Chapter 238: There’s Always Another Choice
Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
The ominous feeling soon proved correct. Xu Jian listened to Ye Shuang describe the story about his uncle that he did not know about in ten minutes, and he felt like he was listening to some impossible story.
Money laundering? And a global organization‽ This must be a joke. When did my uncle get involved in something like this?
“From your expression, it looks like you still don’t quite believe it, right?” Ye Shuang took a sip of water, and the dishes happened to arrive then. Therefore, she stopped talking and allowed Xu Jian some time to process the information. After the waitress left, she added, “What did your uncle tell you when you first returned to San Lin City?”
“Uncle, he…” Xu Jian hesitated. Regardless of whether Ye Shuang was lying or not, that was ultimately his uncle. There were few people who would willing betray their own family. Many would help their own kin; there was nothing unreasonable about that.
The right and wrong of an incident oftentimes depended on one’s perspective, and one’s family was far more important than outsiders. If one had to sacrifice a family member, it was only because of two things: one, the incident had gotten too big and out of control, or two, too many friends and perhaps even oneself had been negatively influenced by the person.
Ye Shuang glanced at Xu Jian’s expression and already knew his thoughts. She did not force him and picked at the vegetables. “Never mind, you don’t need to tell us. How your uncle has tricked you is not that important. You just need to remember that not all the things that he told you is the truth. For example, he might have said that he wanted to start a small business—that is probably something under the table. If he said that he ran into a business admin talent, that is mostly someone sent over by the organization. If he said that he was valued by the higher up due to his ability, it’s mostly because he’s done some ‘big things’ and was noticed by others.”
One had to be careful when it came to Xu He’s words. Basically, what he said that he had done was not really equal to what he had really done.
Ye Shuang did not need to find out how the man came into his wealth—she only needed to share the rumors that she had heard with Xu Jian. Xu He had become the branch manager of a company as big as the Xi Hwa Organization; for Xu Jian, this was an inspiring story. However, if this Xi Hwa Organization was not as glorious at Xu Jian thought, and in fact, it was the complete opposite, then this inspirational story would become a horror story.
It was one thing to not sell his own uncle out, but would he be willing to allow his whole family to get dragged into a mess that was so serious?
Yao Zhixing, who was eating, suddenly stopped to say, “The illegal stuff aside, it is one hundred percent real that he has offended some people in the business. In any case, I am not going to suffer this grievance silently for that long, but I cannot say what other people are thinking.”
Xu Jian widened his eyes in shock. After he understood what Yao Zhixing was saying, he could not help but smile bitterly. Both Ye Shuang and Han Chu’s purpose was to uproot that organization; therefore, they tried to go about it through Xu He. If Xu Jian refused to cooperate, they would need more time to find other opening. However, Yao Zhixing’s purpose was not that far away—he only wanted to take revenge.
I don’t care what kind of person Xu He is. I only know that he has come after me, so I have to take revenge.
In other words, whether Xu Jian would cooperate or not, whether Xu He’s weakness would be exposed or not, Yao Zhixing would not let this person go. Furthermore, he was not the type to be patient. If other people had plans that involved Xu He, he might be patient for a while, but if not, Yao Zhixing would work his magic without reservation.
From that perspective, Xu Jian’s attitude was not that important to Yao Zhixing. If anything, if Xu Jian was willing to help, then perhaps he might be able to ask for mercy on his uncle’s behalf through Ye Shuang or Han Chu.
Xu Jian was first shocked and then conflicted before reaching a state of hesitation. Ye Shuang observed as the man remained in this state throughout the lunch. She thought that the man would come to a decision eventually, but when they were paying for the meal, the man still had not said a word. Then, the three left the restaurant with Xu Jian saying, “Let me think about it.”
Although she was not one to be described as gentle, Ye Shuang knew how to read the room. Therefore, she agreed to give the man some time to arrange his thoughts. However, when she called the next day to ask how the man was doing, she realized that all the calls that she made went unanswered. Somewhat confused, she called Xu Jian’s parents, and the reply that she got was that the man had already left San Lin City and gone to work.
Xu Jian had escaped!
Even though Ye Shuang had been through a lot, she was stunned for half a minute before she recovered. And when she did, she stomped angrily. “Xu Jian, that b*stard has slithered away!”
Han Chu was reading the report and waiting for Ye Shuang to get the information from the ‘insider’, so he raised his head when he heard Ye Shuang on the phone. “Your insider has escaped?”
Ye Shuang took a deep breath and failed to laugh. “Indeed. The man did not want to get involved, so he chose to run away.”
This was her own fault for being too confident. She had thought that she had already considered all the angles. In her mind, Xu Jian’s only option was cooperating with her left.
To lure with benefits, to threaten with force, to touch with emotions, to reason with logic… Humans have many requirements, and if one were to make use of the weakness in human psychology, mobilizing others was something that could be said to be easy. However, Ye Shuang had forgotten about one thing. This mobility had to be done by the person in question or something closely related to said person.
Xu Jian protected Xu He because they were family. However, if one really studied the weight that Xu He carried in Xu Jian’s heart, the issue became more blurred. After all, Xu He was an uncle who had disappeared for more than a decade from Xu Jian’s life.
Han Chu listened to Ye Shuang explain her previous meeting with Xu Jian and the situation where Xu Jian had left San Lin City. Without much thought, he connected everything. “He thought that he could ignore the situation by running away?”
“Probably.” Ye Shuang sighed as she sat down on the sofa opposite from Han Chu. She grumbled, “He is not that invested in helping Xu He. After all, Xu Jian knows that this is not a small thing—at least it is something that he cannot handle. However, if we want to make him help us, it will still be rather awkward for him. After all, that is his uncle. I thought he only had one of two choices, but in the end, he chose the third option.”
“A normal person would be unwilling to get involved in something like this. To avoid problems is human nature.” Han Chu nodded to show his understanding. “So, what shall we do now? Xu Jian is no longer an option; do you have any other candidate?”
Ye Shuang massaged her temple and said, “We need someone who is fairly trusted within the Xi Hwa Organization, and that person has to be willing to help us. Other than Xu Jian, I really cannot think of someone else.”
This was not a movie, and neither Ye Shuang nor Han Chu had even heard of this organization before, so where were they going to find so many spies?
“Zuo Feiyang could be counted as an insider, but ultimately, he does not work for the Xi Hwa Organization. He can only play dumb for so long, and the people whom he is tricking are not important personnel at the company. It’ll be hard to dig important information from them…”
The more Ye Shuang thought about it, the more she wanted to say, “No, no matter how I think about it, Xu Jian is really only the suitable candidate.”
“The problem is Xu Jian doesn’t want to work with us,” Han Chu reminded.
“Well, that might not be entirely true.” Ye Shuang gritted her teeth. “If he is not willing to help, I’ll force him to help…”
Han Chu already moved his gaze back to the monitor, but he turned back to look at Ye Shuang when he heard that. “What do you plan to do?”
Ye Shuang walked around twice. Then she seemed to come to a decision. She walked into her bedroom to change into a presentable young lady. She grabbed her keys and prepared to leave. “Brother Han, have fun on your own. I’ll go complete some daily quests!”
Then, she disappeared out the door like a gust of wind. The door slammed shut, and the woman disappeared.
Daily quests‽
Han Chu had no idea what Ye Shuang was up to, but he knew that she would not do anything crazy. Thus, he was only curious for a while before getting over it. He had some light anticipation to see what would happen next.
Just as Han Chu was waiting, Xu Jian, who had left San Lin City, was despairingly anxious. Since he had escaped from San Lin City, Xu Jian had already predicted that Ye Shuang would be angry. No matter what, it was quite immoral for him to slip away without any warning. However, it was too much pressure to get him to entrap his own family member. At the same time, helping his uncle when he knew that he was doing something illegal was too hard as well. Therefore, with two impossible choices, Xu Jian could only choose to escape from this conundrum.
He had predicted how Ye Shuang would react. Phone, message and perhaps even coming in person to his new working place to drag him home… These were all possible. However, two days passed, and other than the initial few phone calls, Xu Jian was not harassed. Even the payment for his earlier job was not frozen. Other than the one message that stated that the money had entered his account, there was nothing else. It was as if the discussion earlier had just been part of his imagination.
This curious peace lasted a whole week. Just as Xu Jian was about to grab the phone to make the call himself, another call came to him, and the person calling was the person whom Xu Jian had been trying to avoid, his Uncle Xu.
“Xiao Jian, I hear you have a university girlfriend, right?”
What is happening?
Xu He had no idea that Xu Jian already knew about him. He sounded so kind and gentle on the phone. “How come you have not told your family about this before? By the way, your girlfriend has recently been visiting your parents, and I hear she is good friends with Yao Zhixing’s group, right?”
What the f*ck‽