Lonelytree

  Millman97

  An arranged marriage?

  At that moment, the term appeared in Ye Shuang’s mind, and following that was a period of speechless that extended for a long time. She was only twenty-five years old. What was the rush‽ Why was she pushed toward marriage so early‽ Was this even necessary‽


  Mother Ye looked at Ye Shuang with certainty in her eyes. The conviction and determination expressed her meaning with clarity. Yes, it is necessary! Very necessary!

  After a normal girl had an accidental kiss with a boy, even without the racing heart, the flushed cheeks, the wandering thoughts, at least she would feel embarrassed, right‽


  But what about her daughter‽ The girl’s first reaction was to beat the man up without any filter or a second thought. After the beating, she suddenly realized the gender swap had been delayed for a day. After tracing back the memory, she only then remembered the accidental kiss.

  Because Ye Shuang treated it with such insouciance that Mother Ye could not find the opening to ask about any gossip, she was led down the path by Ye Shuang’s acceptance of the events that had transpired. Therefore, from that event, one could see clearly how difficult it was for Ye Shuang to have romantic thoughts about members of the opposite sex. She might have paid special focus to this problem, but her personality did not have the qualification to be in love or kickstart a relationship!

  In that case, what could Mother Ye do‽ Be it romantic hints or direct confession, as long as that person did not tackle her daughter directly to the ground—if someone could tackle her to the ground—then every advance would be naturally neutralized before Ye Shuang.

  Therefore, other than setting up dates and an arranged marriage, what other solution was there‽


  “As you know, it is New Year, and many younger gentlemen are home to accompany their families for New Year.” The more Mother Ye thought about it, the more she found it difficult to resist the urge to sigh. Therefore, she let out a very long sigh and patted Ye Shuang’s arm as they walked back to the house. “There are quite a few good kids in the neighborhood. They have been working overseas or in other states, but they will return on the second or third day of New Year. So, try to find some boys to kiss over the next few days, and we’ll go and meet them when the time comes.”


  If any outsiders heard Mother Ye’s advice, they would have been so confused, but Ye Shuang got it instantly. Her mother wanted her to maintain her female sex throughout the New Year so that she could attend those dates in her female form. “But aren’t we going to visit our grandparents?”


  “There’s no need for you to visit them this year!” Mother Ye announced firmly. “Nothing is more important than this. After the few days of New Year holiday, most of the kids will go back to work, so who are going to go on dates with then‽ By the way, I also have a few friends. Previously, they were busy with work, but these few days, they should have the time to bring their children around……”


  Why are you doing this to me‽


  After the consensus had been forced to be made between the mother and daughter, the male members of the Ye family finally welcomed the women back home. Without wasting her saliva to explain the situation, Mother Ye strode into the kitchen with her head raised. Ye Shuang, on the other hand, planted herself quite despondently next to the window to flip through the television channels. There was nothing interesting on; the television programs on the first day of New Year were mostly reruns of the shows on New Year’s Eve.

  Anthony hugged his own laptop and was up to his own schemes. As he typed on the keyboard, he raised his head to ask joyfully, “Xiao Shuang, Han is inviting us to go to his place to play for a few days, you coming with?”


  “I can’t.” Ye Shuang turned to look into the kitchen before turning back to answer in a serious tone. “I’ll be going on dates over the next few days.”


  Father Ye and Little Brother Ye choked and coughed at the same time.

  “Wow!” Anthony’s eyes glistened and shone as a happy and passionate expression that seemed to say ‘This is so exciting!’ appeared on his face. He hugged his laptop as he scooted over to take the seat beside Ye Shuang. “I hear easterners get married at an early age. Is it time for you as well? Can you bring me along with you for your dates? I want to go and take a look!”


  “Have you seen people bring friends of the opposite sex to dates?” Ye Shuang rolled her eyes at the man. Then again, she honestly did not have high expectations for the children of her mother’s friends.

  It was not that she looked down on them, but if the guys agreed to go on these set-up dates, normally, there were only be several types. One was like her, who actually did not want to go to these functions but had to agree because of their parents. The other type was more than willing. Why were they willing‽ Either their personality or appearance had certain disadvantages, such that they were unable to attract female in a normal setting, or they did not have any intention of getting into a relationship. Their time and effect were solely focused on other things and only treated this as a mission that needed to be completed before everything was settled.

  In any case, neither of the prospects were particularly exciting for Ye Shuang. Little Brother Ye gasped like he had been struck by lightning. “Dates‽ Sis, you actually agreed to this‽”


  Unlike the other two, Father Ye recovered very quickly. He connected it to how excited his wife had been to investigate the situation of other people’s children during the earlier conversation with other families. After a moment’s silence, he coughed like this was nothing important. “Actually, it might not be so bad to settle down. In any case, this is just a normal date. There’s no need to rush into a marriage.”


  Teetering between the unwillingness to marry his daughter and the fact that his daughter would not settle on a fixed gender without getting married, Father Ye decided to stand by the sidelines and patiently watch how things unfold……

  Failing to fight for the right to observe the date, Anthony got on the plane with a stomach full of grievances and dissatisfaction to fly to Beijing. That afternoon, Ye Shuang also paid visits to several elders who she was closest with at the Go association. When she had the chance, she sought several kisses from one of their grandsons and managed to acquire the ability to delay her gender swap for another day.

  On the third day of New Year, Mother Ye planned to bring Ye Shuang out for the dates, but unfortunately, Yao Zhixing’s call came to disrupt the plan. It was because he was unable to find Fang Mo during their schedule appointment and wanted to ask Ye Shuang if she knew where the man was.

  Ye Shuang was finally free on the fourth day of New Year, but Mother Ye was not. There might have been people who came to visit during New Year. Since a group of Father Ye’s students decided to come pay their teacher a visit, the pair of mother and daughter had to put their aprons back on to busy themselves in the kitchen. The fifth day and sixth day…… they were all ruined by accidental intervention by outsiders. By the seventh day of New Year, Mother Ye had still been unable to bring her own daughter out to any of the dates.

  “Mom, just let it be.” Ye Shuang was tired. She cracked her knuckles before continuing to prepare the suitcases for her parents. “I’ve kissed about all the boys under five in the neighborhood, and you’re going to visit the grandparents with father tomorrow. How about we just change the time for the dates‽ Push it to a later date?”


  New Year was indeed a time for families to gather. All the younger generation came home to visit their parents and grandfathers. However, New Year was also the busiest time for Chinese. Visits were happening left and right. Hoping to find a date during this period of time was indeed a bit too hard.

  Mother Ye pulled on Ye Shuang’s arm with dissatisfaction. “Don’t worry, your mother still has a few old friends……”


  Then she stopped to glance at Father Ye, who was watching television in the living room. She leaned in closer to Ye Shuang to say in a lowered voice, “After we come back from your grandparents’, I’ll take you to meet an uncle. His son is not bad, but don’t tell your father about this.”


  “Why can’t I do that‽” Ye Shuang was confused.

  Mother Ye coughed awkwardly. “Mainly, it’s because…… your father has a little misunderstanding with the man.”


  With Father Ye’s personality, he would not have minded if it was just a normal misunderstanding. This meant that it should be something serious in Father Ye’s eyes. However, Mother Ye did not seem to share Father Ye’s opinion. If anything, even though she knew of the disagreement between them, she did not seem to mind having a relationship with the man. After arranging all the information in her mind, Ye Shuang came up with a series of speculations. After removing all the impossible options, there was only one final conclusion.

  “It was a former pursuer‽” Ye Shuang nodded with understanding. “The kind that was very loyal, who fought very hard with dad‽”


  Mother Ye gasped with horror and surprise. Looking at Ye Shuang, she almost elicited a scream. “How did you know that‽”


  No, wait!

  When she realized she should not have reacted in such a manner, admitting to the truth, Mother Ye realized it was already too late. It was already too late to take back what she had said. Mother Ye was quite embarrassed being stared at by Ye Shuang’s interested gaze. She coughed drily. “It happened so many years ago. Now both of us already have families and children…… Your father just likes to get worried for no reason.”


  “Hmm, you’re right! Dad should be more accepting. As the winner, it is indeed not good to hold onto grudges for so long. By the way, for how many years did that uncle chase you?”


  “About five to six years, but we’ve known each other since we were young……” Stopping abruptly, Mother Ye angrily yelled, “How can you try to trip your own mother with your words‽”


  Due to Ye Shuang’s extremely natural tone and the sudden switch in the topic of conversation, Mother Ye did not have time to put her guard up and accidentally revealed the truth to her daughter.

  After being kicked out of Mother Ye’s room, she accepted the confused gaze from Father Ye. “What’s happening in there? Why did Xiao Qin scream earlier‽”


  “It’s nothing.” Thinking about the truth that was revealed, Ye Shuang felt like she could understand her father’s feeling. Childhood friends and a man who had pursued his lover for five to six years—even though this was more than twenty years ago, even though his wife was now more than fifty years old and already had a son and daughter, the shadow of this man still had not dissipated. And now his wife planned to introduce their daughter to the man’s son……

  Of course, he couldn’t be able to accept this easily!

  Considering Father Ye’s emotional health and the harmony within the house, Ye Shuang felt like she should keep the secret to herself and pretend like she did not know anything. After all, it was just having a meal together. Mother Ye cheating on her father was impossible; she probably thought the man’s son was indeed not bad, and it would be a waste to miss out on such a good candidate due to Father Ye’s ‘stinginess’.

  In any case, this would need to happen after Ye Shuang’s parents came back from visiting Ye Shuang’s grandparents. After this small interlude, Ye Shuang personally drove Father Ye and Mother Ye as well as the additional Little Brother Ye to the airport after lunch. After she saw them off, she drove back to her apartment. Now that there was no one home and, as a member of the younger generation, no one would expect her to welcome any guests, Ye Shuang naturally curled back in her own home to wait for the physical transformation. Therefore, the next day, after changing into Brother Ye’s persona, she picked up the phone to call people like Luo Mingxin to greet him a happy new year.

  “What happened?” When Luo Mingxin received Brother Shuang’s phone call, he sounded worried. “Your partner called the day before New Year. She mentioned that you had some emergencies that needed you to leave the country?”


  “Yes, it was some personal issue,” Ye Shuang answered as she cooked herself a bowl of noodles for breakfast. “Due to the suddenness of the thing, I didn’t have time to say anything before I left.”


  “That doesn’t matter.” Luo Mingxin shrugged and turned the topic around. “I’m sure you know I’ve accepted the new movie. Director Zhou will be starting the shoot after new year. Are you interested in cameoing as one of the characters‽”


  Ye Shuang felt the question sounded weirdly familiar. She thought about it before it hit her. Celebrity Luo seemed to have asked her female form the same question before. “Thank you, but it’s fine.”


  She picked up the cooked noodles with one hand and slid them into the prepared bowl of soup. Ye Shuang grabbed a pair of chopsticks and placed them on the rim of the bowl. Then, she held the phone in one hand and the bowl of noodles in another as she headed back into the living room.

  “Okay, I’m hanging up since I’m done with the new year wishes. After breakfast, I’m going to call Director Zhou and the crew, so that’s all. Goodbye.” Luo Mingxin was stunned by the shameless honestly. “Is this how people call to wish a happy new year‽ At least you should try to continue the conversation for a bit longer before coming up with an excuse to end the call. I……”


  Ye Shuang didn’t hear the rest of the sentence because she had already hung up. Ye Shuang enjoyed the breakfast without any pressure or stress. After all, she was already quite close to Luo Mingxin, so the man would not mind something as insignificant as this.

  After finishing breakfast, Ye Shuang contacted the people her male form was familiar with. She used almost a whole afternoon to greet everyone on her contact list. She plugged the dying phone into the charger and then moved to the computer to deal with Brother Shuang’s email. After removing the spam mail, Ye Shuang realized that the person who had sent her the most mail during the New Year period was An Zixuan.

  Actually, Ye Shuang felt An Zixuan had a form of strange yet insistent reliance toward her. If she had to describe it, the position Brother Shuang had in An Zixuan’s heart should be similar to how Mo Xiao Xia viewed Sister Shuang. If the two were placed side by side for comparison, An Zixuan’s problem was more serious than Mo Xiao Xia. Ye Shuang compared when she had interacted with the two people with her two identities. If there was any similarity, it was because she once helped them and approached them voluntarily when they were caught in a helpless and awkward situation.

  Their feelings toward Brother Shuang and Sister Shuang were similar to admiration but possibly even greater than that. To use a more direct description, they were like Ye Shuang’s brainless fans. Since it would not affect Ye Shuang in a negative way, after giving it serious thought, Ye Shuang finally opened An Zixuan’s mail without pressure.

  After spending three minutes reading all the messages, Ye Shuang closed the computer and came to a conclusion. The man must have treated his emails as a diary with how consistent his correspondence was!

  After a sigh, Ye Shuang picked up her phone to give An Zixuan a call, and the man picked it up very quickly. “Ye Shuang‽”


  The greeting sounded hesitant, probably because the few times he had called earlier, it was Sister Shuang who answered. Therefore, An Zixuan had a hard time telling which Ye Shuang had made this call.

  “Yes, it’s me.” Brother Shuang’s magnetic voice came through the phone line, and An Zixuan’s slightly dark mood brightened almost instantly.

  “It is you.” An Zixuan’s voice lightened a lot. “I called you on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day itself, but it was your partner who answered…… I heard you went overseas.”


  “Yes, it was for some private business.” Ye Shuang brushed over the issue as simple as she could while scrolling through the diary…… no, the emails to look through the few that had actual meaning. “I have just read your emails. You have been in contact with people from the Xi Hwa Organization recently‽”


  An Zixuan’s attitude turned serious since they were talking about business. “They are insistent on reaching out to me. A few days ago, they even came to the house under the pretext of a New Year visit. However, my family insinuated that I shouldn’t have any contact with them and even froze my bank accounts.”


  “Have you told your family about your intention to investigate this organization‽” Ye Shuang had a fairly good guess why the An family was acting that way. They probably thought An Zixuan had not learned from his earlier lesson. In their eyes, he did not learn to raise his alertness from what he had experienced earlier and even continued to interact with these people. The reputation of the Xi Hwa Organization among the upper society of San Lin City was horrible, so it was understandable that they were boycotted by the An family.

  “Why should I tell them‽” An Zixuan sounded so cold that it was close to being extreme. “For one, the worse the relationship between me and my family, the more they will think they have an opening with me. Plus, with my big sister’s personality, do you think she will keep her mouth to herself after she knows about our plan?”


  Being reminded of An Zining’s personality, Ye Shuang realized that she was in agreement with An Zixuan.

  “If I’m seeking cooperation, Anthony is more than enough. When I need to pull back, my family will be able to step forward to intervene, and if the situation calls for it, Anthony can be tasked with purposely creating a small opening. Wouldn’t that be a lot more convenient?”


  His analysis was correct, but from the perspective of emotions, Ye Shuang felt like An Zixuan was purposely pushing his family away.

  As an outsider, it was not her place to say anything. After all, his current attitude was more beneficial to her. However, if this was Ye Shuang, no matter how inconvenient it might be, she would have more trust in her family than outsiders. Could it be due to the residual disagreement from the earlier conflict‽


  She frowned as she thought about it. Ye Shuang cleared her throat, and she could not help herself from saying, “Do you want to come out to clear your mind for a bit‽”


  Talking on the phone would have a lesser effect than speaking in person. Going out for a talk or a drive should be able to undo the dissatisfaction in the man’s heart. After all, she had nothing better to do at the moment.

  “I…… I’m sorry.” The car was parked outside the An family’s residential area for quite some time when An Zixuan showed up. He ran over and collapsed with his arm on the top of the car, gasping greedily for air. “I’m a bit late. I hope you didn’t wait for me for too long.”


  Ye Shuang could hear the caution in the man’s voice, afraid that she might be mad at him. Ye Shuang was feeling speechless. She was not that unreasonable, was she? Rolling the car window down, she raised her head to flash a comforting smile at the anxious young man standing outside. Ye Shuang shook her head to show that she did not mind. “Get in the car. We can talk when you’re in the car.”


  An Zixuan sighed in great relief and immediately ran to the other side of the car. He pulled the door open and jumped into the passenger seat.

  Ye Shuang turned to look. The man had definitely taken care of his appearance that day. The dark windbreaker was clean and sharp, and the military boots he wore was spotless. Even though he had just run down the street earlier, it was observable that his hairstyle had been cautiously fixed before he left the house. Only a few strands of hair were blown out of place, falling on his forehead.

  Clearly, An Zixuan could be considered a young man who knew how to dress himself and take steps to fix his appearance. He even had a slight obsession with cleanliness. This was probably because he was more detail oriented than others, so whenever Ye Shuang saw the man, his appearance was more fashionable and eye-grabbing than most.

  If this man liked girls, he would definitely have been one of the more popular ones. Ye Shuang moved her gaze away before An Zixuan realized she had been studying him. Ye Shuang kept her eyes on the road and started the ignition. She turned the steering wheel, and the car entered the traffic smoothly. As they moved on the car, she asked, “Is there anywhere that you wish to go?”


  An Zixuan turned his head around to look at Brother Shuang and realized with a blush that the man had become even more handsome. This scenario was similar to the scene he saw the movie he was in with Luo Mingxin. The calm yet undeniable presence made sure people could not move their attention away from this person. Having a big brother like this was the greatest thing. Only that brain-dead man in the movie was unable to recognize the brilliance and greatness of his elder brother!

  Realizing Ye Shuang was tossing him a confused look, An Zixuan quickly recovered and turned his face away. At the same time, he answered in a hurry, “Anywhere is fine. I don’t have a place that I feel like going to right at this moment.”


  “Hmm……” Ye Shuang nodded, and she was not surprised at this answer. “Not in a good mood‽”


  There has never been a moment when the mood is good, An Zixuan grumbled internally, but the time with Brother Shuang was a notable exception. Therefore, he thought about it and nodded after some hesitation.

  “There are two ways to resolve the bad feelings in the heart.” Ye Shuang turned her head back with a light smile. Her low and mellifluous voice was like a spell, drifting from An Zixuan’s ears into his heart. “One is to find a friend to talk it out, and another is to vent…… I know, you think it’s old-fashioned, right? But it is rare for people to be able to do these two things. Because talking to a friend might contain the risk of having the secret exposed, and if one wants to vent, it is hard to find a location where it is safe to vent to one’s heart’s content.”


  An Zixuan did not really understand what Ye Shuang was talking about. In fact, he really did not pay close attention to what Ye Shuang was saying. He only focused on the beautiful melody in the man’s voice, and no matter what Ye Shuang said, he nodded subconsciously.

  “.……You also think these methods are not bad‽” Since he had no idea what Ye Shuang had said earlier, when An Zixuan came back from his reverie, only the last sentence out of Ye Shuang’s lips had registered in his mind. “Wonderful, in that case, we will be going there now.”


  Wait, where are we going‽ An Zixuan started to panic. Is it too late to ask him to do a U-turn‽ So be it, I’m sure Ye Shuang will not bring me to any place bad!

  The journey was spent in anticipation and trying to figure out what Ye Shuang had said. This caused An Zixuan to not notice that Ye Shuang’s car was heading to San Lin City’s highway, which had been abandoned two years ago.