The room suddenly fell quiet.

Everyone in the Ren household knew that Third Master Ren had a gentle disposition and rarely lost his temper.

But rarely losing his temper didn’t mean he had no temper at all.

There had once been a young servant in Ren Shimin’s study who attended to his writing materials. This servant had stolen one of his inkstones to exchange for silver. The servant had grown up serving by his side and was his wet nurse’s nephew. He had done such petty thievery several times before. Ren Shimin had always been indifferent to such material possessions and had turned a blind eye to them.

Unexpectedly, that time Ren Shimin flew into a great rage. Paying no heed to his wet nurse’s tearful pleas, he immediately ordered the steward to give the servant fifty heavy beatings before sending him to the authorities. The servant lasted three days before finally dying in prison.

According to the Great Zhou legal code, whenever servants committed crimes of murdering their master, adultery, or theft, once verified, the master’s family had the right to beat them to death. Afterward, they only needed to pay twenty taels of silver as “filing fees” to the authorities to close the case.

So, although Ren Shimin always appeared to be a gentleman as gentle as jade, not a single servant in the Ren household dared to be presumptuous in front of him.

People who didn’t play by conventional rules were the most dangerous to provoke, because you never knew what might suddenly anger them. You could only be extraordinarily careful around them.

Ren Shimin flicked his robes and stood up: “I’m going to my study. You may all disperse.”

Everyone rose to see him off. When Ren Shimin reached Ren Yaoqi, he turned and said: “Yaoqi, come along too. Your father wants to see just how much you’ve been slacking off these past six months.”

“Father.” Ren Yaoyu bit her lower lip lightly and called out softly.

Ren Shimin turned his head to look at her and said gently, “What is it?”

Ren Yaoyu gathered her courage: “Father, your daughter has also been practicing calligraphy and painting these past six months. I just completed a snow landscape painting a few days ago and would like Father to give me some guidance. I know I’m not as talented as Fifth Sister, but… but I truly love painting.”

Concubine Fang looked at Ren Yaoyu and smiled: “Eighth Miss has indeed put considerable effort into practicing calligraphy and painting these past six months. Speaking of which, we should thank Fifth Miss for her occasional guidance.”

“Oh?” Ren Shimin glanced at Ren Yaoqi, thought for a moment, and nodded: “In that case, you come along as well.”

Ren Yaoqi glanced at Concubine Fang and smiled with her head lowered.

If Concubine Fang counted her agreement to lend her painting to Ren Yaoyu as guidance she had given, then she had no choice but to accept this credit.

However, she knew that Ren Yaoyu’s painting was indeed quite good.

Concubine Fang had her children’s interests at heart, so naturally, every step was calculated. Before the Ren family’s downfall, she had even managed to persuade Old Madam Ren to let her return to her maiden home once, taking the opportunity to marry her daughter to her brother’s legitimate eldest son.

“Father, why don’t Third Sister and Fifth Brother come along too? Dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes give birth to phoenixes, and even mice’s children know how to dig holes. So your children should all know how to paint!” Ren Yaoqi winked at Ren Shimin playfully.

Ren Shimin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Where did you learn all this nonsense?”

In the end, all four children followed Ren Shimin to his study.

The second courtyard of Ziwei Courtyard had no side rooms, but it had two small courtyards to the east and west. The west courtyard served as Li Shi’s storage room, while the east courtyard was Ren Shimin’s study.

The study consisted of three rooms, filled with books and paintings. As soon as you entered the courtyard, you could smell the fragrance of ink.

In the courtyard was a very small pond. The water was shallow but ink-black in color, now frozen into ice. After the floating snow on top had been shoveled away, the small pond looked like a piece of bright and profound black jade.

This was the pond where Ren Shimin usually washed his brushes. He had named it the Wenhan Pool.

This place should have been most familiar to Ren Yaoqi, but after entering, she couldn’t help but look around. Pushing open the study door, the chaotic scene inside made it almost hard to believe this was a study.

Ren Yaoqi remembered that Ren Shimin’s study was the messiest place she had ever seen.

He didn’t like servants coming in to tidy up, and he enjoyed placing his books and paintings everywhere.

However, he could quickly find every painting and took pride in this ability.

In the entire Ren household, the only person besides Ren Shimin himself who could clearly remember the location of every book and every calligraphy painting in his study was Ren Yaoqi.

Ren Shimin looked back at the four children following behind him, frowned in thought, and finally pointed to the sandalwood desk inlaid with cloud stone directly facing the door: “You all sit over there, and don’t touch anything.”

Ren Yaoqi knew that Ren Shimin didn’t usually write or paint at this desk. He preferred using the low table in the room on the right. This desk was where he usually drank tea, so it was relatively tidy.

The group carefully made their way through the scattered mess on the floor and sat in a circle around the desk.

Ren Yaoqi reached out and took the cylindrical bamboo tube that was placed upside down in the center of the desk, shaped like a flat-bottomed bell cover. Then, as if her hand was acting beyond her control, she reached into the drawer under the desk and took out several Go stones to put inside. Just as she was about to put it to her ear and shake it, Ren Shimin, who was sitting beside her, snatched it away.

“Father has told you many times that this is for Father’s tea drinking, not a toy. You’re being naughty again.” Ren Shimin kept a straight face and spoke disapprovingly.

Ren Yaoqi came back to her senses, blinked, and quickly blinked back the tears in her eyes.

Ren Shimin was startled, wondering if his tone had been too harsh. Finally, he could only helplessly place the bamboo cup back in Ren Yaoqi’s hands: “Never mind. This cup hasn’t been used for half a year anyway. You can play with it. Father will make another one tomorrow.”

Ren Yaoqi looked at the roughly made bamboo cup in her hands and smiled through her tears.

She still had two such cups in the small camphor wood box under her bed. When she was little, she always liked to play dice with her father’s homemade bamboo cups when he wasn’t looking. She had been caught twice but continued to enjoy it immensely.

A flash of jealousy passed through Ren Yaoying’s eyes, but her smile was seven parts innocent and three parts curious, with no trace of malice visible: “Was Fifth Sister just playing a gambling game? I heard that Uncle is the best at this. Did Fifth Sister learn it from Uncle?”

Ren Shimin’s expression suddenly darkened.

Ren Yaohua’s gaze shot toward Ren Yaoying like a sharp blade. Ren Yaoying forced herself to maintain her smile, but couldn’t help shrinking back.

The only person Ren Yaoying could openly call “Uncle” was the legitimate mother’s brother.

Ren Yaoqi played with the cup in her hands and smiled nonchalantly: “Didn’t Concubine say that my sister is well-read? How is it that you don’t know that shaking dice is a form of divination? What gambling game? Where did you hear such nonsense?”

How could a child raised in the inner quarters know about such things? Moreover, Ren Yaoying had never had contact with her so-called “Uncle.” What she knew was merely hearsay from others.

Ren Shimin barely suppressed his anger and said to Ren Yaoying in a flat tone: “Didn’t you say you wanted me to give guidance on your painting?”

Ren Yaoying swallowed her frustration, bit her lip, and lowered her head to take out a scroll she had been holding. She glanced at Ren Shimin and carefully unrolled it on the desk.

Ren Shimin looked up, his expression softening slightly, and he nodded in rare praise: “Indeed, you’ve made rapid progress. I can see you’ve put in considerable effort.”

Ren Yaoqi also looked carefully. To be fair, for someone of Ren Yaoying’s age to paint at this level was truly quite good. She knew that Concubine Fang was extremely strict with her children, and Ren Yaoying had indeed worked hard these past six months.

However, given Ren Shimin’s critical eye…

Sure enough, she heard him continue: “However, painting requires not only attention to brushwork and ink, but especially to composition. Yin and yang, front and back, vertical and horizontal, rise and fall, opening and closing, binding and connecting, embracing and supporting, linking and correspondence – all must flow with undulating variations, rolling and unrolling naturally. Only then can you avoid being technically proficient but lacking in charm. What your painting lacks is precisely this compositional cleverness.”

Actually, based on Ren Yaoqi’s understanding of Ren Shimin, these words could be considered quite high praise. Given his temperament, for paintings he didn’t think much of, he would at most give a restrained “passable” and would never waste so many words.

But Ren Yaoying didn’t know this, so the smile on her face became somewhat stiff.

“Father often praises Fifth Sister’s paintings. Why don’t you help me see how this painting should be modified?” Ren Yaoying suddenly looked at Ren Yaoqi with apparent expectation.

Ren Yaoqi remembered that in her previous life, Ren Yaoying had made the same request. However, she had been young then and didn’t know where to begin, plus she disliked Ren Yaoying, so she had refused immediately. Ren Yaoying hadn’t been sincere about wanting her help either, so in the end, it was still Ren Shimin who had modified several places for her.

However, this time Ren Yaoqi nodded generously and smiled: “Since my sister’s painting was learned from me, it’s only natural that I help you modify it.” She looked completely matter-of-fact about it.

A vein throbbed on Ren Yaoying’s forehead, and she felt very uncomfortable about how Concubine Fang had elevated Ren Yaoqi earlier.

Ren Shimin smiled sideways at Ren Yaoqi, with an obvious expression of watching a good show as he brought ink and brushes from the right side room. He knew very well what level of skill his daughter possessed. Ren Yaoqi’s level might be somewhat stronger than Ren Yaoying’s, but it was still limited.

While grinding the ink, Ren Yaoqi tilted her head to study the painting. After the ink was ready, she picked up the brush and made several small additions to the snow landscape, finally adding two bamboo stalks bent by heavy snow.

Though it was just a few casual strokes, one could feel the coiled energy of the bamboo after being bent, ready to spring back. Vigorous vitality immediately emerged from the painting.

Ren Yaoying’s original painting seemed to have become the background, yet the whole composition appeared exceptionally harmonious without any sense of incongruity. The artistic quality of the entire painting immediately rose several levels.

Ren Shimin’s expression, which had originally been ready to watch his daughter make a fool of herself, gradually became serious.