Though Nie Yunzhu had thought after learning Ning Yi's identity that day that without connections like repaying a debt, the two who merely knew each other's names might never meet again in this vast Jiangning city, a few days later, she discovered this thinking wasn't necessarily accurate.

That morning when she woke, she heard faint sounds of running footsteps on the road outside, and opening the window, she saw Ning Yi's figure run past her view. Only then did she remember that even without her causing him to fall into the river, this Master Ning ran back and forth on this road every morning.

In an era that valued literature over martial arts, especially among scholars, few exercised like this, and at first sight she'd thought someone was chasing him. Only later did she confirm that this Master Ning, extraordinary in all aspects, was indeed doing morning exercise, and moreover, his running distance seemed to be increasing constantly these days. She felt somewhat puzzled but mostly admiring.

It was early morning after all, so she couldn't happen to see him run by every day, but naturally it was still fairly frequent, and Nie Yunzhu considered whether to go out and greet him. Later she felt she was being overly self-conscious—all she'd seen and known before were people with ulterior motives, and she'd grown afraid of them. Now this Master Ning had not only saved her but that day she'd clearly seen he had no designs on her, so some interaction should be natural. Thinking about it now, she was the one overthinking, and she scolded herself a few times in her heart. When she saw him run by again this morning, she naturally came out to greet him, but who knew he'd only wave his hand and run off without stopping? She stood stunned for a while, and behind her, the maid Hutao, whose illness had already recovered, followed out: "Who's that? Does Young Miss know him?" Then pouted: "So rude..." but Nie Yunzhu had already started laughing softly—heh, friendship between gentlemen, friendship between gentlemen. Could this attitude count as treating her as a friend...

Cold Dew, Frost's Descent¹—after Beginning of Winter², under systematically increased training intensity plus the previous months' accumulation, his physical fitness had initial improvements. Nothing showed externally, but inside it was at least an ordinary person's healthy body.

In this era scholars only studied, with nutrition not keeping up, and most had bodies worse than modern shut-ins. Though the gentleman's six arts included archery and charioteering, these were basically just slogans among the six arts, like slogans about "all-round quality education developing morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics, and labor," and Ning Yi's body had previously been at this level. Twenty years of weakness recovering in half a year was already quite good.

When running past the Qinhuai River each morning, he'd occasionally greet that Nie Yunzhu—just nodding acquaintances—and though her previous incidents like killing chickens and falling in the river were rather clumsy, seeing her a few more times showed she wasn't some airhead, which was actually clear from their conversation walking together after buying charcoal. Her clothes were consistently simple, but she was extremely beautiful with an elegant, tall figure—sometimes meeting at the door, she'd wave and smile, saying "Master Ning." Sometimes he'd see her in the kitchen on the side of the small building, the kitchen window propped open toward the street, as she lit fires or chopped vegetables, looking up with a smile, and occasionally he'd see her carrying a wooden basin to pour water at the riverside terrace. Seeing Ning Yi run this way, she'd wave in greeting, and the morning wind was strong, blowing from the terrace and lifting her skirt. Dawn light shone from the horizon behind her, like the goddess Luoshui walking on waves, and a maid lived with her in this building, not very pretty and short in stature. Ning Yi could roughly guess that recently this girl had been ill.

In the tenth month he finally had some simple conversations with Nie Yunzhu—that morning he'd left without drinking water and had increased his running route. Returning drenched in sweat, panting heavily, throat parched to death, he stopped to ask her for water and chatted briefly, and the next day returning, Nie Yunzhu was there again. It wouldn't be good to just run past, so he stopped to rest a while, and after that, it gradually became habit.

"Master Ning truly has a strange temperament, running for so long every day. Doesn't it tire you?"

"It's the tiredness that makes it effective. What's strange about running?"

"Yunzhu in earlier years at Golden Wind Tower... saw quite a few talented scholars, but truly never saw anyone like Master Ning..." Saying this, she gazed at Ning Yi, but Ning Yi had already guessed she'd had such experiences—he was only somewhat surprised she'd be so frank, not showing too astonished an expression. After a moment Nie Yunzhu asked doubtfully: "Could Master be thinking of joining the military?"

"Heh, with this body now, how could I go to battlefields? It's just that 'scholars are useless in all matters'³—exercising a bit always has benefits."

"'Scholars are useless in all matters'... if others heard this, I fear it would bring Master some criticism."

He didn't stay long each day, chatting just a few sentences, but over time, her background gradually became clear. Working some years in pleasure quarters, then buying freedom for herself and her maid, buying this pretty riverside building—due to limited understanding of ordinary life, she'd made many blunders and such.

Nie Yunzhu might think his personality strange, but to Ning Yi, her temperament was actually somewhat odd too—he estimated she'd been from an official family as a child, then sold to a brothel. After buying her freedom she was unwilling to walk that path again, which was why life was somewhat difficult. This woman's personality should have stubborn elements, and one day at the end of the tenth month, when Ning Yi and Xiao Chan passed the East Market vegetable market, they saw her from afar.

The market was crowded then, and Ning Yi and Xiao Chan were going upstairs to a restaurant. Looking from afar, Nie Yunzhu and her maid Hutao were both there, just separated by several meters in the crowd—they seemed to be shopping for vegetables, or perhaps knew someone among the market vendors. Nie Yunzhu still wore simple clothes with a somewhat ugly headscarf wrapped on her head, and she was squatting behind a small vendor who sold chickens and also helped slaughter them. One hand grabbed a hen, the other held a cleaver, cutting the hen's throat to drain blood into a bowl on the ground—probably finding it disgusting, her head shrank far back, but her hands didn't loosen at all. After draining the blood, she threw the hen into a pot of hot water beside her, standing up satisfied, then she seemed to glance toward Ning Yi—probably an unconscious sweep, unknown if she saw him.

"Young Master, what is it?"

Noticing Ning Yi standing by the stairs looking toward the market, Xiao Chan asked puzzledly, and Ning Yi shook his head: "Nothing, let's go in." He smiled and turned around—in this era people rarely ate chicken, and even if bought, they'd basically take it home to raise a few days before killing it—services like killing after selling probably only appeared in big city markets like Jiangning, and only if the stall owner was rather imaginative.

The next day sitting on the steps of that riverside building to rest, Nie Yunzhu asked: "Master saw me at East Market yesterday, right?"

"Mm, why did you go there to kill chickens?"

"Er Niu from the Zhao family living over there and Hutao are in love," Nie Yunzhu smiled, pointing at a distant house. "His family sells vegetables at East Market—I went with Hutao, so I also got to know some people at the market. Yesterday when buying things, Aunt Liu who sells chickens was too busy, so I said: 'Let me help,' and then I really killed the chicken..."

She smiled happily about this, and Ning Yi was stunned, then after a moment shook his head smiling: "Why bother with this?"

This Nie Yunzhu had originally been in a brothel, and to buy her own freedom at such an age showed she must have been highly sought after in those days. Such women never dirtied their hands—in many ways probably more refined than noble ladies—and from buying freedom until now, though life seemed somewhat bumpy, compared to ordinary families it was still much better. Not knowing how to kill chickens really wasn't important, but he hadn't expected her personality to be this stubborn—seeing an opportunity, she insisted on learning this skill.

"Being able to learn more things always makes one happy," Nie Yunzhu said, gazing into the distance, smiling. After a moment, she looked toward Ning Yi: "By the way, would Master Ning also stop here tomorrow?"

Resting here had already become habit, originally not needing mention—since she brought it up, naturally something was happening. Ning Yi asked: "What is it?" and Nie Yunzhu smiled and shook her head: "You'll know when you come tomorrow."

When Ning Yi came the next day, Nie Yunzhu brought out a bowl from home with several pancakes inside, just fried.

"Master hasn't eaten breakfast yet, right? These pancakes might be worth taking to taste."

Ning Yi generally ate breakfast after finishing running and resting enough, and now he looked at her puzzledly, sat on the steps to rest a moment, then directly ate: "What's this about?"

Nie Yunzhu saw this and smiled happily too, also sitting beside him: "How does Master Ning find the taste?"

"Not bad," Ning Yi nodded, and she said: "Then... if Master thinks about selling them..."

"Mm, you plan to sell pancakes..."

Nie Yunzhu smiled: "Besides the previous entertaining with beauty or embroidering handkerchiefs and shoe insoles, what Hutao and I can make that doesn't look too inferior is just this—Hutao learned some at Golden Wind Tower before. She can make several flavors that should be edible... so we plan to get a small cart and also sell some tea and such..."

Ning Yi had no interest in business matters anymore—of course, Nie Yunzhu wasn't really asking his opinion either. This woman had a tough personality—looking beautiful and delicate but actually extremely decisive—and after leaving the brothel, she cut off all connections with previous patrons completely. Realizing ordinary life might require killing chickens, she endured disgust to learn this previously avoided task, and now wanting to do something seemingly unsuited to her temperament—Ning Yi found it interesting.

In early eleventh month, in the Su family courtyard, Ning Yi changed rooms—he and Su Tan'er both moved from the increasingly cold upstairs to downstairs. Winter's chill was now deep, and at night everyone gathered in Su Tan'er's living room, charcoal fires burning in the room, warm and cozy. Ning Yi and Su Tan'er's interactions thus became more frequent...

(End of Chapter)