The atmosphere in the pavilion froze because of Yun Wenfang’s words and actions.

Ren Yaoqi glanced at Xiao Jingxi, who was blocking in front of her, thinking that her matter with Yun Wenfang shouldn’t involve people from the Yanbei Prince’s Manor. If Yun Wenfang went crazy and hit Xiao Jingxi, the situation would only get worse and worse.

So she steadied herself and planned to step forward to talk with Yun Wenfang. For the sake of the bigger picture, she could only first appease Yun Wenfang’s emotions. Otherwise, once the matter escalated, she would be the only one to suffer losses. Although she was already trembling with anger, she was no longer a child who acted on impulse after all.

Unexpectedly, just as Ren Yaoqi moved her feet, Xiao Jingxi seemed to have eyes on the back of his head and immediately turned to look at her.

This glance was as gentle as always, carrying the power to soothe people’s hearts. But somehow, being looked at by Xiao Jingxi like this, Ren Yaoqi’s movements unconsciously came to a halt.

Yun Wenfang had been staring fixedly at Xiao Jingxi and Ren Yaoqi all along. The interaction between them completely enraged him.

Yun Wenfang wanted to reach out and push Xiao Jingxi away to pull Ren Yaoqi over, but this push unexpectedly failed to push Xiao Jingxi away.

Yun Wenfang frowned, shifted his stance, and wanted to use the same trick again, but heard Xiao Jingxi say slowly, “Zishu, are you certain you want to make a move in front of me?”

Xiao Jingxi’s voice was still gentle, and if one listened carefully, there was even a trace of laughter in it. However, all the other people in the pavilion lowered their heads and stood with their hands bound even more respectfully.

Yun Wenfang’s movements stiffened. After he realized that he had been startled by Xiao Jingxi’s single sentence, he became somewhat embarrassed and angry, glaring at Xiao Jingxi fiercely and saying, “Xiao Jingxi, what gives you the right to interfere! Just because of your status as the second young master of Yanbei Prince’s Manor? Don’t think I’m afraid of you just because your surname is Xiao!”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingxi looked at Yun Wenfang with some amusement. “Speaking of status, whether my surname is Xiao or not doesn’t matter. But you should be grateful that your surname is Yun—this surname has saved you more than once.”

Xiao Jingxi’s words made Yun Wenfang’s expression even uglier. He gritted his teeth and was about to say something when Xiao Jingxi’s gaze passed over him, smiling as he looked toward the small path not far from the pavilion.

Yun Wenting quickly walked out from the small path: “Zishu, I’ve been looking for you for a long time. What are you doing running here?”

Seeing that Xiao Jingxi and Xiao Jinglin were both there, Yun Wenting seemed not to notice Yun Wenfang’s expression. While walking toward the pavilion, he smiled and said, “Tingzhen, Princess, so you’re all here. No wonder I couldn’t find anyone—you made me search everywhere.”

Xiao Jingxi smiled and nodded slightly: “You came at just the right time. Zishu seems to have lost his way, so he’s become a bit disoriented.”

Yun Wenting glanced at Yun Wenfang, smiled and shook his head, then seriously bowed to Xiao Jingxi and said, “He’s been spoiled by my grandmother and mother at home—he has a child’s temper. Please don’t take any offense to heart, Tingzhen.”

Xiao Jingxi just smiled without speaking.

Yun Wenfang turned to glare at Yun Wenting: “Brother—”

“Shut up!” Yun Wenting’s tone was very calm, but the glance he gave Yun Wenfang contained warning and coldness.

Yun Wenting had always been gentle and pleasant with his younger brother Yun Wenfang, rarely showing him a stern face. Because of this, Yun Wenting’s rare firm attitude made Yun Wenfang unconsciously swallow his words, only letting out a cold snort and turning his head away.

Yun Wenting didn’t look at Yun Wenfang again, but instead looked at the several maids who were still kneeling outside the pavilion, somewhat surprised as he changed the subject: “What’s with them?”

Xiao Jingxi smiled: “We were just handling a small matter.”

Yun Wenting very tactfully didn’t ask further, going with the flow: “Since you still have matters to handle, I’ll take Zishu out first.”

Xiao Jingxi nodded: “Please go ahead.”

Yun Wenting said to Yun Wenfang, “Grandmother is having people search for you everywhere. Come back with me.”

But Yun Wenfang was looking at Ren Yaoqi, stubbornly pressing his lips tightly together and not moving.

Yun Wenting sighed almost inaudibly, then walked toward Yun Wenfang. Before anyone could react, he struck hard at the back of Yun Wenfang’s neck. With a “thud,” the completely unprepared Yun Wenfang immediately collapsed to the ground.

Everyone present except Xiao Jingxi, Yun Wenting, and the already unconscious Yun Wenfang was dumbstruck.

Yun Wenting looked down at Yun Wenfang, then bowed to Ren Yaoqi, saying gently, “Miss Ren Wu, I apologize to you on behalf of my younger brother for today’s incident. He’s always been rash by nature and somewhat impulsive in his actions. I will discipline him properly in the future.”

Ren Yaoqi quickly curtsied back to Yun Wenting: “Young Master Yun, you’re being too serious. It was all a misunderstanding.”

Yun Wenting glanced at Xiao Jinglin, who had remained silent throughout, then looked at Xiao Jingxi.

Xiao Jingxi seemed not to see Yun Wenfang lying on the ground. He chuckled lightly and said, “Since it was a misunderstanding, it’s good that we’ve cleared it up. I hope that the next time I see Zishu, he won’t be so rash anymore. After all, if his behavior causes any gossip, it might be a small matter for him, but not necessarily for others.”

Upon hearing this, Yun Wenting looked at Ren Yaoqi thoughtfully, then nodded to Xiao Jingxi: “I understand.” After a pause, he added, “Today’s incident won’t give rise to any gossip.”

Xiao Jingxi smiled toward somewhere behind him: “Young Master Yun Er has suffered from heatstroke. Help me escort Young Master Yun Er back.”

As soon as Xiao Jingxi finished speaking, a plain-faced man in gray clothes suddenly appeared from behind a tree trunk. After bowing, he hoisted Yun Wenfang onto his shoulder.

Yun Wenting looked at his younger brother hanging his head down, carried like a sack on someone’s shoulder. His mouth twitched, and he barely managed to suppress his words of refusal before turning and walking away.

The gray-clothed man carried Yun Wenfang expressionlessly and followed.

It wasn’t until both Yun Wenting and Yun Wenfang had disappeared that everyone in the pavilion came back to their senses.

Xiao Jingxi acted as if nothing had happened, turning to smile at Ren Yaoqi: “After standing for so long, aren’t you tired?”

Ren Yaoqi cleared her throat softly, lowered her head, and sat down with Xiao Jingxi. Xiao Jinglin, who had been pretending to be a wooden statue all along, also came over to sit.

Xiao Jingxi gave Xiao Jinglin a meaningful look.

Xiao Jinglin pretended not to see it and reached for a tea bowl to divert attention, grasping at empty air before remembering that the tea bowls had been cleared away. So she looked at the several people kneeling outside the pavilion who were dizzy from kneeling, and said with a stern expression: “What happened? Tell me!”

Among the four maids, the leader raised her head with a pale face: “We servants, we servants don’t know what happened. The tea and refreshments were all prepared beforehand in the garden’s tea room. We servants don’t know how those spiders got into the tea bowls.”

Although it was Yun Qiuchen who had asked them to bring the tea and refreshments, they were people of Yanbei Prince’s Manor and couldn’t really be ordered around by Yun Qiuchen. Even if Yun Qiuchen hadn’t instructed them, they would have delivered tea at that time anyway. Saying it was Yun Qiuchen’s instruction was just a courtesy to Miss Yun. They understood this point, Yun Qiuchen understood it, and Xiao Jinglin understood it too.

So Xiao Jinglin didn’t suspect that Yun Qiuchen had tampered with anything. Yun Qiuchen had no reason to harm her, and besides, she couldn’t order around people from Yanbei Prince’s Manor.

Xiao Jingxi glanced at the steward woman, who immediately understood and stepped forward, bowing her head: “This servant has already had people investigate the tea room. Today, besides our people, only the maids from Miss Yun Da and Miss Wu’s side entered the tea room to request tea.”

Xiao Jinglin said expressionlessly, “No need to investigate further. Who’s up to mischief is obvious. Without catching them red-handed, investigating further won’t accomplish anything, and we might even get bitten back.”

The steward nanny looked toward Xiao Jingxi.

Xiao Jingxi thought for a moment and smiled: “All of you may withdraw. Handle the tea room matter properly. Don’t spread word of today’s incident for now—we’ll deal with it after the Thousand Gold Banquet.”

The steward nanny bowed her head in acknowledgment and had the several maids who had been scared half to death taken away.

The Xiao siblings seemed to acquiesce to eating this silent loss, unanimously choosing to remain silent about this matter.

However, neither of their faces showed any sign of having suffered grievances.

Ren Yaoqi knew who they were referring to, but she couldn’t interject in the manor’s disputes. However, she was still concerned about Xiao Jingxi’s hand. After all the irrelevant people had withdrawn, she quickly asked: “Your hand—should we find a physician to take a look?”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingxi extended his right hand and placed it in front of Ren Yaoqi.

Ren Yaoqi was surprised to discover that Xiao Jingxi’s originally red and swollen thumb and index finger had gone down in swelling and were only slightly red now.

“I said it was nothing. Are you reassured now?” Xiao Jingxi looked at Ren Yaoqi and smiled.

Ren Yaoqi looked at Xiao Jingxi’s hand, then at him, and finally swallowed all her doubts, only saying: “It’s good that you’re fine. But… you should still have a physician look at it when you return.”

Xiao Jingxi couldn’t help but smile: “Alright.”

He agreed so readily that Ren Yaoqi didn’t know what else to say.

Instead, Xiao Jingxi smiled and said, “Ordinary poisons do not affect me.”

Ren Yaoqi blinked, thinking that you really shouldn’t be telling me such secrets. However, seeing the calm smile on Xiao Jingxi’s face, Ren Yaoqi somehow felt a bit sad. To dispel this unpleasant feeling, she joked: “The legendary immunity to all poisons refers to people like you?”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingxi was startled, then smiled slightly. Looking at Ren Yaoqi very gently, he said slowly: “So you know another one of my secrets.”

Ren Yaoqi: “……”

Xiao Jinglin looked at this one, then at that one, thought about it, and maintained her silence. She thought that what Master had taught about how to hide one’s presence when infiltrating enemy camps had other uses, like now—she could make her presence very low.

“You have such a good memory,” Ren Yaoqi said helplessly.

“So I also remember that I still owe you from a wager,” Xiao Jingxi smiled.

Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment: “Then, how about I collect on it today?”

“Please command me,” Xiao Jingxi was very curious about what Ren Yaoqi wanted. Xiao Jinglin also looked over with great interest.

Ren Yaoqi said, “During the Thousand Gold Banquet, I want you to help me keep an eye on a few people.”