Shen Jiajia helped her mother to a chair, then looked over at her father.
Constable Shen’s face was as dark as a thundercloud. “The moment we entered the house just now, we found the bedroom had been ransacked. Which scoundrel of a thief dares to steal from Grandpa Shen’s head? When your old man catches him, I’ll definitely skin him alive!” Saying this, he grabbed his saber and was about to march outside. “You look after your mother, I’m going to find a few brothers to help me catch this thief.”
Shen Jiajia asked, “Where is the thief?”
Constable Shen’s footsteps paused, looking slightly embarrassed: “For the moment… I don’t know yet. Our family’s locks, doors, and windows haven’t been broken. Lord knows how this thief got in. Third Sister, you know me. I am only skilled at arresting violent criminals, but I’m not much good at deducing cases. I’ll have to ask the more meticulous brothers in the yamen for help.”
Constable Shen was burly and possessed superb martial arts skills. Standing on the ground looking up at him as a bird, Xie Chengfeng felt this man was as massive as a small mountain. Xie Chengfeng sighed with emotion in his heart: He’d make quite a good enforcer, pity his brain isn’t too bright.
Shen Jiajia cupped her chin in thought and wondered aloud, “Why did they only ransack your room and didn’t touch mine?”
“This…”
Shen Jiajia walked a lap around the room, looking left and right, looking up and down, muttering: “The doors, windows, and locks are all perfectly fine. How did this person get in?”
Second Sister Zhu interjected, “Could it be that he can walk through walls and tunnel through the earth?”
Shen Jiajia’s eyes lit up. “Right! He tunneled through the earth!”
Constable Shen looked at his daughter worriedly. Has Third Sister gone mad?
Then his gaze shifted, looking down with ill intent at the bird on the floor. It’s all this crazy bird’s fault. Third Sister was perfectly fine before, but after playing with this crazy bird for half a day, she’s gone a bit crazy too.
“This bird cannot be kept.” Constable Shen’s tone was fierce.
Xie Chengfeng: …???
Shen Jiajia hadn’t noticed her father’s words. Right now, she was slowly pacing the room. With every step she took, she stomped her foot on the floor. After taking about five or six steps like this, the sound changed when she stomped again.
“It’s right here. Father, let’s pry this open and take a look.” The floor was paved with bluestone bricks.
Constable Shen suddenly understood her intention and hurried over to crouch down. Only then did he notice a scattering of fine dust on the surface of the bluestone bricks. He pried the bricks up, and underneath, a pitch-black hole shockingly revealed itself.
The hole was less than two feet wide, just enough to fit a small, thin person.
Constable Shen felt the dirt on the walls of the hole and said, “This dirt is fresh and damp. The tunnel is newly dug. I’ll go down and take a look!”
Second Sister Zhu hastily stopped him. “You’re built like an ox! If you go down there you’ll get stuck, and likely suffocate to death inside. It’s better if I go down.”
Shen Jiajia shook her head. “Neither of you needs to go. This tunnel has probably been blocked off by someone. Even if it hasn’t been blocked off, going down this way definitely won’t yield any clues.”
“That’s true. Why would that thief leave the passageway open for us to find him?”
Xie Chengfeng watched from the sidelines with great relish. These two husband and wife were completely blockheaded; how did they give birth to such a cunning and sharp daughter?
“Third Sister, what do we do now?”
“Father, Mother, I think I already know the identity of the suspect.”
“Oh?”
“Digging a tunnel is extremely labor-intensive, and our family isn’t exactly some wealthy household. Is it really worth it for the other party to go through the painstaking effort of digging a tunnel just to steal from us?”
“Logically speaking, it wouldn’t be worth it.”
“Unless…”
Constable Shen smashed his right fist into his left palm and said, “Unless this tunnel is very short, so digging it didn’t consume too much manpower!”
Shen Jiajia nodded with a smile, “Exactly. On top of that, the tunnel leads directly to your bedroom. The thief didn’t even come to ransack my room, which shows he is highly familiar with the layout of our home. He knew which side your room was on, and he knew there was nothing of value in mine. Third, why did the thief dare to strike today? Because he knew our family of three had gone out and wouldn’t return until later. Great-uncle passed away suddenly; there aren’t many people who know our family’s whereabouts. Therefore—”
“Therefore, summarizing all of this, the thief is among our direct neighbors.” Constable Shen delivered the final conclusion.
After saying this, Constable Shen took his saber and headed out—he still needed his brothers.
This area was densely populated. Although they knew the suspect was a neighbor, there were still about a dozen neighbors with the right conditions to commit the crime, requiring further investigation.
Unfortunately, out of these dozen or so families, Constable Shen and his brothers searched for two days and only managed to rule out half. There were five families left, and they couldn’t proceed any further. Someone suggested digging along the traces of the tunnel, but after going down, they encountered a massive boulder blocking the way and had to give up.
On this day, Shen Jiajia went out and bought a few small toys. Tiny tables, chairs, and benches, along with a palm-sized little swing, were all pushed in front of Xie Chengfeng.
Xie Chengfeng looked at that wobbly little swing and felt utterly insulted.
Yet Shen Jiajia still lacked any tact, pestering him: “They’re for you, do you like them?”
“Scram!”
“If you like them—”
“I. Do. Not. Like. Them.” Although a parrot didn’t necessarily have teeth, Xie Chengfeng’s tone was full of gritted teeth. “Just you wait. Wait until I fix you good.”
“—could you do me a favor?”
Shen Jiajia immediately voiced her request. After hearing it, Xie Chengfeng almost laughed out of sheer anger: “Shen Jiajia, what do you mean by this? You want me to go eavesdrop on corners? I, a dignified… You’re making me eavesdrop? What an audacious, impudent commoner!”
“Please, do me a favor, okay?” Shen Jiajia clasped her hands together in prayer.
Her subservient and pleading appearance made him feel one hundred and twenty percent satisfied. He tossed his bird head. “Heh, now you know to beg me? You wouldn’t even peel melon seeds for me.”
“I’ll peel, I’ll peel! Not only will I peel melon seeds, I’ll even squeeze fruit juice for you. Do you want pear juice or peach juice?”
“Hmph, hmph.”
Shen Jiajia circled around to face him and gave him a long, deep bow, bending at the waist: “I’m begging you!” Then she dragged out the word: “An~ces~tor~”
Xie Chengfeng was thoroughly amused by her. He shook his head, sighing helplessly, “You’re a young maiden, how can you be so utterly shameless?”
Shen Jiajia, still bent at the waist, tilted her face up to look at him, her eyes curving into smiling crescents. “You agree?”
“Hmph.”
Shen Jiajia scooped him up and happily rubbed her cheek against his face. “Thank you!”
Towards this sort of frivolous behavior, Xie Chengfeng had already become too lazy to resist.
Shen Jiajia placed Xie Chengfeng on the windowsill. “Go on.”
Xie Chengfeng poked his head out and peered around for a while. Finally, he turned back, looking rather embarrassed: “It seems… I don’t really know how to fly.”
Shen Jiajia: “…”
A bird? Doesn’t know how to fly?
Are you kidding me!
Shen Jiajia never in a million years imagined that one day she would be teaching a bird how to fly.
She flapped her wings—no, her arms—for a whole half hour, while Chengfeng simply squatted on the table, munching on melon seeds and watching the show, absolutely refusing to flap his wings even once. The reason being—
“What if I fall and break myself?”
Shen Jiajia slumped over the table, pouting her lips as she looked at him, asking aggrievedly, “Stop making a fool out of me.”
“Then will you still throw attitude at me in the future?”
“I won’t, I won’t… But really, you held onto such a petty grudge for two whole days?”
“From the day I was born until now, you are the only one who has ever dared to throw attitude at me. Remembering it for a lifetime wouldn’t be excessive.”
“Alright, alright, everything you say is right. From now on, you are the master and I am the servant girl.”
Xie Chengfeng had flexed his leverage enough. He put down his melon seed, stood on the table, and tried flapping his wings. After trying this a few times, he finally managed to fly up, albeit wobbling unsteadily.
He practiced for a whole day. By nightfall, escorted by Shen Jiajia, he went to eavesdrop on the corners of a few neighbors.
That night, using the excuse that she had accidentally overheard the location of the stolen goods, Shen Jiajia had Constable Shen take his brothers to search a certain neighbor’s dry well. They uncovered a set of gold headpieces and a sum of silver, which perfectly matched the amount reported stolen by Constable Shen’s family. With both the culprit and the loot seized, the man was immediately hauled off to the yamen on the spot.
That neighbor confessed very quickly.
It turned out his brother-in-law and two nephews had come over as guests. Husband and wife prepared a table of food and wine, and after a few cups, the brother-in-law started bragging about his past experiences as a grave robber. The neighbor grew envious listening to this, but considering that grave robbing was a wicked deed that would leave one without descendants, he absolutely refused to do it. However, seeing Constable Shen’s family of three leave on an ox cart today, he asked around and learned they were heading to the countryside for a funeral. Figuring they wouldn’t be back anytime soon, and knowing that both Constable Shen and his wife had good incomes—meaning they must have accumulated quite a bit of wealth—the group used the alcohol to bolster their courage. After a quick discussion, they decided this was highly doable, so they immediately dug a tunnel right over and reaped a bountiful harvest. Who could have known Constable Shen would track it down to him so quickly? Not daring to fence the stolen goods, he had no choice but to hide the loot in the well, planning to deal with it after things had blown over.
…
Having finally recovered her mother’s precious treasures, Shen Jiajia’s heart at last settled back into her chest.
She peeled a great many melon seeds for Chengfeng, every single one white, plump, and full, and squeezed snow pear juice that was fine and sweet. Xie Chengfeng stood on the little swing, eating a melon seed on the left, taking a sip of juice on the right, and rocking the little swing, thoroughly enjoying himself.
Shen Jiajia stroked his head with her fingertips. “It’s all thanks to you this time. You really are my little treasure.”
“Could you be any more nauseatingly mushy?”
Shen Jiajia teased mischievously, “Sweet~heart~”
Thud—
Xie Chengfeng pitched forward and plunged straight off the swing.
Translator’s Anecdote: I am crying 😭 Our elite aristocratic martial artist really just sat there eating seeds, forcing a teen girl to flap her arms for half an hour, solely because he was terrified of falling off a table. And then passed out the moment she called him ‘Sweetheart’. 🦜🪑🤸♂️✨