Chapter 306: Hidden Past
Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
This was why a lack of language understanding was a bad thing. Since she did not understand the meaning, Su Zheng could only extrapolate the meaning from the man’s expression. Since Su Zheng arrived in France, she had met a series of bad people, so she treated everyone with hostility. When the man spoke to her, her first reaction was that he had nothing good to say about her.
Ye Shuang explained with a smile, “Cedrick is not talking bad about you. He is asking if you’re looking for him… I think he already knows that it’s you who wanted to take revenge on him.”
Su Zheng felt proud immediately and looked back haughtily. “Now, you know how good your big sister is, don’t you‽”
“…Already told you, he doesn’t speak Chinese.” Ye Shuang sighed and reminded her again before turning her head around. “Mr. Cedrick, I think we should talk about our business later. For now…”
As she reached out naturally toward the canvas, she said, “I think you won’t mind me taking back my stuff, right?”
Cedrick’s attention finally moved away from Su Zheng who ‘managed to plant an oil painting in his backpack without him noticing’. He shook his head. “Please, I’m sure we’ll have things to talk about later.”
Since he knew the group’s intention and knew that he had stolen from someone he should not have, Cedrick naturally surrendered to his loss. If this was an official body like the FBI, things could still have been negotiated, but since they were similar people walking the line, having evidence was not going to be the guidance for their action. Instead, what they depended on was the pure intention. This type of people was not going to leave quietly simply because they did not have the evidence on you.
Ye Shuang’s group did not stay. They left easily and took the painting with them. Cedrick was surprised that they were so cooperative. We was about to sigh in relief when he turned and saw the stern expression on the collector’s face. The youth’s heart fell, and then he realized much later… Feels like I’ve been scammed…
“So, does that painting belong to the young lady?” the collector demanded in an unfriendly tone.
Cedrick laughed awkwardly. “Er, I believe so..”
Since he had already admitted it earlier, denying it now would only make the situation more awkward. When the collector got the confirmed answer, his face darkened considerably. “But her painting was inside your backpack, and it has your signature!”
This was no longer a question but more of an accusation.
Cedrick massaged the bridge of his nose with a pained expression. He had been too impressed by the other girl’s skill earlier and was also so worried that they would expose his real identity. On top of that, he was worried that this was some mysterious party that he had inadvertently offended. With so many things to worry about, Cedrick naturally had forgotten about the collector. After all, if he was not careful, he might face a series of endless problems.
But now that he had survived the ordeal practically unscathed, Cedrick realized that the aim of the girl’s group was not to get into war with him but to come and ruin his ‘business’. The collector was obviously impressed by the girl’s skill, but in that case, Cedrick was playing the unfavorable role of a shameless thief. Fine, he was already a thief, but as God was his witness, he really did not play a part in this ‘crime’.
“I don’t want to know what plan you have for stealing that girl’s work, but it’s obviously not going to be a good one.” The collector took Cedrick’s silence as admission, and the way that he was surfeited with anger was different from how he was earlier.
Initially, he had been impressed by this ‘talented and humble’ young man, but now how impressed he was earlier was how much he was disgusted by the man. “Perhaps it’s to sell it off or to adopt the girl’s identity… No matter what, I am very disappointed with what you’ve done!”
I truly am innocent!
…
In less than three minutes, the collector soon left the café. Su Zheng looked proud of her accomplishment while Edward sighed with regret. He could put himself in Cedrick’s shoes completely; this was probably the first time that the great thief had been so deviously trapped since the start of his career.
Having been callously abandoned, Cedrick sat where he was. He took a sip of coffee to calm down. Then, he rubbed his face and strode over to ask in a barely suppressed anger, “I’m sorry, but are you doing this on purpose?”
As Ye Shuang explained to Su Zheng, she answered, “We can’t help it. Do you know how depressed you made my employee the past few days? I’m just here to teach you a lesson.”
Ye Shuang looked at Cedrick and said in a serious tone, “…Karma is always watching.”
Just because of that? Cedrick looked at the gloating Su Zheng and the vindictive Ye Shuang. “…You’ve helped me gain a new understanding of the female mind.”
The foiled transaction was already set in stone; no matter how sad Cedrick felt about it, he could only admit that he was not as good as his opponent.
Another more important point was, before Ye Shuang’s group displayed another burst of hostility, Cedrick felt like this was the best ending. If they continued to tussle around this issue, one could imagine how unlucky his future would be. He liked adrenaline, but that did not mean he was dumb. As much as Cedrick adored chaos, he would not purposely go and find trouble for himself… especially after Ye Shuang revealed to him that it was Anthony who sniffed out his hotel address.
“Oh, Anthony!” After getting Ye Shuang’s agreement to have a video talk, Cedrick sighed to the golden retriever on screen. “So, it is you! I was wondering who was so capable to be able to find me without me noticing.”
Anthony wore big headphones as he typed on another computer, but when he heard Cedrick’s strange introduction, he pulled his headphones off and looked over. He studied Cedrick closely for a while before asking, “Hey, who are you? No, I mean, I do know you from somewhere, but I don’t think we should know each other.”
“…Kansas’ Halloween party. The magician whom you yanked into the room and dragged into ton of trouble?” Cedrick provided clues for the man. “I think you should still remember that unlucky b*stard, right? That was me.”
“Yanked into a room?” Ye Shuang’s eyes glowed.
Edward’s interest was piqued. “Wow, the chaos at Kansas… Is it the incident three years ago?”
Su Zheng looked left and right before roaring angrily, “Help me translate! Why aren’t you including me in the fun stuff‽”
Ye Shuang helped to translate and then looked at Anthony, who was caught in deep contemplation on screen before finally shrugging and giving up. “I normally don’t have a good memory when it comes to dudes, but something did happen three years ago at Kansas… Er, what is it that you want to say?”
Cedrick’s expression was truly hard to describe. “…After creating so much trouble for someone, you forgot all about it? Anthony, this truly is something you would’ve done.”
Ye Shuang did not have the time to translate. She pulled Edward to share her thoughts. “Is there something between Cedrick and Tony?”
“That, I don’t know.” Edward narrowed his eyes and tapped his large stomach. “If this didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have known you guys know Anthony.”
Anthony obviously did not have the patience to chat with a guy. Since Cedrick was not going to reveal everything for him, he ignored the man and waved to Ye Shuang, who was in the corner of the screen, “Hey, honey, have you finished the thing in France? Since you’ve caught this thief, come back already. I miss you so much!”
“Soon, soon, we plan to return tomorrow,” Ye Shuang said.
“Wonderful!” Anthony rubbed his hands anxiously, and without turning his head to the other computer, he used his single hand to type on the keyboard. “Then, I’ll help you book the plane ticket. Do you prefer first class or first class?”
“…Business class.”
Was he kidding? Anthony never used money when he booked plane ticket. It was still okay for business class, but there would definitely be problem if there were suddenly two extra first-class passengers. Anthony pouted. “Fine.”
Edward looked at Ye Shuang meaningfully. “Looks like you two share quite a unique relationship.”
“To put it simply, it’s the relationship between owner and her pet,” Ye Shuang answered.
“…Again with stuff that I cannot understand,” Su Zheng grumbled.
This was the first time in his life that Cedrick had felt so invisible. He had always enjoyed a great presence within the community—him being on the FBI watchlist helped a lot. But on that day, just as he felt like sitting down to talk with others, whether it was the girl that he offended earlier or the other two who scammed him, and especially Anthony whom Cedrick had been watching closely… after conversing with him for a few sentences, they had all ignored him.
Yes, all of them!
His business was ruined, his fun disappeared, and now even the interest on him had gone with the wind.
Initially, when Cedrick saw Anthony, he had sighed in surprise, but when he realized that the man had completely forgotten about him and the trouble that he had caused him, a sense of competition suddenly surfaced in his heart. To see the man have so much fun in another country… oh, he was not going to take that lying down.
“…I will follow you to your country,” Cedrick suddenly said.
“Huh?” Ye Shuang was gobsmacked. “Our country?”
“Yes!” Cedrick looked like a gentleman, but his tone was not at all gentlemanly. “You’ve ruined my business, and since I have no next plan set up… Hmm, I can take this chance to catch up with Anthony.”
“Hey! I have nothing to catch up with dudes!” Anthony complained.
Ye Shuang looked at Cedrick and then at Anthony. Suddenly, she felt that the relationship between these two was very curious and worth digging into.