On the street, pedestrians came and went. Su Tan'er, accompanied by Juan'er and Xing'er, Ning Yi with Chan'er, and Xue Jin with two servants, were engaged in friendly conversation.

Jiangning was a prosperous area with a thriving textile industry. The three largest cloth merchants in the vicinity were Su's Cloth Store, Xue's Dachuan Cloth Store, and Wu's Cloth Store, which served as the head of the industry. Xue Jin's main purpose in coming this time was to discuss a business collaboration in the Huainan area with Su Tan'er. However, Su Tan'er was only managing a small portion of the Su family's affairs at this time, and most of the business outside of Jiangning was handled by her second and third uncles. Therefore, she suggested that Xue Jin discuss the matter with her second uncle, Su Zhongkan. Xue Jin, however, expressed that having a familiar face would make the conversation easier, and hoped that Su Tan'er could also attend the banquet with Su Zhongkan a few days later to discuss the business… or so he said.

Xue Jin had always been interested in Su Tan'er of the Su family, which was well known. The Xue family had even proposed marriage to the Su family before, but firstly, the old master of the Su family didn't particularly like Xue Jin, and secondly, the Su family's talent pool was dwindling, so they didn't plan to marry Su Tan'er off directly. Moreover, the two families were, after all, competitors in the business world. The marriage didn't happen, and on the wedding day, Su Tan'er ran away. Xue Jin seized the opportunity during the chaos and secretly knocked Ning Yi unconscious with a brick before running away. Due to the lack of strong witnesses, investigating this messy affair was very complicated, and in the end, it was dropped.

So much time had passed, and with Su Tan'er's elopement, Xue Jin's return to find her naturally meant he hadn't given up. Although Su Tan'er was now another man's wife and could no longer marry into the Xue family, Xue Jin believed he could conquer such a woman, beautiful, intelligent, and capable. He hadn't expected to see Ning Yi on the way home. Although he had hit Ning Yi with a brick before, he didn't take the bookish scholar seriously, so he came over to greet him proactively, intending to make Ning Yi feel humiliated.

Su Tan'er had come out because she knew what Xue Jin was thinking. Her feelings for Ning Yi were simple: she didn't dislike him, and he was already her husband, so there was nothing she could do. Overall, she still thought that Ning Yi was tied to her. Xue Jin wasn't particularly capable, no different from the second and third-generation heirs of the Su family, and she disliked him. But regardless, with the Xue family's backing, business was business, and personal preferences had to be put aside.

At this time, receiving a message from Xing'er, Su Tan'er hurriedly came out, fearing that Ning Yi, being a scholar, wouldn't be able to withstand provocation and would get into a conflict with the other party. If a conflict really broke out, it would inevitably turn into a matter between the Su and Xue families. Her feelings for Ning Yi were far from enough to sacrifice the interests of the family to stand up for her husband. But she couldn't ignore it either; this was her husband. If a conflict arose and she did nothing, she would be seen as frivolous. If the conflict hadn't started, it would be difficult to persuade him. Although she had gotten along harmoniously with Ning Yi over the past few months, men cared most about these trivial matters. They weren't yet familiar, and if she asked him to back down slightly, who knew if he would think she had something going on with Xue Jin, leading to resentment? She hoped things could be done perfectly. Even though Ning Yi had married into the family, she hoped to avoid domestic unrest as much as possible in the future, and she felt a headache coming on.

Who knew that when she rushed out, she found Ning Yi discussing amnesia with him in a natural manner, as if he really had no memory of Xue Jin's name… Could it be that in the past few months, no one had mentioned this matter to him at all? She pulled the topic away with some doubt, and after a while, she bid farewell to Xue Jin and got into the carriage with Ning Yi and the maids.

"By the way, the Mid-Autumn Festival Lantern Festival on the Qinhuai River and the Puyuan Poetry Gathering welcome families to attend. I heard that Brother Ning is well-learned. I wonder if you will attend with Sister Tan'er?"

Seeing the two leaving, Xue Jin laughed loudly, asking this question. It was already the beginning of August, and the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching. There were countless events on the Qinhuai River, some only for single men, some mostly for women, and the Puyuan Poetry Gathering had been quite famous in the past. Regardless of the era, indulging in elegance after satisfying basic needs was always the norm. Although it was called a poetry gathering, there were naturally many performances as well. Su Tan'er often attended in the past, but at this time, she lowered the curtain of the carriage: "We'll see."

"Tsk, we'll see…" Watching the carriage leave, Xue Jin ground his teeth and then became puzzled, looking at his follower beside him: "Do you think that Ning guy is pretending or really has amnesia? He can't be acting this well, can he!" He was puzzled.

He originally wanted to deliberately remind Ning Yi "I hit you, and you can't do anything to me," and even deliberately said, "Recently, some people have been spreading rumors that I attacked Brother Ning that day. Brother Ning doesn't believe that, right?" to make the other party angry. Who knew that Ning Yi's words were sincere and peaceful, and he didn't seem to be forcing himself at all. He felt like he had punched thin air. He was confused and felt uncomfortable because he had been acting for so long, but the other party, as the audience, didn't have the expected reaction.

At this time, in the carriage, Su Tan'er was also looking at Ning Yi with some doubt. The three maids were mainly talking in the carriage, chattering about how bad and rude Master Xue was. Although they didn't mention Su Tan'er directly, they were actually subtly setting the stage for one theme: "Miss has nothing to do with that person." Ning Yi occasionally joined in with a smile.

In reality, he simply found the three maids' behavior cute and well-behaved. If it were modern society, little girls of this age would be incredibly willful. After a moment, Su Tan'er asked, "Husband… have you really forgotten that Xue Jin?"

Ning Yi nodded: "I really don't remember."

"But… you've heard about it, right…"

Su Tan'er stared at him doubtfully. He looked back at her, and they looked at each other for a moment: "Uh, does my wife want me to beat him up just now?"

Su Tan'er blinked at his eyes a few times, and then gradually smiled. Unlike the previous standardized smile, this smile was bright and carried a sense of relief. Her husband really understood these social conventions. But thinking this way, she felt a little lost. She wouldn't like a pure scholar, nor would she like someone who was truly scheming, but since they weren't very familiar yet, these things weren't clear.

The carriage drove over a small bridge near the Su family's gate. Su Tan'er looked outside: "In that case… for the Mid-Autumn Puyuan Poetry Gathering, would you like to go, husband?"

"I'm not very good at poetry."

"You don't have to be very good. Just watch some performances and enjoy the lanterns."

After Su Tan'er finished speaking, Juan'er nodded desperately: "Yes, yes, son-in-law, there are many performances."

Xing'er chimed in: "The lanterns are also very beautiful, and there are beautiful fireworks…"

"Maybe Miss Qilan will perform…"

"Listen to singing…"

The three maids chattered about the events at the lantern festival. Entertainment was scarce these days, and they were obviously looking forward to such things. Ning Yi nodded with a smile: "Well, if possible, let's go and have a look together then."

The Mid-Autumn Festival was still more than ten days away. A few days later, Su Zhongkan came to inform him to report to Yushan Academy, not far from the Su family, to prepare to be a leisurely teacher.