Chapter 3: The Ding Family

Ding Qingyan didn't continue down the bustling main street. Instead, she pulled on Ding Songyan's sleeve and turned into a side alley.

Approaching them was a group of men and women dressed in black martial attire. Their left sleeves were embroidered with silver starlight, and their right sleeves bore the image of an orange candle flame.

They swept past, leaving the scenery behind them shimmering slightly like rippling water.

Seeing Ding Songyan staring at the retreating backs of the group, Ding Qingyan pursed her lips and said, "People from the Xiaoming Sect. They must be heading to the place where someone was just using martial arts to break the law."

"Do sects handle these kinds of matters too?" Ding Songyan asked thoughtfully.

Ding Qingyan gave a short laugh. "Mm, it's been this way since the Youqiong Dynasty. The Great Ancestor of our current dynasty even established the Jade Book Alliance with the top sects. They agreed that prestigious sects and Great Clans could 'reduce taxes, oversee the judiciary, and assist in patrols.' Dingjiang Prefecture and the three northern counties fall under the jurisdiction of the Xiaoming Sect. Second Brother, you used to tell me all about this when you came home from your storytelling lessons..."

As she spoke, Ding Qingyan remembered her brother’s current state. Her voice trailed off until she fell silent.

"Storytelling? Do storytellers have to learn all that?" Ding Songyan hadn't expected his current profession to be a storyteller.

Hiss, I don't remember any professional skills at all. I can't exactly give everyone a PowerPoint presentation, can I?

Ding Qingyan nodded slightly and continued walking forward. "There are four schools of storytelling. History—well, that's telling stories of ancient times; Martial Arts Anecdotes and Legends; Romances and Epics; and Judicial Cases. Before you came to Dingjiang Prefecture, you were studying the history school."

"I see..." Ding Songyan began to digest his new identity.

Ding Qingyan glanced at him sideways. "Second Brother, we can't afford to provoke those martial artists we saw just now. However, they aren't the truly powerful kind. The ones who are truly formidable can be recognized at a single glance."

"At a single glance? Do they have 'I am a master' written on their faces?" Ding Songyan teased, deliberately trying to bait more information out of her.

Ding Qingyan curled her lip. "Of course not. You'll have to go listen to the storytellers outside Dangkang Temple later.

"Well, many martial arts are derived from the celestial gods and exotic beasts that existed before Emperor Zhuanxu's Severing the Connection between Heaven and Earth. When one practices to a high level, their body will change more or less. Some have ears like tigers, some grow golden feathers, some have skin that turns completely green, some grow two sets of bull horns on their heads, and some even drag a fox tail behind them. Second Brother, if you see someone like that, they’re either an outsider or a master!"

Emperor Zhuanxu... There's a Zhuanxu here too? Ding Songyan chose to suppress his confusion on that point. "What kind of abnormalities occur when one practices the Xiaoming Sect's martial arts to a high level?"

If there was an opportunity, he needed to cling to the local powerhouse's leg—or at least make sure he didn't offend them by accident.

Ding Qingyan thought seriously for a moment. "There doesn't seem to be any special abnormality... They say their heritage comes from the two goddesses Xiaoming and Zhuguang, the daughters of Emperor Shun, so they look no different from ordinary people. Oh, wait, double pupils! I heard Father mention it. He saw a Xiaoming Sect master with double pupils once. I'm not sure if there's anything else."

Emperor Shun? Ding Songyan fell silent once again.

Before long, the siblings turned into an alley where wisps of cooking smoke were rising.

"Ding Erlang, you're back?"

"Where did you go? Your parents have been looking everywhere for you."

"Did you elope with some young lady?"

The neighbors gathered near the well at the alley entrance asked after Ding Songyan and Ding Qingyan, some with concern and others with playful teasing.

Ding Qingyan gave them vague responses as she dragged Ding Songyan along, quickly pushing 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 on the gate, and pushed the two wooden doors open.

Once her brother stepped inside, she quickly pulled the door shut behind them and patted her chest, breathing a sigh of relief.

Ding Songyan took the opportunity to look around.

It was a small courtyard. On the left was an elm tree with several ropes stretched between it and a wooden pillar by the water tank, holding various pieces of laundry. On the right, a crude wooden shed had been built. Weathered stone steps separated the outside from the interior, where piles of coal and wood were stacked.

A few steps ahead of the main gate was the primary building, with side rooms on the left and right. The central room was filled with various items. On a square table sat four dishes of food and a wooden bucket of rice, all covered by a green checkered screen.

Ding Songyan walked to the doorway of the central room and turned his gaze toward a highly polished bronze mirror sitting atop a storage crate.

He finally saw what he looked like now.

He was wearing a moon-white Lanshan. He wore no crown or cap; his hair was simply tied up with a piece of blue cloth. His features were quite good—while not exactly breathtakingly beautiful, he was a proper and handsome fair-skinned scholar.

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

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

Having removed her black silk veil hat, Ding Qingyan paced over and sat on a round stool by the square table. She rested her chin on one hand, her dark eyes staring intently at Ding Songyan.

Having a guilty conscience, Ding Songyan felt a bit unnerved by her gaze. He looked around, intending to find something to say.

"Father is called Ding Sheng'yi," Ding Qingyan said suddenly. "Mother is Liu Yuzao, and our eldest brother is Ding Da'niu. Don't forget, or they'll be sad."

Ding Da'niu? That name feels a bit different from the other four... Ding Songyan asked in confusion, "Little Sister, what do you mean?"

Ding Qingyan let out a breath. "I mean, even if you've forgotten everything else, if you at least remember their names, it'll give them some comfort."

Hearing this, Ding Songyan fell silent.

Would the people back in my old world be sad because of my death or something similar?

In the silence, the ajar courtyard gate was pushed open, and a woman and a man entered one after the other.

The woman was dressed as a matron. Her features were beautiful, and her quiet aura carried a hint of aloofness. She looked to be only thirty-four or thirty-five, wearing a green round-collar cross-buttoned robe with dark patterns and a gray-blue Mamian skirt. She held a black silk veil hat in her hand.

The man was in his forties, wearing a square flat cap and a gray Zhiduo. His features were regular, though his temperament seemed slightly effeminate.

"Mother, Father, Second Brother doesn't remember anything!" Ding Qingyan stood up abruptly and ran into the courtyard.

Little sister, what did you just say? I want to hear that "comfort" part again... Ding Songyan couldn't help but grumble internally.

"He only remembers what you're called!" Ding Qingyan added.

Liu Yuzao's expression froze. She walked over to Ding Songyan in a few quick steps and confirmed the black mole birthmark behind his right ear.

Only after doing this did she reach out to touch Ding Songyan's head. "Does it hurt?"

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

Judging from this body's approximate age and the fact that he had an older brother, he estimated Liu Yuzao must be in her early forties, but perhaps due to natural beauty, she looked four or five years younger than her actual age.

Liu Yuzao frowned slightly. "Then how could you have forgotten everything?"

"Did he contract soul-detachment syndrome?" Ding Sheng'yi also began checking Ding Songyan’s condition.

Ding Songyan pondered for a moment. "Father, Mother, what happened to me before?"

Ding Sheng'yi walked in a circle around Ding Songyan, observing as he spoke. "Over half a year ago, we came to Dingjiang Prefecture to seek help from your maternal aunt's family. Your Cousin Nuansheng used the Zhen family's influence to help me secure a job as a clerk in the county yamen, and she spoke with the head of the local book society so you could perform open-air storytelling outside Dangkang Temple.

"You were supposed to come home at the Hour of Shen today. We waited a long time without seeing you. We went to Dangkang Temple only to find out you had already left on your own, and your whereabouts were unknown."

Once Ding Sheng'yi finished, Liu Yuzao turned to ask Ding Qingyan, "Where did you find Erlang?"

"In that ruined temple on the way to the mass grave..." Ding Qingyan explained the situation in detail.

Left on his own... It doesn't look like suicide. If he really wanted to commit suicide, the river is closer and more convenient... I didn't see a rope on the beam when I woke up, and there were no medicine bottles nearby... Why would he go out of the city to that ruined temple for no reason? Wait, I went there directly from the storytelling place? Then why didn't I have any silver or copper coins on me? Surely I didn't fail to earn a single penny all day. Did I go somewhere on the way, or did someone take it after he died? The more Ding Songyan thought about it, the more bizarre it seemed.

He spoke cautiously. "Father, Mother, is it possible... someone wanted to harm me?"

He suspected that the original Ding Songyan had been caught up in something, and going to the temple outside the city was part of it, leading to him being killed and robbed.

"We just arrived in Dingjiang Prefecture; who could we have offended..." The middle-aged scholar-like Ding Sheng'yi began to frown in thought.

Liu Yuzao's calm and cold expression suddenly changed. "Erlang, let's go to the Zhen residence to find your Cousin Nuansheng. If someone really tried to harm you, seeing you escape death, they likely won't let it go!"

Yes, there might still be a huge risk lurking... Since his life was on the line, Ding Songyan didn't dare to be careless and immediately agreed.

"Wait a moment." Ding Sheng'yi walked quickly into the main house and turned toward the east side room.

A moment later, he came out carrying an old silk pouch. As he handed it to Liu Yuzao, he pointed to his own head and said seriously, "The Zhen family has divine physicians in their service in addition to martial masters. If Erlang's soul-detachment syndrome can be cured, do not be stingy with the money."

"Father, I have some saved up too!" Ding Qingyan turned to run back to her room.

"Don't be in such a hurry. Let's see what the divine physician says first," Liu Yuzao stopped her daughter.

Clang! The courtyard gate was pushed open, followed by a voice that boomed like rolling thunder: "Mother, is Erlang alright?"

The person who burst into the courtyard was a giant over nine feet tall. He wore a gray Short Tunic, and his hair was wrapped in a piece of dark blue cloth, just like Ding Songyan's. His eyes were like bronze bells, his face was covered in a thick beard, and his mouth protruded slightly. He looked both ugly and fierce.

Mother? This warrior brother is my eldest brother? Ding Songyan's gaze bounced between Ding Da'niu, Liu Yuzao, Ding Sheng'yi, and Ding Qingyan.

He felt that he was a mix of his father's and mother's traits, while his sister Ding Qingyan seemed to have inherited only the best parts—and had even been blessed by the heavens with favorable mutations. But no matter what, the two of them clearly resembled their parents. Yet this Ding Da'niu looked completely unrelated to the rest of the family, like a black bull that had wandered into a flock of sheep—an obvious anomaly.

Considering the completely different style of his name, was he really picked up from the riverbank?

Liu Yuzao glanced at Ding Da'niu and said coldly, "You've returned so late. Even if something had happened to Erlang, you wouldn't have been of any help."

Ding Da'niu snapped to attention, his hands hanging at his sides as he said timidly, "I have long strides, so I searched further out..."

Liu Yuzao looked away, her face still cold. "Grab your weapon and escort Erlang and me to the Zhen residence."

"You got it, Mother!" Ding Da'niu instantly cheered up and quickly fished an arm-thick iron rod out of the woodpile.

The surface of the iron rod was quite rough, covered in lumps and pits as if it were cast from discarded scrap. It looked exceptionally heavy, yet in Ding Da'niu's hands, it was like a child's toy.

Born with Herculean strength? Ding Songyan felt much more secure as he followed Liu Yuzao out of the courtyard.