History

The imperial throne meant the Celestial Emperor's seat? And the Human Emperor was the emperor of the mortal world? Ding Songyan suddenly developed an immense interest in the book in his hands.

Hearing his answer, Ding Qingyan looked enlightened.

"There's no need to rush, is there? Second Brother, rest a few more days first."

"Reading is a kind of rest, too." Ding Songyan always had an answer.

Ding Qingyan stopped trying to persuade him. She went behind the screen and brought out books, paper, brushes, an inkstone, and ink.

"I'm off to practice my writing." Her voice was light as she turned toward the main room.

Ding Songyan waved a hand and devoted his attention to the storybook.

The storybook was very sketchy. Of ancient times, it mentioned only that Zhuanxu had ascended the imperial throne and ordered Chong and Li to carry out the severance of heaven and earth. Afterward, the Celestial Emperor still walked among mortals, serving concurrently as the Human Emperor. Tang Yao, Yu Shun, and Xia Yu held the position in succession. Once Qi of Xia became the Human Emperor, there were no more accounts of a Celestial Emperor appearing in the world.

According to the annotations in the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas, wasn't Emperor Zhuanxu the Northern Emperor-the Black Emperor of the north? He was one of the Five Emperors of the Five Directions, but certainly not the highest one. Why do all these storybooks list him as the Celestial Emperor between the Yellow Emperor and Tang Yao... For people today who lack an inheritance, ancient events are indeed hard to verify, but surely they couldn't get the person who led something as momentous as the severance of heaven and earth wrong? And all the accounts agree... Who but the Celestial Emperor could have led the severance of heaven and earth? Ding Songyan quickly leafed through the other books again.

He mulled it over for a long time before venturing an uncertain guess.

The Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas was supposedly copied from the Emperor-Annotated Classic of Mountains and Seas, and all the major sects value it so highly. It's unlikely to be wrong about this.

Could the Celestial Emperor be a position rather than an inheritance, one anyone who unites with the Great Dao can hold?

Or perhaps the inheritance and the position can be separated. Even someone with the inheritance can't become the Celestial Emperor before reaching the corresponding realm. Instead, whichever of the Black Emperor, Azure Emperor, Flame Emperor, or White Emperor has united with the Great Dao holds the position concurrently, then relinquishes it once someone with the appropriate inheritance reaches the Celestial Emperor's realm?

Even after the severance of heaven and earth, the Celestial Emperor still ruled the mortal world. Only when Qi established the Xia dynasty did he suddenly disappear. What reason lies hidden behind that?

Unable to work it out, Ding Songyan gave it no further thought. What did secrets from the age of myth have to do with an ordinary storyteller like him? There was no need to waste time.

He continued browsing the rest of the contents.

"Xia declined after a thousand years. Youqiong replaced Xia, and its reign lasted six hundred..."

According to the historical storybooks, the Xia dynasty had lasted a full thousand years, far longer than the Xia dynasty Ding Songyan remembered from his previous life. That was the first difference.

And what replaced Xia was not Shang of the dark bird, but a tribe called Youqiong. Its dynasty lasted more than six hundred years, though its final two hundred-odd years had already seen rival lords rise up. To save himself trouble, Ding Songyan directly equated that era with the Spring and Autumn Period.

After the Youqiong dynasty fell, rival powers fought for supremacy for just over four hundred years. A hundred schools of thought contended. The sage Master Zuo established military institutions and reformed the laws in his youth, spread Confucian teachings and honored ritual in middle age, and founded Daoism in his old age, expounding on the Dao and virtue.

The Ying State ended the struggle for supremacy. After unifying the world and subduing the Hundred Tribes, it took "Qin" as its national name, and the Son of Heaven of that time called himself the First Emperor.

After more than two hundred years, Qin gave way to Han. Han, too, lasted eight hundred years and was likewise followed by the Three Kingdoms.

After that came Wei, but no Jin. Wei lasted fewer than three hundred years before the world plunged into chaos, and the founding emperor of the Current Dynasty set out from his position as Marquis of Zhao to unite all within the seas.

"Qin excelled in rhapsodies, Han in poetry, and Wei flourished in lyric verse. This..." Ding Songyan felt his mind reeling as he read.

All this history was familiar yet wrong. Many things he knew had been assembled in bizarre combinations, giving him the feeling that "the butterfly's dawn dream had bewildered Zhuang Zhou."

Forcing his emotions back under control, he calmly began searching for potentially useful information and patterns.

Quite a few dynasties are missing, and several new ones have appeared, but the dynasties I know-Xia, Qin, Han, and Wei-are in the right order...

Rhapsodies, poetry, and lyric verse also flourished in the right sequence, just not under the dynasties I remember...

To describe it in one word, it would be...

Ding Songyan's brow furrowed slightly.

Displacement!

A displaced spacetime? Having finished the storybook and gained some understanding of this world's history, he picked up the Four Treasures of the Study, left the western side room, and sat opposite Ding Qingyan. He spread out his paper and clumsily attempted to grind ink.

Ding Qingyan, who had been absorbed in practicing her writing, looked up at him and pushed her inkstone toward the middle.

"Use mine for now."

"All right." Ding Songyan readily accepted.

He had practiced brush calligraphy for only two or three years as a child. Though his posture was not outright wrong, once he put brush to paper, he was as rusty as could be, and the characters he produced were as ugly as could be.

Most importantly, he could write only simplified characters, and there were quite a few he found he had forgotten how to write as soon as he raised his brush. He intended to leave blanks for now, then ask Ding Qingyan about them all at once when he finished.

"Second Brother, what characters are you writing?" Ding Qingyan stretched out her jade-white neck to peer at the writing on the paper opposite her.

Ding Songyan answered with perfect composure.

"Haven't I lost most of my memories? I've forgotten lots of characters, too, so I can only write simplified versions. There are some I'll still have to ask you about."

See? Choosing "honesty" from the start really was the best choice. Now I don't have to rack my brains for all kinds of explanations and excuses. A casual answer can settle most problems.

"You've even forgotten how to write properly..." Ding Qingyan set down her brush, rose, and came around behind Ding Songyan. After studying his writing for a while, she murmured with some heartache, "People in the past used some of these characters. They're recognizable... Second Brother, what are you writing?"

"I suddenly had some inspiration last night and wanted to write a storybook about a demon and a human falling in love." Ding Songyan thought for a moment. "Once I finish everything, help me make a clean copy. I'll take it to the Storytellers' Association and see what price it'll fetch. Then I'll give you a share and help you save a little more money to tuck away at the bottom of your chest."

Ding Qingyan's eyes instantly lit up.

"Yes, yes!"

The mention of money reminded her of something.

"Second Brother, did you buy my gift for Qu Sanlang?"

"..." Ding Songyan fell silent for a moment. "I forgot."

"It's fine, it's fine. When I go out with Father or Mother to buy food tonight, I'll look along the way. Or tomorrow will do, too." Ding Qingyan waved a hand with a radiant smile, returned to her seat, and resumed practicing her writing.

She wrote a beautiful hand of delicate, flower-pin small regular script.

Ding Songyan lowered his head and immersed himself in creating the Legend of the White Snake.

This section had to develop from the point he remembered, where Xu Xian and Lady White opened a medicine shop, to the Dragon Boat Festival, when realgar wine forced White Snake to reveal her true form and frightened Xu Xian to death.

He had long since forgotten exactly what happened in between, so he could only make it up himself.

His approach was to begin with the collision between the white and green snakes' identities as demons and mortal society, bringing out what made the whole story unique.

Thus, Lady White first used magic to cause minor illnesses and improve the medicine shop's business, only to be moved and influenced by Xu Xian's concern for his patients, his neighbors, and the impoverished common folk, beginning to develop a "human heart." Then Xiaoqing punished a frivolous womanizer, setting off a series of events that gradually taught this naive snake demon what love was and helped her understand the feelings between her elder sister and Xu Xian. Finally, the two demons used their magical abilities to solve problems and win justice for Xu Xian's relatives, their neighbors, and the weak and suffering.

This section focused on satisfying payoffs while also allowing the characters to grow and change. Ding Songyan found writing it immensely gratifying and nearly added a few more episodes.

Still, he rationally reined himself in. He also cut most of the domestic squabbles, government-office affairs, and other material he could have expanded upon in the section about Xu Xian's relatives, because the White-Skirted Girl was not from Dingjiang Prefecture and would not stay here long.

Under these circumstances, a story that was too short would make it harder to build a connection and earn her goodwill, while one that was too long would keep her from hearing its finest parts before she left and taking away the deepest possible impression.

By the time he finished writing, the sun had slanted westward. Ding Songyan transferred his brush to his left hand and shook out his right wrist.

Even writing a brief outline took this long... As he reviewed the pages waiting to dry, he considered writing down the song "Madame White Under Qingcheng Mountain."

He felt that the White-Skirted Girl was young and probably very receptive to new things. She was unlikely to reject such a "peculiar" tune.

And the more peculiar something was, the deeper an impression it could leave on her, making her remember a person called Second Brother Ding.

That was one reason. The other was that Ding Songyan felt singing this song at certain points in the story could have the marvelous effect of painting in the dragon's eyes-for instance, when Lady White's emotions ran highest or her feelings were most profound.

Luckily, the lyrics are very simple, and people kept releasing covers later on. I heard it quite often... Ding Songyan soon finished writing the lyrics. For the tiny portion he could not clearly remember, he tried filling in the gaps himself.

"Second Brother, Xu Xian dies just like that?" While the ink dried and the pages were gathered together, Ding Qingyan read through the material, which resembled a detailed story outline, and found herself quite drawn in.

Ding Songyan gave a hum of assent.

"That's right."

"Then... then what happens? What comes next?" Ding Qingyan's eyes widened.

"Next?" Ding Songyan glanced at his younger sister. "There's nothing next."

"..." Ding Qingyan looked briefly stunned, then realized her brother was teasing her and began grumbling.

Only then did Ding Songyan say:

"The next episode is Lady White stealing the immortal herb to save Xu Xian."

If his "main audience" responded well, he could even add an episode in which Lady White bravely stormed the underworld and snatched Xu Xian's soul back from before Lady Meng.

"An immortal herb? Oh, the Immortality Elixir!" Ding Qingyan's expression relaxed.

Right. Given this world's folk traditions, the Immortality Elixir is easier to understand than an immortal herb... Just as Ding Songyan began pondering this, the half-closed door was pushed open.

Liu Yuzao walked in wearing a black gauze veil.

"Mother! Second Brother's problem is solved!" Still retaining a little of her childish nature, Ding Qingyan bounded over to greet her.

"Is it?" Liu Yuzao removed her veil and turned her gaze toward Ding Songyan.

Ding Songyan roughly repeated what he had told his younger sister earlier, making no mention of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas or the person who had truly supplied it. Liu Yuzao's expression gradually relaxed. Though it was not very obvious, a little joy still showed through.

She gave a hum of acknowledgment and said:

"If you have time tomorrow, pay a visit to the Zhen Estate. Your Sister Nuansheng was a great help, and there's Mr. Yu, too. You must thank them in person. Our family mustn't neglect proper courtesy."

By the time Ding Songyan agreed, Ding Qingyan had already caught hold of Liu Yuzao's sleeve and was pleading:

"Mother, let's celebrate today, shall we?"

Liu Yuzao nodded gently.

"Then I'll go buy some food on the street. What would you like?"

"Anything's fine with me." Ding Songyan still knew little about this place, so he added only, "As long as there's meat."

"Crispy duck from the Peony Residence!" Ding Qingyan blurted out. "Mother, let me come with you. I can buy Qu Sanlang's gift while we're out."

Liu Yuzao raised no objection. Mother and daughter put on their veils, picked up the food carrier, and went out.

By evening, the Ding Family's square table was laden with dishes: crispy duck, sliced poached chicken, red-braised lamb, steamed eggplant, dressed lettuce, several baked flatbreads, a bucket of rice, and another bucket of sweet bean soup to serve as a cooling drink.

"Shall we have a little wine today?" Ding Shengyi looked toward his wife.

Liu Yuzao nodded.

Delight immediately lit Ding Shengyi's face. He dug out a small jar of wine and said to Ding Songyan:

"The government office gave us this Rose Dew for the New Year. Would you... would you two like a bowl...?"

By "you two," he meant Ding Songyan and Ding Daniu.

Before Ding Shengyi finished speaking, Liu Yuzao gave him a quiet look, and he immediately faltered into silence.

"Pour me a bowl." Liu Yuzao withdrew her gaze.

"Yes, yes, of course!" Smiling, Ding Shengyi broke the wine jar's seal and poured a bowl each for himself and his wife.

Smelling the drifting fragrance of wine, Ding Daniu's Adam's apple bobbed, but he did not dare ask for any.

Once Ding Songyan had poured chilled sweet bean soup for his elder brother, his younger sister, and himself, Ding Shengyi raised his wine bowl, looked around the table, and said in excellent spirits:

"May our family turn from the depths of adversity to prosperity, and may blessings follow calamity!"

Ding Songyan, Liu Yuzao, and the others lifted their respective "wine bowls" and clinked them together, their smiles either bright or faint.

Amid the ringing clinks, their voices rose in a lively chorus:

"From the depths of adversity to prosperity, may blessings follow calamity!"