Chapter 24: Confirming Authenticity
Ah, a true disciple of one of the Six Sects and Four Schools, with multiple guards in tow, and he still couldn’t catch an ordinary-looking tail? Ding Songyan had placed tremendous expectations on Ren Youyang. Hearing this, a wave of frustration and disappointment surged through him.
He did not let it show; instead, he cupped his hands.
"Regardless, I owe you my thanks, Brother Youyang. If not for you, I wouldn’t even have known I was being followed."
Ren Youyang said with some embarrassment, "It wasn’t one person. It was a group. I overlooked that, and they managed to shake me in the crowds."
A group? Caused by the original Ding Songyan, or something I’ve stirred up these past few days? Ding Songyan was taken aback.
"I’ve spooked them. They shouldn’t tail you again for a while." Ren Youyang glanced at the courtyard wall along the side of Chengyu Lane. "That Yu Wanxiong from the Zhen household has also stayed afar. He probably doesn’t want me to know he’s there. Hm, seems like they’ve already swapped in a different retainer. They take you quite seriously."
Before Ding Songyan could thank him again, Ren Youyang said reassuringly, "Get some good rest tonight. I’ll look into it again tomorrow."
With that, he waved and turned to leave. Ding Songyan could only call out his thanks from a distance.
He walked along the dark but far from silent lane, exchanging nods with an elderly neighbor who had his courtyard gate open to catch the breeze. When he reached his own home and pushed open the half-closed gate, he saw Bull, bare-chested and dark-skinned, swinging a crude iron staff in the small open space. No technique to speak of—just sweeps, strikes, flicks, and chops. The sounds from the movements were sharp.
Inside the main house, his mother Liu Yuzao and sister Ding Qingyan sat by the oil lamp stitching shoe soles, exchanging quiet words now and then. His father Ding Shengyi sat on a stool with his eyes half-closed, swaying his head as he hummed opera lyrics.
The yellowish glow spilled from the room, sometimes still, sometimes wavering, spreading like water and drawing mosquitoes and moths into restless flight.
Ding Songyan let out a slow breath and smiled as he greeted his family.
......
Before bed, Ding Songyan opened the wooden chest where he kept his clothes. The five taels of silver and three hundred copper coins he had earned from storytelling were hidden here. Of that, Xiaoqing had contributed five taels. At the current exchange rate, each tael was worth eight hundred coins.
It was not that other listeners had given little. Ding Songyan had only been telling stories for four days, one session per day, and taking in over three hundred coins was already among the best at the Dangkang Temple market.
It only seemed small because Xiaoqing’s contributions were so extravagant.
"My father earns two taels a month as a clerk at the yamen. Well, not counting gray income..." Ding Songyan also had four qian of silver that his parents had given him tucked in his inner pocket. These past few days, the tips for listening to stories and his midday meals had all come from the fifty coins his sister gave him plus a portion of his storytelling earnings.
He placed the heavy twenty-five-tael ingot from Xu Chang’an into the clothing chest, then picked out four silver pieces.
After a moment’s thought, he took the last one as well, making a full five taels.
Returning to the main house, Bull had just latched the door bar.
"Bull, this is from Xu Chang’an. To thank us for our help yesterday." Ding Songyan pressed the five silver pieces into his brother’s hands.
Bull’s face lit up with surprise.
"Chang’an’s actually thoughtful.
"I’ll give it to Mother."
"Keep it yourself." Ding Songyan borrowed Ren Youyang’s refrain. "Life is short. Don’t mistreat yourself. Use this money to eat and drink well every day at midday."
He hoped Bull might come to recognize that life held broader horizons, and that the desire for good food and wine might supplant the craving to kill.
Of course, it would be best if those three things did not get mixed together.
Bull was quiet for a long while.
"All right. Songyan, you’re smarter than me. I’ll listen to you. I’ll save it up first."
"Save it for what?" Ding Songyan asked casually with a laugh.
Bull swallowed audibly.
"Save up to visit the North Lane pleasure quarter."
"..." Ding Songyan’s expression nearly froze.
Well, well, Bull. I never would have guessed. So you have that kind of interest too.
He waved it off and returned to the west wing, closing the wooden door.
He stacked the large chest as usual, spread out paper, inkstone, and ink, and prepared to write Xu Shilin’s story.
The Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas had long since been hidden between the bedding and the bed frame.
"Second Brother, you’re burning the midnight oil again?" Qingyan said from the other side of the screen, half-amused, half-impressed. "You were never this diligent before..."
She stopped herself, seeming to realize this might remind her brother of his Soul Departure Sickness.
"If someone gave you one to two taels of silver every day just to hear you tell stories, you’d be this diligent too," Ding Songyan patronized her casually.
One to two taels of silver mattered, but what mattered more was that this person would come knocking for new content, and what mattered most was that he couldn’t beat her in a fight.
"Who is it?" Qingyan asked, curious.
"A girl visiting from out of town. She tips like money is nothing to her. As long as the storytelling is good, she’ll toss silver. She’s spent dozens of taels these past few days." Ding Songyan pulled over the small chest to sit on and answered honestly.
"How generous." Qingyan could not help comparing. "Is she pretty?"
"Quite pretty." Ding Songyan did not lie.
Qingyan huffed, then asked in a teasing tone, "Have you fallen for her?"
"No." Ding Songyan remained candid.
In his mind he silently added, I’m afraid of snakes.
And besides, there were old feelings he had not yet let go of.
After chatting for a while, once Qingyan drifted off to sleep, Ding Songyan began weaving his story.
This installment covered Xu Shilin’s childhood. He needed to convey the feeling of neighbors all knowing the boy’s birth parents were absent while the boy himself knew nothing. He needed to show how the Wenqu Star was different from ordinary people. Ding Songyan racked his brains before slowly piecing together several episodes. Harry Potter and the like became sources of inspiration, though of course, Xu Shilin’s aunt and uncle treated him well.
He had just finished writing a page and set it aside when a pale, slender, beautiful hand reached over and took it directly.
"Miss Xiaoqing, you’re here?" Ding Songyan was no longer surprised in the slightest.
"Mm. Keep going." Xiaoqing, dressed today in a green skirt that gave her a fresh look, sat on the edge of the bed and read the outline intently, not wanting to talk.
Seeing this, Ding Songyan did not dare interrupt. He focused on his writing.
As he wrote, a thought occurred to him.
Given Ren Youyang’s performance today, was he really a True Spirit Sect disciple? Could he really be the Ren Youyang listed on the Orchid Fresh List?
Ding Songyan had not doubted it before because the man had been treated with great courtesy at the Zhen estate, his identity essentially verified by Patriarch Zhen himself. But recalling the various cons he had witnessed in his previous life, there was no shortage of swindlers who seized opportunities to establish superficial connections with powerful figures, then used that to gain others’ trust.
Of course, Ren Youyang’s conspicuous canine ears also served as circumstantial evidence of his extraordinary origins.
But what if he was actually a half-breed between the Quanrong tribe and humans?
According to the storytelling scripts Ding Songyan had been listening to these past few days, the Quanrong resembled dogs and could produce offspring with humans.
"Miss Xiaoqing, have you ever heard of someone called Ren Youyang?" Ding Songyan asked, probing.
Xiaoqing, who was reading the latest page, looked up sharply.
"Yes. What do you want to know?"
Ding Songyan chose his words carefully.
"I met someone today who claims to be Ren Youyang, but..."
He described Ren Youyang’s earlier behavior in full detail, omitting only the sharp commentary on the Jade Tree Rankings, since he had promised not to spread that. As for the tails, he mentioned only one for now: the one Ren Youyang had lost.
After listening, Xiaoqing could not suppress her smile.
"It’s the real Ren Youyang. The True Spirit Sect one. Nobody could imitate his essential quality."
"What essential quality?" Ding Songyan asked, puzzled.
Xiaoqing giggled.
"Ren Youyang’s essential quality is that the real one looks even more fake than an impostor would.
"Hm, and him failing to catch that tail and find the person behind it is perfectly normal too. He’s dead weight. If he hadn’t been there, his guard would have caught them long ago."
"What?" Ding Songyan was slightly bewildered.
What kind of assessment was that?
Xiaoqing let out an "uh." "His cultivation method isn’t really suited to that kind of thing."
She didn’t elaborate... Ding Songyan noted this thoughtfully.
It seemed that among the orthodox sects, the names of each other’s fundamental arts were no secret, and mentioning them in passing was harmless. But when it came to the specific characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of each method, that was discussed only behind closed doors and never shared outside. To do so would create a grave enmity.
At this point, Xiaoqing’s mood seemed to lift considerably. She said with a light tone, "So it’s Ren Youyang that the True Spirit Sect sent. Now Second Uncle can’t say that me going out at night is foolishness. I’ve actually gathered important intelligence!"
"Miss Xiaoqing, your group..." Ding Songyan was not sure how to phrase the question.
"Our purpose in coming to Dingjiang is similar to the True Spirit Sect’s." Xiaoqing offered just one smiling hint and nothing more.
Also related to the Zhen household? Good thing I didn’t mention that the Zhen household’s people are also tailing me. Who knows whether Xiaoqing would have turned hostile... Ding Songyan wisely dropped the subject. Only Xiaoqing murmured dreamily to herself, "Tomorrow I’ll try to help you catch that tail and find out who’s behind it."
Much later, Ding Songyan finally wrote to the point where Xu Shilin learned who his birth parents were, went to the Daoist temple to find Xu Xian, and was turned away at the gate.
He set down his brush, rubbing his wrist, and watched Xiaoqing pick up the page to read. He asked, as though in passing, "I heard someone mention the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas the other day. Is it true that only the great sects and the imperial vaults have copies?"
"Mm. Partial copies." Xiaoqing was more interested in Xu Shilin’s family drama.
"Which sect has a complete one?" Ding Songyan could not ask directly whether the Brightnight Sect had a complete copy. That would be too pointed.
Xiaoqing, moved by the scene between Xu Shilin and Xu Xian, sniffled and said, "Nobody has a complete one. Back then at the Imperial Palace of Kunlun, the situation was urgent, and the Emperor-Annotated Classic of Mountains and Seas was inscribed across different jade tablets in different halls. Everyone present could only memorize a portion. Some even memorized wrong.
"If afterward they could have set aside their prejudices, compared notes, pieced things together, and corrected errors, there should have been one complete Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas. But there are too few selfless people.
"What circulates in the jianghu are fragments leaked after certain sects declined. Even more incomplete. And no sect or school would allow anyone to keep such a thing in private."
Ding Songyan listened, momentarily stunned.
These past two days I’ve been flipping through ordinary copies of the Classic of Mountains and Seas at the bookshop, comparing them against what’s in my copy.
Combined with Chen Yuliang’s earlier assessment, my Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas seems to be, probably, possibly... complete.
At the very least, close to complete...
