After class, it wasn't yet noon. Sunlight streamed down from the eaves, and when the wind blew through the academy, the leaves rustled. Two birds flapped their wings and darted through the dense foliage of a large tree in the courtyard. Ning Yi packed his things and walked beneath the black-tiled, green-brick eaves.

Guo Peiying and Qu Weiqing, two instructors, hurried past in the corridor. They had walked past the classroom during his lesson, looking somewhat anxious. However, this wasn't something he needed to concern himself with. Returning to the courtyard where the instructors rested, the Confucian scholars and literati were each engaged in their own activities, exchanging ideas and chatting. He placed his books in the drawer, then picked up his cloth bag and took out the books he would take back to read today. Liu Xiyang and others invited him to stay and talk, but he politely declined.

This kind of life had been going on for a few days. The academy was, after all, quiet. Even with the sounds of children mixed in with the chirping of insects, it still drowned out the clamor of the outside world. Ning Yi collected the distributed rice and grain from the back and walked back. The headmaster, Feng Yongli, held a cup of tea, greeting him as he drank. Although there was a hint of caution in his gaze, the overall feeling was one of kindness. Passing the gap at the back of the academy, the girl who helped out at the clinic on the other side also came over, wearing patched, worn clothes and a dirty silk scarf around her head. She held a small jar and, seeing Ning Yi, ran over with a smile, her steps light.

The wind blew through the courtyard, causing the shade of the trees to sway. In the sunlight, leaves fell. In just three to five days, he sometimes felt that this peaceful and serene life could last forever.

"Grandpa Liu brewed a pot of medicinal porridge today, saying it's good for the body. It's almost finished, but I brought some back for you to try, Master. It has licorice in it, cool and sweet..."

The girl walked ahead, and Ning Yi smiled as he removed her headscarf, her dark hair cascading down. The girl shook her head, her figure dancing in the light, occasionally turning back, her smile warm and fresh, as if holding a small sense of contentment. Ning Yi also shook his head and smiled.

The world wasn't big, the courtyard wasn't big, the house wasn't big, even the eaves weren't big. The temperature in early autumn hadn't cooled down yet, and the breeze, without much chill, always made people feel languid, but this environment, which belonged to the two of them, had, in just a few days, seemed to take on a lot of meaning.

Xiao Chan helped out at the clinic next door, almost disguising and making herself ugly like a boy. There wasn't much to do at noon, but she felt that Ning Yi would be coming back soon, so she took the time to run back. She bustled about preparing to pour water for Ning Yi, serving him to wash his face, drink water, and drink porridge.

The place wasn't big to begin with, a small room, a small kitchen. As she excitedly placed the clay pot in the room, Ning Yi had already gone to the kitchen to scoop water and wash his face. Xiao Chan then came over, muttering that Ning Yi shouldn't have taken her job, snatching the towel from him. Ning Yi laughed and splashed water on her face. After all, the weather was hot, and Xiao Chan was running back and forth, sweating slightly. Ning Yi wiped his own face and placed the towel on hers. The water tank was originally placed in the corner, but now there was a slight coolness in the water.

Washing his face, drinking a mouthful of water, taking a bowl to drink porridge, and chatting occasionally, although Xiao Chan came and went, and occasionally there were some jokes and banter between the two, their pace, the concessions and tacit understanding between each passing, already seemed harmonious, even in that small kitchen, it wouldn't seem crowded or colliding. In front of Ning Yi, Xiao Chan tidied her hair, talking about what she had seen and heard in the clinic today, occasionally asking Ning Yi questions. The scene looked like a couple gathering during a lunch break. Of course, from Xiao Chan's perspective alone, it was like a newly married couple.

"...Today, there was a person... with a broken bone... looked bloody... screaming desperately, so scary..."

"I heard it in the academy..."

"Yes, yes, yes, that's him, but I still reached out to touch it... like this, Master, look, Master, look, like this... and then I can put the bones back together..."

...

"...The academy is the same as a few days ago... but I heard that Liu Xiyang and Qu Weiqing quarreled again..."

"Oh, oh, are those the two people that Master mentioned..."

"Yeah... teaching boring things every day..."

...

"In the morning, I heard someone named Hou talking about men and women shouldn't touch each other, almost going from 'Instructions for Women' to 'Admonitions for Women'... why talk about this to a whole class of men? I stood there listening for a while before leaving, but it reminded me of a joke..."

"Master, Master, Xiao Chan has learned both of these books..."

"Oh, really? Then let me ask you, there's a man and a woman, they shook hands, and then the woman got pregnant, why?"

"'Instructions for Women'... uh, why would a man and a woman shake hands... I know, two people shaking hands must mean they have a very close relationship, two people are husband and wife, right Master?"

"...Wrong."

"Then how can they shake hands casually..."

"I just shook yours..."

"Master... Xiao Chan, Xiao Chan is different..."

...

"...Still wrong."

"Then why is it... Xiao Chan can't guess..."

"Because... uh, that man doesn't like to wash his hands, and that woman doesn't like to wash her hands either..."

"...Th-Then what?"

"That's it, because the man and the woman don't like to wash their hands, so not long after they shook hands, the woman got pregnant..."

"..."

"...This story tells us the importance of washing hands."

"...I-I don't understand."

"...Okay, it's a cold joke."

The topics of conversation were always trivial, and even though they had crossed the final line, there couldn't be too much intimate contact during the day. The prying eyes around when it rained were probably hard to get in, but there were probably always people watching during the day. Of course, if there were, they were probably thinking about the connection between not washing hands and pregnancy.

In the afternoon, Xiao Chan would still go back to the clinic to help. In the past few days, Ning Yi occasionally followed along, watching the old doctor treat patients and identifying some medicinal herbs. One aspect was to protect Xiao Chan, and another was that he was idle anyway, and learning more things wouldn't be wrong. Occasionally, when he encountered some cases of external injuries, Ning Yi would also boredly tell Xiao Chan about hygiene and infection, although he himself was only a half-baked expert, he felt that he still had some say in this. The rest of the time, he didn't say much.

The old doctor Liu, surnamed Liu, was skilled in medicine and relatively kind to Xiao Chan, but to him, the patient, he seemed somewhat dismissive. He once said, "External evil enters the body, the wound suppurates, and you dare to sew up the wound, you layman, stop saying some heretical things here." Ning Yi was also a little helpless. When a wound was infected, even if the rotten flesh was scraped away, it shouldn't be sewn up. It was said that his injuries were originally not difficult to overcome with his strong physique, but it was his own meddling that expanded the injuries several times, almost killing him. However, the old doctor Liu had also praised his physique as being quite good. In Ning Yi's opinion, it was probably thanks to the internal strength taught by Lu Hongti.

After that rainy night, Ning Yi occasionally sorted out various things in the courtyard, clearing away the collapsed ruins, moving the various objects brick by brick to stack in the corner. Occasionally, he would find one or two useful things, some iron scraps, and even a broken knife. He knew that the people monitoring him nearby would notice this, but the other party didn't seem to care.

Two men carrying knives were often in his field of vision, and occasionally there were even brief conversations. The two men's names were very strange, one was called A Chang, and one was called A Ming. Together, it meant "paying with one's life" (偿命 - Chang Ming), it was estimated that the master of the house named Liu Xigua had some deep hatred. Yesterday, Ning Yi picked up the broken knife from the ruins, sharpened it, and used it to chop branches in the courtyard. A Chang even appeared on the other side of the courtyard, directly pulled out the knife behind him and threw it at him, saying, "This one is faster, take it and use it." It seemed that he didn't care about the danger of him holding a sharp weapon.

The hole in the roof that appeared on that rainy day hadn't been repaired yet. In the past few days, Ning Yi had only gone to the roof to repair the other large and small holes. He knocked and beat two pieces of iron of different sizes and strung them under the eaves to make a simple wind chime. On this afternoon, he tied the chopped branches and leaves into a canopy, then pulled it up to the roof to cover the hole.

White clouds floated past in the sky like cotton wool. The wind blew from the roof, bringing a slight coolness, and the wind chime rang. From here, the nearby academy, clinic, roads, courtyards, and passing pedestrians could all be seen. Hangzhou seemed to have returned to a certain degree of calm. At the clinic, Xiao Chan was holding medicinal herbs and walking from under the eaves. When she looked over here, she widened her eyes, opened her mouth, and then jumped and waved, probably telling him to come down. Ning Yi also smiled and waved, sitting down on the roof.

Repairing the roof would make it a little cooler at night. This thought was almost like wanting to live permanently in the small courtyard below. If he really lived here with Xiao Chan, it wouldn't be something difficult to accept. But for him, he naturally understood that things wouldn't be like this.

From the time the children asked those questions this morning, Ning Yi understood that some things were probably coming now.

At the latest, it would be tomorrow. If it was earlier, the other party would probably take action this afternoon.

He sat on the roof, looking at the streets, pedestrians, the occasional passing carriages, some suspicious gazes, and occasionally he could see A Chang and A Ming carrying knives appearing on the street, but there was no fighting. But around Shen Shi (3-5 pm), on a street corner about several tens of meters away from here, a man holding a bow suddenly crashed through the railing of a house, fell from the second floor, and landed on the street there. The man got up from the ground, suddenly raised his bow, drew his bowstring, and at the broken railing on the second floor, A Chang, carrying his knife, appeared there, looking down.

The arrow was not shot. On the street, some people were frightened by this scene and quickly ran away, while others gathered from different directions, and between them, there seemed to be a slight confrontation.

Ning Yi looked at all this subtlety, resting his chin on his hand. Then, behind the roof, there was the sound of footsteps, and someone walked over from there. Ning Yi looked back and saw a young man, only around twenty years old. He sat down on the roof there, also watching all this.

"Those are Zhang Daoyuan's people, trying to kill you." The young man pointed over there and said with a smile... (To be continued.) Cast your vote, your support is my greatest motivation.)