Ren Shimin went to the Ren family’s retreat house alone and returned after just one hour.

Ren Yaoqi had been waiting in the study, and the moment she saw Ren Shimin’s expression, she knew that Ren Shimao must have discovered something this time.

“Father, is there any news from Fifth Uncle’s side?” Ren Yaoqi stood up and asked.

Seeing Ren Yaoqi waiting in his study, Ren Shimin wasn’t surprised. There wasn’t a trace of a smile on his face, and his serious, silent appearance was something Ren Yaoqi had never seen before.

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but feel somewhat surprised.

Ren Shimin sat heavily back in his chair without saying a word. Just as Ren Yaoqi was about to speak again, Ren Shimin raised his hand and struck his desk hard with his fist.

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but jump in fright, hurrying forward to check if Ren Shimin’s hand was injured.

Ren Shimin’s knuckles were somewhat red. He waved his hand: “It’s nothing, it doesn’t hurt.”

Ren Yaoqi sighed: “Father, what are you doing?”

But Ren Shimin let out a somewhat dejected breath and suddenly asked: “Yaoyao, is your father very stupid?”

Upon hearing this, Ren Yaoqi was somewhat surprised, wondering what could have stimulated him like this.

Ren Shimin continued: “Is that what everyone thinks, so they can deceive me however they want?” Ren Shimin looked up at Ren Yaoqi with a slight, bitter smile. “Yaoyao, is it very hard having a father like me? Sometimes seeing your father being schemed against but not being able to say it outright to spare his dignity, so you can only secretly help him ward off disasters.”

After hearing this, Ren Yaoqi was almost speechless.

But Ren Shimin didn’t need Ren Yaoqi’s answer. He pinched his brow and said: “I am…”

Ren Yaoqi interrupted him: “Father, what exactly happened?”

Ren Shimin said, “Do you still remember that Lady Sun Eleven?”

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but feel surprised: “Lady Sun Eleven? Don’t tell me this matter is also related to her?”

Ren Shimin nodded: “Your Fifth Uncle used some methods on those maids…”

When Ren Shimin reached this point, his words became somewhat vague. Ren Yaoqi understood in her heart that Ren Shimao, having been pushed to desperation this time, had probably used some harsh methods, and the maid, who was the inside accomplice, finally couldn’t hold out and told the truth.

Ren Shimao had indeed used some extraordinary means. He spent a large sum to find a former jailer who specialized in forced confessions in prison, then separated and confined those four suspicious maids to torture them. That jailer had an extremely bad reputation when he was eating the government’s rice. Later, he lost his official position due to an incident, and there were rumors that he had dug out and eaten prisoners’ internal organs, though whether this was true was unknown.

This time Ren Shimao was pushed to desperation and didn’t care what kind of person that jailer was. He only wanted to find out the truth, so he found such a person. After that jailer lost his government position, he actually became wealthy, because many people valued his interrogation methods and paid him with silver, so he simply made this his profession.

Logically, three of the four maids should have been innocent, but Fifth Master Ren couldn’t care about so much anymore. He didn’t worry about whether there would be retribution either. He instructed the jailer to use whatever methods necessary to get the matter investigated.

In the end, three of the four maids were tortured nearly to madness, and all said they wanted to confess, while one maid attempted suicide by biting her tongue but failed. Finally, that jailer, relying on his experience, determined that one of the maids who said she wanted to confess was truly ready to confess – she was the criminal.

Facts proved that Ren Shimao’s silver wasn’t wasted; this former jailer had some ability.

It was also this person who was responsible for getting the full story out for Ren Shimao.

That maid said that indeed someone had arranged for her to find an opportunity to switch Fifth Madam’s and Eighth Miss’s pearl peach blossom powder, but she wasn’t the one who poisoned the cosmetics.

Fifth Madam’s powder had already been tampered with when it was brought back.

“What does this have to do with Lady Sun Eleven?” Ren Yaoqi asked.

Ren Shimin said, “Do you remember that Lady Sun Eleven has a daughter?”

Ren Yaoqi nodded. Of course, she remembered, and her impression was quite deep!

“Lady Sun Eleven’s daughter is now working as an apprentice at the Flower Dream Rouge Shop. This maid said the poisoned cosmetics in her hands came from this girl called Qing’er.”

“I see!” Ren Yaoqi nodded.

The Flower Dream Rouge Shop could be considered the most famous rouge shop in Yanbei. When the Yanbei Prince’s mansion sent tribute to the court each year, if there were rouge and face powder, it would be Flower Dream products.

Pearl peach blossom powder was Flower Dream’s signature product. Because of its precious ingredients, the number of boxes sold each year was limited, and the shop kept a record of all buyers.

If someone had deliberately bought six boxes of pearl peach blossom powder to replace Lin Shi’s six boxes, Flower Dream would be able to investigate it. But previously, Ren Shimao hadn’t been able to trace the origin of those six boxes of powder. Now it seemed that Qing’er had played a role.

Ren Yaoqi wasn’t surprised by Qing’er’s appearance this time.

From the moment Zeng Kui appeared, she had a premonition in her heart. Some people you want to avoid but can’t escape – this is karmic fate.

In this life, because Lady Sun Eleven didn’t die, Qing’er hadn’t appeared in Ren Yaohua’s life, but unexpectedly she was waiting here.

Ren Shimin said, “Fifth Brother has already sent people to Flower Dream to find Yu Qing’niang. I heard she’s about the same age as you – how could she do such a thing! She’s not a maid from our family, so it’s not appropriate for us to use torture on her, but Fifth Brother said he must send her to the officials.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded and asked: “What about the person behind the scenes?”

Ren Shimin said coldly, “Do we need to ask? I’ll immediately send someone to White Crane Town to bring Concubine Fang here. This time, even if Father tries to stop me, I’ll finish off this poisonous woman! Otherwise, who knows who the next person she harms will be?” Ren Shimin remembered he still had important business to attend to and immediately stood up, wanting to send someone to Li Shi’s side to give instructions.

Ren Yaoqi said, “Father, what excuse will you use when sending for Concubine Fang?”

Ren Shimin said, “I’ll say Yaoying is sick and wants to see her.” Using other reasons, Concubine Fang might not believe it. Ren Shimin had already thought this through on the road – he could only use the excuse of Ren Yaoying being ill.

Thinking of this, Ren Shimin couldn’t help but feel somewhat depressed. Concubine Fang was just one of his concubines, yet now, when he wanted to deal with his concubine, he still needed to lie to trick her into coming.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t share Fifth Master Ren’s sighs. She thought this excuse was fairly workable – Concubine Fang’s humanity only showed when facing her pair of children.

However, Ren Yaoqi held some skeptical attitude about whether Ren Shimin and Ren Shimao could successfully handle Concubine Fang while keeping it from Old Master Ren.

So she had other plans in mind.

Ren Shimin didn’t know that Ren Yaoqi was thinking about other matters. He asked somewhat hesitantly: “Yaoyao, did you notice something wrong with Lady Sun Eleven back then, which is why you had her moved out of the inner courtyard? And later refused to let her husband work for the Ren family.”

Upon hearing this, Ren Yaoqi asked in return: “Father, does Lady Sun Eleven resemble Cousin?”

Ren Shimin was stunned, completely puzzled: “Which cousin?”

“Cousin Fang Yahui from the Fang family.” Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Shimin.

Ren Shimin was stunned again. He hadn’t heard the name Fang Yahui for a long time, but unexpectedly heard it from his own daughter’s mouth.

Although Ren Shimin didn’t understand why Ren Yaoqi would suddenly mention Fang Yahui, he still thought seriously about it.

But Ren Yaoqi smiled first: “Father, aren’t you going to send someone back to White Crane Town to bring Concubine Fang? Let’s talk about this matter later.”

Ren Shimin nodded. Ren Shimao had instructed him that it would be best to invite Concubine Fang when Old Master Ren wasn’t home. Since Ren Shimao decided to secretly deal with Concubine Fang without Old Master Ren’s knowledge, he had been paying attention to Old Master Ren’s whereabouts. He learned that coincidentally, today, after Old Master Ren had lunch with several business associates, he would go to Jizhou and wouldn’t return until tomorrow.

It was still the si hour now, but Yunyang City was about an hour’s journey from White Crane Town. Sending someone now would be just about right timing-wise, as Old Master Ren always arranged his schedule in advance.

So Ren Shimin went to find Li Shi, had Li Shi keep Ren Yaoying under watch first, then sent someone to bring Concubine Fang, saying that Ren Yaoying was ill.

While Ren Shimin was giving instructions to Li Shi, Ren Yaoqi also called Pingguo over and quietly gave her some instructions.

In the end, the person Li Shi sent to bring Concubine Fang and Pingguo left the mansion at almost the same time.

When coming out of Li Shi’s room, Ren Shimin encountered Ren Yaoqi in the covered walkway. Ren Shimin remembered their unfinished conversation and continued: “You said earlier that Lady Sun Eleven resembles Fang Yahui?”

Ren Yaoqi had only mentioned this earlier to prevent Ren Shimin from overthinking about Lady Sun Eleven, so she brought this up to divert his attention. She hadn’t expected Ren Shimin to still remember.

She could only sigh inwardly helplessly and nod: “I heard someone mention it.” She didn’t particularly want to know about her father’s romantic affairs from his youth!

Ren Shimin raised his head and carefully recalled.

After a long while, he stroked his chin uncertainly: “They don’t seem very alike? I can’t remember too clearly.”

So many years had passed, Ren Shimin seemed to still have some impression of Fang Yahui’s not-too-beautiful nose, but as for Fang Yahui’s appearance, he really couldn’t remember it.

However, Lady Sun Eleven’s nose seemed to be better-looking than Fang Yahui’s, so Ren Shimin truly didn’t see the similarities between Fang Yahui and Lady Sun Eleven.

Ren Yaoqi was somewhat speechless at Ren Shimin’s answer.

She thought that if Concubine Fang had brought Lady Sun Eleven before Ren Shimin because she resembled Fang Yahui, then Concubine Fang must have misunderstood something, or perhaps Fang Yahui had said something to Concubine Fang back then that caused this misunderstanding.

“You don’t need to worry about Lady Sun Eleven anymore, either. Fifth Brother has already sent people to find Lady Sun Eleven. If she’s also involved in this matter, then she shouldn’t expect to escape!” Seeing that Ren Yaoqi wasn’t speaking, Ren Shimin thought she was worried about Lady Sun Eleven causing trouble, so he patted her head comfortingly.