"You are such a strange man. This isn't your home, and you are not
involved in the conversation. Is there no law and order if I cannot
even speak in a public place like this?"
Feng Xiao did not even turn his head to glare at the man. He insisted
on putting the piece of meat in his chopsticks into Cui Buqu's bowl.
Cui Buqu extended his hands to pull his bowl away, but as if those
chopsticks had eyes, it flew into the same direction and still placed
the meat into the bowl.
Cui Buqu glared at that piece of meat as if he was looking for any
traces of Feng Xiao's saliva on it. He did not even feel like touching
the bowl right now.
But it was far from over. Feng Xiao picked up a plate of green beans
from the table and brought it towards him.
"You dislike the taste of chives? No matter, there are still cooked
beans. Come, I'll remove the skins for you. They are white and
tender. Quick, take a bite, or would you prefer if I fed you?"
Cui Buqu: …
His hands looked attractive; therefore, it looked like he was picking
flowers when he peeled the beans. In the blink of an eye, a bunch of
cleanly peeled beans appeared in front of Cui Buqu's plate, lined up
neatly in several rows.
Pei Jingzhe: …
Feng Xiao, "Eat."
Cui Buqu knew that there was a motive behind his actions, but he
still twitched the corner of his lips, turning his head to look outside
the window, only to see that there was no one.
The one who was annoyed was someone else.
"You!"
Su Xing's face had become incredibly red. He wanted to stand up
and argue with him, but was stopped by the woman next to him.
"Cousin brother, let it slide!" The young woman's voice was soft and
low. Her expression looked embarrassed. "I know that Master Daoist
Cui, the one next to him is surely his friend."
"It is he who provoked me first. I have to give him a piece of my
mind!"
Su Xing's face was full of irritation. He turned to Feng Xiao and spat,
"Such a shame you look like a gentleman, yet you act like a
simpleton who doesn't think before he talks. Utterly disgraceful!"
The young woman walked towards Cui Buqu and curtsied, "Good to
see you, Master Cui."
Cui Buqu, of course, recognized her, "May blessings come your
way1, Young Mistress Lu, how is your mother faring?"
The young woman smiled at him, "It is thanks to your medical aid
that my mother has healed much from her illness."
Cui Buqu nodded, "My method can only ease her condition a little bit,
but it does not suffice to heal her completely. The Lu family still
needs to look for better physicians for her." The young woman gave him a nod of acknowledgement.
At that moment, Su Xing also said, "So the one who helped heal
aunt is this Master Daoist Cui. My aunt's health has truly improved
these days; please accept my gratitude."
He turned towards Cui Buqu; put his hands together and bowed
before changing the topic, "Forgive me, but this friend of yours is
really unreasonable and unmannerly. Master Daoist Cui, you have a
good reputation; you should not acquaint yourself with such a man."
Cui Buqu replied flatly, "You have misunderstood. He is not my
friend, and I do not know him either."
Su Xing stared at Feng Xiao with a questionable look, his face
evidently betraying the fact that he did not believe a single word.
Feng Xiao laughed, "What are you looking at me for? Although I am
handsome, powerful, and strong, that isn't something you can level
with. You can't afford to envy me, young man."
Cui Buqu: …
The colour of Su Xing's face switched from blue to white, then white
to blue again, as if he was poisoned from what he had just eaten a
while ago.
With Cui Buqu and Little Maiden Lu present, Su Xing could not
punch Feng Xiao even if he wanted to, so he simply walked away.
Feng Xiao watched both of them leave — a flippant look on his face,
divulging a shadow of deep thought.
"There is something wrong with this Su Xing; you purposely did that
to introduce them to me?" Cui Buqu, "Lu Ti has no sons. After Su Xing fled to his house, Lu Ti
treated him as though he was his son. Although Su Xing enjoyed
studying, his talents were only average. Instead, he followed Lu Ti
out on job trips and showed some talent there instead. This made Lu
Ti very happy, at this present moment; two shops are now under Su
Xing's supervision."
"That is indeed very suspicious." Feng Xiao said, "As a businessman
who converses with many different sorts of people, he should be
charismatic and smooth, yet why did he get provoked so easily just
because I was mimicking him?"
Cui Buqu laughed coldly, "Perhaps it is because Lord Feng, your
face is one that everyone wishes to beat up when they see you. No
matter where you tread, everyone is annoyed."
Feng Xiao laughed, "How can that be? Just now, you should have
looked at the way Little Maiden Lu gazed at me. She was incredibly
envious."
Cui Buqu had met many narcissistic people before, but for one to be
so narcissistic to this sort of level was his very first experience.
Taking a look back, he also saw that Feng Xiao's expression had a
vague look of disbelief.
"Lord Feng, are you often so self-contained, praising yourself so in
your own lonely shadow?"
Not 'often'. He has always been like this. Pei Jingzhe answered in
his heart.
Feng Xiao wriggled his eyebrows, "Is that not the truth?"
Cui Buqu snorted. He was too lazy to continue bantering with him, so
he resumed the topic from a while ago, "The only possibility is that he acts differently towards the Lu family."
"The Lu family loves certain specific attitudes, so he acts accordingly
in front of them. Lu Ti liked intelligent people, so when Lu Ti is close,
Su Xing appears to be an intelligent, crafty young man that is eager
to learn. How interesting is this!"
Feng Xiao changed the topic suddenly, "QuQu, you were only in the
City of Six Crafts for two months, yet you have done the background
search of practically everyone here. You did not spare even the
female members of the Lu family. Ah, to think that those who only
knew your identity of a Daoist surely would think you are plotting
something shady!"
Cui Buqu coughed twice and faked a laugh, "Even if that is the case,
have I not fallen into the hands of you, the Second Commander of
the Jiejian Bureau's evil hands?"
Feng Xiao replied, "Of course not. The Jiejian Bureau acts under the
orders of the Emperor. Are you not criticizing our present Emperor
with your words? I am a very vengeful person."
Relax; I am even more vengeful than you are. Cui Buqu answered in
his heart and coughed again, intending to spare his strength.
After they had their lunch, the three of them went to the Linlang
Guild's shop.
What Feng Xiao and Pei Jingzhe were unaware of was that, after
they had left, two people—a man and a woman—stepped into the
VIP area.
"Just now, I saw that the Commander did not look too well. I don't
even know if he fell ill again!" The woman who spoke had a voice clear like ice. She was utterly
beautiful. Both features of hers blended well on her body.
The man did not speak. He simply walked towards the table that Cui
Buqu and the rest had sat a moment ago; lowered his head to take a
look, and suddenly spread the beans apart.
"What did the Commander leave behind?" The woman approached
him.
"Plum Blossom." The man answered.
The woman looked at him, questioningly.
"The Commander wants us to investigate plum blossoms?"
The man's words were brief and curt, "Khotan murder case."
He loved words like gold and spoke as sparingly as he could.
Thankfully, the woman had worked with him for many years; she
followed his words and picked up several hints.
"These plum blossoms are related to the Khotan murder case, but if
it was that easy to investigate, then the Jiejian Bureau would have
already investigated them. The Commander would not have left it
behind for us. Regardless, we should go to the perfume stall to
inquire."
==============
[1] 福⽣⽆量天尊 originally from the Daoist Pantheon. It sort of just
means 'May you be blessed with endless luck and goodness that
even you wouldn't have imagined yourself.'