The tea pavilion in Que County was lively. Recently, everyone had been discussing one person—an outsider. They said his appearance was extremely fine, looking very refined and cultured, with an absolutely exquisite hand at painting.

Sometimes he would paint at the River Viewing Pavilion, sometimes he would select candies and pastries at the food stalls in the South Lane, but the place he visited most was the Ni family home.

Because he was the one who had married into the Ni family some days ago—Lady Ni Su’s husband.

No one knew his origins. They only knew it was quite coincidental that he shared the same name as that General Yujie who had passed away many years ago. When he married into the Ni family, rewards from the Emperor were sent from Yun Jing to tiny Que County—precious horses and fragrant carriages lined ten miles of streets.

“Could he be some aristocratic young master? Otherwise, how could he receive such generous imperial rewards?”

The tea pavilion never lacked people gathered together for idle chat.

“In my view, that Master Xu must be someone from the Emperor’s maternal family…” Someone stroked his chin in analysis, then made a sharp “tsk” sound and frowned. “But the Emperor’s surname is Li, not Xu.”

“Although the Emperor’s surname isn’t Xu, perhaps some lady from the Emperor’s maternal family married out, and thus this Master Xu came to be.”

Someone picked up the thread.

For a moment, everyone felt this made some sense. Suddenly someone said “Eh,” and added, “Isn’t that Master Xu?”

Everyone’s gazes fell outside the tea pavilion.

Today was the ninth day of the ninth month—the Double Ninth Festival.

That Yongxu Hall was a place specializing in rice paper, painting scrolls, and stone pigments. That Master Xu emerged from within. He wore a frost-white round-collared robe, cradling painting scrolls in one arm while his other hand carried items from the scholar’s study like pigments and brushes.

He wasn’t someone who smiled often. Even on sunny days, when people saw him, they always felt he carried a cool, snowy air. Yet no one found him difficult to get along with, because his temperament was actually quite good—he spoke gently with everyone.

“Master Xu, would you like some fresh fruits and vegetables?”

The auntie at the vegetable stall saw him and smiled with crinkled eyes.

“I’ll take some, but my hands aren’t free. I’ll have to trouble you to deliver them.” As Xu Hexue spoke, he placed several extra copper coins on the vegetable stall.

“Certainly! I’ll pick the freshest ones for you and deliver them shortly!”

The auntie said with a smile.

Now no one discussed whether there was anything improper about this Master Xu managing such household affairs. Everyone knew that many distinguished gentlemen sought his paintings for a thousand gold pieces. Some days ago, when the Ni family’s women’s medical school had just been completed, many people rushed over to seek good fortune and watch the excitement. At that time, a worker had slipped on the roof eaves. Countless people saw Master Xu leap up with borrowed momentum and within mere breaths bring that worker safely down.

He was neither someone living off his wife nor simply a gentle gentleman as he appeared on the surface. He possessed martial skills and was willing to cook for his wife.

No one knew where that female proprietor of the Ni family medical clinic, Ni Su, had found such a good husband.

“Master Xu seems somewhat unhappy today.”

The vegetable-selling auntie realized belatedly.

“…Does he?”

Someone from a neighboring stall turned their head and glanced at that tall, receding figure. “Isn’t Master Xu always like this?”

“The Emperor is going to war! Many people are worshiping Great General Yujie!”

As Xu Hexue headed toward home, he encountered several children running back and forth on the street. They were chasing a shadow puppet in one child’s hand—crimson robes, silver-white scaled armor, mounted on a horse and holding a spear.

“Brother, let me see it…”

A little girl pouted. “My mother is making braised pork today. If you let me play with it for a while, I’ll invite you to my house to eat meat!”

Another boy immediately seized the conversation. “I’ll treat you to candied hawthorn! Let me play with it!”

That child placed one hand on his hip, raised his chin, and waved the shadow puppet in his hand. “No way! My father only made this one for me. What if you break it?”

Several children chased after him. He ran forward holding the puppet high and nearly collided head-on with a young lady. He looked up to see the woman before him wearing a water-green shirt and skirt, a shawl draped over her arms like clouds, her dark hair bound in a bun, with an extremely eye-catching pearl, flower, and golden bird hairpin worn at an angle.

“Can you sell me your shadow puppet?”

The young lady gently lowered her head. The golden bird feather earrings inlaid with pearls at her ears swayed slightly.

“No, I can’t.”

The child quickly refused.

“Then I’ll trade you flatbread and candy for it?”

As she spoke, the young lady offered him the oil-paper-wrapped flatbread and sugar cubes in her hand. “The flatbread has meat filling, and also milk pastry filling. I often buy this candy too—it’s very sweet and delicious.”

Just hearing her describe it this way, the other children couldn’t help but swallow. They all seemed to smell the fragrance of the flatbread.

The child holding the shadow puppet smelled it too. He looked at her full package of flatbread and candy, then at the brightly colored shadow puppet in his own hand. He shook his head vigorously. “No, I won’t trade!”

He resisted the temptation of flatbread and candy.

“A’Xi.”

At this call, the young lady immediately raised her head. People came and went on the street. That person wore clothes she had made and stood not far away, both hands occupied.

The clear breeze stirred his wide sleeves slightly, revealing the crimson sleeve edges inside, which made his wrist bones appear even more coolly pale.

Ni Su distributed some flatbread and candy to the children. Seeing him approach, she naturally took his arm. “I really wanted his shadow puppet, but unfortunately he won’t take money, flatbread, or candy.”

But Xu Hexue was looking at her face. Her cheeks were slightly flushed—an abnormal flush. “You have a fever. Why did you still come out?”

“My husband is angry with me. How could I rest easy at home alone?” Ni Su watched his expression and deliberately sighed. “I had to come out to meet him, and I still need to coax him.”

“I’m not angry with you.”

Xu Hexue wanted to take her hand, but his own hands were occupied, so he could only say: “You caught a cold because of me…”

“How is it because of you?”

Ni Su walked alongside him while saying, “You know I’ve been providing free consultations for women in the countryside these past days. Yesterday the wind blew, and I didn’t wear enough clothes. Besides,”

She paused and huffed. “Last night you were reluctant. If it really was your fault, wouldn’t that mean I brought it on myself?”

“…Ni A’Xi.”

Glowing dust floated without warning. In the twilight light, Xu Hexue entered the house with her before saying softly, “I wasn’t unwilling.”

“Unwilling about what?”

A female voice suddenly fell.

Ni Su and Xu Hexue both looked up to see Ni Mizhi coming from the moon gate.

“It’s nothing…”

Ni Su’s face reddened. Seeing Ni Mizhi travel-worn, she changed the subject and asked, “Did you just return from Luanzhen?”

“Yes.”

Ni Mizhi’s spirits seemed quite good. “That maidservant of yours, Xing Zhu, and her husband insisted I bring you some fruit from Luanzhen. So as soon as I returned, I came to your house.”

When Ni Su first returned to Que County in the first year of Xiyou, Ni Mizhi was being mistreated by her husband’s family after a miscarriage. Her father Ni Zong, mindful that her husband’s family’s betrothal gifts had resolved the urgent crisis in his cloth shop business, didn’t care how she fared at her husband’s home.

Ni Su took Ni Zong to court. Ni Zong was sentenced to three years of exile and went to prison. Ni Mizhi’s brother Ni Qingwen had his leg broken by people over gambling debts. Her sister-in-law, Tian Shi, seeing the family falling apart, took her child and divorced Ni Qingwen, returning to her natal home. In one night, the Ni family’s second branch had no one left to manage affairs.

After Ni Mizhi followed Ni Su’s advice and divorced that Chen family husband, upon returning home she also learned from Ni Su and began managing the family cloth shop business. Living together with her mother Liu Shi, they actually achieved a peaceful comfort they had never imagined before.

These past days, she had been selecting suitable shop fronts in Luanzhen, preparing to expand the business there as well.

“Then why are you in such a hurry to go back? Today is the Double Ninth Festival. Have your people go back and invite Second Aunt to come over too. Have dinner here with us.”

Ni Su said with a smile.

Xu Hexue nodded lightly toward Ni Mizhi, then went to put down the items in his hands. Ni Mizhi turned to watch his retreating figure, then looked at Ni Su. “I’ve always wanted to ask you—where did you find such a good husband? He looks like an extremely literate gentleman. On my way back, I even heard he saved a worker at the women’s medical school? He knows martial arts too?”

“So accomplished in both civil and martial matters, and he doesn’t idle away his time in your household. But how could such a person willingly marry into your family?”

Ni Mizhi still found it puzzling.

Ni Su only smiled. “Let’s go quickly.”

Qingqiong was at the medical clinic learning medicine from the old medical workers. He left early and returned late every day. Today was the same—it was nearly dark when he returned. Poking his head by the kitchen door for a look, he saw that young master with his sleeves rolled up, hands touched by water, turning back to say: “There are guests at home. Come help quickly.”

“Coming right away!”

Qingqiong immediately ran inside.

At dinner tonight, not only were Ni Mizhi and Liu Shi present, but also the worker couple who had been saved by Xu Hexue from the school’s roof eaves. They brought wine and rice to the door to express thanks, and Ni Su invited them to stay and eat together.

“Without Master Xu, when my husband fell from such a height, he definitely would have been crippled.” The middle-aged worker wasn’t very good with words, but he had an extremely eloquent wife. The woman enthusiastically raised her wine bowl. “The two of us toast Master Xu and Miss Ni!”

Today being the Double Ninth Festival, besides a table of good dishes, there was also a plate of Double Ninth cakes and a pot of chrysanthemum wine.

Ni Su and Xu Hexue both raised their wine bowls. The clear fragrance of chrysanthemum filled the air. But Xu Hexue was also a man of few words. He only occasionally exchanged a few sentences with the worker. The rest was all the laughter and conversation of Ni Su with the worker’s wife, Ni Mizhi, Second Aunt Liu Shi, and Qingqiong.

“Master Xu, your paintings must be very expensive, right?”

The worker truly wasn’t good with words. After a long while, he finally squeezed out a sentence.

“Do you need one?”

“Our son has also studied. In a little while, he’ll be bringing a daughter-in-law home. We want to furnish his room with some items, but everyone says your paintings are extremely exquisite—so elegant. People like us wouldn’t dare presume to ask.”

The worker’s wife smiled somewhat embarrassedly.

“Elegance need not be esoteric. Whether cloud terraces or grass huts, all can appreciate it together.”

Xu Hexue said, “Your family has a joyous occasion. My wife and I should naturally send congratulatory gifts.”

“Oh my, we really thank you!”

The worker couple were delighted. They came again to toast. Xu Hexue raised his wine bowl. He was accustomed to the fragrance of chrysanthemum wine and used to the taste being as bland as water when it entered his mouth.

But with this drink, he suddenly paused.

“What’s wrong?”

Ni Su noticed something amiss with him. “Don’t drink too quickly. Even if it has no flavor, you can’t drink it carelessly like water without regard.”

Having no sense of taste, no matter what he ate or drank, it was all the same—completely flavorless.

But precisely because of this, if he wasn’t careful when drinking wine and had no sense of measure, he would get drunk.

Ni Mizhi had just taken a sip. Hearing Ni Su’s words, she raised her face. “How could this wine have no flavor?”

“…Miss Ni means this wine isn’t as strong as other wines.”

Qingqiong had no time to gnaw on his duck anymore. He picked up the thread and began making amends.

“That’s true.”

Liu Shi said with a smile, “This wine is very soft when it enters the mouth. At first there’s a bit of spicy taste, but afterward it’s all sweet.”

Spicy, sweet.

Xu Hexue contemplated these two flavors in his heart. At night, lamps burned throughout the corridor. Ni Mizhi helped Qingqiong and Ni Su wash the dishes clean in the kitchen before leaving with her mother Liu Shi.

After bathing, Ni Su returned to the room to see Xu Hexue sitting by the window. On the table before him was a volume titled “A’Xi’s Food Record.” Night wind blew, turning the pages.

A poem, “Song of Youth,” soaked in the warm candlelight.

“Why are you absent-minded?”

Ni Su sat beside him while drying her hair, but discovered some red cornel berries on the table. She froze. “Xu Ziling, what did you do?”

“I tasted the flavor of cornel berries.”

He raised his head.

“You…” Ni Su momentarily forgot even to dry her hair. Her eyes widened, and she held her breath. “You know what it tastes like now?”

“Spicy and fragrant.”

If the first taste of chrysanthemum wine upon entering the mouth was spicy, then the cornel berries Xu Hexue had just tasted should have that same flavor.

This was truly a very sudden thing.

He had suddenly tasted the flavor of that last mouthful of chrysanthemum wine—tasted the spiciness, tasted the sweetness. The wife before him seemed to have forgotten what to say. Those bright, clear eyes stared at him blankly, her wet dark hair hanging loose, her face full of disbelief.

“A’Xi,”

Xu Hexue spoke, embracing her waist, his chin resting on her shoulder. “I can remember the taste of sugar cakes now.”

At this moment, Ni Su’s tears nearly fell, but she held them back. Her gaze shifted to the corner of the table where there sat a bowl of pitch-black medicinal decoction—what he had brewed to treat her cold.

She raised the bowl of medicinal decoction with one hand, straightened up, and pressed it to his lips. Caught off guard, Xu Hexue was fed a mouthful by her.

Ni Su watched his brow furrow lightly. She smiled, though her eyes held tears. “Does it have flavor?”

“Yes.”

But Xu Hexue didn’t remember what kind of flavor this was.

“This is the taste of bitterness.”

Ni Su said softly.

Night deepened, candlelight swayed.

Silver-white moonlight spread along the window lattice onto the desk and floor. After drinking the medicine, Ni Su’s lips still carried some bitter taste. Xu Hexue had just embraced her waist when unexpectedly her hands pressed his shoulders, and his back suddenly met the desk. The books that had been neatly stacked scattered in disarray on and beneath the table.

Between entangled lips and teeth in a kiss, Xu Hexue suddenly heard Ni Su’s light laughter.

He raised his eyes in confusion, just as one of her hands descended. But it didn’t caress his face as it usually did during intimate moments. Her sleeve lightly brushed his ear. Paper rustled.

Her fingers pinched a small booklet. That illustrated册 was very long. When unfolded, it was clearly illuminated by candlelight.

“Xu Ziling, what is this?”

She asked knowingly.

Glowing dust scattered. Xu Hexue’s face held no excess expression, but those cool eyes flickered with a subtle divine light.

“If I’d known you bought it, I wouldn’t have bought it myself.”

Just when he was at a loss, he suddenly heard her say this.

Xu Hexue was about to speak when her kiss fell again. He instinctively wanted to seize more from this kiss of hers, his hands embracing her waist. In an instant, Ni Su became the one lying on the desk, while Xu Hexue looked down from above, both hands braced on the desk, a pair of eyes transparent as dew gazing at her.

His outer robe had become somewhat loose, two buttons already dropped off, his sash about to come undone. The vermilion red inner garment made the skin at his neck appear even more coolly pale, his face refined and handsome.

He suddenly lowered his head to kiss her cheek. Fine, slightly cool kisses fell one by one on her eyelashes, nose tip, finally pressing against her lips. “A’Xi, you’re still ill.”

He could restrain himself very well—if she hadn’t embraced his neck and learned from him to kiss him that way.

“Use your hand.”

He exhaled lightly, compromising a step.

“No.”

Ni Su threw the booklet from the desk to the floor.

“Ni A’Xi,”

His customarily cool voice harbored some restraint. “Don’t say it.”

“I won’t say it, then you say it.”

“…What should I say?”

“Who knows what you want to say?”

She huffed lightly, but unexpectedly in the next moment was lightly bitten on the side of her neck. The temperature of lips and teeth was somewhat cool. Ni Su tightly grasped his sleeves.

“A’Xi.”

He only knew to call her name.

“Stop calling me.” Ni Su’s cheeks flushed red, her palm pressed against his body. In the hazy candlelight, the temperature beneath her fingertips inch by inch—the fine skin no longer bore scars. “Actually, Xu Ziling, I think your body isn’t as cold as before.”

He could taste flavors now.

The temperature of his body still resembled snow, but only retained snow’s pure clarity—no longer bone-chillingly cold.

“This is probably the warmth the mortal world has given you.”

She said.

In the dim room, there was only one person’s breathing. He was still a ghost, yet no longer as distinctly separate from her as before. Xu Hexue leaned down, burying his face in the hollow of her neck:

“It is the warmth you have given me.”