She was married, married to Yao Chen. "From now on," he told her, "What's mine is yours."

It was quite "look out at the country I've built for you¹An arrogant phrase that for instance an emperor might say to a favoured concubine". But in actual fact, although Han Yanyan could certainly use her card to casually buy anything she wanted, use the cash in the safe at will, and buy as much expensive jewelry as she liked, Yao Chen had never let her manage any true assets.

The money she spent was his, the things she used were his, the food she ate was his. All she could do was curl up in the palm of his hand, completely dependent on him.

The man was too used to controlling and handling everything, even his wife. Even if he truly liked her so much he couldn't leave her, he couldn't change the habit of controlling her life.

It was a good thing. If he believed her to be completely under his control, then he would trust her completely.

She had been acting this long just for this.

It seemed that the life of a grad student was not much different than that of an undergrad. Compared to her busy classmates, Han Yanyan was very idle. After all, what they wanted out of life was very different.

"I have free time now," she told Yao Chen, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Yao Chen had mentioned before that she should work for him. At that time, she was studying for the postgraduate entrance examination, so she had put it off, so her bringing it up now was quite reasonable. Without even considering it, Yao Chen immediately replied, "Sure, just follow after me," and made her his secretary.

In reality he was just placing her by his side to reassure himself and because she was easy on the eye. In addition, bringing her along would give her face.

Han Yanyan didn't work regular office hours, but instead arranged two or three days a week to show up at the company. But even though she wasn't working full-time, Yao Chen soon discovered that she was an extremely worry-free subordinate. Anything he could think of, she could too, and sometimes even the things he couldn't think of.

She seemed to be a natural worker. Yao Chen felt like he had found a treasure.

Six months later, he gave her the title of "financial manager". Men worked and women managed money - it was a common pattern among many couples with family businesses. Now that she was allowed to touch his financial affairs, Han Yanyan started being able to vaguely piece together his thoughts and intentions. However, she didn't have much power at the moment, and she was still insulated from his actual business.

She was in no hurry. Calm and composed, she went to school, and got things done, step by step.

She still didn't have her own social life. Her friends were all his friends, and the people she dealt with were all the people he dealt with.

It had been this way since the beginning, and Yao Chen was used to it. He developed the strong notion that she "belonged to him", that she was his "vassal", and therefore, that she was reliable and credible. It was his comfort zone in their relationship, and now that he had entered this comfort zone, he was reluctant to emerge.

Han Yanyan often wore headphones to school. It had become her habit to half pay attention to her studies and half listen in.

She overheard Yao Chen arranging for the purchase of a stock and gave Jiang Ye a call.

The first two co-operations had built trust between the two. Jiang Ye didn't ask who she was, but only told her, "Make sure to be careful yourself."

The information she revealed was too detailed and accurate, meaning that she must be someone very close to Yao Chen. Such a betrayal, once discovered, was likely to end up in eternal rest at the bottom of Qingshui Bay.

His concern awoke her memory of "Policewoman Han Yanyan".

Though she had only been a policewoman for less than ten minutes, she had received all the memories and skills of Policewoman Han Yanyan.

In her memory, Policewoman Han Yanyan and Jiang Ye were half-out loud, half-secretly in love with each other. They had gone out on dates twice in the guise of working meals, but had never made their relationship official. She also remembered a great many colleagues at the police station, fighting crime together until the end, sometimes in the bloody face of life and death.

Among them was Xiao Yang, that young and hot-headed boy. At that time, "Policewoman Han Yanyan" had argued with Jiang Ye about it, feeling that he was unsuitable to going undercover. But Jiang Ye needed a new face, so he had been sent.

The young seek the excitement and thrill of danger. Going undercover was very attractive to Xiao Yang, who had just graduated from the police academy. When he accepted the assignment, his eyes had shone.

"Elder sister Yanyan, don't you worry! I'm sure I can do it!" he had promised her.

It had been Policewoman Han Yanyan who had selected him from a number of excellent graduates to join the force. The two of them were close.

Han Yanyan should have hung up then, but she couldn't help herself. "If you can, transfer Yang Jun back out. He's too young, he might impulsively do something risky."

Jiang Ye's voice changed. "How do you know Yang Jun?"

Han Yanyan was silent a moment, then hung up the phone. I should have minded my own business, she thought.

When the world was over, everything went up in smoke. Why care?

But the reason why humans were human was that they had emotions and desires, tied together in countless ways to the others living together in the same world. Though in this world Han Yanyan kept her mind clear and her emotions restrained, she wasn't a god.

Thanks to her accurate information, Yao Chen's deal was ruined and he lost both goods and men. Unfortunately, he was longer present in person for these sorts of transactions, and had in place a second insurance policy who would be silenced in case of an accident. But it was still a great victory for the police.

The happier the police were, the less happy Yao Chen was. He had realized that he had a mole, and with his temper, there was no way he would tolerate it.

As Han Yanyan watched TV series subtitles one night, half-listening in to the bug on her headphones, something unexpected happened. 

frostcrystal

By the way, if you're looking for an excellent series that's somewhat similar in tone to this one, may I recommend to you The Little Prince in the Ossuary? Highlights include very immersive worldbuilding, excellent character development, a truly godly translation team, sprinklings of humour, and zombies. Oh, and no harem! 10/10.