Chapter 22: Late Autumn, Early Winter (Part Two)

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Although Nie Yunzhu had considered, after learning of Ning Yi’s identity that day, that without any ties of gratitude between them, perhaps in this vast city of Jiangning, they might never meet again, a few days later she realized that such thoughts were not entirely accurate.

That morning, as she awoke, she heard faint running footsteps from the road outside her house. When she opened the window, she caught sight of Ning Yi’s figure passing through her field of vision, and only then remembered that, even without her involvement in the river incident, this young master Ning was someone who ran along this road every morning.

In these times when literature was valued above martial pursuits, especially among scholars, few trained their bodies in such ways. At first, she had thought he was being chased, but soon realized that this rather unusual young master Ning was indeed exercising every morning, and that the distance he ran seemed to be increasing day by day. She felt a bit puzzled, but more than that, she admired him.

After all, it was early morning, and it wasn’t possible to always catch him running by, but it happened often enough. Nie Yunzhu pondered whether she should go out and greet him, but later felt that she was being overly self-conscious. In the past, everyone she met had some motive, and she had grown weary of such encounters. But this young master Ning had not only saved her, but had shown clearly that he had no ulterior motive toward her. Some interactions ought to come naturally, and thinking about it now, she realized she had been overthinking.

She laughed at herself inwardly, and when she saw him pass by that morning, she naturally went out to greet him. To her surprise, he merely waved his hand and continued running without stopping. She stood there, stunned for a moment, and her maid, Walnut, whose illness had recently recovered, followed her out. “Who’s that? Do you know him, miss?” Walnut then pouted, “How rude…” But Nie Yunzhu had already laughed softly.

Ah, the friendship of gentlemen… Could this attitude mean that he regarded her as a friend?

Cold dew, frost’s descent. After the onset of winter, with intensified and systematic training, and the accumulation of previous months, his physical health had seen initial improvement. There was little visible change in his appearance, but internally he at least had the constitution of a healthy ordinary person.

Scholars of this era cared only for their studies, and their diet was not particularly nutritious—most people’s health was worse than that of a modern recluse. Though the six arts included archery and charioteering, those were mostly slogans, much like “all-round development of moral, intellectual, physical, and aesthetic education.” Ning Yi’s physical condition had been similarly weak for twenty years, so to recover in half a year was already quite impressive.

Every morning, as he ran past the Qinhuai River, he would occasionally exchange greetings with Nie Yunzhu—a nodding acquaintance at most. Though she had been clumsy with the chicken and river incident, seeing her a few more times made it clear she was not some scatterbrained girl—in fact, their conversation after buying charcoal had already shown that. Her dress was always simple, but she was remarkably beautiful and tall, with an elegant figure. Sometimes she would meet him at the door, waving and smiling, “Master Ning.” Sometimes he saw her in the kitchen on the side of her small building, the window facing the street, as she stoked the fire or chopped vegetables, looking up to smile at him. Occasionally, she would carry a wooden basin to the riverside terrace to pour water, and seeing Ning Yi running by, she would wave and greet him. The morning wind would sweep her skirts, and the dawn shone from the horizon behind her, making her seem like a goddess crossing the waters.

She lived in the building with a maid, who was not particularly pretty and was short in stature. Ning Yi could guess that the girl had been ill recently.

It was only in October that they had some simple conversation. That morning, Ning Yi had gone out without drinking water, and had extended his running route. Returning, sweating and out of breath, his throat parched, he stopped and asked her for a cup of water, exchanging a few words. The next day, Nie Yunzhu was there again, so he felt it would be rude to run straight past; he stopped to rest, and gradually this became a habit.

“Master Ning, you really are peculiar, running for such a long time every day. Isn’t it tiring?”

“Of course it’s tiring, that’s the point. What’s so odd about running?”

“In my early years, I spent time at Golden Wind Pavilion… I’ve seen many scholars and talents, but none like you, Master Ning…” As she spoke, she gazed at Ning Yi. He had already guessed her background, and found her openness strange, but not surprising enough to show it. After a moment, Nie Yunzhu wondered aloud, “Is it that you wish to join the military?”

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He chuckled, “With my current health, how could I go to the battlefield? It’s just that a scholar is useless in a hundred ways, so exercising does some good.”

“A scholar is useless in a hundred ways… If others heard that, you might attract some criticism.”

He didn’t stay long each day, and their conversations were brief. But as time passed, her background became gradually clearer. She had worked in a brothel for years, then redeemed herself and her maid, bought a beautiful riverside building, but, lacking knowledge of ordinary life, she made plenty of mistakes.

Nie Yunzhu might find his character peculiar, but Ning Yi believed her temperament was also unusual. She was likely the child of an official family, then sold to the brothel, and after redeeming herself, refused to return to that path, which made her life somewhat difficult. There was a stubbornness in her nature. One day in late October, Ning Yi and Xiao Chan passed through the vegetable market at East Market and saw her from afar.

The market was crowded, and Ning Yi and Xiao Chan were heading upstairs to a restaurant. Looking over, he saw Nie Yunzhu and her maid Walnut, though they were several meters apart in the crowd. They seemed to be buying vegetables, or perhaps they knew someone among the vendors. Nie Yunzhu was dressed simply, with a rather unattractive headscarf. She was squatting behind a vendor who sold and slaughtered chickens, holding a hen in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other, cutting the hen’s throat and letting its blood flow into a bowl on the ground. Disgusted, sh