Originally, it was expected that the ten young ladies selected by the Empress Dowager would not arrive in Yunyang City until at least late April. Unexpectedly, less than two months after Ren Yaoqi received the invitation to the Yun family’s Thousand Gold Banquet, several young ladies had already reached Cangzhou.

Cangzhou bordered Yingzhou in Yanbei. Ships traveling north to Yan by waterway generally choose to dock at Cangzhou for supplies, or to decide between continuing by land route or water route northward.

The young ladies were all delicately raised and could no longer endure the hardships of water travel, unwilling to continue by boat. So from Cangzhou to Yunyang City in Yanzhou, they traveled by land.

It was only mid-April now. Even traveling slowly from Cangzhou to Yunyang City would take only two or three days at most. It was expected that the young ladies from the capital would arrive by April 18th at the latest.

Yanbei had been warming day by day since the Qingming Festival. Even Ren Yaoqi, who was always afraid of cold, had put away her winter clothes and donned spring attire, though the wind outside was still strong, so she would add a somewhat thicker cloak when going out.

On April 17th, Ren Yaoqi was in Li Shi’s room, embroidering her red bridal veil stitch by stitch under the watchful eyes of Li Shi and Nanny Zhou, when she heard several younger second and third-class maids chattering quietly in the corridor outside. Though they deliberately kept their voices low, their vitality and excitement could still be felt.

Senior maid Que’er glanced at Nanny Zhou and quietly stepped outside. Que’er had a much gentler nature than Xi’er and was quite caring toward the younger maids below her. Fearing they might make too much noise outside and anger Nanny Zhou, resulting in punishment, she wanted to go out and remind those little maids.

Before long, Que’er returned together with Xi’er.

“Madam, Miss, we heard that the young ladies from the capital have already reached the city outskirts. Many people have flocked to the city gates to watch the excitement. Everyone outside is talking about this now,” Que’er said as soon as she entered.

Xi’er also said, “This servant just specially sent someone outside to inquire. Those young ladies can indeed enter the city today. The Yanbei Prince’s mansion has specially arranged a large villa not far from the mansion to accommodate them.”

Nanny Zhou detested everyone related to Empress Dowager Yan. Hearing this, she said coldly, “Instruct everyone below to stay properly in the mansion. Anyone who privately runs out to watch the excitement should beware of my rod!”

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Xi’er and Que’er exchanged glances, looking as if they had something to say but didn’t know whether they should.

Nanny Zhou frowned, “What? Has someone already run out?”

Que’er hesitated, “The servants and maids below haven’t, but the young master seems to have gone…”

Hearing this, Nanny Zhou was stunned and couldn’t help but look toward Li Shi. The young master Que’er mentioned was Ren Shimin’s concubine-born son Ren Yihong. While Nanny Zhou could discipline the maids and servants below, it wasn’t her place to manage Ren Yihong.

Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi was surprised and couldn’t help but look up, “Sixth Brother went to the city gates to watch the excitement?” Ren Yihong had always been one to focus solely on reading sage books, not listening to affairs outside his window. His nature wasn’t frivolous either – when encountering young ladies on ordinary days, he would avoid them from afar. That he would run to the city gates to look at girls?

Li Shi was also puzzled, “Yihong went too? Doesn’t he usually dislike such excitement?”

Xi’er said, “The young master didn’t go alone. Classmates from Yunyang Academy came to find him to go together, and Young Master Meng was there too. But we heard they weren’t going for those wealthy young ladies. Several court officials came with the young ladies from the capital, including Lord Pei, who is greatly admired by those talented scholars. They went together to welcome Lord Pei.”

Ren Yaoqi had been holding an embroidery needle, but upon hearing Xi’er’s words, her heart jumped and her hand trembled. The embroidery needle pricked her finger, startling her into quickly pulling her hand away to prevent blood from staining the unfinished veil, which would be inauspicious.

Li Shi had been watching her embroider and seeing this, quickly said, “How careless! Come, let me see your hand.”

Ren Yaoqi had Xi’er come over to tidy up and take away the embroidery basket, then looked at her finger and said to Li Shi, “It’s nothing, just broke the skin a little. There’s not even any blood.”

Li Shi pulled her hand over to examine it. Perhaps because the embroidery needle was too fine and the prick was not deep, there was no blood to be seen. Relieved, she couldn’t help but gently scold Ren Yaoqi, “Look at you, such a grown person yet can’t even hold an embroidery needle steady. When I asked you to come embroider in my room before, you weren’t willing.”

Ren Yaoqi quickly admitted her error with proper attitude. Li Shi wasn’t as gloomy now as she had been in the Ren family’s old residence. She talked more, but also liked to nag her daughter. Ren Yaoqi didn’t know if this situation was good or bad – she just got a headache whenever Li Shi started lecturing her.

After Li Shi finally stopped nagging, Ren Yaoqi asked Xi’er, “Which Lord Pei came from the capital?”

Xi’er didn’t understand the southern court officials. After thinking, she said, “This servant isn’t clear either, but we heard from the young master’s servant that this Lord Pei has quite a background – he’s the Emperor’s teacher.”

Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but be somewhat dazed. Could it be that the Teacher had come?

In her previous life, Pei Zhiyan had indeed come to Yanbei, though Ren Yaoqi didn’t know exactly when. However, the reason for coming was certainly different from this time, because in her previous life, the Empress Dowager had never sent people to participate in the Thousand Gold Banquet.

Pei Zhiyan was a very important person for Ren Yaoqi.

In her previous life, Ren Yaoqi was nominally his concubine. Though they had no actual marital relations, they had been companions for many years with deep affection. She had no plans to marry and originally thought she would continue to accompany him through the remaining years. But one day she fell slightly ill, and when she drowsily awakened again, she had returned to when she was ten years old, with everything from her previous life seeming like a dream.

Seeing Ren Yaoqi’s absent-mindedness, Li Shi thought she was tired and let her return to rest first, coming back for lunch later.

Ren Yaoqi indeed had something on her mind. Hearing this, she withdrew.

After returning to the west wing, Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment and still sent Pingguo to find Yuan Dayong to inquire about news from outside.

Ren Yaoqi would marry in September. She had set Pingguo and Yuan Dayong’s wedding date for June, so when she married, Yuan Dayong and Pingguo would accompany her to the Yanbei Prince’s mansion as her servants. The Yuan family was naturally more than willing with this arrangement – it must be said that Sister-in-Law Yuan’s vision was quite good.

She had also agreed to Xueli and Zhu Ruomei’s match, letting the Zhu family set the wedding date themselves. Zhu Ruomei had now been promoted to deputy captain. Though the official position wasn’t large, he was now properly a military officer by birth, so Xueli’s status would naturally be different when she married him. Only then did Xueli understand why Ren Yaoqi had her wait a year longer to marry, and her heart was even more grateful.

Among the senior maids around Ren Yaoqi, the newly promoted Pingxia and Qianlan were still young and not urgent for marriage arrangements, and Sangshen was only fifteen and could stay two more years. If the Yuan family hadn’t taken a fancy to Pingguo early on, Ren Yaoqi actually wouldn’t have been willing to let her marry early.

On this day, Yunyang City was very lively. The citizens of Yunyang City were quite curious about the young ladies who had traveled thousands of li to Yanbei to participate in the Thousand Gold Banquet. Although these young ladies stayed in carriages when entering the city, preventing them from glimpsing their faces, they still gathered at the city gates to watch the excitement.

However, there were many guards in Yunyang City, especially on a day like today when the guards dispatched for duty were particularly diligent. So, although the crowd watching the excitement could be called a sea of people, nothing went wrong. But it was said that several of the young ladies were frightened by the enthusiastic hospitality of the Yanbei people, and combined with the fatigue of travel and acclimatization issues, some fell ill.

While it was lively outside, the Ren family in Yunyang City was the same as usual. Because Nanny Zhou had given instructions early on, no one dared to sneak out to watch the excitement, and everyone was quite well-behaved.

By evening, Yuan Dayong’s side hadn’t sent any news yet, but Ren Yihong returned first.

When Ren Yihong came to the inner courtyard to see Ren Shimin, Ren Yaoqi also went to the main room.

When Ren Yaoqi arrived, Ren Yihong was telling Ren Shimin about the day’s events.

“…There were too many people. Your son nearly got separated from several classmates. Unfortunately, we still didn’t get to see that Teacher Pei,” Ren Yihong said with some disappointment in his tone.

Ren Yaoqi interjected, “Which Teacher Pei?”

Ren Yihong looked up at Ren Yaoqi, called her “Second Sister,” then replied, “It’s Lord Pei Zhiyan. We heard he was recently demoted for some reason. This time, he volunteered to accompany those young ladies to Yanbei. Many people at the academy have read his ‘Hanmo Notes’ and greatly admire him. So when we heard he was coming to Yunyang City, we wanted to meet him.”

Ren Yaoqi naturally knew about Pei Zhiyan’s “Hanmo Notes.” Hanmo was Teacher Pei’s courtesy name. Before Teacher Pei took the imperial examination for top scholar, he had already read countless books. In those days, he liked to write down insights and annotations for every book he read. Accumulated over the years, this became more than ten volumes. These volumes were originally only borrowed and read by a few of his friends, but later, after he became the imperial tutor, these volumes somehow circulated widely, becoming the “Hanmo Notes” spoken of among scholars. Even scholars in Yanbei had sought them out to study.

So it was Teacher Pei who had come.

Even though Ren Yaoqi had already prepared herself mentally, hearing Ren Yihong say this still stirred her emotions.

Ren Shimin also knew of Pei Zhiyan. He said, “I heard that Teacher Pei has an excellent relationship with Principal Xu. When he comes, he’ll surely visit Yunyang Academy. It’s not like you won’t have a chance to see him – why be so impatient?”

“Didn’t Teacher arrive today?” Hearing Ren Shimin say this, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but ask.

Ren Yihong shook his head, “We heard that an official fell ill on the road. After disembarking, Teacher Pei suggested separating from these young ladies, staying behind to care for the ill official. So he probably won’t arrive in Yunyang City for several more days.”