The cicadas’ song drifted in on the breeze from a distance; the room was quiet, and what she could hear was Ning Yi sitting there flipping through his draft papers, occasionally the sound of an ink stick being ground unhurriedly against the inkstone — but she barely heard the sound of a brush actually writing.

Footsteps approached gradually; she lay there, feeling the man sit down beside her, pick up the cloth on her forehead, feel it, then wipe her face lightly with it before standing up and leaving.

The sound of water in a basin came from somewhere nearby — Jin’er had no choice but to keep up her pretense of sleep. In the room, the man rinsed the cloth clean, seemed to stand there a while longer, then began pacing back and forth.

With just the two of them in the room, and her not waking, he had little choice but to take it easy for a while, or occupy himself with his own affairs. Occasionally she heard him humming a low tune, something like a lullaby, casual words and melody — some lyrics she’d heard before, others she hadn’t.

“…Hair bristling with rage, leaning against the railing, the pattering rain has just stopped… Gazing up, raising my eyes, I let out a long cry to the sky, my fervent heart stirred… Thirty years of fame and achievement are but dust, eight thousand li of road under cloud and moon…”

Such stirring, heroic lines, hummed by him like a bedtime song for children — it really was rather strange. But time in the room passed by, drop by drop, in this leisurely atmosphere. At one point Jin’er thought to herself she might as well just drift off to sleep properly, yet even though her heart felt calm just then, sleep wouldn’t come; the emptiness around her made every small stillness and movement — his stillness, his movements — audible with unusual clarity, as if the tunes he hummed and the steps he took carried an echo of their own.

What a strange summer this is…

She thought to herself. After a while, she heard him sit down beside her, apparently turning his face to look at her sideways. “What…” he muttered something, though she couldn’t quite make it out; as he walked away, she heard him say, “Quack doctor…”

The sound of water came again, and the cloth returned, wiping away the faint beads of sweat that had risen on her forehead and face. She hadn’t felt particularly warm before, but it really was a bit hot now — having to stay perfectly still, with a blanket draped over her besides. She felt Ning Yi wiping the sweat from her, then laying the cloth back over her forehead; the cool sensation spread, yet her body only grew warmer still. Fortunately, Ning Yi then lifted the blanket off her.

A breeze passed through the window, sweeping through the room, bringing coolness. Ning Yi sat beside her without moving, apparently lost in thought. The moment the blanket that had covered her was pulled away, what she noticed instead was how thin her remaining clothing felt — she suddenly had the odd sensation of being stripped bare, and wondered for a moment whether she might actually be lying there beside him without a stitch on.

But of course, her clothes were still on — only, a moment later, she heard Ning Yi give a puzzled “Hm?” She too felt puzzled, unsure what he’d noticed, until, a moment later, his hand reached over, landing at… her collar.

Thump, thump, thump… What is he trying to do…

Her heart raced with unease, but almost immediately, Ning Yi had already undone the first button at her collar, pulling the fabric open just slightly. Realizing that Ning Yi must have noticed her breathing growing rapid, his hand paused again, then withdrew.

Her collar had only opened a small amount — probably not enough to reveal her undergarment, she thought first — and right after that came the thought: if he hadn’t just been loosening her collar but had actually meant to undress her, whatever his reasons, would she have kept up the pretense? This was a question that could only surface in her mind; it wasn’t something she could really let herself think through properly. At that moment, Ning Yi sitting there let out a sigh, as if… looking after a girl like this had left him rather bored too.

“Little masochist…” Jin’er heard him murmur softly, apparently to himself, “…and here she talks about competing with me over women…”

Jin’er felt a bit embarrassed about having fainted so suddenly today, but hearing him say this, she couldn’t help silently grumbling to herself, imagining herself pouting scornfully at him. A moment later, Ning Yi beside her stood up.

“So lively normally, and then when it comes to something like this, she buries her head like an ostrich the moment it’s said out loud…” He walked over to his desk, muttering on, and Jin’er could practically picture him shaking his head, the helpless look on his face. “You don’t even know what to do about it, and I’m no good at this either… Su Wenyu and that lot already had a laugh about it behind my back, and I still don’t know how I’m going to explain this to Yun Zhu…”

And I don’t know how I’m supposed to explain it to Sister Yun Zhu either… she thought resentfully.

“This business in Bianliang is enough of a headache for me as it is, and I might have to leave in a few days, some things still not properly sorted out — and you go around giving me the cold shoulder all day long… what’s so impressive about that anyway, it’s not like I owe you anything… sigh…”

Jin’er felt something was off. Ning Yi, still muttering to himself, came back over, took the cloth off her forehead, and set it in the basin not far away.

“Fainting dead away at the drop of a hat and still not waking up — you had me thinking that quack doctor had actually spooked me. When I was undoing your collar, your hand twitched — I saw it, you know… If you keep pretending, I really will strip you bare when I come back over…”

Ning Yi was over there rinsing the cloth. Jin’er gave a start and opened her eyes on the bed, momentarily unsure what to do — but then she sat up, head lowered, fingers laced together. As Ning Yi picked up the water basin to head out, she suddenly bit her lower lip, leapt off the bed without even putting her shoes on properly, and dashed toward the door, head down. This reaction startled Ning Yi as well; he hastily set down the basin and rushed to grab her. “Hey.”

He caught her right hand. “Hey, this isn’t the reaction I was going for… what are you doing…” Jin’er struggled a few times, then turned back, her left hand covering her nose and mouth, tears already streaming from her eyes, looking utterly wronged, her arm shaking wildly. Choking on her sobs, she said, “It’s my fault anyway! It’s all my fault! Let go of me, I don’t want to be here, let go…”

She wasn’t shouting, but her choked sobs sounded utterly wretched; her right arm thrashed wildly, desperate to pull free, but Ning Yi held on tight — the difference in strength between them wasn’t even close. “Hey, I… didn’t I just say I was wrong, is that not enough…”

“Let go of me, you didn’t say anything wrong… let go of me…”

“Uh, I was just trying to say something reasonable so you’d stop pretending to sleep and actually talk to me — how did it turn into this… hey…”

“It’s my fault for saying I liked you in the first place, that’s why it’s turned into this — it’s all my own willfulness, fine, I don’t like you anymore, let go…”

Ning Yi felt a headache coming on — it seemed he really didn’t have much of a knack for wooing women, or maybe he and Jin’er just weren’t a good match for each other in this regard. He’d only meant to say something that would make him seem gracious and thoughtful, tease her a bit and get her to talk to him — he hadn’t expected her to struggle this fiercely, absolutely refusing to stop.

She, who normally carried herself with such poise, now had even turned her back to him, striding forward as if trying to yank herself free in a tug-of-war; the embroidered slippers she’d hastily thrown on flew off in the process, and she fell flat on the ground with a thud, still crying and struggling. Ning Yi, somewhat at a loss, released her hand to let her get up. “Listen to me.”

“I won’t.”

Face streaked with tears, she answered flatly, then got up and ran; out the door and a few steps down the corridor, her body was suddenly swept up from behind, caught around the waist by Ning Yi coming up behind her. This time, Ning Yi said nothing, simply carrying her back that way.

“I want to talk to you!”

“I won’t talk, I won’t talk, I won’t talk, I won’t…”

Amid her protests, Jin’er was set down on the bed. Ning Yi’s face had darkened somewhat — he found this girl, who’d worked herself sick over this and still insisted on carrying on like this, quite a headache, though admittedly he hadn’t found a better way to handle it himself either. “I said… stop making a scene!” “I will too make a scene!” As the girl twisted and squirmed, a crisp smack landed on her backside.

She froze there, apparently never having expected Ning Yi to do such a thing. After the second and third smack, the girl burst into loud wails right there in the inn room.

“I won’t talk, I won’t talk…”

She cried and thrashed, reaching a hand back to try to block him, but it did no good — the smacks kept landing on her backside.

“Waaah, you’re hitting me…”

“I don’t like you anymore, let go of me!”

After struggling for a while with no effect, Jin’er simply lay there sobbing and taking it. “I don’t like you, I don’t like you, let go of me, I won’t talk anymore, waaah… stop hitting me…”

Ning Yi certainly hadn’t been hitting hard, but the impact of a thing like this probably wasn’t measured in physical pain anyway; his own expression had turned rather grim too. After a few more smacks, Jin’er gave up resisting entirely, simply lying there crying and taking it. He let out a breath and sat down beside her, listening to her declare she no longer liked him. “Oh, don’t like me anymore, hm?”

Jin’er lay there crying for a while longer; Ning Yi’s hand still rested on her backside. She hiccuped through her sobs, and when she finally spoke again, what came out was: “I like you… I like you…”

Ning Yi tilted his head, not quite sure what to do at this point either, but at least he moved his hand away first. “I don’t want to keep going back and forth like this — you’re going to have to actually talk to me…”

“I don’t want to talk…” Jin’er murmured through her tears. Seeing Ning Yi tilt his head to look her way, she flinched and cried out, “Talk, fine, talk… waaah…” Sniffling, seeing Ning Yi’s pained expression, she choked out, “Hurts…”

“Uh… well then…” Ning Yi sat there frowning, utterly at a loss, then pressed a hand to his forehead after a moment. “So… what exactly are we talking about, then…” Jin’er lay there still crying, tilting her head to look at him, crying for a bit, then covering her mouth with her hand as if starting to laugh a little, cycling between crying and laughing for a while, before covering her mouth again and bursting into genuine sobs. Ning Yi wasn’t quite sure whether she was actually upset or had already decided to make up with him. After crying like this for a while, she propped herself up on her elbows, trying to crawl further onto the bed. Ning Yi watched her. “Wait.”

Jin’er: “Mm.” She stopped moving, lying there, sniffling.

“Turn over.”

Jin’er obediently sat herself up — her backside apparently still a bit sore, she stretched her legs out to bear the weight more gently. Having leapt off the bed and run earlier, then struggled so hard afterward that her embroidered slippers had flown off, her bare feet were now covered in dirt and grime, streaked black and grey.

She had no idea what Ning Yi meant to do, until he brought over the water basin from the desk, set it by the bed, and crouched down beside it. Watching this, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but he reached up and took hold of her ankle instead, drawing it toward the water. The girl’s body shrank back slightly.

“A girl’s feet shouldn’t be touched carelessly…”

She said this quietly, head lowered. Ning Yi glanced up at her.

“At Jinfeng Tower… a woman who’s had her hair pinned up isn’t meant to be touched carelessly either…”

Though she said this softly, she sat there at the edge of the bed, both feet held in the hands of the man in front of her, offering no resistance at all.

“I already touched them when I helped you take off your shoes.” Only when this rather unromantic remark reached her did Jin’er’s mouth twist into a pout, her feet twitching once in the water — but once Ning Yi’s hands closed firmly around them, she stopped struggling.

She watched Ning Yi lower his head to wash her feet, hands braced behind her, tears welling up again in her eyes.

And so she sat there, tears quietly falling, watching this act that felt both warmly tender to her, and yet somehow, at the same time, almost like being forced against her will…