Chapter Two

Chapter 2

Su Xiao Pei returned home, and spent the night quietly.

The next day was Sunday, with no need to go to work and no need to go on blind dates, she could lounge around at home for the day. She obviously didn’t go to whatever-hospital, in reality, she didn’t think about it at all.

Before, when she was a physiatrist, she met a patient. That patient thought he was the commander of all life in the universe, in charge of the life and death of the whole universe. The one today was only just Yue Lao, the level of which wasn’t worth looking at. And so she was able to stand what happened, something about hospitals, something about crossing through, who cares about it all.

Su Xiao Pei lived by herself, it was averagely tidy, there were books and all kinds of case profiles laying around. She didn’t like doing housework, had no interest in men, she feels that there’s more to life than that.

Next to her sofa is a small cabinet with a photo placed on it, her desk has one too, her bedside table also has one. The photos were all group shots of their family of three. She was 6 in the photo by the sofa, sitting on her father’s shoulders while holding up a pink balloon, her mother snuggling up to her father’s side like a bird with a face of happiness. And her father wore a police officer’s uniform, cool and handsome with a radiant smile on his face, the same look that she had of him in her mind.

Su Xiao Pei’s father was called Su Jian An, he was a police officer. That year he was involved in an investigation for a serial murder, the criminal kidnapped and murdered female officers, there were three successive incidents. The police were helpless, they could do nothing. They finally designed a trap to lure the criminal in, they didn’t expect the criminal to recognise it, Su Jian An who was staking-out in casual clothing was killed at the scene.

That year, Su Xiao Pei was 14 years old.

Su Xiao Pei loved her father a lot, this incident left a huge impact on her, and the fact that the murderer still wasn’t caught made her feel miserable. She vowed to capture the criminal, and she was going to bring him to justice.

Su Xiao Pei’s dream, when she was little, was to be a doctor, Su Jian An was extremely supportive, he always believed that his daughter could do it. Because Su Xiao Pei was really smart, her marks were good, and taking first was the usual for her. But after Su Jian An died, Su Xiao Pei didn’t want to be a doctor anymore, she wanted to be like her father, to be a police officer.

This wish received strong opposition from her mother, Li Fei. She had already lost her husband, she couldn’t accept the chance that she would lose her daughter too. Police officer to her did not represent ‘enforcing justice’, it wasn’t capturing murderers and killers, but danger and death.

Both mother and daughter didn’t see eye to eye on this matter. Li Fei was overbearing, Su Xiao Pei was stubborn. The pair almost argued everyday, they’d pick out issues in the other no matter what they were doing. Li Fei made an ultimatum, that as long as she was alive, then Su Xiao Pei shouldn’t even think of being a police officer. She once even brought a feather duster to chase Su Xiao Pei at school. Of course, the things Su Xiao Pei did were also eccentric, she left home to express her rebellion, and was caught by her father’s colleague and brought to the police office. The relationship between the two was really strained.

In the end, her aunt Su Li couldn’t bear to watch it anymore. She took Su Xiao Pei home to live with her for some time, healing the conflict between mother and daughter, then she forced them to go see a psychiatrist, to accept psychological counseling and to find a solution. This was the first time Su Xiao Pei came into contact with psychiatrists. Afterwards, Su Xiao Pei softened up, she moved back home, and she promised her mother that she wouldn’t try going to a police academy, and that she would still rather be a doctor.

The reaction Li Fei had at the time was to embrace her daughter and cry, but she didn’t know that her daughter had another idea in her head — she was going to be a doctor, a psychiatrist.

Su Xiao Pei put in a lot of effort. She had already got her Master’s degree when she was 23, her performance was blinding, she earned the favor of professors and other related people, participated in many different relevant studies, which included things that she was enamored by, such as criminology, behavior analysis, microreaction studies and so on. 

Su Xiao Pei’s mentor was called Wang Dan, he was a renowned psychologist within the country, his research institute worked together on psychology with all kinds of related parties, this included the police world.

Su Xiao Pei was the student Professor Wang was most proud of. Borrowing Professor Wang’s recommendation and the business of the psychology research institute, she started participating in cooperative tasks with the police force, from the criminal’s point of view to assisting the police force many times in cases, participated in the analysis of the psych of criminals and also gave members of the police force psychological counseling. She was very eager and highly cooperative, and was quite useful in many investigative cases, so even though she was young, she started to get some fame.

Fame was the same as an academic degree, Su Xiao Pei didn’t really care about them, but she knew that these things could help her win even more chances, even more say in things. Her goal was very clear, she wanted to borrow professional knowledge to enter the criminal investigation circle, to capture the murderer who killed her father. But she didn’t tell her mother this, to her, this identity of a psychiatrist was a good cover.

But things all have the day that they become revealed. Because Su Xiao Pei went into the media.

That time, in order to testify for a murder case in court, and unfortunately this case had quite a bit of influence, attracting the interest of the media. Su Xiao Pei’s name thus went on newspapers, websites and TV. Even the time when she exited the courthouse was photographed. To hype things up, the media eagerly spread what Su Xiao Pei did in the case, and crowned her with the provocative caption of the“Genius Beauty Psychologist Solves Case”.

And this was seen by Li Fei.

This was a stab at a hornet's nest. Li Fei finally realized why her daughter wanted to move out now, it was because she didn’t want the details of her job to be discovered. Her blood was boiling, and she gave Su Xiao Pei a good scolding.

Mother and daughter were once again in conflict. Li Fei insisted for Su Xiao Pei to retire from the psychology institute, to find a normal job, but Su Xiao Pei disobeyed, and the two were in a stalemate for a while.

In the end, Li Fei was horrendously furious, her aunt Su Li was trying hard to quell the situation, and so Su Xiao Pei finally yielded. She retired, and changed professions to be a journalist. Only then did the relationship between the two ease up.

But Li Fei didn’t know, Su Xiao Pei this time was playing her for a fool. She went to be a journalist, but she was in the line of criminal investigations. In other words, she changed identities, but she continued to mix in with the policing circle.

Unfortunately, she only worked this job for a year before being revealed. The cause was because Su Xiao Pei received a written threat from a suspect, the sender was scaring her to discontinue her digging in a certain case, otherwise, she’ll see what’ll happen. That letter coincidentally was found by Li Fei who came to find Su Xiao Pei. This time wasn’t a small matter, it scared Li Fei even more than the time she saw her daughter in the newspapers.

There wasn’t anything to say, she couldn’t work as a journalist anymore. Because Li Fei once again said, if Xiao Pei didn’t change her job so that she wouldn’t be worried, she would die to prove her point.

Of course, Su Xiao Pei wasn’t afraid that her great mother would really go kill herself, she could still tell the difference between words of spite and honest words. But she still compromised, because she knew her mother’s tenacity, if she wasn’t going to make herself ill with worry, she’d annoy Su Xiao Pei to death.

Su Xiao Pei suggested that she go back to school to teach, and with her qualification, getting a teaching job was an easy thing. Professor Wang Dan also hoped that she’d return to help him. But Li Fei objected to this idea, she didn’t think teaching at a university would be enough work, moreover, it was still mixing with the psychology circle, then in the end it’d be going down the same road as before.

Su Xiao Pei’s battle once again ended in defeat. Finally, under the arrangement of Aunt Su Li, she went to a publishing house to be an editor.

The head editor was Su Li’s old friend, he heard that the one coming was the psychologist beauty that the media was fighting to get coverage over, and was extremely elated. Recently there was a TV show that made psychology popular, he wanted to ride this wave of popularity to do some psychology books related to the working environment, just package it up a bit then it’ll be a bestseller. And when the famed psychological expert arrived, she was a young and gorgeous girl, which was another great selling point, he could not have asked for more.

Su Li and the head editor hit it off, to help Su Xiao Pei get some pretty good treatment, and signed her contract just like that.

Su Xiao Pei objected to this, she purposefully was showing her despise for the low pay and hard work of being an editor, which provoked Li Fei to once again scold her another time, saying that it’s bloody useless to have money if you’re dead, and she also scoffed that being an editor couldn’t possibly be harder than chasing criminals?

Su Xiao Pei really wanted to say that she had never come face to face with a criminal before, and that she didn’t let anyone ever touch her, but her great mother’s agitated reaction made her swallow her words.

All was said and done, in the end Su Xiao Pei stayed at the publishing house, she wasn’t discouraged, she could accept a temporary compromise. Moreover, she felt that the head editor was really interested in her experiences and was also interested in the psychology side of things. Then in time, maybe she’d have a chance to convince him to do a book related to criminology, at that time she’d be able to once again use that as an excuse to continue participating in the investigation of serial murders.

Till now, she hasn’t even been in her new workplace for 3 months, she wasn’t too busy, everything was clear sailing, there were no surprises, but there was her great mother and aunt who she dearly loved, who started a massive fire under matters concerning her marital situation.

Maybe they thought that as long as she marries then all would be fine.

Thus, blind dates, blind dates, and more blind dates.

Su Xiao Pei didn’t dare to not go, because Li Fei said, if she didn’t go on blind dates like a good little girl, she’d move to live with her.

Su Xiao Pei obediently went to meet the guys on time and at the right place. Yet what was dated was dated, but she couldn’t meet eye to eye with these guys, and not only did she not meet them in the eye, she’d always anger them until their blood boiled.

Su Xiao Pei thought that this wasn’t her fault, she didn’t know what the was going on nowadays, men were all a bit lacking in IQ and a bit lacking in EQ, she thought it was quite a shame.

Su Xiao Pei laid on her bed, thinking that she’d need to go to work tomorrow. For these 3 months she basically did nothing, she had no experience in booking, and also had no interest, so her work efficiency wasn’t high. She would only be able to listen in the weekly meeting, she didn’t know what was suitable to submit for the topic, the two she mashed together both didn’t pass. The head editor said he’d talk to her tomorrow, to discuss her strong points, to properly use them, and to make some good books.

Su Xiao Pei sighed, made sure that the alarm was set, the AC was at a comfortable temperature, and her Father and Mother’s photo at the head of her bed was smiling sweetly. She buried her head into her head, and suddenly thought she should actually invite that crazy Yue Lao to have a nice conversation with her mother. To talk about how her life’s soulmate was now a vegetable, how his life was hopeless, so she shouldn’t busy herself, and to stop arranging blind dates. This weekly activity on Monday’s actually pretty tiring.

She was thinking random things, and slept.

She didn’t know how much time passed.

She suddenly awoke.

The reason was unknown, but she felt like she was still in a dream.

It was kind of cold, with a breeze blowing past. Her head was muddy, and wanted to pull up her blanket, but she suddenly responded to the fact that she wasn’t lying down, but was actually face down.

She was shocked, and opened her eyes, but almost fell to the ground, which scared her to curl up.

Not far away, there was a bonfire. There were two people sitting in front of it, a male and a female.

Wearing ancient clothing.

Su Xiao Pei blinked her eyes, her head was clear now.

Above the moonlight was shining, below the bonfire was burning, yet herself was currently sprawled on a massive tree.

Wearing a two-piece Winnie the Pooh pajama set.

Su Xiao Pei blinked her eyes again, and quietly looked around. It was a dark and gloomy grove of trees, a cool wind was blowing, the trees were whooshing about, but she couldn’t hear anything else. Apart from the two people in front of the bonfire, it seemed that there was no one else.

Su Xiao Pei was so cold that her body started getting goosebumps. This dream sure was strange.

At that time, the two people over there started speaking.

“Is thou lady fine now?”

The mellow young man voiced out, it was very attractive, and was quite pleasant, but his accent was extremely strange.

“This one is fine, many thanks for thy rescue, warrior.”

The female's sound was also not bad, but her accent was similarly weird.

Also, “this one”, “warrior”, what the hell were those?

Su Xiao Pei wrinkled her eyebrows, she very naturally recalled that paranoid Yue Lao’s words.

“If you’ve found that you were dragged across, don’t worry, nothing will happen to you.”

It’s really *******!

Warrior, this one has crossed over!

Su Xiao Pei thought about herself speaking like that, and really wanted to step on that face of Yue Lao.

What a bloody crossing over! She was a learned intellectual.

TL notes:

Blind dates in this context are basically what the Japanese would call Omiai (meetings with marriage in mind), though I’d guess it’s a lot less formal in this context.

The dialogue between the male and female was in some kind of archaic-but-not-really form, so it sounded weird. You have the archaic-but-not-really equivalent in English.

The bunch of asterisks at the end is censored text in the original. You can guess what it’s like.

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