The Old Princess Consort, fearing that Princess Consort and the Yun family would interfere once Yun Wenfang was found, took Xiao Wei and Wu Yiyu and rushed back to Yunyang City overnight to personally take charge of the situation.

In fact, with Wu Yiyu being talked about in such a manner outside, it was indeed inappropriate for her to remain at the hot spring manor. Those young ladies had originally only thought that Miss Wu was arrogant and difficult to approach, but now they wanted to avoid her altogether upon seeing her.

Princess Consort said nothing – she still had to stay behind to host tomorrow’s Thousand Gold Banquet. Apart from the two brothers, Yun Wenting and Yun Wenfang, no one else from the Yun family left either, as if they didn’t care whether Yun Wenfang would still be alive after being found by the Old Princess Consort.

However, after they all left, the hot spring manor finally became peaceful.

That night passed without incident. The second day was the final day of the Thousand Gold Banquet, and all the competitions would be finished before noon. Old Princess Consort, Xiao Wei, and Wu Yiyu were all absent. The young ladies who noticed this exchanged meaningful glances with each other, and many whispered among themselves, making the scene even livelier than the previous two days. Very few people focused their attention on the competitions.

After all, in their tedious boudoir lives, opportunities to encounter such events were rare.

What was surprising, however, was that Miss Jiang Ba, Jiang Yuanniang, who had originally been at the center of the rumors, actually attended today.

Miss Jiang Ba wore a light pink embroidered short jacket and pomegranate red pleated skirt today. Though her appearance was ordinary, her skin was crystal clear and translucent, making her complexion look quite good.

Moreover, Jiang Yuanniang’s expression was calm – she spoke when she should speak and smiled when she should smile, showing no signs of being frightened. Even Guo Yujiao, who had been at the scene yesterday, began to think that perhaps Jiang Yuanniang had already escaped with her maid’s help before they arrived, since when they entered, they had only seen Wu Yiyu, Wu Yiyu’s maid, and Jiang Yuanniang’s maid, but not Wu Yiyu herself.

The uninformed onlookers who had originally come just to watch the excitement became even more uncertain about the truth of the rumors upon seeing Jiang Yuanniang’s composure.

However, most people still believed that Wu Yiyu had a preference for mirror-grinding because more than one person had seen her in disheveled clothing yesterday, and somehow the story had been embellished and spread around.

When Ren Yaoqi and Xiao Jinglin went to change clothes midway, they heard two young ladies whispering beside a flower bed, discussing yesterday’s incident.

Miss Liu said: “Of course it’s true! Didn’t you notice that Third Miss Yun didn’t come today? My cousin is her close friend, and I heard that Third Miss Yun happened to catch Wu Daxiaojie in the act yesterday. She was beaten so badly that she couldn’t get out of bed. My cousin went to see her last night, and a maid from Third Madam Yun’s side came out to reply, saying Third Miss Yun was unwell and couldn’t receive guests, but she’s already been sent back to Yunyang City.”

Miss Gao shook her head with a look of disbelief: “How could Wu Daxiaojie have such a fetish? It’s really…”

Miss Liu whispered, “I’m telling you, but don’t spread it around. I accidentally overheard two nannies talking yesterday. They said that although the border area where the Wu family lives is peaceful now, there were constant wars decades ago, and many men died on the battlefield, leaving only women…”

Those two young ladies spoke in very low voices, so Ren Yaoqi actually couldn’t hear them. The above conversation was all solemnly relayed by County Princess Xiao, who had sharp ears.

Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi’s mouth twitched, and she quickly reached out to stop Xiao Jinglin: “What nonsense is this?” These young ladies had all seemed gentle and refined these past two days – how could they dare say anything in private?

Xiao Jinglin obediently closed her mouth, while the two maids, Hongying and Hongjiao, couldn’t help laughing nearby.

Although most people’s attention wasn’t on the Thousand Gold Banquet today, when it came time for Madam Xu to announce the ten champions selected from this banquet, everyone’s focus returned.

The results were both unexpected and yet somehow reasonable.

Xiao Jinglin undoubtedly won first place, while Ren Yaoqi came second.

Ren Yaoqi was surprised when she heard this result. In previous years, the young ladies who could make it to the top five not only needed to be talented but, more importantly, needed good family backgrounds. The rankings of the young ladies were basically according to the rankings of their own families.

Ren Yaoqi later learned that after Madam Xu proposed her, Princess Consort didn’t object, and the other madams had no objections either. This was because she wasn’t recognized as Fifth Miss Ren of the Ren family, but as the final disciple of Madam Xu, née Ouyang.

Xu Wanli, as the dean of Yunyang Academy, the highest institution of learning in Yanbei, was himself very scholarly and had great influence among students. Although his wife wasn’t a teacher at Yunyang Academy, Madam Xu herself was highly accomplished in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Every literate woman in Yanbei knew of this talented madam. As her final disciple, it wasn’t unreasonable for Ren Yaoqi to place second.

The third-place champion was somewhat surprising – it was Jiang Yuanniang.

Ren Yaoqi wasn’t surprised by this. After yesterday’s incident, this was compensation from Princess Consort and the Yun family to Jiang Yuanniang.

After that came Yun Qiuchen, Guo Yujiao, Qiu Hong, Su Fangfei, Xiao Jingyuan, and two other young ladies from Yunzhou and Wuzhou. Wu Yiyu was no longer mentioned by anyone, and everyone, including the Princess Consort, seemed to have forgotten the existence of Wu Daxiaojie. Fortunately, Old Princess Consort and Xiao Wei weren’t present, so this year’s Thousand Gold Banquet ended peacefully.

After the Thousand Gold Banquet ended, the young ladies from various families were arranged to leave the hot spring manor in batches. Ren Yaohua had already spoken with Ren Yaoqi – they would return to Bailu Town with Old Madam Ren this time. She asked Yaoqi to bid farewell to the County Princess after the banquet ended, first go to Wutong Courtyard, then go with them to the Ren family’s别院 in Yunyang City.

Xiao Jinglin escorted Ren Yaoqi out of Lanyue Pavilion: “When are you returning to Bailu Town?”

Ren Yaoqi replied: “Today or tomorrow.” Old Madam Ren and Eldest Madam shouldn’t stay long in Yunyang City, and they had been away from Bailu Town for quite some time.

Xiao Jinglin thought for a moment: “Leave tomorrow instead. I’ll bring Silly Girl to see you off.”

Ren Yaoqi laughed: “It’s less than a two-hour carriage ride.” However, she ultimately didn’t refuse Xiao Jinglin’s kind offer – being with Xiao Jinglin always made her happy.

When Ren Yaoqi arrived at Wutong Courtyard, where the Ren family was staying, she found the atmosphere somewhat wrong.

She first went to see Eldest Madam, but was stopped by Eldest Madam’s maid Qiufen, who said Eldest Madam was discussing matters with Nanny Cao and asked Ren Yaoqi to sit in Third Miss’s room for a while.

Ren Yaoqi heard crying sounds coming from Eldest Madam’s room, and when Qiufen spoke to her, her eyes were still red, obviously having cried not long ago.

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but wonder – she had never seen Eldest Madam cry before. Eldest Madam had always been steady and composed. Though not particularly forceful, she commanded respect as the managing madam of the household. Could she still be sad about Ren Yaoyin’s matter?

While thinking this, Ren Yaoqi went to find Ren Yaohua. As she passed by Ren Yaoyu and Ren Yaoying’s rooms, she noticed maids peeking out the windows, who immediately pulled their heads back upon seeing her.

When Ren Yaoqi reached the room where Ren Yaohua was staying, she saw Xiangqin and Wujing standing at the door whispering about something. Upon seeing Ren Yaoqi arrive, they immediately came forward to bow.

Xiangqin’s face was beaming like a flower: “Fifth Miss, you’re amazing! This is the first time our Ren family has had a young lady become a champion, and you’re the second-place runner-up, too. We maids can hold our heads high when we go out now.”

Wujing quietly rolled her eyes at her from the side.

Ren Yaoqi smiled and asked: “Did something happen today?”

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Xiangqin’s smile faded, and she said seriously, which was rare for her: “Fifth Miss, something strange did happen. But this servant is afraid it might frighten you if I tell you!”

At this moment, Ren Yaohua’s voice rang out from inside the room: “What nonsense are you chattering about outside? Come in!”

Xiangqin stuck out her tongue and quickly stepped aside to let Ren Yaoqi enter.

Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua and asked somewhat puzzled: “Did something happen?”

Ren Yaohua glanced at Xiangqin, who lowered her head and retreated with small steps.

Ren Yaohua said, “Yes, something happened to Fourth Sister.”

Ren Yaoqi was startled: “Fourth Sister? Wasn’t she sent back to the別院 in Yunyang City?” Old Madam Ren might lose her temper with Ren Yaoyin, but with Old Master Ren not in Yunyang City, Old Madam Ren wouldn’t be too harsh in her punishment, considering the dignity of Eldest Master Ren and Eldest Madam Ren.

However, Ren Yaohua looked at Ren Yaoqi, and seeing that she truly appeared completely unaware, frowned and said: “After Fourth Sister was sent back to the別院 yesterday, Grandmother had her locked in the woodshed. Early this morning, the woman sweeping the courtyard heard Fourth Sister’s screams coming from the woodshed and was so frightened she immediately reported to Nanny Gui, who serves Old Madam. Nanny Gui, fearing something had happened, immediately took people with keys to the woodshed. Guess what she saw?”

Ren Yaoqi had a bad premonition: “What did she see?”

Ren Yaohua’s expression was somewhat strange: “Nanny Gu saw a nun collapse in the woodshed. She was puzzled, and a bold nanny went closer to look, only to discover that the nun was Fourth Sister.”

Ren Yaoqi was completely confused: “A nun? Fourth Sister?”

Xiangqin finally couldn’t hold back and quickly whispered: “Fourth Miss had her head shaved clean in the middle of the night yesterday and when she woke up this morning and discovered it she screamed once and fainted and when Nanny Gui entered the woodshed she thought she saw a nun from a nunnery but it turned out the nun was Fourth Miss!”

Ren Yaohua glared at her angrily: “Do you need to go back and relearn proper speech and punctuation with Nanny Zhou?”

This was a bizarre incident that had everyone in the Ren household on edge, but coming from this unreliable maid’s mouth, why did it somehow gain an inexplicably cheerful quality?

Xiangqin felt wronged, too: Wasn’t I afraid you wouldn’t let me finish? It’s so uncomfortable to keep it bottled up inside!