She greeted them coldly and followed behind Yan. Christoph and Michael scowled as they watched her retreating figure.
“Hey, rookie…”
“Yes, Officer Yan.”
Yan kept glancing back cautiously. Two men in expensive suits that one could not even begin to price were following them. Emitting an ominous aura, like grim reapers. It was quite frightening.
Yan leaned toward her, whispering in a suppressed voice to Marianne.
“Hey, are those two still following us?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Wow.”
He let out a soft exclamation, looking at Marianne who remained unfazed despite the two men’s intimidating aura. Mrs. Schneider was truly different; he was astounded.
What is Mrs. Schneider doing here in a place like this?
Yan stole a glance at Marianne with suspicious eyes. Then, he surreptitiously observed Christoph. His experienced detective’s eyes could not be deceived. There was a strange tension between them.
“Hmm.”
Yan let out a meaningful hum. The thought crossed his mind that the Schneiders were having marital issues, just as Michael had said earlier.
This is news reporters would love, isn’t it?
“So, what incident has occurred at the scene we’re heading to?”
Awakened from his contemplation by Marianne’s question, Yan said, “Ah, well, you see…” He crossed his arms, speaking as if showing off.
“We’ll know the details when we get there, but it seems a vagrant was caught stealing bread. As common as a dog bite. Normally, they wouldn’t call an officer, but it seems the bakery owner was lying in wait. Lately, every day has been busy with vagrants stealing bread, so it makes sense. It’s a perfect case for a rookie officer like you.”
“I see.”
Marianne nodded. Whether she referred to herself or Yan by ‘rookie’ was unclear, but it was a moot point.
In the course of their conversation, they had arrived at the bakery where the incident occurred. In front of the shop stood a burly man who looked more like a bandit than a baker.
Beside him stood a boy on each side, their ears pinched by the burly man’s formidable fingers.
“Ah! Let me go!”
“Can’t let you go until the officer arrives! Gonna fix your habits once and for all! You’ll come to your senses in jail!”
“It’s our first time, please don’t send us to jail!”
“Yeah, it’s our first time. Ah, my ear, my ear!”
“You think you can lie to me! I’ve been suffering damages because of you guys!”
It was unclear whether this was a scene of a vagrant caught stealing bread or an adult bullying children, but they had arrived nonetheless.
Yan lifted his hat slightly, offering a courteous greeting.
“Hello.”
The previously vivacious baker scanned Yan up and down with suspicious eyes. A disapproving look.
“Ahem.”
Yan let out a deliberate cough, puffing up his chest with inflated pride. His voice, even deeper than usual, sounded as though a child was impersonating an adult.
“I’m Officer Yan from the police department.”
The man’s gaze now shifted to Marianne. Yan’s brown eyes gleamed with added confidence.
“This is my subordinate. She’s a rookie officer. May be green, but she’s capable of catching petty thieves. I’ve trained her well, ahem.”
The bakery owner looked Marianne up and down. A questioning look, as if wondering where these two rookies came from.
Then, suddenly, he cast his eyes over her shoulder. Two unusual-looking men were standing there, looming like grim reapers. The man’s face tightened.
“Don’t mind those two.”
Marianne preempted him. Yan stepped forward and asked, “What seems to be the matter? We heard a bakery worker made a report.”
The bakery owner who finally came to his senses grabbed the ears of the boys and spoke.
“Ah!”
“These rascals were caught stealing the bread displayed in front of the shop. And it’s not the first time. This time, they’ll be severely punished. Send them to jail!”
“No, it’s really our first time!”
“It’s unfair!”
The two boys screamed loudly from both sides. They looked alike as if they were twins. Their height was the same, their faces were similar, and the clothes they were wearing were equally dirty.
Are they brothers?
While Marianne observed the two boys, the man squinted his eyes. His fierce expression suited a bandit more than the bakery owner.
“What’s so unfair about it, you thieves! You got caught stealing bread by me, and you still dare to deny it!”
“But we gave you money……”
The boy on the left replied with a sullen face.
“That’s what makes it suspicious, you brat. How did you get gold coins? They’re obviously stolen!”
“It’s not stolen……”
The bakery owner stretched out his left hand. One of the boys let out a scream, “Ah!”
“This boy is a real thief. When caught stealing bread, he took out gold coins claiming it was for the bread. Where would such a shabby boy get gold coins? He must have picked someone’s pocket. So, this boy is indeed a thief. Send him to jail!”
“No. We never did that.”
The boy mumbled, his face pale with fear. The teary-eyed boy seemed to hold back his tears, perhaps due to his last shred of dignity.
He kept shaking his head, as if to say he wasn’t a thief.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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