"Xiao Long..."

Beneath the silver moonlight, the young woman's voice, shy and tentative, echoed in the courtyard, rippling like motes of dust in the starlight...

Ning Ji watched her footsteps cross the yard, open the door, and peer outside. Turning back, she looked up at him.

"...Xiao Long."

That voice then changed slightly, no longer soft, but suddenly quiet.

She turned and gently closed the courtyard door, then returned to the room, took a sip of water, and climbed the ladder to the roof.

She sat down beside Ning Ji.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

The quiet night, the starlight scattered on the rooftops and streets ahead, was like a sea, presenting a silver and black patchwork of waves. The city had fallen asleep, with distant shadows of trees slumbering beside the black courtyard walls. The small pleasure boats were like large but docile animals, asleep by the gently rippling river. Only occasionally did a watchman pass through the distant streets and alleys, the lantern's warm light gradually seeping forward, like light seeping out of the city's dreams.

They, too, seemed to be asleep in this quiet, watching the night, unwilling to wake.

But it was Ning Ji who spoke first.

...

"Maybe... something happened..."

"Mm."

"That... friend who came that day, Zuo Xingzhou, maybe something happened to him."

"'Hun Yuan Axe' Zhou Xing."

"Mm, I... I'm not sure."

...

Ning Ji had hesitated for a long time that evening about whether to say anything about this.

But now, sitting on the roof, the young woman beside him didn't show too much questioning. He could feel her sitting quietly beside him, her arm softly leaning against his, her legs in linen trousers stretched out, her feet in grey cloth shoes. Her body wasn't as hot as his; it even gave a cool feeling.

Ning Ji couldn't help but speak.

...

"...When I was in the Southwest, I had some personal friendships with the Zuo family, even... on the battlefield against the Jurchens, we were comrades... This time the situation in Fuzhou is tense, and Zuo Xingzhou wanted to play the bad guy to gather intelligence for the court. Yue Yun was putting on a show with him a few days ago... Today Yue Yun came over, ostentatiously looking for Zhou Xing and Zhan Yunhai. I think the most likely possibility is that they have disappeared... and the court's judgment is that something very likely has happened to both of them..."

"...Couldn't it be that Young Master Yue is continuing to build momentum for them?"

"...It's unlikely. If they've already successfully infiltrated the enemy, building momentum here would more likely cause unnecessary complications. And, a few days ago, Zuo Wenxuan came to see me. Some of the things he said, some of the jokes he made, I didn't understand at the time, but now I think it's clear... He wanted to find out if Zuo Xingzhou and I had any connection, but he didn't want to alarm me..."

"...Zuo Wenxuan is..."

"...Ah, that guy with glasses, he is..."

...

In the latter half of the night in Fuzhou, a gentle night breeze blew. Ning Ji described the situation of the Zuo family in general terms. For the Fuzhou trip, the expectations for the past month had been very relaxed, and his mind hadn't been raised to a high level of alert, but now that he was alarmed, many things could form a concrete context.

Looking back at the behavior of Zuo Wenxuan and Yue Yun, Zuo Xingzhou had likely been out of contact for several days, and there was already some evidence that something had happened.

But this wasn't what made him feel the most troubled.

He felt the soft touch of the young woman's arm against his right side.

Since their reunion in Jiangning City, there had already been some ambiguous physical contact between them, holding hands during their travels, embracing in caves, or playfully splashing each other's feet after arriving in Fuzhou. But at this moment, this contact on the roof seemed to have a completely different feeling.

He felt a sense of attachment.

These difficult words were not easy to say at this moment. He was a warrior who had come down from the most rigorous battlefield. In those past days, he could bravely face any situation. Zuo Xingzhou had an accident—even if Zuo Xingzhou died—this wasn't originally a difficult situation to face. But at this moment, he couldn't think of a foolproof way to arrange things for her.

"...When I came out of the Southwest, it was a bit like running away from home. If I didn't make a big name for myself, it wouldn't be good to go back, so when I got to Fuzhou, I wasn't willing to have too much contact with the Zuo family... Of course, it's not to say that the Zuo family is really encountering any difficulties right now. This is their territory, and any bad people will be cleaned up anyway..."

His words analyzed the situation in the beginning, and the logic was clear. Afterward, because he hadn't completely thought it through, he said a few vague words. The quiet night breeze and the young woman didn't give him too much burden. But at a certain moment, after he paused slightly, the young woman's voice rang out.

"...Xiao Long, I just thought... you left me..."

This sentence wasn't about Zuo Xingzhou's matter. Ning Ji turned his head and, in the darkness of the night, saw Qu Longjun leaning forward and pressing her soft lips to his.

The summer night, with its cool feeling, went into his heart, but then turned into a warm touch. Ning Ji didn't feel surprised; it seemed he had known for a long time that at some time, in some place, these things would happen, and the feeling of his heart beating wildly grew stronger...

"...I, I... I won't..."

"...Mm."

Their shadows on the roof touched gently...

...

The night breeze came from the sea, quietly blowing through the ancient city under the starlight. The watchman's lantern passed through this long street, and then rippled in that alleyway.

They sat on the roof for a long time. When the night was at its darkest, Ning Ji picked up the young woman who had fallen asleep in the quiet and slowly walked down the roof. His martial arts were high, and his mood was calm. When he carried the young woman down the steep wooden ladder, it was as if he were slowly and steadily descending from a great height.

He put the young woman back on the bed in the room, and in his mind were the words she had just spoken from the bottom of her heart.

"...Xiao Long. When I was still young, I was actually a daughter of the Wu family. My father was a general. Therefore, although I studied, played the zither, and learned to do needlework in my childhood, what I really wanted to be at that time was a free and unrestrained female general..."

"...After my father died, I was bought by Wen Shoubin and learned many things, living in dark days... Xiao Long, during that time, I didn't dare to think too much. Sometimes, I wanted to die... I went to the Southwest and listened to Wen Shoubin's words to cause trouble for the Hua Xia Army. Later, on the darkest day, I met you... I thought I would die that day..."

"...It seemed I really died that day... After waking up, you and Auntie Gu showed me new things every day... At that time, you always wore a stern face. I was so afraid of you, but slowly, I realized that you wanted me to be a complete person..."

"...I don't know how to say it. At that time, I had just remembered the past. I thought of my childhood, I thought of my dead father, and slowly remembered more things... Xiao Long, before that, I had always been a commodity. You saved me. Sometimes I think, have I become your commodity? I would think about that for a long, long time..."

"...After leaving the Southwest, I often thought of you and Auntie Gu. Xiao Long, I often thought of your stern face, and also of the way you looked when you killed Wen Shoubin and those other people that night. Your martial arts are high, and you are very upright. After leaving the Southwest, I never saw such a person again. Later, in Jiangning, I suddenly heard your name again. It was really like a dream..."

"...Xiao Long, I want to be with you..."

...

"...I want to be with you, but I don't want to become a burden by your side... Xiao Long, over the past year or so, I walked from the Southwest to Jiangning. The uncles and aunties of the Hua Xia Army taught me many things in the first half of the journey, and in the second half, I also saw many things. I saw many ordinary people, and they also tried to live hard. Maybe some people cheated and swindled, and some weren't so decent, but I also learned many things. Do you know, I can pretend to be a beggar, I can put on airs, and I can dress myself up to be very ugly..."

"...But I think, what does it matter? Just like it was written in that book you gave me in the Southwest, ordinary people also have their own ways of surviving, and so do women... I may not be able to become a great hero or chivalrous warrior like you, but there are also many people in the world who need to find their own way to live..."

"...Xiao Long, I want to be with you... Then we will always encounter this and that kind of thing outside. I know you will hesitate and feel embarrassed, but I don't want you to become a timid person because you want to protect me... I am a daughter of the Wu family, and I am not stupid. I will definitely find a way to live with you in this world. Xiao Long, I want to ask you to help me..."

...

Except for the initial sentence "I thought you didn't want me anymore" which was slightly choked with emotion, Qu Longjun's speech in the night was actually calm and firm. This always reminded Ning Ji of the scene when he had been secretly watching her in Chengdu. At that time, the young woman seemed weak and gloomy, like a dandelion that would scatter in the wind, and this weakness aroused his desire to protect her.

But now he realized that, since their reunion, the young woman, except for the fact that she always seemed a little worried under the topic of "bringing her along," had been like resilient weeds at other times. She always had a sense of proportion, organization, and initiative in her actions, especially during this recent time in Fuzhou, she seemed even more calm and independent.

She had changed from a daughter of the Wu family to a skinny horse that had been sold off. Perhaps the current Qu Longjun was the way she originally was in her heart.

Even when saying such shy words as "I want to be with you," and even when kissing him, she still seemed calm and composed on the surface, except for the fact that her skin had become hot.

This also reduced a lot of Ning Ji's embarrassment.

He also wanted to be with her.

So this morning, he also confessed to her in this way.

...

The night breeze caressed

Morning grass and dew.

When the sky turned white with the first light of dawn, the young woman was sleeping soundly. Ning Ji walked to the courtyard and practiced a set of fist forms.

The city gradually awoke in the quiet. Distant lights began to appear, and chickens were crowing. The fist forms in his hands were slow and heavy. Although it was an empty fist frame, it was as if he were stirring a vast elixir. Inside his body, the blood flowed like great rivers and seas.

After coming to the Southeast, the young man, for the first time in his life, truly felt the sea.

At the same time, he also felt the calmness of fighting with the sea.

The morning of the 30th day of the fifth month of Wu Zhenxing year three, the Southeast, a fiery summer.

She and he, a summer of beginning to accompany each other—