In Search of Love

Su Xiao Pei thought Ran Fei Ze had a lot to say but he didn’t say anymore, he just laughed.

What was so funny?

Didn’t he say he had a lot of troubles? From what he said, the matter with Jianghu is not easy to solve. Two Sects are suspecting him for murder, isn’t he anxious?

“Soldier, are there any clues?”

Ran Fei Ze thought about it and it was just as he said but there was still one more thing.

“Does Miss know how an octagon looks like?”

“Yes.”

“There was an octagonal symbol at the place of the crime scene. Cutting through the symbol, a curve line was drawn across. I think it is similar to the Miss’s text.”

Su Xiao Pei dazed a little, she pulled Ran Fei Ze’s hand and made a stroke in his palm, “Was it this?”

“Yes.” Ran Fei Ze looked down and saw her small hands holding onto his large hands made him feel very comfortable. It would be best that they were not discussing about murders, but he knows that Su Xiao Pei is more interested in the mystery.

“S?” Su Xiao Pei had a terrible hunch in her mind. The English name of Cheng Jiang Yi was Steven. S, could it be referring to him? In her head, she quickly flashed through the documents and notes that she had of Cheng Jiang Yi. He signed many Chinese names, had a neat handwriting, does not have any cursive to them. But this S is too much of a coincidence.

“Miss?” Ran Fei Ze had to pinch her hand to get her attention.

“It’s nothing, but I have to think about it.” Su Xiao Pei pulled her hand back, shake her hand and she started to think about the S.

Ran Fei Ze suddenly felt left out. He can’t help but feel reluctant. After waiting for a while, Ran Fei Ze realized that Su Xiao Pei ignored him, he touched his nose and went out. He walked around the yard and checked the conditions of the rooms. There were beds and tables, all the basic living utilities were all in order. The water is at the corner of the courtyard, which was convenient, the kitchen and latrines were clean and tidy. Ran Fei Ze looked around and had a bad thought, ‘should I lie to her and said that the other rooms were locked and he had no room to sleep?’ Like in Stone Town, there were sleeping in the same room, they were able to talk in the middle of night, he would be close to her.

While he was thinking, he heard her calling for him. He returned to the room and saw her sitting on the chair with her legs cross, her arms over her chest and her head tilted to one side. ‘Hm, she looks really cute.’.

“Soldier, the friend who you were talking to, is he the owner of this house?”

“Yes.”

“Will he lend this house to us?”

“Will.”

“I wonder if he has a brush and paper for me to use?”

“This…” Ran Fei Ze did not expect the first thing for her to care about was a brush and paper. He just took a tour around the house and did not find any stationary set in the study. “Once he returns, I will ask him to get it.”

“Okay.” Su Xiao Pei was also polite about it.

So when Jianghu’s Number one Thief, Lou Li Dong came back with a bag of clothes, toiletries and a bag of food, he saw another ridiculous scenario.

“Brother Lou, I forgot to tell you earlier that I needed a brush and, ink and paper.”

Lou Li Dong’s face twitched, but there was a female voice that came from behind the door, “It’s fine.” She doesn’t know how to use a brush, her words would be too big.

Lou Li Dong’s face could not be more distorted, the male is already this demanding, and the female is the same as well? Who are this pair?

“Okay.” Lou Li Dong placed several bags together, “I will leave after eating.” Although he had has his subordinates to do these things, he was very tired when he used to do these errands too. They should entertained him during dinner as payment.

Ran Fei Ze touched the bags and threw the bag that contains the food to Lou Li Dong, “Well, trouble to Brother Lou to prepare dinner.”

“I…” Lou Li Dong was angry, Ran Fei Ze was too overboard. But Ran Fei Ze just smiled and said, “Thank you very much.” The he went into the room with the bags and get Su Xiao Pei to changed her clothes.

Lou Li Dong stood for a while holding onto the bag of food. If he had some courage, he would have left the bag there and walked away. But he was curious, he really wanted to see who was this unmarried lady who had made this uncouth Ran Fei Ze into such a love struck fool. How did she looked like? He had heard a lot of rumors and said that it was a strangely dressed aunt with short hair, but he had missed it every single time he was here. They was always separated through a door.

He thought of comparing the two but Lou Li Dong finally left with the bag of food, his curiosity had override his courage. He walked towards the kitchen to cook dinner. While Lou Li Dong was in the kitchen, he would looked towards Ran Fei Ze’s door. Lou Li Dong would see Ran Fei Ze standing outside the room, when someone called him, he would go in, then he would come out again, went in again, came out and went back in again.

Lou Li Dong scratched his chin, humed. He thought that Ran Fei Ze was so proud, but he had avoid the Miss. He even had to stand outside while the Miss is changing. It seems like Ran Fei Ze wasn’t together with the Miss. The thought of this cause Lou Li Dong to whistle louder. As soon as Ran Fei Ze looked at him, Lou Li Dong smiled back, throwing an ambiguous look at Ran Fei Ze. Ran Fei Ze saw this, threw a smiling look back at Lou Li Dong. Lou Li Dong could not laugh anymore, and was disgusted, immediately went back into the kitchen. This shameless person, he was not an opponent that Lou Li Dong could defeat.

The three of them were eating dinner on the stone table in the courtyard.

Su Xiao Pei was wearing a scholar clothes and a scholar hat. The hat was a bit too big for her and covered her short hair. Lou Li Dong secretly looked at her small face and features, it was indeed a lady. But her posture and looks, he could not imagine how she could look like if she had worn women’s clothing. This scholar clothing was quite suitable for her to wear.

“Sister….” Just as Lou Li Dong was about to tease Ran Fei Ze, he was stared now by the same man. Lou Li Dong immediately changed his words, “Miss.”

Su Xiao Pei nodded and cupped her fist as a response to his greeting, then she whispered to Ran Fei Ze, “What are we missing?”

Ran Fei Ze shook his head, indicating that he did not know.

[Lou Li Dong was about to say sister-in-law (嫂子, Sǎozi), but since he did not finish his sentence he only said (嫂, Sǎo). The word missing (少, Shǎo) sounds the same. Therefore, they Su Xiao Pei misinterpret Lou Li Dong’s words.]

Lou Li Dong grinned and copied Su Xiao Pei’s actions, “Does the food suit your taste?”

“It’s okay.” One of the considerations after transmigrating over is to not care about the taste of food. Compared with modern food, the taste here was not that good.

‘Just okay? Really not polite’. Lou Li Dong cupped his fist again, “No trouble.”

He was so polite that he made Su Xiao Pei embarrassed. She should also return pleasantries right? She cupped her fist again, “No, no, Young Master Lou is too polite.”

Lou Li Dong watched her again and continued to cup his fist, “You’re welcome.”

What is this saluting? When is it going to stop? Su Xiao Pei felt helpless and continued to return his greeting. This mas was a friend of Soldier, they had borrowed his house to stay. Even though she has gained a lot of experience after transmigrating over, she still has not experience much of the pleasantries and courtesy.

Lou Li Dong laughed, he felt that Su Xiao Pei was very interesting. If he would keep teasing her by cupping his fist, would she continued on as well? As he was planning to continue, Ran Fei Ze grasped Su Xiao Pei’s fist and pulled her arms under the table. “Miss does not know anything, and Young Master Lou is mischievous, he loves to tease everyone in the Jianghu.”

After receiving a warning from Ran Fei Ze, Lou Li Dong dare not to cause any more trouble. He laughed, “Yes, yes, I love to tease people in the Jianghu, I have also tease Brother Ran.”

Su Xiao Pei glanced at Ran Fei Ze and saw the meaning from Ran Fei Ze’s eyes. He had been teased before. She coughed, and said positively, “Love is priceless, and Young Master Lou must cherish it.”

Lou Li Dong froze. What’s the point of this statement?

“It’s quite annoying to be overactive.” Ran Fei Ze said to Su Xiao Pei without seeing Lou Li Dong’s face.

Su Xiao Pei then said, “Don’t have to worry about it, the older you are, the more you understand.”

Lou Li Dong frown, who are these two? They were too tacit when making fun of others, Lou Li Dong was not lively anymore and just concentrate on eating. Ran Fei Ze asked what was happening outside, what was the status of the various Sects, and who which Sect are watching over his house. Lou Li Dong had no intention of mentioning these specifically, but seeing that Ran Fei Ze had no intention of hiding it from Su Xiao Pei, he discussed it with him openly.

“The people from Qi Sha Sect have arrived, although the old man of the Sect is killed by the Jiu Ling Sect, but people from Jiu Ling Sect have evidence that it was not them. Which is the same situation as the pawn shop’s innkeeper. The killers can say that they were not there, you are the one who is able to re-create those weapons, but you said that no one can prove that you are the one who made it. You can’t keep running away, think of a way to solve this.”

Ran Fei Ze nodded, “I have thought of it.”

“How?”

“This matter is unexplainable. If you want to prove that you have the evidence, then I just have to take it out. What if I do not have the evidence that they want? If I do not have the evidence, was it because I do not want to show it or that I do not have it? Who is able to prove this?”

“That’s true, so what are you going to do?”

“If I can’t prove it, then they should prove it to me.” Ran Fei Ze’s arrogance is back, “Whoever doubts me should show evidence, and otherwise he is just releasing some farts.”

Lou Li Dong froze, but he also saw that Su Xiao Pei was nodding beside Ran Fei Ze.

“Those people don’t care what you think about them, they just want to find the killer and get their revenge.” Lou Li Dong said.

Su Xiao Pei couldn’t help but interject, “If you have encounter a murder, why don’t you report it to the government?”

Lou Li Dong and Ran Fei Ze both looked at her and ignored her, then they continued to talk among them. Su Xiao Pei pursed her lips, slandering these gangsters.

“How long are you planning to hide?” This was Lou Li Dong’s main objective.

“I am not hiding, I am resting.” He was in a dilemma, he wanted to accompany his woman to rest for a few days and try to cultivate her feelings but he also wanted her to be safe.

“Then, how long do you plan to rest? What are you going to do next?”

“I will settle it later, I will open the furnace once I’m home.”

Lou Li Dong’s eyes brightened, “Open the furnace?” Lou Li Dong was surprised for a moment before he realized what Ran Fei Ze meant. ‘Cunning, really cunning.’. Once Ran Fei Ze open the furnace, he would be able to create peerless weapons. People will start protecting him before he finishes the product. Big or small Sects or even bandits will want those weapons that he created, no matter what murder case is going on, anyone that delays the blacksmith will be his enemy. For example, once he open the furnace, with his skills, whoever hurry Ran Fei Ze, he, Lu Li Dong, will stop them no matter what.

“We can also reason with them, no matter how difficult it is, we can definitely investigate it.” This is Su Xiao Pei’s point of view.

“Reason?” Lou Li Dong laughed. “The reason can be told, but if you can’t make people believe you what’s the point. They would be more willing to talk about the swords than reasons.”

Su Xiao Pei frowned, “If they want to talk about swords, they can find Soldier. I will be able to reason with them.”

“Miss, how are you going to reason with them? Tell me about it first.” Lou Li Dong couldn’t help but laugh.

“That is also a good idea, we can discuss it. Since those murders happened in the Sect, this means that the relationship between those Sects are not simple. Who reported the crime? What is their relationship with the decreased? There may be grievances, conflicts of interest. When did the decreased died? Who was the one who benefitted the most? I heard what you said, everyone was holding onto a weapon, this indicates a psychological cues. Meaning, when one person always emphasizes one thing, the other person’s attention would be on the same thing, and they would neglect everything else. If someone emphasize that it was killed by a certain weapon and that person was sure of it, then the witness must be very familiar with this weapon, but can the witness identify it by hearing the sound or by seeing it? How clearly was he listening or how carefully was he watching the weapon? Human memory is very delicate, even a small hint or distraction can affect the authenticity of the memory.”

Lou Li Dong was stumped, Su Xiao Pei continued on, “I mean the things you write down may not be completely consistent with the facts. In fact, some people have proved this, using hints to convince someone that they have experienced something that he had not actually experienced. Some people even imagined the memory from these hints but in actual fact, he did not even experienced it. The chances of this happening is as high as 25%. I mean, 25% of the people would think that they have experienced it through the hints but they had not.”

Lou Li Dong did not believe it, “No one will believe it.”

“I naturally have a way to convince them, and there is another thing, implanted memory. 50% of the people would believe that they were attacked by ferocious animals as a child but they haven’t. They have only been hinted that they were attacked thus, they believed that it actually happened to them.”

“Does Miss means that the witness to these murders do not know what actually happen?

“No, what I’m saying is there if there is no real evidence, how are they able to prove what they are saying is the truth? Sounds can be imitated, appearances can be disguised, memory can be forged, but the truth cannot be changed.  Besides, did everyone investigate the case? Have any other person investigate it? Just because someone emphasized the weapons, we should only talk about weapons and ignore the motive. I mean the reason why the murder is committed shouldn’t be ignored.”

Lou Li Dong looked at Ran Fei Ze and saw that Ran Fei Ze’s arm was the table and it was holding onto his chin. Ran Fei Ze was smiling and watching Su Xiao Pei, who was talking seriously. Suddenly, Lou Li Dong understood the so-called reasoning, and he said, “It’s just that we can’t think of any reason, so everyone just stayed on the ground and searched around. Otherwise, we would have taken action.”

“So it still makes sense to speak reasons.” Su Xiao Pei frowned, furthermore, someone wanted to kill her and another person committed a murder. Did she come here to find a person or to do something else? Did Yue Lao finally figured out?

“En.” Ran Fei Ze encouraged, “I will talk to them about swords and Miss will reasoned with them.”

Lou Li Dong frowned. Is this really okay? Can his sword be made in this lifetime?