Chapter 202: An Undeserved Calamity

"That’s right," Yan Qing confirmed.

Ding Songyan had not expected to gain another lead. Pleasantly surprised, he asked, "Miss Zhang, Hero Yan, do you remember what the vendor looked like?"

The man who ran the Pingnan Street night market had only a vague impression of the vendor. After taking over the case, the Martial Prohibition Bureau had used dream arts to help him recall the man’s general appearance, but the resulting portrait was still indistinct and imprecise.

As gazes turned toward Zhang Yingbo, a trace of excitement made her fiery beauty glow all the brighter.

She nodded eagerly.

"I do. He was the only one selling burial objects at the night market. I was quite curious at the time."

She lifted her chin with a hint of pride.

"I’m also rather good at painting. I can draw him for you."

The charming gesture and expression nearly made Fan Chunlin and the others forget to breathe.

She deserved her place in Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu. Every smile, every frown was a sight to behold, leaving everything around her pale in comparison.

Do Five Saints Sect disciples have to study music, go, calligraphy, and painting as well as martial arts? Master Xiaozhang and his fellow enthusiasts were quite right in describing Miss Zhang as "warm and ingenuous"... Ding Songyan looked at her for a moment in simple appreciation, then smiled and gestured toward the Cheap Wine Shop.

"What fortunate timing. I’ll ask the shopkeeper for some paper and a brush."

Twelfth Madam Luo readily agreed. She warmly led them into the rear courtyard, brought out brushes, paper, and other painting supplies, and set them on the stone table.

Zhang Yingbo thought back briefly, then picked up a brush, dipped it in the pigments, and began carefully painting the portrait.

A few strands of black hair fell beside her ears, setting off the snowy fairness of her face and its vivid, predominantly crimson markings.

There was a painting on the paper, and the beauty painting it was a picture herself.

Yan Qing, Li Baima, and the others watched intently. Some gazed openly, others stole furtive glances, and some were so overwhelmed by her beauty that they occasionally turned away, afraid of losing themselves in it.

Ding Songyan stepped back beside Twelfth Madam Luo and watched with his sword cradled in his arms. He kept quiet, unwilling to spoil the scene.

His thoughts wandered idly.

If Zhang Yingbo is this beautiful, what must Feng Yining have been like, when everyone agreed she was the most beautiful woman in the world?

They’re both Five Saints Sect disciples, so their traits should have something in common. A pity it’s so hard to emerge from death seclusion. Who knows whether Feng Yining will ever come out...

Before long, Zhang Yingbo set down her brush and turned toward Ding Songyan.

"Young hero, would you take a look and see whether this is the vendor you’re after?"

How would I know...? Ding Songyan beckoned Fan Chunlin to come with him.

Inexplicably nervous, Fan Chunlin tried his best to imitate Brother Ding’s composure as he approached the stone table.

Fourth Fan, you’re swinging the wrong arm with each step... Ding Songyan did not point it out. He stopped two paces from Zhang Yingbo.

Fan Chunlin did not dare get too close either. After studying the portrait, he said,

"Yes. It’s fifty or sixty percent like the night-market owner’s portrait, only clearer and more lifelike."

Ding Songyan looked at the paper. It depicted a man in his thirties with no physical anomalies, a square face, and slightly untidy eyebrows at the outer ends. The rest of his features were entirely ordinary.

"With your fine portrait, Miss Zhang, I’m sure the Martial Prohibition Bureau will find him sooner." Ding Songyan cupped his hands and offered the compliment.

Zhang Yingbo pressed her lips together with a slight curl in the corner of her lips.

"I’m returning to Phoenix Terrace Study today, but if I have time, I’ll help the estate look for him."

Phoenix Terrace Study was the Five Saints Sect’s lodging in the Flame Capital. It also sold calligraphy, paintings, and musical scores by the sect’s disciples.

"So will I," Yan Qing said in a low voice.

So Miss Zhang is leaving the estate today. No wonder she brought her friends to the Cheap Wine Shop. This was a farewell meal... Young heroes just setting out in the jianghu really do want to accomplish something, to become part of its stories. Senior Sister was the same when I first met her... At the thought, Ding Songyan’s gaze softened a little without him realizing it. He saluted again.

"Thank you, Heroine Zhang, Hero Yan, and all of you for your generous help!"

As he escorted Yan Qing and the others back toward the front of the wine shop, Zhang Yingbo deliberately quickened her pace to walk alongside him. She glanced at the bamboo flute at his waist and asked quietly, "You don’t play very often, do you?"

"No," Ding Songyan admitted freely.

Zhang Yingbo gave a faint smile that dazzled everyone watching.

"You’re very talented. If you study a little musical theory and study a wider variety of scores, you’ll be even better."

"Thank you for the compliment, Miss Zhang," Ding Songyan replied politely.

Only after the young woman named in Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu had walked away and vanished beyond the mouth of Tiger Tail Alley did Li Baima release a breath and speak with heartfelt admiration.

"Wherever Miss Zhang goes, the breeze is fresh, the air gentle, the plants flourish, and the flowers are fragrant. It’s as though a phoenix has descended and blessed the place."

Wu Mo and Fan Chunlin readily agreed. Nothing they had seen before could compare with today’s encounter.

Ding Songyan clicked his tongue softly, sat at an empty table, and ordered food and wine.

After his late lunch, he resumed wandering the nearby streets to see whether he could find the vendor.

He was testing a suspicion.

If he happened to stumble across the man selling burial objects by such a remarkable coincidence, he believed there could be only two explanations.

Either Bringing All Things Into Unity really did have some uncanny influence, or someone was using this to lure him in!

Too many coincidences meant something was wrong.

To his mingled disappointment and relief, the entire afternoon passed without a single clue. He did not turn a corner and run into either the burial-object vendor or a woman scented with jasmine and sandalwood.

After a quick meal at a noodle stall, he returned to the Cheap Wine Shop as the day rapidly darkened.

Twelfth Madam Luo was in the rear courtyard rather than serving customers out front. She was packing yesterday’s chrysanthemum bracelets, hair ornaments, and other creations into a bamboo basket.

"What brings you back again?" Twelfth Madam Luo looked both surprised and amused.

Ding Songyan cupped his hands.

"Thanks to your help today, I was able to fool Miss Zhang’s All Colors Under Heaven Gather Unto You.

"A favor should be repaid. I came to ask whether there’s anything I can do for you."

Exchanging small favors was a quick way to get to know someone and build a friendship.

Ding Songyan had no romantic interest in Twelfth Madam Luo, but he was intensely interested in her martial arts. He had told her so quite openly.

Twelfth Madam Luo raised her brows slightly and sized him up.

"All right. Split all the firewood in this courtyard for me. That’ll free me to sell these little things at the market outside the Kitchen King Temple."

"Gladly." Ding Songyan picked up the hatchet, checked the size and shape of the split firewood, then set a length of thick log before him.

Thunk!

With one stroke of the hatchet, the log split into four equal pieces.

Seeing Ding Songyan apply himself earnestly to the work, Twelfth Madam Luo picked up her basket and left through the courtyard’s side gate.

Ding Songyan treated the task as martial practice, splitting one log after another.

Shi Wuyan occasionally came for firewood. Seeing Ding Songyan at work, he wore a complicated expression but said nothing.

Before he knew it, the night had grown late and split firewood filled the shed.

Ding Songyan fetched a dustpan and broom and swept the courtyard before leaving, remembering to close the wooden gate behind him.

Well over an hour later, Twelfth Madam Luo returned with a spring in her step and an empty basket.

She pushed open the gate, surveyed the neat courtyard, then went to the main room and looked inside.

Everything was exactly where she had left it.

After looking for a while, Twelfth Madam Luo nodded slightly.

......

That night’s patrol passed without incident for Ding Songyan, Li Baima, and the others. The estate had regained its former peace and quiet.

"Our time off starts tomorrow. Shall we go to the Hengbo River in the evening?" Wu Mo asked eagerly when they returned to their side courtyard after patrol.

Fan Chunlin suddenly sighed.

"In a few days, perhaps. I’m not in the mood."

At Wu Mo’s surprised look, he explained sheepishly, "After seeing Miss Zhang, I just can’t find other women attractive."

"Neither can I," Li Baima said with a sigh.

Beauty like hers truly could sway the heart.

"I thought you only had eyes for Twelfth Madam," Ding Songyan teased Fan Chunlin.

Fan Chunlin fell into a brief reverie.

"That’s what I used to think. I thought I only liked curvy, fiery women..."

He abruptly raised his head and looked at Ding Songyan.

"Brother Ding, did you feel nothing at all? You were as courteous and self-possessed as ever with Miss Zhang, as though she were any ordinary heroine."

"You get used to it when you’ve seen enough." Ding Songyan began with the plain truth, then polished his spotless reputation. "What matters more to me is a meeting of minds and a noble character."

Wu Mo gave him a skeptical look.

"Neither of them will go to the Hengbo River. Will you come, Brother Ding?"

"No. I may go and visit a friend." Ding Songyan presented the very image of a Brightnight Sect disciple.

If he did want to drink and listen to music, he would get Fifth Xie to treat him. As a local, the man was bound to know plenty of good places. He also knew where to draw the line and would not invite women who threw themselves into the guests’ laps.

Wu Mo stared for a few breaths.

"So I’m the only real lecher here?"

The other two said nothing. Their looks gave him his answer.

Ding Songyan slept until ten in the morning. After getting up, washing, and eating a little, he practiced his martial arts for a while, then resumed the story he was preparing for Ou Luwen.

At noon, Fan Chunlin suddenly dashed into the courtyard, shouting as he hurried toward Ding Songyan’s room.

"Something’s happened! Something’s happened!"

"What’s happened?" Ding Songyan asked, puzzled.

Everything seems quiet in the estate.

Fan Chunlin caught his breath.

"Liu Cheng! The Sea-Treading Gang’s Young Boss! Someone tried to assassinate him. He’s badly wounded!"

Liu Cheng? Why would anyone try to assassinate him? Ding Songyan frowned slightly.

"Who did it?"

"They say it was a Grandmaster from the Accumulated Evil Way, but no one’s sure who," Fan Chunlin said rapidly.

The Accumulated Evil Way? Ding Songyan paused, then a possible explanation occurred to him.

Accountant Ma is in the Martial Prohibition Bureau’s prison. His wife and child are being watched by the bureau and the Chengtian Prefecture, making them a trap. Unable to reach their real target, did the Accumulated Evil Way take its anger out on Liu Cheng simply because he was involved?

They know guards from Prince Kang’s estate took part, but not yet which ones, and they’re wary of a trap. So they chose Liu Cheng, who is a Grandmaster himself and unlikely to have been placed under protection?

How do their minds even work...? Who could have seen that coming?

If Liu Cheng actually dies because of this, he’ll be crying injustice in the underworld for a hundred years...

No wonder Senior Sister said the Sage-Severing Way was one of the few relatively normal, comprehensible factions among the Twenty-One Heretical Ways...

Is everyone in the Accumulated Evil Way a lunatic who thinks of nothing but evil and revenge?

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