Personality V: I will save everything

Sheriff Baden, holding an unlit cigarette in his mouth, leaned against the door frame of the police station's office, watching Mr. Reasoner coming from the other end of the corridor with a gloomy face, his steps three steps heavier than usual.

He twitched the corner of his mouth and joked before the other party could speak: "Miss Truth kicked you out of the office again?"

This is not a deliberate squeeze.

In fact, in the past six months, Mr. Reasoning's expression of "as if he stepped on cat shit but can't say it" nine times out of ten came from the "Truth Agency" across the street.

Either they thought he was too serious when investigating the case and made a mess of the scene; or they blamed him for speaking as bluntly as steel and puncturing the client's dignity - every time, Miss Truth would put her hands on her hips and kick people out, and Mr. Reasoning would run to the police station holding his old suitcase, with an innocent and helpless look on his face.

But this time, Mr. Reasoning stopped in front of him, frowned, and waved his hand, his voice filled with a hint of weary laughter: "On the contrary. I came here to hide for a while."

Sheriff Baden raised his eyebrows and took the cigarette out of his mouth: "Oh? The sun is rising from the west?"

"If I stay any longer, I'm afraid I'll just become a tool for carrying bags," Mr. Reasoning muttered softly, moving further into the office to avoid the passing officers in the hallway. He was known for his clear logic, and even when challenged by Miss Truth, he would simply argue his case, rarely showing any signs of surrender. Sheriff Baden, however, was intrigued and pulled a chair for him.

"She recently brought a little girl named Inara, seven years old, with the round eyes." Mr. Reasoning rubbed his brow, as if remembering something that was bothering him. "I don't know what's wrong with her lately, but she's been dragging that kid shopping for new dresses every day. She buys them, and every time she finishes picking one out, she always turns around and asks, 'How about this one?'"

At this point, he paused, a look of bewilderment on his face, akin to a science student unable to solve a liberal arts problem. Sheriff Baden suppressed a laugh and asked, "What do you mean?"

"What else can I say?" Mr. Reasoning sighed, imitating his own tone at the time, and uttered stiffly, "Wow, it's really beautiful."

The word "wow" was said extremely stiffly, as if it was picked out from between his teeth, which was completely different from his usual calmness when analyzing cases.

"The girl's eyes lit up, waiting for me to say something, but after a long pause, I could only say 'the color is quite bright' and 'the material is soft'."

His shoulders slumped.

"Miss Truth was right there, laughing, calling me 'the steel among the straight men,' and forcing me to learn how to compliment people. Yesterday, Inara tried on a lace skirt, and she asked me to describe it. I held it in for ten minutes and said, 'It looks like a lace tablecloth.' You didn't see their expressions. One was laughing so hard she couldn't straighten her back, and the other had a pout so big you could hang an oil can on it."

Sheriff Baden finally couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing: "Are you trying to avoid being praised?"

"What else?" Mr. Reasoning glanced at him. "If I stay any longer, I'll either learn to lie or be 'reformed' by the two of them. It's better to be quiet here. At least no one will force me to judge whether a skirt is pretty or not."

As he was speaking, the old cell phone in his pocket rang. Mr. Reasoning took it out and looked at it, his face changed slightly - it was a message from Miss Truth, just three words: "Where are you hiding?"

His hands trembled, and he quickly put the phone back in his pocket. He looked up at Sheriff Baden with a bitter face and said, "Sheriff, can I borrow your lounge?"

Watching Mr. Reasoning practically crawl under the desk, like a mouse being chased by a cat, Chief Inspector Baden sighed inwardly. What else could he say? He couldn't just kick him out. He clung to his unlit cigarette and mumbled, "Fine, do as you please." Even so, he knew in his heart that his hiding was a futile act. The hem of Mr. Reasoning's well-worn trench coat, worn for years, still jutted out from the edge of the desk, a conspicuous mark. Not to mention the floorboards creaked as he moved his chair back into place to conceal it from view.

Sure enough, just as he adjusted his expression back to his usual "not yet awake and too lazy to meddle in other people's business" look, the office door was slammed open.

Miss Zhenli was standing at the door, holding a cloth bag in her arms. She looked like she had just returned from a children's clothing store. There was a hint of smile in the corners of her eyes and eyebrows, but when her eyes swept across the office, they were like searchlights, unambiguous at all.

Sheriff Baden didn't even raise his eyelids, continuing to flip through the files in his hand, scratching the paper with his pen, pretending not to see anyone.

His expression was no different from usual - the kind of indifference that said, "If the sky falls, it has nothing to do with me as long as it doesn't hit my desk." Even the angle of the cigarette in his mouth was exactly right.

But Miss Truth saw the flaw in this "no reaction".

She scoffed and walked straight to Sheriff Baden's desk. Her gaze paused at the hem of her windbreaker, which swayed slightly beside the table leg. Then she tapped the tabletop. "Sheriff, can I borrow your desk? I just bought a new tablecloth and I want to try it out for size."

Mr. Reasoner under the table stiffened, and Inspector Baden's hand holding the pen also paused.

He raised his head and met Miss Truth's sparkling eyes. He knew that he could no longer hide the truth, so he raised his eyebrows helplessly, admitting it.

Sometimes, the more we try to maintain "normality", the more it seems like we are trying to cover up our own faults.

The last bit of struggle was completely in vain in the smiling eyes of Miss Truth.

Sheriff Baden watched Mr. Reasoning emerge from under the table, his face covered in dust and dirt. There was still a scrap of paper on his windbreaker that hadn't been swept clean. He was about to say, "If I had known this," when he saw Miss Truth shove the cloth bag in her arms into Mr. Reasoning's arms, then turn around and pick up two larger paper bags from the door.

It was bulging inside, and from the outline it looked like the little boots and picture books I had just bought for Inara.

"Now that we're all here, it's perfect."

She clapped her hands, her eyes moving between Inspector Baden and Mr. Reasoning, and finally landing on the pen in Inspector Baden's hand that he had not put down yet.

"Sheriff, there's no rush for your file, right? Inara's still waiting at the milk tea shop outside. If the three of us split it up and carry it, we can get back home faster."

Sheriff Baden opened his mouth and was about to say "I have to be on duty" when he saw Miss Truth handing him a paper bag with a bear pattern printed on it, with half of a furry rabbit doll's ear sticking out of the bag.

"Look at your office, it's quite a mess. Go out for a walk and get some fresh air. And by the way, help me get some things. Just consider it a stretch." She smiled as if it was a matter of course, as if requisitioning a sheriff as a bagman was as common as borrowing an eraser.

Mr. Reasoning muttered quietly beside him: "I told you I couldn't avoid it..." But Miss Truth gave him a glare, and he immediately shut up and obediently picked up the two bags.

Sheriff Baden looked at the paper bag in his hand, then looked at Miss Truth's calm expression of "it might as well be wasted", and finally sighed helplessly and put the pen back into the pen holder.

"I'm afraid of you." He stood up and put his police hat on the table. "Let me make it clear, this is just this once."

"I know, I know." Miss Truth walked out without looking back, her voice very light, "Next time... Next time, we'll talk about next time."

Sheriff Baden followed behind, looking at the figure of Mr. Reasoner in front of him, who was hunched over and carrying a lot of bags. He suddenly felt that his job as a sheriff was more like being a temporary follower to these two people.

However, seeing Miss Truth's brisk steps, and remembering Inara's little appearance of leaning against the glass to look at the window display in the milk tea shop just now, he couldn't help but shook his head - never mind, he was free anyway, so he might as well accompany these two "lively treasures" for a trip.