Chapter 80: Fragile Scholar

As May drew to a close, the weather grew hotter. Rising temperatures and the advancing date were slowly pushing the city towards the dog days of summer. In previous years, Su Tan'er would have likely moved upstairs a month earlier; though hot during the day, the second floor was ultimately much cooler at night with open windows. This year, however, she hadn't given instructions to move rooms. As Ning Yi's living arrangements followed hers, and she hadn't said anything, Ning Yi was indifferent. Naturally, no servants came to help move the furniture upstairs.

In the evening, they ate dinner in the living room – sometimes they would even move to the small pavilion in the courtyard. The five of them were, after all, a small household, and once they became familiar and the atmosphere was good, they didn't need to adhere to too many rules. Ning Yi was easygoing by nature, and Su Tan'er, in many aspects, might have valued formalities more than him. Yet, at home, she also enjoyed this relaxed atmosphere. After adapting to Ning Yi's ways, the three maids would occasionally remark that their young master's stories in the academy that day weren't good – these stories were mostly relayed by Xiao Chan.

With the hot weather, they wouldn't stay indoors after dinner, but would generally go out for a walk. The Su Residence was quite large and had its own small garden, where they mostly strolled to enjoy the cool air. Su Tan'er would chat with the women from the other family branches. She used to be a relatively serious person, coming and going daily with her maids, and most of the men from the other branches couldn't casually chat with her. The women found it even harder to approach her. Now, perhaps owing to her status as a married woman, she occasionally joined in conversations, leading others to say that Su Tan'er had become gentler since her marriage, and thus, they admired Ning Yi to some extent.

In the Su Residence now, few people foolishly gave Ning Yi a hard time. He had already gained fame for his talent, and the Old Master held him in high regard. The story of how his mere presence at Wenmo Tower during the courtesan competition deterred others from writing poetry had also spread. Moreover, he himself appeared easygoing and well-behaved, sticking to the academy and not dabbling in business. Others had originally thought that Su Tan'er, with an adopted son-in-law after marriage, would only become more domineering. They were surprised to see how harmonious and proper their relationship was now. When they saw Ning Yi, they inevitably greeted him and exchanged pleasantries. Figures like Wen Ding and Wen Fang were even somewhat respectful. Of course, genuine warmth was hard to achieve, as they weren't on the same level; one could only say they appeared close.

In short, by summer, he had become somewhat acquainted with everyone in the Su Residence, a mere nodding acquaintance.

Su Tan'er was generally busy, but these matters didn't require Ning Yi's concern, nor did she seek his involvement. Every few days, they would meet on the second floor to eat and for her to vent some stress. Her mindset was still good; she was just busy. Occasionally, Ning Yi would go out for a walk in the evening. Sometimes Xiao Chan would accompany him for a stroll along the Qinhuai River. If Xiao Chan didn't join, he would go to the small courtyard near the academy to meet Lu Hongti.

After returning home at night, Su Tan'er would have someone bring several bowls of iced red bean paste or other chilled snacks. The Su Residence stored ice every year for summer, but only the masters could enjoy it. Su Tan'er's courtyard, being the main branch, received the best treatment, so Xiao Chan and the other maids also regularly enjoyed these treats. Eating these chilled snacks with Su Tan'er and Ning Yi in the evening was probably the most pleasant time of their day. For others in the household, even members of the main family, wanting a single bowl would require careful consideration.

After eating, the temperature would have usually dropped. They would occasionally chat, sometimes play chess, and sometimes attend to their own tasks. This continued until the lights gradually faded in the evening; once the light in Su Tan'er's room was extinguished, Ning Yi would go to bed, letting the courtyard fall silent.

His daily morning runs and exercises, starting before dawn, had never ceased, though probably not many people noticed this habit of his. When he reached the river bend with the small building, Nie Yunzhu would be sitting on the steps, waiting for him. Zhuji's business was going smoothly; the main store had already gained some noticeable regular and returning customers. The method of distributing wooden tokens from the four carts also seemed interesting; some people had searched for a long time in the city to collect all four tokens, which could be considered a form of "card collecting" fun.

Of course, currently, the primary income wasn't from the main store and the four carts, but from Zhuji's preserved eggs, which were still rapidly expanding into various restaurants in Jiangning. By this point, Nie Yunzhu no longer needed to personally handle these business discussions. She had hired numerous employees, and Ning Yi had established relatively mature regulations for their operations, significantly reducing the burden of control. Thanks to the publicity from the courtesan competition, preserved eggs were now being sold on consignment in many restaurants and tea houses throughout Jiangning, and they were also making inroads into various high-end brothels. Everything was developing rapidly, yet surprisingly steadily.

Of course, most of the time, Nie Yunzhu wouldn't report business matters to Ning Yi; she preferred to talk about fresh, trivial little things. With the shop open, new things happened every day – things she had never seen or heard before, which she recounted with great interest. Sometimes she would also bring up the upcoming marriage of Hu Tao and Er Niu, mentioning that they planned to arrange it soon, which would be one less worry for her.

They still maintained the habit of sitting and chatting only on the steps, with the faint yellow light emanating from the room behind them. Nie Yunzhu would bring a tray with a pot of tea and place it on the steps. When Ning Yi arrived, he would drink a small cup and they would talk. As he left, with the first light of dawn appearing, the city would gradually reveal its outlines in the wake of his departing figure.

Due to Lu Hongti, Ning Yi hadn't gone to play chess by the river often this month, though he did go a few times. Old Qin was recently concerned about floods; it was now the flood season, and reports indicated that the situation in several places was critical, with some riverbanks having burst. He wondered how things would turn out.

"This isn't a good year..." the old man would sigh. If Kang Xian were there, he would often say the same thing.

"If this continues, by July, there might be another wave of refugees..."

Droughts, floods, winter ice disasters, and some areas even experienced banditry. Given the current social structure, it was difficult to endure these hardships. Every few years, various disasters would occur. When refugees became homeless and uncontrollable, they would naturally head eastward to prosperous regions like Bianliang, Jiangning, and Yangzhou. Old Qin would often ponder this, setting down his chess piece: "Perhaps there will also be war..."

The situation with the Liao and Jin dynasties seemed on the verge of erupting. Of course, if a complete upheaval were to occur, it would be hard to predict whether it would last months or years. By then, the Wu Dynasty would certainly take a stance. If war broke out this time, it would also affect the Wu Dynasty's destiny. Before the army moved, provisions had to go first. Supporting such a large-scale and complete war would be another test for the current state.

"No matter what, once the fight is over, things should get better." On this matter, the two old men were relatively optimistic. In fact, the entire Wu Dynasty was optimistic. The Wu Dynasty still had a solid foundation in its economy and agriculture. Although the overall structure was bloated, a large part of the burden came from the north. If the north could be stabilized, the entire court would breathe a huge sigh of relief. Then, there would be hope and room for rectification and reform.

Every afternoon, he conducted experiments in that small courtyard and chatted with Lu Hongti. If the topic involved martial arts, he would occasionally take notes, which would make Lu Hongti laugh at him. In fact, Lu Hongti had recently often asked him to assist her with various tasks. Looking at the peculiar containers and devices he designed, her help wasn't with chemical reactions, but with equipment for producing high-proof liquor. Since Zhuji was already on track, he also needed to brew high-proof liquor. After perfecting it, he would set up a small workshop to launch it as Zhuji's signature product.

Distilling alcohol wasn't complicated for him; he had started in March. He initially made a small device, and only then began to scale it up and refine it. This was basic technology; what changes to make to the distilled white spirits later was not his concern, and could be left to others. Lu Hongti could drink. Though she didn't seem rough, she drank quite quickly. However, after the first drinkable glass of white spirit went down, she still frowned: "This liquor... it's so strong..."

Because she was interested in alcohol, she was quite enthusiastic about helping. Occasionally, when she asked questions, Ning Yi would tell her about distillation, vaporization, liquefaction, and similar concepts. She still regarded his methods as unorthodox, but her attitude had changed considerably: "These things of yours... they do have some use..."

"It's not perfect yet, barely usable. When you leave, you can certainly copy a set, but..."

"There isn't much grain available in the mountains to spare for brewing alcohol... Sometimes we've robbed merchants, and the liquor is drunk up quickly. Drinking it by the bowlful seems like a lot, but what you distill, there's not much of it..." Lu Hongti felt a touch of melancholy.

"You could still consider distilling a batch. It can be used for disinfection after injuries; the low-proof stuff is useless." When it came to disinfection, Ning Yi rather boastfully spun tales about concepts like infection and bacteria, describing tiny, invisible creatures, thousands of which crawled into the body, some with eight arms, some furry, watching Lu Hongti frown as she listened. Then he asked, "Your injury medicine is very good. It barely leaves any scars. How do you make it?"

"Partly because of martial arts skill. Of course, if you want it, I can copy the formula for you when I leave, though a few ingredients are hard to find." Lu Hongti glanced at him. "But, do you actually want a martial arts manual, or do you want the formula?"

"Aren't you not planning to teach me martial arts? *cough* I need to think about it."

"Still not planning to teach you," Lu Hongti said, laughing. "It'd be useless for you to learn. As a teacher, those students don't fear you."

"But they adore me."

"You, you're a good person... though a bit eccentric, you truly are a good person."

"Cough, you don't need to emphasize it."

As time passed, her injuries were gradually healing, and the hidden sentinels in Jiangning should have begun to relax their vigilance. It was hard to say when she would leave. "Is *Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils* almost finished?" she asked about the progress these past few days. "I want to hear it all before I leave." Ning Yi understood her character. Although she seemed to greatly enjoy listening to these stories and drinking white spirits with snacks, once it was time to leave, she would definitely depart decisively, as she had many things to do back in the Lüliang Mountains.

In his previous life, Ning Yi was a businessman, but not a heartless one. Now, to some extent, he regarded her as an interesting friend, with whom he could boast about atoms and molecules and chat for a while in the evenings over snacks. Life was leisurely, with no pressing tasks or heavy burdens. This continued until the evening of the fourth day of the sixth lunar month.

Xiao Chan had something to do that evening, so she had greeted Lu Hongti and said she would bring some food and wine later. After dinner, Ning Yi left the Su Residence, planning to buy some food on the way. As he walked through a somewhat secluded street, a cart loaded with firewood pulled up behind him. A large man on it greeted him: "Hey, Ning Yi? Ning Liheng?" The large man was truly burly; sitting on the cart, he made Ning Yi tilt his head back. A flicker of unease crossed Ning Yi's mind, because the man's eyes held no goodwill. His vigilance was rising. Before he could even begin to process that look, a whooshing sound of a club came from behind him.

"Frail scholar..."

As night fell, Lu Hongti waited for Ning Yi in the courtyard, wind chimes softly tinkling.

The time spent here recuperating was approaching a month. She felt a slight fondness for it, something that would have been unimaginable to her before. Life this past month had been interesting, but in a few days, she should return to Lüliang. After that... there probably wouldn't be another chance to come back here.

Time slowly passed. Perhaps he had something to do... she thought. It wasn't strange; although he had never missed an appointment before, she now knew his specific identity, so it was normal if he couldn't come due to something. It was just a pity she wouldn't hear a story tonight. She hoped to finish the story in the coming days.

She waited a bit longer, then, feeling slightly disappointed, walked into the room and began eating cold steamed buns with the leftover lunch dishes that had been cooling in a basin. For her, there was nothing to complain about; what was before her was a delicacy...