Looking at the girl’s blooming smile across from him and feeling the ice-cold, slick serpent tail slowly coiling tighter, the childhood terrors Ding Songyan had accumulated from watching The Legend of the White Snake and Anaconda came flooding back in an instant.

He forced a smile and answered her question, "I understand."

Heaven have pity on me. Who could have predicted that a white snake would come to listen to my Legend of the White Snake?

The girl nodded with satisfaction. The massive tail retracted with a swish and vanished without a trace.

"So you can show me what you’ve written tonight, yes?"

"Of course, of course." Ding Songyan half-turned, picked up the stack of papers, and offered them with both hands.

The girl read by the light of the oil lamp and the moon, turning pages with genuine attention, occasionally letting out a small exclamation.

When she reached the final page, she looked up, thoroughly pleased.

"So Lady Bai is even more powerful than I thought. She can go to the Heavenly Court and steal an elixir of immortality. Hm, but what about Fahai? He’s already confirmed that Lady Bai is a snake-yao. Why hasn’t he come to subdue her?"

Good question. That’s exactly where I got stuck... And you’re hoping Lady Bai gets subdued? If she actually were, you’d be crying. Being a white snake yourself, the immersion must be immense, right? Ding Songyan’s body was rigid with tension, but his mind fell into its habitual sardonic commentary as a way of managing his bladder.

Without time to think it through properly, he blurted out, "Didn’t you just say it yourself? Lady Bai can steal from the Heavenly Court. She’s far more powerful than Fahai. He’s out searching for allies right now, to ensure absolute certainty before he acts."

"But Lady Bai just gave birth to Xu Shilin. She’s still very weak. Wouldn’t she be in extreme danger?" The girl was immediately anxious about the plot again, her gaze burning as she waited for Ding Songyan’s answer.

You’re going to keep asking all the way to the finale, aren’t you? Ding Songyan sighed inwardly.

"Lady Bai has allies too.

"There’s a great hero of the jianghu called Yan Nantian. He loves nothing more than seeing lovers united and sees nothing wrong with a yao and a human being in love. He’ll happen upon the situation at just the right moment and draw his sword to help."

Under duress and pressed for time, Ding Songyan had graduated from adaptation to pure fabrication.

The girl let out a long exclamation and visibly relaxed.

"Then I’ll listen to the full version tomorrow." She smiled and stood.

Seeing that she meant no harm, Ding Songyan recovered somewhat from the initial terror of encountering a snake-yao. Half out of curiosity, half to build their connection, he asked, "Is your name also Bai Suzhen?"

The girl burst out laughing.

"It’s not quite that fated. Didn’t I already tell you? My name is Xiaoqing."

"Aren’t you a white snake... I assumed Xiaoqing referred to your maidservant. She wore green." Ding Songyan explained.

"So a white snake can’t be called Xiaoqing?" The girl was in excellent spirits, her smile carrying a teasing edge. "Can’t my name have ’Qing’ in it?"

Fine, fine, fine. You’re always right! Ding Songyan was about to speak when a sudden dizziness seized his head.

It lasted only an instant. Then everything was normal again. The room before him was still and cool as water. There was no figure in a white dress anywhere.

He himself was still in the posture of having just set his brush on its rest. He had never turned to look toward the bed.

Everything that had just happened, including the white-skirted snake-yao, was like a fleeting dream he had accidentally slipped into while writing his outline.

The dim yellow of the oil lamp and the bright white of the moonlight wove together, hazy and dreamlike.

"I wasn’t asleep..." Ding Songyan calmed down and carefully checked. There was no lingering fragrance in the air.

But he still believed the girl called Xiaoqing had truly been here.

The pages of his story outline, spread across the wooden chest, had been moved from where he left them.

Man, being a storyteller in this world is a high-risk profession. Heaven only knows what strange creatures might end up listening to your tales. If you string them along too much or if the ending doesn’t satisfy them... the consequences are unimaginable... Ding Songyan seriously weighed whether to report this to the authorities.

It took him minutes to reach his decision.

So what if she’s a snake-yao?

Can’t a snake-yao be a friend?

I took an interest in Xiaoqing from the start and wanted to build a connection because I thought her background was strong, her nature was kind, and she still had a few traces of innocent charm. None of that has changed. So my plans won’t change either.

Whether she’s human or yao doesn’t affect that judgment. I’m not trying to be Xu Xian.

Moreover, Ding Songyan felt that his relationship with the girl, Xiaoqing, was no longer quite so distant after tonight. They shared something of a secret now. He could now try asking or probing into many things he previously could not.

Ding Songyan let out a breath, then thought of the plot points he had improvised in front of Xiaoqing under pressure, and his head began to ache.

He would have to use all of them. You could deceive anyone but your benefactor, especially a benefactor who could swallow you whole!

He ran through what he had said, and decided it was manageable. At the very least, it explained why Fahai did not dare confront Lady Bai directly, but instead lured Xu Xian to Jinshan Temple to draw her there.

With a plan forming, Ding Songyan picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and continued working.

...

Dingjiang Prefecture had no curfew; it only closed its gates for the night. But in the depths of night the narrow lanes remained empty and silent.

The maidservant in the green skirt hurried after Xiaoqing, asking with concern, "Miss, why did you use your transformation art to frighten Ding Songyan?"

Xiaoqing still wore the same purple outfit from the day. Looking delicate and fragile, she breathed in the cool night breeze and swung her arms happily.

"He deceived me first. That story was clearly something he made up on the spot, yet he claimed it was a tale he’d recently learned. Same with that song. I asked around. No such musical style exists!"

"But— but what if he reports it to the authorities? Says he encountered a snake-yao?" The maidservant was worried.

Xiaoqing laughed.

"He wouldn’t know, but you think the Yi clan and the Brightnight Sect don’t? After Emperor Zhuanxu severed the connection between heaven and earth, what snake-yao could possibly take human form?"

"Oh, right." The maidservant relaxed, murmuring to herself, "And there are quite a few cultivation methods that produce a serpent body. It’s not easy to guess which one."

Xiaoqing walked with light steps toward the main street, swinging her arms back and forth, grinning as she spoke.

"Maintaining human form at will and only revealing the serpent tail when you choose to? That’s something only someone at the Heaven-Man Realm can do. If Ding Songyan actually reports it, he will give the Yi clan and the Brightnight Sect a fright."

"Mm-hm!" The maidservant caught her mistress’s good mood. "Besides Heaven-Man Realm Grandmasters, only a few arts specializing in transformation can pull that off..."

Then she froze.

"Miss, won’t the Yi clan and the Brightnight Sect guess our identities from this and ruin our plans?"

"Oh, right..." Xiaoqing blinked and stopped walking.

After a few seconds, she pressed her lips together.

"Ding Songyan probably won’t report it.

"And even if he does go to the authorities, it’s Second Uncle’s problem, not mine. I’ll get scolded at worst, maybe grounded. I’m used to it anyway."

The maidservant was momentarily speechless. Seeing that her mistress was no longer fretting over it, she let it go as well.

After a moment’s thought, she asked, "Miss, do you think we’ll be able to hear the whole Legend of the White Snake before we leave Dingjiang Prefecture?"

"Probably." Xiaoqing pondered for a while, then said with mock ferocity, "If not, the night before we leave, I’ll kidnap Ding Songyan and make him tell the story all night long. Until the very end!"

"Yes! Perfect!" The maidservant wholeheartedly approved.

Troubles forgotten, the mistress-servant duo strolled through the sparsely populated lanes with light laughter and playful banter, making their way toward Tianyang Hall.

...

Under the blazing sun, beneath a large tree outside Dangkang Temple.

Working from last night’s outline, Ding Songyan introduced Yan Nantian and drove the story forward until Fahai "lured" Xu Xian to his stronghold at Jinshan Temple.

Seeing Xiaoqing’s face once again wearing that look of "how can you possibly stop here," he knew she would likely visit again tonight. So he suppressed the impulse to glean information on the spot.

Too many ears here. Not the place for that kind of conversation.

He would wait until the quiet of night.

After a simple lunch, Ding Songyan remembered Qin Nuansheng’s reminder from the day before. He made his way to Longxing Street and found Physician Shao’s Life Extending Clinic.

He had barely stepped through the door, not yet having a chance to ask anyone anything, when he spotted a familiar figure sitting in a chair to the side.

It was the one-legged, three-eyed Qu Zhongheng.

Qingyan asked me to bring the gift we prepared to Baoping Lane tonight to thank Qu Zhongheng. I didn’t expect to run into him at the clinic at midday... Ding Songyan walked over and asked Qu Zhongheng, whose horizontal eye in the center of his forehead was tightly shut, "Zhongheng, what happened?"

Qu Zhongheng looked up at him, listless.

"My father was suddenly struck by unbearable stomach pain. We had no choice but to bring him to Physician Shao. The physician says it’s not looking good. He needs to be operated on."

Operated on? Ding Songyan instinctively wanted to dig at his ears, wondering if he had misheard.

Doesn’t that term feel a little out of place here?

He had just sat down when the wooden door separating the inner and outer rooms opened. Physician Shao emerged wearing a blue straight-cut robe, followed by two young assistants and two boys.

One of the boys carried a wooden tray holding thin willow-leaf blades, flat-edged blades, round needles, tweezers, scissors, catgut thread, and other instruments, all soaked in blood.

Qu Zhongheng shot to his foot and hopped toward the physician.

Physician Shao gave a slight nod.

"Your father had an intestinal blockage. I’ve removed the affected section and sutured the two ends back together..."

As he explained the situation, Ding Songyan listened in stunned disbelief.

Medicine in this world has advanced to this degree?

"He’ll need to stay in the clinic for at least a month." Physician Shao then turned to Ding Songyan. "Wait a moment. Let me clean up."

"Of course, Physician Shao." Only today did Ding Songyan notice that the physician’s pupils seemed tinged with white.

Once seated again, Qu Zhongheng was visibly relieved. He sighed to Ding Songyan beside him.

"Before Emperor Zhuanxu severed the connection between heaven and earth, our clan had the Jiliang, the Auspicious Horse. Simply riding one granted a lifespan of a thousand years. Nowadays, not only can the Jiliang itself barely survive and has nearly gone extinct, but even if you had the great fortune to encounter one, riding it would extend your life to two hundred at most."

Two hundred is plenty... I only made it past thirty in my previous life... Ding Songyan grumbled inwardly.

"By today’s standards, two hundred years isn’t bad at all." Qu Zhongheng continued in his monologue. "If there were still Jiliang, my father wouldn’t be suffering like this before he’s even reached seventy."

"At least Physician Shao is here and was able to save him." Ding Songyan offered a word of comfort.

He did not ask why Qu Zhongheng’s two elder brothers had not appeared. Qingyan had not mentioned them either. Given what he knew of the Qu family’s obsession with mechanical devices and their frequent accidents, it was better not to ask.

After chatting for a while longer, Ding Songyan produced the small gift his sister had bought, box and all, and handed it to Qu Zhongheng, expressing his thanks.

A smile appeared on Qu Zhongheng’s face.

"Qingyan is always so thoughtful. I’d be rude to refuse.

"Songyan, I used to think you were timid and spineless, nothing like a real man. If not for Qingyan, I wouldn’t have bothered with you at all. But looking at things now, you’re actually a decent fellow."

Bro, if you can’t talk nicely, just don’t say anything... You will never marry my sister in this lifetime! Ding Songyan discovered that Qu Zhongheng’s social skills were genuinely poor—the kind of person who couldn’t even fake it.

Then again, when interacting with someone like this, you never needed to keep your guard up. No need to worry about them being two-faced.

After a moment’s thought, Ding Songyan changed the subject.

"Zhongheng, that eye on your forehead. Do you never use it?"