Chapter 208: Chapter 178: The Misunderstanding

Sang Que and Sang Wan were chatting at home in the modern times when He Buning also found Xia Chan.

Just then, Kou Yushan and Chen Sheng encountered a small issue that needed handling, so He Buning told Kou Yushan that he would temporarily help look after Xia Chan.

Ever since Fish Woman Village, when Sang Que told Xia Chan that He Buning wasn’t a bad person, and then later when they captured Qu Tianhe at the bandit lair together, Xia Chan no longer feared or was wary of He Buning.

“Are you hungry, what do you want to eat?” He Buning asked Xia Chan rather awkwardly, walking beside her with steps that seemed a bit clumsy.

Xia Chan always had an innocent smile, which everyone found amiable. She held her hair draping in front of her with both hands, looked around, and suddenly pointed at a stall by the roadside selling steamed glutinous rice cakes.

“Little Chan wants to eat that, sweet, delicious!”

He Buning paused for a moment, then nodded, taking Xia Chan over to find a table to sit down.

“Captain He, you’re back, the usual?”

Old Zhang, who was selling the steamed cakes, recognized He Buning. He Buning often patronized his business. Seeing Xia Chan with He Buning, Old Zhang chuckled, giving a look as if he understood the situation.

He Buning coughs lightly, hurriedly explaining, “This is…”

But as the words hung in his mouth, He Buning still couldn’t say ’the little sister from home,’ so he simply let it go and just ordered two servings of steamed cakes from Old Zhang.

While Old Zhang was still digging out the cakes from the large wooden basin, Xia Chan was already impatiently holding her chopsticks, one in each hand, staring at the large wooden basin and salivating, giving He Buning the feeling that he should let Old Zhang bring over the entire basin.

“Were you with your sister last night?”

With someone like Xia Chan, there was no need to beat around the bush, direct questions were best.

Xia Chan nodded vigorously, suddenly thinking of something, and told He Buning mysteriously, “Sister is doing something dangerous, Little Chan is secretly protecting her, shhh—”

Although Xia Chan had the mind of a five or six-year-old child, she always liked to play the protector role, constantly mentioning her protection of Sang Que.

Perhaps it was because Xia Chan’s mother had once protected her, and she regretted not being able to protect her mother well, so she didn’t want to lose anyone she cared about anymore, and thus began to try hard to protect those around her.

He Buning raised an eyebrow slightly, “How do you secretly protect her?”

Xia Chan looked around vigilantly yet seriously, then beckoned He Buning to lean in closer.

He Buning leaned slightly closer, where Xia Chan’s hair, invisible to others, curled up and a strand fell off, winding around He Buning’s wrist.

“Little Chan secretly put her hair on Sister. If something bad tries to harm Sister, Little Chan will help her.”

He Buning’s pupils contracted, was that so? Because Xia Chan placed her hair on Sang Mulan, she thus bore the brunt of the Gambling Ghost’s harm for Sang Mulan. According to the Gambling Ghost’s rule, harming loved ones first, it allowed his jade token here to block one of the Gambling Ghost’s attacks?

The logic held, but the details didn’t withstand scrutiny and some issues still existed.

Primarily because He Buning didn’t quite understand the Gambling Ghost, and since the Gambling Ghost was already detained by the Evil Ghost Bureau, he couldn’t investigate further.

“Captain He, your steamed cakes, enjoy.”

Old Zhang placed the two bowls of steamed cakes on the table.

“Captain He, how come you’re here too?”

Yu Da’s voice came over, He Buning leaned back slightly and turned his head, seeing Yu Da running over breathless, with Chen Sheng beside him, clearly indicating that the issue Kou Yushan and others found was difficult to handle, and they sought Yu Da.

Yu Da, without a fixed position, went wherever needed, primarily responsible for the western city area.

If needed elsewhere, he would still be willing to go, handling tasks nobody wanted to do, and which didn’t earn many Merit Points.

Seeing Yu Da appear, Xia Chan immediately clutched her bowl with both hands, fully alert, afraid that Yu Da would snatch her food, which made Yu Da chuckle.

He Buning said, “You go ahead with your work, come find me here when you’re done.”

“Okay, I’ll head off then.”

After Yu Da walked away, Xia Chan let out a long breath, picked up her chopsticks, and started eating, her face full of joy.

“Do you really like steamed cakes?” asked He Buning.

Xia Chan nodded, “I like it, but it’s not as good here. Little Chan had better ones made with glutinous rice!”

He Buning’s heart shivered. In the Deceit Dynasty, ordinary families simply wouldn’t use glutinous rice for steamed cakes, as it was too expensive, only in Shengjing would those high officials splurge on it.

And as for Xia Chan, she had never been to Shengjing, and Qinzhou didn’t produce glutinous rice either.

When he was young, he had only eaten steamed cakes made of glutinous rice by his mother. Every time he got punished by his father over studies and martial arts, his mother would make steamed cakes to cheer him up.

He Buning asked, “Where did you eat them, who gave them to you?”

When this was mentioned, Xia Chan suddenly covered her mouth in fear, shaking her head vigorously, mumbling, “I can’t say, even if you twist Little Chan’s head off, I can’t say.”

If she said it, her sister would never bring Xia Chan delicious food again, wah—

Xia Chan cried internally, turning her grief and anger into appetite, she quickly finished her bowl, and stared directly at He Buning’s untouched portion.

He Buning picked up his portion and placed it in front of Xia Chan, softly saying, “Eat slowly, ask for more if it’s not enough, do you want anything else?”

Xia Chan’s eyes lit up, raising her hand and waving, “I want to eat everything! Sister has no money, always taking Little Chan to the cafeteria, the cafeteria food is awful.”

He Buning looked around at the various food vendors, chuckled lightly and nodded slowly, calling over Old Zhang who sold rice cakes, and took out a silver ingot.

“Please help me buy a portion from each vendor’s stall.”

“You’re so kind!” Xia Chan looked at He Buning with tears of gratitude in her eyes and a smile on her face.

He Buning was touched by Xia Chan’s innocent smile, feeling a warmth in his heart, and suddenly had the urge to ruffle Xia Chan’s messy hair, but refrained and clenched his fist.

Watching Xia Chan blissfully eat her food without a care in the world, He Buning felt a bit envious of her, knowing nothing, just staying happy.

He Buning just kept watching Xia Chan eat, her stomach like a bottomless pit, capable of consuming any amount, and watching her eat, He Buning also felt a sense of satisfaction, unwarranted fatigue from the past days mysteriously dissipated, and his mind grew calm and content.

He Buning thought about his childhood, right after mastering yin fire, the consumption of qi and blood was so much that he was also very fond of eating, but his father always made him adhere to various etiquettes, not allowing indulgence in delicious food.

He had never, like Xia Chan, eaten with food all over his face, if he had a simple mind like Xia Chan’s, perhaps his mother wouldn’t have left him back then.

He Buning took out a handkerchief from his sleeve, handed it to Xia Chan, “Wipe your mouth, eat slowly, there’s no rush.”

Xia Chan grabbed the handkerchief and casually wiped her mouth, nodding vigorously, but her eating speed didn’t slow down at all.

Near dusk, Yu Da arrived out of breath, and Xia Chan was full, patting her round belly, looking around, willing to share the leftovers with Yu Da.

“Captain He, what did you need me for?” Yu Da wasn’t picky, grabbing a leftover bun from Xia Chan and started to munch.

He Buning spoke frankly, “Tell me about the Gambling Ghost case from beginning to end, I need to know all the details, especially those regarding Sang Mulan.”

Yu Da didn’t find it strange, He Buning was Sang Mulan’s direct superior, and had been watching over Sang Mulan recently, it was normal for a superior to evaluate a subordinate.

Yu Da ate while speaking, getting a bowl of meat noodle soup, settling his dinner in the meantime, after all, it was on He Buning’s tab.

After finishing, He Buning pondered for a moment, frowning deeply, “You said earlier, Sang Mulan got the Connected Branch used in Evil Suppression Technique from Wei Wu?”

Yu Da nodded, “Wei Wu is truly despicable, his squad always had high mortality rates before, but they resolved many three-layered evils, so no one thought much of it. Only now do I realize, he was just throwing his subordinates’ lives into it.”

He Buning’s expression darkened, previously he wondered how a mere strand of Little Chan’s hair could cause Sang Mulan to transfer the Gambling Ghost’s harm to Little Chan, now it seems, it’s the effect of the Connected Branch used in the Evil Suppression Technique.

Considering his observations of Sang Que, she wouldn’t deliberately harm Little Chan, but regardless of the reason that caused this result, an unknown fire of anger suddenly rose in He Buning’s heart.

He couldn’t leave Little Chan by Sang Mulan’s side anymore, his sister, he would raise her himself.

But he couldn’t be too forceful about it, in case he angered Little Chan and she refused to get close to him again, that wouldn’t be good.

After making his decision, He Buning looked deeply at Little Chan, instructing Yu Da to send Little Chan to her Uncle Kou Yushan, while he left ahead of them.

Returning to the Evil Suppression Bureau, Xiao Liu and Xiao Wu arrived shortly after.

Xiao Wu confiscated plenty of items from Wei Wu’s place, worth well over one thousand gold, proving Wei Wu hadn’t been slacking in amassing wealth these past years.

Xiao Wu kept reporting, but He Buning was clearly distracted, and once Xiao Wu finished, he suddenly instructed.

“Tomorrow, replace all the cooks in the Evil Suppression Bureau cafeteria, find someone… good at making sweets.”

He had discovered Little Chan liked sweet foods.

After giving his instructions, He Buning left absentmindedly, he wanted to return to his place and see which courtyard would be best for Little Chan, whether it needed repairs or not.

He wanted to build a swing for Little Chan in the courtyard, and her clothes were too plain, the fabric not very good, she didn’t have any jewelry on her either, all these needed to be bought.

Watching He Buning’s departing figure, Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu exchanged glances.

Xiao Liu scratched his head, “You mentioned the confiscation, and the boss talks about changing the cook, he doesn’t eat in the cafeteria often either.”

“Mind your own business, just do as told, you, go put one thousand gold in Sang Mulan’s home, let’s settle this matter early so the meritorious people don’t feel disheartened.”

“Aren’t we going to recruit that Thousand-faced Ghost Yin Walker?”

“Take your time, what’s the hurry.”

“Oh~”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep