The courtyard seemed to hold a slight daze on Su Tan'er's face. She usually addressed Ning Yi as "Xiang Gong" (husband), but this time, the soft voice of "Fu Jun" (husband) carried a warmth that seemed to melt into the heart. However, the dazed state quickly faded away. She raised her hand to rub her face and shake her head, then picked up the fire starter from the table. Light flashed a few times in the window, reigniting the oil lamp in the room. Ning Yi curled his lip, and she smiled apologetically.

"Uh, almost done... a little tired."

She shook her head, dislodging some of her disheveled hair, then placed her hands on the table, looking up at Ning Yi with a smile. After a while, Ning Yi turned and left. The figure of the woman in the window became busy again, and it was more than half an hour later before the light finally went out.

This day was the eleventh day of the seventh month of the eighth year of Jinghan. The next day, Su Zhongkan, Su Chonghua, and several other teachers from the academy held a meeting, of course, inviting Ning Yi and Li Pin. The main reason was that the external situation was becoming tense, and the academy was preparing to close temporarily.

The children studying at the academy were generally related to the Su family. At this time, those whose homes were outside the city had probably already entered the city with their parents and were arranged to stay at the Su residence. For a month or two after the city gates closed, things were relatively chaotic outside the city, and life inside the city wasn't much better, it was impossible for everything to remain as usual. For example, Old Qin had already closed his chess stall two days earlier and no longer went out.

The academy already knew that Li Pin was going to the capital. Originally, he was supposed to leave after the flood, staying here to teach for another month or so. But now that the academy was closing temporarily, he probably wouldn't be seen at the academy for that month. At noon, Su Zhongkan hosted a banquet at the best restaurant near the academy as a farewell.

From the moment Li Pin entered Yushan Academy, Su Chonghua and others knew that he wouldn't teach at this small academy for long. However, thanks to Li Pin's reputation, Yushan Academy could naturally raise its status. This time, some people who knew the inside story probably understood that he was going to become an official. Su Zhongkan generously offered a large sum of salary and travel expenses, and said many kind words, wishing him a smooth journey and a meteoric rise.

"De Xin and Li Heng are the most outstanding two in our Yushan Academy. We are all old and useless. But Li Heng's personality is too indifferent, which is regrettable. He should learn more from De Xin. De Xin is skilled in dealing with people, which is the cultivation that those who will do great things in the future should have..."

During the banquet, the others were all middle-aged and elderly people, so they couldn't help but bring up Ning Yi and Li Pin together. In fact, the two were now considered the top talents in Jiangning, but Ning Yi's situation was more extreme. Some people who had heard of his fame regarded him as the number one talent in Jiangning. When he appeared, others even hesitated to write poetry. But he didn't participate in poetry gatherings or socialize with many literati, and he also had the title of a live-in son-in-law. Although he had such talent, it was really hard to see what he wanted. Now, people could only think that he had a strange personality. Some privately thought he was seeking fame and reputation, while others thought he was a genius, but his reputation was always different from that of Li Pin and Cao Guan.

Su Chonghua said these words as an elder, and Ning Yi could only smile. Li Pin said with a smile, "Li Heng handles things much better than me. I should be the one learning from Li Heng..."

"Ah, I know you two are close, but De Xin doesn't need to say these nice things for Li Heng." Su Zhongkan also waved his hand with a smile, "Once the city gate is closed, I don't know when it will open. De Xin has at least a month or so before leaving, so it's not good to be always stuck at home. If you go to any poetry gatherings, De Xin can bring Li Heng along. Although Li Heng is a scholar, he's too dull, which is not good. How about this, tonight I'll have Wen Xing and others host a party at Yan Cui Lou. Li Heng and De Xin will go together, it's just a gathering of young people, don't refuse. The younger generation in the family are all useless, Li Heng and De Xin should teach these brothers a thing or two, what do you think..."

Li Pin himself didn't mind this kind of thing. Su Zhongkan had spoken as his second uncle, so Ning Yi couldn't refuse for a while and had to agree. After the meal, the group went downstairs, and Su Zhongkan walked to Ning Yi's side.

"Others divide their families into the first, second, and third branches, but in reality, it's just outsiders watching the fun. Actually, we're all one family, there's not so much to divide. Your cousins are not up to par. If they really take over the family business, they'll lose everything sooner or later. Tan'er's business acumen is no less than a man's, so it would be best if she takes over the Su family in the future. It's a pity that she's a woman after all, and sometimes she's inevitably weak and alone. Recently, the situation inside and outside the city is tense, and she's the type to do everything herself. Recently, when I see her, I can tell that Tan'er is always a little tired. You are her husband, so you should take care of her more and persuade her to relax. Business in the world can't be done all at once."

Su Zhongkan's words were earnest, and Ning Yi nodded respectfully in agreement. The third generation of the Su family had no one worth mentioning except Su Tan'er, but the second generation was not like that. Su Boyong, Su Zhongkan, and Su Yunfang each had their own abilities, and now they were still in charge of the overall situation of the Su family. Whether it was sincere or feigned, just from these words, one could know that Su Zhongkan was indeed not simple.

On the way home, the afternoon was already half over. Passing through the outer and inner courtyards, it was slightly noisy outside because many relatives had been arranged to stay at the Su residence recently. When he returned to his residence, the noise subsided. Sunlight streamed through the tall trees into the quiet courtyard. It seemed that no one was there. Chan'er, Juan'er, and Xing'er were not there. He didn't know if they had gone out with Tan'er or were dealing with matters related to the relatives of the main branch. The window of Su Tan'er's room was open. When Ning Yi walked over, he saw her sleeping on the table, similar to last night's situation. Today, she had probably dealt with some matters at noon and then fallen asleep. The wind blowing through the courtyard stirred the woman's hair.

Since she was sleeping, Ning Yi didn't plan to disturb her and went straight back to his room to read for a while. Amidst the chirping of cicadas, he got up again and went to the small kitchen next door to check on the water, starting a fire to boil water to take a bath.

In this era, taking a bath was actually a troublesome matter. Each time, filling the tub required going back and forth many times, which was quite laborious. After washing, pouring out the water in the tub was even more laborious. There was a large water tank in the bathroom, but today the water was used up, so he had to fetch it from the small kitchen in the next room, and the hot water was also fetched from there. In winter, a fire could be lit under the tub to keep the water warm, but this was generally not done in summer and early autumn.

His strength had increased recently, especially after practicing the breathing techniques taught by Lu Hongti. This kind of simple labor didn't even make him sweat, and he felt quite accomplished carrying the water back and forth. After adding some hot water and filling most of the tub, the courtyard was still quiet, and the noisy voices seemed far away and unreal. On an early autumn afternoon, in an ancient world a thousand years away from his former modern life, doing something like this, he felt that it was really quite wonderful.

Many things were missing, but at least he had martial arts, and he had such a… small family. While drawing water into the water tank, he felt the power accumulating in his body, and wondered what the three maids were busy with at this afternoon, then carried two buckets of water around the corridor, all the way to the outside of the bathroom, and then lifted the curtain and entered inside. After taking two steps, he saw clearly the figure standing in front of the tub.

The blue outer garment and long skirt had been draped on the clothes rack next to her. The woman was wearing a red dudou (an ancient Chinese undergarment covering the chest and abdomen) and white silk trousers, her figure was graceful, and her fair, smooth, bare back was facing Ning Yi's side. Her shoes and socks had also been taken off on the ground. She reached out and pulled out a few hairpins from her head, and a head of long hair like a waterfall fell down, shaking as she shook her head. When Ning Yi noticed this scene, the woman had already turned her head, holding her cheeks in her hands, a few fingers penetrating into her black hair, her eyes somewhat bewildered as if just waking up.

Su Tan'er's bewilderment had its origins. She had been dealing with some matters at home at noon, and because she had gone to bed late last night and hadn't been sleeping well these past few days, the temperature was high at noon and the courtyard was quiet, so she felt a little sleepy. She thought of taking a nap on the table. There were some scattered sounds outside, Juan'er cleaning or something, wiping some porcelain, tea sets, tables, and chairs, so she subconsciously instructed Juan'er to heat some water for a bath. At this time, her consciousness was blurred, and then she couldn't hold on and fell asleep.

Juan'er excitedly ran to heat the water after hearing the instructions. After everything was ready, when she ran to call her mistress, the mistress was already asleep. Juan'er knew how hard she had been working these past few days, and thought that sleeping was the most important thing, so she continued to clean. After cleaning, she was also covered in sweat. The mistress was sleeping soundly, and the water was about to get cold, so she simply went to take a bath herself. Then someone came to find Su Tan'er, so she followed them out to deal with matters. Ning Yi came back and saw that the water tank in the bathroom was empty precisely because of this reason.

Su Tan'er had just woken up and couldn't tell the time for a moment, and came here in a daze. She wasn't even sure if she had said she wanted to take a bath. Seeing that the water was ready, she pulled back her cognition, and was taking off her clothes when she turned her head and saw her own husband carrying two buckets of water behind her, his brows slightly furrowed.

Ning Yi was also a little confused, but he reacted much faster. At this time, after thinking about it briefly, he put down the buckets and silently turned to leave.

Before he could get out of the curtain, there was a low "Ah" behind him, and with a bang, Su Tan'er fell into the tub that was already mostly filled with water, obviously she had indeed been startled just now.

She didn't shout out when she was startled. One didn't know if this should be said to be self-control or that her personality was being suppressed somewhat strangely... Ning Yi glanced back, sighed in his heart, then picked up a bath towel next to him and walked over, reaching out and lifting Su Tan'er out of the tub, wrapping her upper body in the bath towel, and then helped her to sit down next to her.

Leaning in Ning Yi's arms, Su Tan'er kept coughing for a while. Ning Yi patted her back through the bath towel and sighed.

"If you drowned in your own bathtub, I don't know what others would say if it got out, huh?"

"Cough, ha... cough cough... Xiang Gong..."

Su Tan'er trembled, smiling shyly and laboriously, and for a moment, the coughing became even more serious...