Chapter 243 - To the Capital

Chapter 243: To the Capital
Translator: 
Atlas Studios 
 Editor: 
Atlas Studios

Bai Muchuan had booked the first class for their flight.
From Xi City to the Capital, it was more than an hour’s flight. Xiang Wan was much quieter than usual.
When she was on her way to the Capital a day ago, she was full of hope.
But after being forced to stay in Xi City for a night, her mood was now totally different.
The weather that day was especially great.


She was sitting beside the window where she could see the layers of clouds that felt so pure without any blemishes, drifting and boundless…

Are you tired?

Bai Muchuan noticed that she kept looking outside the window and poked her elbow.

If you’re tired, take a nap. I’ll ask the stewardess to get you a blanket—


Not tired.
Xiang Wan turned to look at him with a smile, but there was some sorrow in her look.
Bai Muchuan furrowed his brows as he noticed that, his gaze seemed to go through her to look at the clouds illuminated by the sunlight…

Look, the weather is so good.


Mm, yes.


Well, no matter what difficulties human beings encounter, the sky would not change.


…



Xiang Wan smiled at Bai Muchuan as she knew that he could understand what she was thinking.
Bai Muchuan:
I want to see you smile.

Xiang Wan was puzzled but smiled once more.
Am I not smiling right now?

Bai Muchuan’s eyes seem to darken.
Smiling is a mood, not facial expression.

Xiang Wan:
…

Wow, what a deep philosophical question by Young Master Bai.
Xiang Wan smiled again, she raised her chin slightly, the curve of her smile was gentle and lovely.
Nevertheless, that smile still did not come from the heart.
Bai Muchuan looked at her.
The rays of the sun permeated through the window and landed on her side profile. The fine hair on her face was as though coated with a layer of gold. Even on her eyelashes, there was some faint hue of colors which made her small face seem fairer, softer, and more delicate than usual…


Bai Muchuan moved his lips.
Little Xiang Wan, you’re really beautiful.


Hah.
That sentence instantly lifted Xiang Wan’s mood.
Women sure love hearing praises.
She concluded,
You must have been trained in this area.


What?


How to flirt with girls.


… These are words from the bottom of my heart.

As Bai Muchuan said so, he took her hand, held it in his palm, and caressed it gently.

You need to understand a principle. The occurrence of cases is an impermanence of the world, it’s not a punishment for law enforcers and people in investigative work.


Eh?
Xiang Wan did not understand.



To put it simply, working as the police is just a job. Although it’s not the same as other jobs, if we generate too much negative energy that we become depressed, unhappy, or even miserable, even if we solved the case eventually, we would have already lost.


…


We’ve lost to the criminals by punishing ourselves.

Xiang Wan listened quietly and did not say a word.
Bai Muchuan:
The criminals should be punished. But we can’t be punishing ourselves before we solve the crimes.


Mm…

Xiang Wan could understand what he was trying to tell her.
As she thought it over, that actually made a lot of sense.

Don’t let these criminals bring you down, understand?
Bai Muchuan sighed and squeezed her hand again.
In the process of solving crimes, we should experience the joy of pitting against the criminals as we battle them with our wits and courage, as well as upholding righteousness. If you are influenced by these fools all day long… won’t we end up indirectly as victims?

Bai Muchuan was not someone who would preach or instill positive thinking to another.


But these words sounded earnest and sincere.
Besides Xiang Wan, no one else would hear these from him.
Xiang Wan took a deep breath and decided to brace herself up.

I understand now.
She showed a smile.
I’ve heard that when one worked as the police long enough, one would become very negative… I didn’t know that there are also police officers who know how to relieve themselves of such burden…


Yeah, working as the Interpol police for one year has exposed me to see the dark side more than the lifetimes of a group of people.

Bai Muchuan was calm when he talked about this.
So calm that he seemed to have never been affected.
Yet Xiang Wan was certain that she saw in his eyes a different kind of darkness that she could not fathom.
Amidst the peaceful times, the police were the ones bearing the burden as time went by.
Huff! 
Xiang Wan stretched her arms and took a deep breath with all her might before showing a bright smile.
Fortunately, I still have you, my life mentor.


… You make it sound like I’m an old man around 70 to 80-year-old.


Heh,
laughed Xiang Wan,
I hope that when you’re around that age, I can call you Old Man.

It was a random remark with a random smile.
Yet before Bai Muchuan, he was as though he saw a scenery where the flowers of thousands of trees blossomed…
He ruffled her hair with a laugh.
That’s the way! This smile of yours is a lovely smile that comes from the heart.

Pffft! 
After Xiang Wan thought it through, she was immediately transformed back to her old, optimistic self.

I admit, I’m cured by your roundabout ‘preaching’. I will not let all these affect my mood and treat all these as my life experiences as well as material for writing—


Good!

He ruffled her hair again.

Aiyah, you’re always doing this. What if I become an idiot because of this—

As she said so, she suddenly turned grim.

Hey, I still have a question!


Say it!


I still need to find a place to stay when I arrived in the Capital.


… Mm?
 Is that a problem, too? 
He thought.
For a moment, Bai Muchuan just looked at her without a word.
Xiang Wan continued the topic by herself,
If I stay in a hotel, the expenses are going to be very high. A day or two should be fine but not long-term. My plan is to rent a house which is close to your workplace and more convenient as well.

Bai Muchuan’s mouth twitched but still did not say anything.

Heh!
Xiang Wan continued to imagine the future.
I’ll be writing my story at home so my time is flexible. When I’m free, I can cook for you and you can come over for dinner after work… When you’re tired, I can also help you with some stuff that I can do, such as writing a speech or statement and organize documents. I can do all these work with no problem…

Having said all this, she wanted to show that she was not useless.
Bai Muchuan only looked at her with a smile.
Xiang Wan felt awkward.
What’s with your look?

Bai Muchuan:
You’re already thinking of becoming a virtuous wife?

Xiang Wan:
…


Shame on you,
snorted Xiang Wan,
I’m talking about this seriously while you’re not at all. Forget it, I’ll sleep for a while.

She adjusted to a more comfortable position and closed her eyes.
Bai Muchuan chuckled as his hand waved before her face. Seeing that she did not show any response, he puffed another sigh.

Alright! When we arrive at the Capital, I’ll accompany you to rent a house.

Xiang Wan heard that and the corners of her lips curved upward.
She did not open her eyes.
Last night, she did not have a good night’s sleep and was quite tired.
Slowly, she started to feel sleepy. They were still holding hands.
Bai Muchuan shook his head as he puffed another sigh. He beckoned to a stewardess and asked for a blanket that he put it on her lightly…
By then, Xiang Wan had drifted off to sleep—her face slowly revealed a smile.
…
After they alighted the plane and collected their luggage, someone came to fetch them.
Bai Muchuan introduced to her that the chauffeur was called Dongzi.
Dongzi had a very short, crew cut hairstyle. He was quite thin and there was some acne on his youthful face. He had a shy smile, especially so when he talked to girls.
Xiang Wan guessed that he should be younger than 23 years old and had only seen little of the world.
After making such conjectures, Dongzi was now a character with more tags in her head.
This was the habit of a web novelist. They liked to place tags on people they just got to know. As for Xiang Wan, her habit was far more than just placing tags. She would also unconsciously pull this person into a made-up story as well…
After getting on the car, she thought that as she had luggage, Bai Muchuan would bring her to check-in at a hotel first, and then they would look for houses that were for rent.
She did not expect that Dongzi would drive the car directly to a residential area.