Hanyou quickly crawled through the small hole in the wall below. This usually extremely ladylike person crawled quite fast, making Ren Yaoqi almost want to laugh.
The hole wasn’t very large. The playful young master who had created it must have been a child with a small build, because if an adult man tried to crawl through it, he would get stuck in the wall opening.
Ren Yaoqi suddenly realized – was she perhaps trusting Hanyou too much? If any of the Ren family sisters had invited her to come alone like this, she wouldn’t have agreed so readily. Why did she believe that Hanyou harbored no ill intentions toward her?
She looked around. This place was extremely remote and on someone else’s property. If someone had ulterior motives, she wouldn’t even have anywhere to call for help.
Hanyou didn’t stay away for long. Ren Yaoqi only waited for a moment before hearing rustling sounds coming from the wall hole. She didn’t speak to ask questions, but instead stood further away.
Soon, Hanyou’s head appeared again.
Hanyou quickly crawled out, then turned around to pull another person out as well.
The person who came out behind Hanyou was indeed Ren Yaoting.
Both of them were now somewhat disheveled. Their sleeves, knees, and hair were all dirty, and Ren Yaoting had a red mark on her neck from being scratched by something.
“Fifth Sister, you—” As soon as Ren Yaoting got up, she saw Ren Yaoqi and couldn’t help but be surprised.
“Shh—” Hanyou quickly tugged at her sleeve and warned in a low voice, “Sister Ting, keep your voice down. Don’t let anyone hear us. We’ll talk about everything later.”
Hanyou took the clothes she had taken off earlier from Ren Yaoqi’s hands and skillfully put them on. Indeed, most of the dirty and messy parts of her body were now covered, with only her hair still somewhat disheveled.
“What about me?” Only then did Ren Yaoting realize that her clothes were dirty, and she became somewhat anxious. If she had to meet people looking like this, she would have preferred to step forward on her own earlier and admit her mistake to Old Master Han!
After putting on her clothes, Hanyou squatted down to move the bricks back to block up the hole. Ren Yaoqi stepped forward to help.
After the two of them worked together to complete this task, Hanyou gestured for Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaoting to follow her.
“Let’s get out first, or go to my courtyard to change into new clothes. Sister Ting should be able to fit into my clothes.” Hanyou didn’t forget to comfort Ren Yaoting in a low voice.
Only then did Ren Yaoting close her mouth and obediently follow behind Hanyou.
After all three of them had run out and were far from that courtyard, Hanyou finally breathed a sigh of relief and almost fell to the ground. Ren Yaoqi quickly reached out to steady her. Hanyou gave Ren Yaoqi a shy smile and returned to her usual ladylike appearance.
“Finally out! That was close!”
Ren Yaoting, however, complained somewhat unhappily: “But my clothes are all dirty.”
If he saw her looking like this, she would want to die.
“Quickly take me to your courtyard to change clothes.”
Ren Yaoqi glanced at her appearance and couldn’t help but frown: “But if people see you like this, I’m afraid there will be trouble.” She remembered what Hanyou had said earlier about not having any truly loyal confidants by her side. Anyone with eyes could tell where Ren Yaoting had crawled out from looking like this.
Ren Yaoting frowned: “What trouble? I’ll just say I accidentally got my clothes dirty.”
Ren Yaoqi knew that Ren Yaoting probably hadn’t realized how much resentment her behavior would cause the Han family, so she said seriously, “Seventh Sister, do you think everyone else is stupid? You disappeared for so long and suddenly appeared in front of people looking like this – others will speculate about what you were doing. Sister You just risked being discovered to find you. If people found out, she would be scolded by her elders. Moreover… I heard that Old Master Han most detests people who ignore his orders and trespass in places he has forbidden! Looking like this will make the Han family elders displeased.”
“Then what should we do?” Thinking of Old Master Han’s earlier demeanor, Ren Yaoting also became worried. She didn’t want to be disliked by the Han family elders because of this incident, otherwise, she wouldn’t have lowered herself to crawl through a dog hole just now.
Hanyou said: “How about this – you can pretend that you fell and sprained your foot. This way you can explain why you were missing for so long. Because your clothes got dirty and it was inconvenient to walk, and you were too embarrassed to call out loudly for the Han family maids to see your disheveled state, you could only sit in place, waiting for people from your household to find you. Then Sister Yaoqi and I found you.”
Ren Yaoting couldn’t refute Hanyou’s suggestion and could only reluctantly nod: “That works too.”
Ren Yaoqi said nothing more either. The priority was to cover up this incident and leave the Han residence first.
In the end, Hanyou and Ren Yaoqi supported Ren Yaoting, who had “injured” her foot, as they emerged from the garden.
Ren Yaoqi’s maid Pingguo had been paying attention to the movements in the garden all along, so when she heard sounds, she immediately ran over. Seeing Ren Yaoting looking as if she had injured her right foot, she was startled.
“Miss, what happened to Seventh Miss?”
“She sprained her ankle a bit. Go tell Great Aunt that I need to accompany Seventh Sister back first. She recently took several doses of medicine for a cold, so if she needs medication, it’s better to use the physician she’s accustomed to. Also, bring my thin silk cloak.”
When she left home, Nanny Xu had prepared a cloak for her, which could be lent to Ren Yaoting to cover her disheveled appearance and avoid having her actually go to Hanyou’s courtyard to change clothes.
However, Great Madam Ren had already finished tea with Old Madam Han and was about to call for Ren Yaoqi and the others to return home. So when Pingguo hurriedly brought the cloak over, Great Madam Ren also rushed over, accompanied by Old Madam Han.
Both women were startled to see Ren Yaoting being supported by Ren Yaoqi and Hanyou.
Great Madam Ren hurried forward to examine Ren Yaoting: “How did you fall when everything was fine? How is your foot? Is it serious?” Regardless of whether she liked this niece or not, the girl had come out with her, and if something happened, she wouldn’t be able to explain it to the Eastern Manor.
Old Madam Han was also examining Ren Yaoting. Fortunately, Ren Yaoqi and Hanyou had helped tidy up Ren Yaoting’s appearance earlier to make her fall story look more believable.
“Fifth Sister and Sister You just examined me. It’s only a bit red and not swollen, so it should just be a twisted tendon and not an injured bone. I was scared and didn’t dare walk by myself, so I waited for Sister You to come find me.” Ren Yaoting spoke according to their previously planned explanation.
It must be said that Ren Yaoting had considerable talent for lying. These few sentences were spoken very smoothly without any nervousness.
Great Madam Ren was still somewhat worried and insisted on having a woman servant by her side examine Ren Yaoting: “If the bone is injured, then she shouldn’t be moved, and we need to wait for a physician to come to the residence to examine her first. Only if there’s no serious problem can she ride in a carriage.” Great Madam Ren was afraid of being held responsible.
Ren Yaoting agreed, and Great Madam called over one of her trusted nannies to examine Ren Yaoting.
Considering that Ren Yaoting was an unmarried young lady, the woman servant was very careful to find a place where others couldn’t see to help examine Ren Yaoting.
However, Ren Yaoting wasn’t injured, so she only pretended to cry out in pain when the nanny pressed on her foot.
The nanny was somewhat skeptical, thinking that Seventh Miss was being too delicate, but when reporting back, she still said respectfully: “Madam, Seventh Miss only twisted a tendon – the bone is not injured.”
Great Madam breathed a sigh of relief and only then took leave of Old Madam Han.
Old Madam Han said somewhat apologetically: “We were not attentive enough in our hospitality. Please forgive us.”
Shan’er, who had been guarding the courtyard gate, also ran over when she heard the news. When she saw Ren Yaoting, she finally felt truly relieved.
Since she had been guarding the gate the whole time and hadn’t seen anyone else enter or exit besides the Han grandmother and granddaughter, she believed that Ren Yaoting had indeed fallen. Seeing Old Madam Han looking at her, Shan’er nodded imperceptibly.
Ren Yaoqi helped Ren Yaoting into the carriage and said, “Seventh Sister, let me ride in the same carriage with you so I can take care of you along the way.”
Ren Yaoting had been feeling much more favorable toward Ren Yaoqi recently, so she naturally wouldn’t object. Ren Yaoqi had her maid tell Ren Yaohua about this. Ren Yaohua said nothing.
So on the way back, Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaoting rode in the same carriage.
Ren Yaoting also had things she wanted to discuss with Ren Yaoqi, so she sent her maid to sit outside.
When only the two of them remained in the carriage, Ren Yaoting finally didn’t need to pretend to be injured anymore. She relaxed and leaned back against the carriage.
“Seventh Sister, when you entered that courtyard earlier without anyone stopping you, was it because the woman guarding the courtyard was burning incense in the back courtyard?” Ren Yaoqi poured a cup of warm tea for Ren Yaoting and asked quietly.
Ren Yaoting picked up the cup and took a big gulp before saying, “How did you know?”
Ren Yaoqi smiled and chose her words carefully: “I heard that the courtyard seemed to have some shrines…”
Ren Yaoting patted her chest with lingering fear: “So you knew! If I had known that place was an ancestral hall with memorial tablets, I wouldn’t have gone in. It was eerily frightening! How did you find out? Did Sister You tell you? When I asked her, Why didn’t she tell me?”
Ignoring Ren Yaoting’s jealous muttering, Ren Yaoqi’s mind raced.
It was an ancestral hall?
“Isn’t the Han family ancestral hall in Jizhou? How could there be an ancestral hall here?”
People of this era held great reverence and respect for ancestral tablets. When moving to a new residence and relocating ancestral tablets, Buddhist monks and Taoist priests needed to be invited to perform ceremonies with great fanfare, which also served to inform the surrounding spiritual neighbors. The more prominent the family, the more elaborate the ceremonies would be.
Han Dongshan was a son-in-law who married into the family. His father-in-law, Han Jianping, only had one daughter and couldn’t continue the family line. By rights, his tablet should still be in the Han family ancestral hall in Jizhou. To bring it here would require waiting until his son Han Yunqian became the head of the family and, after consulting with clan elders, organizing an elaborate ceremony.
So the tablets that the Han family was carefully venerating should not be Han family ancestors.
“I was just startled at the time and didn’t pay attention, but thinking about it now, it does seem strange.” Ren Yaoting tilted her head in thought. “And those rows of tablets didn’t seem to be from the Han family.”
“Rows?” Ren Yaoqi was slightly stunned. “You mean there was more than one tablet enshrined there?”