ACMS 15

Chapter 15: Mr. Shen’s Request

How big of a mess can an office worker make?

Judy’s answer is: accidentally sending gossip about her boss to the boss himself.

The moment she recalled the message, she mentally drafted her resignation letter, sweating bullets as she prayed Shen Hechuan hadn’t seen the two messages she’d just sent.

Shen Hechuan did see the messages, but he didn’t pursue Judy for her slip-up.

Because, those two messages gave him an idea on how to handle his family’s marriage pressure.

Although he and Qiao Le weren’t in a romantic relationship, he could still strike a deal with him.

He remembered that the first time they met, Qiao Le was helping someone sabotage a blind date. Since Qiao Le could take on other people’s “orders,” surely he could take on his as well.

Qiao Le had also mentioned that he was always willing to help whenever Shen Hechuan needed him.

And right now, he really needed Qiao Le’s help.

Once he made up his mind, he sent Judy a message and then opened Qiao Le’s reply.

[Qiao Lelelele: The food at your company’s restaurant looks really delicious.]

Shen Hechuan smiled silently and replied: It’s alright.

Meanwhile, Judy was in full panic mode when she saw Shen Hechuan’s message. She thought she was about to be fired.

But then she read the content… Oh, it was just a reminder for her to prepare gifts for the kids in the afternoon.

Hadn’t he seen her earlier messages?

Judy felt like she had narrowly escaped death and immediately replied to confirm. She didn’t even take a nap, rushing off to get things ready, planning to send it to Shen Hechuan for review once it was done.

[Shen: Good, thanks for your hard work.]

Judy: Self-rescue success.

In the evening, Shen Hechuan returned to the old house.

The three “idle people” at home had been waiting for him, and their setup was more intense than last time’s family interrogation.

Yesterday, as soon as Wu Huilan left the complex, she’d told Shen Zhenghe and his grandfather about the “clues” she had found at Shen Hechuan’s house. She was certain her son was seeing a young man.

It was even possible that they weren’t dating, but involved in some illicit deal. After all, why else would Shen Hechuan refuse to admit anything? Same-sex marriage was legal now, and they weren’t old-fashioned parents who couldn’t adapt.

Last time, Cheng Jiarong had remarked that the guy looked too young. Could he be underage?

Was it because things were “criminal” that Shen Hechuan didn’t want the family to know?

The more Wu Huilan thought about it, the more convinced she was that she couldn’t let Shen Hechuan get away with it. Whether the “partner” was male or female, she at least had to meet them and understand the situation before deciding what to do.

Tonight’s family meeting was about Shen Hechuan’s “relationship issues.” As soon as he sat down, the three of them surrounded him and began speaking non-stop, unanimously demanding that he bring his partner home for a visit, regardless of whether it was a man or a woman.

Shen Hechuan said nothing throughout, calmly sipping his tea, clearly not listening to them. Just as they thought they were about to waste another evening, Shen Hechuan suddenly said: “I’ll ask him.”

Wu Huilan: “Huh?”

Shen Zhenghe: “Huh?”

Grandpa: “Huh?”

The three of them exchanged a glance and asked in unison: “What did you say?”

Shen Hechuan placed his teacup down: “I said I’ll ask him, if he’s willing.”

Wu Huilan: “!!”

Shen Zhenghe: “!!”

Grandpa: “!!”

Wu Huilan, though sure her son had a partner, wasn’t entirely confident he’d actually agree to bring the person home. She had prepared herself for a long, drawn-out battle.

But suddenly, he agreed?

“Are you serious?” She looked at Shen Hechuan in disbelief. “You’re not just messing with us, are you?”

“Mm.” Shen Hechuan said, “I’m serious.”

“When?” Wu Huilan seized the opportunity. “How about tomorrow? It’s the weekend, and you can bring them over for a meal. What does they like to eat? I’ll have it prepared.”

“We can eat out,” Grandpa chimed in. “Pick any hotel with good food.”

Shen Hechuan didn’t immediately agree: “I’ll discuss it with him. He’s quite busy with work.”

Since Shen Hechuan had known Qiao Le, Qiao Le had been constantly working multiple jobs, busier than even him.

As for what Qiao Le liked to eat, he only knew about the pizza. Beyond that, he had no clue.

Wu Huilan was afraid he might change his mind again: “Alright, you’d better ask them quickly, so we can prepare in advance.”

“Your mom’s right, we always need to get ready,” Shen Zhenghe said, “Are they coming alone, or will they bring their parents too? You should check so we can arrange everything in advance.”

Shen Hechuan: “…”

He’d only agreed to bring the person over to meet them, but now even the parents were involved.

However, Shen Hechuan tactfully didn’t say much on this topic. After all, one person couldn’t win against three mouths, especially when those mouths belonged to elders who spent their days pestering him about marriage.

Sometimes he couldn’t help but think, the old man and his parents could form a group and go on tour, calling themselves the “National First-Grade Marriage Pressure Team”—one leader, two vice-leaders.

After leaving the old man’s study, Shen Hechuan returned to his room.

He lived alone on the third floor, and in the quiet of his own space, it was much more peaceful. He went to the bathroom to grab some clothes.

After showering, Shen Hechuan pulled out the note Qiao Le had left him earlier.

It had Qiao Le’s contact information and his account on the “Let Me Do It” app.

Sitting down on the couch with the note in hand, Shen Hechuan briefly explored the platform “Let Me Do It.” He then downloaded the app and registered an account.

The purpose of the platform was to provide convenience, and the operation was simple. Shen Hechuan searched for Qiao Le’s account by his ID.

Seeing Qiao Le’s account name, he couldn’t help but smile.

[ID: No Money in My Five Elements]

[Self-Introduction: Click to place an order, sincerely at your service.]

Shen Hechuan glanced at his profile and found that Qiao Le offered a wide range of services—errands, dog walking, house cleaning, substitute work, and more. These trivial tasks were priced directly, and for the more difficult ones, clients could negotiate the price in private messages.

Thinking for a moment, he opened the private message and sent a message to Qiao Le.

___

After having pizza with Qiao Man, Qiao Le took him to watch a movie. It wasn’t until he got a call from Fang Jiaxu that he headed over to Might Bar.

Once there, he found that the bar’s owner was also present, besides Fang Jiaxu.

After Fang Jiaxu contacted the owner that morning, the owner had arranged for someone to check the bar’s surveillance footage.

With the clues provided by Qiao Le about the time and area, they quickly pinpointed a suspicious individual. It turned out the person was a member of their bar and had registered membership information, but the process of getting in touch had taken a while, so it was only now that they reached out to Qiao Le.

With both the surveillance footage and witness testimony, there was no denying it. However, what was unexpected was that this issue was related to one of their bar employees.

This employee, jealous of Qiao Le, felt that Qiao Le had overshadowed him and had colluded with a customer to teach Qiao Le a lesson.

“What do you want to do about this?” the owner asked.

“What to do?” Fang Jiaxu crossed his arms. “Of course, we’re calling the police! People like this won’t learn unless they face some consequences.”

Qiao Le nodded: “Let’s call the police.”

The owner instructed someone to hand over the evidence to the police, and Qiao Le cooperated with the statement process. After everything was handled, he took Qiao Man back home.

After spending most of the day outside, Qiao Man was already extremely tired, his head nodding off while taking a bath.

Once they were done, Qiao Le tucked his brother into bed, then quietly sat down on the bed, cross-legged, to go over the accounts.

He tallied this month’s rent, utilities, Qiao Man’s tuition, and the money he owed his relatives. He also checked how much he had left.

He’d earned quite a bit working at the bar these days, so he could pay back a little more to his relatives.

Flipping to the page of debts, he marked the next person he needed to pay.

As he was writing, a small hand reached over to tug at his nightgown.

Qiao Man, who should have been asleep, whispered to him: “Big Brother.”

“Mm?” Qiao Le turned his head to look at him. “Did I wake you?”

Qiao Man shook his head, snuggling closer to him, and asked, “Brother, is it very hard to raise me?”

Hmm?

Qiao Le put down his pen, closed the book, and looked at his brother. “Why do you ask that suddenly?”

Qiao Man replied, “Because you’re so busy, so busy, so busy!”

He used three “so busy” to emphasize just how busy he thought Qiao Le was.

Qiao Le laughed, pinching his chubby cheek: “Because Brother needs to make money.”

“Is it to raise me? Did we spend a lot of money today?” Qiao Man frowned, looking worried.

“We didn’t spend too much. Gege earned quite a bit these days. Next time, I’ll take you to eat pizza again.”

Qiao Le didn’t want his younger brother to worry about these things at such a young age. He spoke seriously: “Also, Brother works not just to raise Xiao Man, but also to support himself. You’re not the reason Brother is tired; you’re one of the reasons Brother works hard. Do you understand?”

Qiao Man seemed to understand but not fully: “So when is Brother going to school? Miao Miao said his big brother is going to university.”

Miao Miao was a classmate of Qiao Man in kindergarten.

Without hesitation, Qiao Le replied: “When Brother isn’t so busy, I’ll go.”

He had applied for a leave of absence, not to drop out, because he wanted to go back to school once he’d finished cleaning up the mess left by his father.

This past year had been tough, but he had met many people willing to help him, and his work and life had gradually become more stable.

He believed things would continue to improve, and once things were resolved, he’d go back to school.

Qiao Le thought to himself that he had to slowly get his life back on track.

“Can I go with you?” Qiao Man asked expectantly. He didn’t understand what university was, but he just wanted to be with his brother and didn’t want to be apart from him.

“Of course, when you grow up, you can come with me.” Qiao Le tucked him in, “It’s late, go to sleep now.”

He put the ledger back in the drawer and reached for his phone to check the time. As soon as he opened it, he saw a new message.

[You’ve received a private message from the “Let Me Do It” app.]

An order?

Qiao Le clicked on the message.

The message was from a user named “S,” saying their family was pressuring them about marriage and needed help.

Marriage pressure?

Qiao Le paused, recalling Mr. Huo’s previous order, thinking maybe it was another case of sabotaging a blind date.

Thinking about the 20,000 yuan Mr. Huo had paid last time, Qiao Le instantly felt wide awake.

He had just been thinking about debts, and here was an opportunity to make money!

Turning off the light, Qiao Le began replying to the client.

[No Money in My Five Elements: Hello, how can I help you?]

[S: Let’s meet and discuss. Are you free tomorrow morning?]

He did have time, but the price needed to be discussed first.

[No Money in My Five Elements: I have time, but this type of commission is more expensive. It’s not the same as the small tasks on my profile.]

Seeing that the person was a new user, Qiao Le wanted to make sure they understood the pricing.

[S: Money is not an issue, as long as the problem is solved.]

Another big spender?!

Qiao Le loved hearing “money is not an issue.” He cautiously sent the next message.

[No Money in My Five Elements: Starting at 10,000 yuan, depending on the difficulty, the price may increase.]

[S: That’s fine.]

Qiao Le: !!!

A big spender… no, a god of wealth!!

Qiao Le’s typing speed picked up.

[No Money in My Five Elements: You choose the time and place, I’m available anytime.]

[S: Tomorrow at 11 AM, at the Cuiran, Building A, Seer Café, Table 9 in Area A.]

Qiao Le: “…”

Is this a designated location for blind dates?

Why does everyone requesting marriage pressure orders want to go there?