Teasing

Seeing the girl across from him smiling like a flower in bloom, and feeling that icy, slick, greasy snake tail slowly coil around him, Ding Songyan's childhood trauma from films and dramas like The Legend of the New White Snake and Anaconda instantly surfaced.

He forced out a smile and answered the girl's question:

"I know."

Heaven have mercy—who could have imagined that a white snake would come listen to my Legend of the White Snake?

The girl nodded in satisfaction. Her thick snake tail flashed back, vanishing without a trace.

"Can you let me see the story you wrote today now?"

"Of course, of course." Half turning around, Ding Songyan picked up the stack of papers and presented it with both hands.

By the oil lamp and moonlight, the girl carefully flipped through the pages, occasionally making an "Oh" sound.

When she reached the final page, she raised her head and said with complete satisfaction:

"So Lady White was even more formidable than I thought. She could even go to the Heavenly Court and steal the elixir of immortality. Mm, where was Fahai? He had already confirmed that Lady White was a snake demon, so why didn't he come capture her?"

Good question. That was exactly where I got stuck just now... You're actually hoping Lady White gets captured? If she really were captured, you'd be sniffling and crying again. As fellow white snakes, your sense of immersion must be pretty strong, huh? While keeping his entire body taut, Ding Songyan instinctively grumbled inwardly to ease his urge to urinate.

Without having time to think it over, he blurted out:

"Didn't you just say so yourself? Lady White could go to the Heavenly Court and steal the elixir of immortality. She was far stronger than Fahai. Fahai was searching far and wide for helpers, seeking to make absolutely certain of victory."

"Lady White had just given birth to Xu Shilin, and her body was still very weak. Wouldn't that make her terribly vulnerable?" The girl immediately grew anxious over what came next, her eyes burning as she waited for Ding Songyan's answer.

You're planning to ask all the way to the ending, aren't you? Ding Songyan sighed helplessly.

"Lady White has helpers too.

"There is a great hero in the martial world called Yan Nantian. He most loved seeing lovers finally become husband and wife, and did not think there was anything wrong with demons and humans falling in love. When the time came, he would happen upon them and draw his blade to help."

With danger all around and time pressing, Ding Songyan had evolved from adapting the story to making things up wholesale.

The girl drew out a long "Oh," visibly relieved.

"Then I'll hear the full details tomorrow." She smiled and rose to her feet.

Seeing that she bore no ill will, Ding Songyan gradually recovered from his fear at encountering a snake demon for the first time. Half curious and half hoping to draw closer to her, he asked:

"Miss, are you also called Bai Suzhen?"

The girl burst into laughter.

"It isn't quite such a fated coincidence. Didn't I tell you already? My name is Xiaoqing."

"Aren't you a white snake...? I thought Xiaoqing referred to your maid, because the color of her clothes is blue-green," Ding Songyan explained.

"Can't a white snake be called Xiaoqing?" The girl was in an excellent mood, her smile carrying a hint of teasing. "Is it not allowed for my name to contain the character 'qing'?"

Fine, fine, whatever you say is right! Ding Songyan was just about to speak when a sudden dizziness struck his head.

It lasted only an instant before he returned to normal. Before him lay cool, watery stillness; where was the figure in plain white robes and a white skirt?

He was still in the posture of having just set his brush onto the brush rack. He had not turned around to look toward the wooden bed.

Everything just now—the white-skirted snake demon just now—had been like a dream of yellow millet he had accidentally had while writing a detailed outline for a storybook.

The dim yellow of the oil lamp and the bright purity of moonlight intertwined, hazy and dreamlike.

"I wasn't asleep..." Ding Songyan calmed himself and sensed his surroundings for a while, but detected no lingering fragrance.

Yet he still believed that the girl named Xiaoqing had truly come.

The pages containing his story outline, spread across the wooden chest, had been moved from their original positions.

Sigh, storytellers in this world were a high-risk profession too. Who knew what strange and bizarre things might come listen to your stories? If you whetted their appetite too much, if the ending failed to satisfy them—hiss, he did not dare imagine the outcome... Ding Songyan seriously considered whether he should report it to the authorities.

It took him only the time it took to drink half a cup of tea to make his decision:

So what if she was a snake demon?

Couldn't a snake demon become a friend?

The reason I initially valued Xiaoqing and wanted to build some sort of connection with her was that I thought her family background ought to be quite good. Her heart seemed kind enough, and she still retained some innocent, charming naivety. None of that has changed now, so naturally my thoughts will not change either.

Whether she was human or demon did not affect that judgment. It was not as if I wanted to become Xu Xian.

Moreover, after this incident, Ding Songyan felt that he and Xiaoqing were no longer quite so unfamiliar with each other. They now shared a bit of a secret, and many matters that had previously been difficult to bring up or ask about could now perhaps be tested with a question or two.

Ding Songyan let out a breath. Thinking of the plot points he had hastily fabricated before Xiaoqing earlier made his head ache.

He had to make use of them. He could deceive anyone, but he could not deceive the God of Wealth—especially a God of Wealth who could swallow him whole in one bite!

After reviewing what he had said earlier in his mind, he felt it was not bad. At the very least, it explained why Fahai did not dare confront Lady White directly, and instead merely lured Xu Xian to his lair, Jinshan Temple, to entice Lady White into coming to him.

With a plan in mind, Ding Songyan picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and continued working.

Dingjiang Prefecture only closed its city gates and had no curfew, but in the deep of night, its narrow alleys were still empty and silent.

A maid in a blue-green gauze skirt chased after Xiaoqing, asking worriedly:

"Miss, why did you use a transformation technique to frighten Second Master Ding?"

Xiaoqing was still wearing the purple outfit from the daytime. She looked slender and delicate. Breathing in the cool night air, she was in a fine mood as she swung her arms and said:

"He deceived me first. He had clearly only just thought up that story, yet he claimed it was a newly learned storybook. The same went for that tune. I asked around—there was no such musical form!"

"B-but what if he reports it to the authorities and says he encountered a snake demon?" the maid asked anxiously.

Xiaoqing gave a soft laugh.

"He doesn't know, but don't the Yi clan and the Xiaoming Sect know? After Emperor Zhuanxu severed the connection between Heaven and Earth, how could there still be snake demons able to transform into humans?"

"That's true." The maid relaxed, muttering to herself, "And there are quite a few schools with cultivation methods that can produce a snake body. It would not be easy to guess."

As Xiaoqing walked briskly toward the main street, swinging her arms back and forth, she said with a grin:

"Maintaining human form in daily life and revealing a snake tail only when one wishes to—only those in the Celestial-Human Realm can do that. If Second Master Ding reports it to the authorities, I guarantee he'll give the Yi clan and Xiaoming Sect people quite a fright."

"Mhm, mhm!" The maid grew happy along with her mistress. "Other than grandmasters of the Celestial-Human Realm, only a few martial arts skilled in transformation can accomplish such a thing..."

At that point, she suddenly froze.

"Miss, might the Yi clan and Xiaoming Sect people guess our identities because of this and ruin what comes later?"

"That's right..." Xiaoqing blinked and stopped walking.

After a few breaths, she pursed her lips and said:

"Second Master Ding probably won't report it to the authorities.

"Even if he truly goes to the yamen, Uncle Second will be the one troubled by it. At most, I'll receive some punishment and be confined indoors. I'm used to that anyway."

For a moment, the maid had nothing to say. Seeing that her mistress no longer dwelled on the matter, she too relaxed.

After thinking for a moment, she asked:

"Miss, do you think we can finish listening to Legend of the White Snake before we leave Dingjiang Prefecture?"

"We should be able to." Xiaoqing pondered for a while, then said fiercely, "If not, on the night before we leave, I'll tie up Second Master Ding and make him tell stories all night, until he reaches the ending!"

"Good, good, good!" The maid thoroughly agreed.

Free of worries once more, mistress and maid giggled and playfully bickered as they strolled through the sparsely populated streets and alleys toward Tianyang Guildhall.

Under the blazing sun, beneath a large tree outside Dangkang Temple.

Working from yesterday's draft outline, Ding Songyan added Yan Nantian and pushed the story onward until Fahai "lured" Xu Xian to his lair at Jinshan Temple.

Seeing Xiaoqing once again wear an indignant expression of "How can it end here?", he knew she would most likely come to his door again tonight. He therefore suppressed the urge to ask for information on the spot.

There were too many people here, too many ears. It was no place for conversation.

He would ask when the night was deep and all was quiet.

After making do with lunch, Ding Songyan remembered Qin Nuangsheng's reminder from yesterday. He made his way to Longxing Street and found Yannian Medical Hall, Doctor Shao's clinic.

The moment he entered, before he could even ask anything, he spotted a familiar figure sitting in a chair off to the side.

It was Qu Zhongheng, with one leg and three eyes.

Qingyan had even told me to bring the gift she prepared to Baoping Lane tonight to thank Third Master Qu. Who would have thought I'd run into him at Yannian Medical Hall at noon...? Ding Songyan walked over and asked Qu Zhongheng, whose horizontal eye on his forehead was tightly shut:

"Third Master Qu, what happened?"

Qu Zhongheng looked up at him, then said weakly:

"My father suddenly suffered unbearable abdominal pain, so I had no choice but to bring him to Doctor Shao. Doctor Shao said the situation was not good and that his abdomen had to be opened."

Open his abdomen? Ding Songyan instinctively wanted to dig at his ears, suspecting that he had misheard.

Wasn't the style of that phrase a little off?

He had only just sat down when the wooden door separating the inner and outer rooms opened. Doctor Shao, dressed in a blue gauze robe, emerged from within, followed by two youths and two boys.

One of the boys carried a wooden tray. On it lay willow-leaf-shaped thin blades stained with blood, flat-edged thin blades, round needles, forceps, scissors, catgut thread, and other items.

Third Master Qu sprang to his feet and hopped toward Doctor Shao.

Doctor Shao nodded gently.

"Your father had an intestinal blockage. I have removed that section and stitched the two sides back together..."

As he explained the situation, Ding Songyan listened with his eyes wide and jaw slack.

Medical arts in this world had developed to such a level?

"He will need to remain at the clinic for at least a month afterward." Doctor Shao then turned to Ding Songyan. "Wait a moment. I need to clean up."

"Of course, Doctor Shao." Only today did Ding Songyan notice that Doctor Shao's pupils seemed tinged with a hint of white.

Once they sat down again, Third Master Qu visibly relaxed and sighed to Ding Songyan beside him:

"Before Emperor Zhuanxu severed the connection between Heaven and Earth, our clan had Jiliang Divine Horses. As long as one rode one, one could live to a thousand years old. Nowadays, not only do Jiliang Divine Horses themselves struggle to live long and are nearly extinct, but even if one truly encountered one through a great stroke of fortune, riding it would grant at most two hundred years of life."

Two hundred years isn't little... I only lived to my early thirties in my previous life... Ding Songyan muttered inwardly.

"By today's standards, two hundred years is still not bad." Third Master Qu spoke to himself. "If Jiliang Divine Horses truly still existed, how could my father suffer such pain before even reaching seventy?"

"At least Doctor Shao is here. He can save him," Ding Songyan offered in consolation.

He did not ask why First Master Qu and Second Master Qu had not appeared. Ding Qingyan had not mentioned it before either. Based on what he knew of the Qu family's obsession with mechanisms and the frequent accidents that resulted, it was better not to ask.

After chatting with him for a while, Ding Songyan took out the crafted item his younger sister had bought, box and all, handed it to Qu Zhongheng, and expressed his gratitude.

Qu Zhongheng showed a faint smile.

"Qingyan is truly thoughtful. Then I will not stand on ceremony.

"Second Master Ding, I used to think you were timid and shrinking, not like a man. If not for Qingyan, I would not even have wished to acknowledge you. But now, it seems you are still quite a decent person."

Brother, if you don't know how to speak, then don't speak... You can forget about ever marrying my sister in this lifetime! Ding Songyan realized that Third Master Qu's emotional intelligence was truly low—the sort who could not even pretend.

Still, dealing with someone like this meant he did not need to keep eight hundred schemes in his heart at all times, nor worry that the man would say one thing to his face and another behind his back.

After thinking it over, Ding Songyan changed the subject.

"Third Master Qu, do you never use the eye on your forehead?"