Xiao Jinglin didn’t quite understand Ren Yaoqi’s words, but she still grasped the key point: “Are you saying you deliberately wanted to delay your performance time?”
Upon hearing this, Ren Yaoqi smiled and grabbed Xiao Jinglin’s hand, pulling her outside while saying: “I need to hurry up and change clothes, or there really won’t be time. Let’s talk while we walk.”
“Go this way. There’s a small courtyard here. If you wait to go back to the Embracing Moon Pavilion to change clothes, it’ll be noon by the time you finish changing. Where are your clothes stored? Have your maid tell Hongying so she can fetch them—she’s fast on her feet.” Xiao Jinglin took Ren Yaoqi’s hand in return and pulled her in another direction.
Pingguo quickly explained to Hongying which chest contained Ren Yaoqi’s clothes. Just as Hongying was about to leave, Ren Yaoqi called her back and asked Xiao Jinglin, “What about that Snow Garment Sword you gave me? Did you bring it?”
Xiao Jinglin had originally planned to use the opportunity of living together for these two or three days to teach Ren Yaoqi swordplay, so she had indeed brought the Snow Garment Sword.
“I had Hongying keep it. What do you want the sword for?”
Ren Yaoqi quickly said to Hongying, “Then please bring the Snow Garment Sword along as well.”
Hongying looked to Xiao Jinglin, who nodded, and Hongying immediately left.
Hongying indeed lived up to her martial arts training—her speed was much faster than ordinary people.
Only then did Ren Yaoqi say to the bewildered Xiao Jinglin: “You’ll perform a sword dance later.”
Xiao Jinglin was startled upon hearing this, then somewhat hesitant: “But my mother doesn’t like me fighting and killing. And as you saw, those noble young ladies may all be able to wear dozens of pounds of hair ornaments and jewelry without changing expression, but if I dance with weapons in front of them, they could immediately faint on the spot.”
Ren Yaoqi found Xiao Jinglin’s description quite amusing, but she said seriously, “Who said we’re going to fight with weapons! We’re going to perform a sword dance! It’s sword dance, not swordplay!” Court performances also included sword dancing, which was very popular in the capital.
Xiao Jinglin looked conflicted: “I don’t know how—”
As they spoke, they had reached the small courtyard Xiao Jinglin mentioned. This courtyard was deep in the peach grove, with only four rooms in total. From the outside, it looked quite exquisite, like a place for brewing wine and tasting tea. There was no one around, and the environment was very tranquil.
Ren Yaoqi stopped and looked at Xiao Jinglin with a smile: “Who says you don’t know how? Last time when you said you’d teach me sword dancing and demonstrated that set of sword techniques—that’s exactly what we’ll dance today.”
Xiao Jinglin struggled desperately: “That won’t work—”
Ren Yaoqi looked at her patiently: “Why won’t it work?”
Xiao Jinglin’s brow was knotted tightly: “If my master finds out, he’ll say I’ve disgraced our school—”
Ren Yaoqi asked with a smile: “Where is your master?”
Xiao Jinglin replied instinctively: “Jiajing Pass.”
Ren Yaoqi’s smile deepened, but she shook her head with some regret: “So far away? What a pity… Then just don’t let him know.”
Xiao Jinglin: “……”
Seeing that Xiao Jinglin had stopped talking, Ren Yaoqi grasped Xiao Jinglin’s hand: “You absolutely cannot be careless and perfunctory, because I’ll be playing the qin alongside you.”
Xiao Jinglin was startled: “You want to join me?”
Ren Yaoqi blinked: “This is something I’ve long looked forward to.”
Xiao Jinglin frowned: “Better not. If I make a fool of myself, wouldn’t I drag you down to suffer with me?”
The smile on Ren Yaoqi’s face carried several parts confidence and several parts certainty: “In terms of swordplay, no one present can surpass you. In terms of Qin skills, I’m also confident that few present can surpass me. I don’t believe we’ll make fools of ourselves.”
Ren Yaoqi had always been gentle and low-key by nature. This was the first time Xiao Jinglin had seen her like this. This version of Ren Yaoqi had an indescribable charm that left Xiao Jinglin somewhat unable to react.
After pondering for a moment, Ren Yaoqi looked at Xiao Jinglin and smiled: “At least for ‘Moon Over the Frontier Pass,’ I play better than others.”
Xiao Jinglin came back to her senses: “You also want to play ‘Moon Over the Frontier Pass’?”
After thinking about it, Xiao Jinglin immediately understood that Ren Yaoqi wanted to help her regain face from Wu Yiyu. She shook her head: “Change to another piece. I know Wu Yiyu’s temperament. If you go against her, you’ll suffer. I don’t want you to be mistreated by her in the future because of my affairs.”
Yesterday’s incident with Wu Yiyu putting poisonous spiders in their teacups had already angered her. Today, she was openly provoked by playing her piece again. Xiao Jinglin could no longer tolerate Wu Yiyu.
She would remember those debts and settle them slowly later, but she didn’t want to drag Ren Yaoqi into her feud with Wu Yiyu.
Upon hearing this, Ren Yaoqi didn’t insist and nodded: “Then let’s change to another piece. I recently acquired a new Qin music book with a piece very suitable for your sword dance.”
Just as Xiao Jinglin was about to say something, the door of the central room in the courtyard was pushed open, and Xiao Jingxi walked out, looking at them with some surprise.
Ren Yaoqi was somewhat puzzled as to why Xiao Jingxi was here. When she saw the book in his hand, she understood—the environment here was tranquil, so Xiao Jingxi had probably been reading here earlier. Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but look down at the water stains on her skirt hem, her face somewhat red, thinking she was being improper.
Xiao Jinglin was in a bad mood and forgot she was the latter intruder, saying quite rudely: “Why do we run into you everywhere we go?”
Xiao Jingxi looked at her helplessly: “The hot spring manor is too small.”
At this moment, Hongying returned carrying a bundle. Xiao Jingxi’s gaze happened to sweep over the stains on Ren Yaoqi’s skirt hem, and seeing her somewhat embarrassed expression, he immediately understood they were looking for a place to change clothes.
Xiao Jingxi pointed to the adjacent room he had just come from: “Please go in. I was just about to leave.”
Xiao Jinglin pulled Ren Yaoqi toward the room Xiao Jingxi indicated. Ren Yaoqi quickly thanked Xiao Jingxi.
Xiao Jingxi smiled slightly, nodded, then turned and left the courtyard.
Ren Yaoqi changed into a ginger-yellow jacket and skirt with blue trim embroidered with butterfly and flower patterns. None of the Ren family daughters liked this outfit—it was left over after their selections. Since Ren Yaoqi had two other outfits given by the Yun family, she hadn’t minded.
However, with Ren Yaoqi’s fair complexion and clear beauty, she looked quite lovely even in this outfit.
After she changed and came out, Xiao Jinglin looked her over several times and nodded sincerely: “Very beautiful.”
Ren Yaoqi smiled and pulled Xiao Jinglin outside: “It’s getting late. Let’s hurry back.”
Xiao Jinglin nodded and left the courtyard with Ren Yaoqi.
They hadn’t been away very long. The courtyard where Xiao Jinglin took Ren Yaoqi to change clothes wasn’t far, and the time Hongying spent fetching things was also very short.
So when they returned, Ren Yaoyin and Ren Yaoyu had finished their performances and left the stage, while Ren Yaoying was kneeling at the low table in the center of the venue, holding a brush and focusing intently on writing or painting something. On the table were a brush stand and painting pigments.
Ren Yaoqi raised an eyebrow slightly. So Ren Yaoying was going to paint?
Over the years, to compete with Ren Yaoqi and gain their father’s attention, Ren Yaoying had put considerable effort into learning painting. Although she lacked some talent compared to Ren Yaoqi, her painting skills were still presentable among girls her age.
However, when Ren Yaoqi returned to her seat after parting with Xiao Jinglin, she felt the atmosphere was somewhat wrong.
Ren Yaohua was looking coldly at Ren Yaoying, while Xiangqin kept her head down, not daring to breathe loudly.
Ren Yaoyin was the first to see Ren Yaoqi, somewhat surprised: “Fifth Sister finished changing so quickly?”
Ren Yaoqi smiled and nodded.
Upon hearing this, Ren Yaohua finally withdrew her gaze from Ren Yaoying and glanced at Ren Yaoqi sitting beside her, suppressing her anger and saying in a low voice: “Didn’t I tell you to be careful of people? How could you still let someone spill wine on you? Could you be any more foolish?”
Ren Yaoqi quietly soothed: “Don’t be angry, Third Sister. It didn’t delay anything. I’ll go on stage after Ninth Sister returns.”
Upon hearing this, Ren Yaohua’s anger didn’t subside—her expression became even colder: “Fool! Do you think she went through all that scheming to perform before you for what?”
Ren Yaoqi wasn’t angry at being scolded. She glanced toward Ren Yaoying, who should be almost finished painting and was carefully adding color touches to her work.
“She’s afraid I’ll paint better than her?” Ren Yaoqi asked with a smile.
In her previous life, Ren Yaoying couldn’t compare to her, and now it would be even harder to surpass her in painting. However, Ren Yaoqi hadn’t planned to paint today anyway—Ren Yaoying’s scheming was wasted.
Ren Yaohua sneered: “She’s painting a ‘Snow Scene.'”
Ren Yaoqi found this title somewhat familiar.
Ren Yaohua glanced at her: “Do you remember last year when she also painted a ‘Snow Scene’? Unfortunately, Father said her painting technique had improved, but the layout and composition lacked inspiration. Later, when you were in Father’s study, you helped her modify that painting—”
Ren Yaoqi remembered—there was indeed such an incident.
“Are you saying she’s painted an identical copy of the one I helped her modify today?”
Ren Yaohua glared at her, showing an expression of “you finally understand.”
Ren Yaoqi tried to look at Ren Yaoying’s table but couldn’t see anything, somewhat puzzled: “Third Sister, how do you know?” You couldn’t see anything from this position.
Xiangqin, beside them, quietly interjected with her head down: “This servant saw when I went to deliver cinnabar to Ninth Miss just now.”
“Why did you go deliver things to her? Where’s Chun’er?” Ren Yaoqi looked around and discovered that Ren Yaoying’s head maid, Chun’er, wasn’t there.
Ren Yaohua glanced at her and said coolly, “If someone dares to do something, they must dare to bear the consequences. Were you going to wait until she ran away before asking others to find her and seek justice for you?”