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Encountering Rain at West Lake

At dawn, on the bank of the Qinhuai River, before the sky had lightened, Nie Yunzhu rose from her bed, washed up, brewed a pot of tea, and walked out the front door of her small building.

The gloomy night shrouded the distant city walls and mountains, obscuring what lay in the distance. She sat on the steps in front of the building, lost in thought. Lately, she'd been thinking about one thing in particular: the familiar footsteps that hadn't echoed here for twenty days.

Looking back, this kind of morning had lasted for almost a year. From their first encounter because of that chicken to seeing him run past every morning, they had struck up conversations and chatted. Each morning had become a special time for her. Except when it poured rain, that figure passed by every day, even on snowy days. She had almost believed it would go on like that forever.

Only these twenty days told her that the connection between them was just this simple morning meeting. He hadn't come, and she couldn't go looking for him; that man… was, after all, the husband of that Miss Su.

This thought caused her a slight vexation.

In the first few days, she'd thought he must have had some urgent business, or gone on a trip, or missed his morning exercise. As the days passed, she couldn't help but feel anxious, worried that something had happened to him, or that he'd had an accident. For a few days, she'd intentionally wandered near the Su residence, circling the large courtyard wall, looking for any clues, but she couldn't see anything. She felt anxious, yet she felt like she was acting furtively, and she didn't even understand what she was doing.

This worry reached its peak a few days ago when a few constables came looking for her. She was in the backyard of the Zhu's main shop, lost in thought, preoccupied. When a shop assistant came in to tell her that constables were looking for her, she was stunned. She ran out in a daze, almost tripping over the threshold, and then, after listening to the constables' questions, it took her a long time to react.

Gu Yanzhen, Gu Yanzhen, and again Gu Yanzhen…

*To hell with him.*

—The two constables were asking about her relationship with Gu Yanzhen.

She almost blurted out that complaint, but she absentmindedly described their past relationship. Finally, the two constables said that Gu Yanzhen had been killed after leaving the city, which left her stunned for a long while.

If it had been at any other time, she might have felt sad about it for a while, but as it was, she was already preoccupied, and after being stunned for a long while, her thoughts returned to her own concerns. The world wasn't very peaceful. *Could Li Heng have encountered something too…*

It wasn't until soon after that she went near the Su residence and saw Li Heng's wife, Su Tan'er, and her maid coming out to get into a carriage. Although they looked a little hurried, it seemed they were just going to handle business, which gradually put her mind at ease. But then the next day she thought, *Li Heng hasn't had an accident. He didn't say anything about going on a trip when I chatted with him the day before. Now that he hasn't come for so long, could it be that… he won't come again?*

Then she thought this was a silly idea.

Recently, her thoughts had been gloomy, downcast, and complicated, but every morning, she still brewed the tea and sat on the steps, waiting until dawn. At this time, she would adjust her mood a little.

"Hmph, if you don't come, I'll just wait here every day!"

She tried to think that way with a playful spirit, sat there and took a sip of tea, and then the morning breeze gently caressed her, bringing the sound of footsteps…

*****************

After twenty days, Ning Yi resumed his daily morning run. Although Xiao Chan tearfully complained and nagged him when she changed the dressing on his hand in the room after he got up, and Xiao Chan cried when she saw the burned left hand after the bandage was unwrapped yesterday, the necessity of insisting on exercise still existed.

The injury to his left hand had basically recovered. This recovery meant that he could do some basic movements, it no longer hurt, and the problems in life were not big. It was just that after unwrapping the bandage, it was inevitably a little unsightly. Now the whole hand was red. A few days ago, he boasted in front of Lu Hongti that he was the Bloodhand Human Butcher, but he didn't expect that what he said would come true. Whether in reality or in appearance, he was in line with it, which was really laughable.

To fully recover, the whole process would take half a year, also because Lu Hongti's medicine was really good. He had originally prepared for his left hand to be crippled. There was no more room for choice under the circumstances of the day. Although it was a pity, there was nothing to be fussy about being able to survive. Now he had already earned it.

Some of the ingredients in the medicine were very valuable, but the Su family had money, so this problem was not big. Yesterday evening, he probably explained to the Su family's father-in-law and the Su old lady the process of "a friend had something to help with and then his arm was burned". He lightly brushed over what should be lightly brushed over. The reason why Xiao Chan didn't want him to come out this morning was mainly because she was afraid that exercise would cause his arm to sweat. After all, burns are mainly damage to these skin glands. But Ning Yi now had the internal power that Lu Hongti taught him, so naturally there was no need to stop, but he just restrained himself in terms of exercise.

Today's run would stop in front of Nie Yunzhu's small building.

"…I went out of the city a few days ago to help a friend with something, and then there was a small accident, and my hand was burned. But fortunately, I found a famous doctor, and the medicine is very magical. It will probably be fine in half a year." Ning Yi took a sip of tea and raised his bandaged left hand in the air to show off. "How is it? Don't you think this looks pretty good?" He himself thought this look was really cool.

Nie Yunzhu smiled lightly and lowered her eyes: "Does it hurt?"

"Uh, I don't feel anything now. It really hurt at the time." Ning Yi smiled. "How have you been lately?"

"Well, I'm fine. Something interesting happened a few days ago. Someone came to the store with a wooden sign he carved himself…"

At dawn by the river bend, the scene seemed to return to the old days, some homely, trivial, and idle talk. Seeing Ning Yi, Nie Yunzhu felt like she had put her mind at ease, but when she recalled the situation these days, there was always something empty. When the morning light began to appear, Ning Yi got up to say goodbye, and Nie Yunzhu hesitated in her heart: "You…"

"Hmm?"

"Your hand is injured, and you have to apply medicine every day. It's not good to sweat. For the sake of your health, don't run and sweat these days…"

She said these words with some difficulty, and Ning Yi nodded: "Yes, I understand, but it's okay, simple exercise is not a big problem, I won't sweat. I recently got some internal power or something, I can exercise anytime, and this amount of exercise won't cause me to sweat, haha, maybe I'll become a martial arts master in a while."

Ning Yi used to tell her rumors about martial arts and the like, and now he speaks about this cheerfully. Nie Yunzhu stood there and watched his back disappear into the distance, a cool tear suddenly slid down her cheek and fell on the back of her hand. She was slightly stunned, then wiped it off in a panic, and suddenly ran forward, but after running two steps, her embroidered shoes stopped again, and Ning Yi turned around in front.

"Ah, right, the liquor matter should be almost done. I'll bring over the design of each component then. It's best to find a few blacksmiths who can keep secrets to do it separately. Well, I'll try my best to find a way to ensure that the specifications are met, and the workshop will need to be kept secret… Have you contacted a winemaking master?"

Nie Yunzhu clenched her handkerchief in front of her chest and stayed there for a while before nodding vigorously: "Yes, I have already contacted one before."

"Oh, that's good." Ning Yi smiled, then waved his hand, "I'll go first. Classes don't start until a few days, so I can be lazy these two days. Maybe I'll go to Zhu's to sit down at noon, heh, I miss the century egg and lean meat congee."

Nie Yunzhu smiled and nodded: "I'll wait for you to come over."

A trace of loss in her heart gradually faded away.

*He'll come over at noon…*

Feeling cheerful, everything else could be left behind. On this energetic and hopeful morning, she prepared to go to the main store to wait. At this time, she remembered the news of Gu Yanzhen's death that the two constables had brought. Why did those two constables come looking for her? Nie Yunzhu thought in her heart that she might not have much ill feeling toward Gu Yanzhen. Gu Yanzhen was still talented, and she felt a little sorry and sad that he was dead, but on the other hand, even if he was dead, it seemed to have something to do with her, which made her feel a little disgusted. They clearly had no relationship—these two feelings were not contradictory, mixed together, and after a while, she sighed and gradually faded away.

A few days later, there were more and more disaster victims outside the city. One morning, Nie Yunzhu told Ning Yi that an acquaintance had died outside the city these days. This person originally wanted to go to be a county magistrate and had a lot of talent and a bright future, so she told Ning Yi that the current situation was not very peaceful and to pay more attention to safety. At that time, Ning Yi looked complicated.

"An acquaintance?"

"Not an acquaintance."

"Oh." Ning Yi shrugged. "Heaven is jealous of talent. It's too regrettable."

This is a later story, so I won't mention it for now.

********************

Time went back to the evening of June 6th. Nearly two days had passed since the bloody case that night. A few constables were investigating near the burned-down boathouse on the desolate riverbank. The wind was howling, and the sky was also getting dark. There would probably be thunderstorms tonight.

"After this heavy rain, I'm afraid nothing will be investigated!" A constable's voice resounded on the riverbank in the wind. The boathouse on the river's shallows had been completely burned down. Of course, there were also some collapsed wreckage, and the bodies of people burned black were mixed in it. At the moment, it was unknown how long they had been washed away.

"If there is really the body of that Magistrate Gu in this, what's going on?"

"It is estimated that Magistrate Gu was doing some transaction with the Yang brothers here, and as a result, he was cleaned up by that assassin together."

There were a total of five constables, three ordinary constables, and two heads of constables. These were the real official heads of constables in Jiangning Prefecture. The five people searched around the wreckage by the river for a while. In fact, some clues had already been found when it was discovered this morning, and it could probably be confirmed that one of the corpses was Gu Yanzhen. They were estimating that it might rain and rushed over a second time. The head of constables in his thirties walked ashore,

searching for other clues nearby. After a while, the other deputy head of constables, who was slightly older and tall and thin, also followed.

"Head Chen, the deaths of Gu's two servants, the rest of the people said were done by the female assassin. Now that he and the Yang Yi Yang Heng family are dead here, closing the case is easy."

The slightly tall and thin deputy head of constables was surnamed Xu. At this time, he said so. The head of constables was surnamed Chen. At this time, he smiled: "The prefect also hopes so, right?"

The reason why they came today was because of a bloody case that happened outside the city yesterday morning. Gu's two servants were kidnapped and then thrown back as corpses. The one who appeared at the scene at that time was the female assassin who assassinated Song Xian on the Dragon Boat Festival. At that time, the other servants of the Gu family were watching the female assassin kill people with their own eyes. After that, Gu Yanzhen, who had the identity of a county magistrate, could not be found, and everyone felt that something had happened and expanded the scope to here.

The Yang Yi and Yang Heng brothers who lived here were originally notorious villains who lived in a remote place, and if they died, the government would basically ignore them, and perhaps they would applaud them. However, Gu Yanzhen's case also happened at this time, and some things had to be investigated. A county magistrate died in Jiangning territory, and an explanation must be given to the higher authorities.

The Yang Yi and Yang Heng brothers had always been high-profile and domineering, but they themselves were also extremely fierce. Not many people in Jiangning would easily provoke them, nor could they afford to provoke them. At this time, an investigation revealed that the whole family was dead. It seemed that only a strong man like the female assassin could do it. As for why Gu Yanzhen and his servants were here, the reason probably depended on whether the higher authorities wanted to blacken him or brighten him, which didn't matter.

If this kind of thing was said separately, if a county magistrate died in Jiangning territory, the pressure on the Jiangning prefect would be great if the case could not be solved. However, the female assassin was highly skilled and used force to disrupt the prohibition. Now that she had killed people, she had already run out of the city. In any case, there was already the case of Song Xian, and now it was pushed upwards and merged into one case, but it became a point of interest. At noon, when everyone analyzed the case, the prefect showed the intention of merging the cases. He did not want to directly bear two disgusting cases here. It was better to merge them into one. It now seemed that the logic was actually accurate. Gu Yanzhen bought a murderer to do some bad things, and he did it on the female assassin, and as a result, he and the Yang Yi Yang Heng family died here. The female assassin had a fierce personality and even went to kill the other party's two servants to vent her anger.

"It will probably be closed like this."

Head Chen smiled and said so. The two walked on the river beach. The deputy head of constables went to look at the blood on the river bank, which might be the first murder scene. After a moment, he turned back, but he could not find the other person. He turned back and entered the bamboo forest here, only to see Head Chen "sitting" there for some reason.

He didn't really sit, because there was no chair behind him. At this time, the man, who seemed stable and mature, stood in a horse stance in the bamboo forest and posed as if he was sitting, with his hands on his knees, looking like he was sitting firmly. He slightly tilted his face and looked at the wreckage of the house on the distant shallows, with an expression of surprise and uncertainty. Deputy Head Constable Xu was about to walk over, when he suddenly stretched out his hand: "Don't come over!"

"What's wrong?"

The wind blew across the river beach. Head Chen stayed there for a long time before murmuring, "This is... what a ruthless person..."

************

The finger is painted with medicine, it still hurts, but it feels much better, it should be fine tomorrow, I can't be sure if it will be in the early morning, it will definitely be normal tomorrow, please forgive me.

When my finger suddenly hurt yesterday, I thought of "Norwegian Wood", where a promising pianist suddenly couldn't move one finger, and I thought I was going to encounter the same fate, but fortunately, it should just be paronychia, no big problem, it's not a disease caused by the computer, don't worry everyone ^_^ (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in, there are more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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