After bidding farewell to Rong Shi, Ren Yaoqi followed Xiangqin to meet up with the Ren family.

Although people from Prince Yanbei’s mansion and the Su family had come out to take charge of the situation, the area near the riverbank was still somewhat chaotic. Many families worried that more dangerous incidents might occur, so they were rushing to leave. Quite a few frightened women were still crying and wailing.

Quite several families had come to participate in the dragon boat races this time, so even to leave, they needed to depart in batches, since the road leading into the city wasn’t wide. Without proper order, they would be stuck here in a traffic jam.

So even though Old Madam Ren wanted to take her family and leave, they still had to wait for the carriages ahead to depart first.

Ren Yaoqi went to greet Old Madam Ren. The old madam was currently feeling restless and irritated, so she had no time to properly question Ren Yaoqi. She waved her hand dismissively and told her to get into Ren Yaohua’s carriage.

As soon as Ren Yaohua saw her, she frowned and said, “Where did you go? I’ve been looking for you for ages!”

Ren Yaoqi smiled apologetically, “I was on the boat earlier. Because there were too many people, I couldn’t get down for a while. I made Third Sister worry.”

Seeing her attitude, Ren Yaohua couldn’t very well say anything more.

However, Ren Yaoqi sat down at the low table in the middle of the carriage and instructed Xiangqin to bring out writing materials.

Although Xiangqin was puzzled as to why she wanted writing materials at this time, she still obediently followed orders. Their traveling carriages were generally equipped with daily necessities – from clothing and cosmetics to tea and snacks, and from writing brushes to paper and inkstones, nothing was lacking.

In the carriage, besides the two sisters Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua, only Xiangqin and Pingguo were serving nearby. Ren Yaoqi selected a sheet of ordinary rice paper, picked up the brush with her left hand, and wrote a few characters on it.

Ren Yaohua sat opposite her. Seeing her wanting to write at this time seemed strange, and seeing her deliberately use her left hand made her even more surprised and puzzled. She couldn’t help but curiously glance over.

She saw that on the cut paper, written in proper, regular script, were two characters: “Dragon Head.”

Ren Yaohua couldn’t help but be stunned. She looked at Ren Yaoqi again, seeing her calm expression and unhurried composure, and found it quite incomprehensible. She thought Ren Yaoqi would write something more, but unexpectedly, Ren Yaoqi put down the brush after writing only these two characters. Then she dried the ink on the paper and folded it neatly.

The carriage was quiet, with only the slight sound when the paper was being folded. Although they found Ren Yaoqi’s behavior bewildering, no one spoke up.

After Ren Yaoqi finished folding the paper, she beckoned to Pingguo. Pingguo immediately moved over on her knees: “What are Miss’s instructions?”

Ren Yaoqi leaned close to her ear and whispered a few words. Pingguo nodded with a serious expression. After Ren Yaoqi finished her instructions, she handed the paper note to Pingguo. Without another word, Pingguo got off the carriage.

Ren Yaohua had been watching Ren Yaoqi the whole time. After Pingguo left, she finally spoke: “What exactly are you trying to do now?”

Ren Yaoqi lifted the carriage curtain and saw Pingguo’s figure quickly disappear from her sight like a slippery loach. Then she turned back and smiled at Ren Yaohua: “Today’s events are suspicious. I’m giving someone a warning.”

Ren Yaohua understood only half of what she heard. Recalling the previous events and the two characters she had just seen, she thought Ren Yaoqi’s meaning should be that she suspected today’s incident was related to the dragon head. As for the “someone,” Ren Yaoqi said she wanted to warn, Ren Yaohua assumed Ren Yaoqi was referring to the Princess from Prince Yanbei’s mansion.

After asking this one question, Ren Yaohua dropped the matter. This affair ultimately had nothing to do with them, and she had nothing particular to inquire about. She felt that Ren Yaoqi was only paying attention to these things because of her friendship with the Princess, and that Ren Yaoqi was probably just speculating anyway.

Seeing that Ren Yaohua wasn’t asking, Ren Yaoqi didn’t rush to explain either. This kind of matter wasn’t something she could explain clearly in just a few words.

She had just instructed Pingguo to secretly deliver that note to the head of the Lei family.

She suspected that in her previous life, the Han family had used the fact that the Lei family wasn’t the legitimate Lei family bloodline to completely drive the Lei family out of Yanbei. She always had a feeling that today’s incident wasn’t targeting others but was aimed at the Lei family.

Besides the coincidence in timing, the Han family had participated in the preparation for this dragon boat race, while the Lei family had been making quite a splash in Yunyang City recently.

She had been wondering why the explosives had targeted those dragon boats. Later, when she saw the dragon heads broken and floating in the river, she suddenly remembered. Because of the manufacturing process, each family’s dragon heads needed one or two years before they could be launched. A dragon head that had been in the water for many years and a newly crafted dragon head might not show much difference on the surface, but when taken apart, the insides would surely be different. Experienced craftsmen who made dragon heads would be able to tell the difference.

The Lei family claimed that their dragon head was brought from Yanbei to Jiangnan back in the day, wanting to use this to prove their orthodox status. However, Ren Yaoqi felt this was going too far.

If someone caught them red-handed, the Lei family’s troubles would begin.

Of course, regarding the dragon head matter, the Lei family could ultimately claim they had done so out of momentary vanity, but for established families, such a reputation wouldn’t sound good. Moreover, this incident was very likely just a pretext – the Han family would have follow-up moves.

Ren Yaoqi’s warning to the Lei family about the dragon head, besides having the Lei family secretly dispose of the blown-up dragon head, was also to give them a heads-up that their origins had been discovered by someone, and they should take precautions early.

She had thought of all this when getting off the boat, but hadn’t told Xiao Jingxi and the others.

Xiao Jingxi had already clearly stated that Prince Yanbei’s mansion wouldn’t intervene, so she didn’t know if her act of tipping them off would be stopped.

“Oh my, Fifth Miss, you’re injured?” Xiangqin suddenly exclaimed.

Ren Yaoqi came back to her senses, somewhat confused: “No, I’m not.”

However, Xiangqin pointed to Ren Yaoqi’s collar: “Look, there are bloodstains there.” As she spoke, she immediately retrieved a small mirror from a drawer in one of the table’s compartments and handed it to Ren Yaoqi.

Ren Yaoqi took the mirror and looked. Indeed, there was a mung bean-sized red mark on her right collar. Because it had been covered by her hair earlier, no one had noticed it. Fortunately, Xiangqin had sharp eyes.

Ren Yaoqi was stunned for a moment, then remembered it was probably blood that had splashed from Xiao Jingxi’s neck wound earlier. The drop on her face had been wiped away, but she hadn’t expected there was also a drop on her collar.

“It’s not my blood.” Ren Yaoqi looked at it several times, then used her hair to cover the bloodstain again.

Although Xiangqin and Ren Yaohua felt somewhat strange about this, seeing that Ren Yaoqi indeed didn’t appear to be injured, they couldn’t say anything more.

However, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but think of the scene on the boat when that person had protected her. Her body still seemed to retain the warm touch he had left on her, as well as the cold medicinal fragrance lingering at her nose.

If she were a young girl in the throes of first love, her cheeks would surely be flushed with embarrassment at this moment. Unfortunately, she was long past that innocent and naive age.

Still, despite this, when she recalled that scene and that person’s warmth, she was momentarily dazed.

Several people from the Lei family’s boat had been seriously injured this time, and Lei Ting was busy dealing with these matters. Suddenly, there was a sound behind him. His pupils contracted sharply, and with agile movements, he dodged slightly. A whooshing sound passed by his ear as something grazed past and fell to the ground not far ahead.

Lei Ting narrowed his eyes slightly and immediately turned to look behind him, but only saw several family representatives who, like him, had stayed to handle the situation, along with servants running back and forth. There wasn’t a single suspicious person to be seen, which made Lei Ting’s heart tighten with wariness.

A steward serving nearby picked up the object from the ground: “Master, this is…”

Only then did Lei Ting turn his head, discovering it was a stone the size of a longan fruit, but with a thin piece of paper wrapped around it. This was the object that had been thrown at him.

Lei Ting stared at the steward’s hand for just an instant before taking the object, calmly unwrapping the thin paper. However, when he saw the characters written on it, he was suddenly shocked.

But Lei Ting was no longer a green young man just starting. Years of experience allowed him to quickly calm his emotions, and his facial expression showed not the slightest change.

“Call Liu Gui over. I have something to instruct him,” Lei Ting told the steward in a low voice.

The steward immediately went to carry out the order.

Lei Ting looked toward the river, his carved, stern face showing an expression that was dark and inscrutable.

Pingguo, hiding in the shadows, immediately looked toward Dongsheng when she saw him approaching.

Dongsheng nodded to her, and only when he came closer did he say: “Go tell your miss that it’s been delivered to him.”

Hearing this, Pingguo said nothing more and turned to leave decisively.

Dongsheng was stunned and touched his nose.

For Ren Yaoqi to tip someone off without anyone knowing, Pingguo naturally couldn’t accomplish this, so she had Pingguo find Dongsheng. She also instructed him that if Xiao Jingxi asked about it, there was no need to hide anything.

Although she hadn’t directly told Xiao Jingxi when she thought of this matter, she also hadn’t intended to deliberately conceal her actions. Given Xiao Jingxi’s shrewdness, he would figure it out afterward.

Pingguo completed her mission and immediately returned to report.

The Ren family carriage was stopped on the riverbank. The vehicles of several families ahead had already started moving, and the family’s steward was also calling for the coachmen to get ready.

After Pingguo returned, Ren Yaoqi set this matter aside for the time being. She was leaning against the carriage wall with her eyes closed, resting. Hearing someone talking outside, she initially paid no attention, but after a moment, someone lightly tapped on her carriage wall. Because the tapping was right where she was leaning, it startled Ren Yaoqi.

At Ren Yaoqi’s signal, Pingguo lifted the carriage curtain.

A young man with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes appeared outside the carriage window.

When Yun Wenfang saw Ren Yaoqi look over, his gaze swept across her face. For some reason, his voice carried a hint of nervousness: “I heard that quite a few people were injured when getting off the boat. Are you… all right?”

Ren Yaoqi looked at this enemy and rival from her previous life, watching him try hard to conceal the worry in his eyes while making himself appear as proud and aloof as always. Her gaze was somewhat complex.