A thin mist drifted over the river, the sky only just beginning to lighten, when he arrived at the small building with its warm, golden lamplight, and found two figures standing at the door, talking. Yun Zhu was turning as if to close the door, and then, faintly, came the sound of Jin’er’s voice: “Ah, he’s here, he’s here…”
In the past, even when the two of them bickered, there had always been a certain camaraderie underlying it, but whenever Ning Yi showed up, Jin’er would usually look thoroughly displeased. This time, though, she seemed unusually excited, evidently eager to show off something.
He had no idea what the two of them had actually been doing at the door a moment ago, but looking at Yun Zhu now, she seemed somewhat at a loss, reaching out with a helpless, amused expression to push Jin’er back through the doorway, glancing over toward Ning Yi as she did, her hand pausing on the door she’d originally meant to close. As Ning Yi drew closer, he caught a whiff of medicinal scent drifting from the kitchen—probably not meant for Yun Zhu, since Jin’er, standing in the doorway, was bundled up head to toe, two layers of winter coats wrapping her up like a panda, practically looking as though she wanted to wrap herself in the blanket too, half her body leaning against Yun Zhu’s shoulder, a flicker of triumph in her eyes as she proudly announced to Ning Yi, “I’m sick.”
“Er…” Ning Yi blinked. “Then why are you standing out here…”
“I’m not standing here at all, I just came out to drag Sister Yun Zhu inside.” Her small hand, bundled in padded sleeves, tugged at Yun Zhu’s clothes.
It took Ning Yi a moment to piece together what had actually happened. Ordinarily, Yun Zhu waited outside every morning for Ning Yi to arrive, a habit that had always irked Jin’er considerably—she thought it made the beautiful, graceful, refined Yun Zhu look like some meek, downtrodden little housewife. She’d protested a few times before, to no effect at all.
This morning, having spent a while tending to Jin’er’s illness, Yun Zhu had guessed that after everything that happened yesterday, Ning Yi would surely come by this morning, so she’d stepped out to take a look—only to have the sickly Jin’er, bundled up in layers of clothing, come wobbling out after her like some kind of tumbler doll. The morning wind was bitterly cold, and with Jin’er already fighting off a cold, there was no way she could withstand exposure like that; the moment Yun Zhu saw her, she tried to push her back inside.
Jin’er said, “Then Sister Yun Zhu has to come in and keep me company too.” Being especially sensitive to the cold at the moment, she’d bundled herself up until her slender figure had nearly doubled in size, her petite frame practically turning round—but her tone carried the unmistakable air of someone who’d sooner freeze to death right there on the spot than accept any answer but yes. Yun Zhu, torn between laughter and exasperation, nodded and agreed, and the two of them were just turning to head back inside when they spotted Ning Yi approaching. Jin’er stopped right there in the doorway, eager to show off to him.
After a long, hard-fought campaign, Sister Yun Zhu is finally mine!
In the past, whenever the two of them bickered while Yun Zhu wasn’t around, it had always carried the tone of rivals competing for the same prize. Ning Yi could hardly miss what she was getting at this time, and found himself torn between amusement and exasperation. Jin’er had gotten straight out of bed today with no makeup or styling whatsoever—though even without any effort, she was ordinarily still a radiant, youthful beauty, this time the effects of her illness added a layer of unmistakable haggardness to her face. Even so, she still made a show of flaunting her triumph at Ning Yi in the most exaggerated, over-the-top way, practically acting like a madwoman.
Yun Zhu, too, had only recently gotten up, dressed in a simple, slender robe, her long hair still unpinned, flowing loose down her back. Her main concern right now was Jin’er, and she pushed her toward the door, saying with a mix of amusement and exasperation, “All right, all right, let’s go back inside.” Jin’er wobbled a few steps and finally began turning to head back in, but running a fever and unsteady on her feet, as she turned, her left foot caught against her right, and she toppled straight over backward onto the ground.
“Jin’er, are you all right!”
Yun Zhu was startled by the sudden fall, and Ning Yi was taken aback too, but the next moment, Jin’er, lying flat on the ground, waved a hand in the air. “I’m… I’m fine…” Bundled up in thick layers of padded clothing, she looked rather like the barrel of some oversized cannon, two small hands poking out from within, looking for all the world like a baby swaddled in a cradle.
Yun Zhu bent down to try to help her up, and Jin’er wriggled a bit on the ground, rolling first to one side, then to the other, her stubby arms and legs waving about like an overturned turtle stuck on its back. She struggled a while but simply couldn’t manage to get up.
In truth, it was partly because she was sick and had no strength left in her, and partly because Yun Zhu, whose shoulder had been injured the day before, couldn’t exert much force either. The small building also housed two maids belonging to Yun Zhu and Jin’er—Hutao had already gotten married before the New Year, though given yesterday’s events, she’d still rushed back that evening to look after her mistress—but it had become something of an unspoken custom for the two maids to make themselves scarce whenever Ning Yi came to visit Yun Zhu, so neither of them was around to help just now. As Jin’er kept struggling on the ground like an overturned turtle, unable to right herself, both she and Yun Zhu found themselves in an increasingly awkward spot. Ning Yi, for his part, stood frozen for a moment before breaking into a gleeful laugh at their misfortune.
Yun Zhu shot him an irritated glare. “What are you laughing at? Come help, would you.”
“Well, propriety between men and women and all that…”
“I don’t want his help, I’d rather die than let him help!” Jin’er, her stubby limbs sprawled flat on the ground, turned her head aside and declared indignantly. Her head, too, was wrapped up in her cloak, only a small, indignant face peeking out, looking every bit like a sulking little girl.
Ning Yi laughed and kept going. “But you know, seeing you so dead set against it, I’m suddenly finding the idea of helping rather appealing after all…”
“Quit talking nonsense and come help already, I’ve got no strength left.”
“Don’t touch me, don’t touch me, I’m not getting up, I like lying here just fine…”
“Stop being difficult, the ground’s cold, get up and go back to your room.”
“I won’t have him touch me, I, Yuan Jin’er, am a chaste and innocent woman…”
“Chaste, my foot. Right now you’re basically a sphere, wrapped in that much clothing, there’s nothing to even touch—goodness knows how many layers you’ve got on…”
Ning Yi laughed as he tried to lift her off the ground; under ordinary circumstances, Jin’er and Ning Yi generally knew where to draw the line with each other, and she probably would have gone along with it without much fuss. But being sick changed her mood entirely—thinking about how she’d just been seen flailing on the ground like an overturned turtle, unable to right herself, she dug in stubbornly and refused to stand up straight no matter what. Ning Yi simply shrugged and scooped her up sideways into his arms.
Given how thickly Jin’er was bundled up, carrying her wasn’t easy, mostly because she wasn’t cooperating in the least—but Ning Yi had more than enough strength for the job, and one way or another, he managed to keep her from tumbling out of his grip. With that much padding on—around her waist, hips, thighs, all of it—Ning Yi couldn’t make out any distinction between one part and another, and Jin’er herself probably couldn’t feel much of anything either. She swung a hand toward Ning Yi’s face, but her stubby, clumsy arm only managed to land on his shoulder.
“Let go of me or I’ll claw your eyes out.”
“Go ahead and try, if you’ve got it in you.”
“Jin’er, quit fussing.”
After a bit more of this back-and-forth, he finally carried her all the way to the bedroom—Jin’er normally shared a bed with Yun Zhu, but having caught a cold the day before, she’d been moved to the guest room instead. Once inside, Yun Zhu went off to fetch hot water while Ning Yi set her down on the bed, pulling a blanket over her as he did. Her shoes were still on her feet, but it obviously wasn’t appropriate for Ning Yi to take them off for her. Jin’er lay there looking thoroughly put-upon, as though she’d just been through some kind of ordeal, her expression sour. “I’m wearing all these layers and you’re covering me with a blanket too? Are you trying to roast me to death? I can’t even move and you’re trying to murder me, aren’t you?”
“You’ve barely got the blanket on and you’re already complaining about the heat. Never mind, I’m not dealing with you—Yun Zhu will be right in, she can help you out of your clothes then. I really don’t know why you insisted on wearing this much in the first place…”
“Well what if my chill got worse…”
Jin’er grumbled under her breath. Medical care in this era was still rather limited—though colds and chills had reasonably reliable treatments by now, it wasn’t unheard of for people to die from such illnesses even so, and deep down, she was still genuinely a little afraid. As Yun Zhu had yet to come back inside, Jin’er’s expression shifted slightly the moment she finished speaking, and her bundled-up body began trying to roll over onto its side again, only to flop back after managing to turn halfway. Ning Yi frowned, walked over, and pulled her upper body toward the edge of the bed. “What’s wrong?”
Jin’er let out a muffled “Mmph” and clapped a hand over her mouth—only then did Ning Yi understand, and he quickly grabbed the ceramic spittoon sitting nearby, letting her retch into it. Since she’d already thrown up the day before, there wasn’t much left to bring up now. Ning Yi patted her on the back, and since he needed her leaning over the edge of the bed, he ended up sitting sideways next to her, remarking with a smile, “How many months along?”
Jin’er, having finally finished retching and caught her breath, whipped her head around at his remark. “Get away from me, don’t touch me!”
“If I don’t hold onto you, you’ll just topple right over.” Ning Yi pulled her back onto the bed with some exasperation, then went over to the washstand, wrung out a cloth, and wiped the corner of her mouth for her. Once Yun Zhu came back in, he handed Jin’er over to her care and turned to head out the door. As he closed the door behind him, he caught a glimpse of Jin’er gesturing and whispering something in his direction—no doubt tattling on him to Yun Zhu once again.
A good while later, Yun Zhu finally emerged from the room. When she opened the door, Jin’er lay in bed thoroughly bundled up in the blankets; Yun Zhu had helped her out of her clothes, and her body, no longer swollen with padding, looked normal again, her small face peeking out from beneath the covers—Yun Zhu had apparently just finished washing her face, which was flushed pink, and she appeared to have already fallen asleep.
“Every time you come by, all you do is bicker with Jin’er. She’s like a child, but honestly, so are you…” By now the sky had grown fully bright, and Yun Zhu brought over some tea, her tone carrying a faint note of mock reproach.
Ning Yi smiled. “Having a bit of a childlike spirit isn’t a bad thing… By the way, how’s your shoulder?”
“Can’t put much force into it, but it’s fine otherwise. And you?”
“All good. By the way, you and Jin’er really shouldn’t go out to Bamboo Records for a while, not until things settle down. It’s unlikely those escaped assassins would come back looking for the two of you, but it’s better to be careful all the same—maybe this afternoon I’ll talk with Lu A’Gui and the others about finding you two somewhere else to stay for a while.”
Yun Zhu took a sip of tea, looked at him, and nodded. “All right.”
They talked a while longer about the events of the previous day, and about Old Qin, before Ning Yi finally left the small building. To the east, the sun had already risen, morning light spreading across the sky.
What Ning Yi failed to notice was that throughout his entire visit to the small building—from the moment he arrived until he left—two pairs of eyes had been watching the building the whole time. Not far off, tucked among the trees, a carriage sat quietly waiting, with two constables keeping watch—one surnamed Chen, the other Xu. They were the chief and deputy constables from the local yamen, and had been assigned to the case of the Liao assassination attempt; several teams were now busy working the case throughout the city of Jiangning.
This location wasn’t actually part of their main area of surveillance—after all, the odds that the Liao would seek revenge against these two women, said to have been caught up in yesterday’s fighting, were vanishingly small. Still, the two women apparently had some kind of background worth noting, and orders from above had specified that their safety needed to be ensured. Last night, this post had originally been watched by subordinates under Chen and Xu; the two men had only come by this morning to relieve their men for a bit—but in this brief window of time, they’d stumbled upon something rather interesting after all.