Ding Qingyan did not continue along the bustling street. Tugging Ding Songyan by the sleeve, she turned into an alley beside it.
Coming toward them was a group of men and women in fitted black outfits, with silver starlight on their left cuffs and orange-yellow candle flames embroidered on their right.
They swept past, leaving the scene behind them gently rippling like water.
Seeing Ding Songyan stare after their disappearing figures, Ding Qingyan pursed her lips and said:
"People from the Xiaoming Sect. They're probably heading to wherever someone just used martial force to defy the law, too."
"Sects handle that sort of thing as well?" Ding Songyan asked thoughtfully.
Ding Qingyan chuckled.
"Yes, it's been that way since the Youqiong dynasty. Our dynasty's founding emperor also established the Jade Book Alliance with the leading sects, granting reputable orthodox sects and great clans the right to 'reduce taxes and grain levies, oversee criminal justice, and assist with patrols and defense.' Dingjiang Prefecture's capital and the three counties to the north fall under the Xiaoming Sect. Second Brother, you told me all this when you came home from learning storytelling..."
As she spoke, Ding Qingyan remembered her brother's current condition. Her voice gradually faded until she fell silent.
"Storytelling? You learn this sort of thing for storytelling?" Ding Songyan had not expected his current profession to be a storyteller.
Yikes, I don't remember a single professional skill. Surely I can't give everyone a PowerPoint presentation?
Ding Qingyan nodded slightly and continued walking.
"There are four schools of storytelling. Historical tales-well, those are about things that happened in ancient times-martial-world lore and anecdotes, romances and legends, and criminal cases. Before you came to Dingjiang Prefecture, you were learning to tell stories about ancient times."
"I see..." Ding Songyan digested this information about his identity.
Ding Qingyan turned her head to glance at him.
"Second Brother, we can't afford to provoke any of those martial artists from earlier. Still, they aren't the really formidable kind. You can recognize the truly formidable ones at a glance."
"At a glance? Do they have 'I'm an expert' written on their faces?" Ding Songyan deliberately used a joking tone to draw more information out of her.
Ding Qingyan curled her lips.
"Of course not. Go listen to the storytellers outside Dangkang Temple yourself later.
"Hmm, a lot of martial arts originated from the heavenly gods and strange beasts that existed before Emperor Zhuanxu's severance of heaven and earth. Once someone reaches an advanced level, their body usually changes a little. Some develop tiger-like ears, some grow golden feathers, some have skin that turns completely blue-green, some sprout two pairs of bull horns, and some trail a fox's tail. Second Brother, if you see someone like that, they're either from another race or an expert!"
Emperor Zhuanxu... They have an Emperor Zhuanxu here, too? Ding Songyan chose to set that question aside.
"What unusual features appear when someone masters the Xiaoming Sect's martial arts?"
If I get the chance, I should latch onto the local power's thigh. The last thing I want is to stand before Mount Tai and fail to recognize it.
Ding Qingyan thought carefully before answering.
"I don't think there are any particularly unusual features... They say their teachings were passed down by the two goddesses Xiaoming and Zhuguang, the Daughters of Emperor Shun, so they look no different from ordinary people. Oh, double pupils! I heard Father mention that he'd met a Xiaoming Sect expert with double pupils. I don't know what else there might be."
Emperor Shun? Ding Songyan fell silent again.
Before long, the siblings turned into a lane where cooking smoke curled into the air.
"Second Brother Ding, you're back?"
"Where did you go? Your parents have been looking everywhere for you."
"Did you run off with some young lady?"
The neighbors gathered around the well at the mouth of the lane questioned Ding Songyan and Ding Qingyan, some concerned, others teasing.
Ding Qingyan gave haphazard replies as she dragged Ding Songyan quickly through the crowd, stopping before a house at the end of the lane.
She took a copper-colored key from her waist, unlocked the padlock on the gate, and pushed both wooden leaves inward.
Once her brother had entered, she quickly pulled the gate mostly shut again, patted her chest, and let out a relieved breath.
Ding Songyan took the opportunity to look around.
It was a small courtyard. An elm stood on the left, with several ropes stretched between it and a wooden post beside the water jar, clothes hanging from them to dry. A crude wooden shed stood on the right, its inside separated from the yard by mottled stone steps, with coal and timber piled beneath it.
A few steps straight ahead from the gate stood the main building, with a side room on either side. Various odds and ends filled the main room. Four dishes and a wooden bucket of rice sat on a square table, covered by a green, coarse-meshed gauze food cover.
Ding Songyan approached the doorway of the main room and looked at a brightly polished bronze mirror resting on a storage box.
At last, he saw what he looked like now:
He wore a moon-white scholar's robe, without a cap or headwrap, his hair simply tied with a piece of blue cloth. His features were quite decent. Though he could not be called handsome or a jade tree swaying in the wind, he was still a fair-faced scholar with regular features and an open, pleasant air.
Just as I thought. With a sister like Ding Qingyan, this body couldn't possibly be all that ugly... Ding Songyan inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
If you've already transmigrated, who wouldn't want a handsome face?
Having removed her white gauze veiled hat, Ding Qingyan walked over and sat on a round stool beside the square table. Resting her cheek on one hand, she watched Ding Songyan intently with her dark, gleaming eyes.
With something to hide, Ding Songyan grew uneasy under her gaze. He looked around, trying to find something to say.
"Father's name is Ding Shengyi," Ding Qingyan suddenly said. "Mother's name is Liu Yuzao, and Eldest Brother's name is Ding Daniu. Don't forget them. They'll be sad."
Ding Daniu? That name doesn't quite fit the style of the other four... Puzzled, Ding Songyan asked:
"Little Sister, what do you mean?"
Ding Qingyan let out a breath.
"I mean, even if you've forgotten everything else, remembering their names would give them some comfort."
Hearing this, Ding Songyan abruptly fell silent.
Will everyone back in my old world be saddened by my death, or whatever happened to me?
In the silence, the half-closed courtyard gate was pushed open, and a woman followed by a man walked inside.
The woman was dressed as a married lady, with lovely features and a quiet bearing touched by cool reserve. She looked only thirty-four or thirty-five. She wore a green round-collared jacket with a subtle woven pattern and a gray-blue horse-face skirt, and held a black gauze veiled hat.
The man was in his forties, wearing a square scholar's cap and a gray straight-cut robe. His features were regular, and his bearing somewhat feminine.
"Mother, Father, Second Brother can't remember anything!" Ding Qingyan sprang to her feet and rushed into the courtyard.
Little Sister, what was it you just said? I'd like to hear that bit about 'comfort' again... Ding Songyan could not help grumbling inwardly.
"He only remembers your names!" Ding Qingyan abruptly added.
Liu Yuzao's expression froze. She strode to Ding Songyan's side and checked the black birthmark behind his right ear.
Only after doing so did she reach out to touch his head.
"Does it hurt?"
"No," Ding Songyan answered honestly.
Judging by this body's approximate age and the fact that he also had an elder brother, he reckoned Liu Yuzao must already be in her early forties. Perhaps thanks to her natural beauty, however, she looked four or five years younger than her actual age.
Liu Yuzao frowned slightly.
"Then how could you have forgotten everything?"
"Disembodied soul syndrome?" Ding Shengyi also began examining Ding Songyan.
Ding Songyan considered briefly.
"Father, Mother, what happened to me before this?"
Ding Shengyi circled Ding Songyan, observing him as he spoke.
"Just over half a year ago, we came to Dingjiang Prefecture to seek help from your aunt's daughter, your cousin Nuansheng. She used her connections with the Zhen Estate to secure me a clerk's position at the County Yamen, and arranged things with the head of the Local Storytellers' Guild so you could perform on the open ground outside Dangkang Temple.
"You were supposed to come home at four this afternoon. We waited a long time without seeing you, and only when we went to Dangkang Temple did we learn that you'd already left on your own, with no one knowing where you'd gone."
Once Ding Shengyi finished, Liu Yuzao asked Ding Qingyan:
"Where did you find Second Brother?"
"In that ruined temple on the way to Potter's Field..." Ding Qingyan gave a detailed account of what had happened.
Left on my own... That doesn't sound like suicide. If I really wanted to kill myself, drowning in the much closer river would have been quicker and easier... When I woke up, I didn't see a rope on the rafters or a medicine bottle beside me, either... What was I trying to do, inexplicably leaving the city for that ruined temple? Wait, did I go straight there from where I was telling stories? Then why didn't I have any silver on me, or copper coins, or any other currency? Surely I couldn't have gone an entire day without earning a single coin? Did I stop somewhere along the way, or did someone take the money after I died? The more Ding Songyan thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Choosing his words carefully, he said:
"Father, Mother, could someone have tried to harm me?"
He suspected Ding Songyan had become embroiled in something, and that going to the ruined temple outside the city had been part of it, after which someone had killed him and taken his money.
"We've only recently arrived in Dingjiang Prefecture. Who could we have offended..." Ding Shengyi, who resembled a middle-aged scholar, frowned in thought.
The quiet, reserved Liu Yuzao's expression suddenly changed.
"Second Brother, let's go to the Zhen Estate and find your cousin Nuansheng.
"If someone really did try to harm you, they might not let matters rest once they learn you survived!"
Yes, there could still be serious danger lurking behind this... With his life at stake, Ding Songyan dared not take it lightly and immediately agreed.
"Wait a moment." Ding Shengyi hurried into the main room, then turned into the eastern side room.
Before long, he emerged carrying an old drawstring money pouch. As he handed it to Liu Yuzao, he pointed to his own head and said solemnly:
"The Zhen Estate retains not only martial experts, but also a miracle physician. If Second Brother's disembodied soul syndrome can be treated, don't begrudge the money."
"Father, I've saved some, too!" Ding Qingyan turned to run back to her room.
"Don't rush. Let's hear what the physician says first." Liu Yuzao stopped her daughter.
Clang! Someone pushed open the courtyard gate, and a booming voice rang out like thunder.
"Mother, is Second Brother all right?"
The man who burst into the courtyard was a burly fellow more than nine feet tall, wearing a short outfit of coarse gray cloth. Like Ding Songyan, he had his hair wrapped in dark blue cloth. His eyes were like bronze bells, his face was covered in whiskers, and his mouth jutted out, making him look both ugly and fierce.
Mother? This mighty warrior is my eldest brother? Ding Songyan's gaze shifted several times between Ding Daniu, Liu Yuzao, Ding Shengyi, and Ding Qingyan.
He felt that he himself had inherited a mixture of his parents' good and bad traits, while his sister Ding Qingyan had picked only the best, with Heaven's favor adding a few fortunate variations. In any case, both bore some trace of their parents. Ding Daniu, however, looked as though he had nothing whatsoever to do with this family, like a black bull barging into a flock of sheep, an obvious outsider at first glance.
With that completely different style of name, could he really have been picked up by the river?
Liu Yuzao glanced at Ding Daniu and said coldly:
"You're so late getting back that even if something had happened to Second Brother, you'd have been no help."
Ding Daniu abruptly straightened, lowered his hands, and said timidly:
"I take big strides, so I searched farther afield..."
Liu Yuzao withdrew her gaze, her expression still cold.
"Take something to defend us with, and escort Second Brother and me to the Zhen Estate."
"Sure thing, Mother!" Ding Daniu instantly brightened and quickly rummaged through the firewood pile, pulling out an iron bar as thick as an arm.
The iron bar's surface was rough, covered in lumps and pits, as though cast from a failed batch of metal. It looked extraordinarily heavy, yet in Ding Daniu's hand it might as well have been a child's toy.
Innate divine strength? Feeling considerably reassured, Ding Songyan followed Liu Yuzao out through the courtyard gate.
PS: Thanks to Mr. O of the Aurora Society for his repeated donations over the past year and more. They've nearly amounted to another Golden Alliance.
PS2: Wutong's bonus update will be tomorrow~
Before you continue