Chapter 84
Chapter 84
“That is how I became trapped in the Demon-Subduing Sword. Two wandering charlatans found it and brought me here, where I met you.”
After ten years trapped in Guang’en Temple, Ding Ling was terrified of losing another decade. Yan Yanchi’s fate remained unknown, and endless panic gripped her heart.
She raised her pale face hopefully. “Only Master Ding knew the Daoist Master brought me home. He doesn’t like me, and now he has… a daughter he prefers. He must not want me back. I won’t return. I don’t need my body. I only ask him to release the Daoist Master.”
Her shoulders trembled. “Fairy Sister, please help me.”
Qiao Ying looked up at the Youth in Blue beside her.
Shen Qingyu smiled obediently without speaking, as though she ruled their household.
Ding Ling had heard the charlatans describe the estate. She knew many had died here and had witnessed its rivers of blood the previous night.
But Shen Qingyu was the estate’s master, the truly terrifying one.
To save the Daoist Master, Ding Ling needed his help. Instinct warned her she could never persuade him unless Qiao Ying intervened.
“Shen Qingyu, will it be dangerous?” Qiao Ying asked.
He tilted his head. “If it is, will you abandon your foolish desire to save everyone, live peacefully with me, and ignore mortal affairs?”
Qiao Ying nodded. “I will.”
His smile faltered.
She answered without hesitation, as though no matter how grave the matter, he always came first.
Qiao Ying looked at Ding Ling. “People naturally distinguish between those close to them and strangers. Just as the Daoist Master is important to you, Shen Qingyu is the most important person to me. Even if I wish to help, I cannot accept any chance of him being hurt.”
Ding Ling pressed her lips together, her voice nasal. “I understand.”
Qiao Ying’s acquaintance with them was brief. She would gladly help if she could, but Shen Qingyu was different.
He was her husband and closest person. Naturally, he received first consideration.
So this was what closeness meant.
Shen Qingyu’s fingers shifted within Qiao Ying’s hand. Her warmth passed through his skin and blood until his throat moved from the heat.
“The Ding family gathered many killers quickly,” Qiao Ying said. “Daoist Master Yan is experienced, powerful, and alert, yet they tricked him. Shen Qingyu understands nothing…”
“I’ll help,” Shen Qingyu interrupted.
Qiao Ying blinked. “What?”
His smile was ambiguous. “I understand more than that Ox-nosed Daoist.”
Qiao Ying fell silent.
He refused to compare poorly with Yan Yanchi.
Ding Ling brightened. “Thank you, Young Master Shen!”
Qiao Ying tugged him closer and whispered, “Are you truly capable?”
Shen Qingyu remained relaxed. “Extremely.”
“How will you find Daoist Master Yan?”
He laughed. “With the simplest method.”
The weather grew colder after the winter solstice, and snow would likely come soon.
The poor worried about surviving winter and guarded every coin. Wealthy households answered winter by keeping braziers burning day and night.
In Ding Fufu’s warm chamber, she sat before the mirror holding a cloud-patterned hand warmer, in excellent spirits.
“The jade hairpin Father gave me is too ornate,” she told her maid. “Use Brother’s white jade pin instead. He finally returns today. He’ll be pleased to see me wearing his gift.”
Xiao Yun replaced the green jade ornament with the white pin. White jade and black hair complemented each other.
“Is it pretty?” Ding Fufu asked.
“Young miss, with your incomparable beauty, everything looks lovely.”
Ding Fufu touched her cheek. The face in the mirror truly was the most beautiful she had ever seen.
She smiled, and the face in the mirror smiled with her.
Sincerely and flatteringly, Xiao Yun said, “You’re even prettier when you smile. I began serving you at six. The first time I saw you, I wondered how anyone could be so beautiful. But you were always silent then, rarely smiled, and often angered the master. I was frightened too.”
“So you prefer me now?” Ding Fufu asked.
Xiao Yun nodded immediately. “Yes. Since you became cheerful, the manor has filled with laughter. The young master’s relationship with Master Ding improved because of you. And your cousin is completely devoted to you. Who in this world could dislike you?”
Ding Fufu enjoyed the words, but guilt soon made her sigh.
After all, she occupied another person’s body.
At six, shortly after her mother died, she had been left alone in a small courtyard. Somehow, she went to sleep and awakened in another body.
She had heard of the Ding family’s eldest daughter but never imagined becoming her.
Ding Fufu had been frightened at first. Under the elder brother’s attentive care, she gradually accepted her new identity.
Her mother had once taken her to an opera called The Tale of Soul Transference. A noble daughter and scholar were betrothed in childhood, but he loved an ordinary embroiderer. The daughter hired a sorcerer to exchange their bodies, only for the scholar to fall in love again with the embroiderer wearing the noblewoman’s face.
The noblewoman died of rage. The embroiderer became a wealthy daughter and lived happily with the scholar.
Ding Fufu believed she resembled that embroiderer. Heaven had granted her another life because she was kind.
The heiress Ding Ling had enjoyed wealth and beauty, yet failed to please her rich father.
Her cousin disliked her, but she shamelessly chased him.
Though close to her brother, she never considered him and worsened his relationship with their father.
She had been timid, weak, foolish, and squandered every advantage.
Since heaven gave Ding Fufu another chance, she would not live pitifully.
Ding Ling, rest easy.
I will repair your regrets and live a more splendid life.
The winter wind carried shouting.
“What is happening outside?” Ding Fufu asked.
“Young miss, disaster!” Xiao Xia rushed in, pale with fear. “An intruder entered the manor. Every guard is down!”
“Bandits dare attack us in broad daylight?”
“Not bandits. One person!”
Ding Fufu’s expression changed. “One?”
Clouds hid the sun. The wind roared, and the gloomy day grew colder.
Bodies covered Ding Manor. Arms or legs were broken, and their owners rolled in pain, crying out.
A white-haired Youth in Blue approached slowly. A white silk blindfold covered his eyes, while a faint, friendly smile touched his lips, like spring frozen inside winter wind.
“Noisy.”
His Blind Staff tapped. A blast of force dislocated every screaming jaw, and the wind became quieter.
When the steward fell, no one remained before Master Ding. His knees weakened. Trembling with anger and fear, he stammered, “Who are you? You invade my home in daylight and defy the city’s law. What… what do you want?”
Wind stirred the young man’s blindfold and hair. “I came sincerely to find someone. Rest assured, I mean no harm.”
Master Ding looked at the bodies scattered everywhere. “You defeated everyone in my manor. You call that no harm?”
The young man tilted his head with a faint smile. A warm little hand took his elegant, bony fingers, and half a girl appeared behind him.
“Master Ding, you should believe him,” she advised. “If he meant harm, those people would be missing limbs or torn into pieces.”
Everyone shuddered as though winter wind had passed through their bones.