Chapter 14: To Be Continued

The following morning.

Ding Songyan and Xu Chang’an left Chengyu Lane together, heading toward Dangkang Temple.

As they crossed a stone bridge, Xu Chang’an stopped abruptly and clasped his hands toward Ding Songyan.

"Brother Ding, I’ll be making a move first."

Beneath the shifting shade of a scholar tree, Ding Songyan asked, puzzled, "Where to?"

"You forgot?" Xu Chang’an looked surprised. He glanced furtively left and right, then lowered his voice. "To my master’s. I’m tested every five days."

Then why did you come to me in the first place, just to walk together for less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea? Actually, you weren’t coming to see me at all. You wanted an excuse to catch a glimpse of Qingyan... Ding Songyan scoffed inwardly.

He watched Xu Chang’an take a turn along the road beside the bridge and disappear into a nearby lane, then continued on his way, carrying a bamboo basket loaded with a teapot, a folding fan, and other items, along with a folding stool and collapsible table.

These were the tools of his trade.

His original tools had gone missing two days ago. He could only piece together what he found at home, and was still short of a few things.

By the time Ding Songyan reached Dangkang Temple with its yellow walls and brown tiles, the place was already bustling. A cacophony of hawkers’ cries filled his ears:

"Pear strips for sale! Pear strips for sale!"

"Songyang persimmons, beyond compare, moist and sweet to clear the air! Wuping dates, the finest grown, chew them well to soothe your own! If you’re a lass who weeps alone or a lad without a home, buy a bite and love you’ll find, two by two before you’ve known1!"

"Bamboo sieves woven tight without a gap! Iron-hooked carrying poles, made in Lufang!"

...

Before Ding Songyan even reached the empty ground of his, he spotted his "benefactor" from a distance.

The girl had changed her outfit today. A single jade pin gathered her black hair in an effortless twist. She wore a light purple two-pleated skirt beneath a dark purple front-buttoning jacket, embroidered with flowers and grasses arranged in vertical lines that gave her a delicate, fragile quality. Compared to yesterday, it was an entirely different kind of elegance.

"Ding Songyan!" She raised her right hand and waved, her upturned eyes curving into crescent moons as she smiled, drawing the gaze of every man, woman, and child passing by.

She came early to wait. A good sign. Means yesterday’s performance wasn’t bad... Ding Songyan relaxed slightly and walked toward her under the envious stares of those around him.

The girl and her maidservant had come prepared as well, bringing two bamboo-framed embroidered stools and claiming the front row without hesitation.

Ding Songyan set up his small table beneath the dense tree shade, arranged his teapot, and sat down.

He picked up his folding fan, snapped it open, and without waiting for more of an audience to gather, got right to it.

"Continuing where we left off..."

With the detailed outline available, his delivery was smoother and more assured this time, filled with added detail. During his rest breaks he did not ask for tips, only drank water to moisten his throat.

The crowd of listeners grew steadily, drawn by a story unlike any romance or heroic saga currently in circulation. The girl in the purple jacket rested her chin on one hand, listening with absolute focus, her expression shifting with the plot.

When Lady Bai used magic to create minor illnesses and boost the shop’s business, her delicate brows drew together in a slight frown. When Xu Xian’s actions moved Lady Bai and awoke a "human heart" within her, the girl pressed her palms together with satisfaction. When Lady Bai and Xiaoqing used their yao abilities to punish the wicked, aid the poor, and protect the weak, her right arm twitched, as though she wanted to leap into the story and do it herself...

When Fahai appeared again and manipulated Xu Xian into testing Lady Bai with realgar wine, the girl, her maidservant, and the rest of the audience wore furious and anxious expressions.

Ding Songyan did not waver. He let Xu Xian struggle inwardly before finally handing the cup of realgar wine to Lady Bai.

Lady Bai, blinded by love, her spiritual senses clouded by Fahai’s concealment of the heavenly signs, did not notice anything wrong with the wine. Only after drinking did she realize. She rushed into the bedchamber, trying to seal herself away, but it was too late. Xu Xian followed her in, half out of concern and half to see the truth for himself. He watched her reveal her true form, and there and then, died of fright.

When the medicinal effects passed and Lady Bai regained her senses, she looked at Xu Xian’s lifeless body. Grief overwhelmed her as despair filled her.

There was the pain of betrayal, and there was the sorrow of love severed by death.

At that moment, Ding Songyan snapped his fan shut and tapped it against his palm.

"As the saying goes: Qingcheng Mountain, Bai Suzhen, a thousand years she trained within... Through much toil she found the Way, born anew to walk with Man1..."

The song spoke of single-minded devotion to the Way with nothing else to tell, of taking refuge in the Three Treasures to seek a golden body. Set against Bai Suzhen’s present anguish, the contrast between that serene aspiration and her current devastation made the emotions stretch further, made the hollowness and despair more real.

The sharp-chinned girl and everyone around her listened in a trance, fully immersed in the mood Ding Songyan was crafting. None of them found the melody or style strange in the least.

What they felt was something intricate and hard to name. Not quite tears, but a dull ache in the chest, a sense of something beautiful slipping away.

Ding Songyan observed their reactions with deep satisfaction.

His one regret was that this song truly needed a woman’s voice to achieve its full effect, and it had to be sung with cold clarity and ethereal detachment.

After finishing Bai Suzhen at the Foot of Qingcheng Mountain, Ding Songyan set down his fan, stood, and cupped his hands to the crowd.

"Dear listeners, if you wish to know what happens next, come back for the next installment.

"Yesterday I asked for nothing. Today, I humbly request enough for a meal."

The girl immediately tossed a silver ingot into Ding Songyan’s bamboo basket.

Ding Songyan judged the weight. Roughly one tael.

Though his purpose in telling The Legend of the White Snake was not profit, having silver land in his lap was hardly unwelcome. Apprenticing at a sect would likely require tuition fees. Saving up in advance was never wrong.

"How generous of you, m’lady!" Ding Songyan praised his "benefactor" according to the trade’s custom.

With the girl taking the initiative, other listeners tossed copper coins into the basket as well, fifty or sixty in total.

Ding Songyan set down his basket and was about to pack up when he noticed the girl, her maidservant, and the remaining listeners had not dispersed. They were still standing there.

It’s already midday... He cupped his hands again. "Please come back early tomorrow."

"You’re not continuing today?" The girl in the purple jacket wore an expression of open indignation. "Not even this afternoon?"

Ding Songyan said earnestly, "I still need to review the source material. I haven’t fully mastered it yet."

I’m already racing through this at breakneck speed. If this were a television drama, today’s content alone would fill a week of episodes!

I already cut plenty of scenes, all so I could end today’s session right at the realgar wine cliffhanger and leave you dangling. Why would I spoil what comes next?

If you don’t spend tonight tossing and turning, unable to sleep, how am I supposed to leave a lasting impression?

The other listeners drifted away in disappointment. Only the girl remained with her maidservant, cheeks puffed, glaring at Ding Songyan.

She has a good temper, actually. Not as spoiled as I expected... Ding Songyan drew a quiet conclusion from this.

"You— that trouble you mentioned yesterday, how did it turn out?" The girl thought for a long time, then decided to offer her help in exchange for more of the story.

Talking about money was too vulgar!

"Thank you for your concern. It’s been resolved." Ding Songyan noticed the plaster-seller and other storytellers nearby paying attention to their exchange, and said deliberately, "It’s just that I took a blow to the head and forgot a great deal of things. I can’t even remember who hurt me. I’m relying on others to investigate. Miss, it truly isn’t that I don’t want to continue. I genuinely can’t remember. I have to go home and consult the books. Yesterday it took everything I had just to prepare today’s material."

He was using the opportunity to spread word of his Soul Departure Sickness, so the true provider of the Secret Classic would have less reason to worry about him or come looking for trouble.

Seeing how sincere he was, the girl in purple waved her hand with reluctant disappointment.

"Then hurry home and rest. I’ll ask around these next few days and see if anyone can treat that kind of illness."

Please don’t cure it. If it’s cured, I won’t be me anymore... Ding Songyan muttered to himself as he bid farewell to the girl and her maidservant.

After entrusting someone to watch his tools, he spent six copper coins on a flatbread with a crispy crust and minced pork filling, and ate as he walked toward the Zhen estate on North Water Street.

Still has meat juices inside, and a bit of preserved mustard greens... Not bad at all... Ding Songyan was quite satisfied with today’s meal.

Once inside the Zhen estate, he made his way to the Lotus Pond Courtyard, where he found not only Cousin Nuansheng and her maidservant Cuihe, but also his unearned cousin-in-law, Zhen Quanwang.

Zhen Quanwang was in his thirties, wearing a dark scholar’s robe and a Chunyang cap that leaned toward the Daoist style. His upper body tilted slightly forward. His face was clean-shaven but covered in visible fine hair, and his ears resembled those of a macaque.

Ding Songyan expressed his family’s gratitude for recent events to Qin Nuansheng and Zhen Quanwang, then produced two items from inside his jacket.

One was a hand-copied Buddhist sutra. The other was a folded yellow talisman.

"Quanwang, Nuansheng, we know the Zhen household is wealthy and powerful and has no need for anything. So our mother personally copied a sutra in our family’s prayer hall, hoping it might bless you both with peace and good fortune. And this protective talisman, my father obtained it from Pine Wind Temple outside the city. It will bring you many children and much happiness."

According to Ding Shengyi and Liu Yuzao, although Qin Nuansheng was deeply favored by Zhen Quanwang, she had been in the household for over two years now without bearing a single child, and this worried her greatly.

Zhen Quanwang and Qin Nuansheng accepted the gifts with evident pleasure.

As Ding Songyan had said, what didn’t the Zhen family have? What counted was the thought.

After some pleasant conversation, Zhen Quanwang had an important guest to entertain and left the Lotus Pond Courtyard. Ding Songyan, enjoying the breeze from the water-driven fans and the almost autumnal chill of the room, finally had the chance to tell Qin Nuansheng the general outline of events. But he did not mention the Secret Classic, as he was unsure whether she was privy to the secret.

At the end he asked, "Nuansheng, do you know where Master Yu might be? I’d like to thank him in person and offer a small gift."

Qin Nuansheng thought for a moment.

"Master Yu has been very busy these past few days. When he’s free, I’ll send someone to let you know."

Unable to see Master Yu and fish for information, Ding Songyan thought for a moment, then solicited, "Nuansheng, after everything that happened, I feel... I feel that a man ought to learn some martial arts. Otherwise I can neither put my parents at ease nor protect myself. Do you— do you know anyone who might take me?"

With the thick skin honed by years of entrepreneurship and dozens of investor pitches, the stammering was obviously an act.

Qin Nuansheng listened with a furrowed brow, then said slowly, "Songyan, I understand where you’re coming from. But learning martial arts, without a patron willing to invest in you, is enormously expensive. You need to be prepared for that.

"Don’t rush. Let me ask around. If you could apprentice within the Zhen household or study under a retainer like Master Yu, that would be far better than any public martial hall."

"What about the Brightnight Sect?" Ding Songyan did not hide his ambition, showing not the slightest embarrassment.

I have Soul Departure Sickness. How would I know what’s appropriate?

Qin Nuansheng couldn’t help laughing.

"The Brightnight Sect only recruits disciples once a year, at year’s end. Outside of that, unless one of their masters takes a personal interest in you and wants to accept you as a disciple, don’t even dream of it. And even at year’s end, their standards are extremely strict. At your age, without innate talent, it would be very, very difficult."

Year’s end? Well, I have the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas. Perhaps that could serve as my entrance fee... Ding Songyan pondered for a moment.

"How old am I, exactly?"

Qin Nuansheng blinked, then smiled bitterly.

"You were born in the nineteenth year of Xingping. You’ve just turned twenty. For martial cultivation, that’s actually not too late. Disciples of the great sects all wait until eighteen before completing body tempering and qi cultivation, so as not to interfere with their physical growth. Only then do they begin aperture refinement."

"What rank does that correspond to?" Ding Songyan asked.

Qin Nuansheng laughed.

"It doesn’t rank at all."

Adapted from the lyrics of the Yuan dynasty theatrical piece, Flaunting Romantic Elegance, Wang Huan Ascends the Pavilion of One Hundred Flowers, which was popular enough in its era that the peddlers’ cries from its songs became a standard template for market hawkers.From the song "Bai Suzhen at the Foot of Qingcheng Mountain."