Since Nie Yunzhu and Huta, her servant girl, left the Gold Wind House two years ago, although they lived together like sisters and tried to take on some of the work they could manage, they were still, in the end, mistress and servant. Most of the housework was done by Huta, while Nie Yunzhu only did simple things. She embroidered beautiful brocades every day, occasionally sewed soles for shoes and embroidered handkerchiefs, and went to the Gold Wind House every few days to teach piano tunes, thus maintaining the household. Of course, because her embroidery took the route of self-entertainment and high-quality goods, the quality was good, but the effort and cost were high, so she didn't earn much money in the end.

Since Huta became seriously ill last month, Nie Yunzhu inevitably had to take on these tasks. She could still cook simple meals, and washing clothes was no problem - just not as skilled, perhaps not as clean as Huta washed them. However, a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, she bought that old hen, wanting to stew it to nourish Huta, but in the end, she made a series of blunders.

She didn't dare to kill the hen, and later let it run away, chased after it all the way, jumped into the river, dropped the kitchen knife, and even implicated the kind passerby who pulled her up. After the passerby saved her, her first reaction upon waking up was to slap him, and then the next day, when she was retrieving the kitchen knife, she was seen by him again, and he even helped her kill the chicken...

Normally, she was a calm and composed woman. She had seen many people in the brothel over the years and paid attention to her image. Who knew that all the embarrassing things were seen by him this time? Thinking about it, she felt embarrassed. She fell ill with Huta a few days ago, fortunately, the cold was not serious, but it wasn't until after the Mid-Autumn Festival that she recovered. Thinking about it, she didn't even ask her benefactor's name. Huyan Leifeng... Huyan Leifeng, she wasn't even sure if it was right. Who knew that today, here, she would meet him again.

Nie Yunzhu had seen quite a few people in the past. This young man was probably in his early twenties. He looked refined, but thinking about it afterward, there was quite a bit of difference between his actions and those of others. His speech and actions were like that, seemingly indifferent and casual. From his reaction after saving her and being slapped by her, to helping her kill the chicken and leaving, it was all like that. Nie Yunzhu followed him at this time, seeing that he really wanted to buy charcoal, but after he looked at the charcoal and talked to the owner for a few words, the situation became a little different.

It was close to late autumn, and winter was approaching. Most families had to buy charcoal, and there were naturally places that sold it in bulk, but this store actually packaged the charcoal in bags and sold it by the bag. After the man spoke to the owner, he poured a large bag of charcoal on the ground, took a cloth bag, and squatted there, picking out the charcoal sticks one by one. Not many could be selected by him. He often had to scratch them on the ground a few times before throwing one into the bag. The owner was not angry, just curiously asked a few questions and went to do his own business.

After watching for a while, Nie Yunzhu followed and stopped to his side and slightly behind him, bending down: "Benefactor?"

"Hm?" The man turned his head to look at her, and he recognized her. "Oh, it's you. What a coincidence." He continued to concentrate on selecting charcoal.

This reaction and statement were a bit strange. Confucian culture had developed to its peak by now, and various etiquette and responses were quite complicated and particular. Generally, if a man saw a woman coming over, he would straighten up, bow, and treat her gently, which was already the habit of the entire society. However, this casual way of speaking, "Oh, it's you. What a coincidence," was the first time Nie Yunzhu had encountered it, but it felt natural. She was slightly stunned, blinked her eyes, then gathered her skirt and squatted down beside him.

"Benefactor..."

"Heh, it's just killing a chicken, it's nothing. You don't have to call me benefactor," the man said casually with a smile.

"Could it be that benefactor only remembers killing the chicken, but doesn't remember saving me from the river?"

"Ah..."

The other party was stunned, and then he realized. Nie Yunzhu couldn't help but laugh. The two of them were now squatting side by side in front of the pile of charcoal. Nie Yunzhu tilted her head to look at him: "My name is Nie Yunzhu." After waiting a little while, making sure that the other party could remember this name, she said, "Benefactor's name is Huyan Leifeng?"

"Hu, Huyan Leifeng..."

For a moment, the man's expression seemed to twitch a few times, very complicated, and then he laughed: "Hehe, Ning Yi," he said, "Ning Yi, Ning Liheng."

Hearing this name, Nie Yunzhu was also stunned.

"Prelude to Water Melody..."

"That person is called Ning Yi, styled Liheng..."

"The Su Family's live-in son-in-law..."

"Maybe he's just a fame-seeker who bought the poetry..."

The amazement she felt when she first saw that poem in the Gold Wind House still lingered in her mind, and the girls' discussions immediately flashed by. Ning Yi, Ning Liheng. Originally, she was just simply admiring the words and phrases, and hadn't had time to digest the charm of the poem itself, and didn't have much desire to discuss gossip with others, so the name was completely irrelevant to her. She didn't even think about it, but at this moment, it made an impact on her mind.

She was stunned for a long time, and then she reacted: "Young Master Ning... I wonder what this charcoal is for?"

"Well, for writing," Ning Yi tapped the wooden board that was coated with a layer of white paint on the ground, and then wrote the character "聂" (Nie) with a piece of charcoal that was as fine as powder. He probably wanted to write the name Nie Yunzhu that he had just heard, but when he wrote the last stroke of the character "聂", he paused, probably thinking that it was a bit impolite to write her name like that, so he changed the location slightly and wrote the two characters "宁毅" (Ning Yi).

The font followed the style of regular script, vigorous and powerful. After writing the last stroke, the charcoal was also broken. Nie Yunzhu herself also had accomplishments in calligraphy. After measuring it slightly in her mind, she knew that the method of holding charcoal was different from holding a brush. If she were to write it with charcoal, the font would definitely be far inferior. He could actually write like this with charcoal at will, so his understanding of calligraphy must have been outstanding.

In those days, poetry and calligraphy were one family. People with profound accomplishments in calligraphy were mostly worthy of being called a generation of great Confucians, or at least not far from it. A person who could write such a font could probably write that Prelude to Water Melody without much doubt. Nie Yunzhu thought that the rumors were indeed mostly untrustworthy. Little did she know that Ning Yi's brush calligraphy was just passable, but he had practiced writing various artistic fonts with chalk and pens. Later, with his status and the embellishment of his state of mind, the handwriting he wrote became even more imposing. Now, looking at those two characters, he felt that there was a slight regression, but it could still be used to fool people.

Practicing calligraphy is not a one-day affair. You can't let those students who practice brush calligraphy all day long think that the teacher's handwriting is ugly...

"I'll take it to the classroom and write on this whiteboard. You can erase what you write. As for the sandbox, the outlines are not clear enough, and you always have to sweep it. Besides, the sandbox is flat, and the students get tired of looking at it. This can be hung vertically."

"Classroom... school? Is Young Master Ning a teacher at a school?"

"Well, a small school, teaching a few students who are so stupid they could fly to the sky to read and write..."

"Heh... Young Master Ning, can this one be taken?"

In brothels, they pay attention to the social art of how to get along with people naturally. As long as she was prepared, Nie Yunzhu was confident that she could talk to anyone naturally without feeling embarrassed. This time, she spoke naturally, but this naturalness was not because of herself, but rather because of the other party's attitude. The two of them selected those charcoal sticks and soon filled the small cloth bag, and their hands were already black. When paying, Ning Yi paid more than ten extra coins for this small bag of charcoal.

"The shopkeeper is so unreasonable, he even charges more than ten extra coins for these charcoal sticks," Nie Yunzhu said when she came out of the shop.

"Heh, it's not good to disturb people. I guess he still heard that I was going to take it to the school and let me pick and choose like this. The identity of a teacher is still quite useful."

"If the young master wants to buy it next time, he might as well buy a few bags and then pick them out at home. Anyway, it's for home use, so you can save some money."

"Haha, I won't come to pick them next time. I'll let those students bring some suitable ones to the school themselves."

Soon, the two washed their hands clean by the Qinhuai River. One carried the wooden board and charcoal, and the other carried the cloth bag and medicine bag. They walked forward one after the other. Nie Yunzhu talked about the matter of falling into the river and being saved by him again, but Ning Yi just waved his hand, saying it was nothing and downplaying it.

The two occasionally exchanged a few words, and the atmosphere was strangely natural. After walking for a while, Nie Yunzhu, who was walking one step behind, thought about the artistic conception of Prelude to Water Melody and suddenly felt that perhaps only such a free and easy person could write such poetry.

After walking for a long time, they stopped by a river bend. Ning Yi said goodbye to her. The riverbank not far away was calm and tranquil, with green willows. A teahouse and a few small shops were located there. Next to the teahouse was a small chess stall, where two old men were leisurely playing chess. One of them was dressed in silk and satin, looking quite noble.

She bowed to the other party to say goodbye. After saying a few words, she paused slightly, took a step forward, and the other party also walked not far forward, heading in the direction of the teahouse and chess stall. The two old men seemed to know him, and they said something with a smile. She vaguely heard his voice.

"...I've been miserably harmed by the two of you these past few days... This morning, that Yu Zixing came to find me..."

She walked over. When she looked back for the last time, the man was sitting there watching chess, holding a cup of tea in his hand and taking a light sip. There was not much interaction between the two of them. Without the excuse of repaying a favor, in such a large Jiangning, perhaps there would be no chance to see each other again in the future. The other party's speech and behavior seemed to have little utilitarianism or ambition, which was almost unheard of among the talented scholars and celebrities she had seen. All the way down, he was calm and natural, unrestrained and free, without much red tape, but he never gave people an unpleasant feeling, yet he maintained a distance. It was almost like the demeanor of Tang Dynasty literati in the rumors. Now, literati all talk about gentlemen. Perhaps a gentleman should be like this, with such elegant demeanor.

Perhaps they would not meet again in the future, and the other party did not take those "favors" seriously, but she had already remembered such a figure in her heart.

Ning Yi, Ning Liheng...

Nie Yunzhu thought so, walking towards home.