The three of them spent some time chatting in the courtyard. Near noon, Xiao Jingxi instructed Tong He to go to White Cloud Temple to fetch the vegetarian dishes he had ordered early that morning.

White Cloud Temple’s vegetarian cuisine was extremely famous throughout all of Yanbei. Every year, countless pilgrims come here specifically for the vegetarian food. Ren Yaoqi had tried it during her previous visit and particularly loved the vegetarian meatballs and mushroom winter melon soup. She had even discussed them with Xiao Jinglin in their letters.

When the dishes were finally served, there were indeed those two vegetarian dishes she loved. Xiao Jinglin must have mentioned it.

The three of them leisurely and quietly finished their lunch in a harmonious atmosphere, as if they had truly come here just to enjoy a meal of White Cloud Temple’s vegetarian cuisine.

It wasn’t until after the dishes were cleared away and tea was served that Xiao Jinglin suddenly said: “I’m here to bid you farewell again.”

Ren Yaoqi was startled upon hearing this and looked at Xiao Jinglin: “Are you returning to Jiajing Pass?”

Xiao Jinglin was somewhat surprised. She hadn’t even mentioned it yet – how did Ren Yaoqi already know?

What Xiao Jinglin didn’t know was that although she had never mentioned returning to Jiajing Pass to Ren Yaoqi, in her recent letters, she had mentioned the movements of the northern Liao people several times. With summer about to end and autumn and winter approaching, the northern Liao would bypass the mountain passes to enter the interior and plunder the border people.

In previous years, because Yanbei had won a great victory, the Liao people needed time to recover and recuperate, so the border had been peaceful for a while. This year, the Liao had a new king. The newly ascended Liao King was young and ambitious. Having probably grown up listening to his grandfather reminisce about those “glorious days” when the Liao people rampaged through Yanbei and pillaged extensively, he was particularly fascinated by this land south of Jiajing Pass.

With a major battle likely approaching, Xiao Jinglin could no longer sit still in this gentle paradise around Yunyang City.

Some people were naturally born to soar through the nine heavens. Xiao Jingxi understood her deeply, so he helped her persuade Princess Consort Yanbei, who finally relented and agreed to let her go for another two years. But after two years, she must return, because in two years, Xiao Jinglin will reach marriageable age.

No family would willingly marry a woman who was stationed at the border year-round and couldn’t even be seen. Princess Consort Yanbei was genuinely worried about her daughter’s future.

Xiao Jinglin viewed these romantic entanglements very lightly. It wasn’t that she was indifferent, but rather that she knew better than anyone what she truly wanted in her heart.

Seeing that Ren Yaoqi was trying hard to hide her emotions but was still somewhat downcast, Xiao Jinglin changed the subject: “By the way, I heard from my master that Yun Wenfang has also arrived at Jiajing Pass. After he escaped from the Yun family, he disappeared without a trace. The Yun family thought he had gone to Ningxia, but unexpectedly, he secretly changed his name and snuck back. I remember this brat used to bully you repeatedly. When I get to Jiajing Pass, I’ll help you deal with him!”

Xiao Jinglin valued Ren Yaoqi as a friend very much. Strictly speaking, Ren Yaoqi was her first close female friend. So to comfort Ren Yaoqi, Xiao Jinglin said things she would never normally say. Using public position for private revenge wasn’t Princess Xiao’s style.

Ren Yaoqi was indeed amused by her and shook her head: “Forget it. I didn’t suffer any real harm. Let him go his own way.” Ren Yaoqi knew Xiao Jinglin’s character well and didn’t want her to abuse her position for personal revenge on her behalf. Moreover, she didn’t want to have any further entanglements with Yun Wenfang. She didn’t even want revenge anymore.

Xiao Jingxi stroked the rim of his tea bowl and said leisurely, “You don’t need to think about revenge. Yun Wenfang is quite busy now and probably has no spare time.”

Hearing this, Xiao Jinglin suddenly looked at him with understanding: “Did you do something?”

Xiao Jingxi smiled and shook his head: “What could I do? I just heard he was assigned under Min Wenqing and is now busy every day. However, Young Master Yun’s performance at the border has been quite impressive. I saw in the battle reports that he earned merit just one month after arriving at Jiajing Pass.”

Xiao Jinglin squinted at Xiao Jingxi. How did Yun Wenfang end up under Min Wenqing?

Since Yun Wenfang was using a false identity, he must have gone there as an ordinary recruit. Min Wenqing didn’t take recruits – that fox only had either Yanbei Army elites or people executing dangerous missions under him.

Moreover, Min Wenqing and the Yun family had never gotten along. Min Wenqing was always unscrupulous. If he knew Yun Wenfang’s identity, he wouldn’t be surnamed Min if he didn’t give him several dirty tricks. He had plenty of life-threatening tasks on hand. The fear was that Yun Wenfang wouldn’t even know how he died. However, danger and opportunity coexisted. As long as Yun Wenfang could survive, he would be transformed. The prerequisite was whether this pampered young master could endure it.

Clearly, Yun Wenfang’s assignment to Min Wenqing was the result of someone’s behind-the-scenes manipulation. It was just unclear whether Xiao Jingxi’s move was ruthless or merciful.

Xiao Jinglin looked at Xiao Jingxi with some disdain. Some people just liked playing dirty tricks.

Xiao Jingxi ignored Xiao Jinglin’s obvious contempt and also began changing the subject: “I heard earlier that Third Master Ren’s restoration of those two ancient paintings by Jiang Yuanyi was very successful?”

Xiao Jinglin said expressionlessly, “What do you mean by ‘heard’? Not only did you find the pigments, you even made a special trip to Yunyang Academy to see them yesterday.”

Seeing Ren Yaoqi look over, Xiao Jingxi’s face uncontrollably reddened, quite embarrassed. But facing Xiao Jinglin, Xiao Jingxi felt that even his anger was powerless. Rarely showing his childish side, he pressed his lips together and stopped talking.

Every time Xiao Jingxi had his people send pigments to Ren Yaoqi, he used Xiao Jinglin’s name to avoid causing trouble for Ren Yaoqi, and he never took credit. However, when Xiao Jinglin wrote to Ren Yaoqi, she exposed all of Xiao Jingxi’s secrets, not only telling Ren Yaoqi that everything was found by Xiao Jingxi, but also that two hard-to-find pigments were specially purchased by Xiao Jingxi through intermediaries.

Therefore, Ren Yaoqi was very grateful to Xiao Jingxi. Second Master Xiao had many important matters to attend to, yet he was still willing to spend time and effort helping her with these trivial matters. This thoughtfulness was extremely precious.

Unable to bear seeing Xiao Jingxi embarrassed, Ren Yaoqi smiled and said: “I haven’t thanked Master Xiao yet. Several pigments were very hard to find. Without your help, my father’s two paintings wouldn’t have been restored so quickly. I was thinking then that once the paintings were finished, I must find an opportunity to show them to you, since your contribution was significant.”

Xiao Jingxi’s expression had already eased, and he felt somewhat annoyed at his earlier loss of composure. He smiled slightly, regaining his immortal-like bearing: “The paintings are excellent. I heard that when restoring them, you drew the preliminary sketch for one of them?”

At the time, Xu Wanli was surprised to learn that Ren Shimin’s daughter had also participated in the restoration. Although he often heard his wife mention Ren Yaoqi, and his invitation to Ren Shimin to come to Yunyang Academy to enhance his reputation was largely due to the great favor of Ren Yaoqi saving his wife, he hadn’t expected Ren Yaoqi to truly be such a talented young woman. This reminded him of Ouyang Shi from his youth.

Combined with Ren Shimin’s talent, which also amazed Xu Wanli, this headmaster of Yunyang Academy now had an extremely favorable impression of this father-daughter pair from the Ren family.

Ren Yaoqi nodded and smiled embarrassedly: “I was just playing around then. Father wouldn’t let me touch the paintings, so while he was sketching the preliminary draft for one painting, I secretly drew the other one. Later, when Father saw it, he said it could be used, so he used it.”

Ren Shimin had also been amazed by his daughter’s rapidly improving painting skills, but more than that, he was delighted. Having such a daughter, Third Master Ren felt he had a successor.

Xiao Jingxi found this side of Ren Yaoqi quite interesting. So she had mischievous and willful moments, too. Thinking of how stubborn Ren Yaoqi might have looked at the time, Xiao Jingxi smiled to himself.

Just as Ren Yaoqi was wondering what Xiao Jingxi was smiling about, he coughed lightly and said: “Has Third Master Ren considered staying at Yunyang Academy?”

Ren Yaoqi was startled, then shocked: “What does Master Xiao mean?”

Rather than answering immediately, Xiao Jingxi pondered for a moment: “Third Master Ren is very gifted and inspired in painting, especially in detailed landscape painting. He has already formed his style. Master Xu told me that given time, your father can become a grandmaster figure in the painting world.”

Ren Yaoqi had heard these words in her previous life too. Master Pei had also praised her father’s paintings, saying he had the potential to establish his own school. Unfortunately, in her previous life, Ren Shimin hadn’t lived to see that day.

Xiao Jingxi was somewhat puzzled by the trace of sadness that flashed in Ren Yaoqi’s eyes at this moment. Had he said something that made her sad?

Xiao Jingxi thought for a moment and continued: “Although Yunyang Academy is just an academy, it is Yanbei’s highest institution of learning. Most of Yanbei’s talents come from here.” Xiao Jingxi did not attempt to hide that the Yunyang Academy was where Yanbei Prince’s Mansion cultivated talent for itself.

“With Third Master Ren’s accomplishments in calligraphy and painting, he would be more than qualified to serve as an instructor.”

Xiao Jingxi had truly given this careful thought for Ren Yaoqi’s sake.

He knew the Ren family’s situation very clearly. Such a family was destined not to last long and would inevitably decline someday. When a woman lost the protection of her family, she would be in a very disadvantaged position.

Xiao Jingxi could see that Ren Yaoqi had deep feelings for her parents and legitimate sister. If she had to watch them rise and fall with the Ren clan, she would surely be in great pain.

Second Master Xiao had long understood the principle of taking precautionary measures, even though this time it was for a woman who seemed to have no connection to him.

So he thought that perhaps Ren Shimin’s branch of the family could find another path.