The Ding Family

Ding Qingyan did not continue down the bustling street. Tugging Ding Songyan by the sleeve, she turned into a side alley.

Coming toward them was a group of men and women in fitted black outfits, silver starlight embroidered on their left sleeves and orange-yellow Zhuhuo painted on their right.

They swept past in a flash, leaving the scene rippling gently like water in their wake.

Seeing Ding Songyan stare after the group's vanishing backs, Ding Qingyan pursed her Ba-lips and said:

"People from the Xiaoming Sect. They should be heading to where someone just used martial force to violate the law."

"Martial sects handle this sort of thing too?" Ding Songyan asked thoughtfully.

Ding Qingyan laughed.

"Mm. It has been this way since the Youqiong Dynasty. The founding ancestor of this dynasty even made the Jade Book Pact with all the great sects, agreeing that renowned righteous sects and great aristocratic clans could 'reduce taxes and grain levies, oversee criminal cases and prisons, and assist with patrols and defense.' Dingjiang Prefecture and the three counties to the north belong to the Xiaoming Sect. Second Brother, you were the one who told me all this after learning storytelling..."

As she spoke, Ding Qingyan remembered her brother's current condition. Her voice gradually lowered until she fell silent.

"Storytelling? Storytelling teaches this stuff too?" Ding Songyan had not expected his current occupation to be that of a storyteller.

Damn, I didn't remember a single professional skill. I couldn't exactly give everyone a PowerPoint presentation, could I?

Ding Qingyan nodded slightly and continued onward.

"There are four schools of storytelling: telling history—well, telling tales of ancient times; telling martial world lore and anecdotes; telling romances and legends; and telling criminal cases. Before you came to Dingjiang Prefecture, you were learning to tell stories of ancient times."

"I see..." Ding Songyan digested his identity.

Ding Qingyan glanced sideways at him.

"Second Brother, we can't afford to provoke those martial artists just now. Still, they aren't the truly formidable sort. The really powerful ones can be recognized at a glance."

"Recognized at a glance? Do they have the words 'I am an expert' written on their faces?" Ding Songyan deliberately used a joking tone to draw more information from Ding Qingyan.

Ding Qingyan curled her Ba-lips.

"Of course not. Go listen to the storytellers outside the Dangkang Temple yourself later.

"Mm, many martial arts originated from celestial gods and strange beasts from before Emperor Zhuanxu severed the connection between Heaven and Earth. Once cultivated to a profound level, they more or less bring bodily changes. Some people's ears become like a tiger's, some grow golden feathers, some have skin that turns entirely blue, some sprout two pairs of ox horns from their heads, and some trail a fox tail behind them. Second Brother, if you see people like that, they're either foreign races or experts!"

Emperor Zhuanxu... There was an Emperor Zhuanxu here too? Ding Songyan chose to set aside that question for now.

"What abnormalities would Xiaoming Sect martial arts produce at a profound level?"

If he had the chance, he still needed to cling to the local tyrant's thigh. He absolutely could not fail to recognize Mount Tai when it stood before him.

Ding Qingyan thought seriously for a moment.

"Seems like there's nothing especially unusual... They say their inheritance comes from the two goddesses Xiaoming and Candlelight, daughters of Emperor Shun, so they look no different from ordinary people. Uh, Chong pupils! I heard Father mention that he had seen a Chong-pupiled Xiaoming Sect expert. As for anything else, I don't know."

Emperor Shun? Ding Songyan fell silent once more.

Not long after, the siblings turned into a street where cooking smoke curled skyward.

"Second Son Ding, you're back?"

"Where did you go? Your father and mother have been looking everywhere for you."

"Which family's young lady did you run off with?"

The neighbors gathered around the well at the alley entrance asked Ding Songyan and Ding Qingyan questions, some concerned, some teasing.

Ding Qingyan answered them haphazardly, dragging Ding Songyan swiftly through the crowd until they reached a house at the end of the alley.

She took a bronze-colored key from her waist, unlocked the padlock hanging on the door, and pushed the two wooden doors inward.

Once her brother entered, she quickly pulled the main gate nearly shut again, patting her chest as she let out a breath.

Ding Songyan took the opportunity to look around.

It was a small courtyard. On the left stood a Chinese elm, with several ropes strung between it and a wooden post beside the water jar, clothes hanging out to dry upon them. On the right was a crude wooden shed, its mottled stone steps separating inside from outside. Within were piled coal chunks and firewood.

A few steps straight ahead from the gate stood the main building, with a side room on either side. The main hall held many odds and ends. On the square table sat four dishes and a wooden bucket of rice, covered by a gauze food cover with a coarse green lattice.

Ding Songyan came to the doorway of the main hall and turned his gaze toward a bronze mirror resting atop a cluttered chest, polished to a bright shine.

At last, he saw what he looked like now:

He wore a moon-white scholar's robe, no crown or headscarf, his hair simply tied with a strip of blue cloth. His features were quite decent. Though he could not be called handsome or jade-tree graceful, he was still a proper, open-faced fair-skinned scholar.

I knew it. With a younger sister like Ding Qingyan, this body couldn't possibly be that ugly... Ding Songyan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that he had transmigrated, who wouldn't want a handsome face?

Having removed her white gauze veiled hat, Ding Qingyan paced over and sat on a round stool beside the square table. Resting her cheek on one hand, she fixed her dark, shining eyes intently on Ding Songyan.

With a guilty conscience, Ding Songyan felt his scalp prickle under her stare. He looked around, intending to find something to say.

"Father is named Ding Shengyi," Ding Qingyan suddenly said. "Mother is named Liu Yuzhao. Eldest Brother is named Ding Daniu. Don't forget them. They'll be sad."

Ding Daniu? His name had a completely different flavor from the other four... Ding Songyan asked in confusion:

"Little Sister, what do you mean?"

Ding Qingyan let out a breath.

"I mean, you've forgotten everything, but you still remember their names. That will give them some comfort."

Hearing that, Ding Songyan abruptly fell silent.

Would everyone in my previous world be sad over my death, or something like it?

Amid the silence, the nearly closed courtyard gate was pushed open, and a woman and a man entered one after the other.

The woman was dressed as a married woman. Her features were graceful and beautiful, and beneath her tranquil bearing was a trace of cool aloofness. She appeared only thirty-four or thirty-five, dressed in a green round-collared, front-opening jacket with subtle patterns and a gray-blue horse-face skirt. In her hand was a black gauze veiled hat.

The man was in his forties, wearing a square flat-topped headscarf and a gray straight robe. His features were proper, while his demeanor was somewhat soft and feminine.

"Mother, Father, Second Brother doesn't remember anything!" Ding Qingyan shot to her feet and ran into the courtyard.

Little Sister, what did you just say? I'd like to hear that part about "comfort" again... Ding Songyan could not help grumbling inwardly.

"He only remembers what you're called!" Ding Qingyan abruptly changed her tune.

Liu Yuzhao's expression froze. She hurried several steps to Ding Songyan's side and checked the black mole birthmark behind his right ear.

Only after doing so did she reach out to touch Ding Songyan's head.

"Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't." Ding Songyan answered truthfully.

Judging by this body's approximate age and the fact that he had an elder brother, Ding Songyan concluded that Liu Yuzhao should already be in her early forties. Yet perhaps she had been blessed with natural beauty, for she looked four or five years younger than her actual age.

Liu Yuzhao furrowed her brows slightly.

"Then how could you have forgotten everything?"

"Has he developed a wandering soul affliction?" Ding Shengyi also began examining Ding Songyan's condition.

Ding Songyan considered for a moment.

"Father, Mother, what happened to me before this?"

Ding Shengyi circled Ding Songyan once, observing him as he spoke.

"More than half a year ago, we came to Dingjiang Prefecture to seek refuge with your Cousin Nuansheng from your aunt's family. Using the favor owed to her by the Zhen Residence, she found me work as a clerk at the county yamen. She also arranged things with the head of the local storytelling guild, allowing you to set up outside Dangkang Temple and tell stories.

"Today, at the hour of Shen, you should have returned home. We waited a long time without seeing you, and when we went to Dangkang Temple, we learned that you had left on your own long ago. No one knew where you had gone."

After Ding Shengyi finished, Liu Yuzhao asked Ding Qingyan:

"Where did you find Second Son?"

"In the ruined temple on the way to the Potter's Field..." Ding Qingyan recounted the situation in detail.

Left on his own... It didn't seem like suicide. If he truly wanted to kill himself, sinking into the riverbank nearby would have been quicker and more convenient... When I woke up, there was no rope hanging from the beam, nor any medicine bottle beside me... Why would he leave the city for that ruined temple for no reason? Wait, did I go there directly from where I told stories? Then why didn't I have any silver, copper coins, or any other currency on me? It wasn't possible that I earned not a single coin all day, was it? Did I go somewhere along the way, or did someone take it after I died? The more Ding Songyan pondered, the stranger the matter seemed.

After weighing his words, he said:

"Father, Mother, could someone have been trying to harm me?"

He suspected that Ding Songyan had become entangled in something. Going to the ruined temple outside the city was part of it, after which someone killed him and took the money on him.

"We've only just arrived in Dingjiang Prefecture. How could we have offended anyone..." Ding Shengyi, who looked like a middle-aged scholar, frowned in thought.

Liu Yuzhao, tranquil and cool as she was, suddenly changed expression.

"Second Son, let us go to the Zhen Residence and find your Cousin Nuansheng.

"If someone really is trying to harm you, now that they know you escaped death, they likely will not let the matter rest!"

That was right. There might still be great danger lurking in this affair... With his life at stake, Ding Songyan did not dare be negligent and immediately agreed.

"Wait a moment." Ding Shengyi strode quickly into the main hall and turned toward the eastern side room.

Not long after, he came out carrying an old lotus pouch purse. As he handed it to Liu Yuzhao, he pointed at his own head and said solemnly:

"The Zhen Residence not only keeps experts as attendants, but also has a divine physician in its employ. If Second Son's wandering soul affliction can be cured, don't be stingy with money."

"Father, I've saved some money too!" Ding Qingyan turned, about to dash back to her room.

"Don't be hasty. Let's see what the divine physician says first." Liu Yuzhao stopped her daughter.

With a bang, the courtyard gate was pushed open, followed by a rumbling voice that crashed like thunder.

"Mother, is Second Son all right?"

A hulking man over nine feet tall burst into the courtyard. He wore a short gray coarse-cloth jacket, his hair wrapped in a dark blue strip of cloth like Ding Songyan's. His eyes were like bronze bells, his face covered in beard, and his mouth protruded. He looked both ugly and fierce.

Mother? This fierce warrior was my eldest brother? Ding Songyan's gaze moved back and forth several times among Ding Daniu, Liu Yuzhao, Ding Shengyi, and Ding Qingyan.

He felt that he had been born from a blend of his father's and mother's good and bad traits. His younger sister Ding Qingyan, on the other hand, seemed to have inherited only the finest qualities, with Heaven's favor adding an even better mutation. No matter what, both of them bore traces of resemblance to their parents. But Ding Daniu looked utterly unrelated to this family, like a black ox that had wandered into a flock of sheep—an obvious outsider at first glance.

Combined with his differently styled name, he couldn't really have been picked up by the riverbank, could he?

Liu Yuzhao glanced at Ding Daniu and said coldly:

"You returned so late that even if Second Son had been in trouble, you would have been of no help."

Ding Daniu abruptly stood straight, lowered his hands, and said timidly:

"My strides are big, so I searched farther away..."

Liu Yuzhao withdrew her gaze, her face still cold.

"Take something to defend yourself with. Escort Second Son and me to the Zhen Residence."

"Yes, Mother!" Ding Daniu immediately brightened and swiftly rummaged out an iron rod as thick as an arm from the firewood pile.

The iron rod's surface was quite rough, covered in lumps and pits, as though it had been forged from discarded failed metal. It looked exceptionally Chong, yet Ding Daniu held it as easily as if it were a child's toy.

Born with divine strength? Ding Songyan felt much more at ease and followed Liu Yuzhao out through the courtyard gate.