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Di Yangliu was an orphan, as far as they knew.
Di Yangliu had been a little monster being trained to kill when Da-Shixiong came and set them all free. He broke the Old Master's power and then sent them all off, like a big coop of chickens meant for slaughter — the lid was off, they could scatter in the wind.
Di Yangliu had run with the others at first; but unlike most of the others, they had been considered Problematic, and was sent to Tianji Hall so Da-Shixiong could keep an eye on them.
It meant, however, that he got to be their Da-Shixiong; just for them and a few others. When one of them achieved victory or got to show the world how good their work was, then Da-Shixiong was there and would tell them he was proud of them. If one of them ran into trouble, then Da-Shixiong was there and helped them solve it, if possible without killing anybody.
Sometimes, you had to kill somebody; either if the person was going to kill you, or if the person was so evil you had to stop them. Da-Shixiong still killed some people, even though he'd mostly retired from the jianghu. He had a list of former customers of the Old Master, and if he ran into one, the customer was dead.
Di Yangliu wasn't supposed to know about the list, or the customers, but they did. All of the Di orphans at Tianji Manor knew, and when Da-Shixiong had caught yet another one, they celebrated, secretly, among themselves.
When Da-Shixiong came to stay at Tianji Manor for a while, he would teach them new forms and answer their questions and make them report on what they had learned in his absence. Most of the other apprentices had families that they would go home to for the holidays — the New Year, or Qingming — but the Di orphans had Da-Shixiong, who had been the second best fighter in the jianghu at one stage, and would have been the best except that he never managed to win against Li Xiangyi.
Li Xiangyi, who was now Li Lianhua, and one of Da-Shixiong's sworn brothers. Di Yangliu and their xiongdi surnamed Di weren't supposed to know about this, but they did, and they were secretly very proud that their er-ge had once been the best fighter in the jianghu, and a famous hero. Their san-ge was the son of the master they were apprenticed to, and knew everything about contraptions, mechanisms, and apparatuses, and was very willing to help the Di orphans with their projects.
Since Da-Shixiong had sworn brotherhood with his two friends, Di Yangliu had argued that this new relationship rubbed off on the kids surnamed Di, so er-ge and san-ge it was. Da-Shixiong was so scary, though, that it seemed too flippant to just call him da-ge.
Da-Shixiong and his sworn brothers travelled the world with a cottage on wheels, four horses, and a very cute orange-and-white dog named Huli-jing; and while er-ge would sometimes shoo the Di orphans from his house with a broom and a laugh, the dog was always willing to play with them, and er-ge encouraged them. "Yes," he would laugh, "take her with you and tire her out so she'll sleep well tonight and not have ideas shortly after midnight!"
Di Yangliu would call out to the dog and click their tongue and make her follow, into the woods and through the ponds and up the mountain paths to the spots where Da-Shixong liked to meditate beside the waterfall, and then keep climbing beyond until they could look down on all the world — Tianji Manor, the house on wheels parked in the orchard, and the plains beyond the mountains.
There were cities there beyond the mountains, where there would be dragon boat races and markets and princesses; there would be inns and enemies and mysteries waiting to be solved.
One day, Di Yangliu would go down there to lose themselves among those, and make a name for themselves, and perhaps get on a list or two for their own achievements. But for now, they could sit on a boulder near the mountaintop, cuddle the dog and dream of a future that would not end up in murder and bloodshed, and all because they were safe here, behind the broad backs of Da-Shixiong and his friends.