Having arranged Sun Eleventh Lady’s affairs, Ren Yaoqi temporarily set her mind at ease.
After returning to Ziwei Courtyard, Nanny Xu told her that Third Madam wanted her to come to the main house once she returned. Ren Yaoqi tidied herself up a bit and went over.
Ren Yaoqi thought Li Shi wanted to ask her about Third Master Ren moving the painting restoration to another courtyard, but unexpectedly, as soon as Li Shi saw her, she said: “Xia Sheng came to Baijin Town yesterday.”
Upon hearing this, Ren Yaoqi thought briefly: “Did Xia Sheng come for the Han family’s affairs?”
Since Li Shi specifically mentioned only Xia Sheng, he certainly hadn’t come together with any master, and if Prince Xian’s mansion had business with Li Shi, they should have sent Yihong or Chuchu instead. If only Xia Sheng came alone, the only thing Ren Yaoqi could think of was the Han family’s affairs.
Before she left Yunyang City, she had sent Pingguo to Baoping Alley once. Grandmother Rong Shi had Pingguo tell her not to interfere with the Han family’s affairs yet, fearing that words from a child wouldn’t be believed by the Ren family and would instead make Han Dongshan wary. Moreover, the Han family’s affairs also involved Ren Yaohua’s marriage, so she would find a way to handle this matter. Ren Yaoqi had agreed.
Li Shi nodded: “Indeed, he came for the Han family’s affairs. Your grandmother said this matter can’t be delayed any longer – the Ren family must be made aware of Han Dongshan.”
Rong Shi’s original words were that although the Han family was currently in mourning due to Madam Han’s death, the Han family was now at the height of their influence in Yanbei, and Han Yunqian was an extremely outstanding young man. As long as the Han family was intent on forming a marriage alliance with the Ren family, the Ren family would eventually agree. Ren Yaohua was now of the age for discussing marriage and had just returned from the debutante banquet. She feared the Ren family would make Ren Yaohua wait a year for this Han family marriage, thus delaying her.
Li Shi deeply agreed with this. She knew that Old Madam Ren was now favoring Ren Yaohua and intended to marry Yaohua to the legitimate grandson of the Qiu family head. She had met that child from the Qiu family – he was clever and adaptable, and his appearance wasn’t bad either. If Yaohua could marry into the Qiu family, it wouldn’t be bad. She feared that Old Master Ren, not knowing the Han family’s background, would persist in his original intention of marrying Ren Yaohua to the Han family’s young master. And even if it wasn’t Yaohua, there was still Yaoqi, who ranked after Yaohua.
Although the Han family’s young master was excellent, Li Shi didn’t want to involve her two daughters in the ancestral grudges between the Ren and Zhai families.
However, Li Shi didn’t go into detail with Ren Yaoqi, since she was still an unmarried girl after all.
But clever as Ren Yaoqi was, seeing Li Shi’s expression, she roughly understood what she was thinking.
Ren Yaoqi had also been considering the issue of Ren Yaohua’s marriage recently.
Originally, Old Master Ren should have wanted Ren Yaoyin to marry Qiu Yun. Now that Ren Yaoyin had behaved improperly at the debutante banquet, although Prince Yanbei’s mansion hadn’t made this matter public to save her face, she had subsequently had her hair shaved off. As the Ren family’s in-laws, if the Qiu family wanted to investigate, they could find some clues. If the Ren family still wanted to deceive them and marry Ren Yaoyin to Qiu Yun at this point, the Qiu family would likely object. The result would be that instead of gaining in-laws, they would make enemies.
This way, the candidate for marriage alliance with the Qiu family fell to Ren Yaohua. Old Madam Ren already favored Ren Yaohua, so she would naturally be more than willing to marry this most beloved granddaughter to her natal family.
But Ren Yaoqi still had reservations about the Qiu family.
In her previous life, it was Ren Yaoyin who was engaged to Qiu Yun, but later when the Ren family declined, the Qiu family abandoned this marriage alliance. She didn’t know how the two families negotiated, but in the end, Qiu Yun married someone else while Ren Yaoyin became Yun Wenting’s noble concubine.
Although self-preservation couldn’t be said to be wrong, and she wasn’t clear what role Ren Yaoyin played in this matter in her previous life, Ren Yaoqi felt that Ren Yaohua’s fate in her previous life was already tragic enough. In this life, she hoped Yaohua could be happy and fulfilled, so she didn’t want Ren Yaohua to risk the uncertainty of the Qiu family.
But she certainly couldn’t explain such reasoning to Li Shi and the others. In the world’s eyes, Qiu Yun was indeed a suitable husband.
Thinking that Ren Yaohua’s marriage wasn’t something Li Shi could decide, Ren Yaoqi didn’t speak directly but only asked: “How will Xia Sheng reveal Han Dongshan’s identity?”
Having people from Prince Xian’s mansion directly reveal it wouldn’t work, as this would expose Prince Xian’s mansion’s capabilities, and Rong Shi didn’t want her and her daughter to do this either.
Indeed, Li Shi said: “Your grandmother said Han Dongshan’s identity should best be revealed through someone else’s mouth.”
“Someone else?” Ren Yaoqi raised an eyebrow. If this other person’s relationship with the Ren family was too distant, even if they discovered the Han family’s secret, they wouldn’t think to tell the Ren family.
Thinking of this, Ren Yaoqi’s heart stirred, and she suddenly understood: “Lin Kun?”
Ren Shijia and Lin Kun were currently in Baijin Town, having returned because of the Han family’s funeral. However, after paying respects to Madam Han, the couple hadn’t hurried back to Yunyang City. Lin Kun planned to accompany his wife and children to stay at his in-laws’ home for a couple of days.
Li Shi looked at her daughter with some surprise: “You know?”
Ren Yaoqi shook her head: “I guessed.” But she was thinking that since Xia Sheng had come yesterday, he must have done something when Lin Kun went to pay respects at the Han family to arouse Lin Kun’s suspicion, then guided Lin Kun or the Ren family to discover Han Dongshan’s secret.
But the grudge between Han Dongshan and the Ren family wasn’t something glorious for the Ren family. Even if Old Master Ren learned of Han Dongshan’s true identity, he wouldn’t publicize it widely, nor would he be foolish enough to confront Han Dongshan directly. He might instead use this opportunity to shift from open to hidden operations.
This way, the Ren and Han families would have quite a show ahead. The Ren family already knew that Han Dongshan was a surviving young master of the Zhai family, while the Han family didn’t know that the Ren family knew. Old Master Ren would probably be secretly pleased and then turn around to scheme against the Han family.
Thinking of this, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t feel happy.
Because the tragic fates of her parents and sister in her previous life were all thanks to Han Dongshan, she couldn’t possibly have good feelings toward him. But compared to Han Dongshan, she detested Old Master Ren and Old Madam Ren even more. At least Han Dongshan was seeking revenge for his family. What was the reason for Old Master Ren and Old Madam Ren to be so ruthless toward their descendants and flesh and blood?
After all, Prince Xian’s mansion was still favoring the Ren family because they were Ren family members, though Rong Shi probably wasn’t clear about what exactly the Ren family had done to the Zhai family.
Though she didn’t want to admit it, she had to acknowledge that losing family protection at this time would indeed not bode well for their household.
Li Shi, however, thought her second daughter was truly clever. She had only mentioned it briefly, yet Yaoqi could guess most of it.
And Ren Yaoqi’s speculation was completely accurate.
When Lin Kun went to the Han family yesterday, he discovered some strange things, then was guided step by step to discover the secret of Han Dongshan and the Zhai family.
Of course, the Han family would never be so careless, so Lin Kun’s “discoveries” were all arranged by Xia Sheng. As the first guard of Prince Xian’s mansion, Xia Sheng’s abilities were not to be underestimated. Such matters were child’s play for him. After all, neither Lin Kun nor the Han family members were martial arts masters, so he used diversionary tactics and sleight of hand without any pressure.
After returning from the Han family, Lin Kun found it increasingly strange the more he thought about it.
Coincidentally, the next day, someone from the Qiu family came to Baijin Town. Old Master Ren called his sons and son-in-law together to receive the guests. After the guests left, when the old master mentioned the marriage alliance between the Ren and Qiu families with his sons and son-in-law, he also brought up the Han family. Lin Kun then told Old Master Ren about his discoveries at the Han family.
When Old Master Ren heard the surname “Zhai,” he was stunned for quite a while, then urgently asked Lin Kun about some details of what he had seen at the Han family. After that, Old Master Ren dismissed both his sons and son-in-law, stayed alone in his study for half a day, then called his sons and son-in-law over again to instruct them not to leak what Lin Kun had seen at the Han family. All the Ren family men and Lin Kun agreed.
Old Master Ren naturally knew about the Zhai family’s affairs. When his father Ren Baoming was on his deathbed, he had told him a secret about this ancestral residence. This residence had originally belonged to a wealthy family surnamed Zhai in Baijin Town. Somewhere in the residence was a secret room containing some wealth left by the Zhai family ancestors.
Moreover, perhaps because he was about to die and suspected that Zhai family descendants would return someday to seek revenge on his descendants, Ren Baoming had told Old Master Ren about his grievances with the Zhai family in great detail.
Even after decades, when Old Master Ren recalled his father’s twisted expression when recounting this past event, and the constantly spasming hands that gripped his wrists until they turned purple and blue, he still felt terrified.
Although no Zhai family members had appeared in all these years, the Zhai family was like a sharp thorn stuck in Old Master Ren’s heart.
“I never expected to see Zhai family descendants in my lifetime,” Old Master Ren muttered to himself with a complicated tone.
That night, Old Master Ren went to the Ren family ancestral hall and stood alone before the ancestral tablets for an hour.
From the next day onward, Old Master Ren never mentioned the Han family again, as if the Han family was still just the Han family, and the two families maintained relatively close relations. On the day of Madam Han’s funeral, the Ren family even had their steward set up a tent on the road to see Madam Han off.
And the matter of marriage alliance between the Qiu and Ren families was brought out into the open.