Although Concubine Fang hadn’t immediately agreed, which disappointed Ren Yaoying somewhat, just thinking that Ren Yaohua might be married to that Young Master Zeng, who was ugly as a demon, made Ren Yaoying unable to contain her excitement.

The following month passed unexpectedly peacefully, until a few days before Ren Shimin was to go to Yunyang City, when the third branch of the Ren family began to bustle with activity.

Ren Shimin told Li Shi that he would have her come along to manage the inner courtyard and care for the children. Li Shi began organizing things to bring to Yunyang City half a month in advance with Nanny Zhou’s help. Fortunately, since Yunyang City was very close to Baihe Town and they would still return for holidays and festivals, most things would remain at the ancestral home. Third Master Ren had directly instructed the steward to buy new household items in Yunyang City, so Li Shi only needed to pack the personal belongings of the couple and children.

Third Master Ren also clearly indicated he wouldn’t bring Concubine Fang but would bring Ren Yihong and Ren Yaoying. Li Shi had no objections to this.

Old Madam Ren had originally hoped Third Master Ren would bring Concubine Fang along, but since Ren Shimin was unwilling, Old Madam Ren thought that Concubine Fang’s current appearance would indeed be unseemly if brought out, so she said nothing more. However, she still had many things sent to Fangfei Courtyard to console Concubine Fang. Fortunately, Concubine Fang accepted this calmly without causing any trouble.

However, just before departure, Old Madam Ren suddenly changed her mind again – she didn’t want Ren Yaohua to go to Yunyang City. Old Madam Ren’s thinking was simple: Ren Yaohua was already sixteen, and the bad rumors about her from the outside had long since dispersed. Instead, some rumors about her being principled and proper in conduct had spread, and recently, two families had come to the Ren family to inquire about Ren Yaohua.

One of these two families had a status roughly equal to the Ren family’s – a merchant household from Shunzhou, surnamed Fan. Their second madam’s maternal family was in Baihe Town. When they returned for the grandmother’s birthday banquet during the New Year, they had seen Ren Yaohua attending the banquet with Old Madam Ren and thought her dignified and steady, so they took notice.

The other family was from Baihe Town itself, surnamed Tang. They had built their fortune in the lumber business and had some business dealings with the Ren family. In terms of family wealth, they weren’t as good as the Ren family – quite an ordinary merchant household.

Old Madam Ren wasn’t very satisfied with either family. Regarding the Fan family, Old Madam Ren disdained that Young Master Fan wasn’t the eldest son of the main branch and couldn’t inherit the family business – the Fan family’s second branch would eventually split off.

Though the Tang family’s candidate was the eldest son of the main branch, Old Madam Ren felt daughters should marry up, and the Tang family’s foundation was too thin. Moreover, she had seen that Tang family eldest young master – he wasn’t tall and his talents were unremarkable, not even as capable as the other two Tang young masters.

Although both families were unsatisfactory, Old Madam Ren felt this was still a signal. If she took Ren Yaohua out more often, she could surely find someone suitable. Ren Yaohua’s age couldn’t be delayed any longer.

When Ren Yaohua learned her grandmother didn’t want her to leave, she said nothing. She was different from Ren Yaoqi – Old Madam Ren had always been good to her. Though she was often dissatisfied with Old Madam Ren’s attitude toward Concubine Fang, overall she was clear that the old madam doted on her.

When Ren Yaoqi learned of this, she became quite worried. She didn’t want Old Madam Ren to arrange Ren Yaohua’s marriage – she didn’t trust the Ren family elders.

But in this matter, even Ren Shimin and Li Shi expressed no opinions. After all, Ren Yaohua had indeed reached the age for marriage discussions, and the Ren family daughters’ marriages had always been decided by Old Master Ren and Old Madam Ren. Ren Yaoqi temporarily couldn’t find a good way to have Ren Yaohua come with them.

But what Ren Yaoqi hadn’t expected was that just two days before they were to depart for Yunyang City, another family came to propose marriage to Ren Yaohua. The visitor was accompanied by the Su family’s head steward.

At that time, Ren Yaoqi was personally supervising the maids in organizing her study. She planned to bring most of the books from her study and didn’t trust the maids and servants to organize them.

When she first heard that the Su family’s head steward had brought two people to the Ren family, Ren Yaoqi didn’t pay much attention. It wasn’t until Old Madam Ren sent someone to summon Ren Yaohua that she began to feel alert.

Since Old Madam Ren had been constantly worrying about Ren Yaohua’s marriage recently, Ren Yaoqi became somewhat vigilant, feeling in her heart that this wasn’t good news.

Indeed, when Nanny Zhou returned with information, Ren Yaoqi’s shock and anger were beyond words.

“Nanny, what did you say? Which Zeng family came to propose marriage?”

Nanny Zhou was somewhat surprised by Ren Yaoqi’s loss of composure, but she still quickly replied: “It’s the new Ningxia General, General Zeng. He sent people to propose marriage for his only son.”

Ren Yaoqi felt somewhat unsteady and was supported by Nanny Zhou: “Fifth Miss, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere? Should we call a physician?” Nanny Zhou anxiously helped Ren Yaoqi sit in a chair.

Ren Yaoqi’s heart was in tumultuous waves. She really couldn’t understand why the Zeng family would still come to propose to Ren Yaohua in this lifetime. The Zeng family had only been in Ningxia for how many days? They hadn’t even gotten a firm foothold yet – it was questionable whether they even knew there was a Ren family. Could the Ren family still have something worth exploiting?

In her previous life, it was Second Madam from the second branch who had spoken for the Zeng family. This time, though Second Madam hadn’t come forward, the Su family had sent people, probably due to the connection through Su family’s eldest young madam, née Zeng.

“What’s the attitude of Old Master and Old Madam?” Ren Yaoqi waved her hand to indicate she was fine and asked with a frown.

Nanny Zhou said: “Old Master had the Su family’s head steward receive in the outer courtyard, and Old Madam met with the people sent by the Zeng family. However, I heard that Old Master and Old Madam didn’t immediately agree.”

Ren Yaoqi sneered: “Of course, they can’t agree quickly this time. After all, the Zeng family is currently just dependent on others. It’s only out of consideration for the Su family’s face that the Ren family can’t flatly refuse.”

Nanny Zhou didn’t quite understand why Ren Yaoqi would say “this time,” as if there had been a “last time.” But she didn’t ask, thinking it was just a slip of the tongue.

“Fifth Miss, I’ve also heard that Young Master Zeng has some defects in appearance, but living as a family can’t be judged solely on looks. Why are you so opposed to the Zeng family?”

Though Nanny Zhou also didn’t approve of having Ren Yaohua marry into the Zeng family, Ren Yaoqi’s reaction was somewhat beyond her expectations. She had previously thought it was because Ren Yaoqi was friends with the county princess from Prince Yanbei’s manor, and the Zeng family was court people, so she disliked the Zeng family. But looking at Ren Yaoqi’s expression, it didn’t seem that simple.

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t hide the disgust in her eyes: “I once heard some rumors about the Zeng family. This Young Master Zeng not only has defects in appearance but also has a very strange temperament.”

These were things Ren Yaoqi had learned in her previous life after Ren Yaohua’s marriage.

Zeng Kui enjoyed others being afraid of him – the more afraid they were, the happier he became. But Ren Yaohua had a stubborn nature – how could she be someone who would bow her head? So to make Ren Yaohua fear him, in her previous life, Zeng Kui had used unknown filthy methods to torment Ren Yaohua, driving her to finally kill her husband in desperation.

Others liked gentle and considerate women, but Zeng Kui was an exception – he liked others to resist him. Don’t look at Zeng Kui being only a few years older than them; since he came of age, many maids and servants had suffered under his hands. There was even once when his father Zeng Pu’s newly acquired beautiful concubine, not recognizing Zeng Kui, arrogantly told him to get away and not dirty her eyes upon seeing him. Zeng Kui immediately dragged her back to his courtyard, not caring that she was his father’s new favorite.

It’s just that Zeng Pu only had Zeng Kui as his son and doted on him greatly. So these matters were well concealed by the Zeng family. Moreover, now that they had left the capital for Yanbei, no one knew about these filthy affairs in the Zeng family’s inner courtyard. Ren Yaoqi only learned these things after going to the capital when Teacher Pei told her.

So in others’ eyes, Zeng Kui might just be a young man with facial defects, but in Ren Yaoqi’s eyes, even flies and maggots were cleaner than him.

Seeing Ren Yaoqi’s expression, Nanny Zhou knew the rumors she had heard were certainly not good, and she couldn’t help but worry.

When Ren Yaohua returned, Ren Yaoqi went to find her. When she learned from Xiangqin that Ren Yaohua had once encountered Zeng Kui in Yunyang City, Ren Yaoqi was speechless for a long time.

Could this be an ill-fated bond? Going in a big circle, thinking they had avoided it, only to encounter it anyway.

In her previous life, when Zeng Pu first came to Yanbei, Zeng Kui hadn’t accompanied him – he came later on his own. At that time, Ren Yaohua had already been confined and couldn’t possibly have met Zeng Kui. In this lifetime, Ren Yaoqi had schemed to make Zeng Pu, the Ningxia General, a nominal position, but still couldn’t help Ren Yaohua escape this ill-fated bond.

But even if it was an ill-fated bond, Ren Yaoqi would never watch Ren Yaohua enter a fiery pit.

What they didn’t know was that shortly after the people sent by the Zeng family left, the Ren family received letters from both Second Master Ren in the capital and Fang Yacun.

Second Master Ren had somehow learned of the Zeng family’s intention to seek marriage with a Ren family daughter. He either hadn’t learned about Zeng Kui’s filthy affairs in the inner courtyard or perhaps didn’t take them seriously. Instead, he had learned that Zeng Pu had been a great favorite of the emperor in recent months and could be counted as a rising new noble in court. He told Old Master Ren not to be too short-sighted, only seeing the Zeng family’s current disadvantageous position in Yanbei, and reminded Old Master Ren that Zeng Pu was a capable minister – given half a chance, he could turn things around and make a name for himself, with unlimited prospects.

If the letter from the second branch was something Old Master Ren would just read and set aside, then Fang Yacun’s letter made Old Master Ren somewhat hesitant.

In his letter, Fang Yacun casually mentioned that Eunuch Lu, who had helped him greatly, also had some friendship with Zeng Pu. Upon learning of this matter, he had even joked about coming to drink celebratory wine.