Chapter Thirteen: The Strange Man

The same questions were asked again inside the police station.

A female officer crouched down in front of Jiang Xiaxia and asked, “Little one, can you tell me why, when you met the bad person, you chose to knock him out yourself? Your uncle is a soldier—shouldn’t you have told him first?”

Jiang Jing’s face darkened. Just as a bad feeling crept into his heart, he saw the little girl point a tiny finger at him and say, “Uncle’s useless!”

After a brief pause, she patted her own chest and declared, “The kid supports the family!”

Jiang Jing slapped his palm against his face with a thud, utterly hopeless about the road ahead.

Jiang Hua had originally thought the child’s words were quite amusing, but seeing her little son so dejected made her both heartache and smile, so she explained the situation beside Jiang Xiaxia.

When she finished explaining, the female officer crouched before Jiang Xiaxia looked at her with such tenderness that it almost overflowed from her eyes.

Seeing this, Jiang Jing cleared his throat lightly, “My niece isn’t very articulate. If you have questions, you can ask me or my mother.”

He pointed outside, signaling for Jiang Xiaxia to sit on the bench there and wait.

Xiaxia, who had been puffing up her chest, suddenly panicked and ran straight to Jiang Hua, clutching her tightly and refusing to let go. “Grandma, I’m not leaving!”

“If grandma doesn’t leave, then grandma will go inside to answer some questions!”

Jiang Hua was a bit troubled. Xiaxia was completely inseparable from her. Once they arrived in the village, if she went out to the fields during the day and Xiaxia followed, what if the child got sunburned?

Patting Xiaxia’s little golden hair affectionately, Jiang Hua decided it was best to leave this matter to the old man. He was well-educated and the village party secretary; he would surely have a solution.

With one problem solved in her mind, Jiang Hua gently looked at her granddaughter and said, “Look, there’s only one door here. Grandma can’t go anywhere! If anyone wants to leave, they have to go through this door. You just stay here and wait for grandma, alright?”

But Xiaxia felt that Jiang Jing had already reported the situation to the regiment commander, so why did grandma need to report it again?

From what she had gleaned from novels, people in the army just waved their hands and said a few words, and immediately someone would come to handle the matter—no need for family to get involved.

Could it be that her uncle’s rank wasn’t high enough?

Not knowing where she’d learned it from, Xiaxia obediently nodded, “Wait for grandma!”

Then, hiding her little hands behind her back, she walked step by step over to Jiang Jing, looked up at him, and sighed heavily.

Although she didn’t say “useless,” Jiang Jing somehow read the unspoken “no hope” in her eyes.

If he were a boy, he would have kicked her over long ago.

He took his mother inside to make another statement while Xiaxia obediently sat on the bench outside, waiting for her grandma.

Suddenly, a middle-aged woman burst out of a corner outside, grabbed a man riding a bicycle, and plopped down on the ground, throwing a tantrum: “Oh my, someone’s been hit and killed! Someone got killed right in front of the police station!”

The man on the bike looked helpless and a bit wronged. “Ma’am, this is the third time this month you’ve run in front of me. Why do you keep targeting me?”

Although he said this, he didn’t stop taking money out of his pocket.

After the woman got the money, she immediately got up, dusted herself off, and left.

Noticing the curious gaze on her, she turned and smiled kindly at Xiaxia, showing none of the earlier tantrum.

Someone nearby, having seen this, whispered, “Again? You know this guy, Qian Gong, right? Every woman who comes across him either scams him or has their eye on his little house!”

“Don’t mention it. His mother even hires people to fake accidents to squeeze money out of him from time to time. Otherwise, all his money would be gone already!”

“I don’t know if Qian Gong is just too kind or too stupid.”

“I heard Qian Gong is about to become a mid-level fitter! He’s only in his twenties, right? I guess he spends all his brainpower on work, so when it comes to relationships—tsk tsk—”

Jiang Xiaxia perked up her ears, sensing something strange. She scratched her head and asked the two women helpfully, “He works?”

The two women were kitchen helpers at the police station. They usually worked in the back kitchen, but today, upon hearing about the little girl catching a trafficker, they had come out to the courtyard to pick vegetables, curious and sympathetic.

Hearing Xiaxia’s question, one woman smiled, “Yes, he works. Our village is near the train station and the docks, right? There are big ships and vehicles that need repairs, so there’s a place nearby that specializes in fixing those.”

Hearing this, Xiaxia couldn’t help but touch her own arms and legs.

Back in her former life as a host body, her grandma and grandpa had found many parts to constantly modify and repair her body, fixing bugs.

Could it be that the strange feeling she just had was because Qian Gong’s work was somewhat similar to what her grandma did in the post-apocalyptic world, and that’s why it felt odd?

Shaking her head, Xiaxia felt her mind was a bit cluttered and wanted to take a few steps forward.

But thinking that grandma hadn’t come out yet, her legs trembled slightly as she tried to jump off the bench, then obediently sat back down.

“What do you want to see?” Jiang Jing came out and saw the little girl’s hesitation. He stepped forward, picked her up, and bounced her gently. “Uncle will take you!”

Xiaxia shook her head on his shoulder until Jiang Hua came out. Only then did she jump down from Jiang Jing’s arms and point outside. “Strange!”

At the word “strange,” Jiang Hua and Jiang Jing’s expressions changed instantly, becoming tense.

The last person she found strange was still unconscious!

The two kitchen women nearby, seeing their alertness, smiled and repeated what had just happened.

Jiang Jing sighed in relief and poked the little girl’s forehead. “You’re so young but like listening to gossip! Well, now when we get back to the village, you won’t have to worry about being bored!”

Xiaxia pouted, touched her forehead, and looked pitifully at Jiang Hua. “Uncle, bad!”

Jiang Hua glanced at her son. “You don’t say a word!”

She hugged the little girl and walked out. At the doorway, she finally asked Xiaxia, “What was strange just now?”

Xiaxia pointed to the tire marks on the ground and thought for a moment. “Qian, smart!”

Then she patted her head, pointed at the middle-aged woman, and said, “They said!”

Then she shook her head.

Jiang Jing didn’t catch the meaning, and even Jiang Hua couldn’t understand what she meant.

Xiaxia lowered her head, a bit disappointed, patting her little forehead. Why could she only say three words?

Jiang Jing recalled the girl’s strength and quickly grabbed her hand. “Our ride back isn’t until the afternoon. We still have a few hours here. If you want to say something, just say it!”

Xiaxia’s eyes lit up and she immediately spoke.

“Man!”

“Work!”

“Smart!”

“Meets woman!”

“Every time!”

“Not smart!”

“Strange!”

Jiang Jing pieced it together: that man was very smart at work, but every time he met a woman, he wasn’t smart—it was strange.

He suddenly laughed. “You’re still little; you don’t understand that guys go dumb when they meet girls.”

Jiang Hua sneered, “Sounds like you have plenty of experience dating.”

Jiang Jing was stumped, rubbed his nose, and awkwardly fell silent.

Jiang Hua thought about what Xiaxia had said. It reminded her of some old tricks in hard times, so she looked at Jiang Jing and said, “Third son, ask around and see how that man is at work.”

Jiang Jing looked at his mother in surprise. Seeing her serious expression, he could only turn and go back into the police station to inquire.