the lobby started to grow. After all, it was about time for dinner. After a whole day of golfing, people had to come to rest and eat. Even the group of girls that Ye Shuang met at the golf course earlier had returned from the field. When they saw the handsome man sitting alone in the lobby without company, the few that were friendlier started to walk over with a light s.h.i.+ning in their eyes. “Mr. Ye, how come you are here alone?”
“I’m just sitting around to get some rest.” Ye Shuang looked at the group of excitable girls and smiled at them patiently and kindly. She started to chat with them—it was of no significance, just random small talk.
Several minutes later, the Yan family siblings also walked in from outside. The other family members were not there—they were probably lagging behind.
Curiously, this pair was still in the middle of their argument. It was just like Ye Shuang was originally watching a drama that was quite interesting but not interesting enough for Ye Shuang to follow it religiously. After scanning a few funny scenes, she had forgotten all about it. Imagine the surprise when she turned on the television the next time and realized the same drama was still going on, and it was showing the second part of the story…
“Didn’t Father drop many hints for you to go have dinner with that fat pig?” Yan Si continued to find trouble with a tone that seemed intent on building his happiness on his sister’s misery. “It’s not good if you do not build a good relations.h.i.+p with your fiancé. When the man was golfing earlier, you should’ve pretended to be more in awe of his technique, and you should not have stolen the man’s thunder. How else are you going to build the man’s confidence and give him the chance to pursue you?”
“Mind your own business, and stay out of mine!” Yan Zhu huffed angrily. Arranged marriages were the best choice to further develop one’s connections. Even though not all rich people would have arranged marriages, those who had an arranged marriage had to have a certain type of mental preparation. For example, the husband might be disloyal to the marriage, or there was some part of the husband that did not live up to expectations.
However, before meeting the person in real life, Yan Zhu had no idea that the candidate for her arranged marriage would be so horrible—it was one thing if the looks did not reach her expectation, but he did not have a good education nor even the talent for a young master’s need for entertainment. They had come out a few times, and they had gone to try many different things; however, the man failed at every single one of them. There was none that did not trip him over. As dumb as a normal young master was, at least due to the family background, the things that they would have access to would be much larger and wider than most. Of course, it was crazy to expect them to be good at everything, but at least they had to be proficient at one or two of things. Fine, even if she lowered her standard even more, it was fine if he was not a master at these things; however, if he was a joke at every single one of them, was that not a bit much?
“Tsk tsk tsk, don’t tell me you can’t see the expression on first mother’s face? Either you have to swallow your pride and start to endear yourself to the man, or you have to bite the bullet when you still can and kick that fat pig away. Do you really think that no one can see that you have other thoughts about the man simply because you keep dragging the issue on? Even though the man is not that bright, he is not dumb. Or do you really think you are the only clever person in this world?”
Even though Yan Si had an issue with Yan Zhu, they were after all siblings from the same father but different mother. Also, they had grown up with each other, living together for almost twenty years. Their relations.h.i.+p might not have been that close, but at least they could be said to know each other. Seeing how wronged Yan Zhu felt, even though Yan Si’s tone was still so abrasive, one could hear the real concern that he had for his little sister in his words.
Unfortunately, the one person who could not understand his inherent meaning was Yan Zhu. She retorted quickly and angrily, “Before you comment on other people, you’d better look at yourself. Don’t forget that those friends of yours are not very good people either. You know that our father does not like those people, so why did you insist on going over to greet them earlier?”
“Other than yourself, who else is a good person in your eyes?” Yan Si scoffed coldly.
“At least I will not go and befriend those people who only have the thought to take advantage of me!” Yan Zhu countered angrily.
“You…”
Ye Shuang could not help but have her attention divided as she followed the gossip. She appeared rather distracted when she chatted with the group of girls. The girls, out of curiosity, also turned their heads down the same direction Ye Shuang was looking. Naturally, they also saw the Yan family siblings, who also took a seat at the other corner of the room.
Those with time and money to play golf basically had some family background. The girls looked at each other and shared a smile. One of them followed this trail and then added, “Mr. Ye, have you met them somewhere before? The Yan family does not have much standing in Shanghai, but that duo sure is famous in their own right…”
The girl who spoke suddenly had someone pull on the edge of her s.h.i.+rt. Ye Shuang with her eagle eyes saw this clearly. She flashed a bright smile and nodded like she did not see anything. “I have heard some… Hmm, I guess we can say rumors about them. I hear Miss Yan is a very impressive young lady.”
The attraction of the opposite s.e.x! If the girls would be a lot more cautious when they first met Sister Shuang, then that caution would be much smaller when they were around Brother Shuang. Furthermore, the words out of Brother Shuang’s lips contained the trace of interest and admiration. The group of girls was instantly instigated because they did not want to lose. Of course, they would not go so far as to slander the girl’s name, but at least, they started to talk about the Yan family in a roundabout way and stopped hiding the issue. In a way, it sounded like they were trying to persuade Brother Shuang away from the family so that he would not get involved.
“Yes, Miss Yan is quite impressive, but that is mainly due to comparison. Yan Zhu is much better than her big brother; that brother of hers does not enjoy a good name among the social circle while Yan Zhu has always been impressive since she was young. It is just that she is a bit… of an isolationist.” The group of girls tossed out one comment after another to work together to slander the siblings’ names.
“Actually, if you really talk about it, Yan Zhu is quite pitiable. Children from other families do not have as much pressure on them. For example, we study new talents because it’s our hobby and interest, but Yan Zhu is the daughter of a mistress, so if she does not study them, she will have no chance of getting to the top. Even so, in the future, she might be married out of the family just like that and not even have the right to fight for the family inheritance.”
“Yes, that’s why we are all impressed by Yan Zhu’s determination. She has not had access to any resources due to her birthright, but she managed to fight to her current position with nothing but her own hard work and determination. Furthermore, I hear she has now become a better candidate than her brother to accept the inheritance.”
“Well, you reap what you sow. Furthermore, I hear Yan Zhu has a good relations.h.i.+p with the current wife of the Yan family. So, it is only natural that she has more chance of accepting the inheritance compared to Yan Si.”
“Well, they will be one family in the future after all. Mrs. Yan’s cousin already has an engagement with Yan Zhu. He was the man who was… rather eye-catching at the golf course today.”
The lips opened and closed. Ye Shuang sighed as she listened to the group of girls gossiping among themselves. In just several minutes, she managed to capture all the inside information that Sister Shuang had spent an entire birthday party to collect. In fact, the gossip here also carried the exact details of the characters like their names and so on. On the surface, it did not sound like they were talking negatively about Yan Zhu, but if you listened closer, there were several problems.
These were the conclusions. First, Yan Zhu was impressive because of her effort and her hard work, and she had to work so hard because she was the daughter of the mistress. The girl’s background, which was less than official, was thus openly revealed for all to enjoy.
Furthermore, they said ‘managed to fight to her current position with nothing but her own hard work and determination’ to s.n.a.t.c.h the inheritance. What did that mean? That meant that the girl was a bit of a schemer.
On top of that, there was the accusation that she had a good relations.h.i.+p with the current Mrs. Yan. Of course, that was not really the main point—the main point was the information that they revealed later. For the sake of the inheritance, she was willing to sacrifice her own marriage. The desire for power and name was a bit scary.
Naturally, Yan Si was not that much better than Yan Zhu. In fact, the criticism about the man that was going around the circuit was even worse than Yan Zhu’s, but Yan Si was not the main target that they were trying to go after, so the girls did not have much to say about him. The girls were so caught up in their gossip that they did not notice the few men who walked in from the outside. Ye Shuang had noticed this group of people, but she did not think that they were worth her attention.
And thus, a tragedy happened.
When the guys heard the girls gossip about Yan Zhu, they also shared a look and a smile. One of them could not resist the urge to turn toward Yan Zhu’s direction. “Sister Yan’s marriage is now an open secret for everyone. Why isn’t that fiancé of yours following you around? You should have found some time to introduce the man to all of us.”
The girls were shocked, and they raised their heads to the source of the voice. Then they subconsciously moved away from the group of guys like they were trying to evade some dirty things. It was not until then that Ye Shuang realized that this big group of people actually knew each other.
Yan Si and Yan Zhu both lifted up their heads to look over this way. Then the expression of disgust appeared on Yan Zhu’s face, whereas Yan Si stood up with a frown. He walked toward them, and his lips pulled into a smirk. “The marriage might still have a chance to fall through. Furthermore, what is there to really know about a fat pig? Are you guys not going to play golf anymore?”
The guys did not shy away from Yan Si. They put their arms around the man’s shoulders and started to laugh. However, they still maintained a cautious and even hostile att.i.tude toward Yan Zhu. “It’s already so late. Who is going to continue golf? Just now, we paid the fat pig a visit to see his golfing skill. It sure was… tsk tsk, let’s say, interesting.”
One of the girls leaned closer to whisper to Brother Shuang, “These are Yan Si’s friends.”
Ye Shuang smiled to comfort the girls. Yan Zhu also lost her patience then. After being insulted, she stood up with her head held high. She used her eyes to scan the group of youngsters and then opened her lips to order Yan Si crudely, “Father and the rest of the family are coming back soon. Yan Si! Come back here.”
The edge of Yan Si’s brows twitched. He had to swallow a great load of pride to not counter his little sister’s order. Who gave her the right to order him around?
The group of young men did not need to practice patience. “Who do you think you are? In the future, you might be the leader of the family, but for now, do you really think that you are the leader and can be so rude to your big brother? Tsk tsk, I really can’t tell how you managed to earn such a good reputation.”
“Haven’t you heard of something called buying rumors to build a reputation?” Another young man joined in the mocking contest. “Then again, with a big brother who is known for bad deeds helping her by getting stepped on, Miss Yan with her good results would naturally enjoy a good reputation.”
“Our poor Xiao Si, he still thinks the girl is some good person, but who would have thought that the most venomous object in the world is a woman’s heart?”
Yan Si had dark lines on his face. “Hey!”
The few young men expertly put their hands over the man’s arms and tried to explain. “What are you so angry about? Have you forgotten how you were chased out of the country like a dog three years ago?”
Yan Zhu was so angry that she was shaking. She tried her best to reign in her anger. “My father sent my brother overseas so that he could have the chance to see the world and raise his standard. Who gave you the right to question the decision that our family made?”
“Do you hear that? It’s to raise your standard.”
The faces of these young men were particularly familiar to Ye Shuang. She thought about it and then realized, when the group of racers under Yao Zhixing wanted to get some revenge on someone, they would have the same expressions.
Youth A used his hand to tap Yan Si’s little face. “Then again, perhaps it is true that the air overseas is better for our Xiao Si. When you’re in the country, your name is as bad as dung, but once you’re overseas, there’s basically zero negative news about you… Tsk! Tell us, Xiao Si, how did you manage to keep a low profile when you were overseas? Why would you even plan to keep a low profile after leaving the country?”
The annoyed Yan Si shoved the man’s hand away. “Are you guys done?”
The other people in the lobby had started to point their fingers in their direction. Even though a good family education stopped them from surrounding them to watch the event closely, observing them from afar was still doable.
Even Qian Qianxiang, who had walked just out and saw this, was equally shocked. Although he did not understand what had happened, he at least realized that there was an argument. Therefore, he walked over to pat Ye Shuang on her shoulder to signal for her to move away from the scene with him.
The girls revealed the unwillingness on their faces. After saying farewell to Brother Shuang, they also quickly escaped from the firing range. Meanwhile, Ye Shuang followed Qian Qianxiang and walked to the side. Qian Qianxiang looked at the fight and then turned back with a frown. “What happened?”
“It has nothing to do with me. It’s the family drama within the Yan family.” Ye Shuang looked so excited.
Drama between the rich was naturally more interesting than any daytime drama show. She thought that all the details had been revealed already, but after seeing Yan Si’s so-called good buddies in person that day and then hearing their mocking and slander toward Yan Zhu, Ye Shuang realized that the situation might not be as simple as she thought. From the sound of it, Yan Si’s friends were certain that it was Yan Zhu who framed Yan Si, and the issue of them being involved in drugs deserved to be looked into closer.
Qian Qianxiang summoned his patience and felt like there was an ache coming to his lips. “Then why did you sit so close to the scene earlier?”
The man really was not afraid that he might end up as collateral damage. When he first walked out and saw how stable and unfazed Ye Shuang sat at the first crime scene, he had thought that the man was related to the argument. In the end, he realized that the man was only there to enjoy the commotion as a spectator.
“I know there are no normal people around Han Chu, but there has not been one that is as abnormal as you.” Qian Qianxiang’s force over Ye Shuang’s shoulders could not help but increase a little. He resisted the urge to directly spit in the man’s face. “Since it has nothing to do with you, then there is no reason for you to stay here. You can go and change your clothes now. Let’s go.”
“Wait a minute, the information here might be useful for us in the future.” Ye Shuang was unwilling to leave. “If there’s a source of conflict, then there will be fight and quarrel in the future. These are potential clients.”
“Let’s go!” Qian Qianxiang could not resist it anymore and directly dragged Ye Shuang away.
…
After being forcibly dragged away from the drama by Qian Qianxiang, Ye Shuang started to wonder about the Yan family during dinner. The words that she had told Qian Qianxiang earlier were not a complete lie. Where there was conflict, there was a chance for her to find a potential client, but it also depended on whether the potential client had the a.s.sets to hire her or not.
For one, Yan Si was definitely unable to pay for the cost. His allowance was strictly monitored by his family, and according to rumors, when he was overseas, he had depended on Yan Zhu’s silent support to survive, much less now when he was back in the country. The second was the time period for Ye Shuang. In a few days, she needed to accompany Rong Su to France to meet up with the chief designer from LPA. If she accepted a new case now, the issue of income aside, she would need to spend a lot of time back in the country.
The only reason Ye Shuang was paying so much attention to the Yan family siblings was because some time ago, Su Zheng saw that the safe at the Yan family had been broken into. There was still no clear victor between the Yan family sibling, and no news had appeared in the newspapers about the Yan family. This meant that the issue of theft had not been reported yet. This made Ye Shuang feel like scratching her heart. She knew a big secret, but she was unable to share it with anyone; it felt like the secret was burning up her heart.
No wonder so many culprits were caught after they finished the crime, and they gloated about it to other people. This was because it was too hard to not share what they had done with others after they completed a big crime.
Ye Shuang carried that trouble in her heart and slept through the night. Then, the next day, she realized that her ability to jinx others had been activated. The whole front page of the newspaper was about the Yan family’s safe being broken into, which contained valuable doc.u.ments like the share percentage of the Yan family company. The incident was so big that it had caused a break within the family…
“This rhythm is not so right.” Ye Shuang had failed to kiss any children from the opposite s.e.x at the golf course, so the next day, she had returned to her female form. She sat at the small table and bit on the steamed bun as she perused the daily paper. She called Han Chu. “This is such a big story, and technically speaking, they should have tried their best to cover this up. After all, this is news that might affect the family name, and other than that, it might affect the confidence of the shareholders. Who would be so open as to share this with the world?”
“Probably it’s because the news was leaked before they could keep a lid on it.” Han Chu sounded rather lazy on the phone like he had just woken up from his sleep. “For example, there might have been too many people present that day, and maybe the people who knew the truth see the incident as much more innocent than it really was. Or perhaps someone purposely leaked this news to muddle people’s vision…”
Ye Shuang heard a perfectly m.u.f.fled yawn through the phone, and then Han Chu recovered some semblance of his usual self. “You want to go and take a case?”
“I do, but there is no time.” Ye Shuang flipped through the paper again and then picked up another bun. “But this is strange. Theft has already been exposed, but there is no news to specify who has won the inheritance. It has been so long. If they want to do something, they would have done it already, right? But how come it looks like neither of them know what is really happening.”
“Don’t go looking for trouble when there is none.” There was a sound that suggested Han Chu was putting on his clothes, then there was the sound of a door opening. “Perhaps there’s a possibility that the person who committed the theft is not that clever. Calling a thief to enter the house might not be a good thing. Even after gaining the share doc.u.ment, without the doc.u.ment to make the transference, it would be useless.”
One might find an accounts book on the street containing a large amount of numbers. But without the pa.s.sword or an accomplice at the bank, the book would be no different from sc.r.a.p paper.
Ye Shuang grumbled a few more words and then hung up. She finished her breakfast and was about to pay when she saw Yan Si and one of his friends.