Xiao Li had guessed her identity countless times but had never considered the Imperial family.

She was delicate, yet carried no pampered air. Instead, she had more resilience than common women.

Cool-headed and intelligent, extensively learned and knowledgeable, no matter what circumstances she was in, she could calmly handle them with tolerance and compassion.

Like clouds and mist in the sky condensing into rain and falling down, yet not fearing the filth of dust and mud, because dust and mud could not trap her. She would ultimately become clouds and mist again, returning to the sky.

In this sudden moment, Xiao Li understood that unsettled panic he had felt when looking at her before—he had always known he couldn’t hold onto her.

What could trap a round moon, or scoop up a handful of clouds and mist?

They couldn’t be trapped, and couldn’t be scooped up.

This answer with dust now settled was like a heavy hammer that had been suspended for a long time, finally crashing down.

A muffled震響, a dull suffocating pain, a leaden heaviness flooding into his limbs and bones.

Unexpected, yet seemingly as it should have been.

He withdrew his gaze, black lashes lowered, his sight fixed on the tea cup before him. He no longer looked at that devastatingly beautiful jade face that he seemed unworthy to see in this life, only asking, “Is it the ‘yu’ character from the ‘A’Yu’ you mentioned before?”

Wen Yu said, “The ‘yu’ from ‘huai jin wo yu.’ A’Yu… is my childhood name.”

A young lady’s childhood name was only known to those close to her. Revealing these things to him, Wen Yu felt a slight, subtle discomfort rise in her heart, but it was only for that instant. Her eyes quickly became composed and open.

Xiao Li hastily nodded but didn’t know what to say.

Huai jin wo yu?

He hadn’t heard this phrase before and didn’t know which characters she was referring to.

Snow outside the window fell in fine flurries. Tiny snow particles were blown by the cold wind into the tea cup before him. Xiao Li silently watched the snow particles dissolve in the tea water, never raising his eyes again.

Born in a brothel, growing up doing hard labor in the great prison, collecting debts at the gambling den to make ends meet—he had never complained about anything, never felt heaven was unfair.

But in this instant, he thought, why couldn’t he read?

She had told him her name, yet he didn’t know it.

The distance between him and her was as remote as clouds and mud.

However, in that lowered line of sight, a jade-white slender finger appeared. The fingertip with a faint pink tinge dipped in tea water and wrote on the table in small, especially neat script, stroke by stroke. The owner of that hand said gently, “This ‘yu’ character.”

Xiao Li’s chest felt stifled. He stared at that character written in tea water for a long time, as if memorizing some pattern, striving to remember the shape of that character. After a long while, he finally said, “It should be a name that suits you very well.”

Before Wen Yu could speak, he said again, “To go from Luodu to Fengyang, you should take the Huainan Road. Why did you detour to the Jiannan Road?”

This time Wen Yu didn’t immediately answer him.

After a long while without hearing her speak, Xiao Li raised his head and saw Wen Yu staring at the wind and snow outside the window that had somehow grown heavier.

Her profile was like jade. In her eyes reflected distant snowy mountains, and her eye color seemed to have become several shades lighter.

She said, “I’m not going to Fengyang.”

“I’m going to South Chen. For a marriage alliance. To borrow troops.”

—

When the two walked out of Fengqing Pavilion, the snow was already falling heavily and the wind blew fiercely. It was no longer good to hold an umbrella.

Xiao Li glanced at the sky and said, “The snow is falling heavily. Shall I escort you ahead to hail a carriage back?”

Wen Yu said, “I can hail one myself. Didn’t you say you left the residence to handle matters?”

The wind blew so hard people could barely keep their eyes open. Xiao Li imperceptibly turned to the side, blocking some of the wind and snow for Wen Yu, saying, “It’s not urgent for a while.”

Wen Yu then said, “Thank you.”

The two walked forward side by side, their sleeves lightly brushing in the cold wind, sometimes close, sometimes apart.

Xiao Li asked, “When will you depart?”

Wen Yu knew what he was asking and answered, “At the latest, in two days.”

Another gust of cold wind struck. Suddenly, a loud “rumble” came from overhead.

Before Wen Yu could react, she only saw snow falling like pouring sand. Her arm was already gripped by an iron-like large palm that forcefully pulled her to one side. Her back pressed against a stone wall, then a tall figure completely enveloped her. The scent of soap and the clear bitterness of medicinal herbs rushed into her nose together.

Wen Yu didn’t even have time to speak before the cascading snow fell all over her neck. The bamboo shed whose thick accumulated snow had collapsed crashed onto Xiao Li’s back. A muffled groan escaped from his lips.

Wen Yu quickly asked, “Are you alright?”

Xiao Li’s elbow propped against the stone wall above Wen Yu’s head, pulling back slightly less than an inch of space. Using his own body as a barrier, he completely protected Wen Yu inside, yet restrainedly didn’t touch her in the slightest.

At this moment, because of her question, he tilted his head down slightly. His complexion showed some hidden pallor. Part of the bamboo shed still pressed on his back. His slightly heavy breathing sprayed onto Wen Yu’s light veil. He only said, “I’m fine.”

However, Wen Yu heard the abnormality in his voice and knew he must have been injured by the bamboo shed pressed with heavy accumulated snow.

Besides being worried, the distance between the two was also a bit too close. With him lowering his head like this, and if she raised her head to speak with him, even though there was a layer of veil separating them, it could already be called intertwined breathing.

After he answered, Wen Yu lowered her head and slightly turned to one side. In doing so, her ear was made slightly numb and itchy by that warm breath.

She could only slightly furrow her brow and look outside, “Why hasn’t anyone come to move this bamboo shed away yet?”

“The heavy snow collapsed this bamboo shed built outside the building eaves! Quickly save people!”

The shop assistants on the street heard the loud noise outside and came out to see. They were also greatly shocked and hastily called people over to lift away those broken bamboo poles.

However, this row of shops along the street, because they were renovating exterior walls, all had bamboo sheds built outside the eaves. The volume of work to move them was enormous.

They were trapped at the very inside and couldn’t get out for the time being. The snow that had fallen on Wen Yu’s neck melted and soaked her clothing somewhat. The chill was attacking. She raised her hand wanting to brush off the snow, but because raising her arm pulled at her collar, it instead made more snow fall inside her collar.

That icy coldness rolled from her nape all the way down her spine, melting into snow water against her warm skin. Wen Yu shivered from the cold.

Xiao Li noticed. He hesitated for a moment and said, “You… don’t move.”

He raised the hand hanging at his side to help her brush away the fallen snow piled at her shoulder, neck, and collar. However, for the snow that had fallen inside her neck area, he couldn’t very well directly reach his hand in to brush it away for her.

He reached into his robe to take out that Su-embroidered handkerchief to wipe it away for her. His knuckles inadvertently brushed past the skin on her neck—slightly cool, lustrous like the finest Xing kiln white porcelain.

Because it had been frozen by accumulated snow too long, that snowy skin had already taken on a thin layer of pink. A strand of hair that had come loose in the earlier chaos hung down from her shoulder. She lowered her eyes halfway, crow-like lashes slightly upturned—enchanting yet aloof.

Xiao Li’s knuckles slightly curled. He withdrew his hand and said, “Done.”

Wen Yu lowered her eyes and thanked him.

The shop assistants moving the bamboo shed finally moved to this spot. The broken bamboo pressing on Xiao Li’s shoulder and back was lifted away. The shop manager asked apologetically and anxiously, “Are you two alright?”

Xiao Li withdrew his supporting arm and brushed away the snow on his neck, saying, “We’re fine.”

Other common people nearby who had been crushed by the bamboo shed were now being rescued and all crying out “ai yo, ai yo.”

Wen Yu had been somewhat silent because of that overly close contact just now. Hearing him say this, she still said, “You should find a medical hall to get checked.”

Xiao Li only said, “I wasn’t much injured. No need to see a physician. Your collar is all wet. You’re the one who needs to be careful of catching a cold. You should go back to the residence first to change clothes.”

As he spoke, he led Wen Yu to the intersection ahead to hail a carriage.

After flagging down a carriage and putting Wen Yu inside, Wen Yu lifted the carriage curtain, looking at him as if wanting to speak but hesitating, saying, “You should still take better care of your own body.”

Xiao Li looked at her and smiled, saying, “I know. I’m really fine.”

After speaking, he also gave the address to the driver.

When the driver cracked his whip to leave, he chatted cheerfully with Wen Yu inside, “That’s a gentleman who admires you, isn’t it?”

The carriage swayed and bumped along the street. Separated by a carriage curtain, Wen Yu seemed stunned for a moment by the driver’s words, then only replied calmly, “No.”

The driver said with a smile, “Then it’s probably just that you don’t know yet, Miss.”

What came from inside was still an extremely light voice, “No.”

After a pause, she added, “We just work together at the Prefecture Governor’s residence.”

This answer was really so indifferent that it didn’t seem to have half a trace of shyness from being teased. The driver was startled and said, “Then this old man misunderstood.”

The carriage continued forward. Wen Yu’s head rested against the carriage wall. The cold wind occasionally blew open a corner of the carriage curtain, and the street scene outside with falling snow reflected in her eyes.

There wasn’t a ripple in her eyes, nor could there be.

—

Xiao Li walked with his back to her on the street in the opposite direction, his figure almost swallowed by the wind and snow.

When passing by Old Ge’s storytelling stall, he walked over.

Old Ge was rubbing his hands together tidying up his things. Seeing Xiao Li approach, he quickly waved his hand saying, “I’m not telling stories today.”

Xiao Li said, “I didn’t come to hear your stories. I want to ask you about a character.”

Old Ge raised his head and looked at Xiao Li strangely. His messy grizzled beard was stuck with snow blown by the wind. He said, “What character do you want to ask about?”

Xiao Li crouched down in the snowy ground in front of his stall and drew the character for ‘yu’ crookedly.

Old Ge tilted his head and examined it carefully for a while before saying, “This character is pronounced ‘yu’!”

Xiao Li looked down at that character and said, “I know it’s pronounced ‘yu.’ What does this character mean?”

Old Ge stroked his disheveled beard, shaking his head and swaying, “Yu means beautiful jade, also the radiant luster of jade. Naturally it’s a good character.”

“What does ‘huai jin wo yu’ mean?”

Old Ge stared at him, his expression becoming even stranger, “You little fellow, did you crawl into a book bag today?”

Though he said this, he still explained, “Jin, like yu, both refer to beautiful jade and beautiful virtue. Holding beautiful jade in one’s bosom, grasping beautiful jade in one’s hands—doesn’t this mean possessing noble virtue?”

Xiao Li finally knew which characters Wen Yu meant by ‘huai’ and ‘wo.’

Yu truly was a name that suited her very well.

He swept his palm across the character for yu drawn in the snow, as if hiding some secret in his heart. He set down a copper coin for Old Ge and said, “Thank you.”

Old Ge picked up the copper coin, watching the young man’s figure step back into the wind and snow. He shook his head and muttered, “Strange indeed.”

—

After Wen Yu returned to the Prefecture Governor’s residence, she had just changed clothes when Madam Zhou brought over the list of personal guards Zhou Jing’an had selected, along with the luggage inventory prepared for her.

During their conversation, learning that Wen Yu had already exchanged the silver for goods through the Xu family to take away from Yongzhou, Madam Zhou couldn’t help but sigh, “Wengzhu is still the most thorough in thinking. Using the Xu family’s silk and tea to transfer this silver, then exchanging it for grain and medicinal materials along the way through various prefectures—this not only saves manpower for escort but also won’t alarm Pei Song by purchasing large quantities of grain and medicinal materials in the same place. However…”

She paused, saying somewhat worriedly, “I’m afraid the private silver hidden by the Han and He families isn’t enough to pay for all that silk and tea you want to buy from the Xu family… Even if you transport it to Pingzhou and exchange goods for money to make up this sum, there’s too much of it. The merchants there will take advantage of newcomers and suppress prices, not to mention most of them have their own long-term familiar suppliers. In a short time, I’m afraid it will be difficult to turn it around…”

Wen Yu said, “What I want is precisely for the Xu family to be unable to turn around and sell that batch of goods there, so nothing will go wrong.”

Madam Zhou knew she was worried that the Xu family, seeing that Pingzhou was a place where having goods could make money multiply, would disregard righteousness and sell what she wanted for themselves. But what she worried about was also not a trivial matter.

She was just about to continue speaking when she heard Wen Yu say, “Ordinary merchants can’t swallow this batch of goods, but it’s not difficult for the government to take it over.”

Madam Zhou was stunned, then turned from worry to joy, lightly slapping her forehead, “Look at me! I really got stuck in a dead end. How could I think of Wengzhu as an ordinary merchant?”

Ordinary merchants feared having goods stuck on their hands. Local governments would not.

Pingzhou bordered South Chen. Such a strategic location naturally had Prince Changlian’s trusted confidants stationed there.

Wen Yu was relying on half the capital, without expending any manpower, to stockpile goods in her hands that could at least double or triple in value.

The two discussed some other matters. When Madam Zhou was leaving, she said, “Wengzhu is about to leave. Will you say goodbye to that righteous person’s mother and son?”

Wen Yu’s gaze sweeping over the guard list paused slightly. She said, “Naturally I will.”

—

At dusk, she knocked on the door to the west wing courtyard where Xiao Huiniang and her son lived.

Xiao Huiniang came to open the door. Seeing it was Wen Yu, she was very delighted and quickly invited her in to sit, chattering, “Since you went to work for the Prefecture Governor’s wife, I was afraid you were too busy and haven’t gone to see you.”

She examined Wen Yu carefully and said, “You look like you’ve lost weight. Have you been too exhausted recently?”

Wen Yu answered with a smile, “No such thing. Madam Zhou is generous and treats me extremely well.”

Xiao Huiniang pulled her to sit down and said, “The Prefecture Governor’s wife has a bodhisattva’s heart. I pray for blessings for their family every day.”

Wen Yu smiled and said, “You’re very thoughtful.”

She handed over what she was holding, “Madam is benevolent. Knowing I was concerned about my parents at home, she has already allowed me to go find them. I came today to say goodbye to you, Big Mother.”

Xiao Huiniang opened her mouth, saying with great reluctance, “So soon…”

Wen Yu lowered her eyes and said, “While parents are alive, one shouldn’t travel far. I’ve disappeared for so long. I don’t know how worried they’ve become. I don’t dare make them wait any longer.”

Xiao Huiniang said somewhat melancholically, “That’s true…”

She looked at what Wen Yu handed her and discovered there was also a property deed among the items. She was greatly alarmed, “Why are you giving me these?”

Wen Yu said, “Big Mother, for the kindness of taking me in that day, A’Yu has no way to repay you. I can only leave some worldly possessions with you. I used the wages from embroidering the fan and the reward money Madam gave me to lease this shop. You can use this shop to do some small business. If you don’t have the energy to manage it, renting it out is also fine.”

Xiao Huiniang hurriedly declined, “How can this be? Take it back quickly. A young lady like you traveling alone—there are still many places you’ll need to spend money!”

Wen Yu held Xiao Huiniang’s hands, making her accept it, “Just let me express this sentiment. The shop is already leased. I’m about to leave Yongzhou. Having the deed won’t be of use to me.”

Xiao Huiniang’s eyes reddened as she wiped her tears with her sleeve, “You child… what am I to do?”

Wen Yu said, “Just accept it.”

She handed over a box of medicinal oil, “Er’ge seems to have bruises. This medicinal oil—I trouble you to pass it to him.”

After a pause, she added, “I heard from the Prefecture Governor’s wife that the personal guards in the residence are also taught to read and write. If he’s willing to stay in the residence to work, it’s actually quite a good position.”

Xiao Huiniang held the medicinal oil Wen Yu handed her and sighed, “He went out at noon and still hasn’t come back. I don’t know what he went to do.”

“From now on just call him by his name. A young fellow being called ‘ye’ (master)—it’s quite laughable. Before, it was because he worked at the gambling den and had sworn brotherhood with others as the second brother, so Xiao An and the others all called him Er’ge (Second Brother).”

At the mention of Xiao An, Xiao Huiniang couldn’t help shedding tears again, “He was such a good child too. Gone just like that…”

Wen Yu gently patted Xiao Huiniang’s back, saying, “The dead cannot return to life. Please accept this with composure.”

After leaving the west wing, Wen Yu looked up at the sky.

It was almost the You hour. He still hadn’t returned?

—

Yongzhou Great Prison.

The sky had already darkened. Fine snow drifted down through the skylight.

Xiao Li crouched in front of the cell, watching the crazy old man holding a roasted chicken and gnawing it until his beard was covered with grease, saying, “Old man, eat slower. No one’s competing with you.”

The crazy old man’s beard had grown as long as his disheveled hair, long since no different from a wild man.

Hearing this, the iron chains in his hands moved like living things, threading through the gaps between the cell’s wooden bars to lash at Xiao Li, coldly scolding with a sinister voice, “Who taught you to be so disrespectful to your elders?”

Xiao Li intercepted the chains with one hand and threw them back to him, saying as if accustomed, “Use the chains to hit people again and next time I come to see you, there’ll be no roasted chicken.”

The old man then started laughing crazily and maniacally again. Laughing and laughing, it seemed like crying, “Huan’er wants it! Huan’er, roasted chicken! Hahahaha, roasted chicken!”

He hugged that roasted chicken gnawed with mottled teeth marks and continued wolfing it down.

A passing jailer saw this, spat and said, “This old madman has gotten increasingly crazy these past years.”

Xiao Li stood up, took out some broken silver and handed it to the jailer, “Probably because he’s getting old. Little brother, please be more tolerant. I see the dry grass in his cell has gotten somewhat moldy. I trouble you to lay down a fresh layer for him later.”

The jailer smiled and said, “No problem.”

He seemed to ask casually, “What relation is this to you? I see you’ve been coming to see him for several years now.”