*******After three more weeks********
Tang Niu was an adorable girl. Xie Ra met her many times as she visited her brother's workplace every day. And, he kinda made friends with Tang Zihao as well.
Xie Ra's suspicions about him faded away as time passed.
Two new murders happened in the past three weeks. They both investigated it together but, luck wasn't on their side. The murderer was so cunning so neither Phoenix, Jade sword, Azealia sects nor two private detectives find anything about him.
However, elder Wan Mingyu was able to find the murderer's spiritual energy-absorbing array on a corpse's chest.
As expected from a deity cultivator. His sharpness seemed to scare the culprit a bit. After his trick- the energy-absorbing array- was exposed by the elder, the killer went silent for five days.
"Xie gege, Do you want a dumpling?"
Xie Ra turned his head down to see Tang Niu looking at him cutely. She held two dumplings, one in each hand. One hand was raised towards Xie Ra, motioning him to take one. Xie Ra bent and shuffled her hair.
"Haha, I'm not hungry. You can have them both." He said affectionately.
Tang Niu was happy with his answer. She didn't waste a second before stuffing them into her mouth.
"Hey, Didn't I tell you to share?" Tang Zihao asked as he stepped out from the forging room. Sweat was dripping down on his face, sticking his bangs to his temple.
"Xie gege told me to eat them both." She started to eat more quickly as she was scared that Tang Zihao might take back one dumplings from her. This made Xie Ra laugh.
How cute? She was the reason for his increased visits to Tang Zihao's workplace. This little ball of sunshine made him feel like she was his little sister.
"Ho Ho, Look what we have here? Brother Xie Ra." A sudden exclamation was heard from the shop entrance. He raised his head and saw that Lei Da and Zu Bingwen were standing at the entrance. A huge smile enveloped Xie Ra's face.
"Senior Lei Da, Zu Bingwen, greetings."
"Oi, cut off the formalities. I told you to call me big bro. You make me feel old when you talk to me with formalities. Are you doing it on purpose to make this poor man feel old?" Lei Da teased the sword cultivator. His ever-friendly smile lit up his face when he saw the speechless state of his target.
"Hahahahaha, Little bro, I was just kidding. But, call me big bro. Everyone calls me big bro. So, no worries about that."
Xie Ra nodded and replied, "I will, big bro."
"There is my good junior. Hm, By the way. What are you doing here? I was walking around the market with Zu Bingwen to buy some supplies for the second-elder. Then I saw you."
"I was here to play with this little sister." Of course, it wasn't the whole truth. But, no way he was going to tell anyone about the partnership between him and Tang Zihao. Especially when Zu Bingwen was here.
Big bro nodded. Then he bent down to the level of Tang Niu, who was busy hiding behind Xie Ra. He tried to talk with the little girl for a few moments. Meanwhile, Zu Bingwen was walking here and there impatiently. Big bro ignored him.
Finally, the little girl made friends with the persistent elder who was talking nonsense in front of her for a long time. He was a real comedian. Not only the kid but also Xie Ra had an urge to laugh at his antics.
He seemed to be happy that Tang Niu giggled at his jokes. He patted her head affectionately and stood up. Xie Ra noticed many feelings cross through big bro's face. Affection, awe, happiness. Somehow, he felt like a glimpse of sadness covered his face. He started to speak.
"Little bro, Do you know? I used to have two little daughters once. Adorable twins. One day both of them and my wife died from an accident. My whole life was gone. After a long time, this little one reminded me of them. But, I'm happy to make friends with her. Wait."
He searched his belt pocket and took some gold coins. Then he gave them to Tang Niu. "Here, take them. Buy some sweets later."
She looked so happy at the mention of sweets. No wonder, these past few weeks were enough for Xie Ra to know about her sweet tooth.
"Thank you, big brother." She said happily. Big bro patted her head again and turned to Xie Ra. "Then, we have to go, little brother. Zu Bingwen was complaining that he had to do something today. I don't want to make him too impatient. See you later at the sect." He bowed and left the shop.
Xie Ra felt very sad after hearing Lei Da's backstory. How tragic his life is. If the rumors are true, Lei Da was already a cultivation cripple. And now, he lost his family. Why do good people deserve such a cruel fate? He sighed and turned back to Tang Niu, who had already started to give a hard time to Tang Zihao, asking for sweets.
"Munchkins, I have to complete this order before tonight. If I go with you to buy sweets, the big bad uncle of this shop will scold your gege. Do you want me to cry?"
She pouted but shook her head. Then she ran away without even saying anything to both of them.
Xie Ra tried to follow her. But, Tang Zihao stopped him.
"She won't go far. She definitely ran to the flower-selling lady in the next shop. But, I will check anyway. You don't have to go. If you can stay here and look after the shop till I'm back."
Xie Ra nodded. Tang Zihao's face relaxed. Then, he walked out of the shop and entered the busy street.
Xie Ra walked into the shop again. Yeah. He was still an outsider. So, it's understandable that Tang Zihao wanted to follow his sister by himself. He was well aware of the fire demon's consent monitoring on his sister even though he was busy with shop work.
So he walked inside the shop to take a good look at artifacts in the cupboards. He remembered where he stopped observing them a few days ago. He walked toward the charms cupboard.
Little did he know how bad his decision was.