Lady Rong took one look at Ren Yaoqi’s expression and knew she hadn’t understood her meaning, so she said directly: “What I’m asking about is the candidate for Yaohua’s husband.”

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but be stunned upon hearing this.

Ren Yaohua and Lei Ting?

She had never thought about this before, after all, Lei Ting had been married before, and marrying again would be taking a second wife.

Even from the world’s perspective, Lei Ting was the clan leader of the great Lei family, not only was he tall and handsome, but also young and accomplished, steady and reliable. Even though he had a first wife who bore him only one daughter and no sons, and didn’t even have a concubine by his side, he could indeed be considered a good man.

But Ren Yaohua was only the legitimate daughter of a merchant family.

However, everyone has their biases, and Ren Yaoqi was no exception. In Ren Yaoqi’s heart, Ren Yaohua deserved the best man, and becoming someone’s second wife would be too much of a grievance for her.

“Why would Grandmother suddenly think of him?” Ren Yaoqi asked.

Lady Rong smiled: “It’s not that I suddenly thought of him, but today’s events made me have to think about it. Originally, Lei Ting stepped in to save Yaohua, and both emotionally and rationally we should express our gratitude, and the Lei family should also explain the whole story to us clearly. After all, we are Yaohua’s family.”

Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi began to understand, and continued: “But Lei Ting doesn’t seem to want our gratitude, and he hasn’t come to explain this matter to us either. His intention…” Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment, “He wants to find another opportunity to bring it up?”

Lady Rong nodded and said meaningfully: “That’s what I think too, but the matter he wants to bring up probably won’t be simple.”

Ren Yaoqi was stunned for a moment, recalling how Ren Yaohua had called Lei Ting “Big Brother Lei” yesterday. Yesterday, seeing that Ren Yaohua was very tired, Ren Yaoqi hadn’t asked her about it in detail. Could something have happened when Lei Ting saved Ren Yaohua that they didn’t know about?

Seeing that Lady Rong didn’t seem opposed to the idea, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but ask: “Does Grandmother think Lei Ting is suitable?”

Lady Rong thought for a moment: “To tell the truth, there aren’t many men in Yanbei who are more outstanding than Lei Ting. Although it would be a second marriage, from the world’s perspective, it would be the Ren family reaching above their station.”

Regarding the young masters of prominent families in Yunyang City or even the entire Yanzhou, Lady Rong had a clear understanding. Speaking of unmarried men more outstanding than Lei Ting, it wasn’t that there weren’t any, but even if you favored them, they might not necessarily favor your family background.

Lady Rong had also considered that when the Prince of Xian’s mansion truly regained its status, the Prince’s granddaughter might rise with the tide, and Ren Yaohua could have more marriage options. But Ren Yaohua was already fifteen years old this year. They could afford to wait, but she couldn’t. Moreover, by that time, political factors in marriage alliances would be even more significant. Ren Yaohua might not necessarily find someone more suitable than Lei Ting.

Ren Yaoqi understood all of this in her heart, so she didn’t speak.

Lady Rong smiled: “Now it seems that the destined person your mother had divined for Yaohua before does match Lei Ting’s conditions.”

Ren Yaoqi thought about it, and it was indeed so.

Lady Rong said, “Well, we’re just speculating here for now. We’ll see when the time comes.”

Although Lady Rong said this, after Ren Yaoqi left Lady Rong’s room, she couldn’t help but think about Lei Ting and Ren Yaohua’s matter.

The two elders of the Ren family would naturally be a thousand times, ten thousand times willing to let Ren Yaohua marry Lei Ting. With what the fortune teller had said last time, Li Shi probably wouldn’t object either. Third Master Ren simply didn’t care about these matters.

So what about Ren Yaohua?

Would Ren Yaohua be willing to become someone’s second wife?

When Ren Yaoqi returned to the west wing, Xiangqin had already changed into a different outfit. She was holding onto Ren Yaohua’s arm, crying her heart out. Ren Yaohua looked at her with forbearance, but ultimately didn’t kick Xiangqin away. This was probably because the foot she had placed outside happened to be the injured one.

Seeing Ren Yaoqi enter, Ren Yaohua finally found an opportunity to push Xiangqin away: “Enough, go find me a set of clothes to change into.”

Xiangqin sniffled and looked at her with peach-blossom eyes: “Miss, didn’t you just change?”

Ren Yaohua glanced at the unidentifiable liquid stain on her sleeve, and the veins on her forehead twitched.

Xiangqin immediately became alert and got up, walking out while turning back with an extremely fawning smile: “Yes, this servant will go right away. Who picked out the clothes you’re wearing? This green color doesn’t match your beautiful appearance at all.”

After finally getting rid of Xiangqin, Ren Yaohua asked Ren Yaoqi, “Are we going back now?”

Ren Yaoqi walked over to sit beside Ren Yaohua and smiled: “Mother will send someone to pick us up later.”

Ren Yaohua nodded without saying anything.

“Have the Lei family people already returned?” Ren Yaohua asked.

“Yes, it was a steward from the Lei family who came. He left after delivering the person. Oh, and Grandmother just talked with me about the Lei family’s eldest master.”

Ren Yaoqi’s words made Ren Yaohua look over: “Oh?”

Ren Yaoqi smiled: “Grandmother said that Master Lei took on the heavy responsibility of being the Lei clan leader at such a young age, and he’s steady, reliable, and broad-minded. No wonder many families in Yunyang City are eyeing the position of the Lei family’s first lady.”

Ren Yaohua frowned: “How did you also pick up the habit of gossiping like those women?”

Ren Yaoqi smiled nonchalantly: “It’s just family chatting among ourselves, what’s the big deal! In my opinion, Master Lei is indeed good in every way, except for one thing that’s not good.”

Ren Yaohua asked: “What’s not good?” She forgot that she had just scolded her sister for gossiping, yet couldn’t help wanting to know what was wrong with Lei Ting.

Ren Yaoqi glanced at Ren Yaohua and smiled: “Naturally, ‘second marriage’ is not good. Which proper legitimate daughter from a family of equal status to the Lei family would be willing to become someone’s second wife?”

Hearing this, Ren Yaohua was somewhat displeased and lightly scolded Ren Yaoqi: “Could it be his fault that his first wife died? As a man, first, he must conduct himself properly and have responsibility, then he must have no crooked thoughts and possess benevolent and helpful intentions. I don’t see anything wrong with Master Lei.”

Ren Yaohua’s decisive tone secretly astonished Ren Yaoqi. She had never heard Ren Yaohua give such high praise to a man before.

Nothing wrong with him?

Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment and said seriously, “Speaking of conducting oneself properly, I recall something. When the Lei family’s Grand Madam passed away, wasn’t there a rumor that Lei Ting’s branch wasn’t the legitimate Lei family line? If that were truly the case, would Third Sister still think Lei Ting has nothing wrong with him?”

Upon hearing this, Ren Yaohua was silent for a moment, but then said: “Even if that were true, I still wouldn’t think there’s anything wrong with him. A person cannot choose their birth, they can only choose the path they take. The reason I hate Concubine Fang and dislike Ren Yaoying isn’t because they’re not legitimate, but because they have malicious hearts and improper schemes. If they used their cleverness for the right purposes, even if I wouldn’t necessarily like them, I wouldn’t target them at every turn.”

Ren Yaoqi didn’t know what to say. Ren Yaohua’s words indicated that if Lei Ting came to propose to the Ren family, Ren Yaohua wouldn’t oppose marrying him just because he would be taking a second wife, nor would she change her opinion of Lei Ting because of the Lei family’s origins.

Ren Yaoqi actually had no ill feelings toward Lei Ting as a person; she just wanted to understand Ren Yaohua’s attitude.

However, Ren Yaohua suddenly frowned and asked: “You were also involved in the Lei family’s affairs back then, weren’t you?”

Although Ren Yaohua hadn’t interfered when Ren Yaoqi was doing those things, Ren Yaoqi hadn’t deliberately avoided her either.

Ren Yaoqi nodded frankly: “Yes, but I never did anything harmful to the Lei family.” On the contrary, she had helped the Lei family and Lei Ting greatly.

Ren Yaoqi hadn’t expected to have any future entanglements with Lei Ting back then. Now thinking about it, if Lei Ting wanted to marry Ren Yaohua, she wondered if he would harbor resentment about what happened before. After all, family scandals shouldn’t be made public, and the Lei family’s origins were a big secret of the Lei clan.

Ren Yaohua glanced at Ren Yaoqi, thought for a moment, but ultimately didn’t continue asking.

The sisters’ conversation ended there. Soon after, Li Shi sent someone to bring Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua home.

Returning to the Ren family, when Li Shi and Ren Yaohua, mother and daughter, met, they were naturally emotional for a while, and both completely forgot about the slight unpleasantness before Ren Yaohua left home.

Hearing that Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua had returned, Ren Yaoying also came to the main room. Seeing that Ren Yaohua had injured her leg, she was quite surprised, but Li Shi glossed over it. However, Ren Yaoying still harbored many questions in her heart, though she didn’t show it on her face.

Meanwhile, the reason Lei Ting hadn’t reappeared before everyone in the following two days to explain the situation to the Prince of Xian’s mansion was because he was waiting for an auspicious day suitable for traveling, meeting friends, praying for blessings, making alliances, formal proposals, and weddings.

So after two days, Lady Rong sent a message to Ren Yaoqi, saying that Lei family head Lei Ting was visiting.

Lady Rong was quite interesting. She didn’t send her message to Ren Yaohua, nor even to her daughter Li Shi, but only to Ren Yaoqi, who should have had no connection to Lei Ting whatsoever.

Receiving Lady Rong’s ambiguous message that others would think had no real significance, Ren Yaoqi understood Lady Rong’s intention. Lei Ting must have truly expressed his desire to marry Ren Yaohua before her grandfather and grandmother.

However, Lei Ting probably hadn’t formally sent a matchmaker to propose yet, because Li Qian and Lady Rong were only Ren Yaohua’s maternal grandparents. Ren Yaohua bore the Ren surname, so Lei Ting should propose to the Ren family. Although Ren Yaoqi disliked the Ren family and wished the two elders of the Ren family wouldn’t interfere in their branch’s affairs, this was proper etiquette, and making mistakes would give people something to criticize.

Lei Ting’s approach of first testing the waters at the Prince of Xian’s mansion before proposing showed respect for Li Qian and Lady Rong, and also clearly indicated that he wanted to acknowledge this connection to the Prince of Xian’s mansion.