The water rippled softly, the night calm and still. In the distance, the Qinhuai River traced the city’s most brilliant scene — lanterns stretching on and on, ten miles of golden splendor, the surrounding towers and eaves rising in tight, overlapping rows along its length, making the river look like a golden dragon coiled upon the earth, giving birth to all the prosperity of Jiangning. But here along this tributary, everything remained peaceful — since it wasn’t the main channel, the waterway near the outskirts of the city hadn’t been developed much, just the occasional house or estate, scattered points of lamplight here and there. The pleasure boats that drifted along the Qinhuai only wandered out this way when truly bored, gliding past like small floating palaces in the dark, passing near the little tower, briefly lighting up its terrace before drifting on, leaving only the small lantern behind to illuminate this modest corner.

“…After you left, Mingyue Tower was the first to open. We bought up several shops around the old store — the two next door didn’t actually want to sell, so we invited them to join in instead. After Mingyue Tower came Qingyuan…”

The night wind blew, carrying Yun Zhu’s soft voice mingled with the sound of the breeze and the water. The lamplight was hazy, and the terrace above lay in dim shadow. Having been apart for so long, and this not being a private tryst between just the two of them, the boundaries of their interaction could only hover between something unspoken and a deliberate show of ease. Having come to the little tower after their reunion, there was, in truth, a great deal they could have said to each other — but perhaps because there was so much to say, it was hard to know where to begin, especially with Yuan Jin’er present as well.

Having sent off Hutao and Kou’er, who’d come out to greet them, they made their way to the small terrace where they’d so often spent time together in the past, and hung up a small lantern. Yun Zhu quietly took in the complicated feelings of finally being reunited, and once Jin’er went back inside to prepare tea and change clothes, she began speaking softly about Bamboo Record’s development — though her mind, too, was clearly elsewhere. Ning Yi found a chair and sat down, watching her speak, occasionally lowering his head, occasionally smiling. Even in men’s clothing, her figure’s soft grace and quiet elegance couldn’t be hidden, and he found himself thinking that if he really were some kind of talented scholar, he’d probably suit the mood better with a fan in hand right now — and at the thought, he couldn’t help but smile.

Naming off Mingyue Tower, Qingyuan, and Yilan House to Ning Yi, Yun Zhu didn’t feel any particular need to be shy about it — Ning Yi’s faintly knowing, tender smile put her at ease as well. Aside from an initial, somewhat hurried question — “When did you get back?” — to which Ning Yi answered that he’d only entered the city that afternoon, what followed, besides talk of Bamboo Record, amounted to little more than small household matters — how the scholars at Qingyuan had gotten into another argument that evening, how the wall at Qingyuan had been knocked down, and so on. What she truly wanted to say lay elsewhere.

“Actually… um… Jin’er always likes saying strange things, you know how she is, Liheng. She said… she said the thing about kissing her, it’s because…”

The kiss with Jin’er earlier that evening at Qingyuan had, at the time, felt like nothing to feel conflicted about at all — only now, seeing Ning Yi, with Jin’er having announced it so boldly, her feelings had grown rather tangled, caught between hesitation and doubt. She felt there was no need to mention it, yet couldn’t help wanting to clarify things, and once the words were out, found herself thinking she needn’t have brought it up at all. Ning Yi, for his part, simply laughed, and then that familiar presence drew close — in the dim light, Yun Zhu, leaning back against her chair, found his face suddenly near hers. The slight embarrassment she’d felt while talking about the kiss with Jin’er settled now into calm.

“How did it go, the kiss — like this?”

“It… um…”

Her slender fingers stirred faintly at her side, then gently took hold of Ning Yi’s hand, and the two figures blended together in the dim light of the terrace, the night breeze faintly warm. At the terrace doorway, a slender figure in goose-yellow embroidered slippers stepped in, then paused, quite still. The figure watched for a moment, then quietly turned and slipped away again.

At some point, in the dimness, two soft voices could be heard murmuring: “Jin’er saw.”

“Mm… I know…”

Yuan Jin’er slipped quietly back to the sitting room, carefully setting down the tea tray, and glanced back toward the faint glow of the terrace, her shoulders sinking as she let out a silent sigh. Then, pouting, head lowered, she wandered slowly out of the room, glancing back now and then, until, once outside the main gate, she paced idly back and forth beneath the eaves.

By now she had changed back into women’s clothes — a long skirt and trousers, a plain moon-white silk robe with a simple floral pattern paired with an understated vest. Having spent so much time around Yun Zhu, her taste in clothing had inevitably absorbed some of her sister’s influence; these days Jin’er preferred cleaner, more delicate outfits, wearing less of the reds, yellows, and greens she’d once favored, though her overall style remained crisp and clean — still every bit the Miss Jin’er once so adored back at the Jinfeng House.

Even so, in this moment, she couldn’t help but let a look of melancholy and frustration show through. Setting aside the women’s clothing and long hair, her upturned face carried something of the look of a tomboy troubled by love. Of course, to the scholars and talented men who had once pursued her, what they might have noticed was the strange new charm this melancholy lent her — the once carefree, seemingly carefree girl now finally troubled by love for the first time. Had she carried herself with this air back then, she might well have claimed the title of reigning beauty long ago.

Of course, what exactly troubled Miss Jin’er’s heart at this moment was something perhaps even she herself couldn’t quite sort out — whether she truly loved Yun Zhu, or truly hated Ning Yi, or felt somehow abandoned, or grieved for herself now that Yun Zhu had found where she belonged — in any case, human feelings are never so simple as one thing alone. After pacing beneath the eaves for a while, she finally sat down on the steps, tapping a stick idly against the stone, drawing aimless circles on the ground.

If she went back a year or two, that fellow named Ning Yi used to come jogging past here in the mornings; the light beneath the eaves was warm then too, and he’d often sit for a while on these very steps, chatting with the girl named Yun Zhu. That’s how the two of them had grown close, bit by bit. Jin’er had gradually learned all this through her conversations with Yun Zhu over time.

Lost in these tangled, gloomy thoughts, she didn’t notice Ning Yi coming out until he was already there. Jin’er turned and glared at him with mild hostility; he only smiled faintly and sat down beside her.

“Hmph.”

That smile was simply too infuriating. Jin’er let out a cold snort, hugged her knees, and turned her head away, continuing to draw circles with her stick, refusing to acknowledge him. Ning Yi simply sat beside her, taking in the night scenery. After a moment, a carriage rolled past on the road, the driver glancing at the pair sitting beneath the eaves with a rather odd look before flicking his whip and moving on.

Jin’er’s eyes narrowed at the driver like a cat’s.

The carriage vanished quickly into the distance.

“Hmph, well… I kissed Sister Yun Zhu.”

In the end, it was Jin’er who couldn’t hold out. She turned, glancing sideways at Ning Yi, chin raised slightly. Ning Yi glanced back at her the same way. “Is that so? Well, so did I.”

Shameless, saying it so brazenly. Jin’er cursed him silently, then said, “You’re a man, I’m a woman.”

“So what?”

“Mine was harder to get.” Jin’er said, turning to look at the shadows of the trees ahead in the darkness. “So sooner or later, Sister Yun Zhu will be mine.”

Ning Yi fell silent for a moment, looking at her. “Then why didn’t you come cause trouble just now?”

Jin’er hugged her knees, looking rather glum, and after a long pause finally said, “But she still likes you more, doesn’t she. She’s been waiting for you to come back for a whole year. I might not like it, but I’m not going to make a scene at a time like this. Hmph, anyway… anyway…” She muttered something under her breath, something to the effect that Yun Zhu would come to love her in the end regardless. Ning Yi watched her for a while from the side, then smiled, thinking of something to say but ultimately deciding it wasn’t necessary. The Yuan Jin’er before him was someone who truly loved Yun Zhu — perhaps not romantic love, but certainly the most sincere kind of devotion, a true protector.

After a moment like this, Jin’er turned and asked, “Where’s Sister Yun Zhu? What did you do to her? Why did you come out here?”

Ning Yi said, “What would I do? She went to change clothes.”

“Oh.”

Sensing that Ning Yi seemed to hold no real hostility this time, Jin’er sulked a while longer, then finally felt rather silly about the whole thing. Before long, Yun Zhu, now changed back into women’s clothes, came out through the doorway. “What are you two doing sitting out here?”

“He seduced me.” Jin’er turned, pointing at Ning Yi.

Ning Yi laughed. “Talking about Hangzhou.”

“Oh?”

Yun Zhu sat down between the two of them. Kang Xian had already told her and Jin’er a great deal about Ning Yi’s time in Hangzhou, though naturally without much specific detail, and now she listened as Ning Yi began telling the story from the beginning. Yun Zhu cared about what had happened to him, while Jin’er was quite curious about that short-lived “Yongle Court” that had briefly flourished in the south, and about the figures involved in the uprising who, in others’ accounts, sounded like veritable demons unleashed upon the world. That Ning Yi had personally clashed with these people felt rather unreal to her when Kang Xian had described it, and now she pestered him eagerly for the details.

Ning Yi had told them stories about the “martial world” before, and now he embellished things further, spinning tales of a demonic cult’s sacred lord Fang La, his left and right guardians, his four heavenly kings, and so on. Sitting beneath the eaves eventually felt a bit awkward for the three of them, so before long they moved back into the sitting room, eating snacks, drinking tea, and cracking watermelon seeds as they continued talking. Yuan Jin’er had no shortage of things she wanted to know — who was the strongest among the “demonic cult,” who would win between Fang Qifo and Wang Yin, what would happen if Fang La ever crossed paths with the Nine Swords of Dugu.

After hearing so many of Ning Yi’s exploits, she also asked, “So has that nickname of yours, the Bloody-Handed Butcher, gotten around by now?”

“Practically thunderous, famous the whole world over… Let me tell you, not many people who’ve made enemies of Shi Bao and Li Tianrun manage to walk away in one piece. That fellow I killed, Tang Kou, was fairly well known too — I looked into it afterward, turns out the technique he practiced was quite renowned as well, called… well, anyway, I didn’t just sneak up and kill him, I mean I defeated him fair and square… though it hasn’t been long enough yet, so I don’t know how far word of it has spread…”

“How can you be like this, always resorting to trickery, that’s not what a real hero does. And from what you just said, the only person you actually fought head-on was that nobody, Tang Kou…”

“What are you talking about, Peace Lane counts too.”

“But you only won at Peace Lane because of gunpowder — that’s hardly a fair fight, and besides, that was wartime, no one’s going to give you credit for that.”

“I took on every single one of them by myself, what’s there not to give me credit for — you silly girl, you just don’t understand.” Ning Yi argued fiercely in defense of his own reputation, then threw a watermelon seed at her.

“As if I don’t understand.” Yuan Jin’er laughed, clearly delighted, throwing a seed back at him. “I’d guess what you’re really famous for is marrying that Xigua girl and becoming a prince consort. I heard that Princess Xigua is truly formidable — how’s her martial skill, how did she train? Could she beat Fang La?”

“Classmate Yuan Jin’er, you really ought to face facts and recognize that I’m a martial arts master — if I, the Bloody-Handed Butcher, weren’t so thunderously famous, why would that Liu Xigua have taken a liking to me, right? I was trapped behind enemy lines at the time, no choice but to play along diplomatically, one man against overwhelming odds. Mark my words, when they put this on stage someday, they’ll make me out to be some great hero like Xue Pingui — you have no idea, however formidable she is, in front of me she’d end up hopelessly smitten…” Seeds flew everywhere.

“As if I’d believe that. Let me tell you something — while you were gone, Sister Yun Zhu kept asking around about news from the south. Whenever wandering martial artists came through Bamboo Record, Sister Yun Zhu would have someone ask if there was any word of this so-called Bloody-Handed Butcher. And everyone said — Bloody-Handed Butcher? Never heard of him. Ha ha ha ha, so much for all that bragging…”

“Jin’er, if you want to argue with him, why drag me into it…”

“Back then Hangzhou was still under siege — of course the martial artists heading north wouldn’t have heard of you, that’s perfectly normal…”

Yuan Jin’er happily recounted how Yun Zhu had gone around asking for news of Ning Yi, and Yun Zhu, who had been sitting there listening with a smile, couldn’t help but blush. The conversation in the room carried on, Ning Yi and Yuan Jin’er bickering back and forth, occasionally dragging Yun Zhu into it as well — whether intentionally on Ning Yi’s part or not, Yuan Jin’er, having gotten the better of the exchange, finally found herself genuinely, thoroughly happy. This room had always held just the two women, and even with all their playful bickering, it had always felt a little lonely. Tonight, though, it finally felt truly lively — almost as if it had become a real home.

After a long while like this, having eaten a little, and with the things they’d meant to say for now said, the bickering thoroughly enjoyed, Yun Zhu and Jin’er saw Ning Yi to the door. Starlight spread across the Milky Way above, and as the carriage gradually receded into the distance, Yun Zhu pressed her palms together before her lips, completing the silent prayer in her heart.

Thank you, Bodhisattva, for bringing him home safely…

Day after day of prayers had finally found their answer, and her heart could at last settle, if only a little. Just as he used to jog past her door every morning, stopping to chat for a while — if only life could go on like that forever, how wonderful that would be. Even when he was far away, all she’d ever wished was that he might safely make his way past some street corner somewhere, day after day, safe and sound.

Seeing the smile on Yun Zhu’s face now, Yuan Jin’er lowered her head and sighed. She knew exactly what was on Sister Yun Zhu’s mind, but… it didn’t matter. There was still plenty of time. She would always be the one by Sister Yun Zhu’s side, and she could still win her over, could still steal her away from that perpetually clingy Ning Liheng. And so she began cheering herself up all over again.

As the carriage disappeared from view and Yun Zhu turned to head back toward the little tower, Jin’er was already back to trailing happily beside her, speaking ill of Ning Yi and going on about the tingly, numb feeling from their kiss. The night was still young, and she still had plenty of time left to cling to Sister Yun Zhu and win her heart back…

The days of uncertainty and anxious waiting were finally over. A time of happiness and quiet ease was about to begin…