Chapter 532: Extra: Que Feiling is a Supreme Fortune (Part 1)

“I’m off to work.”

Jiang Qingli stood by the door, adjusting a cuff with one hand as she called into the wooden house.

“Wait, wait, wait…”

The sound of hurried footsteps came from inside.

A moment later, a red-haired young man rounded the corner and ran up to her.

“Female Master, you forgot this.”

Que Feiling opened his palm, revealing a pair of silver four-leaf clover earrings.

Jiang Qingli turned her head, letting him brush aside the stray hairs by her ear to put them on for her. “Is today’s lucky number four?” she asked, used to this routine.

“Not exactly.” A smile played on Que Feiling’s lips as he gently put on the earrings for her, then leaned in for a kiss. “Your lucky charm for today is a four-leaf clover. You’ll have good luck if you wear it.”

Jiang Qingli listened to him, cooperatively patting his head and returning the favor with a kiss on his cheek. “What are your plans for today?”

“Something came up last minute…” Que Feiling paused. “You could call it work, I guess.”

Jiang Qingli smiled. “And here I thought you were going for another divination.”

Besides leisure activities that nobles often excelled at, like golf, Que Feiling had a keen interest in divination and fortune-telling. This was obvious even before they got together; he was always doing online quizzes or visiting temples in person.

But he wasn’t a pure devotee of the Beast God, as he would occasionally visit those deliberately mysterious divination houses for a tarot reading.

After getting together with Jiang Qingli, his belief in these things grew even stronger. He always felt that the Beast God’s blessing was why his confession had been successful.

However, this was a point frequently scorned and ridiculed by Qin Muye.

Que Feiling rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed, and stressed, “The most important reason I came back to the First District for my vacation was to see you!”

And it was true. Que Feiling had deliberately staggered his vacation time with Qin Muye and Xie Youchen to avoid running into them.

He had a small villa near Jiang Qingli’s office building, so she could come over right after work. It was perfect.

Que Feiling nuzzled her cheek, his ear-feathers popping out and fluttering.

It was the beginning of winter once again.

The air was a little cold, but the Vermilion Bird was always warm, and his feathers were soft to the touch.

‘I don’t even want to go to work anymore.’

Jiang Qingli stroked his feathers for a while longer before reluctantly leaving.

–

Her recent workload hadn’t been too heavy. After finishing her own tasks, Jiang Qingli paid a visit to the police department next door.

Just as she reached the door of an office, she heard an irritated female voice erupt from within. “I’ve been saying for ages that all this feudal superstition crap should be kicked out of the Empire! Only muddle-headed males are into this kind of stuff!”

Jiang Qingli knocked on the door. The voice inside paused. “Come in.”

Inside, Tang Ran had one foot propped on the coffee table, a stack of reports clutched in one hand, absolutely furious.

The moment she saw Jiang Qingli’s face, the displeasure on her own vanished. She scratched the back of her head with one hand and chuckled. “Chairwoman, what brings you here?”

“Didn’t you ask me to come have some fun with you?” Jiang Qingli sat down beside her. “You should sit too. Don’t be so angry all the time.”

“That’s because they’re so stupid.” Tang Ran sat down as told, her movements surprisingly meek. “Oh, right, I remember now. I was the one who asked you yesterday to come catch some criminals with me. Hey, I’ve got a case right here…”

With that, she grabbed the crumpled file and handed it to Jiang Qingli.

A subordinate standing nearby, long accustomed to Tang Ran’s quick-change act, turned to go make tea.

Their Chief Tang and District Chief Jiang were both members of the Melt Star Association.

Tang Ran was exceptionally capable and had joined the police department right after graduating this year.

Unlike the typical “second-generation official” who was all for show, she cracked a major case right after taking her post. The higher-ups valued her greatly, and her promotions came swiftly.

But she had a terrible temper, especially towards males, whom she would curse out without a shred of mercy.

Only in front of Qiao Lan and Jiang Qingli would she become so docile.

By the time the subordinate returned with the tea, Jiang Qingli had already finished reading the case file.

It wasn’t a complex case. A group of scammers had recently been swindling unsuspecting citizens in the name of “Beast God Divination.” Because the amounts involved were quite large and it was happening within the First District, the case had been assigned to Tang Ran.

“These idiots must have a screw loose. Using gemstone divination in the name of the Beast God? Her Highness, the Goddess, would never do something like that!” Tang Ran was a fanatical follower of the Goddess, and the subject infuriated her. “We’re taking them all down today!”

She reeled off a few names to her subordinate. “Go get these guys for me. I remember them being the ones who love to talk about horoscopes and crystal balls in the office. Today, we’re going to teach them a proper lesson!”

When Chief Tang gave an order, there was no choice but to obey.

Soon, three men were standing before Tang Ran.

Tang Ran’s gaze swept over their faces. After a few words of warning, she watched them nod their heads like chickens pecking at grain before letting out a huff.

Then, she turned with a beaming smile and called for Jiang Qingli to get in the car.

The three officers followed behind them, whispering among themselves.

Officer A: “I give up. Does she have it out for us males or what? Why is she always yelling at us?”

Officer B: “I knew I shouldn’t have worn blue today. My lucky color is reddish-orange.”

Officer A: “Bro, our uniforms *are* blue. Reddish-orange is what criminals wear… Besides, aren’t your socks reddish-orange?”

Officer C: “How is today not lucky? District Chief Jiang is here! Speaking of which, how is she even better-looking in person than on TV? I almost died when our eyes met just now…”

…

The mission wasn’t particularly high-level, and there weren’t any High-Level Abnormal Beastmen involved. After making arrests at several locations, they found the main hideout.

Inside a dilapidated old castle in the suburbs, a heavy curtain hung before the door, flanked by ornaments made of some unknown stone. It all looked quite intimidating.

Tang Ran’s lip twitched. “Phonies.”

She scanned the building with a device and issued her orders. “You, at the door. You, on the first floor. The last one, follow me and District Chief Jiang to the second floor. Let’s make this quick.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

After the officer confirmed the first floor was clear, the three of them headed to the second.

The walls on the second floor had all been knocked down. In the vast, open space, only a mysterious, heavy platform stood in the center, looking utterly bizarre.

The three of them peeked through a gap in the staircase and saw a young, dark-haired man sitting in the middle holding a few pieces of paper, seemingly performing a divination.

At his feet, a brown-haired male lay collapsed on the platform in a strange position, apparently unconscious.

“Looks like we caught them red-handed,” Tang Ran sneered. “Don’t tell me they were about to perform a sacrifice. These sinister places love that kind of thing.”

She kept her voice low, but the young man’s expression immediately grew wary, and he glanced in their direction.

Seeing that he was about to bolt, Tang Ran drew her weapon.

But a figure vaulted over before she could act.

In the blink of an eye, Jiang Qingli appeared behind the young man, forcefully grabbing his wrist and slamming him down onto the table.

His arms pinned by her, his face pressed against the various strange divination tools on the table, the young man pleaded in a muffled voice, “I-I’m not…”

Jiang Qingli froze.

‘That voice…’

She narrowed her eyes.

The man seemed to sense it too. He flinched and tried to escape.

But before he could move, Jiang Qingli bent down, grabbed his chin with one hand, and forced him to face her—