With the brilliant guess from Lawyer Lin, none of them were surprised or shocked when Han Chu mentioned that the case might be cancelled. In fact, they were more curious about the reason why. Han Chu glanced at Ye Shuang, and the latter explained what she had discovered. "Actually it was something I discovered when I got off work today… In the ten minutes to half an hour after I left, did Sister An's brother pay her a visit? Did they then have everyone leave because they had something important to discuss?"
After Ye Shuang left, there was only Miss Chef who had remained at An Zining's home. At this part, she quickly raised her hand to say, "Sister An's little brother did arrive. After I prepared the afternoon snacks, Sister An told me to go home and not to return to prepare dinner."
That confirmed what Ye Shuang suspected. She already had seventy percent confidence through the voice recognition, but a hundred percent confidence was better. With that confirmation, Ye Shuang continued. "Was he wearing a white shirt with a faded yellow cashmere sweater and a Rolex watch on his right wrist?"
"Yes!" Miss Chef nodded.
Ye Shuang explained with a smile, "I overheard Sister An's brother on the phone when I left; he mentioned something like a passport, leaving the country in one week, and having the baby overseas. Before this, Sister An had approached me asking me to accompany her to go overseas, so I am guessing that the pair of siblings are planning to escape the country next week without telling anyone."
Now they understood why the case would be cancelled so suddenly; it was because the client had a private reason that meant she needed to escape the country silently. Brother Wong and the rest looked at each other, while Lawyer Lin said softly, "That is in violation of our contract."
Han Chu looked at him silently.
"…But our contract itself won't hold up in court," Lawyer Lin added after a moment's silence. He shrugged and said, "Ignore what I said earlier then—we'll need a professional to handle this."
The professional in question naturally referred to Han Chu, but since Ye Shuang was advancing down the path of an agent, the problems within San Lin City fell onto her lap. Han Chu provided assistance through the process and gave pointers and aid whenever necessary. He wanted to see whether this agent could successfully navigate such a complicated case. The results did not have to be perfect, but there could not be follow-up inconvenience, and she had to be able to at least minimize the damage.
"In other words, we have about one week. The key goal should be to discover An Zininig's exact escape time and flight number. It would be best if we can locate necessary evidence, like passport or flight pass—even a recording might work. Then, we will use those things to feel out Sister An's thoughts." Ye Shuang tried her best to incorporate every aspect in her solution. After all, she was being left alone with Han Chu pretending to be deaf. It was obvious that the man had handed this chore over to her. Since he did not provide her with any guidance, she could only try the best she could.
Lawyer Lin approved of Ye Shuang's idea of collecting evidence, so he asked, "What kind of thoughts should we be on the lookout for?"
Ye Shuang laughed drily and said, "We should find out whether she intends to resolve the contract with us before leaving or give an explanation that says her disappearance has nothing to do with us to her family."
The less trouble they had, the better. Otherwise, when the case erupted, they would be forced to clean up the mess and be burned by the An family for their inability to stop An Zining from leaving. However, if they did force An Zining to stay, An Zining would hate them forever. Ye Shuang sighed. "…If Sister An has not considered us in her plans, we will need to save ourselves and bring the evidence of her plan to escape the country to the two An family elders."
Perhaps they might even be glad that we turned to them first‽
Yao Zhixing chomped on the apple and nodded. "That should work! Just do it like that."
The room turned to look at him in unison. What does this have to do with you‽
Han Chu harrumphed coldly as he ignored Yao Zhixing and posed Ye Shuang a question. "Have you considered An Zining's reaction? If she vents her anger on all of you and purposely creates problems for you in the future, what are you doing to do about it?"
"This… taking care of everyone's emotions is practically impossible in this case," Ye Shuang said worriedly.
"Indeed, it is impossible, but at least you shouldn't give them a reason to create trouble for you." Han Chu smiled and said, "For example, before you approach the two An elders with the evidence, you could talk it out with An Zining first. An Zining will be on the losing side in the negotiation, and you might even get her to pretend to chase all of you out of her house, thus removing you all from future responsibility. Instead of having both parties lose, I'd prefer if we can lay everything out on the table and figure out a compromise that can benefit all parties…"
After reviewing Ye Shuang's solution, Han Chu was finally willing to share his experience. From how he saw it, Ye Shuang's solution was not perfect. In fact, it would have created plenty of follow-up problems, but it was not completely unusable either. There were certain loopholes due to inexperience, but she did bring up some details that he had never considered before.
For example, if Han Chu had handled this, he would have skipped the step of collecting evidence and cut directly to the negotiation. If the other party refused to negotiate, an all-out war would have broken out. In that situation, An Zining would have refused to admit her fault due to lack of evidence, so he would then have needed to pay the An family elders a visit.
With the extra step of collecting evidence, they would be in a better position during the negotiation. The evidence did not need to be definitive; after all, they were not going to take this to court. As long as it was powerful enough to make the other party compromise, it would be good enough.
Han Chu hoped for a compromise on both sides, but it was not uncommon to run into those who refused to budge from their position. To try their best to avoid future complications was already the best they could do in that case.
Miss Chef wandered into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Even though the talent and the headhunter shared a leveled relationship, the constant interaction was a type of emotional investment. Regardless, making dinner was no biggie for Miss Chef who loved to cook.
The others stayed in the living room to discuss the details and assign each other missions as well as to discuss how they should collect evidence without breaking the law. For example, stealing the passport was definitely out of question but taking a picture of it was not.
Han Chu almost mentioned that Ye Shuang would be taking over the agent responsibility at San Lin City. When their discussion reached its end, Miss Chef was ready with the steamboat dinner.
Yao Zhixing was hungry again; the small bowl of noodles had long been digested, and Ye Shuang had a fast metabolism, so the two of them took their seats at the table naturally. It caused Han Chu to look at them darkly; these two were obviously there to clean out his food storage. And now that Yao Zhixing had truly taken Ye Shuang as his friend, they were practically two peas in a pod.
As they expected, the following days, they were all given holiday. An Zining was probably planning to leave with her brother, so the less they were around her, the better. In other words, Ye Shuang's group was on paid holiday. However, this also meant that they had no valid reason to approach An Zining to collect evidence.
The only individuals who had that chance were Miss Chef and Lawyer Lin, but Miss Chef would only be asked to prepare breakfast, and Lawyer Lin would be asked respectfully to leave after half an hour.
Just as Ye Shuang was considering whether to trespass, she received some good news from Fang Mo. The new apartment had been fully furnished. All the electrical appliances were ready, and even everyday items like pots, pans, toothbrushes, and the like had been prepared, so Ye Shuang could move in instantly. Of course, all the payment was shouldered by Chen He.
Since she was free and was in her female form, Ye Shuang invited Fang Mo to visit the new home with her. 120 square feet with two bedrooms and two living rooms. The main bedroom was large, and the kitchen was open plan. The dining room that it was connected to appeared larger than it was. The main bedroom and living room extended to the balcony, which could be used to enjoy the view, dry the laundry, and even host a small barbeque party.
"It was a coincidence that the former owner had quite a good taste. Other than scratches, it was mostly unharmed, but I still ordered more of the same wallpaper for you. There was no need to repaint the walls, so that saved plenty of time that would have been needed to air the place." Fang Mo smiled. "Of course, most of the interior design was handled by the furniture company that we cooperated with, so I didn't actually do anything."
"Don't say that, Brother Fang. Taking money from Chen He was the most important task; you had to prevent him from wiggling out from this promise, and I believe it wouldn't have been that easy to even see the man." Ye Shuang was satisfied and thankful of Fang Mo's help. Even if the man really did not do anything, the fact that he was willing to stand out to support her was good enough. Otherwise, she did not think that Chen He would have paid so easily. "Since the stove and cooking supplies are all ready, how about I call a few friends over and have a barbeque party tonight?"
Fang Mo looked the time. "It's probably too late to call people out. Furthermore, I think it's better you have your family over first before you invite your friends… How about we schedule it for Sunday instead?"
Ye Shuang made a mental calculation. This Saturday would be her third day as a man, and Sister Shuang would return on Sunday. So, moving it to Sunday would not be a problem. "Okay!"
Fang Mo left after a brief tour of Ye Shuang's new home. "Then I shall return on Sunday… If you're free, please invite Mr. Ye as well—I have something to discuss with him with regards to the follow-up after the advertisement is released."