Chapter 208: A Casual Remark

Du Province, Changhua Prefecture.

Zheng Zhuxi wore plain white, her black hair tied with a strip of hemp cloth. Her brightness was somewhat subdued, but her beauty seemed all the purer and more ethereal.

"Miss, the Hongxin Trading Company has delivered another letter," the female housekeeper said with a smile.

The Hongxin Trading Company? Zheng Zhuxi, her skin as fair and delicate as white jade, looked momentarily puzzled.

She had only received her junior brother’s letter yesterday. How could there be another today?

Then Zheng Zhuxi understood.

Her junior brother must have written again just a few days after arriving in the Flame Capital.

Du Province lay east of Ming Province, from which the Flame Capital had been carved out. Letters from Dingjiang Prefecture in Ning Province to Changhua Prefecture in Du Province normally passed through the capital. If her junior brother had traveled there by flying vessel, he would have arrived well ahead of his first letter. Writing again a few days later would explain why the two letters had reached her in such quick succession.

The corners of Zheng Zhuxi’s lips lifted without her noticing. She accepted the letter and politely thanked the housekeeper.

On her way back to the east sitting room, she slowed her steps, opened the letter, and began reading by daylight.

As she read, faint dimples appeared in her cheeks. She murmured inwardly, Is Junior Brother afraid I’ll hear rumors later and think badly of him? Has he written ahead just to explain himself?

If the patrons keep harassing Twelfth Madam Luo, she surely isn’t as ordinary as he makes her sound. Hmm, he only says she has a "habitually puffy face and a rather plump figure." He never says what she actually looks like... Junior Brother hasn’t changed. Everything he says is true, but only half the truth. Twelfth Madam Luo must be quite pretty. And "rather plump" could also mean voluptuous...

I’m not as easy to fool as I used to be. When he finds out, will he lament having taught his pupil too well?

Still, I’m glad he took the trouble to write this letter. He’s even starting to care about his reputation. And Ditai’s arts really do suit him. They’re worth studying...

Zheng Zhuxi stopped outside the east sitting room and carefully read the whole letter again. Only then did she fold it away and step lightly inside.

Six or seven young women sat on the couches and chairs, all unmarried cousins of hers.

People of the jianghu generally observed only three months of mourning. The Zheng family, rooted in Confucian tradition, normally observed three years. Zheng Zhuxi was free to follow either custom. She planned to remain in mourning until her father returned to office, then accompany him to his post and stay for another six months or a year. After that, she would set out in earnest to travel the jianghu, see the world, and seek the Dharma Realm.

In fact, during this past year and more of quiet mourning, she had brought the Lesser Limitless Art to the perfected Great Proliferation Realm as well. Often, her heart settled and her mind grew clear and still. She could faintly sense stirrings of qi in the void, yet something still eluded her.

Her martial progress was not the only thing Zheng Zhuxi had gained during her mourning. She had gradually grown close to her cousins in the Zheng family. They were no longer relatives in name alone.

This was her longest stay in Changhua for as long as she could remember. When she was little, her father had held posts elsewhere. Later, she lived with her mother on Alpine Lake Mountain. She had rarely spent more than half a month in Changhua in an entire year, leaving her barely acquainted with her cousins.

Now that they had grown closer, her unmarried female cousins often visited to chat and keep her from feeling too lonely.

Zheng Zhuxi had just returned to her cushioned stool when she heard her fourth cousin ask Cousin Mu, "You and that man will be discussing marriage soon, won’t you?"

Zheng Zhuxi knew about Cousin Mu’s situation. The Mu family came from a martial sect and had far fewer rules than the Zhengs. While traveling through nearby provinces and prefectures, Cousin Mu had met a wandering hero. They had shared many experiences and later discovered that his parents were old acquaintances of her father. Little by little, their relationship had reached the point of marriage discussions.

"Mm." Usually brisk and spirited, Cousin Mu nodded shyly.

"How do you really feel about him? You’ve never told us." They were all unmarried young women, naturally curious about such things.

Cousin Mu lowered her head and said in a barely audible voice, "I... I often think of him and dream about him."

"Then you’re deeply in love." Fourth Cousin, well versed in all manner of storybooks, beamed at her.

Zheng Zhuxi was taken aback.

"Thinking of him and dreaming about him often means you’re deeply in love?"

"Not necessarily." Fourth Cousin turned her smiling gaze toward Cousin Mu. "There have to be other symptoms too. Seeing him makes you happy, and when he’s away, you miss him. Sometimes you’re happy for him, sometimes you worry over him, and sometimes he makes you so angry you could bite him. So many of your joys and sorrows revolve around him. Isn’t that right, Yunying?"

Overcome with embarrassment, Mu Yunying scolded her, but did not deny it.

Zheng Zhuxi blinked. Her expression slowly froze, as though she had been struck by lightning.

Fourth Cousin continued teasing, "When you imagine marrying him, the thought doesn’t repel you or make you uncomfortable. You look forward to it. You feel happy and safe, and a little shy."

Zheng Zhuxi imagined it. A sudden blush spread across her white-jade cheeks.

Have... have I really fallen for Junior Brother Ding?

But...

...

On his second day off, Ding Songyan stayed in the estate’s side courtyard, alternating between martial practice and writing his story.

He might be concocting nonsense, but he was careful not to let it descend into smut. A little sensuality would help the story spread; too much would make it unfit for respectable company and keep it from becoming as popular as The Legend of the White Snake. Public morals were still fairly conservative. Plenty of people read erotic tales in private, but the stories openly passed from mouth to mouth were those with gripping plots and moving romances.

The sentient jade’s bond with the tree yao, Xiaoqian, a pledge between wood and stone from a former life; his entanglement with the scarlet grass of Jade Pool across three lifetimes; his destined marriage to Princess Iron Fan, a union of gold and jade—each would have its own appeal.

After finishing two more Chapters, Ding Songyan went into the courtyard and took up a stance. Recalling Li Linquan’s Heaven-Splitting Thunderlight Sword, he began working through variations of its moves.

So this is another use for entering dreams. If I want to see someone’s martial arts but can’t reveal my identity to challenge them, I can do the same thing...

I could even guide them into showing me the entire art. It wouldn’t include the methods for forging apertures and installing viscera, but I don’t need those anyway...

No, no, no. How would that make me any different from a scoundrel like Chen Jindong?

I need to set myself a rule: in dreams, I only spar. I don’t steal people’s arts. Unless they’re evil heretics, of course. Anyone has the right to put those people to death. The jianghu’s code of honor doesn’t apply!

Come to think of it, I still need to acquire an art that excels at stealth. That’s one area where I’m lacking...

Just then, Ding Songyan saw the leopard-headed Fan Chunlin return.

Well... his Shadowkill School is rather good at concealment and stealth... As the thought passed through Ding Songyan’s mind, Fan Chunlin said with a broad smile, "Brother Ding, Steward Peng wants to see us. He says they’ve decided on our rewards for the Silver Hook Gambling House affair."

The estate gets things done quickly... Ding Songyan had expected to wait 10–14 days.

He followed Fan Chunlin to the small hall beside the outer study, where Steward Peng Jushan awaited them, his rooster-like face unusually ruddy.

"You both handled the Silver Hook Gambling House affair very well. You recognized the opportunity, acted decisively, and removed a serious hidden threat to the estate..." After a few words of praise, Steward Peng produced a stack of banknotes and two blue porcelain bottles. "His Highness took a personal interest and has awarded each of you a thousand taels of silver and one Life-Sustaining Pill. This pill is a miraculous healing medicine. It cannot revive the dead, regrow flesh on bare bones, or snatch someone from Goddess Houtu’s grasp, but it can reduce grave injuries to ordinary ones, and ordinary injuries to minor wounds."

The estate certainly is generous... Ding Songyan silently approved.

He and Fan Chunlin thanked the prince and Steward Peng, but Peng Jushan stopped them before they could leave.

"One more thing. I’ll have to trouble you to assist the Martial Prohibition Bureau again," the steward said with a smile. "You needn’t worry about tomorrow’s gate duty."

"Please go on, Steward Peng," Fan Chunlin said, puzzled.

Peng Jushan nodded slightly.

"Thanks to Miss Zhang’s clear portrait, the Martial Prohibition Bureau has finally found a lead on the vendor selling burial objects, after sending its people far and wide to make inquiries.

"He frequents the Treasure Market. Someone saw him there just yesterday.

"This man may be connected to the Silver Hook Gambling House affair, and your respective skills are well suited to tracking him down. Since you’ve already been handling the matter, you may as well see it through."

The Treasure Market, in the city’s south, was one of the Flame Capital’s most famous markets. Alongside goods from every province of Great Zhao were wares from the three northern kingdoms, Ba, and even Tiandu, Heshi, Fanye, and other lands on the fringes of the Great Wilderness. Treasures of every kind filled its stalls in dazzling profusion.

The Martial Prohibition Bureau is capable indeed. They’ve made progress already... Ding Songyan wanted to get to the bottom of the burial objects himself. With an air of solemn righteousness, he cupped his hands.

"This is what I have always wished for, though I dared not ask."

Fan Chunlin accepted the assignment too, though with a trace of disappointment.

He had been hoping Miss Zhang would find the lead. Then he would be assisting Crimson Phoenix Spear, not the Martial Prohibition Bureau.

He and Ding Songyan promptly set out, passing through Tiger Tail Alley and Pingnan Street before reaching the Treasure Market on the banks of the Xiaming River.

The market occupied two or three main streets and the alleys linking them. People thronged back and forth, almost shoulder to shoulder.

"Make way! Make way!" At the shouts, the crowd parted. The clatter of hooves rapidly drew near.

Ding Songyan looked over but saw no riders, only two men dressed as guards racing past.

Both wore tight-fitting clothes with their trouser legs rolled up. Brown hair covered their legs below the knees. They wore no shoes: their feet were shaped like horses’ hooves, complete with nailed-on horseshoes.

Their hooves flew with a rapid clatter, running faster than horses.

"Dingling..." Ding Songyan noticed that the nearer he came to the Treasure Market, the more people of other species he saw.

The Dingling Kingdom had stood on the Great Wilderness’s northern fringe before being annexed by the Feng Kingdom. Its people, one of the Hundred Species, all had hair below their knees and horses’ hooves suited to galloping. They could cover five hundred kilometers by day and four hundred by night, and had a natural advantage in cultivating certain supernatural movement arts.

Other people get pedicures. They get their hooves trimmed... Ding Songyan looked away. Following the Martial Prohibition Bureau director’s instructions, he and Fan Chunlin began searching the businesses in the nearby streets and alleys, one by one, under the pretext of pursuing a fugitive.

They continued their inquiries from shop to shop. Toward evening, they entered one selling medicinal ingredients from the northern kingdoms.

Amid the medicinal scents filling the shop, Ding Songyan’s eyes suddenly narrowed.

Something sinister had reacted to Banishing Demons and Warding Off Evil, causing a subtle disturbance in his Chaos Realm!

It was not to his left or right, ahead or behind him, nor was it above.

It was 5.3 meters below!