Chapter 216: Reunion (Part 1)

Although their usual interactions were cordial, Old Qin was truly a man of great ambition, one who possessed the magnanimity required for significant undertakings. While he was also quite sentimental and didn't subscribe to the notion of "friends are like limbs, wives are like clothes," when it came to his attitude towards women, the old man shared the common traits of men from his era. He wasn't so shallow as to believe women had no tempers of their own, but frankly, two mere women weren't something to expend too much effort on.

He had always been somewhat dismissive of this particular aspect of Ning Yi's character, though ultimately, he could only chalk it up to one of the peculiar facets of the other man's personality.

For this private banquet, he had Ge Niang invite Yunzhu without informing Ning Yi, and likewise, he invited Ning Yi without telling Yunzhu. His reason for the invitation was, after all, quite valid: Ning Yi had saved his life at the Zhuji restaurant that day, and Yunzhu and Jin'er had also contributed. Such an intimate gathering was perfectly fine. In reality, he was simply using the occasion to conveniently bring the two parties together.

The moment Yunzhu saw Ning Yi, she naturally understood that the man she admired was about to be put in an awkward position. She smiled a little playfully, but thereafter showed no particular emotion, maintaining a serene demeanor, unwilling to cause trouble. Old Qin merely chuckled at the start, then refrained from interfering.

The subsequent banquet was divided by gender. Yuan Jin'er was reportedly quite animated, discussing business with Su Tan'er. Wanting to become a powerful businesswoman, she eagerly sought advice from a true "iron lady." Tan'er inquired about her store's situation and genuinely offered her some suggestions, and the two conversed very happily.

On Ning Yi's side, Qin Shaoqian spoke about matters concerning the military camp, then asked about the upcoming spring outing in two days. Mentioning Li Shishi and Fanlou, he chuckled loudly: "I know Fanlou well! And Li Shishi, I've met her too. We should all go see her then."

Qin Shaohe looked puzzled: "You've been to Fanlou many times, but Li Shishi only became prominent in recent years. How could you know her?"

"Ah, the year before last, when I went to Bianjing, I met up with a group of old acquaintances. They said Miss Shishi was the most famous, so we went to Fanlou. Before I even saw her, I saw Gao Qiu's illegitimate son bullying someone, trying to lay hands on a woman selling fruits. My old man... *ahem*, I, I absolutely detest such things. We immediately got into an argument, and then we started fighting on the second floor of Fanlou. If it weren't for that lackey named Lu Qian, who was skilled in martial arts, I would have certainly given him a couple of punches."

At this table, besides the Qin family's father and two sons, were Ning Yi and Xu Xiaohu. Qin Siyuan, hearing his younger son recount such an incident, put down his chopsticks, handed his bowl to a nearby servant for more rice, and frowned, saying, "Nonsense." Yet, in his tone, there wasn't much reproof. At that time, Gao Qiu held the position of Grand Marshal in Tokyo, but he had risen through flattery. While skilled at wielding power, he was not well-regarded among high-ranking civil and military officials. Although Qin Siyuan said "nonsense," he didn't seem to view Gao Qiu as a significant threat.

Qin Shaoqian naturally understood his father's temperament and spread his hands: "How is that nonsense? I couldn't just stand there and watch, could I? Back when we were causing trouble in Bianjing, we were just fighting ruffians and gangsters who preyed on others, intervening whenever we saw injustice. Dad, you haven't been to Bianjing in a long time. You don't know how chaotic it's become because of those aristocratic wastrels. A few months after I left the year before last, I heard that Gao Yan'er convicted a martial arts instructor named Lin from the Imperial Guards, and then..."

He paused: "Heh, later, this Instructor Lin's wife died in Gao Yan'er's room, and Instructor Lin was exiled. Last year, I heard he rebelled and went to Liangshan. Damn it... If you ask anyone on the streets of Bianjing, eight out of ten will know what happened. It's a shame I hadn't heard much about his other evil deeds back then, otherwise, even with Lu Qian and Uncle Geng blocking me, I would have drawn my sword and chopped him up..."

Qin Siyuan looked up at him: "Xidao was there too?" Geng Xidao was Geng Nanzhong.

Qin Shaoqian nodded: "Yes, Uncle Geng asked me to extend his regards to you, Dad. He came out to mediate, and we had to give him face. Madam Li from Fanlou also brought Miss Shishi out to help calm things down. Later, we found a floral hall and sat down—we on one side, those guys surnamed Gao on the other, and Miss Shishi played and sang in the middle. Tsk, it was completely uninteresting... We parted ways unhappily."

After he finished speaking, he shrugged, buried his bearded face in his bowl, and started shoveling rice. The others chuckled, and Qin Siyuan nodded: "Xidao certainly has a way of mediating."

Afterwards, they chatted about various miscellaneous things. When Xu Xiaohu was mentioned, they learned that this young man was also a true martial arts master, one who had practiced genuine high-level internal martial arts. Qin Shaoqian, however, had no such experience; his extensive fighting was merely due to his own fierce bravery. Qin Siyuan then smilingly recounted Ning Yi's past longing for martial arts. Subsequently, Ning Yi, of course, couldn't help but say things like "I've long admired you, sir, people call me the Bloody Butcher" to Xu Xiaohu.

According to Qin Shaoqian, Xu Xiaohu's fighting style was fierce and powerful, excelling particularly in Bazi Quan and White Ape Arm Extension. However, his personality was very simple, even a little shy. Having practiced martial arts for so long, Ning Yi happened to have many questions about techniques. When he asked them, Xu Xiaohu answered everything he knew. However, it largely aligned with what Lu Hongti had said: martial arts ultimately come from actual fighting. Practicing too many forms without reaching the point where your intention precedes your movement is ultimately not very meaningful. In other words, the most important thing is to develop conditioned reflexes.

By the end of the meal, both hosts and guests were thoroughly pleased.

Another day passed, and it was time for the spring outing. This was two days before Qingming, traditionally known as Hanshi (Cold Food Festival), established to commemorate Jie Zitui from the Spring and Autumn period. Before the Three Kingdoms period, people would not light fires for a month around Hanshi, eating only cold food. Later, because this month-long period often proved too difficult for the elderly and frail, Emperor Wu of Wei, Cao Cao, abolished the custom of eating cold food. Still later, the Hanshi tradition of spring outings and ancestor worship was shifted by two days to coincide with Qingming.

The weather that day was quite good. There was a patch of fog in the morning, but it had dispersed after sunrise. In front of the small building by the Qinhuai River, Yunzhu and Jin'er were dressed in men's attire, each holding and fanning themselves with a fan, preparing to leave.

The spring breeze was already warm, and the clouds stretching across the sky resembled white dragons dancing. Willow branches along the Qinhuai River were lush green, making it an excellent time for spring excursions. As the residents of Jiangning city were prosperous, such activities were more common than in poorer areas. These days, one could often see families of two or three happily setting out on the roads to the outskirts, dressed in clean, tidy clothes, with children excitedly swaying as they held their parents' hands.

Today, there seemed to be more people on such outings than usual. On the Qinhuai River, one or two pleasure boats could occasionally be seen heading out of the city. Amidst the fluttering willow catkins on the roads, there also seemed to be many scholars heading towards the city gate. The spring outing organized by Chen Luoyuan today was held near Egret Islet, just outside Jiangning city.

Yunzhu had not been on such a spring outing for several years. Earlier, she only had such opportunities when she was at Jin Feng Lou, and even then, such outings were not for her own sake. For the first two years after buying her freedom, she cherished the feeling of liberty but rarely went out, almost like reverting to the sheltered official's daughter who feared strangers. Later, when she started selling preserved eggs, it was only out of business necessity. Otherwise, she still felt more comfortable staying at home. She was fundamentally traditional and conservative. As a woman, going out to play like this always felt right only when accompanied by family; as a child, she followed her parents, and later, she would presumably follow her husband. So, when Ning Yi asked her to come out, she was happy but couldn't help feeling a little nervous, even dressed in men's clothes.

"I'm a little nervous," she said to Jin'er, tidying her clothes slightly as they walked. Jin'er, who was fanning herself with a folding fan as she walked, shrugged when she heard this. "What's there to be nervous about? Come on, Sister Yunzhu, let's walk arm in arm."

Yunzhu smiled faintly: "Now I'm a young master just like you. What's there to link arms for?"

The two had originally agreed to meet Ning Yi near Egret Islet. After chatting and laughing for a while, they reached the vicinity of the city gate, then took a carriage and headed towards Stone City.

Ning Yi treated today's spring outing merely as attending a concert, so he wasn't in a hurry. Before leaving the city, he first made a trip to Yushan Academy to arrange a few assignments. By the time he arrived at the designated meeting spot, there were already many people enjoying the spring outing along the riverbank near Egret Islet.

The Egret Islet at this time was not in the same location as the later Nanjing Egret Islet Park. The Egret Islet of that era was the original site mentioned in Li Bai's poem, "Three mountains half-submerged beyond the azure sky, two streams divide, revealing Egret Islet." It was a sandbar in the Yangtze River outside Stone City, splitting the river into two. The islet was rich in reeds, hence white egrets often gathered there. Later, as the Yangtze River silted up, Egret Islet connected with the southern bank of the Yangtze, and gradually disappeared in later generations.

The scenery around Egret Islet was very pleasant at this time, but a spring outing wasn't a wild tryst; there was no need to venture into the reeds on the islet. People generally walked along the mountains and watersides on both banks of Egret Islet. There were many types of spring outings during this season. A family of three flying kites in the countryside counted as a spring outing, and a few people casually wandering around also counted. More formal gatherings usually took the form of literary societies, where a group of young scholars, invited by many literary luminaries or high-ranking examination officials, would gather in the mountains. The prominent figures would set a topic, and attendees would make a name for themselves through their literary skills. These could also be called spring outings, much like the historically famous Orchid Pavilion Gathering of Wang Xizhi and Xie An, which they called Xiuxi (ritual purification). Broadly classifying them as spring outings wasn't a major issue.

This spring gathering wasn't overly strict, but the main participants were still scholars. There were also many merchants and officials, but all were naturally well-versed in literature. Chen Luoyuan, the great scholar who organized it, owned a garden in this area, so the event was naturally held there to prevent too many uninvited people from attending. However, honestly, the number of uninvited scholars gathered nearby was quite substantial. They naturally wouldn't claim they were there for Chen Luoyuan's gathering; rather, they might try to sneak in, or, more ambitiously, they were preparing to organize an even larger literary gathering in the area to overshadow Chen Luoyuan and Li Shishi's event completely.

Thus, when Ning Yi arrived, there were many people milling about by the river, and some pleasure boats were docked there, likely carrying invited female guests. Ning Yi's rendezvous with Yunzhu and Jin'er was rather vague, and it took him a while to find them. The two girls had put considerable effort into their male disguises, so Ning Yi didn't spot them immediately. He was, in fact, drawn by a confrontational scene nearby. Several people stood under a tree, and the atmosphere seemed very tense. On one side were Yunzhu and Jin'er, and on the other were three scholars and a courtesan who appeared to be accompanying them. Among them, Ning Yi recognized one person: Liu Qingdi, the great scholar who had previously greatly admired Jin'er and would go frantic whenever he saw Ning Yi acting intimately with her.

Now, however, Liu Qingdi's expression was somewhat haughty, while Jin'er looked displeased. Perhaps Liu Qingdi, having realized he couldn't win Jin'er over, had developed a rebellious attitude and decided not to be polite to this "fickle" woman, leading to their argument...

Tsk, failing to woo a woman so spectacularly was truly embarrassing. Jin'er's approach to Yunzhu was far better than his...

Ning Yi sighed inwardly, just as he was about to approach, when suddenly a hand reached out from behind and grabbed his shoulder: "Brother Ning! You're here too?"

The tone was one of considerable surprise.

Ning Yi turned his head and saw that the person behind him, whose face showed surprise, was indeed someone he had met before—the attendant who was with the woman named Wang that day. What was his name again?

Ning Yi thought for a moment.

Yu Hezong.