Release that Man

Fang Mo walked out of the company’s entrance as the work day ended. He scanned the streets and turned toward the spot where the crowd seemed to have gathered—as he expected, the exceedingly handsome man was at the center of everyone’s attention as he leaned lazily against the wall of a store, reading a web novel on his phone.

His lips were curved into a slight smile. It surprised Fang Mo that such a physically impressive man had such a cute hobby. In his mind, the powerful individuals of the world wouldn’t have time to waste on such idle activities… He was the perfect example; ever since he was young, he had never finished a novel, even if it was a world renowned classic.

Fang Mo headed toward Ye Shuang under the watchful gaze of the public. He glanced nonchalantly at Ye Shuang’s phone and commented, “How is it‽”

“Not bad.” When Ye Shuang noticed that the person she had been waiting for had finally arrived, she exited the reading app and shoved the phone back in her pocket. Then she exclaimed with shock, “Aren’t you busy? I assumed you would have to work overtime tonight.”

Fang Mo answered naturally, “Only a chaotically-managed company needs constant overtime. Furthermore, I believe I’ve assigned each worker assignments that are fitted to their personal ability, so there normally shouldn’t be any overtime.”

The hell! Then how do you explain the four nights of overtime out of my five working days every week‽ Ye Shuang held her tongue, but instead she said tactfully, “But that doesn’t seem to be what I heard from my friend.”

“…”

“No matter, that’s not important,” Ye Shuang suddenly realized it was her boss she was talking to. Although he wouldn’t know she was his employee in her current state, she would have to continue to work for him after her gender changed back… Even though she had doubts about whether or not she could keep her job for long, she at least had to make sure her latest monthly salary wouldn’t be affected, right‽

After moving away from the subject, Ye Shuang pointed at the café behind her and suggested, “I haven’t had dinner yet, how about I treat you to a meal as a thank you for helping me with my clothes and giving my friend a much-needed break from work?”

Fang Mo cupped his palms around his lips to cough and whisper softly, “Here‽”

His eyes were wide with disbelief.

It was not that he looked down on the budget restaurant, but this cut into what he had already planned…

“That stuff was merely a pretext. Actually, I asked you out intending to treat you to dinner to repay everything you did for me last night.” Fang Mo sighed and smiled rather helplessly. “But who would have thought Mr. Ye has already stolen what I wanted to say?”

What have I done this time‽ Ye Shuang suddenly remembered that Fang Mo had mentioned something to that effect yesterday… “No worries, I’m okay with anything as long as there’s food.”

With Ye Shuang’s cooperation, Fang Mo led them to another restaurant. After he gave the waiter the room number he had already booked that afternoon on the phone, two waitresses materialized to lead them toward a comfortable private room.

“The main chef here comes from a long line of palatial chefs, and this restaurant serves plenty of unique dishes.” After taking their seats, Fang Mo made the introduction. “Even though we live in an information era, and a lot of information has lost its secrecy, there is still plenty of hidden knowledge, like secret recipes that are passed down through generations… That aside, the ingredients used here are guaranteed to be the best and the freshest, so even the most common of dishes are supreme and heavenly…”

“I understand.” Ye Shuang nodded with faux sincerity. “Only the special and unique for the rich, am I right?”

Fang Mo instantly felt shamed; he felt wronged. It was not the rich’s intention to demand better treatment from others; they merely wished for a better life for themselves. With enough money, who would be silly enough to lower their living standard just to pander to the general public?

It might sound uncouth to say this, but if a person’s monthly salary was in the hundred thousands, would they care about whether a single potato cost 1.99 or 2.99?

For Fang Mo, the most important thing was taste. For a scrumptious meal, he wouldn’t mind spending a little bit more… because he felt it was worth the money. Fang Mo coughed drily and realized any further explanation would only make things worse, so he smiled and stopped talking.

At the end of the day, he wasn’t trying to gloat, he sincerely wanted to treat his friend to a delicious dinner… However, this did make Fang Mo realize this new friend of his had this special quality—hatred for the rich!

No matter how he looked at it, Ye Shuang belonged to the upper echelon of society, but he had a habit similar to the public. He found that quite interesting. The more Fang Mo came to know about Ye Shuang, the more he realized how contradictory this person was.

He was comfortable in his own skin, but this person kept on denying his talents and indomitable presence, as if living a life of mediocrity was what he was used to… Could this be mere humility? Or was there something more about this friend that he hadn’t discovered yet?

He was suddenly reminded of the unhappy matter that related to his own home. Fang Mo’s eyes darted around before he tossed the train of thought out of his mind to focus on introducing the restaurant’s specialties to Ye Shuang.

Since he was only introducing the food, Ye Shuang paid much closer attention this time. Just as they were discussing what to order, Fang Mo’s phone, which was placed on the table, started to ring.

“Sorry,” Fang Mo apologized politely as he picked up his phone to glance at it. Instantly, the smile on his face became gentler and kinder; there was an added closeness and happiness that wasn’t there before. “Fei Fei, why would you suddenly call your big brother?”

So, it’s his sister… Ye Shuang continued sifting through the menu. She wasn’t interested in people of her original gender, and furthermore, it was not like she hadn’t met that arrogant young lady at the company before…

Fang Mo ended the call after two or three more sentences. After that, he smiled rather ashamedly and said, “That was my sister. She said she also hasn’t had dinner yet, so you don’t mind if she joins us, do you?”

Ye Shuang wasn’t the one paying, so of course, she didn’t mind. Therefore, the order expanded to include several dishes that were apparently the young lady’s favorite.

The two chatted while they waited for the dishes to be served and for the Fang family’s cherished daughter to arrive. As if a work of fiction, just as the waiter came in with the first dish, the door opened to reveal the pearl of the Fang family.

“Big Brother! You won’t believe what happened to me today; I’m so pissed…”

The fiery princess rushed into the room with her temper exploding, but when she glanced at Ye Shuang sitting in the room out of the corner of her eye, she seemed to lose the ability to talk.