Chen Yi actually liked gloomy, rainy weather.
Especially in autumn.
The faintly cool wind carried a chill drizzle, brushing lightly across his cheeks and leaving behind a freshness far more pleasant than the muggy heat beneath blazing sunshine.
Yet sometimes, he did not much like the rain either.
The hem of his silk long robe hung low, and the slightest carelessness would splash it with mud.
Mud spots covered his shoes and trouser legs.
They would not arrange themselves as neatly as embroidery, but lay in chaos like Golden-haired Carp when it saw Xiao Wuge.
The large ones were large, the small ones small.
Thus, Chen Yi walked very carefully.
Even within the relatively level Marquis's mansion, he walked neither hurriedly nor slowly, planting every step firmly.
Fortunately, though the Xiao Family courtyard was large, it was nowhere near the extravagant splendor of "a tower every five steps, a pavilion every ten; winding corridors like silk sashes, upturned eaves pecking at the sky."
Before long.
Chen Yi passed through the central courtyard and arrived behind the screen wall in the front courtyard.
Wang Lixing, Liu Si'er, and the others were nowhere to be seen. Only two Armored Soldiers who looked somewhat familiar stood guard.
Outside the gatehouse not far away, a stoop-backed old man lowered his head as he swept the fallen leaves from the ground.
"Mr. Qingzhou."
The Armored Soldiers greeted him. Chen Yi smiled and nodded, then caught sight of the White Tiger Guard's Iron Banner Officer—the hunched old man—and greeted him as well.
"Uncle Gui."
As usual, Uncle Gui merely gave him a cold glance before lowering his head and continuing to clean.
Chen Yi did not mind. Holding his umbrella, he left the Marquis's mansion and headed toward East Market.
The two Armored Soldiers watched him