Seeing her like this, Lei Ting couldn’t help but feel some pity. However, he wasn’t a man skilled at comforting women, so he pondered how to console Ren Yaohua, which led to a brief silence between them.

It was Ren Yaohua who lowered her head slightly and spoke first: “Brother Lei, just now… do you think my actions were vicious and cruel?”

Ren Yaohua was someone who couldn’t tolerate even a grain of sand in her heart or eyes. Although Lei Ting’s words had dispelled much of her earlier unease, she still wanted to know what Lei Ting truly thought of her. She hadn’t realized that although she tried to make her tone sound indifferent when asking this question, her deliberately slowed breathing still revealed the anxiety in her heart.

Upon hearing this, Lei Ting didn’t answer immediately. He thought for a moment, his first thought being relief that Ren Yaohua had changed back to how she addressed him. When Ren Yaohua had walked over earlier, both her words and behavior showed an attitude of keeping people at a thousand miles’ distance, which had left Lei Ting somewhat helpless.

“Did you take anyone’s life?” Lei Ting finally asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ren Yaohua was stunned for a moment, then shook her head: “No…”

Lei Ting nodded and said matter-of-factly: “I don’t see where the cruelty was. Rather, I’m gratified that you acted much more carefully this time. Retaliating within a controllable situation is not something shameful.” Lei Ting paused, then emphasized with an unquestionable tone: “You did nothing wrong.”

Ren Yaohua looked at Lei Ting, listening to him speak these words in such a low, certain voice. She felt something in her heart quietly collapse, creating an unfamiliar sensation that made her feel somewhat sour and soft inside.

“If there’s anything you can’t handle yourself in the future, just send someone to inform me,” Lei Ting thought for a moment and instructed.

Ren Yaohua lowered her head and softly agreed.

Originally, she had felt somewhat awkward about Lei Ting suddenly going to her house to propose marriage. Her awkwardness wasn’t for any other reason – she was just worried that Lei Ting wanted to marry her out of necessity for her reputation’s sake, because he had held her when rescuing her. Ren Yaohua had once thought that when she saw Lei Ting again, she would ask him whether marrying her was something he truly wanted or was forced into.

But now, Ren Yaohua suddenly felt relieved, and she no longer wanted to ask Lei Ting whether he was willing or unwilling.

Lei Ting glanced in the direction behind Ren Yaohua: “It’s getting late. If we don’t go down soon, people will come looking.”

Ren Yaohua also turned to look back and saw Xiangqin standing there, craning her neck as if she had something to report but didn’t dare come over. Ren Yaohua guessed that Ren Yaoying had probably finished changing clothes and come out.

She hadn’t planned to stay here long anyway, so she nodded and said softly: “I’m leaving.” She looked up at Lei Ting, but for some reason, her feet wouldn’t move.

“You go first,” Lei Ting said, thinking Ren Yaohua was waiting for him to leave first.

Ren Yaohua pressed her lips together and finally turned to leave first.

Ren Yaoying had indeed finished changing and come out, and all the servants attending her had been brought along without exception. However, at this moment, Ren Yaoying’s face was as pale as paper, and she looked very weak. Her eyes were still red and swollen, and she coughed from time to time, looking more wretched than ever before.

When Ren Yaoying looked up and saw Ren Yaohua approaching, fear appeared in her eyes, and she couldn’t help but take a step back. Ren Yaohua glanced at Ren Yaoying coldly, very satisfied with her fear. What she had done today was precisely to teach Ren Yaoying a harsh lesson, to make her afraid, so she would never dare provoke her again.

Ren Yaohua said nothing more to Ren Yaoying and led her people down the mountain first.

Ren Yaoying stood there in a daze for a long while. When Ping’er came forward to help her down the mountain, Ren Yaoying looked at Ping’er with hatred in her eyes. Ping’er lowered her head, not daring to look at her. Ren Yaoying then swept her gaze over her maids and servants – they all kept their heads down and remained silent.

Ren Yaoying’s face became even paler than paper, and she could barely stand. She understood that this was the reality Ren Yaohua wanted her to recognize today. Now in the Ren family, she was nothing, and no one truly took her seriously. Even these maids who had been her confidantes when her concubine mother was alive had now turned against her.

If her uncle hadn’t fallen from power, if her concubine mother were still alive, how could she be treated like this? Thinking this way, Ren Yaoying was overcome with grief. She covered her face and began crying again, feeling she was the most helpless and pitiful person in the world.

Seeing that Ren Yaoying seemed to be crying uncontrollably, Ping’er steeled herself to advise: “Miss, Madam, and Third Miss are still waiting for you at the bottom of the mountain. We should go down soon.”

Ren Yaoying recalled the scene of Ren Yaohua coldly ordering the servant to feed her leeches, shuddered, and finally stopped crying.

When Ren Yaoying came down the mountain, Li Shi and Ren Yaohua were indeed waiting for her. Ren Yaoying naturally wasn’t stupid enough to complain about Ren Yaohua in front of Li Shi. She didn’t know what Ren Yaohua had told Li Shi, but when Li Shi saw her coming down late, she didn’t ask many questions.

Because of this incident, they returned to Yunyang City somewhat later than others. However, Ren Shimin and Ren Yihong didn’t return with them – these scholars still had other activities and would return after dinner in the evening.

As soon as Li Shi and the others entered the residence, Ren Yaoqi knew about it. She quickly came out to greet them. But just from one glance at Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoying, Ren Yaoqi knew something was wrong. She looked at Ren Yaoying, whose face still showed signs of illness and terror, then at Ren Yaohua. She didn’t ask in public, but followed when Ren Yaohua went to her room to change clothes.

However, before Ren Yaoqi could ask, Wujing came in to report that Ren Yaoying’s maid Ping’er had come, saying that Ren Yaoying was unwell and wanted to request a physician to examine her.

If Ren Yaoying was unwell and needed a physician, why didn’t Ping’er go to Li Shi or ask Nanny Zhou, but instead came to Ren Yaohua? Ren Yaoqi raised an eyebrow and looked at Ren Yaohua.

Ren Yaohua sneered: “She does value her life. But being afraid of death has its benefits. Since she’s not at ease, let’s have a physician come examine her.”

Wujing responded and left.

Only then did Ren Yaoqi ask Ren Yaohua what had happened.

Ren Yaohua didn’t hide anything from Ren Yaoqi and told her about how Ren Yaoying had instigated Lei Pan’er on the mountain today, and how she had finally had someone feed Ren Yaoying leeches.

Ren Yaoqi listened with a calm expression and didn’t scold Ren Yaohua for acting recklessly. Like Lei Ting, she was most concerned about the aftermath of Ren Yaohua’s actions.

After hesitating for a while, Ren Yaohua still told Ren Yaoqi, “Second Young Master Yun has returned, and he saw what happened today.”

This time, Ren Yaoqi’s brow furrowed.

Ren Yaohua tried to speak in a calm tone: “Master Lei also came. He said… he said he would handle Yun Wenfang’s side.”

From Ren Yaohua’s forced indifferent tone, Ren Yaoqi heard something, but to avoid making Ren Yaohua angry from embarrassment, she pretended not to notice anything. Regarding Yun Wenfang’s matter, Ren Yaoqi didn’t ask further.

Afterward, Ren Yaoqi still sent someone to inquire about the physician’s diagnosis of Ren Yaoying. It wasn’t that Ren Yaoqi cared much about Ren Yaoying – she was just afraid that Ren Yaohua might accidentally seriously harm Ren Yaoying, in which case she would have to consider cleaning up after Ren Yaohua. However, after examining Ren Yaoying’s throat, the physician said that Ren Yaoying only had minor throat injuries and had lost some blood, but was otherwise fine.

From that day on, Ren Yaoying indeed became much more docile, and for a long time, she would try to hide whenever she saw Ren Yaohua. Perhaps the scene of Ren Yaohua feeding her leeches was too terrifying – Ren Yaoying began having nightmares every few days and always felt something was in her throat, coughing constantly. Li Shi, not understanding why, called physicians several times. After examining her, the physicians couldn’t determine what was wrong and didn’t understand why Ren Yaoying kept coughing when she seemed fine. They could only prescribe some lung-clearing and throat-soothing medicine.

Ren Yaohua hadn’t expected Ren Yaoying to be so easily frightened, but thinking of Ren Yaoying’s actions, she felt not a trace of sympathy or guilt. What was done was done – showing false mercy now would be hypocritical, something Ren Yaohua couldn’t do. Moreover, if Ren Yaoying dared to provoke her again, she would still do as she had warned before, continuing to feed Ren Yaoying leeches, spiders, and cockroaches until she was full.

Over the next two months, Ren Yaoqi didn’t see Yun Wenfang. After the Double Ninth Festival, Yanbei grew colder day by day. Although this year’s first snow came somewhat late, the harsh north wind was unforgiving, making people in Yunyang City feel lazy.

During this period, even when Ren Yaoqi went out, she only visited neighbors in Baoping Alley with Li Shi, rarely appearing elsewhere. It wasn’t that she was deliberately avoiding Yun Wenfang, but because Ren Yaohua’s wedding date had been set for August of the following year. Li Shi was busy preparing Ren Yaohua’s dowry, and Ren Yaohua was also confined at home by Li Shi to embroider wedding clothes and dowry items. Since Ren Yaoqi wasn’t naturally fond of excitement, she was naturally happy to stay home and accompany her mother and sister.

Since parting after the Double Ninth Festival, Ren Yaoqi hadn’t met with the Xiao siblings Xiao Jingxi and Xiao Jinglin, though she continued corresponding with Xiao Jinglin. Perhaps it was a habit Xiao Jinglin had developed while at Jiajing Pass – they were accustomed to exchanging letters every few days.

However, when Ren Yaoqi received a letter from Xiao Jinglin and opened it, she felt something was strange. After carefully reading the letter through, she was certain that although the handwriting was extremely similar to Xiao Jinglin’s, it wasn’t Xiao Jinglin’s writing. Although Ren Yaoqi couldn’t be called a calligraphy master, she had exceptional talent in calligraphy and painting and had worked hard at it, so recognizing handwriting was not difficult for her.