This plainclothes was undeniably a newbie. That was the conclusion that Ye Shuang came to when she was three meters away and before she started a conversation. When Ye Shuang walked toward the man, he instantly tensed and made the many furtive glances that he thought Ye Shuang did not notice.
To make things worse, he seemed to realize how strange he was acting, so… when other people were quietly sneaking a glance at the handsome Brother Shuang, the young man purposely pulled his eyes away.
He was too new at this job.
When Brother Shuang stopped before the man, she could not help but sigh before even saying anything. She could not imagine how they trained their new recruits. Of course, this was not the man’s fault. After all, not everyone was born to do this kind of work. But if he did not know how to act, why did he come for an undercover case? And it was a big case—did they treat terrorists so lightly nowadays?
Who said that there would not be any other danger after the prop manager was captured? Such an innocent child had to be given more classes before he was let out into the field. What if he was ‘lucky’ enough to run into a big fish that other people did not spot, then he would not even know how he died.
“Mr. Plainclothes?” Ye Shuang felt conflicted for a while before opening her lips. Even though it was a question, there was affirmation in the tone.
The plainclothes was a bright young man, and he had not learned how to conceal his expression. When he heard Brother Shuang, the man’s eyes widened from shock, and then he tried to act dumb to salvage the situation. “What are you talking about? I am the new floor manager.”
Ye Shuang felt like the reaction was an insult to her intelligence. “Doesn’t a floor manager need to work? Earlier, even the director went to fix the light, so it seems like you’re more important than the director.”
The plainclothes finally understood why he was being observed, and he grumbled with some disappointment and anger, “How could the crew tell people about my existence? That is against the rule.”
Ye Shuang sighed again and pulled over a chair to sit. She shook her head. “You admitted it so easily. Shouldn’t you at least try to argue your way out of it?”
The young man was silent before finally hanging his head in sadness, “Can you keep the secret to yourself?”
For his identity to be exposed and to have his weaknesses pointed out so easily… it put a damper on the young man’s mood.
Brother Shuang smiled and used a long leg to pull over another chair. She placed it beside her own and patted it. “Come, have a seat. What exactly is the mission that you’ve been given?”
“I’m sorry, but that is confidential information. I will never tell you.” The young man sat down.
“Oh, then we’ll talk about something else. After all, I’m just visiting, and I’m bored.”
Then, less than half an hour later, the youth told her everything.
“So, you’re right, he’s here because of connections.” After Brother Shuang got to know everything possible, she returned to Luo Mingxin, who had just finished another scene and was memorizing the lines for the next scene. With the man asking, Ye Shuang was silent for a while and picked parts that she could reveal to share with the man. “The kid comes from a powerful family, and his family has been serving the military since his grandparent’s generation. The children of the family either have direct connections or marry someone with connections to the system, so once the man got into university, he has made Special Ops his career target…”
The higher ups would leave some quota to look after their own, like those with family members who had contributed to the country or those who were family of the soldiers who sacrificed themselves for the country. For example, most people like this youth were there to have a beautiful record on their resume before changing lane to something less dangerous or going into politics.
However, these kinds of people who were not trained from the ground up had many weaknesses. To put it simply, they were only good in theory, and their argumentative power was better than actual operative power. Once they ran into an actual mission, there was a high chance that they would fail. In a way, they were no different from specially cultivated mascots—they looked nice, but putting them in actual mission would lead to many problems.
“The silly child doesn’t even know that many things. Perhaps his boss didn’t even expect him to come up with any actual result, and he’s just here to show himself.” Ye Shuang flipped through the script that Luo Mingxin had placed next to him casually. “He’s going to stay with the crew for a month, and the order that he was given is to ‘pay attention to the situation and make a report’. Of course, if there was no special situation, there would be no need for a report. In one month, he will be transferred away, and when the case is wrapped up, his name will show up in the report as well.”
“Just standing around watching celebrities make a move counts as a contribution?” Luo Mingxin sighed before saying seriously, “Xiao Ye, our crew’s film is temporarily confidential, and you cannot just look through my script like that.”
Then, he lowered his voice, turned around, and tossed two looks at Ye Shuang at the angle where the directors could not see. “The director has been glancing this way many times already. This is their company’s biggest film this year, so please don’t make this difficult for me.”
Ye Shuang shrugged and put the script down. “The films these days have gotten more and more boring. Hiring a beautiful foreigner to play the main character, making the set bigger, and all that just to tell the story of revenge, a plot so simple that it would bore a five-year-old?”
“That is how commercial films are. Have you seen the three kingdoms adaptation they did last year? Other than the names and historical background, it was practically the setting of a modern-day drama.” Luo Mingxin sighed when Ye Shuang put the script down, and he continued to mock. “In any case, that is what the audience likes. As long as the promotion is well done, as much as the audience like to critique it, they will still purchase the ticket to see it.”
Ye Shuang laughed. “So, the audience consists of little vixens whose bodies are more honest than their lips?”
Luo Mingxin almost choked. How come this man always used such interesting analogies?
The two soon changed the topic away from the plainclothes to the criticism on modern cinema. Even though Luo Mingxin was interested in the dangerous thing, he had no interest in the plainclothes, whose character he could discern with one glance. Therefore, after the man came to the crew, Luo Mingxin quickly discovered that the film crew’s relationship to the case was mostly over, and he instantly lost his interest to investigate further.
Ye Shuang’s situation was different from Luo Mingxin’s because she had the support from other information, so she had a certain idea of what was going on behind the scenes. When she was conversing with the plainclothes, she had furtively led the conversation that day. The innocent young man had revealed the information without even realizing it. Of course, this was not information that she could share with Luo Mingxin, so Ye Shuang had glossed over it…
In conclusion, after the conversation, Ye Shuang did find out a lot of confidential information. For example, the detained prop manager was a new agent assigned to the Asian countries by ‘an organization’, and the reason for his capture was not only because of his identity but also because he had smuggled in a bunch of military firearms.
A large part of the firearms had still not been found, and that was why the youth had been assigned to go undercover at the crew. However, those with a brain knew that such dangerous product would not be placed at a location like the film set, where many people walked around, so the real case progress was with the other officers.
It was clear what the ‘organization’ was, but at this point, there were two problems.
First was Madam Grace. From how the woman still had the time to hire a team to analyze Brother Shuang’s behavior, she did not seem like she knew about this, or at least, she did not appear nervous about it.
Then, if the premise that Madam Grace belonged to the organization still stood, it was worth pondering who the boss behind the captured prop manager was—was it someone who was against Madam Grace in the organization? Or had Madam Grace already been abandoned by the organization and used as a smokescreen?
The second issue was the purpose of the firearms. Financial crimes and terrorism were two different things, and the former kept a lower profile than the latter.
Under this condition, why would the organization smuggle firearms into China? Who was the target, and what was the goal?
With those questions, Ye Shuang planned to leave and have a good conversation with Han Chu. However, before that, she had to deal with the plainclothes first.
“Brother Ye, Brother Ye!”
Ye Shuang left before the shoot ended, but before she reached the parking lot, she was called from behind her. She turned and realized that it was time for the plainclothes to get off work as well. He was running toward Brother Shuang with a big smile. “Wait for me, are you free later? Do you want to go for dinner together?”
That was the problem after brushing up on the affection level, especially for someone like the plainclothes who psychologically was a very naïve young man. After accidentally turning his heart red, the man really treated Ye Shuang as a good friend, not considering at all that it was just to get close to him for information.
Other than his family history, the plainclothes was actually a very normal, out-going youth. Perhaps he was new to the career and had been sheltered, because even though he had heard about the darker side of his job from others, he had not personally come across them before. Therefore, he did not have any idea about it.
Ye Shuang stopped moving and did not know whether to laugh or cry seeing the youth jog toward her. As he put on his jacket, the plainclothes said like they were old friends, “I hear from others this is your first time in Feng Yuan City? I happen to know some good place for food. After all, we’re at a traditional city, and we have plenty of good food. I’ll introduce you to some of it.”
Ye Shuang sighed, and she tried to remind the man to be cautious of strangers, especially since he was in such a sensitive field. “Don’t you have other missions?”
“Nope.” The plainclothes did not pick up on Ye Shuang’s intention and answered, “All I have to do is report to work at the film set. This way, I even have fixed working hours, so everything is fine!”
This plainclothes was undeniably a newbie. That was the conclusion that Ye Shuang came to when she was three meters away and before she started a conversation. When Ye Shuang walked toward the man, he instantly tensed and made the many furtive glances that he thought Ye Shuang did not notice.
To make things worse, he seemed to realize how strange he was acting, so… when other people were quietly sneaking a glance at the handsome Brother Shuang, the young man purposely pulled his eyes away.
He was too new at this job.
When Brother Shuang stopped before the man, she could not help but sigh before even saying anything. She could not imagine how they trained their new recruits. Of course, this was not the man’s fault. After all, not everyone was born to do this kind of work. But if he did not know how to act, why did he come for an undercover case? And it was a big case—did they treat terrorists so lightly nowadays?
Who said that there would not be any other danger after the prop manager was captured? Such an innocent child had to be given more classes before he was let out into the field. What if he was ‘lucky’ enough to run into a big fish that other people did not spot, then he would not even know how he died.
“Mr. Plainclothes?” Ye Shuang felt conflicted for a while before opening her lips. Even though it was a question, there was affirmation in the tone.
The plainclothes was a bright young man, and he had not learned how to conceal his expression. When he heard Brother Shuang, the man’s eyes widened from shock, and then he tried to act dumb to salvage the situation. “What are you talking about? I am the new floor manager.”
Ye Shuang felt like the reaction was an insult to her intelligence. “Doesn’t a floor manager need to work? Earlier, even the director went to fix the light, so it seems like you’re more important than the director.”
The plainclothes finally understood why he was being observed, and he grumbled with some disappointment and anger, “How could the crew tell people about my existence? That is against the rule.”
Ye Shuang sighed again and pulled over a chair to sit. She shook her head. “You admitted it so easily. Shouldn’t you at least try to argue your way out of it?”
The young man was silent before finally hanging his head in sadness, “Can you keep the secret to yourself?”
For his identity to be exposed and to have his weaknesses pointed out so easily… it put a damper on the young man’s mood.
Brother Shuang smiled and used a long leg to pull over another chair. She placed it beside her own and patted it. “Come, have a seat. What exactly is the mission that you’ve been given?”
“I’m sorry, but that is confidential information. I will never tell you.” The young man sat down.
“Oh, then we’ll talk about something else. After all, I’m just visiting, and I’m bored.”
Then, less than half an hour later, the youth told her everything.
“So, you’re right, he’s here because of connections.” After Brother Shuang got to know everything possible, she returned to Luo Mingxin, who had just finished another scene and was memorizing the lines for the next scene. With the man asking, Ye Shuang was silent for a while and picked parts that she could reveal to share with the man. “The kid comes from a powerful family, and his family has been serving the military since his grandparent’s generation. The children of the family either have direct connections or marry someone with connections to the system, so once the man got into university, he has made Special Ops his career target…”
The higher ups would leave some quota to look after their own, like those with family members who had contributed to the country or those who were family of the soldiers who sacrificed themselves for the country. For example, most people like this youth were there to have a beautiful record on their resume before changing lane to something less dangerous or going into politics.
However, these kinds of people who were not trained from the ground up had many weaknesses. To put it simply, they were only good in theory, and their argumentative power was better than actual operative power. Once they ran into an actual mission, there was a high chance that they would fail. In a way, they were no different from specially cultivated mascots—they looked nice, but putting them in actual mission would lead to many problems.
“The silly child doesn’t even know that many things. Perhaps his boss didn’t even expect him to come up with any actual result, and he’s just here to show himself.” Ye Shuang flipped through the script that Luo Mingxin had placed next to him casually. “He’s going to stay with the crew for a month, and the order that he was given is to ‘pay attention to the situation and make a report’. Of course, if there was no special situation, there would be no need for a report. In one month, he will be transferred away, and when the case is wrapped up, his name will show up in the report as well.”
“Just standing around watching celebrities make a move counts as a contribution?” Luo Mingxin sighed before saying seriously, “Xiao Ye, our crew’s film is temporarily confidential, and you cannot just look through my script like that.”
Then, he lowered his voice, turned around, and tossed two looks at Ye Shuang at the angle where the directors could not see. “The director has been glancing this way many times already. This is their company’s biggest film this year, so please don’t make this difficult for me.”
Ye Shuang shrugged and put the script down. “The films these days have gotten more and more boring. Hiring a beautiful foreigner to play the main character, making the set bigger, and all that just to tell the story of revenge, a plot so simple that it would bore a five-year-old?”
“That is how commercial films are. Have you seen the three kingdoms adaptation they did last year? Other than the names and historical background, it was practically the setting of a modern-day drama.” Luo Mingxin sighed when Ye Shuang put the script down, and he continued to mock. “In any case, that is what the audience likes. As long as the promotion is well done, as much as the audience like to critique it, they will still purchase the ticket to see it.”
Ye Shuang laughed. “So, the audience consists of little vixens whose bodies are more honest than their lips?”
Luo Mingxin almost choked. How come this man always used such interesting analogies?
The two soon changed the topic away from the plainclothes to the criticism on modern cinema. Even though Luo Mingxin was interested in the dangerous thing, he had no interest in the plainclothes, whose character he could discern with one glance. Therefore, after the man came to the crew, Luo Mingxin quickly discovered that the film crew’s relationship to the case was mostly over, and he instantly lost his interest to investigate further.
Ye Shuang’s situation was different from Luo Mingxin’s because she had the support from other information, so she had a certain idea of what was going on behind the scenes. When she was conversing with the plainclothes, she had furtively led the conversation that day. The innocent young man had revealed the information without even realizing it. Of course, this was not information that she could share with Luo Mingxin, so Ye Shuang had glossed over it…
In conclusion, after the conversation, Ye Shuang did find out a lot of confidential information. For example, the detained prop manager was a new agent assigned to the Asian countries by ‘an organization’, and the reason for his capture was not only because of his identity but also because he had smuggled in a bunch of military firearms.
A large part of the firearms had still not been found, and that was why the youth had been assigned to go undercover at the crew. However, those with a brain knew that such dangerous product would not be placed at a location like the film set, where many people walked around, so the real case progress was with the other officers.
It was clear what the ‘organization’ was, but at this point, there were two problems.
First was Madam Grace. From how the woman still had the time to hire a team to analyze Brother Shuang’s behavior, she did not seem like she knew about this, or at least, she did not appear nervous about it.
Then, if the premise that Madam Grace belonged to the organization still stood, it was worth pondering who the boss behind the captured prop manager was—was it someone who was against Madam Grace in the organization? Or had Madam Grace already been abandoned by the organization and used as a smokescreen?
The second issue was the purpose of the firearms. Financial crimes and terrorism were two different things, and the former kept a lower profile than the latter.
Under this condition, why would the organization smuggle firearms into China? Who was the target, and what was the goal?
With those questions, Ye Shuang planned to leave and have a good conversation with Han Chu. However, before that, she had to deal with the plainclothes first.
“Brother Ye, Brother Ye!”
Ye Shuang left before the shoot ended, but before she reached the parking lot, she was called from behind her. She turned and realized that it was time for the plainclothes to get off work as well. He was running toward Brother Shuang with a big smile. “Wait for me, are you free later? Do you want to go for dinner together?”
That was the problem after brushing up on the affection level, especially for someone like the plainclothes who psychologically was a very naïve young man. After accidentally turning his heart red, the man really treated Ye Shuang as a good friend, not considering at all that it was just to get close to him for information.
Other than his family history, the plainclothes was actually a very normal, out-going youth. Perhaps he was new to the career and had been sheltered, because even though he had heard about the darker side of his job from others, he had not personally come across them before. Therefore, he did not have any idea about it.
Ye Shuang stopped moving and did not know whether to laugh or cry seeing the youth jog toward her. As he put on his jacket, the plainclothes said like they were old friends, “I hear from others this is your first time in Feng Yuan City? I happen to know some good place for food. After all, we’re at a traditional city, and we have plenty of good food. I’ll introduce you to some of it.”
Ye Shuang sighed, and she tried to remind the man to be cautious of strangers, especially since he was in such a sensitive field. “Don’t you have other missions?”
“Nope.” The plainclothes did not pick up on Ye Shuang’s intention and answered, “All I have to do is report to work at the film set. This way, I even have fixed working hours, so everything is fine!”
