RELEASE THAT MAN

 

Chapter 1:

Prologue.

The Ye family consisted of four people who couldn't be more common even if they tried.

The father of the house, Father Ye, we shall call him for now, was a university lecturer. He was that kind of teacher who didn't leave much of a trace in his students' lives, the type that wouldn't be mentioned during his students' reunions when they reminisced about their university years.

Mother Ye was a normal homemaker, a respectable woman who managed the family to the best of her ability using her husband's slightly above average monthly salary.

The son, Ye Feng, was a university student, average in both studies and looks.

The daughter, Ye Shuang, had only been in work for two short years. Other than her personality that one could criticized for being slightly boyish, there was nothing worth knowing about her.

The family had a peaceful life; the parents would argue like a normal husband and wife, but it never escalated beyond a few angry words. The son had been through his rebellious period like any other young man in his high school years and had survived it without much fuss. The daughter had a boyfriend without telling her family in her second year of university but that had ended as silently as it had begun before she graduated…

There were more examples of the Ye family's normalcy but saying more would just be a waste of word count, they were that mundane.

However, that one fateful day, an ear-splitting scream that shattered the peace of the Ye family marked the advent of a life-changing event…

The kind neighbors that bordered on nosy rushed over in less than a minute. They banged on the door, hoping to get some first-hand gossip.

"Ol' Ye, Teacher Ye! What happened? Do you need help…"

Three minutes later, Father Ye, with a frown on his face, finally opened the door. He walked out immediately and slammed the door behind him, blocking the peeking eyes of the neighbors. Eventually, he forced an awkward smile and said, "Nothing, nothing happened."

"Really, nothing happened‽" The neighbors pressed with concern, "Because Ol' Ye, you're not looking so well."

"… It's really nothing; my wife was spooked by the scary movie she was watching, that's all." Father Ye's eyes darted around from a guilty conscience. "I… I was caught off-guard by her scream, and that explains the lack of color in my face."

"…"

Is he for real? A scream like that in the middle of the day from a scary movie? Then again, this Mother Ye sure is young at heart to be enjoying scary movies like those young'uns even though she's already in her 50s.

The neighbors gradually quieted down. Even though they wished to get a concrete answer from Father Ye, more questions would be inappropriate.

"If… there's really nothing, then we'll go back for now." The neighbors slowly bade Father Ye farewell, since, apparently, there was nothing to be seen. A few of them even turned around with regret in their eyes as they walked away.

Father Ye smiled appreciatively at the neighbors' kindness. After the group had left, he stood at the door for another three minutes to make sure there were no other Peeping Toms before he dashed back into the house. He was so fast that it seemed like he had teleported. The Peeping Toms, if there were any, wouldn't have had the chance to see anything.

In the Ye family's living room, the little brother was sitting on the edge of the sofa in a daze while Mother Ye rushed forward to ask, "Ol' Ye, did anyone see anything‽"

"No, I don't think so…" Father Ye glanced at the grimacing, handsome young man lying on the sofa behind Mother Ye, and he said in a teary voice, "But our Shuang Shuang…"

"What happened to my sister… No, my brother‽" Little Brother Ye felt like fainting as his upper body collapsed gently onto the sofa. His eyes were glued to the unconscious man on the sofa. As if acting on their own volition, his hands flew to the man's chest. "What in the world is happening‽"

Mother Ye slapped his hands away angrily, and Little Brother Ye yelped in pain. Mother Ye glared at her son and berated him in spite of the pitiable pout on the young man's face. "How can a man grab at a woman's chest like that? That won't do even if that is your biological sister!"

Little Brother Ye almost cried in response. He pointed at the man lying on the sofa and demanded, "Are you sure that's my sister‽"

I mean, look at that face, that chest, and that thing around the crotch area! Even though my sister has spent most of the 24 years of her life acting like a man, she had all the physical attributes of a woman. A flat-chested woman is still a woman nonetheless. But now‽

No matter how Little Brother Ye looked at it, it was a real f*cking man lying on the sofa.

Her son's question diverted Mother Ye's attention back to the man on the sofa. Her face fell, and she felt like crying again. "My Shuang Shuang…"

Even though their family didn't hold the traditional view of valuing boys more… there was no mother in the world who could accept the daughter that she had raised over 24 years suddenly turning into a son!

"Stop crying!" Father Ye finally stepped up as the pillar of the house. He announced with authority, "We need to find out clearly what has happened first!"

He heard the scream coming out from the study. When he arrived, his daughter had morphed into a son, and beyond that, he knew practically nothing.

With tears in her eyes, Mother Ye shared a look with Little Brother Ye. Then, the two of them started to recreate the situation to the best of their memory.

It was the saddened Mother Ye who first provided her testimony. "I remember seeing Shuang Shuang walk out of her room, swaying with each step. It was probably then that…"

"That is because she was up all night playing online games again," Little Brother Ye interrupted to tell on his sister like all little brothers do in such an occasion.

"She was not sleeping to play games again‽" Father Ye slammed on the table and glared angrily. "Haven't I told her that girls shouldn't spend too much time playing game… Wait, now is not the time to talk about that! What happened next‽"

Little Brother Ye pouted because his attempt to cause his sister trouble had failed. Regardless, he continued, "Then, sis came out to pour herself a cup of water. Her hand accidentally brushed the jade kitten sculpture you brought home yesterday. It fell off the table and smashed into pieces. I saw her even try to hide the evidence, but she fainted after picking up the pieces…"

"That girl is going to ruin me! Did she know that the sculpture cost me three months' salary… But wait, where is the sculpture‽" Father Ye zeroed in on the key word. He grabbed his son in a hurry and demanded, "Where are the pieces‽"

"They should— should still be on the floor!" Little Brother Ye pointed in a general direction. Father Ye followed his finger and saw a few broken pieces of jade lying on the ground.

Naturally, since something so huge had happened to their daughter, Mother Ye hadn't even thought of cleaning the house yet, thus the evidence remained. 

Father Ye leaped toward it, and when he got close, he realized how different the jade pieces looked. When he had purchased the jade sculpture the previous day, the jade had been as clear as crystal, but now, the pieces were cloudy, like they were covered in a layer of dust. It looked like fake jade that came from the night market.

So… this is why.

Father Ye's expression was drawn as he turned with complicated emotions to look at his daughter… no, it should be his son now.

Father Ye might have known the reason, but what exactly had happened‽

Chapter 2:

Dramatic Change.

Their daughter had become a son. This dramatic change had truly challenged the Ye parents' acceptance. Even their son, Ye Feng, who was an avid reader of web novels, had a hard time figuring out exactly what had happened to his sis— well, brother.

The whole family had lost their appetite, thus they sat there, quietly waiting for the unconscious new son to wake up.

Ye Shuang, when he was a she, couldn't really be considered a beauty, at most, she was easy on the eyes. Therefore, with such a basic foundation, even when she transformed into a man, it was natural that his looks would only be slightly above average. This was observable from Little Brother Ye's physical features; the Ye family gene pool didn't have the potential to create miracles.

However, while Ye Shuang was unconscious, her… his body was changing with a speed that was observable to the naked eye. Even though they couldn't understand what was happening inside Ye Shuang's body, it appeared to the remaining Ye family members that Ye Shuang's physical body was changing, like each individual cell was coming alive. They were improving and rearranging into a new formula.

The weakened and old cells were removed, thus only the perfect cells remained. The body's potential that had gone silent after puberty had finished was reactivated. The links that were missing in the DNA chains reproduced themselves…

For a total of four hours, from morning to late afternoon, the Ye family sat quietly and watched the dramatic change that was happening to the son right before their eyes.

Ye Shuang had morphed into a completely different person… Of course, this referred to something beyond sex… His skin was glowing like a pearl, his bone structure was pulled taut, making the man's physical features look more exquisite, and his height that had stagnated at 160 cm continued to increase. The muscle that was exposed underneath the clothes seemed to be wiggle indiscernibly before they settled into brawny and smooth lines…

Little Brother Ye couldn't help but reach out to peel off his brother's clothes, and to his dismay, discovered that the person who had never exercised in her life now had a six-pack!

Even though it wasn't the overly muscular type, this kind of balanced and smooth lines was more in tune with the modern eye for beauty. No matter how they looked at it, this new son was indubitably a handsome man.

The crystal-clear skin, the chiseled facial features, the lashes long and curled, even the hair was lustrous and flowing… in any case, definitely not a typical Ye.

"Ol', Ol' Ye…" When the son on the sofa finally stopped grimacing and the transformation of the body had stopped, Mother Ye couldn't help but grab her husband's arm and ask with a shaking voice, "This, this is our child‽"

It was hard to tell whether the tremble in her voice was due to fear or excitement.

"…It has to be, right?" Even Father Ye was uncertain.

Of course, the child had to be theirs, but the situation was a bit… Maybe they should go for a DNA test for confirmation?

Just as Father Ye was considering their options, Ye Shuang finally awakened. After the eyelashes flicked open, a pair of eyes that were shimmering like black jewels stared at them. Mother Ye's heart couldn't help but shiver once more.

When the tired-looking son sat up from the sofa, the first impression that came into Mother Ye's mind was that they were dealing with a prince in distress…

"Mom, Dad." Ye Shuang held her head in her hands as if she could still feel the tearing sensation that permeated her body from when the cells in her body had been changing…

Father Ye was the first to recover; he rushed forward to ask concernedly, "You're awake‽ How are you…"

In her state of consciousness, a great amount of information had been forcibly fed into Ye Shuang's brain. She knew what had happened to her body, so she understood the worry in her father's voice and why he was so hesitant to finish the question.

Looking at her family's faces, which were full of concern, Ye Shuang's congested feeling from suddenly knowing so many things improved. She smiled bitterly before saying, "You want to ask me why this has happened, right‽"

"If I knew that breaking that jade kitten could make a person so handsome, I would have done it a long time ago!" It was to be expected of Little Brother Ye to make a joke out of the situation. "Sis, this is such a waste on you! If I change into the form you're in, would I even need to worry about a girlfriend in the future‽"

"Don't be stupid!" Ye Shuang shot him down like she usually would.

Mother Ye was brought out of her daze by the sudden scolding that had escaped from the handsome man's mouth. Then the thought This is still my daught… son! cropped up in her mind… No, wait, my daughter is definitely not my son, what in the world‽

Ye Shuang arranged her thoughts, and with a drawn face, started to explain, "To put it simply, that jade contains DNA."

Her family stared at her in complete confusion. Ye Shuang sighed and elaborated, "There are many planets in the cosmos, and the scientists have always believed there are other sentient lifeforms on these planets and that they might be more advanced than us… Understand?"

"Yes!" Little Brother Ye nodded continuously with his eyes glowing. "Sis, go on!"

"Okay, I'll try to make this as simple as possible. A long time ago, there was a civilization on Earth… By the way, archaeologists have found many signs of advanced civilizations underground before, you all know about this, right?

Ye Shuang who received a glare from Father Ye, rubbed her nose and returned to the main topic. "Okay, fine… I'll continue.

"During these prehistoric times, aliens once visited Earth, and the jade contains the DNA of one of those aliens," Ye Shuang explained patiently. "The DNA has the ability to optimize the mental and physical attributes of the recipient. At the same time, it was the ability to input residual memories that allow the recipient to absorb several decades of knowledge without the labor of studying…"

"Such a treasure!" Little Brother Ye, who had just flunked two subjects, slapped his thigh with the glow in his eyes intensifying.

"…But there is a fatal flaw." Ye Shuang cleverly chose to ignore her little brother. "This alien lifeform didn't have a determined sex before they reached adulthood, and their sex was formed through the first partner they chose to have sex with… In other words, after the transformation, although I'm no longer a female, I cannot be considered a male either."

Mother Ye and Father Ye were complete blank; even Little Brother Ye had a hard time following her explanation. After a long time, Father Ye finally opened his mouth to say, "What, what do you mean by that‽"

Had his daughter transformed into a hermaphrodite‽

Ye Shuang's facial expression twitched. "It means that before the fusion is completed, I will maintain this life of switching between sexes… Now I might look like a man, but I'll probably change back into the form of a woman in three days."

"…"

"If I wish to put an end to this kind of lifestyle, I need to exchange the sex chromosomes with a person from the opposite sex when I'm in the sexual form that I desire and use that to stabilize my future sex."

"…"

Since her parents still hadn't understood it, Ye Shuang had no choice but to make things very clear. "To put it simply, if I wish to become a woman, when I'm in the female form, I need to find a man to have…"

Mother Ye screamed in a panic to stop Ye Shuang, "Stop! How can a lady talk so openly about stuff like that‽"

Ye Shuang pouted like she was greatly hurt. It was not that she wished to lay it out so openly, it was because they couldn't understand her. How could that be her fault?

Little Brother Ye stopped being envious of Ye Shuang. The thought of being a woman for three days, and quite possibly more than that, chilled his heart to the core…

Father Ye tried his best to digest all the information for the sake of his daughter. He stood up on swaying feet and announced the end of the family meeting. "Give… us time to process all the information. We'll continue this talk tomorrow."

Mother Ye still had something to say out of concern, but Father Ye didn't give her the chance as he dragged her into their bedroom.

"Wait, we're not going to have dinner anymore‽" Ye Shuang looked at the door of her parent's bedroom, which had been slammed shut.

Neither of them had stayed to comfort her fragile spirit? Damn! Were those really her biological parent‽

"There're plenty of instant noodles in the cupboard!" Her little brother did stay but the first words out of his mouth were devoid of any warmth. They could even be described as heartless.

Ye Shuang rolled her eyes at him and looked at the sweat that covered her body. She stood up and defiantly chose to walk away. She definitely had nothing to say to that little trouble-maker!

"Sis… Brother! Where are you going‽" Little Brother Ye looked at the fleeing Ye Shuang dumbly.

Ye Shuang replied, without turning around, "To take a shower! And to use the toilet, my bladder is bursting already!"

"Okay, then… wait!"

Little Brother Ye was suddenly reminded of something. He called after his brother to stop him, but before the words left his mouth, Ye Shuang had already walked into the bathroom.

Ten seconds later, Ye Shuang came out of the bathroom with an awkward expression on his face and quietly settled back down on the sofa.

"Weren't you going to use the toilet‽" Little Brother Ye, who knew Ye Shuang was in a pickle, had to poke the bear.

"…" Ye Shuang hissed through gritted teeth, "I believe I can still hold it in."

 Little Brother Ye was also holding something in. He scratched his face and legs as he sat on the sofa before finally blurting out, "Sis, a man's prostate is very important; you're going to ruin it if you continue to hold it in."

"…"

F*ck!

Chapter 3