The reason Ren Yaoqi could receive an invitation from the Yun family despite already having a marriage engagement was because the Empress Dowager had directly named several young ladies, and those named could not be absent from this year’s Thousand Gold Banquet. Ren Yaoqi’s name was prominently among these young ladies.

Ren Yaoqi had received the Yun family’s invitation several months earlier. After reading it, she simply set it aside. At this point, there was no retreat possible – she could only meet soldiers with generals and water with earth.

It was said that the Yun family had been quite lively recently, but no matter how lively the Yun family was, it had nothing to do with Ren Yaoqi.

However, in mid-February, Ren Yaoqi received a letter from Xiao Jinglin saying that Sha Niu had suddenly fallen ill, asking if Ren Yaoqi wanted to go with her to see Sha Niu.

Ren Yaoqi hadn’t seen Sha Niu for quite some time. Speaking of it, from the beginning until now, she hadn’t seen Sha Niu many times, but Sha Niu had always been very friendly toward her. So whether between people or between people and animals, it all came down to fate.

Hearing that Sha Niu was ill, Ren Yaoqi was also somewhat worried, so she wrote back telling Xiao Jinglin that she would also go to the hot spring villa with her.

Ren Yaoqi and Xiao Jinglin hadn’t seen each other for some time either. Since she and Xiao Jingxi had discussed marriage, she hadn’t seen either Xiao Jinglin or Xiao Jingxi, only occasionally exchanging a few letters with Xiao Jinglin.

In mid-February, although the temperature had begun to warm, and it was said that the south was already filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers with spring colors abundant, Yanbei was still somewhat cold, especially in the early morning and evening when the cold wind was bone-piercing. So when Ren Yaoqi went out, she still wore a winter white fox fur hooded cloak over her face.

Xiao Jinglin, who was waiting for Ren Yaoqi to board the carriage, couldn’t help but curve her lips into a smile when she saw Ren Yaoqi’s outfit.

Ren Yaoqi knew what Xiao Jinglin was smiling about. Princess Xiao had only worn a thin lake-green long jacket with golden phoenix and peony patterns when she went out today, without even a cloak. Standing together with Ren Yaoqi, the two presented a stark contrast.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t think being afraid of cold was embarrassing, so she sat down beside Xiao Jinglin with an unchanged expression.

“What illness does Sha Niu have?” Ren Yaoqi asked.

“Quite a bit of its fur has fallen out, and it’s been listless lately. I don’t know what’s wrong with it.”

Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment. Although she had read many medical books, they were only for treating people – she had no experience treating animals. So, hearing Xiao Jinglin’s description, she couldn’t identify the right symptoms.

The carriage left the city and traveled to the hot spring villa.

When getting out of the carriage, Ren Yaoqi looked up and immediately saw that familiar figure standing not far away.

Xiao Jingxi stood there in black robes with dark hair, a smile playing at his lips as he looked at Ren Yaoqi. His gaze was gentle and peaceful, yet Ren Yaoqi felt as if she had been burned by his sight and couldn’t help but look away.

Although Xiao Jinglin hadn’t mentioned that Xiao Jingxi was also here, Ren Yaoqi wasn’t surprised to see him.

Xiao Jingxi waited until they had both gotten out of the carriage before walking over.

“Where is it now?” Xiao Jinglin glanced at Xiao Jingxi and asked.

“In the side room behind Qizhen Garden.”

Xiao Jinglin then led the way toward Qizhen Garden.

When Ren Yaoqi was about to follow Xiao Jinglin, Xiao Jingxi suddenly moved closer, raised his hand to pause briefly on Ren Yaoqi’s head like a dragonfly touching water, then quickly moved his hand away and stepped back.

Ren Yaoqi was startled and couldn’t help but glare at Xiao Jingxi.

Xiao Jingxi looked at Ren Yaoqi and smiled as he spread his palm open in front of her, saying innocently, “There was a piece of willow catkin.”

Ren Yaoqi looked at his palm and indeed saw a light piece of willow catkin in his palm. She thought it had probably blown in from the carriage window and happened to land on her head.

Then Xiao Jingxi, who was walking beside Ren Yaoqi, closed his hand again and said softly, “It seems it’s not willow catkin. Guess what it is?”

Ren Yaoqi heard some teasing in Xiao Jingxi’s pleasant voice. Although she couldn’t fathom what Xiao Jingxi was trying to do, responding to changes with constancy would never be wrong, so after glancing at him once, Ren Yaoqi paid him no more attention.

But Xiao Jingxi opened his palm again, and inside lay a small silk flower that Ren Yaoqi had previously pinned at her temple.

Seeing no one else around, Ren Yaoqi quickly reached out to retrieve her silk flower, but Xiao Jingxi had already stepped back half a pace, then closed his hand, shook it quickly, and when he opened his palm again, there was nothing in his hand.

Ren Yaoqi was stunned and looked at the smiling Xiao Jingxi. Just as she was about to speak, Xiao Jingxi’s palm opened once more. This time, what appeared in his palm was not the small silk flower, but a small pearl flower from Ren Yaoqi’s hair.

Ren Yaoqi immediately flushed red with anger. At this moment, Xiao Jinglin, who was walking ahead, stopped and looked back at them suspiciously. “Why aren’t you hurrying?”

Ren Yaoqi was angry at Xiao Jingxi for teasing her, but she was too embarrassed to tell Xiao Jinglin. She could only glare fiercely at Xiao Jingxi, walk around him to catch up with Xiao Jinglin, determined not to pay attention to Xiao Jingxi today.

“What’s wrong?” Xiao Jinglin glanced at Ren Yaoqi, whose face was somewhat red, then looked back at Xiao Jingxi, who hadn’t caught up.

Ren Yaoqi felt a bit embarrassed, shook her head, and said vaguely, “One of the pearl flowers in my hair fell out.”

Hearing this, Ren Yaohua looked at Ren Yaoqi’s hair and frowned, “Aren’t both pink pearl flowers still there?”

Ren Yaoqi was somewhat surprised and touched her hair bun, then indeed felt two pearl flowers. Feeling further up, she discovered that the small silk flower was also still properly in her hair.

Ren Yaoqi was truly amazed and couldn’t help but look back at Xiao Jingxi, meeting his smiling gaze. For some reason, her face reddened again, and she immediately turned away, no longer looking at him.

Xiao Jinglin led Ren Yaoqi to a row of side rooms in Qizhen Garden. Under the guidance of a maid, they entered the middle room. As soon as the door opened, they saw a large cage in the center of the room, with a huge white mass curled into a ball lying inside. Hearing the sound, the large ball seemed to move but then became still again.

Xiao Jinglin ordered someone to dismantle and remove the large cage, and Sha Niu, curled into a ball, was finally exposed to everyone. Generally, fierce beasts kept in households were caged. As Sha Niu grew larger, when Xiao Jinglin and Xiao Jingxi weren’t present, Sha Niu often had to stay in the cage, since there were other precious beasts and ordinary servants in the garden. Sha Niu was too playful, and most people were afraid of it.

At this moment, Sha Niu’s head finally moved again, revealing two large, round eyes. Seeing the visitors, its eyes seemed to brighten, then it wrinkled its nose and gently sniffed Xiao Jinglin’s hand as she scratched its neck. Normally, it would become carried away with comfort and roll over on its back, showing its belly.

But today’s Sha Niu had no energy. Although it poked its head out to play with Xiao Jinglin, its body remained curled in a ball, and when Xiao Jinglin gestured for it to stand up, it stayed curled up, playing dead.

“Hasn’t it gone out today?” Xiao Jinglin turned to ask the servant responsible for caring for Sha Niu.

The servant replied, “This humble one opened the cage earlier, but the white tiger seemed unwilling to move. It only ate half of the usual amount of fresh meat prepared for it.”

Xiao Jinglin frowned. “What exactly is wrong with it?”

At this moment, Xiao Jingxi also came over. He walked to Sha Niu’s side, bent down to gently pat Sha Niu’s head, seemingly making a gesture for it to get up. Sha Niu, who had been unwilling to move, looked at Xiao Jingxi once, then slowly stood up under Xiao Jinglin’s expressionless gaze, though the movement looked very reluctant.

Xiao Jinglin: “…”

With a cold snort, Xiao Jinglin slapped away Sha Niu’s big tiger head as it tried to curry favor with her again and stood up.

“What’s going on? When I came to see her last time, she was fine. How did she suddenly get sick?” Xiao Jinglin asked Xiao Jingxi.

Xiao Jingxi was instructing the servant to bring up the fresh meat that Sha Niu hadn’t finished earlier. Hearing this, he replied, “Bai Xue died some time ago, and Sha Niu stopped wanting to go out. Probably because of little exercise and picky eating habits, she started losing fur, which made her even more unwilling to go out.”

Echoing Xiao Jingxi’s words came Sha Niu’s listless “Ao wu—”

Xiao Jinglin was somewhat surprised. “Bai Xue is the white Persian cat that Nanny Xin used to keep?”

Xiao Jingxi nodded, “Yes, I sometimes had people bring Bai Xue over to play with it.”

Xiao Jinglin then lowered her head to look at Sha Niu’s supposedly balding areas, but Sha Niu refused to show its balding spots no matter what. No matter how much violence Xiao Jinglin used, it was useless, so she could only look at Xiao Jingxi reluctantly.

Xiao Jingxi walked over and touched Sha Niu. Not knowing how this person and tiger communicated, Sha Niu finally bashfully revealed its balding areas. But if it were human and had human expressions, then the expression on its face at this moment could only be described as “utterly humiliated.”

Ren Yaoqi looked at Sha Niu’s balding areas and indeed saw several small bald patches that weren’t very attractive. She seemed to understand why Sha Niu didn’t want people to see, and couldn’t help but find it amusing.

“Is that all? Is its body fine?” Xiao Jinglin asked with some concern.

Xiao Jingxi patted Sha Niu’s tiger head again, and Sha Niu immediately lay back down. At this moment, the servant brought in fresh meat mixed with some medicine and placed it in front of Sha Niu. Sha Niu put its nose to the meat to smell it, then lay back down with some disdain.

Xiao Jingxi pushed the plate of meat closer to Sha Niu and touched its head, saying quietly, “Choose between eating and bathing.”

Then, under everyone’s strange gazes, this bully-fearing big white tiger slowly got up, crawled to the plate, and began eating without any appetite.

Xiao Jinglin couldn’t hold back and asked expressionlessly while looking at Xiao Jingxi, “Why does it only understand what you say?”

Ren Yaoqi also looked at Xiao Jingxi curiously.

Noticing Ren Yaoqi’s gaze, Xiao Jingxi’s lips curved slightly, then he said earnestly, “It’s not that it only listens to me, but I learned about its habits from the beast trainer and picked up some training techniques.”

Xiao Jinglin suddenly understood and looked at Xiao Jingxi, curling her lips, “That’s just like your usual way of doing things.” For anything he liked, he would rather spend extra effort and patience to master it completely.

Thinking this, Xiao Jinglin looked at Ren Yaoqi with some worry. She was concerned that after Ren Yaoqi married Xiao Jingxi, she would be completely controlled by him like Sha Niu, because as long as Xiao Jingxi was willing, there was nothing in this world he couldn’t accomplish.

Xiao Jinglin didn’t yet understand that the relationship between men and women was not one of victory and defeat, but more often a matter of mutual willingness – simply put, “one willing to hit, one willing to be hit.” As for who between Xiao Jingxi and Ren Yaoqi was the one willing to hit and who was willing to be hit, only time would tell.

After seeing Sha Niu finish the entire plate of medicated meat, the group petted Sha Niu and withdrew from the side room.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” Xiao Jingxi comforted Xiao Jinglin and Ren Yaoqi.

Xiao Jinglin nodded somewhat absent-mindedly. Xiao Jingxi wanted to say something to Ren Yaoqi, but Ren Yaoqi still remembered Xiao Jingxi’s earlier teasing and walked past him without looking sideways, ignoring him.

Xiao Jingxi was stunned for a moment, then smiled and followed behind them.

It wasn’t until the three sat in a pavilion drinking tea and Xiao Jinglin got up alone to freshen up that Xiao Jingxi found an opportunity to speak with Ren Yaoqi.

Using the motion of pouring tea for Ren Yaoqi, Xiao Jingxi moved slightly closer to her and said quietly, “Still angry?”

Ren Yaoqi ignored him.

Xiao Jingxi put down the teapot and said softly, “Don’t be angry anymore. I apologize to you. I didn’t mean to tease you on purpose. The magic trick just now was something I specifically learned from someone… only for you to see.”

Ren Yaoqi’s face reddened. Xiao Jingxi’s phrase “only for you to see” made Ren Yaoqi’s heart beat faster involuntarily. She knew that Xiao Jingxi did all this just to make her happy, and she wasn’t angry with him.

So Ren Yaoqi glanced at Xiao Jingxi, blushed, and picked up her teacup to take a sip, accepting Xiao Jingxi’s apology.

Seeing this, the gentle smile that bloomed in Xiao Jingxi’s eyes made him very attractive. Even a little maid standing outside the pavilion who accidentally glanced their way immediately blushed and lowered her head, not daring to look again.

Ren Yaoqi looked at him for a while, then quietly looked away.

The two sat in the pavilion for a while until Xiao Jingxi spoke up, “Don’t worry about the Empress Dowager’s bestowed marriage. I’ll handle it.”

Ren Yaoqi lowered her head and hummed in acknowledgment.

Xiao Jingxi looked at the blushing, silent Ren Yaoqi and couldn’t help but be mischievous, “If it really can’t be refused in the end…” Xiao Jingxi deliberately paused, wanting to see Ren Yaoqi’s reaction before adding, “I’ll still only marry you.”

But he overlooked someone’s presence.

So a voice coolly interrupted from behind them, “Didn’t Father help you refuse it? Without the ability, don’t take on tasks beyond your capability. With your physical condition, you’d better give up thoughts of enjoying the fortune of having multiple wives.”

Xiao Jingxi’s smile stiffened. Sure enough, Xiao Jinglin walked out from behind them, glanced at Xiao Jingxi, and sat steadily in her seat.

Ren Yaoqi looked at Xiao Jinglin, then at Xiao Jingxi whose face looked somewhat embarrassed, and couldn’t help but “puff” out in laughter. This time she laughed quite gleefully, with no sympathy for Xiao Jingxi whatsoever.

Xiao Jinglin ignored Xiao Jingxi and started chatting with Ren Yaoqi about the Thousand Gold Banquet, telling her what she had learned about why the Empress Dowager had suddenly become interested in participating in the banquet.

Ren Yaoqi was stunned to hear it was because of Noble Consort Wan, then frowned.

She felt this matter was directed at her.

Many people said she resembled the late Noble Consort Wan, while Eldest Miss Yan resembled Empress Dowager Yan. Given Empress Dowager Yan’s complex about Noble Consort Wan, she certainly couldn’t bear to see her outshone by Miss Yan, especially since Xiao Jingxi had refused the Yan family’s marriage proposal because of her.

Empress Dowager Yan was sending people thousands of li to participate in Yanbei’s Thousand Gold Banquet. Although she was nominally sending ten young ladies, Eldest Miss Yan would certainly appear. This was meant to have her compete directly with Eldest Miss Yan.

But neither losing nor winning would be easy to handle.

Winning would slap the court and Empress Dowager Yan in the face, while losing would disgrace Noble Consort Wan and the Prince of Hezhong, and also make the Yanbei Prince’s mansion, which had chosen her and refused the Yan family marriage, lose face. It was truly a dilemma.

Xiao Jingxi seemed to know what she was thinking and said casually, “If we win, we win. I’ve only heard of those who can’t afford to lose, never those who dare not win.”

Although Xiao Jingxi’s tone was ordinary, these words showed considerable confidence and pride.

If the Prince of Yanbei were here, he would pat his shoulder and laugh loudly, “Good son! You haven’t disgraced your father!”

Ren Yaoqi looked at Xiao Jingxi curiously, “What if we lose?” Even if the Yanbei Prince’s mansion wasn’t afraid of offending Empress Dowager Yan, did Xiao Jingxi have such confidence that she could win?

Hearing this, Xiao Jingxi smiled and only replied with two words, “Won’t happen.” He seemed more confident than Ren Yaoqi herself.

But Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but recall her impressions of Miss Yan. In her previous life, she hadn’t seen Miss Yan in person, but she had heard of her title as the capital’s greatest beauty. This “greatest beauty” title might have some bias due to Empress Dowager Yan’s influence, but Miss Yan being a beauty was undoubtedly true, otherwise, the greatest beauty title would become a joke.

She had also heard that Miss Yan was multi-talented. The Yan family was a prestigious family with deep foundations – teaching their daughters to excel in everything wasn’t difficult. In the early decades after the Great Zhou Dynasty’s founding, many prestigious families were unwilling to marry into the imperial family. The Li family had also accumulated over several generations to have the confidence they now possessed when facing other prominent families.

Thinking of this, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but remember how in her previous life, Eldest Miss Yan had eventually brought her dowry and chased Xiao Jingxi to Yanbei. She lightly tapped her teacup against the stone table in the pavilion, making a dull sound.

In her previous life, Miss Yan’s pursuit of Yanbei had been several years later. The current Miss Yan should only be about thirteen or fourteen years old. Whether because she admired Xiao Jingxi or for some other reason, Miss Yan in her previous life had never married.

“What’s wrong?” Xiao Jingxi, sitting beside her, suddenly asked while looking at Ren Yaoqi.

Ren Yaoqi came back to her senses, carefully examined him for a moment, then slowly turned her head away, took a sip of tea, and said nothing.

Xiao Jingxi frowned, feeling somewhat unsettled, and couldn’t help but look at Xiao Jinglin.

Xiao Jinglin straightforwardly returned him an elegant eye roll, which inexplicably made one think of the Prince of Yanbei speaking elegantly while using his distinctive magnetic voice to curse.

“The so-called ‘know yourself and your enemy, and you’ll never be defeated.’ Find someone to inquire about what this Miss Yan excels at, then defeat her on stage,” Xiao Jinglin said, displaying Princess Xiao’s characteristic bold spirit.

Ren Yaoqi was amused by Xiao Jinglin, “How does one know oneself and the enemy?”

Xiao Jingxi was about to say he’d have someone investigate for her when Xiao Jinglin, not wanting the world to remain peaceful, spoke up, “Isn’t that simple? There’s someone right here who’s seen Miss Yan several times. I heard he even listened to her play a piece on the qin. Just ask him.”

Ren Yaoqi turned to look at Xiao Jingxi.

Ren Yaoqi’s gaze was clear and light as usual, but for some reason, Xiao Jingxi broke out in a cold sweat. He coughed lightly and said, “I only happened to encounter her twice when I was in the capital. Once in the Empress Dowager’s palace, when I arrived, she happened to be playing the qin.” After a pause, Xiao Jingxi quickly added, “There were many people present at the time.”

Xiao Jinglin snorted lightly, clearly disapproving of Xiao Jingxi’s tendency to attract attention.

Ren Yaoqi then asked, “How well does Miss Yan play the qin?”

Xiao Jingxi paused and said carefully, “Her technique is very skilled and quite good, but in terms of artistic conception, she’s still a step behind you.”

Xiao Jingxi had originally wanted to say she didn’t play very well, but when the words reached his lips, he still told the truth. Although he wanted to make Ren Yaoqi happy, he didn’t want to deceive her about an irrelevant person. He had no interest in Miss Yan to begin with, and being evasive would be beneath him.

It must be said that Xiao Jingxi understood Ren Yaoqi quite well, at least better than many people in this world. If Xiao Jingxi had said Miss Yan played poorly to make Ren Yaoqi happy, Ren Yaoqi would have thought he was being glib. Now that Xiao Jingxi said Miss Yan played quite well, Ren Yaoqi believed him, and her slightly furrowed brow relaxed somewhat.

“How did the Empress Dowager suddenly notice the Thousand Gold Banquet?” Ren Yaoqi returned to the main topic.

Although Xiao Jinglin had just told her it was because Empress Dowager Yan wanted to compete with Noble Consort Wan, Ren Yaoqi was asking how these rumors had reached Empress Dowager Yan’s ears.

Since Xiao Jinglin had been responsible for investigating this matter, she answered, “I also found it strange at first. On the surface, it seems to be because this Thousand Gold Banquet is being held more grandly than in previous years and was praised so highly that it reached the ears of some ladies in the capital, who then passed it to the Empress Dowager, inspiring her idea.”

Ren Yaoqi frowned, “Empress Dowager Yan has always been sensitive about Noble Consort Wan. Few people dare mention Noble Consort Wan in front of her.” Especially praising Noble Consort Wan’s beauty – that would be asking for death.

“It’s said to have been accidentally mentioned by a lady who doesn’t usually reside in the capital.” Those familiar with Empress Dowager Yan naturally wouldn’t dare mention Noble Consort Wan.

Ren Yaoqi still had doubts, as she had a suspect in mind and felt this was too much of a coincidence.

Xiao Jinglin said, “If someone is scheming behind the scenes, we’ll eventually find traces. Don’t worry, I’ll continue having people investigate.” Xiao Jinglin had also been suspicious when investigating this matter. If someone was indeed pulling strings behind the scenes, they certainly had considerable ability, at least making their surface work so well that no flaws could be found for the time being.

Since Xiao Jinglin had volunteered to investigate this matter, Xiao Jingxi just listened on the side without interrupting.

The three sat in the pavilion talking for a while longer before leaving the hot spring villa. Before departing, they visited Sha Niu once more.

Xiao Jingxi still helped Ren Yaoqi and Xiao Jinglin board the carriage first. Although he said nothing, his smiling gaze remained on Ren Yaoqi throughout. Like last time, his gentle gaze felt substantial. Xiao Jingxi’s attention made Ren Yaoqi suddenly feel as if no matter when she looked back, she would see his gaze focused solely on her.

Her heart suddenly fluttered.

Xiao Jinglin still used her carriage to send Ren Yaoqi home. When the carriage reached Zhengyang Avenue, they heard firecrackers and gongs and drums outside. The driver asked through the curtain, “Princess, it seems someone is sending betrothal gifts. Should we wait or take a detour?” Sending betrothal gifts referred to the formal presentation of wedding gifts from the groom’s family to the bride’s family.

Xiao Jinglin lifted the curtain to look outside and found they had already traveled most of Zhengyang Avenue. Taking a detour would require a long route, and with many people gathering to watch the excitement, it wouldn’t be easy for the carriage to turn around.

“Let’s pull aside and wait for them to pass,” Xiao Jinglin said, lowering the curtain without showing any impatience.

Ren Yaoqi looked at Xiao Jinglin and teased, “What a humble princess you are.”

Given the Xiao family’s status in Yanbei, if Princess Xiao wanted to use any road, others would willingly make way even if they had urgent matters, without any complaints. But when Xiao Jinglin’s driver saw someone blocking the road with betrothal gifts, his first reaction was to ask whether to detour or wait for them to pass first.

As they say, what kind of master has what kind of servant? This showed that although Princess Xiao liked to put on a cold, aloof appearance to keep people at a distance, she had a very approachable nature and no pretentious airs.

Hearing that Ren Yaoqi was deliberately teasing her, Xiao Jinglin didn’t mind, “They’re celebrating happily, so why spoil their joy? It’s just waiting a bit – no harm done.”

The most difficult person to serve in their prince’s mansion was Xiao Jingxi, who displayed grandeur wherever he went and was incredibly particular about food, clothing, and daily needs. When Xiao Jinglin was young, out of some inexplicable jealousy toward Xiao Jingxi, she had often complained about her brother to the Prince of Yanbei. Since the Prince himself wasn’t so particular – he had campaigned for years, often eating from the same pot as his subordinates, gathering around to share roasted sweet potatoes and wild vegetable soup –

Whenever this happened, the Prince of Yanbei would comfort Xiao Jinglin: “Daughter, don’t bother with your brother. He’s been weak and sickly since childhood, and your mother feared he wouldn’t survive, so she raised him like a daughter. You and I work hard outside so that they can enjoy peace and comfort at home, isn’t that right? Be good, daughter, and make allowances for him.”

When Xiao Jinglin was still young, the Prince of Yanbei solved sibling conflicts this way, always pleased with his cleverness.

Princess Xiao was truly innocent as a child and believed her father after being coaxed a few times. She never noticed anything odd about the Prince of Yanbei’s words, so although she disliked Xiao Jingxi’s pickiness, she was always willing to protect him.

This shows that children’s personalities are greatly influenced by their parents’ methods of upbringing. By the time the Princess Consort discovered that her daughter was growing increasingly “crooked” and becoming more like her father than herself, it was too late to correct course.

While Xiao Jinglin was still thinking about those inevitable conflicts between her and Xiao Jingxi in childhood, Ren Yaoqi was listening to people talking outside the carriage.

“These past few days have been full of auspicious days, very lively indeed. Yesterday, two families’ bridal sedan chairs collided, and the two grooms almost carried off the wrong brides – what a joke that was.”

“Indeed, though today’s family is only presenting betrothal gifts, the procession looks quite grand. I wonder which family’s young master it is?”

“It’s the Zhou family. The Zhou young master studies at Yunyang Academy and is said to be extremely talented with a bright future! Oh, I heard this Young Master Zhou’s father is an official in the Yanbei Prince’s mansion.”

“Ah, that explains it.”

By then, the procession carrying betrothal gifts had passed, the driver had brought the carriage back onto the street, and the conversation between those two people could no longer be heard clearly.

“What’s wrong? Is something the matter?” Xiao Jinglin noticed that Ren Yaoqi seemed to be thinking about something and asked.

Ren Yaoqi said, “Nothing, I just think I might know the family that was presenting betrothal gifts.” From the conversation between those two people, Ren Yaoqi thought the Zhou young master they mentioned might be Zhou Wen.

Xiao Jinglin nodded without asking further – she had no interest in such matters.

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but wonder: Zhou Wen was about to get married?

But thinking about it, after Ren Yaoying had made such an unpleasant scene with the Zhou siblings, giving Zhou Wo no face whatsoever in her effort to escape him, it wasn’t strange that Zhou Wen would now marry someone else.

Xiao Jinglin still escorted Ren Yaoqi to her door, watching her enter the mansion before leaving.

That evening, when Ren Yaoqi went to bid Li Shi good night, she rarely asked, “Has Ninth Sister’s marriage been arranged?”

Li Shi said, “It should have been settled long ago, with the He family from Zhuozhou that your grandmother mentioned.”

When the Ren family expelled Ren Shimin from the clan, they kept Ren Yaoying, this concubine-born daughter, in the family precisely because they had secretly arranged her marriage behind Ren Shimin’s back. Ren Shimin had never liked Ren Yaoying, and in the end, treated her as if she weren’t his daughter. As for that son-in-law who was older than him, he had no intention of acknowledging him at all.

The Ren family probably regretted this deeply now. If they hadn’t sold off Ren Yaoying so early, now with Li Shi’s status as the legitimate mother of a princess, Ren Yaoying might have been able to marry into a higher position, and the conflict between the Ren family and Ren Shimin might have been somewhat eased.

Unfortunately, money can’t buy foresight.