When Ren Yaoqi followed Madam Zeng to sit down and have tea in the flower hall, the maid Pingguo, who had quietly left earlier, had already returned. After nodding to Ren Yaoqi, she silently stood behind her again.

Ren Yaoqi calmly picked up her tea bowl to drink. Since it was summer, the freshly served tea was slightly hot to the mouth, but Ren Yaoqi still drank it unhurriedly and composedly.

Although they had already sat down to rest, the young ladies’ enthusiasm remained undiminished. They gathered together, chattering back and forth about the group of talented scholars at the lakeside pavilion. Poetry gatherings, which sounded so elegant, gave them a legitimate opportunity to discuss men openly.

Lin Baoling was resting in Su Fangfei’s room. Su Fangfei didn’t have an independent courtyard; she lived in Eldest Madam Su’s compound. Fortunately, Eldest Madam Su resided in a small triple-courtyard house that was quite spacious.

The atmosphere in the room was somewhat stagnant. For a long while, no one spoke. Finally, Lin Baoling unexpectedly covered her mouth and began to cry. She had always liked to cover her mouth when laughing, so when she cried this way, it left everyone present at a loss.

The other three young ladies from the Lin family looked at each other hesitantly. After a moment of uncertainty, they ultimately didn’t step forward to speak with Lin Baoling. The sisters weren’t particularly close on ordinary days, or rather, Lin Baoling wasn’t close with her other three sisters. Seeing this sister, who was usually showered with countless affections, cry for the first time, they truly didn’t know how to react.

Instead, it was Su Fangfei who sighed softly, stood up and walked to Lin Baoling’s side, gently patting her shoulder and calling out “Baoling,” though she didn’t know what else to say.

The eldest daughter of the Su family was also a clever person. She had grown up with Lin Baoling, and their daily interactions were fairly close, so their relationship was still quite good. However, being born into families like theirs, even biological sisters kept things hidden from each other, let alone opening their hearts to others. So she and Lin Baoling couldn’t be considered intimate sisters either.

But today’s events she had witnessed, and the person was still in her Su residence. Eldest Miss Su couldn’t pretend to know anything.

After thinking it over, Eldest Miss Su still made an effort to organize her words and made her voice and expression appear as nonchalant as before: “Baoling, how did your pouch end up on that Young Master Fang?”

No matter how intelligent Eldest Miss Su was, she was still just an unmarried young lady. When she spoke of this matter, though her complexion showed nothing, her ears had indeed turned somewhat red.

When she first spotted that pouch on Fang Shuzhou, she had been stunned, because she immediately recognized that the dark purple pouch embroidered with a “certain to be as wished” pattern was made by Lin Baoling’s own hands.

Speaking of Lin Baoling, this young lady could be considered quite easy to get along with. She had an cheerful and lively personality and a sweet tongue. She could chat with anyone and was very naturally familiar. However, Lin Baoling had a flaw – this young lady very much liked to show off and had a vanity that loved hearing praise.

In recent years, Lin Baoling had been learning needlework from her grandmother. To be honest, her skill level wasn’t particularly high, but her stitching techniques were personally taught by Lin Third Madam Yuan Shi. It was said to be passed down from the Yuan family ancestors, and Lin Baoling liked to put effort into the patterns, so the embroidered items that came from her hands did have a few points of uniqueness.

Therefore, anyone who was somewhat close to Lin Baoling would be pulled by her to look at her embroidered pieces. Last time, when the Lin family held a full-month celebration for Lin Cen, Lin Baoling had displayed her embroidered works in front of several sister friends, earning quite a bit of praise.

Coincidentally, the pouch that Fang Shuzhou wore today had been admired by several people present, leaving a deep impression.

Upon hearing this, Lin Baoling sobbed: “I don’t know. I gave that pouch to Sister Yaoying from the Ren family. I don’t know how it ended up on him. I don’t know anything.”

Upon hearing this, Su Fangfei originally wanted to say something more. The words reached her lips but she swallowed them back down, changing her words: “Then perhaps it was worn by mistake. Didn’t you have the nanny by your side go ask him for it? It’ll be fine.” Su Fangfei restrained herself from asking more. Although she had curiosity, this curiosity was limited, and moreover she feared trouble.

She now understood quite a bit about inner residence affairs, knowing that many things that seemed simple might not be simple. Even Lin Baoling, who was crying so pitifully before her, might not truly be innocently ignorant of everything.

She had followed Lin Baoling here because she had seen what happened, and Lin Baoling and the several young ladies from the Lin family had also seen that she had seen it. Avoiding it would instead make it harder to stay clean of the matter later.

Lin Baoling’s crying subsided somewhat after hearing her comfort.

At this moment, Lin Baoling was truly afraid in her heart. She had heard no shortage of others instilling in her the consequences of private exchanges between men and women. A pouch could be considered a personal item; generally, men and women wouldn’t casually give them to each other. She feared her reputation would be ruined.

Lin Baoling had been favored by her elders since childhood. Among her generation of younger relatives, she could be considered the foremost, sometimes even more beloved than her brothers, so her future was also highly valued by the Lin family. To be honest, someone like Fang Shuzhou was somewhat beneath her notice – no achievements, no good looks.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, the nanny Lin Baoling had sent out returned. Lin Baoling nearly jumped up from her chair, asking somewhat stutteringly: “How was it? Did you get it back?”

The nanny’s face also showed some anxiety: “Miss, when this servant went over, Young Master Fang had already left.”

“Left?” Lin Baoling’s eyes widened, biting her lip in bewilderment.

This nanny had been specially placed by Lin Third Madam by Lin Baoling’s side and had experienced some matters. After thinking, she said: “Miss, this matter could be big or small. We should first go back and tell Madam.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Baoling quickly nodded: “Good, let’s go back.” As she spoke, she glanced toward Su Fangfei.

The elderly woman also followed Lin Baoling’s gaze to Su Fangfei and hurriedly approached with a smile: “Miss Su, today we’re much obliged to you. Originally, this matter really shouldn’t be known by outsiders, but our miss has known you since childhood and trusts you greatly, so she doesn’t mind you knowing about it.”

The nanny’s words were interrupted by Su Fangfei. Eldest Miss Su smiled: “Nanny, you’re too polite. Sister Baoling and I have a deep friendship, so naturally I hope for her wellbeing. I will keep today’s matter to myself and won’t speak carelessly about it. However… quite a few people have seen Sister Baoling’s embroidered pieces. I’ve promised not to speak, but others haven’t made such promises. You’d better prepare for both possibilities.”

The nanny couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: This Miss Su is indeed formidable. However, outwardly, she said, “Miss Su speaks truly. Today’s matter is nothing much. Our miss has no other hobbies in her daily life except enjoying embroidering a few pouches. She’s given out quite a few as gifts.”

Su Fangfei smiled, comforted Lin Baoling with a few more words, and saw them out.

After leaving, the nanny said to Lin Baoling, “This servant will send someone to speak with the two young ladies from the Ren family, saying that Miss felt unwell and left early. Miss, did the two young ladies from the Ren family also see that pouch?”

Lin Baoling said with reddened eyes: “They saw it, but just now they didn’t seem to notice.”

The nanny thought about it and let the matter rest for now, deciding to wait until after returning to report to Madam.

When Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaoyin received news that Lin Baoling was leaving early, they still asked a few concerned questions.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t know whether Ren Yaoyin had noticed the pouch on Fang Shuzhou at the time, but Ren Yaoyin’s expression was very composed, showing not the slightest trace of anything amiss. Even Ren Yaoqi had to admire that someone like Ren Yaoyin was indeed formidable.

Afterward, the pretentious poems by those young masters and gentlemen were presented on trays by maids and elderly women for the young ladies to critique.

Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaoyin looked at several poems together. Although Ren Yaoqi didn’t particularly enjoy poetry and verses – these things that required lamenting spring and grieving autumn – the appreciation ability cultivated by her father and teacher was still there. After reading several, she found them tedious, really unable to find anything eye-catching, so she simply lowered her head to focus on drinking tea.

Ren Yaoyin was quite interested in poetry and verses. In her daily life, one of her excuses for visiting the eldest daughter of the Yun family, Yun Qiuchen, was to critique poetry, so she appeared very serious and would occasionally comment on a few lines with others.

Finally, they managed to select a top scholar, second place, and third place winner, and only then were all the men and women satisfied.

Ren Yaoting had gone out for a trip and hadn’t returned for a long time. Yaoqi, thinking of her expression when she left, somewhat guessed that Han Yunqian might have come. However, when Ren Yaoting left, she hadn’t greeted her, clearly not appreciating her harsh but loyal advice and fearing being stopped by her. So Ren Yaoqi ultimately couldn’t be bothered to manage these affairs.

For Ren Yaoqi, the good show had already ended. She didn’t want to stay at the Su residence any longer, so when it was nearly noon, she took her leave.

Ren Yaoyin was having a delightful conversation with several young ladies who enjoyed poetry, so she didn’t leave with Ren Yaoqi.

After Ren Yaoqi requested to leave and brought her people out of the second gate, she unexpectedly encountered Han Yunqian emerging from a small garden path as she walked through the corridor.

Ren Yaoqi instinctively looked behind him but didn’t see Ren Yaoting.

Han Yunqian looked up and saw Ren Yaoqi. A certain complexity quickly flashed through his eyes, though he didn’t show much surprise at Ren Yaoqi appearing before him.

Ren Yaoqi bowed in his direction, then lifted her feet to walk away. After walking only a few steps, she discovered that Han Yunqian had caught up.

When Han Yunqian reached Ren Yaoqi’s side, Ren Yaoqi glanced at him sideways. Han Yunqian still maintained that composed and dignified appearance, not looking toward Ren Yaoqi.

The two walked silently, as if they had truly met by chance halfway and were simply sharing the same path for a stretch.

It wasn’t until Han Yunqian’s voice broke the silence between them: “Fifth Miss Ren truly has excellent composure.” His voice was low and pleasant, making it impossible to discern his emotions.