In the courtyard.
Jiang Ning continued practicing his punches, every movement and conversation outside the courtyard entering his ears.
Why had Lin Qingyi come?
And who were the two people who had come with her?
Questions flashed through his mind.
Then, through his powerful five senses.
Everything the four people in the outer courtyard did and said appeared vividly in his mind.
A moment later.
He heard Lin Qingyi, Jiang Li, and the young woman who had accompanied Lin Qingyi leave. Clearly, they had gone indoors to escape the wind and cold.
The man named Ji Minghao, however, remained standing amid the wind and snow, waiting for him to finish practicing.
"Ji Minghao?"
Jiang Ning pondered inwardly.
Yet even after searching his memories, he had never heard that name before.
After thinking for a while, he temporarily set the matter aside and continued practicing.
Outside the courtyard.
Goose-feather snow quickly covered Ji Minghao's head and shoulders, piling thickly upon the fox-fur cloak draped around him.
The bone-piercing wind blew in from the vast lake. Even with the tall courtyard walls blocking it, it still found every crack and gap, whistling into the spaces around his body.
Before long, Ji Minghao seemed to have turned into a snowman, fine snowflakes clinging even to his brows.
Yet amid the wind and snow, he stood as firm as a pine.
Suddenly.
Creak—
As the courtyard gate turned on its hinges, the gate before Ji Minghao slowly opened.
The next moment, he saw Jiang Ning emerge, dressed simply in a white training outfit.
At the sight, Ji Minghao immediately shook his shoulders, and the accumulated snow slid down in fluttering cascades.
"I am Ji Minghao!"
Ji Minghao cupped his hands in greeting. He blinked, and the snow caught in his brows fell away in