The moon hung bright with few stars visible. Under the night sky, the bells had already struck the hour of the Rat. Throughout Jiangning City, myriad lights glowed like the city's skeleton and framework. Speeding carriages and lantern-bearing pedestrians moved along the roads at varying paces, flowing like the city's lifeblood. On the Qinhuai River, ripples of light danced as boats came and went, their lamps forming strings of small glowing boxes.

Those enjoying the nightlife had begun heading home. From grand mansions and modest residences throughout the streets came occasional sounds of knocking and warm greetings. Past the hour of the Rat, the city's lights gradually began to fade, like drifting duckweed pulling back from the periphery toward the center. Some brothels and teahouses still glowed with light, though already touched by desolation. Painted boats and pleasure craft slowly docked, their lights dimming one by one until only scattered rooms still showed any brightness.

Night gradually passed, and in the darkness, mist began to gather. One hour passed, then another. When the city reached its quietest moment, warm yellow light spilled from the windows of an unremarkable stilted house beside a river bend.

It was a woman's bedroom in slight disarray. The originally simple furnishings had recently been invaded by many obviously new additions—peculiar potted plants, several odd-looking small cabinets, interesting knotted ornaments with several strings hanging from the bed, and various wrapped bundles of unknown contents. Some, lacking proper places, sat on chairs while the dressing table overflowed with rouge and powder. As the lamp was lit, a woman's voice emerged.

"Mmm, Sister Yunzhu, let's sleep a bit more..."

The mosquito netting was half-lifted, and that soft, mumbling voice came from within the wooden bed. Nie Yunzhu, wearing a dudou and silk pants, reached for her thin undergarment. The woman on the inner side of the bed rolled over and burrowed closer.

"All right, you keep sleeping..."

Yunzhu smiled, fastening her clothes as she got out of bed and stepped into her embroidered cloth shoes. She then took the oil lamp and fire starter to the relatively less cluttered round table. The small house had only one guest room, which had been given to Kou'er. Yuan Jin'er, waving the banner of sisterly affection, had righteously taken up residence in Nie Yunzhu's room.

They truly were good sisters, so sleeping together didn't matter. Over the past few days, Yuan Jin'er had somehow procured all these strange items, filling Nie Yunzhu's originally simple and elegant bedroom piece by piece until it became rather chaotic. Fortunately, Yunzhu wasn't the type to be coldly aloof and refuse others' intrusions. Since Yuan Jin'er enjoyed herself, she let her be.

"That Ning Yi... I'd be amazed if he dares to come today." The woman on the bed rolled slowly, her voice drowsy. "Isn't he afraid I'll scold him..."

Hearing her tone, Nie Yunzhu smiled slightly. When she left the room, Hutao and Kou'er had already awakened and were boiling water in the kitchen. She went to help. After washing her face, she returned to the dressing table and began her simple makeup and hair routine. During this time, Yuan Jin'er mumbled a few more things from the bed, too unclear to understand.

After a while, the woman had finished dressing, changing into proper clothes for going out—still a simple, plain style that looked ordinary but actually required considerable effort each morning. She then went to sweep the steps outside the door. When finished, she carried a tray with teapot and cups and sat down on the steps.

The sky remained dark, though the moon was visible. In the distant east, layers of mountain mist revealed shifting silhouettes. Wind blew across, moaning over the Qinhuai River. With lamplight spilling from behind her, she poured herself tea and waited quietly.

After some time, a casually dressed Yuan Jin'er emerged, rubbing her eyes. Her body was actually slender and graceful, perfectly suited for dance with its flexible beauty, and she wasn't short. However, she now appeared several years younger. When Nie Yunzhu usually sat here waiting for Ning Yi, Jin'er would either be sleeping or leave after a few words. But today she plopped down beside her, leaning against Yunzhu's shoulder to continue dozing. Apparently she had no intention of leaving. Yunzhu hugged her shoulders. The morning breeze helped people wake up, and before long, Yuan Jin'er let out a long breath, then flopped across Yunzhu's lap to reach over and pour herself tea.

"Mm, when he comes, I'm definitely going to scold him. So embarrassing!"

Yuan Jin'er made this announcement. Yunzhu laughed beside her: "Still angry? What's there to be angry about? He already gave you five hundred taels—you did very well."

"But how could he do that? He scraped it together! Scraped it together, you know! When everyone finds out, where will I put my face²? How can I go on living..."

"But he reacted quickly, and not many people would know."

"As if! Lots of people saw. It was so awkward at the time..."

Thinking of last night, Yuan Jin'er felt it was unbearable. She'd gone up to give him face and ask for a reward, but he only had four taels. Not having money at the moment would have been fine—writing her a poem would have been nice too. But in the end, Ning Yi still turned to tell the girl behind him "five hundred taels." He didn't produce it himself, and moments later had to borrow from the Su family to give to Smoke and Emerald Tower. At least the Xue family group definitely knew, and many others must have noticed too...

Her first time being so embarrassed... No, actually the second time. The first was when she'd jumped out to scare him but got scared by Liu Qingdi instead. This time he'd shamefully pulled out four taels of silver to dismiss her... Scraping together five hundred taels was even more humiliating...

She'd been clamoring for revenge since leaving Smoke and Emerald Tower with Yunzhu last night. Now she muttered and grumbled while drinking several cups of tea in succession. Finally, after the pale light of dawn appeared on the horizon and the morning breeze gradually thinned the mountain mist, that figure with his left hand wrapped in bandages appeared in the distance. The same running rhythm as always, though when he stopped nearby, he and Yuan Jin'er stared at each other for a moment.

"You still dare to come..."

"You still dare to talk!" Ning Yi raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't it chaotic enough already?"

"What shouldn't I dare say? Four taels of broken silver! Four taels of broken silver!"

"What could I do when I only had four taels of silver left? Did you discuss it with me first? You brought this on yourself!"

"I was providing cover for Sister Yunzhu. If you didn't handle things well on your end, that's your problem!"

"Some cover—do you know how to provide cover? By tonight all of Jiangning will be in an uproar, do you understand?"

"If there's an uproar, they'll be talking about me!"

"Without you there wouldn't be such an uproar. Yunzhu going on stage would have limited impact—at most some curiosity. But with your stunt, it'll never end... they'll all gossip wildly..."

"I was earning face for you, for Sister Yunzhu's sake, and you say I'm stirring up trouble! How many people beg me to stir things up!"

"Thank you, thank you so much. Earning face for me—did you see that Liu Qingdi's expression when you came up? He looked ready to swallow me whole. After you and Yunzhu left, he kept making indirect jabs."

"What did you say?"

"I said I didn't know. Who's Yuan Jin'er? I've never met her. Why she followed up there, if he wanted to know, he should ask you."

"So you're saying I went out of my way to help and you just gave me the cold shoulder..."

"Anyway, he's got his eye on me now, thanks to you."

"I'm not even that close to him..."

Actually, they didn't have any real disagreement. Arguments were simply about not backing down. After sparring verbally for a while, Ning Yi sat down by the tea tray to pour himself a cup. Yuan Jin'er argued a bit more, appealing to Nie Yunzhu for judgment. Yunzhu smiled, adopting a neutral stance, so Yuan Jin'er huffed and ran off.

In the east, the morning sun began to show. Ning Yi sat there drinking tea quietly. Nie Yunzhu hugged her knees, silent for a long while before lowering her head with a smile: "About last night... I was actually being willful. Jin'er stirring things up was following my willfulness. Heh... She's naturally playful. Liheng... if you can avoid blaming her, please don't..."

"It's fine. I actually found it quite interesting." Ning Yi smiled, glancing in the direction Yuan Jin'er had disappeared. He was someone accustomed to handling major affairs. While he could be meticulous about small matters when calculating gains and losses, he'd also been audaciously bold plenty of times. Whether he cared now was merely a shift in perspective. "I wonder what she had to promise Smoke and Emerald Tower to go on stage."

"Jin'er and Aunt Chen are old acquaintances. I heard she'll help choreograph dances for the Smoke and Emerald Tower girls. I'll also help out a bit—it's not too troublesome."

Only then did Ning Yi nod: "As long as it's nothing too outrageous."

"But... going forward, things will be rather troublesome..." After thinking for a while, Nie Yunzhu spoke softly. "Regarding... matters with Old Qin, perhaps... I should visit to apologize and decline would be better..."

This was what really needed discussing. Ning Yi looked at her for a long moment: "You thought about this before going on stage?"

"Mm." Nie Yunzhu nodded. "I thought about it some, though not too much."

She seemed slightly apologetic: "In the end, I've still caused trouble for Liheng..."

"It's nothing major." Ning Yi shook his head. "I'll handle it."

"But that matter really isn't very appropriate..."

"True enough. I'll speak to him."

"I know Old Qin too, and he's been quite good to me. It would be better if I went..."

Ning Yi thought for a moment and smiled: "How about this—in a few days I'll find time and we'll go together to apologize. We'll decline the adoptive father-daughter arrangement¹. After all, we shouldn't cause him too much trouble. I'll handle the rest. Don't worry about it."

"Mm." Nie Yunzhu responded with a nod. This time she didn't apologize again or mention being a burden. Being able to handle this matter together simply made her feel happy and at ease.

Before going on stage, she had thought about some things, knowing that Liheng up on the second floor didn't care about such minor matters. Once she went on stage, various troubles might attach themselves to her again. She had once feared such things greatly. After finally escaping that world of smoke and flowers, for two years she'd even feared going out unnecessarily or approaching those places without reason. She was truly tired and unwilling to be tainted by such troubles.

But this time was different. Liheng didn't care, yet she cared deeply in her heart. Only then did she discover how much she cared. Compared to that, her former fears now seemed insignificant—her heart had already found its anchor. She wanted to go on stage and perform for him. Only this was clear.

What she wanted to do, so she simply did it.

"The city's been rather tense lately. They might close the gates again. Liheng, perhaps you shouldn't come out in the mornings? I'm worried it might not be safe."

After chatting a bit more, as Ning Yi prepared to leave, Yunzhu finally voiced these concerns. Ning Yi nodded.

"Mm."

Nie Yunzhu nodded as well, waving as she watched that figure depart. When she turned back, Yuan Jin'er, Hutao, and Kou'er were all peeking through the window gaps. She sighed and smiled, feeling both slightly disappointed and somewhat satisfied, because in a few days, Liheng would take her along to apologize.

Meanwhile, when Ning Yi returned home, breakfast was already prepared in his room. Su Tan'er smiled upon seeing him. She already knew about last night's events at Smoke and Emerald Tower...

"I heard my husband made quite a splash last night..."

Though she said this, the smiles on Su Tan'er's and the three maids' faces were decidedly mischievous. Clearly they'd been discussing it all and still found it amusing, unable to help laughing...