271 Home, James 3 in 1 (1/2)

No matter where Xia Cheng got this channel, this was not something that Ye Shuang had to worry about for the time being. The more he exposed his trump cards, the easier it would be for Ye Shuang to do her dirty little tricks. Therefore, from a certain perspective, Ye Shuang actually did not want to add to the trouble during this time.

On top of that, there was a more important point. Ye Shuang had left San Lin City for almost half a month already. When she had urgent things to do, it was understandable, but once those matters were settled, it did not make sense for her to stay outstation and not return home.

Of course, other than that, there was another reason Ye Shuang was rushing back to San Lin City. It was due to the phone call made by Han Chu—Anthony's birthday was coming.

…

”I feel like something is not right.” There was a direct flight from Shanghai to San Lin City. After descending from the plane, she hopped into the backseat of the car, which was driven by Yao Zhixing. Han Chu and Yao Zhixing had both come to fetch her. Ye Shuang tapped the side of her head, and she realized the problem. ”I remember you told me Tony is an orphan, right? Also, Brother Han, you also said that the man is shameless enough to share his birthday with you, didn't you?”

”You finally remember it?” Han Chu who sat at the passenger seat regarded her with a cold gaze. In his usual calm tone, he explained, ”As you said, he's an orphan. So as long as he is happy, he can celebrate his birthday any day he wants.”

Speaking of that, Han Chu paused weirdly for several seconds. Then he continued with a convoluted tone, and he forced the words through his gritted teeth. ”I remember it was around the time of our graduation. He had four birthdays within a single month, and he asked for a laptop, a race car, a set of surveillance equipment, and so on as his birthday presents…”

”Pfft!” Yao Zhixing, who was driving, burst out laughing. After he got the joint stares from Ye Shuang and Han Chu, he decided to drop the act. He turned to look at the two and asked with a big laugh, ”Does that mean, this time, Xiao Shuang and I also need to prepare some presents for the birthday boy?”

”If you really want to give him something, just go and buy some fruits.” Han Chu was also made speechless by this question. Anthony could be shameless around Han Chu because they were very close buddies. Even without the pretext of the birthday, for them to exchange resources that the other needed was something that could not have been more normal. However, if this was someone else, like if he also did the same thing to Yao Zhixing, then it would not be shameless but rude. After all, their relationship was not close enough for that.

Thinking about that, Han Chu turned to look at Ye Shuang deeply. The latter shivered from the man's look. She immediately inspected her body, and after she failed to realize what was wrong, she asked, ”What's wrong, Brother Han?”

”Well, there's nothing wrong with me.” Han Chu suddenly asked in a meaningful way, ”Do you know why Tony suddenly want to celebrate his birthday?”

”Is it not to scam… No, I mean, is it not because he wants to ask for something?” Ye Shuang then quickly changed her words. Based on what Han Chu said earlier, she took in a cold breath, and her eyes widened. ”Don't tell me! He wants to get something from me?”

Han Chu chuckled, and without exposing the real answer, he remarked, ”I hear you've been working very closely with Ol' K lately.”

Those in the same field were always enemies. This theory flashed across Ye Shuang's mind, and then she understood everything instantly. No matter how free and laidback Anthony was, in the field of computers, his talent was the source of his pride.

With Ol' K's appearance and working relationship with Ye Shuang, whom Anthony had already seen as part of his troupe, this type of cooperation in Anthony's eyes meant that the other man had infiltrated his territory. The part that made him angry the most was that Ye Shuang had recently worked so well with Ol' K that it felt like Ye Shuang valued him more than Anthony.

Ye Shuang patted her head and asked, ”Is Tony's pride injured?”

”It's not yet.” Han Chu chuckled coldly. ”He just wants to brush up on his presence. You can see it as him fighting for your affection.”

”Fighting for my…” Han Chu managed to conclude it in such an imaginative way that Ye Shuang was instantly struck speechless.

…

No matter what, the purpose of Anthony brushing up on his presence was accomplished. Just as Han Chu said, whether it was because Ye Shuang's cooperation with Ol' K had inadvertently infiltrated his territory or because he was simply mad that Ye Shuang had found a new partner to replace him, the reason for Anthony's 'birthday' was due to Ye Shuang.

This was highlighted by the fact that once Ye Shuang returned to her apartment and before she could even sit down to catch her breath, she was already attacked.

”Juliet!” Ye Shuang just stepped into the room when she was buried into someone's chest. Then, a purposely deep voice filled with theatrical longing appeared above her head. ”Oh! Juliet, why must it be thou, Juliet!”

Ye Shuang's head was covered with black lines. After three seconds of silence, she reached out and yanked the large golden retriever away from her body. She hissed, ”The name's Ye Shuang, not Juliet.”

Just how angry must this person have been to have forgotten even her name‽

Han Chu held his fist to his mouth and coughed audibly behind Ye Shuang. Anthony then puffed his cheeks up to act up. He wanted to continue to act shameless and stick around Ye Shuang, but when he heard the cough coming from Han Chu, he raised his head and realized that there was someone else following them.

If it was only Han Chu, then it would have been just fine. However, at the crime scene, other than Han Chu, there was also Yao Zhixing. When Anthony turned to look at them, Yao Zhixing even peeled open his lips to reveal his row of white teeth to smile at the man. It was obvious that he was there to enjoy the free show.

Therefore, because of that, Anthony had to be cautious of his image. With some trace of regret, he had to let Ye Shuang go for the time being. He raised his paw to greet the other two visitors and then blinked his pair of innocent big blue eyes, acting dumb. ”Are you all here to celebrate my birthday with me?”

Once he said that, Yao Zhixing laughed out loud, giving the man no face. Facing such a shameless person, there was nothing that Ye Shuang could do but sigh. ”If you want to celebrate your birthday, why don't you go back to your own apartment? Never mind, no matter what you want to say, at least wait until I unpack my stuff first. I need to clean up first.”

After Ye Shuang cleaned up her bedroom and finished with her ritual, it was already half an hour later. The three men outside had already started playing on their own. The three found a deck of cards and were playing some card games. Ye Shuang opened several packs of snacks, poured them into bowls, and walked over. She sat to the side and watched the game. After a while, she noticed that each of the players had their own style of playing.

Yao Zhixing was the bold and forthright type. If he had a good card, he would play it. He played for the fun of it—even if the cards that he was holding were not so good, he would not fold. Anthony utilized his cute face to hide his many schemes. He kept throwing out bluffs and feints while memorizing the cards that were tossed out by the other players. He would snipe people when they least expected it, and just when people thought that he was going to do something big, he would retreat and leave some goodies for the other players.

Han Chu was the calm and observant type. While he played his cards, he utilized his knowledge of the other two players' styles and continued to turn the game to his advantage.

Ye Shuang observed for a few rounds while sighing and making tutting sounds. Finally, when the boys were done and packing up the cards, she was asked by Han Chu, who was holding the cup of tea, ”Well, what have you observed?”

”Brother Han is the best.” Ye Shuang just wanted to flatter the man.

Brother Han was made happy, and he slightly nodded. Without avoiding the other two, he pointed right at Anthony. ”This is a cunning little man.”

Then he pointed at Yao Zhixing. He realized that there was nothing really negative about the man's personality, so he praised the man in a backhanded way. ”It's not easy to find someone who is so open and forthright these days.”

”Hey! Even though that sounds like praise, how come I feel like you're mocking me?” Yao Zhixing turned around with a fiery gaze.

Anthony also grumbled with dissatisfaction. ”I'm just too clever for this world. That doesn't mean you can personally attack me.”

Han Chu rolled his eyes at the two. He ignored them and opened the laptop, not even giving them the time of day.

After a few more jokes, Yao Zhixing purposely grabbed the plates of snacks to his side out of revenge. He also snatched a cup of tea and turned to ask Ye Shuang, ”Was Shanghai fun? Was it exciting? The place is more vibrant than San Lin City, I'm sure. Tsk, before this, you even said that you'd cook some meat soup for me, but one day, you just up and disappeared… You ran so fast that even after my hand recovered, I never got that bowl of soup that I was promised. If not for Han Chu calling you, you wouldn't have come back home, would you?”

Ye Shuang knew that she had been away for too long and had been ignoring her communication with her friends back in San Lin City. Before, they had only managed to have a few quick phone calls. That time, it was rare for her to return, but she had been in a hurry to put up a show for Xu He, and then she had to disappear again. If one was being serious, Yao Zhixing could be counted as one of her closest friends. Even though they had known each other less than half a year, they were quite matching for each other, and such a quick disappearance was quite a rude thing for Ye Shuang to do.

Speaking of this, Ye Shuang knew that she was in the wrong, and she could only smile apologetically. ”But that's because I had official business to attend to…”

”There are so many people with official business. Do you see them disappearing off the face of the earth like that?” Yao Zhixing only grumbled for a while. He did not really take it to heart, so he stopped after lecturing Ye Shuang for a while. However, Anthony was not going to let her off the hook so easily. ”Xiao Shuang, what is up with that King? He called me to say he wants me to assist him… but Han told me that I'm your real team member!”

Han Chu raised his eyes to drop this information. ”Ol' K is going to join your ranks soon. He and the female thief have handed in their team application, and the other agent has agreed for them to make the switch.”

This time ,without waiting for Anthony's protest, Ye Shuang herself was shocked. ”When did this happen? How come I don't know anything about it?”

”Forming a team is a two-way street,” Han Chu answered casually like this was nothing. ”The agent can decide what kind of partners they want, and of course, the talents have the right to choose whether they want to follow the agent or not… Before now, Su Zheng and Ol' K's applications had not been confirmed. There is a possibility for changes in the future, so of course, I wouldn't tell you ahead of time… just in case the application fell through. If you worked together in the future again, it would have been so awkward.”

Ye Shuang felt like she had been tricked. ”No, something's wrong. If it's a two-way street, how come no one asked for my opinion?”

”Hmm, the two of them will probably ask you after I give them the confirmation,” Han Chu answered easily. He looked at Ye Shuang and tossed the question back. ”Does this mean that you do not wish to accept them into your team?”

Ye Shuang's lips opened and then closed. She thought it and opened her mouth again. This was repeated several times before she said weakly, ”Never mind, both Xiao Su and Ol' K are not bad. So be it.”

Since there was a ready-made resource, why would she say no?

She was just a bit sad that she felt played. She had thought that they were just a temporary team, that they had come over to help her with this case and would return after the case was over. Therefore, Ye Shuang had been busy stealing the experience from those two during this period to be used in the future when she was cultivating her own team.

In the end, she realized that the two were going to join her team. There was no issue of them leaving. If a new talent joined them in the future, she could just hand them over to the two to be taught some lessons, then why would she have wasted so much of her time?

Anthony was not satisfied. He held his cheeks and loudly complained, ”Since I'm already helping Xiao Shuang, what is the point of adding that Ol' K to the group? In the future, Xiao Shuang will have to set aside another part of her income…”

”Even if you have the same technicality, it doesn't mean that every team member will join the same cases. You might take different cases at the same time, one of you might be on a holiday, or you might come across something that the other person is more familiar with…” Han Chu casually poked the man where it hurt. ”Or are you telling me that your specialty is only computers and hacking?”

”No way, I'm the best at everything!” Anthony claimed shamelessly, but he still sighed. ”But I'm still not so happy. Originally, Xiao Shuang only had me…”

”Eventually, more people will join.” Han Chu could not resist rolling his eyes at Anthony. ”After all, you're not running low on the money, and it often depends on your mood to take the case. If Xiao Shuang really passes you every case that is related to computers and finance, you would definitely play dead. Don't think that I don't know how you would play this game.”

It was due to the uncertain element of Anthony that Ol' K's joining became so necessary. It was fine if Anthony only came down to do some technical support or become the trump card of the team. He could just join for the fun of it—that would all be just fine. However, if one expected him to be a serious hardworking worker, that was something that was impossible.

People often said things like ”If everyone in China or all over the world just gave me one dollar, I would be filthy rich!” For other people, this might be just a daydream, but for Anthony, it was something that was completely doable.

”Money is just a number for me.” That might have been a bluff if someone else said it, but for Anthony, that was one hundred percent the truth. It was because he did not have any materialistic need that he would follow his own way and walk his own path. Everything that he did, he did because he wanted to. Even Han Chu could not guarantee how long this man's interest would retain at his current 'work'.

Han Chu ignored the air of dissatisfaction that rose around Anthony. After he was done, he turned to Ye Shuang and said, ”This case can be seen as a test. It's time for you to get used to Xiao Su and Ol' K. Tony can handle things here alone with cooperation from Xu Jian. After the results come in, I'm sure they will contact you.”

They followed the conversation and continued to talk about the case for a while. While they shared the information that they had gathered, they also discussed what they should do next. There were no outsiders there. Even though Yao Zhixing was not technically an agent, with his relationship and closeness to Han Chu and Ye Shuang, they did not need to hide things from him.

After they finished the snacks, they had also almost finished the sharing of information. Looking at the time, Ye Shuang realized that it was almost time for dinner.

”This brain!” Yao Zhixing tapped himself on his head and shrugged helplessly. ”I thought we could taste Xiao Shuang's cooking today, but it looks like we'll have to dine outside tonight.”

”Then, we'll celebrate our birthday tomorrow!” Anthony was also very generous.

Han Chu frowned. Shouldn't you two be a little politer?

…