After Ren Yaoqi came out of the main hall, she went to the side room where Li Tianyou and his wife were staying. Her maternal aunt Ji Fuying personally came out to welcome her, and when entering the room, Ren Yaoqi saw Li Tianyou sitting at the Eight Immortals table, helping to wipe a long sword.
Seeing Ren Yaoqi enter, Li Tianyou grinned and sat there pretending to perform a sword flourish, his movements quite skillful indeed.
“Girl, doesn’t your uncle look mighty and domineering holding this sword?”
Ren Yaoqi was almost dazzled by the gorgeous gems adorning the sword hilt. The sword in Li Tianyou’s hand was a ceremonial sword, not a weapon meant for combat with others.
“Uncle knows martial arts?” Ren Yaoqi asked with a smile. She had never seen Li Tianyou fight before, only guessing that in her previous life, since he dared to bring people to the capital to find him, he must have had some backing.
Li Tianyou became unhappy upon hearing this: “Hey—even Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter combined couldn’t beat me! That little bastard surnamed Min is a disciple I taught!”
Li Tianyou had been speaking half-truths for most of his life, so Ren Yaoqi was too lazy to guess how much truth was in his words, merely smiling without speaking.
Li Tianyou rolled his eyes dramatically, waved his hand to Ji Fuying, and said, “Quickly go get the things.” After speaking, he continued to lower his head and wipe his sword, showing no intention of talking with Ren Yaoqi. Ren Yaoqi quietly sat to the side, examining the ornate scabbard of that ceremonial sword.
Ji Fuying soon came out carrying a brocade pouch. She handed the pouch to Ren Yaoqi, smiling as she said: “This is from your uncle and aunt, keep it.”
Ren Yaoqi accepted the brocade pouch and respectfully bowed to the couple in thanks. Ji Fuying then pulled her aside to chat for a while, giving her some instructions. When it was about time, Ren Yaoqi rose to take her leave.
Ji Fuying escorted Ren Yaoqi to the door, while Li Tianyou shouted from behind them: “In the future, whoever dares to give you mother and daughter grief, just have your two maids beat them up, and say it was me who said so!”
Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but feel both amused and exasperated.
The Ren family carriage gradually drove away from Prince Xian’s family residence. Ren Yaoqi lifted the curtain to look outside for a while before letting it fall. She opened the brocade pouch that Ji Fuying had given her earlier—inside were three thousand taels in bank notes and the property deed to that mansion.
After returning to the Ren family, Ren Yaoqi did not mention Prince Xian’s mansion in front of Li Shi. Li Shi only thought that Ren Yaoqi had been called by Rong Shi to chat about family matters.
Several days passed after returning from Prince Xian’s mansion, when suddenly rumors spread everywhere saying that Prince Xian’s family had long since fled Yanbei. After Li Shi learned of this, she quickly sent someone to check on her maternal family, only to discover that Prince Xian’s mansion was indeed already empty, without even half a person’s shadow.
At this time, rumors about Prince Xian’s mansion were flying everywhere outside. Some speculated that Prince Xian’s family had already been secretly killed by people sent from the court, others guessed that Prince Xian’s family had been secretly transferred by the Yanbei Prince’s mansion, and still others claimed that Prince Xian, knowing that because of the heir apparent’s death, Yanbei and the court would inevitably form a grudge, and to avoid being implicated as innocent bystanders, Prince Xian had fled with his entire family. In short, people said all kinds of things.
Seeing that Prince Xian’s family had already left Yanbei for several days, Ren Yaoqi went to find Li Shi.
After hearing Ren Yaoqi’s words, Li Shi was stunned for a long time: “Gone? Where did they go?”
Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment: “They should have headed southwest.”
“Southwest? Southwest…”
Nanny Zhou suddenly spoke up: “Madam, heading southwest wouldn’t that be going to Hezhong?”
Li Shi also understood, her face showing an expression that seemed both sad and joyful: “Yes, they’ve gone to Hezhong…” Li Shi didn’t know what she was thinking of, but suddenly began covering her face and weeping softly without warning. No matter how Nanny Zhou tried to console her, she couldn’t be stopped.
Just at this moment, the gatekeeper woman outside suddenly stumbled into the courtyard, shouting from far away: “This is bad, this is bad, soldiers have come… Madam, this is terrible…”
Ren Yaoqi was startled and signaled for Xi’er to go out and see what had happened.
Xi’er hurried out, and after asking the gatekeeper woman just a few questions, returned with a trace of anxiety on her face: “Madam, Fifth Miss, soldiers have surrounded our residence.”
Li Shi had also stopped crying by now: “What soldiers? How could there be soldiers?”
“The gatekeeper woman said that many soldiers had just arrived outside and surrounded the area of the residence, saying no one is allowed to enter or leave,” Xi’er replied.
Nanny Zhou asked Ren Yaoqi: “Could this be related to Prince Xian’s departure from Yanbei?”
Ren Yaoqi looked outside and listened to the commotion for a while: “The soldiers haven’t come in? They’re just guarding outside?”
Xi’er volunteered: “This servant will go out and look.”
Ren Yaoqi thought for a moment: “Call Pingguo to go with you.”
Upon hearing this, Xi’er hurried out to find Pingguo.
Third Master Ren was taking a rest day today. Hearing the commotion, he also came out from his study: “I heard something happened outside?” Third Master Ren’s brow was deeply furrowed—he was just a scholarly gentleman and had never encountered such a situation before.
“They say the courtyard has been surrounded by soldiers, and no one is allowed in or out,” Nanny Zhou briefly explained.
Xi’er quickly returned, and just as Nanny Zhou was about to ask her about the situation, Xi’er said to Ren Yaoqi: “Fifth Miss, the Princess Consort’s maid is outside saying she wants to see you.”
Both Third Master Ren and Li Shi looked at Ren Yaoqi. Ren Yaoqi smiled to comfort them: “Since the Princess Consort’s maid can come in, it means the people outside are from the Yanbei Prince’s mansion, and those soldiers haven’t come in, so they shouldn’t have malicious intent. I’ll go out and see.”
Everyone couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Third Master Ren didn’t forget to instruct: “Just talk in the courtyard, bring a few maids with you, don’t go out the courtyard gate.”
After Ren Yaoqi agreed, she walked out and immediately saw Pingguo standing in the courtyard with Hongying.
However, when Ren Yaoqi got closer, she discovered that it wasn’t Hongying who had come, but Nanxing from Xiao Jingxi’s side. Xi’er had only seen Hongying before, so she had mistaken them.
Seeing Ren Yaoqi, Nanxing straightforwardly performed a bow: “This servant Nanxing greets Miss Ren Fifth.”
Ren Yaoqi helped support her elbow: “What happened outside?”
Nanxing spoke concisely: “Eunuch Lu has come to Yunyang City.”
Ren Yaoqi frowned: “Is it about Prince Xian leaving Yunyang City?”
Nanxing nodded: “Yes, Eunuch Lu came precisely because of Prince Xian’s matter. He says he represents the court in questioning responsibility, and he brought a squad of Ningxia troops into the city. Because he holds the Emperor’s jade tablet inscribed with ‘as if I were personally present,’ the Prince couldn’t very well keep him outside the city. Eunuch Lu said he wanted to arrest you and your mother to threaten Prince Xian, but the Young Master refused. The Young Master was worried he might act recklessly, relying on the Emperor’s jade tablet, so he sent Mu Hu over to guard. Fifth Miss, please rest assured, the people outside are all the Young Master’s trusted confidants and personal guards. Right now, neither the Young Master nor the Princess Consort can come, so the Young Master sent this servant over. This servant will also be guarding here for the next few days, and the Young Master instructed this servant to follow all your orders.”
“What about my Third Sister…” There was also Ren Yaohua who had blood relations with Prince Xian’s mansion.
Nanxing said: “Please rest assured, the Lei family has already been informed and prepared early. Third Miss Ren is safe.”
Only then did Ren Yaoqi nod, asked a few more questions, then had Pingguo take Nanxing down to rest.
Ren Yaoqi returned to the main hall and simply explained the situation to Third Master Ren and Li Shi, putting their minds at ease. Hearing that the soldiers outside were there to protect them, Third Master Ren and Li Shi also breathed sighs of relief.
“How long will they guard outside?” Third Master Ren remembered that he still had responsibilities for book compilation work and couldn’t keep staying at home all the time, though he was quite content with his days at home reading and painting.
Ren Yaoqi comforted him: “It’s just a matter of a few days. Father, you can consider it as taking a few extra days off.”
Third Master Ren nodded and sighed: “That’s the only way then.”
Ren Yaoqi had originally wanted to find an excuse to have Third Master Ren and Li Shi go out less. Prince Xian’s mansion was currently at the center of the storm, and no one knew what would happen next, so it was better for them to avoid the situation temporarily. Now that they were “under house arrest” by Xiao Jingxi’s people and couldn’t leave, they perfectly avoided the prying eyes of various parties outside and also escaped Eunuch Lu’s schemes.
What Ren Yaoqi didn’t know was that this evening, Eunuch Lu indeed brought his troops to the door to arrest people and interrogate them, but unfortunately his troops were blocked by Mu Hu at the alley entrance two streets away from the Ren family, never even seeing the Ren family’s gate.
Lu Dexin looked at the dark-faced general blocking his way, narrowed his eyes, then smiled coldly and deliberately took out the tablet the Emperor had given him for convenient action and troop deployment, waving it in front of Mu Hu’s eyes and looking down at him condescendingly: “Stand aside!”
Mu Hu didn’t move at all, saying rigidly: “This general is executing official duties. Irrelevant persons retreat immediately!”
“Insolent! Why don’t you kneel before this official? Don’t you see the tablet in this official’s hand?” Lu Dexin had never encountered someone who dared to openly disregard the Emperor’s authority. Even the Yanbei Prince had to bow when seeing what he held.
Unexpectedly, the dark-faced general in front of him said with righteous indignation: “This general is executing official duties and refuses to accept bribes! Put away your things and withdraw!”
Lu Dexin was so angry his face turned white: “You… you… you…”
The little eunuch behind Lu Dexin used the fox’s borrowed tiger’s power: “You dog, can’t you recognize the characters on the jade tablet?”
Mu Hu glanced at the jade tablet: “This general is illiterate!”
“Then call someone literate over!” Lu Dexin said sternly.
Mu Hu grinned, looked back at his soldiers: “This general is illiterate. Which of my boys under my command would dare to be literate?”
“This subordinate is also illiterate!” The personal guards dressed as ordinary city defense soldiers behind Mu Hu said in unison.
Lu Dexin was accustomed to throwing his weight around—when had he ever been played like this? He immediately raised the horsewhip in his hand to strike Mu Hu. Mu Hu’s eyes flashed slightly as he pretended to dodge Lu Dexin and stepped back two paces. Lu Dexin spurred his horse forward to strike again, but unexpectedly, his mount suddenly reared up for some unknown reason. Lu Dexin was caught off guard and nearly fell from his horse. He managed to grip the reins tightly to steady his mount, but suddenly heard a crisp “crack.”
Everyone looked toward the sound and saw the so-called tablet in Lu Dexin’s hand fall to the ground, shattered into pieces.