To Be Concluded

Click, click, click-click-click.

The sound of fingers tapping on a keyboard echoed. Ye Shuang glanced at his glowing low-profile keyboard, his fingers lingering on the spacebar for a long time.

Stretching slightly, Ye Shuang looked at the novel he was writing, his eyes shifting to the comment section.

[Is it ending soon?]

[Congratulations on the completion!]

[Why does it feel like the grand finale? I haven't read enough!]

Ye Shuang: "..."

"Ending, ending, why are these readers spreading rumors every day that I'm ending the book?" Ye Shuang couldn't help but complain, sounding like the chubby emperor from Empresses in the Palace.

He tapped in the comment section and finally wrote,

[It's too early to end. My dear readers, please send some free gifts.]

Then, Ye Shuang thought for a moment and silently typed a few more words,

[I'm so hungry, I can't afford to eat.]

Hmm...

Perfect.

After updating his novel, Ye Shuang got up to make himself a cup of coffee.

Today was the weekend, and the weather was starting to warm up. Tang Keke and Bai Yuyou were both curled up on the sofa watching a TV drama. Perhaps because they were too familiar with Ye Shuang, both of them were dressed very casually. Bai Yuyou's loose T-shirt slipped down casually, and she didn't even mind her shoulder being exposed.

She was hugging a small dolphin plushie that they had bought the last time they visited the mall.

Tang Keke was sitting cross-legged on the sofa in her shorts. The edge of a polka-dot cartoon pattern could even be seen in her absolute territory, but she just held her popcorn, talking and laughing, completely unbothered.

Ye Shuang suddenly felt that Keke was also a member of this family. However, this feeling was not bad. After all, Chen Qin was like this back then, and his parents had treated Chen Qin as half a daughter.

Anyway, he didn't mind Yuyou making more good friends.

"Brother, have you finished writing your novel?" Seeing Ye Shuang brewing coffee at the coffee machine, Tang Keke poked her head out curiously.

"Yeah, just about. I'm having a cup of coffee first."

"Making a cup of coffee is so troublesome. I saw online that there are coffee pills, you just need to take one," Tang Keke said after thinking for a moment.

Hearing this, Ye Shuang couldn't help but smile and said,

"Do you take me for a beast of burden? I don't mind taking the time to brew coffee, because it allows my brain to relax a bit... Taking a coffee pill directly makes me feel like an exhausted draft animal taking stimulants to keep working."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it's like eating. I enjoy the process. If I gave you a pill and said it contained enough nutrition for the day, would you take it?"

"Uh..." Tang Keke thought about it. Beside her, Bai Yuyou immediately spoke up,

"I want to eat food."

If you're not proactive about eating, there's something wrong with your mindset.

At this time, Ye Shuang also sat on the sofa. He planned to rest for a while and think about some things. Who knew that as soon as he sat down, Bai Yuyou stuffed the small dolphin plushie behind her and threw her entire self into his arms.

Feeling the soft girl in his arms, Ye Shuang said, "You're hugging me too tightly."

The next second, Bai Yuyou lay on Ye Shuang's lap with a blank expression.

"Can you watch TV lying sideways like this?"

"Yes."

Ye Shuang took a sip of his coffee. Looking at Bai Yuyou's long, fine hair, he couldn't help but recall his experience living in another timeline a while ago.

Thinking of the voice coming from that phone, Ye Shuang couldn't help but wonder what the probability was that the voice belonged to Bobo.

If Ye Shuang remembered correctly, Alice had once said that Bobo was already in the Zhou family when she was born.

In other words, Bobo was a member of the Zhou family?

Why would Bobo instruct Bai Laoqi to kidnap Yuyou? Or rather, was there someone else behind Bobo?

Ye Shuang pondered. He wasn't clear about the situation in the Zhou family. The only ones whose names he could call were probably Aunt Xian and Uncle Zhou.

Between these two, it was highly unlikely to be Aunt Xian. As for Uncle Zhou...

Why would he do such a thing?

Because Alice was about to be born, so he kidnapped Yuyou? And ultimately let Alice stay in the Zhou family?

It was unlikely. The existence of Alice and Bai Yuyou didn't actually conflict, and both were daughters, so there was no issue of dividing the family property. Not to mention, Uncle Zhou was in the prime of his life at the time, so he probably wouldn't have thought about that.

If Uncle Zhou wouldn't do this, then was there anyone else in the Zhou family?

Ye Shuang frowned. He only knew Aunt Xian and Uncle Zhou, and had absolutely no information about anyone else. He couldn't figure anything out just by guessing.

After all, in situations like this, it wouldn't be strange if Uncle Zhou had a brother, sister-in-law, or someone else who maliciously kidnapped Yuyou. Such things were common in the news.

Ye Shuang pondered for a moment and finally realized that the source of everything could only be traced back to Bobo.

Perhaps finding people associated with Bobo would also provide different clues.

"Yuyou, in the past, did you know someone named Bobo?" Ye Shuang suddenly spoke up, bringing up the matter of Bobo.

Bai Yuyou, resting on Ye Shuang's lap, tilted her head. "I don't remember."

Well, Yuyou was still young back then, and plus she was a bit absent-minded, so it wasn't surprising that she didn't remember.

Ye Shuang thought about it again.

Perhaps he could ask Aunt Xian? She had always stayed in the Zhou family in the past, so maybe she knew about Bobo's situation.

Thinking of this, Ye Shuang took out his phone and sent a message to Aunt Xian.

After first sending a polite greeting, the other party replied to the message a little while later.

Ye Shuang: Aunt Xian, I want to ask about the specific situation of Alice's bodyguard, Bobo. Do you know anything about him?

Aunt Xian: Shuang, why are you asking about this?

Ye Shuang: There are some things I want to understand. It might have something to do with Yuyou.

Aunt Xian: I'm not very clear about Bobo either. He seemed to have been a mercenary abroad in the past... Later, he was brought home by my man and stayed as a bodyguard in the Zhou family. After Alice came to the Zhou family, Bobo was assigned to take care of her.

Aunt Xian: What's wrong with my daughter? What happened?

Ye Shuang: Is there anyone in the Zhou family who has a close relationship with him?

Aunt Xian: Only Alice.

Ye Shuang: "..."

Unable to get any useful information, Ye Shuang sent her a few beautiful photos of Bai Yuyou and ended the conversation.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. It seemed he could only get the answers straight from Bobo's mouth.

After all, the other party didn't know that he already knew all of this.

But it was also possible that this whole thing was just a big misunderstanding.

Ye Shuang still needed more information.

Or maybe he should find a chance to ask Alice out?

Ye Shuang took out his phone, his eyes falling on Alice's profile picture. This was the contact he had added last time. Alice herself was the type who loved to post on her social media feed, though mostly they were selfies.

Ye Shuang clicked on her recent posts. Within the three-day visibility limit, there was a cute picture of Alice showing off her little canine teeth.

The caption read:

"Properly admire this lady's peerless beauty."

Sure enough, she was a vain little kid.

"Should I try asking her out?" Ye Shuang thought to himself.