I Just Won't Play By The Book

Eventually, Jiang Beiran was forced to listen to the young leader finish telling his story. Anyway, the core of it was to play the misery card, whereby he claimed that he too had once had a dream of becoming a famous hero. However, eventually, reality wore away his edges, and he began to work hard for a living, and finally without realizing it… He became who he was now.

But Jiang Beiran didn't feel much after listening to the ending. After all, the level of misery in the young leader's story couldn't even be compared to the ones told by the contestants in talent shows that he heard before crossing over. There was nothing in it to make him tear up at all.

But just as Jiang Beiran was about to yawn out of boredom, a series of sobs and whimpers suddenly came from right next to him.

Turning his head, he saw that Fang Qiuyao had been driven to tears, crying almost more forlornly than the children.

[Option One: Pass your handkerchief to Fang Qiuyao. Completion reward: Meteoric Demon Resolution (Earth Grade Middle Tier)]

[Option Two: Comfort Fang Qiuyao softly. Completion reward: Hundred Booms of Royal Mantra (Black Grade High Tier)]

[Option Three: "Only fools and idiots believe in such stories. Which one are you?" Completion reward: Random basic skill point +1]

Decisively choosing Option Three which best fit Jiang Beiran's heart, he hit Fang Qiuyao's straw hat and said, "Only fools and idiots believe in such stories. Which one are you?"

[Chosen Quest completed. Reward: Calligraphy +1]

"I…" Fang Qiuyao wiped her tears away and thought for a while before answering, "Is there any difference between these two options?"

"Yeah. Idiot sounds slightly better," Jiang Beiran answered.

"You! Hmph!" Fang Qiuyao turned her head, and a large part of the sadness that had just welled up inside her disappeared.

At this point, the young leader shouted defiantly, "I didn't lie. I was really forced to go down this road. if I am given another chance, I will definitely be a good person."

"Well, you can save these words for them." Jiang Beiran finished speaking and pointed behind him.

Looking back in the direction Jiang Beiran pointed, the young leader saw a group of constables running quickly towards them.

"Eh, a word of advice before I go. The Temple of the Asura is not something to be messed with," the leader of the thieves said.

"Oh." Jiang Beiran nodded towards him.

"Hahaha. I really can't understand you, but, surprisingly, I don't hate you much. Wang Laowu of the Sect of Returning Hearts, I'll see you around!"

As soon as the young leader finished speaking, dozens of constables were already standing in front of him.

"Sheriff Lin, these are the thieves," Liu Zijin said, pointing to a group of tied-up thieves on the ground.

The young man in white first joined his hands in a salute towards Liu Zijin, then turned around and took out the brass belt plate identifying him as a constable to show the crowd. Finally, he pulled out a card in front of the young leader and gave it a shake. "Do you see this clearly? According to this order for their arrest, take all of them away!"

"Yes!"

After the process was completed, a group of constables went forward to grab one thief in each hand and dragged them away.

After taking a headcount of the children present, Sheriff Lin once again joined his hands in a salute towards Liu Zijin and said, "The Sect of Returning Hearts really lives up to its name. We have been searching for this group of thieves for a long time, but we had not received any news about them until today. Now, we have finally brought them to justice, and it's all thanks to you, Miss Liu."

"Sheriff Lin, you flatter me. The one you should thank for this matter is…" Liu Zijin said as she looked back, but found that the senior Brother had disappeared.

Looking at Liu Zijin's somewhat confused eyes, Fang Qiuyao also realized that something was not right.

'Eh? Where has that senior Brother of mine gone? How could an entire person just disappear? He was clearly standing here just now.'

Realizing that the senior Brother was reluctant to show himself, Liu Zijin put it another way and said, "My Sisters. They are the ones who deserve the main credit for catching this group of thieves."

"Hahaha. All of you deserve to be thanked, all of you. But now we have to hurry back to deliver the prisoners. If we are late the legal advisor will say that we've neglected our duties," the Sheriff said.

Replying with a single 'alright,' the five Sisters followed Sheriff Lin and escorted the thieves to Zebei Town.

Everything that followed was a matter of course. They arrived at the magistrate's office, took statements, and collected the reward. And thus, Liu Zijin the others boosted the reputation of the Sect of Returning Hearts in this area once more.

When the thieves were all escorted into the jail, Sheriff Lin jogged over to Liu Zijin and said, "This time you all have removed a great evil for Jifu Village. You also relieved us of our burden. In order to show our gratitude, we have arranged for dinner at the Qingfeng Inn for all you ladies of the Sect of Returning Hearts. We hope that you will accept the invitation."

Liu Zijin was just about to agree when Fang Qiuyao stepped forward and said, "I'm really sorry, Sheriff Lin. The Sect gave us a time limit when we left, and now there is only half a day left, so we won't be eating with you this time. Let's meet next time if we have the chance."

Having said that, she dragged Liu Zijin away and left the magistrate's court.

Without even an opportunity to stop them, Sheriff Lin could only watch the five female cultivators of the Sect of Returning Hearts disappear in front of him.

"Eh! Why have they left?" a constable asked as he came up behind Sheriff Lin.

"Yes, it is too fast. I didn't even see their faces," someone else replied.

"Yeah, too bad. They covered half of their faces, but just from their eyes… Tsk, I dare bet a month of alcohol money that even Qin Wanwan of the Tianyu House is not as attractive as they are."

"Yeah, they have really attractive bodies… Really…"

"Enough!" At this point, Sheriff Lin bellowed, "All of you are like gangsters. Of course you would scare people away, no? All of you, go and run laps in the backyard!"

"Yes…" several constables immediately responded.

After the constables lined up to go back to the court, Sheriff Lin finally sighed regretfully. Yesterday when he first saw Liu Zijin, he was awestruck and determined that she was definitely the best-looking woman he had ever seen in his life based on the small half of her face outside the veil.

After that, when he was doing his job, he also tried to show his best side, wanting to leave a good impression on her, but unfortunately… he was just about to make a move when she had run away.

"Alas…" With another sigh, Sheriff Lin followed the others and walked back to the magistrate's court, wishing in his heart that he could see Miss Liu again in his dreams.

At that moment, Liu Zijin had been dragged away by Fang Qiuyao and they were two streets away. Full of doubts, she asked, "Qiuyao, why are you in such a hurry? I still wanted to ask Sheriff Lin in more detail about how they usually do their job so that we can handle these kinds of incidents again in the future."

"Sister Zijin, don't blame me. It's Brother who asked me to do so," she replied.

"Brother Jiang?" Liu Zijin asked, puzzled. "Is he back yet?"

"I've been behind you guys this whole time." At that moment Jiang Beiran's voice suddenly sounded, startling Liu Zijin.

"Let me teach you all one more thing. Don't get too involved with the constables except for the purpose of the case itself. They're not much better than those thieves."

"Eh?" Liu Zijin was a bit stunned after hearing that. In her mind, constables were noble beings that kept the strong in check, supported the weak, and protected the people. How could they be the same as the thieves?

Looking at the five stunned little faces, Jiang Beiran continued, saying, "You will slowly understand in the future. In any case, just listen to my words."

"Yes…" The five Sisters nodded at the same time. Although they still did not understand how constables could be the same as the thieves, they chose to believe in the senior Brother.

Having left the small town, Jiang Beiran spread out the map to take a look at it and said, "Today we will not stay at an inn. Instead, we will camp outside. This is also a kind of exercise for you."

"Yes." All five Sisters had no objection.