After the carriage left Zhengyang Street, it circled back to Baoping Alley.

Rong Shi must have already received the news, because just as Ren Yaoqi’s carriage entered the main alley in front of the Prince’s Manor, she could see Yihong already waiting at the alley entrance.

After Ren Yaoqi’s carriage stopped steadily in front of the gate, Yihong hurried forward to help lift the carriage curtain for Ren Yaoqi, supporting her as she got down while asking: “Why did Cousin Miss arrive only now? The old madam has been waiting for you for a long time.”

Ren Yaoqi pointed to the woman servant behind her carrying pastry boxes: “I left early today, so I made a trip to Zhengyang Street to buy some pastries.”

Yihong glanced over and smiled: “Fumanlou pastries? The master does like to eat them, but the old madam is afraid he’ll get toothaches, so she won’t let him eat too many. You’ll have to hide them well later.”

As they chatted and walked inside, at that moment, Li Tianyou with a folding fan stuck in the back of his collar walked leisurely out from the gate.

Yihong was startled and quickly asked: “Master, where are you going?”

Li Tianyou saw Ren Yaoqi and cheerfully greeted her, but when facing Yihong, he put on a serious and stern expression: “Where this master goes depends on this master’s mood! I say, why do you have to manage everything?”

Yihong wasn’t annoyed by him embarrassing her in public and said good-naturedly with a smile: “This servant just remembered that the old madam instructed early this morning that there would be guests visiting the manor today, so she asked you not to go out first.”

Li Tianyou rolled his eyes, took out the folding fan that was stuck in the back collar of his clothes, opened it with a snap and fanned himself: “No matter what guests come, this master is still the host! Guests should accommodate the host, understand?”

Seeing that both Ren Yaoqi and Yihong were attracted by the fan surface in his hand, Li Tianyou became spirited again and moved closer to Ren Yaoqi to show off his folding fan: “Niece, take a look at how uncle’s fan writing is. Recently, those bookworms in Yunyang City all love to take these things around to show off, claiming they’re their precious calligraphy, then giving them as rewards to people. Yesterday, this master also wrote dozens of them in one go, planning to go out and give them to people today.”

Qiusheng, following behind Li Tianyou, carried a large burlap sack, presumably containing Li Tianyou’s “precious calligraphy.”

Ren Yaoqi had already noticed that one side of the fan surface in Li Tianyou’s hand read “Handsome as Pan An.” Li Tianyou was quite skilled at eating, drinking, and entertainment, appreciating flowers and moonlight, and even his calligraphy wasn’t bad. However, the other side of the fan had a portrait painted on it, which, judging by the facial features, was himself.

As Ren Yaoqi was struggling to find words to comment, she heard a magnetic male voice with a hint of laughter from behind them.

“I wonder if Brother Yiming’s precious calligraphy could spare one for me?”

Everyone couldn’t help but turn around to look, and saw a tall young man leading a black horse standing behind them, smiling at them.

This young man had thick eyebrows and a straight nose, with deep-set eyes. The fabric of his clothes was quite ordinary, but his entire bearing revealed a touch of elegance through his masculinity. People would believe you if you said he was a military man, and they would also believe you if you said he was a scholar—his temperament was unique.

Ren Yaoqi noticed that his horse carried a long object wrapped tightly in coarse cloth. She had seen various weapons at Xiao Jinglin’s place and felt that the item on the horse resembled something like a simple saber. Moreover, just now, while they were standing here talking, this person had approached from behind, leading a horse without alerting them. Even Qiusheng, who had martial arts training, only became alert the moment before this man spoke.

Yiming was Li Tianyou’s courtesy name, known to few people. Yet this young man, who appeared to be significantly younger than Li Tianyou, could directly call Li Tianyou by his courtesy name and address him as brother.

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t figure out this person’s background at all.

Li Tianyou looked toward the newcomer, squinted slightly as if trying to recognize the person’s appearance, then Li Tianyou, who was usually cheerful and easy-going with everyone without much temper, suddenly turned cold.

“I wondered who it was, turns out to be that young brat from the Min family. Is ‘Brother Yiming’ something you can call me?”

The man surnamed Min showed no annoyance upon hearing this, but instead lowered his stance and smiled: “Then I’ll still call you Master Li.”

Li Tianyou snorted coldly and looked at him sideways: “I don’t deserve it! You’d better get as far away from me as possible, or I’ll set Qiusheng on you!”

Qiusheng: “…”

The man surnamed Min laughed heartily upon hearing this and shook his head: “Yiming… Master Li still speaks with such humor and wit.”

Li Tianyou said disdainfully, “Don’t talk like you’re very familiar with me. When this master first saw you, you were still a snot-nosed little brat crying and begging to be held while following behind that old fox grandfather of yours! Now the little brat has grown up and comes to show off in front of this master? Get lost!”

Listening from the side, Ren Yaoqi became increasingly curious about this man’s identity.

Yihong walked to Li Tianyou’s side and whispered, “Master, Young Master Min is the guest who was supposed to visit our manor today. The old madam instructed not to conflict with guests.”

Li Tianyou frowned, glanced at that man, then snorted coldly and left without a word, with Qiusheng and others hurrying to follow.

That man paid no mind to Li Tianyou’s cold attitude from beginning to end, bowed toward him with cupped hands, then led his horse to the side to wait for Li Tianyou’s group to ride out of the alley.

Yihong nodded to the man: “Young Master Min, please.”

The man looked at Yihong, cupped his hands, and smiled: “Sister Ji? After all these years, you still look the same.”

Yihong smiled politely with a somewhat distant attitude and said: “General Min has a good memory,” then said nothing more.

The man then looked at Ren Yaoqi, examined her for a few moments, then asked somewhat hesitantly: “Might this be Fifth Miss of the Ren family?”

Ren Yaoqi didn’t know the man’s background, and seeing that both Li Tianyou and Yihong had somewhat strange attitudes, she was pondering over the word “General” that Yihong had used. Hearing the man speak to her, she nodded and smiled.

The man continued with a smile: “Fifth Miss Ren, greetings. I am Min Wenqing.”

Upon hearing this, Ren Yaoqi was startled and couldn’t help but look at him again.

Min Wenqing? The Min Wenqing that Xiao Jinglin had mentioned in her letters?

How could Min Wenqing appear at the Prince’s Manor?

Min Wenqing was a clever man and immediately guessed that Ren Yaoqi might have heard of him. However, at this time they had already entered the Prince’s Manor, and Li Shi had sent someone out to take Min Wenqing to the flower hall, saying that the master was already waiting in the flower hall. Min Wenqing couldn’t keep the Prince waiting, so he cupped his hands toward Ren Yaoqi and Yihong and followed the person who came to fetch him.

Yihong then took Ren Yaoqi to the main room to find Rong Shi.

Rong Shi was also waiting for Ren Yaoqi to come. Seeing her, she smiled: “Why did you come today? Is there something?”

After Ren Yaoqi paid her respects, Rong Shi invited her to sit beside her. Ren Yaoqi joked: “Can’t I visit the temple without having business?”

Rong Shi gently patted her head, then asked Yihong: “Did Tianyou go out?”

Yihong replied: “The master left with Qiusheng and the others.” She paused, then added, “The master encountered Min Wenqing at the gate and wasn’t very happy.”

Rong Shi smiled: “Let him be. You go keep watch at the flower hall, don’t let anyone neglect our guest.”

There were probably quite a few people in the Prince’s Manor who, like Li Tianyou, found Min Wenqing displeasing. Rong Shi was afraid the servants might secretly cause some trouble.

Yihong acknowledged and left.

Ren Yaoqi listened from the side. After Yihong left, she asked Rong Shi: “Grandmother, how did General Min come to be here?”

Rong Shi looked at Ren Yaoqi with some surprise: “You know Min Wenqing?”

Ren Yaoqi nodded: “The Princess mentioned him several times. I heard he’s the youngest general in the Yanbei army, with exceptional scheming and methods.”

Upon hearing this, Rong Shi smiled and said lightly: “The Min family has successors.”

“The Min family?”

Rong Shi thought for a moment and said slowly, “Min Wenqing is not a native of Yanbei. The Min family’s ancestral home is in Jinzhou, and they only moved to Yanbei starting from Min Wenqing’s grandfather’s generation.”

“Jinzhou? Isn’t that…” Ren Yaoqi was somewhat surprised and immediately thought of a possibility. “Could it be that the Min family were previously people of the Prince’s Manor?”

Rong Shi looked at Ren Yaoqi and sighed: “That’s right. Min Wenqing’s grandfather, Min Haoran, and your great-grandmother, Noble Consort Wan, were from the same hometown. If we trace the connections, the Min family has some distant kinship with us, though few people know this now. Min Haoran was deeply trusted by Noble Consort Wan back then and came to Yanbei ahead of schedule on her orders to become a military strategist in the Yanbei army. He even held command of some elite forces that Noble Consort Wan had entrusted to him. The Min family was one of Noble Consort Wan’s hidden chess pieces.”

Listening to Rong Shi’s choice of words and recalling Li Tianyou’s attitude when he saw Min Wenqing earlier, Ren Yaoqi guessed something: “Did the Min family later defect to the Yanbei Prince’s Manor?”

Rong Shi sighed again: “It’s not exactly that the Min family defected to the Yanbei Prince’s Manor. We only learned later that the Min family had been people of the Yanbei Prince’s Manor from the beginning. If Xiao Jingxi hadn’t made this clear previously, we would have still considered the Min family one of the Prince’s Manor’s hidden chess pieces.”

After hearing Rong Shi’s words, Ren Yaoqi understood. No wonder the Prince’s Manor would cooperate with Xiao Jingxi, no wonder Xiao Jingxi would know the Prince’s Manor’s trump cards. The root cause lay with the Min family.

“Then why has Min Wenqing come this time?” Ren Yaoqi asked.

Rong Shi said: “Last time we helped Xiao Jingxi once, and to show his sincerity in cooperation, he’s willing to return the portion of power that originally belonged to Noble Consort Wan that the Min family holds. Min Wenqing came today precisely for this matter.”

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but fall silent.

She thought of events from her previous life. In her previous life, the Yanbei Prince’s Manor didn’t seem to have joined forces with the Prince’s Manor, so that portion of power in the Min family’s hands should have already been consolidated by Xiao Jingxi. Even the forces in Hezhong might have been eroded by him through the Min family’s hands.

Ren Yaoqi knew that Xiao Jingxi was simply experienced and skilled at doing such things.