This time Granny Luo was stunned for a long while, so long that Ren Yaoqi thought she had fainted, when Granny Luo finally spoke. Her voice carried the hoarseness and vicissitudes unique to the elderly: “This servant was once a second-class maid by the side of the Zhai family’s young mistress.”

“What is Han Dongshan’s real name?”

Granny Luo looked at Ren Yaoqi and struggled for a long time: “Zhai, he is the Zhai family’s young master Zhai Yaozu.”

Ren Yaoqi thought of how Xiasheng had said Han Dongshan used to be called Young Master Zu—the name matched.

“He was still very young when he left Yanbei. Do you remember what he looked like?”

“This servant only caught a glimpse of Master Han, Master Zhai, from hiding that one day, but I first recognized Young Master Han because he looks extremely similar to Young Mistress Zhai, especially the eyes.” Granny Luo paused, “When I encountered Young Master Han at the Ren family last time, I was startled. Combined with Miss asking me to inquire about the Qu family, this servant truly doesn’t know anyone from the Qu family, but I felt that what you really wanted to ask about was the Zhai family. That day, Shui’ai clamored to leave the mansion to have a look, and thinking of that Young Master Han, I became increasingly uneasy, so I inquired about the Han family’s residence. The Han family is naturally a wealthy household that I couldn’t enter, so I was just trying my luck, but I happened to see Master Zhai, Master Han coming out of the mansion. I had taken care of Young Master Zhai a while back, so I recognized him. I was so startled that I ran away. But I felt uneasy in my heart, so in the afternoon I wanted to go look again to confirm. Unexpectedly, I was discovered by Young Master Han, and he chased after me.”

Ren Yaoqi remained silent for a long time before finally asking: “What exactly was the grudge between the Zhai family and the Ren family back then?”

Granny Luo’s face became even paler. Her complexion had originally been quite dark, but now all color had drained from her face, making her look as if shrouded in an aura of death.

“Fifth Young Miss, this servant is old and doesn’t have many years left to live, but living to my age has already been profitable enough. It’s just that I really can’t rest easy about Shui’ai. This child was picked up by me, and when I kick the bucket, she’ll have no one to depend on. Could you, could you show great mercy and take her in as a maid by your side?”

Granny Luo making such a request now was clearly wanting to negotiate terms with Ren Yaoqi. If Ren Yaoqi was willing to take in Shui’ai, she would tell her what she knew.

Those in positions of power all dislike being threatened, and Ren Yaoqi was no exception, especially since Granny Luo was originally a servant from the Ren family estate. However, facing Granny Luo’s turbid yet hopeful gaze, Ren Yaoqi still said quietly: “I can keep her. In the future, if she seems suitable, I’ll bring her to serve in my quarters.” If unsuitable, she wouldn’t want her.

She could understand Granny Luo’s feelings. The Ren mansion wouldn’t mind having one more maid, but to serve by her side required first gaining her approval. Personal maids weren’t something just anyone could be—Ren Yaohua’s fate from her previous life was a perfect example.

Seeing that Ren Yaoqi hadn’t refused, Granny Luo quickly said: “Fifth Young Miss, rest assured, Shui’ai has a pure nature and isn’t stupid. If you have someone teach her, she’ll surely be able to learn everything.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded: “I’ll find someone to teach her.”

Granny Luo breathed a sigh of relief, and her complexion also looked somewhat better.

“Are your injuries serious?” Ren Yaoqi remembered Zhu Ruomei saying earlier that her injuries weren’t severe, but Granny Luo’s complexion was truly poor, making her appear as if she were making her final arrangements.

Granny Luo shook her head: “This servant’s injuries aren’t serious, but I’m old and know my own body.”

Ren Yaoqi thought she should still find another physician to examine her later. Granny Luo had already begun speaking hoarsely: “Miss, you want to ask about the grudge between the Zhai family and the Ren family?”

Ren Yaoqi nodded.

Granny Luo sighed deeply, turned her head, but her gaze shot past Ren Yaoqi’s shoulder to behind her.

Ren Yaoqi turned back and naturally saw Xiao Jingxi.

Xiao Jingxi glanced at Ren Yaoqi and smiled faintly, then gracefully stood up, showing no embarrassment at being unwelcome.

However, seeing him about to leave, Ren Yaoqi called out: “Young Master Xiao, please wait.” She turned to Granny Luo and said, “Go ahead and speak. It’s fine.”

Granny Luo looked at Xiao Jingxi with some surprise. Although she couldn’t guess his identity, from the form of address, she knew he wasn’t from the Ren family. Granny Luo couldn’t help but hesitate, looking at Ren Yaoqi as if wanting to speak but stopping.

Granny Luo meant well—she believed the Ren family would never want outsiders to know what she was about to say.

Ren Yaoqi understood Granny Luo’s meaning, but she still shook her head: “I know what I’m doing. Go ahead and speak.”

Xiao Jingxi looked at Ren Yaoqi, raised his eyebrows, and finally sat down again.

Seeing Ren Yaoqi say this, Granny Luo couldn’t say anything more and slowly began: “Now no one remembers the Zhai family anymore, but several decades ago, the Zhai family was one of the foremost wealthy households in Baihe Town. Although the Zhai family kept a low profile, in Yanzhou, the Zhai family was also well-ranked.”

Granny Luo’s voice was hoarse and weathered, as if her throat were filled with sand.

“Master Zhai was learned and charitable, but unfortunately lost his wife in middle age. Master Zhai had only one legitimate son who had just married. The young mistress was very beautiful, well-educated and reasonable, and gentle with people, but her health wasn’t very good. The physician said she needed one or two years of good care before having children. Master Zhai thought it over and remarried, but fearing his son and daughter-in-law would be wronged, he married the daughter of an ordinary family in town. This new mistress had lost her father in childhood and only had a bedridden mother and an unmarried younger brother at home. She was capable, supporting the family with her strength while also financing her brother’s studies. Master Zhai had heard of her virtuous reputation and married her despite clan opposition, even having the mistress’s mother and brother brought to the mansion so she would have no worries. However, this new mistress also lacked fortune—she died of illness just two years after entering the family, and her mother also passed upon hearing the tragic news. Master Zhai and Young Master Zhai were both benevolent people. Seeing the mistress had died, leaving only one brother-in-law, they still let that brother-in-law remain in the mansion, even arranging his marriage and giving him a shop as his livelihood.”

Granny Luo paused, seeming to reminisce or daydream: “The young mistress finally became pregnant in the second year of marriage and gave birth to Young Master Zhai Yaozu, but within a few years, the Liao people invaded. Due to the previous emperor’s suspicion, the Yanbei Prince’s mansion existed in name only, and the troops sent by the southern court couldn’t possibly resist the Liao cavalry—the result was predictable. At that time, many families in Yanbei were preparing to migrate south, and the Zhai family had this plan too, but because the young mistress was pregnant again, the Zhai family delayed their preparations, wanting to wait until the child was more stable before leaving. Fortunately, the Zhai family had moved out of their ancestral home to avoid disaster, finding a relatively safe place to temporarily reside, and that brother-in-law’s family had also moved there together. Just then, excellent coal mines were discovered in the Western Hills. Among our young mistress’s dowry were several barren hilltops in the Western Hills, which had originally been of no account, but unexpectedly rose in value due to the coal discovery.”

Only now did Ren Yaoqi realize that Granny Luo must be literate. Although her emotions were poor, her speech was clear and articulate, quite inconsistent with her rough appearance.

“The Zhai family had originally decided to go south to Jiangnan once the young mistress’s health improved, so the young mistress wanted to sell the coal mountains in her hands. Since many people wanted to buy them at that time and the prices were quite suitable, and our young mistress didn’t know how to manage such things, and the Zhai family wasn’t greedy for their daughter-in-law’s possessions, this matter was ultimately entrusted to that brother-in-law to handle.”

“Not long after, the brother-in-law returned, saying he had found a buyer for the young mistress at a fair price. The Zhai family and the young mistress trusted the brother-in-law and left this matter entirely to him to handle. However, the mountains were sold, but the silver never came back. Because the Zhai family had already agreed with several other families on the date to go south and couldn’t wait any longer here, the brother-in-law said he would temporarily stay behind to help the young mistress wait for the silver, and once the money was in hand, he would go to Jiangnan to find them. The Zhai family naturally wouldn’t let the brother-in-law take such a risk.”

Ren Yaoqi hadn’t spoken throughout, carefully listening to Granny Luo’s recollections. Over there, Xiao Jingxi also remained still, and even his breathing was barely audible.

“Just at this time, the Yanbei Prince led his troops back. The Yanbei Prince’s army was blessed by divine spirits, so those Liao people naturally couldn’t match them and could only retreat steadily. Seeing they were about to be driven back beyond the passes, the Yanbei people couldn’t help but celebrate joyfully. But the Liao people were unwilling to just return beyond the passes, and with the Yanbei army pursuing closely, they planned to plunder Yanbei extensively before leaving, stealing Yanbei’s wealth and women.”

Seeming to recall that period of blood and violence, Granny Luo’s voice trembled slightly.

“With the Yanbei Prince about to return victorious, the Zhai family didn’t want to leave anymore. After all, the Zhai family’s foundation was still in Yanbei, and going to Jiangnan would mean starting over again—no one was willing. But suddenly, one day, the Liao people found where the Zhai family was hiding. Those Liao people started ransacking as soon as they entered, stealing all the valuables and silver the Zhai family had on them. Master Zhai was a magnanimous person and instructed his family not to resist—if money was gone, so be it. But… but those beasts weren’t satisfied with just stealing wealth—they took a fancy to our young mistress.”

As Granny Luo spoke, tears began falling, her words becoming incoherent.

“But the young mistress was already six months pregnant! Master Zhai and Young Master Zhai naturally couldn’t watch the young mistress be taken by those beasts, so they began fighting desperately, and in the end, both… both were killed. The young mistress was publicly… publicly… wuu…”

Ren Yaoqi hadn’t experienced that era and couldn’t imagine it. But hearing Granny Luo speak of it now, she felt her heart clogged with discomfort and distress.

Granny Luo cried for a long time before barely stopping: “At that time, I and my sister Chun’er were following the young mistress’s head maid Li Niang, taking the young master out, and luckily escaped disaster. When we returned, we saw corpses everywhere, and the young mistress had even been violated to death—two lives lost. We were so frightened we nearly fainted. Nanny Liu from beside the young mistress had been slashed but played dead to escape. We dragged Nanny Liu out, fortunately, her wound wasn’t fatal. Originally, we wanted to find a place to hide first, but Li Niang was the young mistress’s dowry maid who had grown up with the young mistress and had deep feelings, saying she wanted to go back and collect the bodies of the master and the young mistress. Although we were afraid, thinking that the masters had always treated us well, we went back once more. Unexpectedly, this time we saw the brother-in-law and his wife. We originally thought they had come to collect the master’s bodies and wanted to approach them, but instead heard some shocking words.”

Granny Luo’s face was already completely numb: “The couple had come to see if everyone in the mansion was dead, and they even quarreled because they couldn’t find the young master’s body. Those Liao people had been led there by them—they told the Liao people where the Zhai family was hiding and informed them that the Zhai family was very wealthy and had a beautiful woman, using them as a knife to kill. It turned out this brother-in-law had long ago learned from somewhere that the Yanbei Prince was about to return victoriously. They originally didn’t want to follow the Zhai family to Jiangnan, and they had set their sights on the mines in the young mistress’s hands.”

Though it was summer and the ventilation in this room wasn’t good, Ren Yaoqi felt a bone-deep coldness, a chill that seemed to crawl up from the bottom of her heart strand by strand, like being scratched by a venomous snake’s forked tongue, making one shiver uncontrollably.

“We covered the young master’s mouth and hid in the shadows. I looked toward the young master and found him very obediently leaning against Li Niang, but those eyes were staring motionlessly at the quarreling couple. I thought at the time that he had been frightened stupid… I forgot that the young master was already not young then, and the master had always praised him for being clever and alert, learning everything quickly.”

The room fell into silence, with Granny Luo lost in memories and unable to return to herself.

Ren Yaoqi lowered her eyes, staring at her own hands, not knowing what she was thinking. She hadn’t spoken since Granny Luo began telling of past events.

At this moment, a gentle voice broke the silence: “Since you were a maid of the Zhai family and had such a connection with Zhai Yaozu, why would you fear the Han family?”

Xiao Jingxi’s voice was pleasant, neither too warm nor too cold, always carrying a special rhythm when he spoke, capable of bewitching hearts at crucial moments and awakening people from emotions.

Ren Yaoqi raised her eyes slightly, looking toward Granny Luo, who had awakened from her memories.

“When I was young, I wasn’t good-looking and was stupid too, but the young mistress didn’t despise me and even let me learn to read alongside Li Niang and the others. When we all grew older, the young mistress arranged for Li Niang to serve the master and promised to elevate her to concubine status once she bore children. Chun’er was betrothed to the son of the head shopkeeper at the spice shop, and the young mistress also found a match for me, the only son of the head kitchen steward. She even said that when Chun’er and I married, she would promote us to first-class maids so we could marry in glory. She was a good person.” Granny Luo said quietly, “It’s a pity the Liao people came and disrupted all plans, wasting her painstaking arrangements for us.”

Granny Luo sighed, very softly, yet it made one feel somewhat desolate: “We were all terrified hearing such words and didn’t dare confront the brother-in-law. Only after the brother-in-law and his wife left did we dare come out. We said nothing and hid with the young master. Regarding where to go, our opinions diverged. Li Niang said we should take the young master to Jiangnan to his maternal grandmother’s family. Chun’er and I had grown up in the Zhai family and hoped to wait for the Zhai clan members to return and seek justice for the young master, though we had heard that other Zhai clan members had encountered Liao people during their southern migration and all had died. But seeing that the Yanbei Prince was about to return victoriously, Chun’er and I were reluctant to easily leave our homeland. After all, no one knew what the young mistress’s maternal family was like, and on the road with just us few weak women and the young master, it probably wouldn’t be safe. The young master was still there, and if Zhai clan members returned, he would need to remain with the Zhai family. But Li Niang was very insistent. Chun’er and I thought for a long time and finally decided that since the young mistress had treated us so well, risking some danger to go to the young mistress’s maternal family to bring help for the young master was worthwhile. But at this crucial moment, something went wrong.”

Granny Luo’s voice trembled even more severely at this point: “That day Chun’er and I went out to get food, and when we returned, we found the brother-in-law and his wife had brought people to search for them. We wanted to go back and warn Li Niang and the young master, but they had already fled. Chun’er and I also hid, and the brother-in-law and his wife could only return empty-handed. We knew they must be looking for the young master, so we went out to quietly search for Li Niang and the others.

“Because we had lived together for so long, we understood each other somewhat, and the next day, Chun’er and I finally found Li Niang. We didn’t know where Nanny Liu had gone, but the young master had fallen ill with a high fever. When Li Niang saw us, she said nothing and very calmly instructed me to go outside and fetch some water, while having Chun’er stay behind to tend the fire. The place to get water was quite far. As I was walking back with the water, I discovered Li Niang standing not far behind me, waiting for me. I found this strange and was about to go forward and ask why she had left the young master unattended, when I saw something dripping from her sleeve—it was blood. I felt somewhat frightened for some reason and stopped, but Li Niang suddenly lunged at me. She held a dagger in her hand, still dripping with blood. I desperately dodged while Li Niang seemed to have gone mad, cursing us as ungrateful and saying she would kill us all. I was completely confused at first, then later understood that Li Niang suspected we had leaked the young master’s whereabouts, so she wanted to kill us. Because I had done some rough work in my youth while Li Niang had been raised alongside the young mistress since childhood, her strength wasn’t as great as mine, so after she wounded my arm, I escaped. Only after I had fled far away did I think of Chun’er not coming out, and recalling that bloody knife in Li Niang’s hand, I became increasingly terrified. Chun’er was my sister, my sister—I couldn’t abandon her, so I decided to secretly go back to find Chun’er. Maybe she had also luckily escaped. But when I returned to the original place, I only saw Chun’er’s corpse. She lay on the ground with three stab wounds to her chest, eyes wide open in death. Li Niang and the young master were nowhere to be seen.”

“I was very frightened, afraid Li Niang would suddenly return to kill me. After hastily burying Chun’er, I hid and never dared show myself again. I kept thinking that Chun’er and I hadn’t revealed the young master’s hiding place, and Li Niang couldn’t have either, so it must have been Nanny Liu. Since the brother-in-law appeared, Nanny Liu had never shown herself. I didn’t want to take the blame, so I thought of finding Nanny Liu to confront her. I remembered that Nanny Liu had a daughter married to the Li family village, not far from Baihe Town. She had mentioned wanting to seek refuge with her daughter and son-in-law, so I went to Li Family Village.”

Granny Luo closed her eyes, her aged voice seeming to suppress terrifying emotions: “Nanny Liu had indeed returned to her daughter and son-in-law’s place, but I never expected to see such a scene again. Nanny Liu, including her daughter and son-in-law’s family of six, were all dead, lying on the ground, including a three-year-old child and a baby still in swaddling clothes. The dagger Li Niang had used to try to kill me was stuck in that three-year-old child’s chest. I finally realized that Li Niang had gone insane. Nanny Liu and Chun’er were both dead—no one could prove my innocence anymore, but even if someone could, Li Niang probably wouldn’t listen. I was so frightened, always dreaming at night of Li Niang standing by my bed with a dagger. But from then on, I never saw Li Niang again, nor the young master.”

“I kept thinking afterward, how could Li Niang in that state take proper care of the young master? Children are always innocent—you teach them something and they learn it. With Li Niang’s guidance, the young master would surely harbor hatred in his heart and want revenge. I’m someone who fears death and didn’t want to get involved in these grudges anymore. Soon after, the Yanbei Prince indeed returned victorious, and many who had originally fled also gradually returned. I was afraid Li Niang hadn’t left, so I hid in the countryside for several years, making a living. Later, I heard many estates needed workers, so I found an estate to stay at. Unexpectedly, after a few years, that estate was eventually bought by that brother-in-law’s family, but I had already signed an indenture contract and couldn’t leave even if I wanted to. By then, that brother-in-law had already transformed completely—he had made his fortune with the mines in his hands and become one of Yanbei’s new wealthy. Fortunately, their family had many estates, and the masters generally didn’t show themselves, so I lived in fear for some time, but ultimately stayed, and this stay lasted all these years.”

Granny Luo had reached this point, and the outline of events had become quite clear.

That brother-in-law’s surname must be Ren.

Ren Yaoqi pulled at the corner of her mouth, her smile somewhat mocking and somewhat bitter. So the Ren family’s selfishness wasn’t without reason—it had been rotten from the roots.

Ren Yaoqi no longer knew what emotions to face this with. At this moment, she even felt that Zhai Yaozu returning to seek revenge on the Ren family was justified. Debts must always be repaid—blood debts with blood.

Unfortunately, her great-grandfather and great-grandmother were already dead, while her parents had done no wrong. Even if children should pay for their fathers’ debts, it shouldn’t fall on them.

The so-called truth that had troubled her for two lifetimes was thus bloodily laid bare before her eyes, yet it made one feel powerless.

“Is the Ren family’s current residence the Zhai family’s ancestral home from back then?” Ren Yaoqi’s voice remained light.

Granny Luo glanced at Ren Yaoqi, then nodded.

“That residence changed hands twice in between, so no one mentions the Zhai family anymore.”

Ren Yaoqi almost wanted to applaud her great-grandfather’s boldness and greed. After killing an entire family, he even dared to live in their ancestral home—no wonder the Ren family met such an end.

In her view, the Ren family’s residence had excellent feng shui—perhaps too excellent—but not every family had the fortune to live there. The Zhai family and the Ren family from her previous life were perfect examples.