Due to her experiences in her previous life, Ren Yaoqi had developed a different understanding of her maternal grandfather Prince Xian’s family compared to outsiders, and had formed genuine familial affection for them.

Adding flowers to brocade is easy; sending charcoal in snow is difficult.

If someone stands up to help you without any ulterior motive when you’ve despaired of the world, you can understand this kind of feeling.

Ren Yaoqi gathered her complicated emotions, stood up, and asked Xiangqin: “Where did they go? How long have they been gone?”

Xiangqin quickly replied: “Third Miss left after you, and Eighth Miss went to the facilities. Originally, she wanted to tell you, but Third Miss has an impatient nature. She was afraid… afraid that Master might have encountered some trouble again, so she went to find him first. She also said that if she didn’t return after three or four quarters of an hour, I should come tell you and ask you to help cover for her in front of the other masters.”

Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Ren Yaohua hadn’t gone to find people because she was afraid their uncle had encountered trouble—she was afraid their uncle would cause trouble for them. The last time their uncle had sold his house to buy a cricket had made Ren Yaohua extremely angry, and she was terrified he would do something absurd again, because whenever Li Tianyou left home, nothing good ever came of it.

Moreover, Ren Yaohua didn’t want other Ren family members to see Li Tianyou. In her heart, this uncle not only couldn’t support their mother but would only drag them down. She felt somewhat ashamed to be associated with him.

In her previous life, Ren Yaohua had shown no kindness toward those people from Prince Xian’s manor. She had even once accompanied Nanny Zhou to deliver money to their maternal family, bringing several matchmakers to confront their grandfather, saying that if he didn’t sell off that group of “actors,” they would never give them money for relief again.

Their grandfather, who had always been as mild-tempered as a clay figure, had gotten angry that time. He threw the silver at Ren Yaohua’s feet, picked up a theatrical horsewhip, and whipped her out, saying he would never allow her to enter the Li family door again and that he didn’t acknowledge this granddaughter.

Although later, when Li Shi sent silver to her natal family, their grandfather still heartlessly accepted it, he remained consistently cold toward Ren Yaohua.

But this time, Ren Yaohua had been gone for nearly an hour without returning. It was almost time for the noon meal, so Ren Yaoqi had to quietly send some trustworthy servant women to look for her.

Finally, the temple sent someone over saying the meal was ready and asking Ren Yaoqi to come eat.

Ren Yaoqi could only secretly send more people to continue searching while going to see Eldest Madam Wang herself.

Fortunately, the Eldest Madam wanted to discuss the Liu family matter with the eldest daughter-in-law and didn’t care much about the meal, just telling them to eat in the room the temple had arranged.

From what the Eldest Madam and eldest daughter-in-law said, the two Liu sisters had complained to Madam Liu that the Ren family had bullied and insulted them with superior numbers.

However, after learning what the Liu sisters had said to curse Ren Yijun, the Eldest Madam trembled with anger. Not only did she not blame Ren Yaoqi for helping Ren Yijun teach the Liu sisters a lesson, but she was also very kind to her. No mother could tolerate others cursing her child to die young.

So when Madam Liu demanded that the Ren family show sincerity or she would ruin the Ren family’s reputation, the Eldest Madam only gave her a cold laugh.

An old nanny beside the Eldest Madam looked at her mistress’s expression and said disdainfully to Madam Liu: “Our young master isn’t afraid of anything, but your daughters, upon first meeting, casually invited our young master aside to talk privately without even bringing a servant—are they trying to rush into becoming concubines in our Ren family? To be honest, our Ren family has great wealth and status, so we wouldn’t mind a couple more idle mouths to feed.”

At these words, the Liu family’s faces immediately darkened. The Eldest Madam lowered her head to sip tea, pretending not to hear her servant’s audacity.

What had been a good matchmaking meeting turned into a confrontation.

However, for the sake of both families’ reputations, everyone tactfully let the matter pass. The Liu family’s idea of using this incident to extort money from the Ren family had succeeded in the previous life, but in this life, it was just wishful thinking.

The Eldest Madam was somewhat disappointed with this trip to White Dragon Temple and planned to return home after lunch and a brief rest.

Since they hadn’t eaten together, Ren Yaoqi told the Eldest Madam that Ren Yaohua had gone to the more distant Jialeng Relic Pagoda and would need some time to return. Since Ren Yaohua had maids and servant women with her, the Eldest Madam didn’t worry about it. She was busy discussing the next matchmaking arrangement for Ren Yijun with the eldest daughter-in-law—Ren Yijun’s marriage was a constant worry for her.

Unexpectedly, it began to rain heavily while they were eating. The Eldest Madam sent someone over saying that after the meal they should rest in their rooms and wait for the rain to stop before starting the journey home.

The people sent to find Ren Yaohua hadn’t returned yet, so Ren Yaoqi had to go to the Eldest Madam again, saying that Ren Yaohua had sent a maid back to report that she had encountered their uncle’s servant halfway and wanted to pay respects to their uncle, so she hadn’t returned yet.

Although Li Tianyou was known to be unreliable, he was still the brother of Ren Yaoqi’s mother’s natal family and a proper elder, so the Eldest Madam said nothing. She only asked that when Ren Yaohua returned, she should come and inform her.

As soon as Ren Yaoqi returned to her room, she instructed Xiangqin to find her a bamboo hat and raincoat, arranged for Pingguo to stay in the room, and took Xiangqin and Sangshen along with two servant women out of the courtyard, telling them that if anyone asked, they should say she had gone to find Ren Yaohua.

She was only an eleven-year-old child—it was perfectly normal for her to be playful. Moreover, the customs in Yan Bei weren’t as strict as those near the capital in the south.

Ren Yaoqi led her people to search in the direction Xiangqin had mentioned, but didn’t see any trace of Ren Yaohua.

Once it started raining, all the people in White Dragon Temple disappeared. Walking along the path, she felt the vast ancient temple was empty and hollow, with even footsteps creating echoes. The cold rain fell on the flat stone paths and splashed onto Ren Yaoqi’s embroidered shoes, which soon became wet.

The temple could provide raincoats and bamboo hats, but couldn’t find suitable wooden clogs.

Ren Yaoqi’s heart grew uneasy.

In her previous life, she and Ren Yaohua hadn’t come to White Dragon Temple at this time, so Ren Yaohua had never encountered Dongsheng. But Dongsheng had disappeared in her previous life.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t know when Dongsheng had disappeared in her previous life, but Ren Yaohua’s prolonged absence made her feel something was wrong.

White Dragon Temple’s main buildings occupied about a hundred acres, with many outer buildings surrounding it. Some courtyards were rented to pilgrims who came to burn incense or seek medical treatment, while others were rented to scholars seeking quiet places to study. The nearby White Cloud Nunnery actually used White Dragon Temple’s land, with the nunnery paying annual incense money to the temple.

Even under Buddha’s protection, clear accounts had to be kept.

From the imperial family to common people, the Great Zhou dynasty believed in and revered Buddha. Large temples not only received annual court rewards, but each monk with a proper ordination certificates also had thirty acres of farmland. Combined with generous donations from pilgrims and reclaimed wasteland, the annual agricultural output from temple lands was considerable income.

Most monks didn’t farm themselves but rented the land to landless farmers. So every large temple was a major landlord. This led to the saying that of all wealth in the world, Buddha possessed seven-tenths.

If Li Tianyou had come to White Dragon Temple, he would most likely be in one of the courtyards under White Dragon Temple’s name in the surrounding area.

Many scholars rented the White Dragon Temple courtyards, and many scholars enjoyed gambling. Though they mostly didn’t gamble with money when betting on cockfights or cricket fights, they wagered antique paintings and artifacts. As long as it wasn’t real gold or silver, they would bet on any valuable item, considering themselves elegant.

Li Tianyou didn’t care about elegance—he didn’t care whether he was gambling silver or houses. He just gambled for the thrill of it.

“Fifth Miss, your shoes are all wet. Please go back and let us servants search,” a servant woman approached quietly.

Ren Yaoqi looked at her brand-new pink embroidered shoes under her skirt hem. Just as she was considering whether to send more people to search, Xiangqin suddenly pointed ahead: “Miss, look, it’s Master!”

Ren Yaoqi immediately looked up and indeed saw two people approaching through the rain. The one in front was a man in his mid-twenties of short stature, wearing a tattered bamboo hat found somewhere, but no raincoat, so everything from his neck down was soaked. The robe of indeterminate color was ill-fitting, with sleeves rolled up several times, making him look like a child who had mischievously stolen an adult’s clothes.

Following behind him was an ordinary-faced, dark-skinned man built like a tower. Li Tianyou often joked that having him play a martial hero was truly wasteful—he should play the black-faced Judge Bao.

The man behind saw Ren Yaoqi first and quickly whispered in the front man’s ear. The front man looked up and saw Ren Yaoqi too. After a moment of stunned surprise, he suddenly covered his face with his sleeve and tried to run, but his sleeves were all rolled up. He frantically pulled his sleeves down, looking both embarrassed and comical.

Xiangqin, beside them, covered her mouth and giggled.

Ren Yaoqi helplessly called out to the person trying to escape with his attendant: “Uncle, I can already see you!”

Li Tianyou stopped his steps in great frustration. When Ren Yaoqi walked over, she heard him turn away, lecturing his attendant: “I told you to eat less normally! Look how big you’ve grown—every time I want to elegantly turn and run, people recognize me because of you. You’re a living target! From now on, you can only eat two bowls… no… one bowl of rice per meal! Did you hear?”

The usually submissive man helplessly lowered his head and agreed.

Li Tianyou rolled his eyes and whispered even more quietly: “Look, which of my nieces is it. Is it the fierce one or the one who likes to look at the sky like her father?”

Ren Yaoqi watched in amusement as the dark-faced man seriously looked at her again, then replied: “Master, it’s ‘the one who likes to look at the sky.'”

Ren Yaoqi: “…”

Li Tianyou breathed a sigh of relief and turned around. When he saw Ren Yaoqi standing right behind him, he jumped in fright and glared at his attendant: “She’s right behind me and you didn’t warn me!”

Seeing it was still raining, Ren Yaoqi didn’t argue about these things and just asked: “Uncle, have you seen my Third Sister?” Though from their conversation, she could tell Li Tianyou probably hadn’t seen Ren Yaohua.

Sure enough, Li Tianyou shook his head, splashing water from his bamboo hat onto Ren Yaoqi’s face: “Haven’t seen her. If I had, I would have run away.”

Ren Yaoqi helplessly wiped the water droplets from her face: “Then what about Dongsheng, who’s with you? Did you only bring Dongsheng and Xiasheng out today?”

Li Tianyou was busy rolling up his long sleeves and replied casually: “Don’t know. Dongsheng went earlier to help me divert… Dongsheng went to handle something. That boy looks agile but is stupid. He’s been gone so long and still hasn’t returned, making me get soaked here! When he comes back, I’ll see how I teach him a lesson!”

Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi’s face went pale, and she stood speechless.

If Dongsheng was the one who disappeared this time, would Ren Yaohua, who went to find him, also disappear?

Li Tianyou noticed Ren Yaoqi’s expression was wrong and asked suspiciously: “What’s wrong with you?”

Ren Yaoqi looked up, glanced at Xiasheng behind Li Tianyou, thought for a moment, and said: “My sister said she saw Dongsheng and followed him, but she’s been gone for over an hour and hasn’t returned.”

Li Tianyou was startled: “What? The little devil went after Dongsheng? She, she, she, she wouldn’t have been caught by those people, would she?” The last sentence was directed at Xiasheng beside him.

But Ren Yaoqi caught his words and urgently asked: “What people are you talking about? Why would they catch my sister?”

Li Tianyou seemed conflicted as he pulled down his broken bamboo hat, muttering incoherently without making sense.

Ren Yaoqi said seriously, “Uncle, if you don’t tell me and something happens to my sister, how will you explain it to my mother?”

Li Tianyou’s face twitched with something like a toothache. After thinking, he glanced at Xiasheng: “You tell her.”

Just as Xiasheng was about to speak, Li Tianyou quickly added: “Say only the important parts, don’t mention the unimportant stuff.”

Xiasheng was silent for a moment before saying, “Master was originally at—”

“Stop!” Li Tianyou shouted, halting Xiasheng’s words and glaring at him: “I said to mention only the important parts!”

Xiasheng’s usually expressionless face remained expressionless, but inside he was roaring: I haven’t said anything yet!

“Forget it, I’ll tell her myself. Who knows what nonsense you’d come up with!” Li Tianyou looked at Xiasheng with some disdain and said to Ren Yaoqi, “I originally had important business with someone, so I sent Dongsheng and Xiasheng away. But the person I had business with had previously offended some people, and then… then at the crucial moment they burst in, so I ran out the back door. But that group of people chased after me instead!”

Speaking of this, Li Tianyou looked somewhat indignant: “They wouldn’t let me go. Fortunately, Dongsheng hadn’t listened to me and had gone far. So he put on my clothes and led the people away. Then Xiasheng found me. After that, we came together to find Dongsheng. The little devil must have seen Dongsheng disguised as me running away earlier, so she followed him.”

Listening to this, Ren Yaoqi’s expression became somewhat strange. She couldn’t help but study Li Tianyou a few times and suddenly asked: “Uncle, what kind of clothes were you wearing before?”

Li Tianyou thought for a moment: “A white robe with a large white crane embroidered on it. I looked quite mighty and imposing wearing it. It was the first time I’d worn that outfit. Tsk—when I go back, I’ll get another lecture from Yihong.” Li Tianyou looked somewhat depressed.

Ren Yaoqi became even more speechless. She felt like she understood something.

While they were talking, the rain had stopped.

Ren Yaoqi instructed the two servant women who had followed her: “You go to White Cloud Nunnery. One of you goes inside to gather information, the other searches around the area.”

Before she finished speaking, Li Tianyou jumped up like an exploding cat: “You, you, you, how do you know about White Cloud… that nunnery?”

Ren Yaoqi calmly sent the servant women away, then turned to look at Li Tianyou: “I guessed.”

“Then, then, then, what else did you guess?” Li Tianyou asked persistently.

Before Ren Yaoqi could answer, Xiangqin, who had been standing behind her, suddenly exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand and staring wide-eyed at Li Tianyou: “That male, male, male lover?”

Li Tianyou was confused: “Why are you mimicking me? What male lover?”

Xiangqin looked at Ren Yaoqi, then lowered her head and closed her mouth tightly, refusing to speak anymore, though her eyes couldn’t help but steal glances at Li Tianyou.

Xiasheng seemed to know something and whispered a few words in Li Tianyou’s ear.

Li Tianyou’s face instantly turned bright red, then he yelled: “Which bastard is slandering me behind my back? Damn male lover! I was just stealing some fragrance and jade!”

Xiangqin and Sangshen both blushed deeply.

Ren Yaoqi shook her head and changed the subject: “The rain has stopped. Soon, my eldest aunt will order us to return home. We should find my Third Sister first, or there’ll be trouble.”

Li Tianyou said dejectedly: “Then let’s go look for her.”

The group headed back toward White Dragon Temple.

They hadn’t walked far when they saw several servant women hurrying out. Xiangqin quickly said, “Fifth Miss, those are servant women from beside the Eldest Madam.”

Those servant women also saw Ren Yaoqi and ran over in a few steps, bowing: “Fifth Miss, we finally found you. Just now, the Eldest Madam sent us to find you. The maid in your room said you had gone out. The Eldest Madam quickly sent us to search for you. Isn’t Third Miss with you?” She looked at Li Tianyou with some surprise, silently judging his identity.

Ren Yaoqi said, “Third Sister is looking for shelter from the rain. I’ve already sent people to find her. When I came out, I happened to meet my uncle, who was looking for me.”

The servant woman breathed a sigh of relief, quickly bowed to Li Tianyou, called him “Master Uncle,” then said to Ren Yaoqi: “Since Fifth Miss encountered Master Uncle, Madam can be at ease. Earlier, Madam sent this servant to find Fifth Miss to inform you that, because of the rain, there was a flash flood on the mountain road ahead, and several carriages overturned into the ravine. They just sent people to ask the temple monks to help salvage carriages and rescue people. Madam said we’ll delay our return to avoid rushing back and encountering any accidents.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded: “Thank you, Nanny, for making this trip. When I return, I’ll personally apologize to Eldest Aunt.”

The servant woman then returned to report.

Now that the Eldest Madam wasn’t in a hurry to return, they had more time.

With Ren Yaohua missing, she’d rather search herself than alert the Eldest Madam and have the Ren family help find her. She didn’t trust the Ren family people.

If something happened to Ren Yaohua, she could still try to cover it up. But if the Ren family people knew, there was no telling what the consequences might be.

Just as Ren Yaoqi and Li Tianyou were planning to split up and search, they’d barely gone their separate ways when Li Tianyou called from behind: “Yaoqi, Yaoqi, come quickly. Dongsheng and the others are back!”

Ren Yaoqi hurriedly turned and walked over quickly.

Sure enough, she saw Ren Yaohua, completely soaked, and behind her was a man of medium height with pale skin but ordinary features—this should be the martial actor called Dongsheng.

Looking at the silent Ren Yaohua, Ren Yaoqi frowned and asked: “Third Sister, where did you go? Where are the servant women and maids who were with you?” She remembered that when Ren Yaohua left, she had several people with her. Now only she and Dongsheng had returned.

Hearing this, Ren Yaohua’s expression became very unpleasant as she turned to glare at Dongsheng, snorting coldly: “Ask him what good deeds he’s done!”

Li Tianyou quietly asked Dongsheng, “What did you do?”

But they found Dongsheng standing there ashen-faced. When asked, he opened his mouth but ultimately swallowed back whatever he was going to say without speaking.

Both Li Tianyou and Xiasheng were somewhat surprised. Dongsheng’s personality was opposite to Xiasheng’s. Xiasheng didn’t like to talk or smile and would answer only when asked, but Dongsheng had a lively personality and would greet people with a smile before even speaking.