CH 17

Translator: Scerence

Editor: KongoIsamu

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Thoughts are italicized

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The next day, Su Xiao Pei woke up early in the morning and started to read the booklet again, there were some details that was in the book that she wasn’t sure about, so she went to ask Ran Fei Ze, who was currently busy.

Ran Fei Ze had went to many places before, so he would understand the situations in various cities. Su Xiao Pei asked him about the situation that the murders were taking place. When they are discussing, Bai Yu Lang came running in again.

This time round he did not need anyone to bring him in, he ran straight into the backyard. He was shocked to see Ran Fei Ze chopping woods. Do heroes need to chop woods?

“Big Brother?”

“Brother Bai what brought you here?” Ran Fei Ze replied calmly

Bai Yu Lang calmed down and spoked “I have written a letter for Constable Qin last night, thought of handing it over to him and I will bring people to Kang City to investigate.’

Su Xiao Pei glanced at Ran Fei Ze, what he said was true, Bai Yu Lang is indeed trustworthy.

“I came over thinking of showing the letter to Big brother, I’m not sure if I am missing out anything, thought of discussing with you and we can maybe add information if necessary.”

Ran Fei Ze took the letter and started reading, Su Xiao Pei took a peep and saw that it was all in ancient writing.

She sighed, why does the words written down have to be so difficult? There were no problem understanding each other when communicating.

She gave up peeping at the letter, instead she just asked Bai Yu Lang “Brother Bai, I have discussed beforehand with Soldier Ran, there is some queries that I would like to clarify with you.”

“Big sister, please state them”

“The victim’s family, are the sizes of the family almost the same for all of the victims? What about the family’s reputation in the area?”

“Is it relevant to the case?”

“These are not stated in the booklet, but in these type of situation, you would have to take note as well. If there is any commons area in the victims, example places they are from or their wealth, or reputation, or even their sibling’s status. it will be easier for Brother Bai to investigate.

An example would be this City, I’ve asked Soldier, there is not a famous family in Stone City, therefore, there are no victims here. As all the area around Stone City consist of poor families, and these conditions will not suit the murderer. It is also acceptable that government officials are not placed here. I am not familiar with the locals’ government’s notice of rewards, but Brother Bai is familiar, according to the law, it is more reasonable to target larger families that are in the bigger cities.”

“Does Big sister mean that places like stone City does not need extra people investigating?”

“Yes, yes. That is what I meant, the government will have a limited number of people on hands for work, putting them at the targeted areas will bring more convenience to you as it is easier to catch the criminal.”

Su Xiao Pei hated that there is no internet in this era, no digital maps, and there are no criminal records, no information regarding the victims and crime scene. She is also not able to take a train or a plane to the crime scene to observe, if not her job would be easier and accurate.

With current situation, she is a bit shameful to say that she is going by her instinct. But from the information, Stone City is a poor area, it will not be targeted by the murderer.

“Big sister, if you put it this way, it will be inappropriate, even though Stone City is small and poor but who can protect the villagers if the crime does occur here? Since there is less security here, the chances of the murderer committing the crime here would increase, additionally, it is easier to run away in small place. What’s more, regardless of the rich and the poor, the government has the responsibility to defend the peace of its citizen, even though the city is small, the safety of it’s citizen cannot be ignore. In Stone City, everybody knows that the murderer is still at large, if the government does not send any officers here, what would the citizen think? The people would not be safe, how can they feel reassured? Indeed, Big sister is just a woman, not thinking not so far, best not to say anymore.”

Su Xiao Pei choked on what he had said, she could not think of a reply

What Bai Yu Lang just said is reasonable, but it is very heart-wrenching. Aren’t the notices the one that are making everyone afraid? Your government is posing that there is a rapist and a murderer everywhere. You are basically saying ‘There is a murderer on the loose and we can’t catch him, everybody please help.” So, how can the people not be afraid?

But Su Xiao Pei did not dare to say that, she knows that it is not the time to talk about this.

Since she arrived at Stone City, other than staying at this small place she went to Tang Lian’s house to have a bowl of noodles. She is not sure of the current situation in this city, those who kidnapped Tang Lian are still not caught, it is normal for the villagers to be scared by this reward.

The most important thing now for Su Xiao Pei is to get Bai Yu Lang’s trust, ensuring that he is investigating in the way that she wanted it to be, so she must be good to him instead of arguing with him.

Therefore, she has no choice but to accept the statement he made about her not think too much about it.

“Brother Bai is right, it is me that did not think about the question.”

Bai Yu Lang replied without thinking, waving his hand “It is okay, big sister is also a smart, able to learn more in the future then it will be alright.”

Su Xiao Pei nodded, she knows that she is depending on him to get the money, so she is not going to fight with him.

By the time the topic ended, Ran Fei Ze had finished looking through the letter. It was very detailed, the letter carefully stated what they had discussed yesterday. Saying that he is going to Kang City to investigate, and the backgrounds of the victims. All the plans are written in it.

Ran Fei Ze felt that there is no problem with it, he discussed and confirmed a few things with Bai Yu Lang. this indirectly conveyed the contents of Bai Yu Lang’s letter to Su Xiao Pei. Bai Yu Lang, after hearing what Ran Fei Ze had said, felt a little better as his mind was more organized.

Bai Yu Lang was happy as he got praised by Ran Fei Ze, he said that he will send someone to send the letter once he went back, and he is also preparing to head off to Kang City. He took out a constable pass and passed it to Ran Fei Ze, he had already spoken with his colleagues about this. When he is not in and if Ran Fei Ze went over, he could just show the pass to them. It is also possible if Bai Yu Lang have any news for Ran Fei Ze, Bai Yu Lang would send someone over and Ran Fei Ze would have to show him the pass and Ran Fei Ze would be able to receive the news.

Ran Fei Ze accepted it without saying anything.

Bai Yu Lang left after he had said all that he needed.

Su Xiao Pei saw that even though Bai Yu Lang was young, and he blindly admire someone. But he does think through the whole process and strategize before he acts and that makes him quite versatile.

Ran Fei Ze spoked “Do not underestimate him, Bai family is full of capable people, all six of them are good in their ways, but just that the sixth son is interested in being a constable. Otherwise, with his age and with the family name of Bai, he would already famous in Jiang Hu.”

“Oh” Su Xiao Pei nodded, she did not know much about Jiang hu, she still felt that this is all an illusion.

After Bai Yu Lang Left, all Su Xiao Pei can do is wait. So, she decided to stop thinking about it and started to look into the current situation of Tang Lian.

Su Xiao Pei is confident that Tang Lian did not have amnesia, and that Tang Lian was lying about it, even though Su Xiao Pei understood what was going on, she will not judge Tang Lian.

Because it is obvious that Tang Lian is hiding something, even though she is more relaxed now when they were chatting, but Su Xiao Pei is able to sense her cautiousness. When they are talking about other topics Tang Lian is willing to talk more, but when it comes back to the case, she immediately shuts her mouth.

Tang Lian does not seem to have any bad dreams or fear about the kidnapping, well, since Tang Lian didn’t mentioned it. Su Xiao Pei had used an excuse saying that she was not able to sleep at night and kept having nightmares, but Tang Lian just mentioned that she also did not had a good rest but did not say anything else.

In fact, Tang Lian feels more uncomfortable that her father is sending her to the nunnery than the kidnapping.

If it is at the 21st century, and if Tang Lian is her patient, Su Xiao Pei will have many ideas on how to help her out. But since this is another word, Su Xiao Pei is in a difficult position, as they have different thoughts and culture.

She cannot let Tang Lian know what she is doing right now, if Su Xiao Pei said to Tang Lian ‘I want to know what is going on with your heart, I am going to help you, to heal you.’ Su Xiao Pei is sure that Tang Lian will reject her, and that maybe even feel scared or disgusted by her.

Therefore, Su Xiao Pei is going to take things slow, first Su Xiao Pei needs to understand Tang Lian and to do so, she need to integrate.

And getting along with her is also a problem, not only does getting along need to have the same thought process but it also requires the same language and body language. But Su Xiao Pei had none, she is currently learning and trying to change. She had improved with the help of conversing with Tang Lian.

As for the criminal who kidnapped Tang Lian, Su Xiao Pei tried to ask around from Ran Fei Ze

Ran Fei Ze said that there is still no response from the constables. Before the case of tang Lian, there was another case of a Lady being kidnapped as well, but she committed suicide. A hunter found the lady’s corpse on the mountain. After that, rumors of mountain bandit’s kidnapping were spread, but there was no witness of them doing the crime.

Then, after a few months, it had happened to Tang Lian, she was kidnapped in the dark alley of the town and all that was left of the scene was her shoes. Her family reported her kidnapping to the constables and everyone thought that she might be in danger. It was unexpected that she came back alive. But it is a waste that she was not able to remember what had happened to her clearly. And the kidnapper is nowhere to be found, and that time of her kidnapping just so coincide with the murder cases thus, all the attention is being moved away.

Some people are speculating on Tang Lian’s situation, that Tang Lian escaped from the kidnapper but the reason why the kidnapper did not make a move was that maybe he had died on the mountains, and so Tang Lian is able to be run away. But there were some that speculate that he might have been killed by Tang Lian and so she is afraid that it would be found out thus, causing her to not remember the details.

These situations that were speculated, Su Xiao Pei remembered them. she intends to take things slowly with Tang Lian and take down her defense step by step.

Just today, Tang Lian came to look for her again. Su Xiao Pei felt that it is a good that Tang Lian took the initiative to find her. As they have a common experience of being trapped in the mountains. This is a good situation for building trust between them. Su Xiao Pei thought that this must be fate, God’s arrangement.

When Tang Lian came to find Su Xiao Pei, it was in the afternoon, there was no one in the wine shop and of course, in the backyard as well.

Tang Lian like to come in at this timing as it is quiet and will not see anyone. Su Xiao Pei felt that it might be because her family did not allowed her to walk around at this timing.

Ran Fei Ze went out, helping Mr Song to deliver goods.

Su Xiao Pei felt that is a good thing, she can have a peaceful talk with Tang Lian. But this time, Tang Lian might have something to tell her from the way she is acting. Since Su Xiao Pei is not in a rush, she kept quiet, giving some time to Tang Lian. Giving the patient some time to think is an important aspect of counseling. Rushing the patient will interrupt the patient desire to talk. Su Xiao Pei was very patient, waiting for Tang Lian to take the initiative to start the conversation.

Tang Lian started talking about unrelated topics, and Su Xiao Pei replied as well, she saw the uncomfortable expression onTang Lian’s face. Su Xiao Pei thought that Tang Lian must have been thinking that the future is hopeless for her. When Su Xiao Pei had opened her mouth and wanted to say something, Tang Lian stood up and told Su Xiao Pei that her family did not let her go out and quickly rushed out.

Su Xiao Pei knew that she missed out on this chance, she will have to wait for another time. All she could do is sent Tang Lian out and went back to the backyard. She was still making guesses on why Tang Lian has that expression. There were so many possibilities for Tang Lian to have that expression.

Su Xiao Pei stood outside the firewood room and when she wanted to walk in, suddenly a hand stretched out from behind her and covered her mouth.

Her heart stopped for a moment.

Su Xiao Pei got so scared that her legs felt like jelly, she did not have time to struggle, she felt a pain in her neck and her vision went black and she lost her consciousness.