A test

"Over here, over here."

A figure crouching at a jewelry stall by the street turned slightly and discreetly beckoned to Ding Songyan.

Ding Songyan stopped, circled around a wooden railing, and browsed the stalls one by one until he finally crouched beside the figure, pretending to help his younger sister choose silver hairpins and wooden ones.

He glanced sideways, scarcely daring to believe the person beside him was Xiaoqing.

She wore a plain cloth skirt and a twig hairpin, her hair arranged in a married woman's bun. Her face was unremarkable, the sort one might see anywhere.

"Miss Xiaoqing?" Ding Songyan picked up a silver hairpin, examining it over and over as he tentatively spoke in a lowered voice.

"Disguise Art," Xiaoqing replied lightly, her voice equally faint.

The Disguise Art in this world is that impressive? I really want to learn it too... Ding Songyan marveled.

Pretending to browse, Xiaoqing took advantage of the stallholder attending to other prospective customers and continued in a low voice:

"I followed you for quite a while, but I didn't see the pursuer you mentioned."

"He's already dead." Ding Songyan told Xiaoqing the latest developments.

"Uh..." Xiaoqing's eyes shifted, a faint gleam in them. "This is rather... rather complicated."

She changed the subject:

"I only found Attendant Yu of the Zhen Estate watching you in secret."

Mr. Yu, your tailing skills aren't very good. Ren Youyang's guard spotted you, and so did Xiaoqing... Despite his worries, Ding Songyan couldn't help making a silent jab.

Xiaoqing put down the silver hairpin with its crudely made beaded flower, her voice growing a little more serious:

"When you went to the Lingjiang County Yamen, Old Master Zhen was in a private room at a nearby restaurant.

"After you came out, he left without lingering, and another Attendant from the Zhen Estate took over following you."

Old Master Zhen was nearby when I tried to report this to the County Yamen? Ding Songyan was startled.

He soon arrived at a conjecture:

Old Master Zhen wasn't certain beforehand whether Yan Changqing could make me "forget" about reporting this, so he came in person, ready to act. That shows how seriously he took it.

Once he was certain Yan Changqing had tampered with me, he stopped worrying and simply left.

Hmm, if Yan Changqing didn't lie about being imprisoned, his Martial Arts and freedom of movement were probably crippled long ago. He can only do something through the mind, consciousness, or soul. That's something Old Master Zhen has no way of grasping; he can only speculate, not be certain.

After enduring in silence for so many years, would Yan Changqing expose his hidden reserve to Old Master Zhen just like that?

He probably has something else to rely on...

If I were Old Master Zhen, I ought to think of that too...

These layers of thinking through what other people are thinking are such a pain...

Even while thinking, Ding Songyan didn't forget to thank his helper:

"Miss Xiaoqing, I will remember your great kindness until my teeth have all fallen out."

If there's really no other way, I could even serve you like an ox or a horse, so long as you take my family out of Dingjiang Prefecture.

Xiaoqing chuckled softly:

"Never mind remembering until your teeth fall out. If you really want to repay me, hurry up and relearn how to write, and practice more when you have time. Reading your stories in that abbreviated handwriting every night gives me a headache, and I've been too embarrassed to say so!

"Carry on as usual. I'll keep watching for you."

She selected a wooden hairpin, took out her purse, paid in copper coins, and rose to leave the jewelry stall, melting back into the passing crowd.

You played that part pretty well. I was honestly afraid you'd slap a Silver Sycee down in front of the stallholder... Ding Songyan spent two tenths of a tael of silver on an everyday silver hairpin. It had no beaded flower, but the workmanship was reasonably fine. He intended to give it to his younger sister that evening, as a return gift for those fifty copper coins.

It wasn't that he didn't understand thrift. Rather, trapped in a situation fraught with danger on every side, he felt he should spend money when it needed spending, instead of dying with a pile of silver left over that might not even reach his family.

Besides, with Xiaoqing's tip followed by Xu Chang'an's thank-you gift, his purse was currently quite full.

After leaving the jewelry stall, Ding Songyan used the information Xiaoqing had provided to make sense of a few things.

Next, he planned to find an opportunity to test the strand of "qi" Yan Changqing had given him, to establish just how far it could go in "hurting someone" and "saving his life." He couldn't treasure it so dearly that he refused to use any; otherwise, if he discovered at a crucial moment that its effects fell short of his expectations, he would be utterly finished.

Understanding the situation was a necessary step in making a plan.

Moreover, this could help Ding Songyan verify two things:

First, whether consuming the "qi" would reduce the extent and efficiency with which the "seed" in his mind erased crucial thoughts.

Second, whether Yan Changqing still had the ability to replenish his "qi," allowing him a glimpse of the man's hidden reserves.

Besides, in Ding Songyan's eyes, the Zhen Estate was an enemy, and so was Yan Changqing. Every bit more he could squeeze out of the man, every little thing he gained for himself, would give him a better chance of staying alive later.

Beyond testing the "qi," Ding Songyan had other things he intended to do.

Upon returning to Chengyu Lane, he didn't go home, but knocked on Xu Chang'an's door instead.

Seeing that Second Brother Ding had come looking for him, Xu Chang'an smiled in delighted surprise:

"I visited several Martial Arts Schools today. Would you like to hear what I found out, Second Brother Ding?"

Ding Songyan didn't answer. He led Xu Chang'an over to the well and asked thoughtfully:

"Do you know what hidden agents the Small Boat Gang still has in the city?"

Several days had passed, and the Four Waters Gang had uprooted all of the Small Boat Gang's visible forces.

"No idea." Xu Chang'an shook his head blankly. "Second Brother Ding, why are you asking? If even the Four Waters Gang can't find their hidden agents, how would I know?"

"Then are there any people or groups still around who used to have close dealings with the Small Boat Gang?" Ding Songyan pressed.

As a thief at the bottom of the martial world, Xu Chang'an did know a few things:

"Master Liu of the Stone Pool Martial Hall. Chen Yuliang was killed by Mr. Yu at their place."

Ding Songyan nodded in satisfaction, offered a brief word of thanks, and turned to leave Chengyu Lane.

"Second Brother Ding, where are you going?" Xu Chang'an caught up with him and asked curiously.

Ding Songyan glanced at him:

"To visit Master Liu of the Stone Pool Martial Hall and see whether I can get in touch with the Small Boat Gang."

"A-aren't you with the Zhen Estate?" Xu Chang'an was aghast.

Ding Songyan chuckled:

"For a few years in the past, I firmly believed in a saying:

"There are no eternal friends, nor eternal enemies, only eternal interests."

Xu Chang'an turned the words over, finding them rather sensible, and asked casually:

"You believed it in the past... so you stopped believing it later?"

"Later? Once you've seen enough, you'll realize that it doesn't encompass every person and every situation." Ding Songyan gazed ahead, the smile fading from his face.

Xu Chang'an shifted to a worried question:

"A-aren't you afraid the Zhen Estate will turn on you?"

He actually wants to turn the Small Boat Gang from enemies into friends!

"If you don't say anything, I don't say anything, and the Small Boat Gang doesn't say anything, who will know?" Naturally, Ding Songyan wouldn't tell Xu Chang'an that an Attendant from the Zhen Estate was following behind them.

One of his aims was to test whether he had a "death-exemption token"-one limited to a certain time and scope.

At Ding Songyan's counterquestion, Xu Chang'an's smile vanished completely, his face turning grave and pale.

He nevertheless stayed beside Ding Songyan, showing him the way to the Stone Pool Martial Hall.

Under gloomy skies, they went around Dangkang Temple and reached the entrance to the Stone Pool Martial Hall. Ding Songyan turned to Xu Chang'an with a smile:

"You don't have to force yourself to come inside with me."

"Second Brother Ding, you risked your life going with me to Potter's Field to look for my master. How could I... how could I abandon you today?" Xu Chang'an replied, his voice taut.

You really do have some of a Great Thief's spirit, kid... I underestimated you before... Ding Songyan was somewhat surprised.

He smiled at Xu Chang'an:

"Good. You repay kindness without fail. I wasn't wrong to think you could become a Great Thief someday.

"But I have something else for you to do later, so don't go inside. If you really die in there, who will I find to help me?"

What worried him wasn't that the Stone Pool Martial Hall would harm Xu Chang'an, but that the Zhen Family would.

If his conjecture was correct, then over these next few days, as long as he didn't report anything to the authorities or test their limits, the Zhen Estate would turn a blind eye to whatever he did. But Xu Chang'an wasn't that important. What if the Zhen Estate wanted to kill a chicken to warn him, the monkey, and chose Xu Chang'an?

Xu Chang'an was already so frightened that his calves had gone weak. Finding Ding Songyan's words quite reasonable, he took the offered way out. After repeated promises, he headed toward Dangkang Temple, intending to wait there for Second Brother Ding.

Ding Songyan looked up at the plaque bearing the words "Stone Pool Martial Hall," and numerous scenes and images surfaced in his mind.

He flicked the corner of his robe back, placed his left hand behind his waist, and walked slowly inside.

In the open space before the hall, quite a few people in close-fitting training clothes were striking wooden dummies, exercising with stone locks, or sparring in twos and threes.

Seeing a visitor arrive, one of the Martial Arts School's disciples approached Ding Songyan.

Before the disciple could ask anything, Ding Songyan looked around and said with a smile:

"I am Ding Songyan of the Zhen Estate, here to pay my respects to Master Liu."

Before he had even finished speaking, the approaching disciple's gaze had frozen.

In the open space before the hall, those striking wooden dummies stopped their movements, those exercising with stone locks froze in place, and those sparring carried their moves to their full extension and remained stuck there.

Everything seemed to have become a motionless painting.

The hot summer wind moaned, heavy with moisture. Dark clouds gathered overhead, as though a downpour were imminent.

Only after a moment did the disciple approaching Ding Songyan stammer:

"I-I'll inform my master. Please... please wait a moment."

Ding Songyan nodded gently and stood at the entrance with one hand behind his back, smiling as he surveyed the disciples in the open space before the hall.

The disciples withdrew one after another, none daring to meet his eyes.

After roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the disciple who had gone to announce him emerged from the front hall behind a young man and walked toward Ding Songyan.

The young man stood about eight feet tall, with dark skin and a thick, sturdy build. At first glance, his face looked old; only a closer inspection revealed a few traces of youth. He looked less like a martial artist than a farmer from the countryside.

"Senior Brother Yang, that's him." The disciple who had carried the message pointed at Ding Songyan, his voice trembling slightly.

"Isn't this Second Brother Ding, who tells stories outside Dangkang Temple? When did you join the Zhen Estate?" Senior Brother Yang studied Ding Songyan, his tone calm and his bearing steady.

Ding Songyan smiled:

"I only joined yesterday."

Senior Brother Yang asked no further questions and gestured for him to proceed:

"My master is waiting for you at the training ground."

Ding Songyan smiled faintly and, keeping one hand behind his back, followed Senior Brother Yang through the hall and courtyard at an unhurried pace.