In the adjacent room, Concubine Fang said, “I’ve already told you everything I know. Can you let me leave now? I’m just an inner courtyard woman. When these people were in my hands, I only used them to handle some private matters.”

Min Wenqing found this somewhat amusing: “Private matters? Then this inner courtyard woman of yours is rather well-connected indeed. No wonder with a concubine like you in the Ren family, even Prince Xian’s daughter has to give you some face.”

Hearing this, Concubine Fang’s heart stirred, and she asked suspiciously in return, “You know Prince Xian and know about Li Shi? Who exactly are you?”

Min Wenqing smiled slightly but didn’t answer her, only saying, “Didn’t you say earlier that you had important matters to discuss? If it’s only these things, I would have found them out soon even without you telling me.”

Hearing this, Concubine Fang couldn’t help but grit her teeth secretly, thinking that this young man was truly a fox, extremely difficult to deal with.

But now she was under someone else’s roof and had to bow her head. What else could she do to him?

However, Concubine Fang had only obtained some of the people under Fang Yacun’s command. How could she know any major court secrets? She was an inner courtyard woman – even if she had some methods, those methods were only used within the inner quarters. She had little involvement in political affairs.

Now, Min Wenqing’s meaning was that he felt the weight of what she had said wasn’t enough.

Concubine Fang felt secretly resentful while her mind raced rapidly.

When Min Wenqing was about to stand up and leave again, she suddenly spoke up, “Wait, I have one more thing.”

Min Wenqing stopped and raised an eyebrow.

However, Concubine Fang looked at Min Wenqing and said, “I do have one more important matter, but before I say it, I want to see someone.”

Hearing this, Min Wenqing couldn’t help but be curious: “Oh? Who do you want to see?”

Concubine Fang stared into Min Wenqing’s eyes and said word by word, “I remember now why the skirt worn by that maid standing outside the door looked so familiar – our Ren family’s Fifth Young Miss has an identical skirt!”

Min Wenqing smiled and shook his head, “Even people can look identical, let alone a skirt. Are you trying to say that the person standing outside is your Ren family’s Fifth Young Miss?”

However, Concubine Fang smiled and said, “Sir, you’re not a woman, so naturally you don’t understand. Although I only glanced for a moment, I recognized that the fabric used for that pleated skirt was sent back by our family’s Great Aunt for the young misses the year before last. The silk shops in Yanzhou don’t have this kind of material. Our Fifth Young Miss used that bolt of emerald green fabric to make a cloak and a pleated skirt. Ninth Young Miss also made a matching set, only hers was in apricot yellow.”

Min Wenqing indeed didn’t understand these fabric matters, but he wasn’t someone who could be easily fooled either. Upon hearing this, he merely smiled noncommittally, then stepped out of the room, ignoring Concubine Fang’s calls behind him.

Min Wenqing had the guards at the door close the room door tightly, not giving Concubine Fang another chance to peek out. After coming out, he deliberately looked at Pingguo, who was standing in the corner with lowered eyes and obedient demeanor – or more precisely, he carefully studied the skirt she was wearing for quite a while.

Pingguo secretly glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

Min Wenqing revealed a kind smile and asked, “Little girl, the fabric of your skirt is quite nice. Where did it come from?”

Hearing this, Pingguo glared at him fiercely, then turned around and left him with her back.

Min Wenqing: “…”

Min Wenqing felt somewhat embarrassed. He seemed to have been taken for a lecher who harasses maids? He just wanted to know whether Fang Shi had just been randomly bluffing him!

Seeing that the serious-faced little maid wouldn’t turn around to face him no matter what, Min Wenqing could only touch his nose and quietly enter the middle room.

When Min Wenqing entered, Xiao Jingxi was leaning slightly toward Ren Yaoqi, speaking to her.

Seeing Xiao Jingxi’s expression, Min Wenqing couldn’t help but be stunned, then glanced at Ren Yaoqi.

Seeing that both Xiao Jingxi and Ren Yaoqi were looking at him, he immediately withdrew his gaze, revealed a big smile, and greeted them loudly, “Second Young Master, Miss Ren Fifth.”

Ren Yaoqi was startled by him. Min Wenqing speaking so loudly was telling Concubine Fang that they were right next door, wasn’t it? They had heard his conversation with Concubine Fang crystal clear.

Min Wenqing met Ren Yaoqi’s gaze and was slightly stunned. After thinking about it, he understood somewhat. Remembering that when he had entered, Xiao Jingxi was speaking to Ren Yaoqi in a lowered voice, he couldn’t help but look at Xiao Jingxi with a strange expression.

Xiao Jingxi nonchalantly lowered his head and took a sip of tea.

Ren Yaoqi looked at them somewhat bewildered, not knowing what kind of silent exchange these two men were having.

Min Wenqing cleared his throat softly, trying hard to ignore the strangeness in his heart, and said with a smile, “That concubine from the Ren family is quite troublesome to deal with.”

Xiao Jingxi put down his teacup and gestured for Min Wenqing to sit down and talk, saying, “That’s why I had you go ask her.”

Min Wenqing sat in a chair nearby and laughed heartily upon hearing this, “Is Second Young Master praising this subordinate?”

Xiao Jingxi also smiled, “I heard from Jinglin that your interrogation methods are quite good.”

Hearing this, Min Wenqing became interested, “Oh? What else did Eldest Princess Xiao say about this subordinate? This subordinate will continue to work harder in the future.”

Xiao Jingxi and Ren Yaoqi exchanged glances, both remembering what Xiao Jinglin had said about Min Wenqing last time, and couldn’t help but smile. Seeing this, Min Wenqing became even more curious, “Eldest Princess Xiao really mentioned me?”

Ren Yaoqi just smiled without speaking.

Xiao Jingxi nodded and said with a faint smile, “She just mentioned it casually.”

“What did she say?” Min Wenqing was genuinely very curious.

Eldest Princess Xiao usually showed no expression when she saw him. When he spoke to her, she would at most nod or grunt once, not even bothering to give him an extra glance. He had thought Xiao Jinglin quite disliked him, so he hadn’t expected her to mention him in front of Xiao Jingxi and Miss Ren Fifth.

Xiao Jingxi looked at Min Wenqing a few times and smiled slightly, “Sesame bun.”

“What?” Min Wenqing was dumbfounded. What kind of code was this? Why didn’t he understand? Weren’t sesame buns something to eat? Did Xiao Jinglin like eating these?

Ren Yaoqi suppressed her laughter and turned her head away.

Xiao Jingxi looked at the completely confused Min Wenqing but refused to say more, instead changing the subject, “Aren’t you going to Wuzhou this afternoon?”

This was a dismissal, wasn’t it?

Min Wenqing wanted to joke and complain a bit, but seeing that Ren Yaoqi was present, he couldn’t gauge Xiao Jingxi’s attitude, so he very tactfully went along with his words, “I’ll leave right away. I came to let you know.”

He glanced at Ren Yaoqi again and said, “I don’t think there’s much more to get out of that Fang Shi. I don’t know if what she said about wanting to see Miss Ren Fifth before speaking is true or false.”

Xiao Jingxi nodded, “I understand. Thank you for today.”

Min Wenqing smiled cheerfully, then bowed to Xiao Jingxi and turned to leave efficiently, though he was still silently pondering in his heart: What was the relationship between Prince Xian’s little granddaughter and Xiao Jingxi? And what did “sesame bun” mean exactly?

After Min Wenqing left, Ren Yaoqi suddenly examined this room a few times, then asked Xiao Jingxi somewhat suspiciously, “We can hear what people next door are saying, but people next door can’t hear us talking, right?”

She had noticed that when Min Wenqing and Xiao Jingxi were talking just now, they hadn’t deliberately lowered their voices. With Min Wenqing’s shrewdness, he definitely wouldn’t intentionally expose that she was next door before knowing whether she wanted to see Concubine Fang or not.

Xiao Jingxi: “…”

Ren Yaoqi watched as Xiao Jingxi lowered his head to drink tea again without speaking, not knowing whether to be angry or to laugh.

This person was…

Being looked at by Ren Yaoqi like this, Xiao Jingxi really couldn’t maintain that composed mask anymore, and his face also reddened slightly.

He had wanted to remind Ren Yaoqi earlier that their conversation here couldn’t be heard next door, but seeing Ren Yaoqi lean slightly closer to him to speak quietly so they wouldn’t be overheard, the unique, elegant fragrance from her body made him silently forget that reminder.

Now that Ren Yaoqi had pointed it out directly, even Young Master Xiao’s thick skin couldn’t hold up and was about to crack.

Fortunately, Ren Yaoqi had never been someone who liked to be aggressive. Seeing Xiao Jingxi’s embarrassment, she could only temporarily suppress her feelings and change the subject, “I’ll go see her.”

Only then did Xiao Jingxi put down the teacup he had been using as a prop and said, “If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. She’s just a minor character who can’t cause any big waves.”

Xiao Jingxi’s words made Ren Yaoqi sigh inwardly.

Yes, in Xiao Jingxi’s eyes, no matter how cunning and vicious Concubine Fang was, she was just a minor character who couldn’t cause any big waves.

Ren Yaoqi felt that things that needed to be faced would eventually have to be faced. She would go see Concubine Fang one last time, treating it as a farewell to her former weak and incompetent self.

Ren Yaoqi stood up and shook her head, “It’s fine.”

Xiao Jingxi nodded and said nothing more, but after Ren Yaoqi went out, he also stood up and followed behind her.

When Ren Yaoqi walked to the door next door, the guards at the entrance didn’t stop her.

So she pushed open the door and walked in.

Concubine Fang was sitting on the bed in a daze. Hearing footsteps, she looked up, and when she saw Ren Yaoqi, she couldn’t help but freeze.

“It’s you? Is it you? How could it be you?”

When Concubine Fang had told Min Wenqing earlier that she wanted to see Ren Yaoqi, she was just trying to bluff him. Although she had her suspicions, she couldn’t be certain that Ren Yaoqi had had a hand in this matter.

In Concubine Fang’s eyes, Ren Yaoqi had always been a child with a gentle temperament who was simple and easy to fool. Even after Li Shi and Ren Yaohua were sent to the estate that year and she had fallen seriously ill, causing her personality to change somewhat – becoming closer to Li Shi and Ren Yaohua while beginning to distance herself from her – she still believed this was due to blood kinship and didn’t think Ren Yaoqi herself posed any threat.

So even if someone told her that her current dire situation was Ren Yaohua’s doing, she wouldn’t be this shocked.