I had to chuckle while copy/pasting the title of this post, because it might be the longest most complicated one I’ve ever had. To explain, the original title was 寻郎 … and apparently there’s a simplified version where the title was changed to 女心理师之江湖断案 – I listened to it as an audiobook on OverDrive, so I’m not entirely sure which version I listened to, although upon finding more, I think I read the latter.

寻郎 (Xún Láng; Looking for a Gentleman/In Search of Love) aka 女心理师之江湖断案 (Nǚ Xīn Lǐ Shī Zhī JiāngHú Duàn Án; Female Psychologist Solving Cases in the Jianghu) by 明月听风 (Ming Yue Ting Feng ; Bright Moon Listens To The Wind)
Fantasty romance set in multiple words, web novel fully published June 24, 2014

Because of course everything is complicated, there are also two blurbs. They are as follows:

1. Su Xiaopei, an older single woman and criminal psychologist. She met the mythological matchmaker on her blind date. She was told that her destined lover’s soul had been knocked into another world due to a car accident. She had to bring this strange man back, otherwise she would live alone for the rest of her life. She thought she had met a mentally unstable individual, but when she woke up, she had arrived at her destination in her pajamas…

2. A woman without any romantic cells is told by a god of marriage, a Yue Lao, to bring back her destined love, otherwise she will live alone for the rest of her life.
But what does that stupid man look like? I don’t know.
What kind of personality? I don’t know.
What does he do? I don’t know.
Is it okay not to find him? Of course not.
Su Xiaopei, who believes that everything has logic, has hit a wall this time.

In a word: This is a story about a modern female psychology expert who goes to ancient times to fall in love with a adorable warrior and solve cases.

You know a book a book is good when you’ve read it multiple times, know exactly what happens and what is coming, and yet it still makes you cry. Every. Time. (And this isn’t even my favorite book I’ve read by this author, though it might be a close second.) It also has such an interesting premise. What if you take a woman who is “too old” (which, *eyeroll* she’s only 27, but) and totally uninterested in romance, and have her be visited by the Chinese equivalent of a Cupid who tosses her into an ancient world to find her destined mate. What happens? Hijinks! And yet there’s so much more substance to it too. You laugh, you cry, you’re mentally disturbed, the author really puts you through the wringer in this book. It’s got mystery, is a bit of a psychological thriller – different worlds and settings, there’s so much!

Su XiaoPei (SXP) is our heroine. The book starts with a rundown on all the blind dates she’s been on lately, because her mother is desperate for her to get married and settle down, so she forces her to meet these guys. SXP is a former criminal psychologist who changed careers because her mother insisted. She originally went into the field because her father was murdered when she was 14, and it’s haunted her since, especially since the culprit was never found. She’s obsessed with solving the case, and frustrated her mother seems to ignore it. (Other than of course the trauma that’s led to her hating everything to do with criminal justice and being over controlling.) SXP originally wanted to be a doctor when she was little. After her father was murdered, she wanted to be a police officer like him, and solve the case of his murder. Her mother absolutely forbid it, so although SXP was resentful she became a psychologist. She got a master’s degree at the age of 23, focusing on criminal psychology, behaviorial analysis, and micro-reaction research. When her mother found out she was involved in solving cases, she made SXP change careers. SXP then became a reporter … but an investigative one. Her mother again made a fuss when she found a threatening letter SXP received. So now, SXP is now an editor at a publishing house … focused on pop psychology and workplace psychology, though she’s working on convincing her boss to publish criminal psychology involved books. Mother and daughter unsurprisingly don’t have a good relationship, but they definitely do love each other. I liked that SXP missed and appreciated her mother when she transmigrated. She definitely doesn’t have an easy time as a transmigrator, yet with a little luck, thrives, and makes great use of her skills and training.

In ancient times generally women came of age at 15, so SXP is definitely “an old maid” – you get some humor where people are like “she’s so prickly, no wonder she’s not married.” Or “of course nobody would want this oddball – and … isn’t she a nun?!” She eventually wins the admiration of both her constable colleagues, and the people she meets in the martial arts world. Or at least, most of them/the important people, anyway.

Our hero is Ran FeiZe/Cheng JiangYi. Through basically all of the book he’s Ran FeiZe though, so I’ll refer to him as RFZ. We see so little of him as Cheng JiangYi (CJY) that I don’t even remember his exact role, and it’s too complicated to try to look. Anyway, he’s SXP’s fated match, but was in a car accident (that happened right in front of her), and was seriously injured. His soul was transmigrated into an ancient world, while his body here in the modern world is in a coma. In the ancient world, he’s a 29 year old warrior – and he’s a menace. An absolutely delightful chaos muppet. He’s not part of any martial sect, is an orphan, but has a lot of connections in the martial world, and travels around. He’s charming and shameless, smart and powerful, and doesn’t care about your feelings. He’s also very skilled at creating weapons, mechanisms, and breaking formations. Essentially, he’s at such a high level he doesn’t need to belong to a sect/find protection in one, because he can stand on his own. Also RFZ isn’t interested in following rules or hierarchy.

The reason SZP gets sent to the ancient world is because CJY is her destined love. A god of love and marriage shows up telling her she needs to bring him back – and the reason why he’s assigned her the task is in the program, it says she has a 98.8% chance of success, while CJY’s chance of success is only 1.2%. (This is a spoiler but >.> to be honest I don’t think any of you will ever read this book … so if you’re like “wait I thought the hero is RFZ, why are you talking about CJY?” … because he was in the accident, things got weird, and his soul had an entire life and other identity in the other world – details aren’t given but likely he’s transmigrated into an embryo without any memories, and anyway he has lived as a person only from that world. The big reveal – and complications, which I won’t spoil, always make me cry. Always.)

SZP uses psychology to solve crimes, and actually gets hired as a constable after her rocky start in the world. I really liked how the author gave her a learning curve. The vocabulary is different, obviously different customs/courtesies … our girl has a short haircut. In the ancient world, it was considered unfilial to cut your hair, so she’s very odd. The way they explain it/can relate to it is most people think she’s a nun (though her head isn’t shaved). It’s very humorous how people make that assumption. The author threw in some other curveballs. Her hair also doesn’t grow, even though she’s in that wold for months. (Although … I don’t know how it is for people – does hair get noticeably longer in a few months?) SXP is also dropped in a rather conservative time, so she gets his a few times with being unconventional. There’s a harsh incident where she doesn’t think of asking an employee at the inn where they’re staying to ask RFZ to go see her – he thinks she’s a loose woman, and tells his coworker. A pervert overhears, and goes in and tries to assault SXP.

There’s also this “quirk” where even if she’s murdered, she’ll be sent back to the real world, but after some time show back up in that ancient world world. People are reasonable shocked by that. And of course in order to explain things away/not have her be murdered as a monster or demon, they make excuses each time. SXP also had to adapt to no modern conveniences, not even being able to afford buy a toothbrush or other necessities at first, didn’t know how to draw water from a well, or do any “basic” tasks. Since she’s so helpless RFZ initially feels he has no choice but to help her. (He really is kind, despite how cold he is at first.) For example, he even sews her a pair of socks using his own clothes – the first time he rescues her he finds her in a tree on some remote mountain. (SXP always seems to appear high up in a tree in the ancient world. And always near RFZ, since of course they’re unknowingly tied together.)

I really love the “face slapping” trope – which generally means someone who eats their own words. (Not going to explain the concept of “face” here. Maybe some other time.) RFZ saves SXP, but when they first meet, she’s nothing special. In fact, he’s saved a number of girls (essentially he’s a traveling hero) – and now he’s gun shy. Some thought he had feelings for them, when he was truly just doing what he felt any reasonable person would do. And they cling to him and follow him around. So when it comes to SXP, he makes it very clear to her “I didn’t save you out of any affection or admiration, I won’t bring you with me, I’m not going to marry you, don’t try to stay with me.” He’s basically in hiding from some of the bolder girls he’s helped or saved before, so he literally makes SXP promise and explicitly state she’s not going to try to make him marry her. She agrees readily, but he doesn’t believe her, and you just know he’s going to regret that conversation. He also goes from constantly admonishing about etiquette and propriety, to being extremely cheeky with her.

There’s this concept that if someone saves you you owe them your life, and you’ll repay them by being with you for the rest of their life. After saving her a few times, and spending more time with her, RFZ catches feelings, and starts wondering “when is she going to finally offering me repayment for rescuing her?” At first SXP is rather clueless, but later she ignores his probing because she thinks she’s there to find someone else, so they have no chance. This is just one of the hurdles they overcome. Plus the fact that she thinks he’s someone from an entirely different world. SXP is expecting to see someone just like her, especially since his soul only arrived supposedly two months ago. She asks people to look for someone who speaks “strangely” like her, and has short hair as well. RFZ, however, is determined to win over his girl.

I actually liked that both our protagonists are bad tempered. They aren’t assholes. They know how to get along with people, how to consider the bigger picture, and are kind. But they won’t let themselves be wronged, or suffer verbal attacks. I both appreciate (and really hated) the issues SXP encounters at the end. You’re bracing yourself for it but still are furious when it happens … and I love how after trying for months she’s like “hey fuck this man. He’s not my man anyway. Give me back my guy.” He even jokes with her about it later. (And apologizes for not knowing her immediately.)

When writing this review I found there were “extras” that weren’t part of the audiobook – really just a continuation of the story, and I loved the modern day slice of life snapshot of our two. We get their interaction, families meeting, and proposal. Also how they get along – and deal with their first big argument. CJY is ace at being hell on wheels wife chasing mode.

A clever subplot was that “Yue Lao” – god of love and marriage. In the book, it’s a bunch of scumbag guys who ruined their relationships. “The universe” offers them the chance to win back their love if they can successfully bring 100 couples together first, thus understanding love, relationships, and to appreciate who they have. SXP and CJY’s “case manager” is Yue Lao 2238. He’s also a sweetheart who is heavily involved in his cases. In Chinese culture/mythology there’s this red sting that means this couple is tied together by fate. He’s never cut the red strings tying any of his couples together, even when we get to the point where there’s only that 1.2% chance between SXP and CJY. Another point I liked is that even though these are “fated matches” they aren’t forced. As stated, red strings can be cut. And it doesn’t really mean the person will never find love again – just that they start from 0 and have to try with another person.

While it’s very difficult for our couple to get together, there’s something about their red string that is very strong, and 2238 doesn’t want to kill even the tiniest fraction of a chance. He says a few times “it’s not just 1%, there’s that extra 0.2% in there!” and he really goes the extra mile for SXP. Usually couples forget him/he’s effectively erased from their memories. However what with SXP’s situation being so unique, and all he did for her, she still sees and recognizes him, and they become friends. It’s cute, especially since their first meeting was rough. And generally SXP wanted to smack the shit out him. (Reasonable, considering.)

There’s a lot of interesting psychology thrown in there, and both SXP and RFZ go solve cases individually – so they aren’t always tied together even in the ancient world. I only really have two complaints. There’s some English thrown in there that isn’t always right, but it wasn’t a dealbreaker, especially for how minor it is. There was also a part where SXP explains Stockholm Syndrome to someone, which annoyed me, but then I remember the book was published in 2014, so I kinda just move on. (I’m not sure how accurate the rest of it is either, but it works to entice and engage characters, and act as a plot point.)

You have to admire when an author infuriates you yet you’re still happy with the book. That’s what happens with the villain. He’s truly awful, creepy, and disgusting. And is woven through both worlds as well. This is such a clever and enjoyable read. The romance is so believable and what with all they’ve been through, you know this couple will last. This book hasn’t been adapted to a drama, though at least one other book by the author has been. If it ever is though, I think it has great potential. I absolutely know I’ll be re-reading this book again in the future.

Grade: A-