“Honored Guest”

Ding Songyan was both puzzled and lost. He pointed toward the direction of the alley's well and said,

"Xiaoqing, did you just see mist rising over there, and a figure walking within it?"

Xiaoqing and her maid followed Ding Songyan's finger and looked, both shaking their heads.

"No."

After a moment of thought, Xiaoqing's eyes lit up, and she said with considerable curiosity:

"Tell me in detail what you saw."

Ding Songyan described the details of the mist seeming to merge into the dark night, the figures either tattered in clothes or clad in armor and holding sharp weapons, and finally said:

"It wasn't my hallucination, right?"

A bright and stunning smile appeared on Xiaoqing's face:

"No, no, no. What you saw was netherworld scenery."

"Netherworld scenery?" Ding Songyan was startled.

A scene of the underworld?

Xiaoqing nodded repeatedly. She circled around Ding Songyan, walking slowly while looking him up and down:

"It should be, though I can't be sure yet. When I collect some spiritual rhinoceros horns one day and light them to take you for a glimpse of the netherworld scenery, you can see for yourself if it's the same as what you saw today."

"So you were born with Yin-Yang Eyes. They are Yang eyes by day, and Yin eyes by night."

Similar to Qu Sanlang, except that both Yin and Yang were concentrated in these two eyes without being separated? Ding Songyan looked around anxiously, wanting to see if there were any lonely ghosts nearby.

"That's not right either." Xiaoqing suddenly frowned again and stopped in her tracks. "Once a person born with Yin-Yang Eyes can see netherworld scenery, they can always see it, unless someone with the corresponding cultivation method helped them place a seal. How could you see it sometimes and not other times?"

"I don't know why either." Ding Songyan was equally baffled.

He began to suspect that this might stem from his "return from the dead," possessing both mortal and netherworld traits, and that this peculiarity would gradually disappear as he grew increasingly closer to this body and became more fully a living person.

Xiaoqing muttered to herself:

"If it were natural Yin-Yang Eyes, cultivation techniques that connect to the netherworld or can borrow netherworld power would yield twice the result with half the effort. It's a pity your situation is unclear. If I happen to meet someone from the corresponding sects in the future, I'll help you ask."

"Thank you, Xiaoqing, but there's no need to go to any special trouble." Ding Songyan actually didn't want Xiaoqing to inquire about sects involving the netherworld, as that might very well expose his biggest secret.

Just as Xiaoqing was about to speak, the sound of the night watchman's wooden clappers rang out from the distant street.

"Midnight is here! Dry weather and crisp air, watch out for candles!"

"It's midnight?" Xiaoqing was startled and quickly said to Ding Songyan, "Second Brother Ding, you'd better enjoy the cool air in the courtyard. We must hurry back."

She mumbled, adding an almost silent sentence:

"Or else we'll be discovered..."

As Xiaoqing reached out her hand, Ding Songyan's vision went dark and then bright. With a slight sway of his body, he was already back in the courtyard, seeing their own elm-money tree and the simple shed piled with firewood and coal.

The mosquitoes and moths that used to fly around wildly had all disappeared at this moment. Only the moonlight was like water, driving away the stuffiness of the summer night.

Is this a change brought by Xiaoqing? Having a snake demon at home is actually quite nice; I no longer have to worry about mosquito bites... Do snake demons drive away mosquitoes? As Ding Songyan's gaze drifted, it abruptly froze again.

His eyes reflected the tightly closed door of the main house and the fully shut wooden windows of the western side room.

"..." His mouth twitched.

Wasn't this still making it impossible for him to go back to his room to sleep?

He couldn't possibly pound on the door and wake his eldest brother, saying he somehow ended up in the courtyard, could he?

Amidst his fluttering thoughts, Ding Songyan tried hard to tell himself that several thousand years had passed since the isolation of heaven and earth, so snake demons probably couldn't walk through walls and pierce the void anymore. Xiaoqing most likely entered the side room through a normal "passage."

He came to the western wooden window, tried pushing it, and found that it really could be pushed open. It wasn't latched from the inside.

Whew... Ding Songyan let out a sigh of relief.

The next day, because Xu Chang'an had to go deal with the "inheritance" of his master Zhang Rui, Ding Songyan went outside Dangkang Temple alone to hawk his storytelling.

Compared to the previous few days, the number of people coming to listen to him tell the Legend of the White Snake had multiplied severalfold. Three full layers surrounded the inside and outside, and Xiaoqing and her maid moved lightweight embroidered stools as usual to sit right at the front.

The plot segment of flooding Jinshan Temple was full of dramatic tension, containing both the marvelousness of magical combat, the explosion of emotions, and the struggle of human nature. It made many female spectators gradually tear up, and quite a few males also pressed at their tear ducts and eye corners from time to time.

When the story reached the point where Lady White committed a heavenly crime and was eternally suppressed under Leifeng Pagoda, Ding Songyan folded his folding fan with a snap and struck his palm:

"As the saying goes, a thousand years to wait once, wait once... Just for this line, ah, even breaking one's intestines brings no resentment..." (See note 1 of the previous chapter)

As the song rang out and the phrase "a thousand years to wait once" entered their minds, one spectator after another burst into tears directly.

Xiaoqing had thought she already knew the story's content and had been moved once yesterday, so she shouldn't lose her composure this morning. Yet when "a thousand years to wait once," which hadn't been sung last night, was performed, blending the scenery with her feelings and piercing deep into her heart, she still failed to control herself. Her eye sockets instantly turned red, and tears slipped down unconsciously.

Her maid had already taken out a handkerchief during the earlier part and was sobbing.

After a moment, Ding Songyan, who couldn't remember how the rest was sung, stopped right there and stated that there would be a next installment. This made the spectators collectively put their minds at ease, knowing the story wouldn't end with eternal suppression under Leifeng Pagoda, and so they stopped blocking his way and let Second Brother Ding leave.

I almost got trapped; this storytelling is quite hazardous... Ding Songyan waved at Xiaoqing, who was still giving lavish financial rewards, and turned to head toward North Water Street.

Having heard his subsequent ideas, Xiaoqing didn't pursue the matter further. Holding a cyan silk handkerchief, she wiped the corners of her eyes while searching for a restaurant.

After finishing off a pork-stuffed steamed bun, a vegetable-stuffed steamed bun, and a red-bean-paste-stuffed steamed bun, Ding Songyan arrived at the Zhen estate at a moderate pace.

In this world, at least in Dingjiang Prefecture, baozi and mantou were confused with each other and both called mantou. The ones without stuffing were white mantou, and the ones with stuffing were called such-and-such-stuffed mantou.

Ding Songyan's choice was a mix of meat and vegetables, sweet and savory alike.

Upon entering the Zhen Estate, he didn't go to pay his respects to his cousin Qin Nuangsheng, but instead met Mr. Yu in the Listening Water Pavilion. Mr. Yu had white outer edges to his ears and exceptionally long hands and legs.

"Have you considered it?" Mr. Yu asked.

"Replying to Mr. Yu, I have considered it. I'd like to tell stories to that distinguished guest," Ding Songyan said, cupping his fist.

Mr. Yu unusually revealed a trace of a smile:

"Courageous."

He motioned for Ding Songyan to follow him, winding through corridors and pavilions deep within the massive Zhen estate.

Ding Songyan maintained his silence, moving forward while observing the surrounding environment. He memorized things that could mark their location, such as flower colors, rockery conditions, couplet contents, dougong eaves, and mica windows.

The two of them walked further and became more secluded, to the point where even menservants and maidservants disappeared.

Finally, Mr. Yu stopped in front of a two-story wooden building half-concealed among flowering trees.

Two blade-wielding guards stood watch at the entrance, both dressed in dark blue martial attire.

They looked straight ahead without blinking and didn't stop Mr. Yu and Ding Songyan from entering.

Mr. Yu stopped in the main hall, took out a thick black cloth strip, and said to Ding Songyan:

"Your eyes need to be covered next."

That distinguished guest doesn't even want people to see his face? This is far too suspicious! Ding Songyan asked no questions, allowing Mr. Yu to wrap that strip of black cloth twice around his face and tie a knot.

His vision consequently plunged into darkness.

Then, he felt a person on his left and right approach, supporting his arms and leading him to circle around inside the wooden building, occasionally going upstairs and downstairs.

Gradually, a sense of coolness grew intense.

This was a stretch of stone stairs leading downward.

Not long after, Ding Songyan heard the sound of heavy iron doors opening.

He was led inside.

This doesn't look like a place where a distinguished guest lives at all... If you ask me, isn't this a secret prison? As Ding Songyan's thoughts churned, he was settled onto a wooden chair.

After the heavy iron door closed, an aged voice that sounded as though it were grinding iron with sand rang out beside his ear:

"Newcomer?"

One of the people who had supported Ding Songyan all the way here said in a deep voice:

"Old sir, this is Second Brother Ding. He tells stories outside Dangkang Temple and recently wrote a vernacular tale named the Legend of the White Snake, which is quite popular. Our old master thought you hadn't heard it yet, so he specifically sent him over."

That grating voice sounded once more:

"Second Brother Ding, what relation do you have with the Zhen family?"

"Replying to the old sir, the cousin from my aunt's side is the concubine of the Zhen family's second master, so I count as half a member of the Zhen family," Ding Songyan raised his status.

"No wonder." That aged, hoarse voice gradually grew lower: "Begin your tale."

Ding Songyan gathered his wits and started from, "In ancient times, in the southwestern border, beneath Mount Qingcheng."

Compared to his initial narration outside Dangkang Temple, he added more details, making the story flow with better tension and release.

Although he couldn't see the audience's expressions, that "distinguished guest" would occasionally remark "a bit interesting" or "not bad," giving him feedback and allowing him to narrate more and more fluidly.

As he reached Fahai's entrance and prepared to wrap up, Ding Songyan inexplicably felt a strange sensation.

The crown of his head seemed to spring open instantly, and a coolness dropped in, echoing into an aged, hoarse voice:

"Did you just read the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas recently?"

Ding Songyan's gaze froze instantly.

How does he know?

I haven't told a single soul about this lethal secret!

Can he read minds?

I wasn't even thinking about the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas just now either!

"Do not speak; Zhen Qianfan can hear," that voice continued to echo in Ding Songyan's mind.

"It" carried a hint of a smile:

"Throughout my life, what I excel at most is the Dao of divination. Naturally, I can peer through your secret affairs."

He doesn't look like he's going to coerce me or broadcast my secret at the moment... Is this voice transmission or some other method? Moreover, he seems very guarded against Old Master Zhen? Ding Songyan steadied his nerves, reached out to feel and pick up the teacup from beside him, and took a sip.

"Not bad. Little friend, you possess a quiet composure in your heart, realizing it so quickly and beginning to conceal the abnormality from just now," that aged, hoarse voice praised.

When Ding Songyan handed back the teacup, his emotions had preliminarily stabilized. He wrapped up today's storytelling as if nothing had happened at all.

That voice was still echoing in his mind:

"If you don't believe that I excel at the Dao of divination, go to the perfume shop on Hongxiu Street in Beili Ward to wait before the hour of You today. Wait until the second quarter of the hour of You, and you will surely have a stroke of destiny."

Such kindhearted guidance? What does he want me to do next? It's pathetic how I have no strength to truss a chicken, yet I keep running into things... Ding Songyan's eyebrows twitched beneath the black cloth cover.