On the surface, Ren Yaoqi was merely an eleven or twelve-year-old girl, but she wasn’t that.

After their few encounters, if she said she hadn’t noticed Yun Wenfang’s abnormal attitude toward her at all, that would be self-deception. However, she still found it somewhat incomprehensible.

Without the enmity caused by that slap in her previous life, she had thought the two of them should be like strangers in this life. She didn’t want to provoke someone like Yun Wenfang because she really couldn’t afford to.

Seeing that Ren Yaoqi didn’t answer his question, and because of the angle, Yun Wenfang could only see half of Ren Yaoqi’s face revealed in the sunlight, he couldn’t help feeling irritated: “I’m asking you a question. Are you injured or not?”

Ren Yaoqi sighed lightly and said calmly, “I stayed with the Princess the whole time and wasn’t injured. Thank you for your concern, Second Young Master Yun.” Since Yun Wenfang’s identity no longer needed to be concealed, Ren Yaoqi stopped calling him Young Master Wen.

Yun Wenfang’s expression improved somewhat, and there was a hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth, though he said, “Good that you know it’s a concern. But you should be more careful in the future. Don’t just go wherever someone drags you. Without any sense, you’ll suffer collateral damage for no reason.”

Yun Wenfang was probably referring to today’s incident when she and Xiao Jinglin were detained under the bridge. Ren Yaoqi didn’t respond.

Yun Wenfang raised an eyebrow, but lowered his voice: “I originally wanted to find an opportunity to give you a word of advice. The waters of Prince Yanbei’s mansion run deep. Don’t get mixed up in all the messy affairs between Xiao Jinglin and Wu Yiyu. It’s best to stay as far away as possible.”

At this moment, someone called “Young Master Yun” from over there, as if Old Madam Ren’s side had noticed he had come over.

Yun Wenfang couldn’t help but click his tongue, then asked Ren Yaoqi, “Do you understand?”

Ren Yaoqi obligingly placated him: “Mm, thank you for the advice, Young Master Yun.”

Yun Wenfang was satisfied: “I’ll go first. In a few days, when Xiao Jinglin goes to the Yun family, you should come along too. There will naturally be benefits.” With that, he turned and left.

Ren Yaoqi frowned slightly, feeling that this Second Young Master Yun seemed to have talked more than usual today. Although the two of them would exchange a few words when they met before, because of her attitude, Second Young Master Yun hadn’t had the opportunity to say so much at once, especially with such obvious caring overtones.

What Ren Yaoqi didn’t know was that Yun Wenfang’s sudden disappearance from the Ren family recently was actually because he had heard some news. The Yun family intended to arrange a marriage for him, and his grandmother and mother had been busy looking at potential matches for him lately.

But was Second Young Master Yun the type to be manipulated by others? After hearing this news, he came back to disrupt things. It must be said that Yun Wenfang was also slyly wicked. He didn’t directly tell his elders he was unwilling. When his grandmother tentatively asked him a few questions, this fellow obediently said he would listen to his elders’ decisions and had no objections, delighting his grandmother.

But strangely enough, no matter which family’s daughter his grandmother and mother took a fancy to, in the end they could always discover some unknown flaws about that family’s daughter, as if it were cursed. Finally, they managed to select one whose family background, appearance, temperament, and talents were all impeccable. The Yun family elders had also met the girl and indeed found everything about her excellent. His grandmother even had him secretly observe the person, and Yun Wenfang expressed that he had no objections.

Unexpectedly, before this marriage could be formally put on the agenda, that family suddenly spread rumors about some unclear relationship between their young lady and her cousin.

Yun Wenfang somehow learned of this matter and immediately flew into a rage. His grandmother and mother both felt somewhat guilty toward Yun Wenfang because of this incident. Faced with her grandson’s gloomy expression, Old Madam Yun somehow ended up promising that in the future, regarding Yun Wenfang’s marriage, they would give him some autonomy. However, for a short period, no one in the Yun family dared mention the second young master’s marriage anymore.

Yun Wenfang could be said to have plotted carefully. He had laid the groundwork, so all that remained was to slowly take action.

Speaking of it, the Yun and Ren families did have some distant relations, but the Yun family, as an established aristocratic family, actually looked down on nouveau riche families like the Ren family, who lacked proper rules. So, no matter how much the Ren family wanted to form marriage ties with the Yun family, when the Yun family elders were choosing a wife for Second Young Master Yun, they never considered the Ren family. The Yun family also didn’t make a big show of it, so the Ren family hadn’t received any news.

Therefore, Ren Yaoqi didn’t understand Yun Wenfang’s sudden, strange attitude, but she didn’t pay much attention to it either. She understood the peculiarities of those ancient aristocratic families more clearly than anyone in the Ren family. She didn’t think the Ren family could form marriage ties with the Yun family – it was all just wishful thinking on the part of Old Master Ren and Old Madam Ren.

After returning to the Ren family’s villa, because everyone had been frightened and was quite exhausted, they all returned to their courtyards to rest.

Near evening, the Ren family men returned, bringing with them surprising news. The dragon heads from the dragon boats that had been destroyed today had originally been salvaged and were to be repaired by craftsmen. However, during transport into the city, they were inexplicably stopped and surrounded by a crowd of onlookers, because they had heard that during today’s dragon boat race, one dragon boat had suddenly come alive and turned into a dragon, but was struck dead by lightning while ascending. So these people had come to see the dead dragon.

After everyone managed to disperse the crowd with mixed feelings of crying and laughing, the cart carrying the dragon heads was empty.

The cart transporting the dragon heads hadn’t had many guards, because no one had thought anyone would steal these things. But they were indeed stolen.

The crowd became even more excited, more convinced that it was a living dragon. Some people swore they had noticed a flash of golden light on the cart earlier, saying the dragon must have ascended to heaven.

This kind of clearly unreliable story was extremely popular among the idle masses. Now the entire Yunyang City was in an uproar.

The lords and ladies who had witnessed the entire incident naturally disdained such rumors, but they were all speculating about why the dragon heads had suddenly disappeared, whether it was related to today’s sudden dragon boat explosion, and some guessed that one family’s dragon head contained treasures left by ancestors, which had made others envious, leading to today’s incident. Others said the Lei family’s dragon head contained a treasure map left by the Lei family ancestors when they went south from Yanbei.

The Ren family was also quite lively because of this strange incident. However, when Ren Yaohua heard about this matter, she didn’t express any opinions, only looked thoughtfully at Ren Yaoqi.

No matter how big a commotion this incident caused, it had nothing to do with Ren Yaoqi. She knew it should be the Lei family who had acted themselves, not wanting to hand this major weakness over to their enemies.

That night, Ren Yaoqi didn’t sleep very well. Being in an unfamiliar environment and sharing a bed with Ren Yaohua made her somewhat uncomfortable.

The next day, when going to pay respects to the old madam, Ren Yaoqi was just thinking of discussing with Ren Yaohua about taking advantage of their free time to visit their maternal grandparents’ home when someone came from the main residence – sent by the Eldest Madam.

Concubine Kang had run away.

Hearing this news, Old Madam Ren flew into a towering rage, repeatedly calling it intolerable.

Originally, when Old Madam Ren brought most of the Ren family members out this time, she had instructed the Eldest Madam to take the opportunity to deal with Concubine Kang. With fewer people in the house, it would be more convenient to handle. Once the Ren family members returned, they could announce that Concubine Kang had fallen ill and gone to a estate to recuperate.

However, Concubine Kang had run away from the Ren family before they could act. The Eldest Madam sent people to search every courtyard in the Ren residence, large and small, and even the entire Baihe Town, but couldn’t find her. Concubine Kang had vanished as if into thin air.

“Search! Search for her! I don’t believe she can grow wings and fly away!” Old Madam Ren couldn’t tolerate this kind of thing. Being played for a fool and losing face was one thing, but having that person escape from under her nose was simply a provocation.

The old nanny sent by the Eldest Madam to report was also suffering, keeping her head extremely low. Not only her, but even the Eldest Madam was somewhat unable to handle the situation. If this Concubine Kang went out and started talking nonsense, the Ren family would lose all face, inside and out.